THE MOMENT THAT changed Brendan Rodgers’ life took place at the most unlikely spot: McDonalds in 2010.
The Northern Irishman had been out of work for seven months — having been unceremoniously sacked by Reading — and was spending some valuable time with his family.
Just two months after his dismissal, life had been put into perspective for Rodgers, with his beloved mother, Christina, having suffered a fatal heart attack at just 53.
Rodgers turned to writing therapy to try and make sense of it all and, disillusioned, the 37-year-old reluctantly prepared himself for a return to coaching behind the scenes. In fact, Manchester City’s manager, Roberto Mancini, had already been in touch.
But, on that fateful evening with his children in McDonalds, the phone would ring once again. It was an unknown number and usually Rodgers let private calls run out.
For some reason, this felt different.
“Hello?”
“Brendan, it’s Huw Jenkins, chairman of Swansea City. We’d like to interview you…your credentials match what our philosophy is all about.”
With Paulo Sousa having departed for Leicester City, Jenkins quickly identified Rodgers as having the profile to build on the foundations that the Portuguese and Roberto Martínez valiantly laid in the previous three years.
Swansea had missed out on the Championship play-offs by just one point under Sousa and realising that the majority of the Swans’ squad had played together for at least two seasons, Rodgers made few major changes and sought to hit the ground running.
“I don’t have anything bad to say about Brendan, to be honest,” goalkeeper Dorius de Vries told TheScore.ie.
“From the first day he arrived at Swansea, he was great. Obviously, he’d been out of a job for a while after Reading but, straight away, we knew what we had in front of the group. He was someone with a clear and great philosophy about how he wanted to play football.
“Brendan’s philosophy was the thing I remember most about him. He was so determined to get things right and to play football in an attractive manner. He could adapt, as well.
“Brendan was really strong and a great man manager. He wanted to know everything about the players and was quite personable. He knew everything about the club, from the youth teams to the first-team. Brendan knew all the names and was really good at that side of things.
“He had a clear vision about how he wanted to work and his training sessions were spot on. Everyone knew what was going on and everyone tried to get better. Brendan kept everyone sharp and aware of their performances. It was a pleasure.”
De Vries, who arrived at the Liberty Stadium from Dunfermline in 2007, enjoyed three impressive seasons under both Martínez and Sousa before Rodgers’ arrival.
But, the Dutchman, a comfortable sweeper ‘keeper, was among those to really thrive under the Northern Irishman’s subtle tweaks and started 48 games in 2010-11.
“We had just missed out on the play-offs and as soon as Brendan came in, straight away, he knew what we needed with a little bit of extra quality here and there. He adapted his own style and in certain games, he would adjust things slightly. They were small changes, but had big, big consequences in a positive way.
“He knew what the team needed and Brendan has a great eye for talent. He brought in Scott Sinclair, a great player, who gave us a great season. Brendan just figured out what the team needed at that time. He worked with it and it just clicked.
“For me, it was already my style of play. I was brought up that way and have done it through my whole career. Brendan knew how I could play out from the back and how comfortable I was at doing that. He was always a big fan of that and it was right up my alley.
“It was a big part of my own game and was an important role at a possession-based team like Swansea. As a goalkeeper, I had to keep possession when required – especially when we were under pressure – instead of just booting it up front and hoping for the best.”
It was a seamless transition and while Swansea would suffer 14 defeats that season – thereby missing out on automatic promotion by four points – Rodgers steered the club into 3rd place and a play-off semi-final against Nottingham Forest.
Forest, who had won their final four games of the season, were the play-off’s form team but despite playing 88 minutes of the first-leg with ten men, Swansea prevailed 3-1 on aggregate.
A date with Rodgers’ former club, Reading, awaited at Wembley – with Rodgers’ father, Malachy, among those in attendance.
“In the lead up to that game, Brendan showed how experienced he was already – despite being a young manager. That was a great thing about Brendan. He took all the pressure away from the players in the build-up to that game.
“We knew, at that time, that was the biggest game of our lives and everyone had to be switched on. All Brendan wanted from us was to just to focus on the game itself and he told us, ‘Play the game, not the occasion’.
“That showed his class and he prepared everyone in the right way. Everyone just wanted to play their best game so we could have a great moment, with promotion into the Premier League. We’d been close for a couple of years and Brendan achieved it by getting us into the right shape for it. Looking back on my time at Swansea, I’ll always have fond memories of that.”
For the first time in 28 chaotic years, Swansea were to return to the top-flight.
Far from it being sweet revenge against his previous employers, Rodgers nobly consoled Brian McDermott and Sir John Madejski at the final whistle.
Ultimately, it proved to be de Vries’ final game for the Swans, with the Dutchman opting to join Mick McCarthy’s Wolves that summer.
However, as one of the few goalkeepers in Britain comfortable with the ball at his feet, de Vries was never far from Rodgers’ thoughts and the Northern Irishman even sought a reunion at Liverpool in the summer of 2012.
“It was close. Liverpool made an offer at the time, but Wolves weren’t having it. They were holding on for a higher price, because they thought Liverpool would be willing to pay it as a big club.
“Liverpool had a certain valuation of me, which I thought was fair. I think Wolves tried to exploit my relationship with Brendan and, unfortunately for me, Wolves were playing a little bit of a game to get the highest price possible. It dragged on for the whole of pre-season and, in the end, the move fell through – which was a pity. I would’ve loved to have worked with Brendan again, especially since I knew what he was capable of.”
Nearly two years on from that approach, Liverpool now find themselves within just seven points of their first Premier League title in 24 agonising years.
While this season has been something of a shock for even the most fervent of Liverpool supporters, de Vries had no doubt that Rodgers would build on his success with Swansea.
“I’m not surprised at all by what he’s done this season. He’s got all the attributes as a modern-day, top-class manager. He’s determined and believes in his values as both a manager and a human being. Brendan does everything to get that right and he’s a great man manager.
“If he managed to win the league with Liverpool, he’ll have done a magnificent job. I’m kind of supporting Liverpool at the moment and I hope they win it, because I know what Brendan’s capable of. “
