Rodgers: I'm inspired by Kenny
Brendan Rodgers today insisted he is inspired by the prospect of following in Kenny Dalglish's footsteps.
The Reds' new boss is well aware of Dalglish's standing among Liverpool supporters, but has enough belief in his own ability to remain undaunted at the thought of succeeding the King of Anfield.
"I have the ultimate respect for Kenny Dalglish," Rodgers said.
"My door is always open for Kenny Dalglish. This is his home. As chairman Tom Werner said, he is the heart and soul of this club.
"His love for this club is unrivalled. He is the best player in the history of this club. I am not here to win any race or competition. This guy is a legend in the game and here at Liverpool Football Club.
"But what I know is history judges you as a manager and hopefully in time people will look back at what I have achieved here and I can walk beside these people.
"But there is no way I can try and overtake someone like Kenny Dalglish. All I can do is be myself.
"That is all I've ever tried to be - to be a student of the game and be the very best I could. That has helped me make a meteoric rise as because of my work I've been able to get the opportunities."
Rodgers' rise to the Anfield hot-seat has come on the back of an impressive spell in charge at Swansea City, with whom he enjoyed promotion to the top flight and then a magnificent first season in the Premier League.
He is now determined to enjoy more success at Anfield.
"This is a prestigious club and Kenny is a guy who has a wonderful history here and will continue to have a great future in terms of Liverpool. I can't worry about that," he added.
"The only way you can overcome that is by winning. On a lesser scale, when I went in to Swansea there was a similar thing. The chairman put me in and I was in to the challenge of making the club better.
"It will be the same thing here. I respect every manager and player who has played at the club but now it's a new cycle and I enter into that with great motivation, aware of the risk, aware of the challenges but excited about everything.
"I'm excited about everything about this city. It's a city of folklore and football and I am proud to be a part of it."
Rodgers also insisted he has no concerns about trying to win over those outside the club who have questioned his appointment.
"I know there are three types of supporters at every club," he added.
"Number one is those who, no matter who the manager is, they love their club and they will love their manager whoever it is because Liverpool is their life and their passion and they love their club.
"The second group is supporters who will accept you but to earn their real respect you will have to be successful. That's fine.
"The third group are the critics and you never change them ever. If you win four nil it should have been five. If you win the league it should have been three.
"I will never worry about that group because you can never affect them. If you do a good job you are proving them wrong but they can't be proved wrong so they will kill you even more.
"I only want to work with the people who love the club. I have always had good relations with the media and with the supporters.
"I'm open and honest. I understand that not everybody will want me here but that's part of the dance."