Liverpool upbeat despite being rejected by Brendan Rodgers

 
18 May 2012

Liverpool's managing director Ian Ayre is confident the lack of Champions League football will not affect the calibre of manager they hope to recruit.

The Reds' search for a successor to Kenny Dalglish, who was sacked on Wednesday, is already well under way with a number of names being targeted as owners Fenway Sports Group try to find the best man for the job.

At one end of the scale the likes of former Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola and ex-England boss Fabio Capello are being mentioned while, at the other, Wigan's Roberto Martinez has already been given permission to talk to FSG.

The Reds were also hoping to speak to Swansea's Brendan Rodgers, another young, up-and-coming top-flight manager, but he turned down the opportunity.

"The club is pleased to confirm that Brendan has declined the current opportunity to speak to the Anfield club about the vacant position," said a Swansea statement.

Scepticism has been expressed that the likes of Guardiola, Capello, Borussia Dortmund's Jurgen Klopp, Marseille's Didier Deschamps and former Porto and Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas would be interested in taking over at a club which will not have had Champions League involvement for three seasons.

However, Ayre believes the right candidate will see a bigger picture.

"We will find out (the effect of not being in the Champions League) during the process I guess," he said.

"The reason I don't think it will have an effect is if you lined up most managers in football and asked them if Liverpool would be a great club to manage and most people would aspire to do so I think they would say yes.

"The history of this club, the reach of this club around the world , its fanbase and everything we have achieved and want to achieve is more than enough to keep any manager we would want to go after hungry for the opportunity."

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