I'm joining a dynasty! Rodgers says it was impossible to turn down Liverpool... but can't buy any Swansea players for a year
YNWA: Brendan Rodgers has been unveiled as the new Liverpool boss
Brendan Rodgers has admitted the chance to manage a footballing 'dynasty' like Liverpool was too good to turn down.
The Northern Irishman was officially presented as new Reds boss on Friday after a compensation package was agreed with Swansea.
But Swans chairman Huw Jenkins confirmed Rodgers will not be allowed to take any of Swansea's players with him.
Rodgers also explained he would not have taken the post if it meant he had to operate alongside a director of football.
He told the South Wales Evening Post: 'For me, the only way I was going to leave Swansea was for a big club, and I mean a big club.
'It was an extremely, extremely difficult decision because my plan was always to stay here at Swansea for a number of years.
'I have always been up front and honest. I have always said that I wouldn't be here forever and that one day I would go, but I honestly never thought the opportunity would come round now.
'In my life and in my football, I have been very happy in Swansea.
'But when an opportunity to work at a club which is more than a club comes round, it's a professional challenge which is too good to turn down.
Next in line: Rodgers succeeds Dalglish at the Anfield throne
Big hitters: Rodgers with Liverpool's managing director Ian Ayre (left) and chairman Tom Werner (right)
Dynasty: Rodgers is joining a club which is steeped in history
'Liverpool are one of the dynasties of the game. They have won five European Cups and their status is up there with AC Milan, Inter Milan, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.'
At his unveiling Rodgers said: 'I'm very proud, it's a club with wonderful tradition and I feel very blessed with the opportunity to manage the club.
'Once I had found out I was the number one target from the important people at Liverpool it was quite an easy decision,' he said.
Liverpool managing director Ian Ayre also explained there would be a new set-up on the football side.
He said: 'The structure, and Brendan is aware of this, is a more continental director of football type structure, a collaborative group of people working around the football area.
'We don't expect at this moment in time to have a director of football per se but a group of people working with Brendan to deliver the football side of it.'
Rodgers added: 'That [a director of football] was something I made clear I couldn't work with.
'What you need is an outstanding team. We will form a technical board that will have four or five people that will decide the way forward.'
Liverpool is a step up for Rodgers from his previous jobs at Watford, Reading and Swansea.
He also worked under Jose Mourinho at Chelsea and insisted claims he was too inexperienced for the role were unfair.
'My pathway as a young coach has been different to most managers,' he said.
'I have actually been coaching and working in football for 20 years. At Chelsea I had experience of working with big players.
'I look at Kenny Dalglish, he was the manager (of Liverpool in 1985) at 34 and resigned at 39. I arrive here at 39.'
But it seems he will not be allowed to boost his Anfield ambitions by taking players with him.
Big task: Liverpool's terrible league performance needs attending to
Task: Can Rodgers get the best out of Andy Carroll, Jordan Henderson and Stuart Downing?
Replaced: Rodgers takes over from Kenny Dalglish (left) with Liverpool in need of an overhaul
Swansea chairman Huw Jenkins told Wales Online: 'I have a good relationship with Brendan and we've got some protection with him coming back in for our players in the short term.
'We've got that agreement and a 12 month respite. The most important thing is our relationship is intact.
'We have to look after our own interests and look to continue in the right manner.'
Rodgers hailed the Anfield side as one of the games giants as he made an emotional exit from Swansea.
He won praise for his attractive style of play at Swansea and initially turned down an approach from Liverpool before it became clear he was their preferred target.
He added: 'I turned them down once out of respect, because I didn't want to go into a process and disrespect anything about Swansea.
'When they come in a second time and make you their number one target, then you have to think.
'We have seen over a number of years that the number of British coaches who get a chance at the big clubs is very few.
Let's go: Rodgers will have to gee up the Anfield troops
'When those opportunities come, and they may come only once, you have got to make a decision.'
Liverpool chairman Tom Werner claimed Rodgers would bring 'attacking, relentless football' to the club.
'In Brendan we have acquired a very exciting and talented and young manager,' the American said. 'He's a forward-thinking coach at the forefront of a generation of young managers and will bring to Liverpool attacking, relentless football.'
Werner added: 'We did speak to a number of people in the last few weeks, but I want to say Brendan was the only person we made an offer to. He was our first choice and the right choice.'
Rodgers had agreed a three-year deal to succeed Dalglish, although negotiations looked set to be held up by a wrangle over compensation.
However, the Carling Cup winners have agreed to pay the £5million that was in Rodgers’ contract.
Rodgers is confident he will get time to introduce his methods at Anfield.
'This is long-term, that was important to me, to come into a project over a number of years,' he said.
'For me (the attraction), is to defend the principles of this great club, offensive football with tactical discipline, and to retain the values of the club. That was the attraction, the history of the club.
'Also the frustration. It has been over 20 years since they won the title.
We might not be ready for the title but the process begins today, it's a new cycle, and that is something that we will work towards in the years to come.'
Liverpool's search for a new manager has been criticised in some quarters for being too wide-ranging, but Ayre was satisfied with how the club dealt with filling the vacancy.
He said: 'There was a process and it was right to have a process. Brendan was at the forefront of that thinking, evidenced by the fact we asked Swansea very early on.
'He was the only person we made an offer to. We got the person we wanted.'
He added: 'The process is a private process (but) it's fair to say we considered many people because that's what you should do. You try to understand how any individual fits with the profile.'
Wigan boss Roberto Martinez was another to have held talks with Liverpool before they plumped for Rodgers.
Ayre said: 'Roberto was one of the people in that process. We went through that with a lot of people.
'Some people decided to say they were in the process but they weren't. It was all about understanding individuals and matching their skill-sets with the profile.
'Brenden was at the forefront of that and at the outcome of it and that was exactly what we wanted.'
He has been told he can spend this summer and Sportsmail can reveal that, as well as attempting to hijack Swansea’s £6.8m move for Hoffenheim’s Icelandic midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson, Rodgers wanted his old club’s highly-rated Wales playmaker Allen, whom he sees as the type of player he needs to transfer his pass-and-move style of football to Anfield.
But Jenkins' comments about the 12-month period means it is unlikely Allen will go be allowed to go to Liverpool.
Rodgers is already taking three members of his backroom staff to Anfield.
Wanted: Hoffenheim's Gylfi Sigurdsson (left) is being chased by Rodgers
The 39-year-old has been given the go-ahead by Liverpool owners FSG to bring assistant manager Colin Pascoe, head of performance analysis Chris Davies and performance consultant Glen Driscoll to Anfield.
Swansea confirmed that compensation had been agreed for all three and their appointments will be finalised. Dalglish’s assistant Steve Clarke has had one resignation offer rejected at Anfield but it is understood that he will now leave.
