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| Brendan Rodgers has been sacked as manager of Liverpool following their 1-1 draw with Everton |
GIVEN the amount of money lavished on signings during Brendan Rodgers' tenure, there is something apt about him simply running out of credit at Liverpool.
This is not a club consumed by a crisis in the normal sense of football's favourite word.
They have not crashed out of any competitions and, following yesterday's Merseyside derby stalemate with Everton, they are just three points from fourth place and hardly out of kilter with Fenway Sports Group' pre-season expectations.
Back then, the club's American owners expected Liverpool would garner around 20 points through the first third of the campaign before a more settled, cohesive side pushed on under Rodgers' command.
That FSG lost faith Rodgers is the man to eke out that improvement speaks volumes, especially when the strike partnership of Christian Benteke and Daniel Sturridge, upon whom the manager would have banked on carrying the team forward, has been in tandem for just 45 minutes this term.
Rodgers' managerial mantra is that he makes players better.
FSG are no longer believers, seeing yesterday's 1-1 draw, after Danny Ings' goal was cancelled out by Everton's Romelu Lukaku, as evidence to support their opinion this is a squad not currently punching its weight.
In many ways, Rodgers' last stand neatly encapsulated what his reign has become.
A point against in-form neighbours was not a dismal result, but the performance remained an uncomfortable fit. Overall, it betrayed a lack of progress.
He departed Goodison Park insisting he would need time to rebuild. A little over an hour later, his time was up.
Had Liverpool won the 225th Merseyside derby, it may have made little difference.
The two-week international break gives FSG an opportunity to consider their options which fall between Jurgen Klopp and Carlo Ancelotti.
In essence, FSG are backing their model, the judgement of their scouts and their analysts above that of their manager.
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| Former Borussia Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp has been tipped as Rodgers' replacement |
It is why Lazar Markovic has been parked for a season at Fenerbahce and why Mamadou Sakho was given a new five-year contract before he had even been given a Premier League appearance by Rodgers this season.
Where Rodgers might have wanted to sell Simon Mignolet or Alberto Moreno, quickly deeming them mistakes for the positions they were bought for, the players have stayed. FSG will also have looked at nonsense of Lucas Leiva starting against Arsenal in August while on the cusp of a loan move to Besiktas, and then ending the game integral to Liverpool's prospects, and wondered.
In many respects, it was ever thus.
When Rodgers was unveiled as Kenny Dalglish's successor back on June 1, 2012, he spoke of his unease about working as part of a transfer committee. The message was privately rebuked behind the scenes within hours of his unveiling.
He threatened to quit if a deal for Joe Allen was not sanctioned that same summer, yet if Rodgers thought that by accepting the Liverpool job he would go on to assemble his power base from the inside, he has been proved wrong.
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| Carlo Ancelotti has also been linked with the now vacant job at Anfield |
What will nag is what he might have achieved if he had managed purely on his own terms.
But because of the horse-trading that has gone on in among the £291m spent during his reign, it is clear Rodgers has lost as much faith in FSG as they have in him.
The end-of-season review in summer was akin to last ditch marriage counselling for a couple heading for divorce.
He has long held the view he would not realise his ambitions at Liverpool. That the slide to mediocrity is not his fault and that when he has world class players he can deliver a top four team.
If Liverpool feel as far as ever from ending that wait for the title today, then it is worth remembering how Rodgers broke new ground in 2013-14.
In his office at Melwood, he sat through a Premier League presentation on the protocol of receiving the league title trophy: When it would be handed over, where-about on the pitch and by whom.
It was the first week in May and a couple of days after the capitulation with Crystal Palace when a 3-0 lead disappeared in nine calamitous minutes.
Rodgers knew the advantage had been surrendered, that Manchester City were back in an ascendancy, but still went through with it in case of a miracle.
When Rodgers has repeatedly said, of late, he does not fear the sack, it was not because he is ambivalent to the threat. Simply that he believes he will work again soon enough and somewhere that he feels may allow him the golden shot.
Deep down, Rodgers and FSG both felt they could no longer thrive together. It will be interesting to see whether they now do so apart.
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