Rodger that! Liverpool Kop shock over new boss

Liverpool fans are bracing for the shock appointment of Brendan Rodgers as the new manager at the Kop.

Swansea boss Rodgers is expected to hold talks with Reds' co-owner John W Henry, and could be announced by the end of the week, according to the Mirror.

Wigan's Roberto Martinez had been the front-runner for a long time only for Swansea's Rodgers to take over as the favourite overnight.

In a further twist, Martinez is set to move to Aston Villa.

Both Martinez and Rodgers returned to Britain in the last 24 hours after trips across the Atlantic but only the former had spoken to Henry, interrupting a holiday in Barbados to fly to Miami for brief talks.

Rodgers along with his wife, was a guest of the Football Association of Wales for Sunday's friendly against Mexico in the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.

Henry has been impressed by the job Rodgers has done at Swansea, winning promotion to the Premier league and surviving comfortably while promoting attractive football, and feels the 39-year-old fits his template as a young, rising manager.

The fans were already gutted that Martinez was considered for the job left vacant by the dismissal of Liverpool icon Kenny Dalglish.

They were expecting the management to bring in a high-profile replacement and will be shattered to hear that Rodgers is now the front-runner for the challenge of resurrecting Liverpool.

To settle for someone who had initially ruled himself out of the running for the Liverpool job is adding insult to injury.

Whether Rodgers is upto the task or would turn out to be a Roy Hodgson at Liverpool remains to be seen.

Rodgers earned his reputation as a coach under Jose Mourinho at Chelsea, but went on to become a manager in his own right at Watford and then Reading.

He was being lined-up by Tottenham as a potential replacement for Harry Redknapp, if he had been wanted by the FA as England manager.

But now Rodgers is set to take the reins at Anfield after Henry cooled his interest in Martinez.

Although the American was impressed by the Wigan boss when they met in Miami on Thursday, the Spaniard has misgivings about working under a high-profile director of football such as Van Gaal.

Latics chairman Dave Whelan is heartened to hear that Rodgers is now favourite and said: “I hope they sign him, but I have not heard from my manager yet.”

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