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Dear Santa,

My name is Brendan Rodgers and I have tried very hard to be good this year.

Thank you very much for getting me some of the things I asked for last year. I know I asked you to give Manchester United a rubbish manager but I wasn’t expecting you to give them David Moyes!

It was well worth waiting for - as was Luis Suarez's new contract - I didn’t think even you could make dreams come that true!

I also want to thank you for making some of the other boys look silly, just as I asked. Arsene Wenger’s £1 + £40m bid for Luis Suarez is still making us all laugh!

For Christmas this year I would really like:

My own song

The fans sing: “There’s only one Brendan Rodgers,” and there is, and it’s nice to hear, but it’s not what I want. It doesn’t get the hairs on the back of the neck like “Shankly” to the tune of “Amazing Grace” and it doesn’t get you in the party mood like that “La Bamba” tribute to Rafa and his early signings. Maybe they could put something to a Keane tune for me?

January sales tip-offs

The ones you gave me last year were spot-on, I already knew about Sturridge but Phil Coutinho at that kind of price for that kind of player was amazing. If we do make the Champions League next season we’ll need a far bigger squad and this is the best time to pick up some quality players who might be under the radar. Also some January sales funds – no point giving me tips if I can’t act on them.

Restaurant gift vouchers

Talking of tips, I’m spending a fortune at the restaurant. Promising to buy lunch in San Carlo’s for the squad whenever we went on a run of wins seemed like a good idea at the time but it’s getting a bit costly now.

Some full-backs

Glen Johnson is outstanding on his day but sometimes his day is a Friday when we aren’t playing. I wish we’d got a gift receipt for Aly Cissokho. We’ve got some good young lads, like Jon Flanagan, but we haven’t got enough quality, experienced, competition for those places.

(Image: Liverpool Twitter)

Another forward

I know that makes me sound a bit greedy given that I’ve probably got the best partnership in the league at my disposal but if Roy Hodgson is going to keep “testing the resolve” of Daniel we’ll hardly get to use him. One more good quality striker would keep the other two on their toes and make it far easier to look forward to Brazil and watching Luis test Roy’s resolve.

More rivals to change managers

With AVB gone I’m the longest-serving manager in the top half of the table now, after Pardew and Wenger, and all these transitional seasons are great for the rest of us aiming for top four.

If you could see your way fit to Arsenal losing a couple of games over Christmas before doing absolutely nothing in the transfer window that would probably be enough for the Gooners to turn against their boss again. A player rebellion at Manchester City would be handy too, preferably on Boxing Day.

Goals from midfield

Suarez and Sturridge have bagged the biggest part of our goal haul this season but a few more from midfield would be a huge help and might just help us kill teams off that bit sooner. Our final league season might be decided on goal difference so we need as many as we can get.

(Image: Action Images)

Destroy ‘Being Liverpool’

As you go down the chimneys of Reds fans around the world can you please swap their copies of that infernal fly-on-the-wall documentary for any other LFC DVD? I know the “death by football” thing is starting to come true but I’m getting sick of being asked about the envelopes now.

Clean sheets

We didn’t concede in any of our first three games of the season but since then we’ve only had two clean sheets. That’s not down to the keeper, Simon’s been outstanding, but it would be good if we could stop conceding sloppy goals.

A selection box

I’m not half missing chocolate.



Thank you Santa, we’ll leave a drink and some cookies in the usual place!

Brendan, age 41 (next month)