Liverpool FC manager Brendan Rodgers has revealed that he chose Jordan Henderson as his captain because he wanted someone who was a “great ambassador on and off the field”.
Long term Liverpool FC captain Steven Gerrard departed for the LA Galaxy following the expiry of his contract before the 2015/16 season kicked off.
Gerrard had announced his decision to move on from his boyhood club on 2nd January 2015. Immediately following the announcement, there were murmurs among the Liverpool FC fans as to who the next captain would be.
The one name that was thought to be the front runner for the role was Jordan Henderson, and for good reasons given that he was the vice-captain of Brendan Rodgers’ side.
“An ambassador on and off the field”
Manager Brendan Rodgers has revealed that he was thinking about the next Liverpool FC captain from last season itself and he wanted someone who could be an ambassador on and off the field for the club.
As quoted by the Liverpool FC official club website, Rodgers said:
“You can imagine it was in my mind last season when I was aware, in particular, that Stevie was going to be moving on.
“I wanted to look at someone who would be a great ambassador on and off the field because ita s not just about captaining Liverpool, you have a huge responsibility for the players and the supporters on a worldwide basis.
“So it was going to take somebody who is going to be strong-willed and has a strong mentality, but is also a wonderful role model.
Jordan Henderson the perfect choice
Brendan Rodgers went onto reveal that the criteria of selection meant Jordan Henderson was the perfect choice for the captain of Liverpool FC and has backed him to blossom into an outstanding player.
“Obviously Jordan was one of the players that I thought about, but once I saw him grow and develop as the vice-captain then I felt pretty sure that this would be the season he could be the captain,” Rodgers said to the club’s website.
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“He has taken to the role very well. Hea s had a perfect role model in Stevie, hea s been on the shoulder of Stevie for a year to see how it all works and hea ll have picked up a lot from him.
“Like I said to him when I told him he would eventually be the captain a ‘have your own ideas, have your own ways of doing it and do it your way’.
“Hea s an outstanding player and I think youa ll see him really blossom with that captaincy.”
Who will be the vice captain?
Brendan Rodgers might have chosen his captain, but a question mark still remains as to who would be the club vice-captain.
Rodgers has revealed, though, that he does have a player in mind: “I havena t announced anything yet or spoken to the players on it yet, but Ia ve got an idea who Ia d want that to be.”
Our guess is that the new Liverpool FC vice captain could be Martin Skrtel. The Slovak has previously captained the club in the absence of Gerrard. Alongside Lucas, whose injury record means he keeps missing games, Skrtel is the longest serving Liverpool FC player. The fact that he is also a regular in the starting XI for Liverpool FC makes his case to be the new vice-captain even stronger.