Brendan Rodgers says he will not step down from Liverpool job

Brendan Rodgers has stated he would “totally respect” Liverpool’s owners if they decided on a change of manager but will not walk away from Anfield of his own volition.

The embattled Liverpool manager is in the most precarious position of his tenure after an alarming sequence of results and performances dating back to March, and faces Aston Villa on Saturday in desperate need of a first win in five league games. Rodgers refused to duck questions about his future at a press conference on Friday but, while defiant under pressure in the past, he sounded pessimistic about his long-term job prospects at Anfield. Pointedly, however, he issued several reminders of his ability to create a title-challenging team “when we’ve had the availability of top-class players.”

Liverpool this week denied approaching any managers about a potential vacancy after Carlo Ancelotti was linked with Anfield. Jürgen Klopp has also been touted as a possible replacement. Rodgers insists he has no issue with out-of-work coaches, or sources close to them, promoting their claims for another man’s job as it is the nature of football. But Rodgers also accepted it is Fenway Sports Group’s right to seek another manager, were the club’s owners to decide he could not arrest Liverpool’s decline.

''It happens through every level and in particularly at this level you know it goes on,” said the Liverpool manager on the Klopp and Ancelotti links.

''You can never be too worried about it. Sixteen months ago we nearly won the league and I was manager of the year. Sixteen months later, you’re not so good at your job, when you’re actually better at your job. I think I’ve made it pretty clear – and I don’t like to go on too much about it – but I think I’ve shown what I can do when I have the tools to work, what I can deliver, so I don’t lose confidence with that.

''What I’ll always do is give my best to the club and if they decide they need to change, I’ll totally respect that. Because this is an incredible football club and all I want to do is see it succeed. If it isn’t with me, that’ll be for other people to decide. I know I’ve given everything. I’ll walk away and hopefully I’ll get into another job where I’ll get the chance to create something special. But my focus is still very much on the now and making us the best we possibly can be. Hopefully that will see me here for a longer period.”

Rodgers has attracted fierce criticism in recent months, including personal, although supporters at Anfield have voiced frustration through booing recent displays against Carlisle United and Norwich City rather than turning on their manager. Rodgers, who signed a lucrative four-year contract in May 2014 after guiding Liverpool back into the Champions League, insists he will not quit the biggest job of his career.

''No, no, no chance, no,” he replied when asked that question directly. “I want to be a manager and the target in my own mind is to get to 1,000 games. I know to get that you’re looking at 20-odd years but I’m realistic, I’ve got realism in my professional life, to know that I might have another five or six jobs in order to that. I would love it to be here but I’m a realist.

''Whilst I’m here, I’ll always do the best I can. I’m never going to walk away because I’ll always have belief that I can improve players and make things better.”

The Liverpool manager maintained he is in regular, supportive dialogue with FSG officials but refused to be drawn on whether he should have been allowed to make his own signings rather than work alongside a transfer committee. “The responsibility will always go with the manager,” he said.

''You put out the team, there are players here that the club signed and it’s my job to maximise what we can get out of the players and I will continue to do that.”

Asked whether it was inevitable that Liverpool’s results would suffer having lost Luis Suárez, Steven Gerrard and Raheem Sterling, only to replace them with lesser talents, Rodgers said: “I think that’ll be for other people to write. As manager I’ll always work with the players at the club and the ones you bring in. What is clear, in the couple of years I’ve been here, is that when we’ve had the availability of top-class players I’ve proven I can build a team that plays a way of football that excites and challenges at the top end of the table. Obviously we lose those players but the new players come in and they’ve got that opportunity to go and prove they can do similar.”