Exclusive: 'The Liverpool thing doesn't matter' - Stan Collymore on why Brendan Rodgers should be the next Manchester United head coach 😲

No one has ever managed both Liverpool & Manchester United, with Rafa Benitez becoming the latest to coach both Merseyside teams, would the current Leicester City boss ever take the Old Trafford job?

[Brendan Rodgers during his time as Liverpool manager]

Brendan Rodgers had just over three seasons at Anfield and his tenure will perhaps always be best known for the season where he nearly did it.

Five points clear with three games to go in the 2013-14 season but out of the door in 2015, paving the way for Jurgen Klopp to come and finish the job that he had started.

It’ll always be a key part of the Northern Irish manager’s career with some tremendous highs and crushing lows, it was perhaps the right job for the right man at the wrong time.

Since his departure he has proven himself to be an accomplished coach who is still relatively early in his career and it does feel as though he will get himself a ‘big job’ at one of the ‘bigger clubs’ soon.

With the news of Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s sacking at Manchester United and the club’s desire to wait for the right man, many fingers have been pointed to the King Power Stadium in anticipation that the 48-year-old could be the right man for the role.

One person who agrees with this opinion is former Liverpool record signing Stan Collymore who spoke exclusively with Empire of the Kop to share his opinions.

The 50-year-old said: “For me, the man who should be Manchester United head coach… Brendan Rodgers.”

[Brendan Rodgers at Old Trafford as Leicester City manager]

“Why? Because the Liverpool thing doesn’t matter, he was head coach at Liverpool but he wasn’t Shankly, he wasn’t Paisley and he didn’t touch every single part of the football club, in terms of its philosophy.

“He coached players to be better on the training ground at Melwood.”

The former Nottingham Forest forward’s point is that all of his roles have been purely as a coach of players and he doesn’t ask for the extra roles that some managers demand.

Tactics, training ground affairs and selecting the team would be the main roles of head coaches like the ex-Red and so his Merseyside history should have no impact on his chances of landing the role, according to Collymore.

Much like the Rafa Benitez situation at Everton, this would be much more of an issue to supporters than it would be for the clubs and individual involved, as well as a lot of media attention around a possible appointment.

Does Rodgers owe Liverpool anything after his sacking?

[Brendan Rodgers during the 2013/14 season, against Chelsea]

Surely, from his point of view, he was asked to do a job and he did a much better one than most anticipated (particularly in the season when Liverpool came second in the league).

He reportedly has a clause in his contract should a Champions League team come in for the former Swansea man and so it would be expected that he would jump at the chance to take the job.

There are only four teams a season that reach the elite European competition and two of which are former employers. With Pep Guardiola seemingly not budging soon as well, there may be little choice in England but Manchester United.

There’s no doubt it would be strange and attract a lot of negative press but this may be the only chance the former Celtic boss has at a ‘big club’ in the Premier League and so maybe it should be considered more by all involved as a serious possibility.

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