Brendan Rodgers’ spell at Liverpool ended in a nightmare that eventually saw the sleeping giant reclaim its place at the top of the football pyramid. Just not under his watch. The Northern Irishman enjoyed an up-and-down time on Merseyside, and the impression he left on his players wasn’t always exemplary.
From full-back Glen Johnson revealing the ‘psychology games’ the former Liverpool boss would play in an attempt to emulate Jose Mourinho, to legendary captain Steven Gerrard explaining the tactician was the reason behind his 2015 Anfield departure. The retired midfielder stated (per The Mirror):
“Being under Brendan’s management at the time, I was getting told my game time was gonna get less and less. I didn’t wanna be a sub for Liverpool, I didn’t wanna be a squad player. I still felt that I was the best midfielder there at the time.”
They weren’t the only players Rodgers alienated during his 166-game reign over the English giants. When he joined from Swansea City in 2012, he inherited a squad full of misfits. One of which was then-record signing Andy Carroll. The £35 million acquisition hadn’t settled in Liverpool, and his fortunes never recovered under Rodgers’ stewardship.
Andy Carroll: I Lost Respect For Brendan Rodgers
Carroll wouldn’t last very long at the club after the change in management, as he would join West Ham United on loan during Rodgers’ first transfer window at the club. The forward didn’t fit the profile of striker the new manager had worked with at Swansea, and it was clear Luis Suarez would be the main number nine going forward.
However, Carroll insisted Rodgers didn’t communicate that to him face-to-face. Instead, the England forward accused his ex-boss of lying and changing his mind constantly about whether Carroll was in his plans or not. In a 2015 interview with The Times, he claimed:
“With Brendan Rodgers, there was a lot going on.
“What he was saying to me and what was actually happening [were different things]. He was telling me one thing to my face, then I’d leave the training ground and he would ring me and tell me a completely different thing.
“He would say: ‘You’re going to play every week, you’re going to play every game up front with [Luis] Suárez’. I’d leave and get home and he would ring me and say: ‘Fulham and West Ham want you and I think it’s best you should go.’ I had just had a conversation with him ten minutes ago. So I would go back and see him and he would say the opposite again.”
Clearly unhappy with the way he was treated, Carroll added that his respect for the British manager diminished. He said: “It was the same thing round and round and round. On phone calls, it was: ‘I think you should go.’ To my face it was: ‘You’ll start every week’. It was mixed messages. He was messing with my head. I lost respect for him, to be honest.”
That would indeed be the end of the road for the now 36-year-old veteran, who is still playing for Dagenham & Redbridge. He joined the Hammers permanently in 2013 after a season-long loan, having found the net just 11 times in 58 appearances for Liverpool. He is widely considered to be a massive flop in the famous red shirt.
Carroll Wanted to Stay at Newcastle United
Carroll’s move to Liverpool in January 2011 all materialised at an accelerated rate after Fernando Torres left the club for Chelsea. Both he and Suarez were recruited to replace the Spanish talisman. However, the former England international has since revealed he wished his Anfield nightmare had never even started.
Speaking to Mail Sport in 2023, he revealed he was taken by surprise by his boyhood club Newcastle United withdrawing a contract offer and instead forcing him into the transfer. He explained: “I’d just bought my dream house in Newcastle. I was about to sign a new contract and then it gets pulled away from me and you’re gone.
“I’m sitting there thinking, ‘What is going on?’ I’m getting loads of calls from my parents, my friends saying, ‘What’s happening?’ I didn’t know what was happening and then I get a phone call off my agent saying, ‘The helicopter’s there, we need to go’.”
Cementing the idea that he didn’t initially want to leave Newcastle, Carroll told The Athletic in a separate interview that he was secretly wishing to fail the medical exam before the transfer. In fact, he was carrying an injury at the time and expressed his quiet hope that it would cost him a then record-breaking transfer:
“As I was injured [at the time], I remember thinking, ‘I hope I fail the medical exam’.
“Would I rather have stayed at Newcastle? All day long, it’s my hometown club.”
Statistics in this article are courtesy of Transfermarkt. Correct as of 28-10-25.