Rodgers glad he declined Tottenham job

20 December 2013 07:02

Brendan Rodgers is relieved he ended up as manager of Liverpool and not Tottenham.

The former Swansea boss was in the mix to succeed Harry Redknapp but instead ended up at Liverpool while Andre Villas-Boas took over at White Hart Lane.

And he believes the dismissal of the Portuguese this week is indicative of the short-termism which means he got the better end of the deal.

Asked how he felt about the situation now, he said in the Daily Mail: "A close shave. They are a great club and one of the things I looked at was the history.

"They'd had 11 managers in 18 years there so for someone like myself, I needed to create something; I needed to go to a club that was going to give us that opportunity.

"It's difficult...they have had a good couple of years, they were up there under Harry Redknapp.

"Obviously there have been difficulties from Bale leaving. There are many good players but very few who perform week in, week out to that level.

"I am more than happy with the choice I made to come here and hopefully in time it will prove to be the right one."

Rodgers also sprung to the defence of Cardiff counterpart Malky Mackay, accusing the Welsh club's owner Vincent Tan of "knowing nothing about football".

The Bluebirds visit Anfield on Saturday after a week in which there has been a public fallout between Mackay and Tan over transfers.

Press Association Sport understands Mackay has been told to resign or face being sacked by Tan.

"I find it incredible all the talk about Malky, who I know well from working with him at Watford," said the former Swansea boss.

"I find it astonishing what he has had to go through.

"This is a guy who walked into Cardiff after they had lost in the play-off semi-finals and they waited two weeks to sack the manager Dave Jones on the day we (Swansea) were in the final - which I found strange.

"Malky walked into the club with 10 players that summer and he totally transformed the mentality of the club.

"He took them to the Carling Cup final, to a play-off place and just lost out and the following season took them to the championship and promotion.

"He has had great results this season and is going to go on and be a great manager at a big club and I find it absolutely astonishing there is talk about him leaving there."

He continued: "My only conclusion is you have a business guy operating the club who knows absolutely nothing about football."

Source: PA