The phone call nobody wants to get

Most of us have had a miserable drive home from Goodison. For Brendan Rodgers in October 2015, that journey from the blue half of Merseyside delivered something far worse than the usual post-derby gloom. Somewhere on the road back to his home in Formby, his phone rang, and Liverpool told him his time was up.

Rodgers has revisited that moment in 'Gaffer', a new four-part series on the Sky Sports Premier League YouTube channel presented by William Hill. He admits the news did not come as a complete shock. "I think I maybe sensed it from the press and from within because sometimes, obviously what happens in the game is that as the manager, sometimes you're the last one to find out. Other people can know," he said. The 1-1 draw with Everton had left Liverpool sitting 10th in the table, but according to the source, Fenway Sports Group had already made the decision to part ways with him before that match had even kicked off, with Jurgen Klopp already lined up as his successor.

A title, a slip, and the summer that changed everything

The cruelty of Rodgers' sacking is inseparable from how close he came to the greatest achievement in the club's modern era. Just seventeen months before that car journey, he had pushed Liverpool to within touching distance of a first ever Premier League title. He even confesses he had pictured himself lifting the trophy. "You've got this vision of getting the trophy presented to you," he said. "But it may not happen now."

When the moment slipped away, he put it down partly to experience, or the lack of it. "Maybe a more experienced team and maybe me even as a manager, maybe more experienced, it just became too anxious for us. We just lost out on the title. Could we have done that little bit more?" It is a question that will linger for supporters of that era as much as it clearly still lingers for Rodgers himself.

The summer that followed the near-miss is where many feel the damage was truly done. Luis Suarez departed, and Rodgers reveals Liverpool came agonisingly close to replacing him with Alexis Sanchez before losing out to Arsenal at the last minute. What they got instead was Mario Balotelli. "I think Mario came in with potential. I always maintain that he had the talent. But probably sadly for Mario, it just didn't quite happen for him at Liverpool," Rodgers said, with a diplomatic restraint that many supporters might not share.

The transfer frustration at the heart of it all

Perhaps the most candid thread running through Rodgers' reflections is his frustration over transfer resources. He stops short of laying blame directly at the club's door, but the message is clear enough. "Liverpool is a club that wants to win trophies. If you're to win titles and you're to win trophies then of course you need to be able to spend on quality," he said. He also pointed to what he saw as a mismatch between his own philosophy, building squads around specific profiles of player, and the approach being taken at the time. "With supporters, naturally they want to bring in the best possible players they can. We weren't spending big money on players, it was very much about bringing in a younger player looking to develop that player."

There is something genuinely poignant about hearing him reflect on it all a decade on. The loss of supporter connection clearly weighs on him. "One of the real challenges is to convince those supporters. There has to be that connection… That support, those times were starting to move," he admitted. He sensed the ground shifting beneath him, and by the time he reached Formby that October evening, it had already given way completely.

What Rodgers' story ultimately captures is how fine the margins are in football management, and how quickly the tide can turn even after you've come within a whisker of history.