Dirk Kuyt has backed Brendan Rodgers to be a success at Liverpool, even though he will play no part in the new manager's team at Anfield. The Holland forward has joined Fenerbahce on a three-year deal after finding his first-team opportunities limited last season, ending his six-year stay on Merseyside.

By Alan Duffy

While a number of Liverpool's younger stars have been called up for Roy Hodgson's Euro 2012 squad, one older head at Anfield has packed his bags for good. Dutch attacker Dirk Kuyt is the biggest Liverpool name to leave the club under Brendan Rodgers' new regime, with the hard-working wideman moving to Fenerbahce in a three-year deal.

Northern Ireland's Brendan Rodgers has become only the second Irishman to manage Liverpool's famous football club.
He follows in the illustrious footsteps of compatriot, John Mc Kenna, who was Liverpool's first Manager from 1892-1896.
He was a friend of Liverpool founder John Houlding and remained with him after some directors left and founded Everton football club at Goodison Park.

And suddenly, just like that, the business end really starts. Like it or not, Liverpool fans would do well to get behind the new manager Brendan Rodgers, and any other senior staff on the way. Some may have complained that it took too long to appoint him. Yet had FSG been quicker, the conspiracy theorists would have complained about alleged behind-the-scenes pre-emptive discussions between FSG and their new appointment while Kenny was still in charge.

Brendan Rodgers has admitted the chance to manage a footballing "dynasty" like Liverpool was something that he could not turn down.

Speaking to the South Wales Evening Post ahead of his introductory press conference today Rodgers had this to say about taking over at Liverpool:

"For me, the only way I was going to leave Swansea was for a big club, and I mean a big club.

By Chris Wright

We've already seen the grainy shots leaked from Anfield earlier but Brendan Rodgers' appointment at Liverpool has been made official now and we've got the goddamn photos to prove it...

Photos: PA

TweetReal Madrid coach Jose Mourinho has lauded the appointment of Brendan Rodgers as new Liverpool boss. The pair both worked together at Chelsea with Mourinho as first team coach whilst Rodgers took charge of the reserves and 'the Special One' believes that Rodgers is special too. "I am very happy with his appointment at Liverpool, [.

BBC Sport today reported that Swansea Brendan Rodgers has agreed a deal to become the new manager of Liverpool Football Club.

It is understood that the 39-year-old will sign a three-year contract at Anfield and his appointment is likely to be officially confirmed within 24 hours.

Liverpool will pay Swansea City between £4m and £5m in compensation to secure the Northern Irishman's services.

In part two of our series on the formation and rise of AFC Wimbledon, we rejoin the story in the summer of 2001. With the clubs owners having seen their attempt to move Premier League football to Dublin rejected by the Football Association of Ireland and in turn by the FA, UEFA and FIFA, an entrepreneur has turned up at Selhurst Park with a potential get-out for the loss-making clubs owners.

By Chris Wright

As best we know, Brendan Rodgers has just agreed a three-year deal that will see him leaving Swansea to become Liverpool's new manager. However, it's not been officially squared away quite yet as the two clubs are still in the process of finalising a £4 million-odd compensation payment.

The talk surrounding Anfield is that Brendan Rodgers, the Swansea manager, is to take the reigns in the next 48 hours.

Although many tipped Roberto Martinez to take charge, Liverpool turned their attention to Rodgers after talks between the club and Martinez broke down.

However, will Liverpool strike gold with this appointment or will he turn out to be another mistake to be added to the pile?

Joe Cole is keen to restore his reputation at Anfield by making a return to Liverpool next season following a loan spell at Lille.
Cole played himself back into form at the French club during the 2011-12 campaign, making 20 league starts as Lille finished third in the table. That was a welcome boost after his first year with Liverpool did not go to plan: he was nowhere near his best, and marginalized following the appointment of Kenny Dalglish.

FIFA, the world governing body of soccer, has co-opted a woman to its executive committee for the first time. Lydia Nsekera, the president of the Burundi Football Association, will be installed as the co-opted executive committee member at the 62nd FIFA Congress this week with the formal election of a woman on the committee to follow at next year's Congress.

Roy Keane pays Gary Neville a compliment - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

Roy Keane was a team-mate and captain to Gary Neville for many years at Manchester United at the same time that Ferguson brought Keane to Old Trafford, the young crop of players that included Gary Neville were making their mark in the youth team.

Liverpool are reportedly considering a move for CSKA Moscow striker Seydou Doumbia, after the appointment of Kenny Dalglish's successor.
The 24-year-old Ivorian scored 33 goals in 41 appearances for his current employers last season, and has also been linked with a transfer window move to Chelsea.

By Chris Wright

'Ello Ole

It would appear for all the world like Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is about to be appointed as the new Aston Villa manager this morning. It's all still a bit 2+2=∑ at the moment, but according to Sky Sports News, Randy Lerner's private jet has been spotted in Norway and Solskjaer himself wasn't present at Molde training this morning.

By Chris Wright

'Ello Ole

It would appear for all the world like Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is about to be appointed as the new Aston Villa manager this morning. It's all still a bit 2+2=∑ at the moment, but according to Sky Sports News, Randy Lerner's private jet has been spotted in Norway and Solskjaer himself wasn't present at Molde training this morning.

This'll mostly be an exercise in going through the motions as I mentioned earlier, I had a news and notes post half-completed when the news of Kenny Dalglish's dismissal broke, so this is most of that post with a few comments added on the current situation. We'll probably start the conversation soon enough about what happens next at the top, but for now we can at least take a look at the other goings-on from the week.

With all eyes on England's rookie boss Roy Hodgson, here are the other managers with plenty to prove at Euro 2012. No doubt Hodgson will attract plenty of headlines, as he looks to silence the doubters who questioned his recent appointment as England coach. But there will also be significant pressure placed on the managers [.

With the appointment of the experienced Roy Hodgson as the newest manager of the Three Lions, there is hope that England can make a run at this year's European Championship. After all the controversy and negative media attention that makes ...
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Peter Butler has been appointed coach of Terangganu. He takes over from Mat Aziz who was controversially dismissed last week.
Butler, who played for West Ham United, will be up against one of his former clubs next week when Terengganu take on Kelantan in the AFC Cup in what promises to be a very tasty affair.

There is something rather appropriate about the fact that the first post-season managerial casualty in the Premier League should have turned out to be Aston Villa's Alex McLeish. It was, after all, McLeish's arrival at Villa Park last summer that was one of the most perplexing seen anywhere in recent times, and has been one of the most bitterly opposed by supporters of the club at which the appointment was made.

Destroyed by days of corporate football

A good Friday to you. 2 more days before our last game of the season. Depending on where you stand on the European Championship, it's not going to be a very long and arduous break between football. Plenty to discuss so we might as well just jump into it.

Venky play foul in Blackburn takeover

After two years one still doesn't quite know why Venky's decided to takeover Blackburn. The one thing that has been established unequivocally is that they did not do it because they loved football. The other imperative of raising the company's profile internationally by investing in a brand is also not being borne out by their step sisterly treatment of Rovers.

Swindon boss Paolo Di Canio has surprised a lot of people this season. When he took over at the Robins he appeared to be what's not known in the trade as an Onka's Big Moka appointment: a seemingly exciting move that pretty soon emerges to have little substance and ultimately ends in swathes of disappointment.

Valencia have announced the appointment of former defender Mauricio Pellegrino as their new coach. The former assistant manager to Rafael Benitez at Liverpool and Inter Milan, Pellegrino has signed a two-year deal with Valencia.

Valencia president Manuel Llorente told the club's official website:

"The board have signed and ratified the agreement reached this past Friday with Mauricio Pellegrini, who will be the first-team manager for the next two seasons.

A time for change at Anfield:
Guest writer: Pat McGuinness
Check out Pat's interesting blog:
Pat's Football Blog
"I'm not quite sure what to make of Saturday's game; the right team won on the day but the officials got the Carroll decision wrong - footage of the header will show that there was no view of the incident from directly on the goal-line, but fractionally in front of it.

The Football League draws to a close this weekend, but the big news has been Roy Hodgson's appointment as England manager. This week's column will contain a nice rant before each selection after the media f*ckwittery that has followed the announcement. Nice to see The Sun newspaper act on behalf of the notion by taking [.

Image: AFP PHOTO/OLLY GREENWOOD.

You've got to hand it to the FA. After months of media speculation that practically rendered any application for the vacant England manager's job moot (other than Harry Redknapp's), they announce that Roy Hodgson signed a four-year-deal for the post leaving pundits scandalised over their lack of pre-knowledge of the hiring.

New England manager Roy Hodgson has given his first interview in the role. Given the reaction to his appointment in some quarters of the media, he perhaps wisely gave the interview to the FA's YouTube channel.

West Brom manager Roy Hodgson has been given a four-year contract to take charge of the England team and serve as primary scapegoat/punching bag and The Sun ensured that the job began right away.

"I would hope if I was offered the England job," Hodgson told The Sun two days ago, "it would be with the backing of the important people — the fans and media.

The thirty third installment in our Great Teams series sees us remain in the midlands. Nathan Briant has recently blogged on the appointment of Roy Hodgson as England manager but here, he casts his mind back to an entertaining Walsall side from just over a decade ago, one whom one member of the TTU staff remembers with much anguish after an unhappy visit to the Millennium stadium.

Football Federation Australia is "ramping up" preparations for the AFC Asian Cup 2015 with the appointment of new members of the Local Organising Committee (LOC). The tournament is the pinnacle event of the 46 nation Asian Football Confederation, the largest affiliated continental constituent of the world football body, FIFA.

Andre Marriner is the appointment for the Manchester derby.
In 14 Man Utd matches that he has officiated, the Reds have won 12, drawn 1, lost 1.
The 4th Official is Mike Jones who was described as "rubbish" by David Moyes after the game with Everton yesterday. When a referee, United have not lost one game out of the 9 that he has refereed.

Yesterday we looked at Harry's current position at the club at a time when many fans are questioning whether he has other things on his mind as Tottenham's season continues to unravel.
This morning, we are waking up to the news that he has received a glowing endorsement from the FA in the shape of Phil Gartside, Bolton Chairman and FA board member who claims that Redknapp has all the attributes to make for an outstanding England manager.

Chelsea will take the field at Stamford Bridge this evening for the first leg of a Champions League match against Barcelona which must surely rank amongst one of the more unlikely to be played all season. The sacking of Andre Villa Boas was supposed to draw a line below the competive side of Chelsea's season, an acknowledgement of the failure on the part of the directors of the club in terms of their last managerial appointment.

Stoke City striker Peter Crouch should be taken to Euro 2012 according to his club team-mate Thomas Sorensen.

Those assessing the Latest Euro 2012 odds note how the former Liverpool forward hasn't featured for England for a while now, but with strikers at a premium for the team at the moment, Sorensen believes Crouch is the man to be called upon.

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I was shocked to hear the news this morning that Liverpool's director of football Damien Comolli has left the club by mutual consent.

Comolli was appointed by club co-owners John W. Henry and Tom Werner following their takeover of the club in September 2010.

I was shocked to hear the news this morning that Liverpool's director of football Damien Comolli has left the club by mutual consent.

Comolli was appointed by club co-owners John W. Henry and Tom Werner following their takeover of the club in September 2010.

At the time of his appointment, Comolli said his role was identifying transfer targets which means he was responsible for overseeing Dalglish's £112.

With just six more games to play the season's end is fast approaching, our current third place is not looking too bad when the awful start to the campaign is taken into account. There are some tough games coming up and tonight's trip to Molineux is a potential stumbling block which deserves to be taken just as seriously as Saturday's win over the Manchester Oilers.