Brendan Rodgers - from Carnlough to the Kop

Who would have thought that when this photograph of the Ballymena United team for the 1988 Milk Cup was taken by the Ballymena Times, that it would include a future manager of Liverpool Football Club?

That situation has today become reality with Brendan Rodgers (third from left in the front row of our photo) having taken over the managerial hotseat at Anfield.

Brendan began his playing career with Star United under the tutelage of Arthur McClean, where he played from the ages of 12-16, his performances as an energetic midfielder earning him a call-up for the Northern Ireland Milk Cup - a competition which Rodgers would later revisit in his coaching role with Chelsea, where he was reserve team manager during Jose Mourinho’s time in charge at Stamford Bridge.

“He was very dedicated - most of the other boys in the Star team would have been from in and around Ballymena but Brendan’s father Malachy would bring him up from Carnlough each week.

“He was a good player and he could well have had a very good career in the game, had he not suffered from injury.

“He was confident in his own ability without ever being arrogant - he was a nice lad to work with.

“He has done very well for himself - he was very highly thought of at Chelsea and he worked wonders at Swansea.

“I was talking to him when he was over here with Chelsea for the Milk Cup a few years ago - he was recalling the times when the boys used to train by running laps around the Showgrounds and the old sheep pens at the bottom which are no longer there.

“I’m very pleased for Brendan and it’s great that he has landed a job as big as Liverpool,” added Arthur.

Brendan’s progress as a player in his teenage years was all the more remarkable as all his football was played outside school, as St Patrick’s College, as it now named today, did not play football on a competitive level at that time.

“He was a great sporting all-rounder,” recalls St Patrick’s teahcer Paul McKee.

“He played gaelic football and hurling and he was an excellent point guard in basketball.

“He was back at the school a couple of years ago as guest speaker at our prize day and he spoke very fondly about his time at St Patrick’s.

“He was a bright lad, no doubt about that, but by his own admission, he said he wasn’t particularly academically motivated but he loved the sport - that was his thing.

“Brendan is a great fellow and I have always kept an eye on his career. After I would have watched the English Premier League results on a Saturday, the next one I would look for would have been Reading, Watford or Swansea when he was at each of those clubs - he has done brilliantly for himself,” added Paul.

* For more local reaction to Brendan Rodgers’ appointment, see this week’s Ballymena Times.