It’s 10 years since Liverpool won their first trophy under FSG’s watch, beating Cardiff City on penalties in the League Cup final back in 2012. By defeating Man City in the FA Cup semi-finals on Saturday, the Reds have also reached the final of the tournament for the first time in a decade.
With Jurgen Klopp at the helm, Liverpool ’s American owners have seen the club crowned champions of England, Europe and the world, while also lifting both the League Cup and European Super Cup. Chasing an unprecedented quadruple this year, John Henry and co. will be confident further silverware is to follow with the German in charge.
Yet such success is in stark contrast to their early years at Anfield despite winning that maiden trophy 10 years ago, little over a year after buying the club in the first place. Now one of the best sides in the world, that was clearly not the case during the first half of their Reds reign.
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FSG opened the doors to Liverpool a few months after that first piece of silverware, sanctioning the infamous ‘Being: Liverpool’ fly-on-the-wall documentary during the opening months of new manager Brendan Rodgers ’ Reds era. The club’s current fortunes are admittedly unrecognisable now compared to back then, littered with highs and lows from a near-title win with the genius Luis Suarez leading the attack to dismal campaigns under the Northern Irishman plagued by bad signings.
And having been present for the entire first half of the FSG era, having signed just before their arrival and left a few months before Rodgers was sacked in October 2015, goalkeeper Brad Jones is better-placed than most reflect on a rollercoaster period at Anfield.
The Australian had only made four appearances for the club prior to Rodgers’ arrival in the summer of 2012, and had faced the prospect of being sold by his boyhood club following talks with his new manager, only to do enough in pre-season to earn a reprieve. He would go on to record a Reds’ best 15 appearances in the 2012/13 season, in a campaign which started rather bizarrely with the Being: Liverpool cameras watching on.
Rodgers memorably clashed with a teenage Raheem Sterling at training during pre-season, while he would find himself ridiculed by outsiders after his use of an envelopes mind-trick on the show. Lifting the lid on both incidents, it was Jones who offered the young winger some words of wisdom after he had been threatened with being sent home. And revealing the mind-trick was perhaps even less successful than viewers at the time might have thought, he was not surprised to see things not run smoothly.
“What you saw on the show was what you got,” he told the ECHO in an exclusive interview. “There were little bits off camera. I remember the thing with Raheem.
“It’s funny, I was just behind him and I think Brendan was testing him. He’d done it to a few people. Give them a little prod just to see how people react. Raheem was a kid at the time and a lot was on his shoulders for what people expected.
“I just remember that moment happening and I grabbed Raheem literally just after he said it and I said to him, 'He’s testing you. Don’t bite back. Just show him, you don’t have to do anything else.' He was such a good kid.
“It’s been said about the way the press dealt with him but he was a really good kid. He did exactly that. Got his head down, kept working and all of a sudden he was a massive player for the team. An important player and has gone on to have not too bad a career.
“The thing with the envelopes was a funny one. I think it was Glen Johnson who said he’d actually seen it before, I think it was Mourinho who had done it. When he did it, as we were sitting and he was talking, he put the envelopes up and you could actually see straight through them, just the way that the light caught them. I just remember sitting there thinking, ‘I don’t think there’s anything in those envelopes!’
“But for me Brendan was and is a very good coach. You can see what he’s doing with Leicester. Coaches always try things here and there to grab people’s attention or give them a little push. When they’re being filmed, it doesn’t always go so smoothly.”
Jones would actually start Rodgers’ first match as Liverpool manager (a 1-0 win over Gomel), and would end up making appearances against the likes of Chelsea, Tottenham and Everton over the course of the season. Signing a new long-term contract in December 2012, after having barely featured under Roy Hodgson and Kenny Dalglish, it was a most-welcome change of fortunes for the Australian.
“That year, I don’t know, I just felt like I’d been accepted,” he recalled. “From Brendan too and I got to play in some big games. I played against Tottenham, and Chelsea. There was a derby in there as well, at Goodison, when Luis had a disallowed goal right at the end of the game.
“As that goal went it, where the fans sit at Goodison is on the side, further down by the goal. I’ve seen Stevie sprint over to the fans celebrating. I was in it too. 'Get in!' We’ve scored a last-minute winner or whatever.
“But just out of the corner of my eye I’ve seen the flag’s gone up and the ref’s hand. And all of a sudden the panic sets in because I’m a mile away from the goal now. Stevie’s jumping on us and all the fans and that. I’ve said to him, 'You need to look!' Though not in those words, I’ll keep it clean!
“All of a sudden I had to peg it back to the goal because they’d taken a quick free-kick and they were off. I was thinking, 'Oh my god, imagine if something like that happened and they’d scored from it.' It was pretty insane.
“But to get some games against those big clubs as well, and some good results, it was probably my best season as a Liverpool player, just getting that run of games and not just being in for the odd game here and there.”
Yet that season would perhaps best be remembered for Luis Suarez’s infamous bite on Branislav Ivanovic at Anfield in April 2013, with the Uruguayan handed a 10-game ban. Admitting the striker would utilise such dirty tactics in training, Jones admits the forward was a completely different person on and off the pitch.
“It was weird because not many people actually knew what had happened,” the goalkeeper said of the bite. “The game’s going on and things are happening, then all of a sudden it’s all kicking off. You don’t know exactly what’s happened.
“It wasn’t until after where we got it and had seen the TV that we saw what he’d done. It was surreal. 'What’s he doing?' No-one really got it. I don’t think he got it, I don’t think he had clicked what he’d done. Nothing really got spoken about at the time because we didn’t know what had happened until it came out on the TV after.
“That was Luis. He was two personalities. Off the pitch, a lovely guy. Very family-orientated. But the minute he walked over the line, he was just someone else. Even in training, he was horrible. He’d elbow, he’d bite, he’d kick. Whatever, he’d do anything to win. And then the minute he was changed, he was all nice again. That’s what makes him what he is.”
In the midst of Suarez’s ban, he would try to force through a £40m and £1 move to Arsenal before staying with the Reds and enjoying the season of his life.
“It was odd with all the stuff going on with Luis (when Arsenal were in for him),” Jones recalled. “It was messy, what was coming out in the media and the whole stupid bid. £40m and £1 was it? Something ridiculous.
“He’s one of the best players, you don’t want to lose him. Stevie, especially with things like that, takes it personally. I think he spoke to him and asked, 'Are you sure?' He was on legend status at that time at Liverpool. You definitely don’t want to be losing a quality player like him.
“It was very messy and the media had got hold of it, but you don’t really know what’s going on. Players, especially that type of player, doesn’t sit around telling everyone every detail. So yeah, it was a bit odd.”
While Suarez might have ended up staying at Anfield in the summer of 2013, one player who did depart was long-serving first-choice goalkeeper Pepe Reina. The Spaniard, who joined Liverpool in 2005, had been number one ahead of Jones but not enjoyed his best season the previous year.
Leaving on loan for Napoli, Rodgers brought in Simon Mignolet as the Australian found himself competing with a new man between the sticks. The Belgian’s own erratic form would ultimately open the door to Jones in his final season at the club.
“I think there had been rumours about Pepe moving for a couple of years,” Jones said. “So not so much of a surprise that he was leaving, more a surprise in how he was leaving. Pepe was a massive player for the club and had achieved quite a bit in his time.
“He was very well-regarded so it was strange that it came to that, that he was leaving on loan. I think the club had rejected £16m or £20m from Arsenal, something like that, around the time that I signed. It was strange.
“But then Simon came in. He’d been doing well at Sunderland but you were thinking Pepe’s Pepe. And I think that’s where Simon struggled. People didn’t take to him as much. He wasn’t as big a character as Pepe. He was just a nice, quiet guy.
“It’s difficult how people perceive players. They’re both different but Simon was consistent. Obviously as a goalkeeper, you’re always going to make mistakes. The bigger the club, the bigger the mistake seems because the media blow it up.
“He got caught with that a bit because there was the odd mistake here and there but I think he was harshly dealt with in the media. But both very good goalkeepers but slightly different types of keeper.
“You saw afterwards that the club had to spend what they spent for Alisson to get someone in who could replace those guys. It wasn’t as easy as they thought it was going to be.”
Jones would make just three appearances in the 2013/14 season, and none in the Premier League, following Mignolet’s arrival at the club. However, he was still part of the side that came desperately close to winning the Premier League for the first time since 1990 that year.
A Steven Gerrard slip against Chelsea would ultimately play its part in the Reds missing out, but Jones believes Rodgers’ side were good to be crowned champions when recalling the campaign. And looking back, he thinks the pressure just got too much.
“It’s a shame that we missed out on the title in 2014 because that group of players was so good,” he said. “It was such a good group as well in terms of team spirit. That year, how together that team was was brilliant. I’m not sure that happens too often at big clubs.
“Everyone was living around each other and going out together and going for dinner, and the kids were playing together and all that. I think that rubs off on the pitch and you go that extra mile for people. That year was very close but unfortunately not quite close enough.
“We were brilliant that year. When it came towards the end of the season, the atmosphere, the drive into Anfield on a matchday, that was something else. People packing the streets, flares and fireworks - that was intense.
“I think it potentially it was something that kind of got the better of us in the end. How much everyone wanted it, fans and players alike. It just hits that point where everyone wants it so bad, you kind of tense up that bit too much. That was pretty much what happened.
“The game with the big rallying cry, I think that was the Man City game, and then yeah, these things happen. But incredible to see it, the roads being packed, people hanging out of windows and everything. You’re thinking, ‘It’s not the last game. We’ve got a month or so, a month’s worth of games to go.’
“But everyone just wanted it so badly. It was a shame but at the same time, an amazing experience to have been part of all of those games leading up to it.”
He continued: “(After Chelsea it was) silence. Deathly silence. It was horrible. Stevie felt that it was him and that was his chance.
“At the same time he had been carrying the team basically as well. I think a lot of people wanted to go and just put an arm around him but at the same time you want to leave him because you know what he’s going through.
“Actually, probably we don’t to be honest because there’s not many people in his situation. For the slip to have been him, it was horrible. Not for it to have happened but for it to have been him. These things happen, unfortunately. That’s what football does to you.”
The 2014/15 season would prove to Jones’ last at his boyhood club and it was one that provided conflicting emotions. Making five appearances over the course of the campaign as Mignolet struggled for form, he was denied an outing against his former club Middlesbrough in the League Cup in September as Rodgers felt compelled to show faith in his number one.
Three months later and the Australian found himself thrown in at Old Trafford with the Liverpool manager no longer able to ignore the Belgian’s struggles. Jones was handed a run in the starting XI as a result, only for an early injury suffered away at Burnley on Boxing Day to stop him in his tracks.
Inconsolable on the bench, he didn’t know it at the time, but it would prove to be his final appearance for the Reds. Out of contract in the summer of 2015, despite holding positive talks with Rodgers, the untimely injury would ultimately dash any hopes of staying at Anfield and end his Liverpool career.
“It was crazy, that period, because I hadn’t played all season and then I got thrown in at Old Trafford,” Jones says about his unexpected recall. “We’d played Middlesbrough in the cup earlier in the season and I was disappointed that game that I didn’t get played.
“I was hoping to get a cup game. That period Simon had been struggling a little bit and Brendan said, 'I need to keep him in, just for his confidence.' And then he ends up throwing me in at Old Trafford when I hadn’t played for six months or something.
“I played that game but it didn’t go too well. Played a couple more around Christmas and I went from not playing at all to playing four games within 12 days or something. Then I went to take a goal kick at Burnley and felt my thigh pop. That was the end of that.
“At that moment I was hoping for potentially another contract. There had been some brief chats that would be on the cards but the injury ended everything. That was the end of that and it was a disappointing way to finish. That’s what football does to you. You can be up there one minute and down there the next. That’s pretty much how it went.
“It was disappointing to leave and to leave in that way, but at the same time I had hit that point where I wanted to be playing more and I wanted to be a number one. I needed to find a way to get out and do that.
“I’d had a few chats with Brendan over the year and it was positive. 'I’m going to talk to the club to get it sorted out. It’s going to happen.' It kind of dragged on and I started wondering what would happen.
“All that time had passed, I’d been injured and I got the call to go and see the gaffer. He just said, 'Look, it’s not going to happen.' It is what it is. That’s the way it goes. At least he told me and told me face to face. You move on.”
Jones’ final season at Anfield would coincide with the arrival of maverick forward Mario Balotelli, brought in from AC Milan in a £16m as a replacement for Suarez. Scoring just four goals before being discarded on loan, the switch did not work out for club or player.
Tales would later emerge of some of the Italian’s disruptive antics at training, with Jones able to verify one at least. Balotelli did score own goals in sessions in protest at being asked to defend at corners!
“He’s just one of them. He’s a character. Again, a nice guy. Would be a nice guy off the pitch to him,” Jones said. “You chat to him and have a laugh. His problem was he was just a big kid. He didn’t take anything too seriously, he was just a nice lad.
“I don’t think anyone’s ever seen the real Balotelli. This guy who was talked about and what people always thought potentially was going to come just never happened.
“In training, he could do some phenomenal things. Finishing and stuff, he was brilliant. But things like own goals and the coach telling him that he had to come back and defend a corner and he didn’t want to do it. Little things like that make you think, ‘Why? Why and how?!’
“This guy has played for Italy. He’s playing for Liverpool and has played for Inter. He ruins all his good stuff by doing something stupid. But what I will say is he was a good lad. Not necessarily a bad egg in the dressing room. A character, definitely a character!”
He continued: “I probably was (in goal for the own goals in training) for one or two, yeah. I remember he was going to play and we were doing set-pieces.
“Brendan told him, 'Mario, you’re going to stand here at the front post.' Mario said, 'No, no, no! I’m no good at that.' Brendan was like, 'You’re 6ft 2, you’re good at heading!' He’s like, 'No, no, no! I don’t like being here!' He just didn’t want to do it, he didn’t want the responsibility.
“Brendan said, 'Well you’re going to do it!' So the first corner comes in, he ducks. The second corner comes in and he’s like 'Eurgh'. And then I'm pretty sure either the third or fourth ended up being an own goal.
“It was like, ‘Okay Mario, go stand back up there. Go get away from our goal please!’”
Balotelli might not have been the most reliable team-mate while Jones’ time at Liverpool coincided with a challenging time for the club on the pitch for the majority, but that didn’t stop him playing alongside some truly gifted players.
Joining his boyhood club from Championship side Middlesbrough, being part of a squad that included the likes of Gerrard, Jamie Carragher and Fernando Torres was an eye-opening experience. And later getting to play alongside the likes of Suarez and Philippe Coutinho, Jones was living the dream.
For the Australian, the legendary Reds skipper is an obvious choice for the best player in training, with him explaining how people still don’t realise just how good he was. But it was the brilliance of one other Liverpool star that even forced Rodgers to stop training on one occasion.
“You always had the guy that set the bar who was Stevie. Always,” he said. “That’s something that people have to understand. He did it every day. Every single day.
“Luis (Suarez) was up there, don’t get me wrong. He would do some mad stuff, dribbles and what not, but Stevie’s quality was phenomenal. Everyone that comes in new at the club, that first month or so must just be looking at him the same as I was, going, 'How? How does he do this every day?!' That’s what made him what he was, just phenomenal.
“Fernando (Torres) was an incredible finisher and then we moved on and Luis came in. That guy was just next level. To be fair for Torres, it wasn’t a great moment for him when I was there. Rafa had left and he was bitterly disappointed with what was happening. I probably didn’t get to see the best of Fernando.
“Stevie would always be number one in terms of day in, day out. Just incredible. But Luis was just something else too. He was always one step ahead. He was seeing what someone was about to do.
“If the defender had the ball, they’d try to fake him but he’d already taken the ball off them. That was it, it was finished. His work ethic, he used to stay out after training every day. It was him, Maxi for a period, Coates. They used to go in the indoor, as soon as we finished training they’d go in the indoor and be on that for an hour. It was all the time, he just lived for it.
“Coutinho was another one. He wasn’t really getting as much game-time as he wanted at Inter and then he turned up and became ‘The Magician’.
“We had moments where, I think we had to stop training one day because everyone was just applauding. Brendan Rodgers just stopped training and we were all just stood there like, ‘Oh my god, that was incredible.’ I don’t know how he did it.”
He continued: “When I turned up, I couldn’t get over how good some of the guys were and how underrated,” he said. “Like Maxi Rodriguez, what a player! That guy was incredible and he never really got the plaudits of some of the others.
“He was kind of outshone because he was quite quiet and he just went about his business but what a player. It really took me aback seeing him. I was like, ‘Wow, this guy can do all sorts.’
“The likes of Skrtel and Daniel Agger, I think there’s always players who don’t quite get the plaudits that they should and those two were another. What an amazing pairing.
“The likes of Maxi and guys like that were really underrated. Training, he was incredible. Sturridge, incredible. Later you had Raheem. We had Stu Downing who came in, who I knew which was good.
“Carra was the organiser. He didn’t have the same playing power as a Gerrard or a Suarez but he was always organising, always pulling people in. Just defended with his life.
“Amazing player, what he achieved and what he did for the club. And yeah, he could gob off sometimes. He was Stevie’s voice if you like. Stevie was very quiet and just led by example. Not so much with his voice but Carra made up for it!
“Carra hated goalkeepers, I’m telling you! Being a defender, he could always turn around and blame the guy behind him. We’d sit on the bus after a game and watch all the other games, the highlights.
“The goals would be going in and all you could hear was Carra going, 'What’s the keeper doing there? What’s the keeper doing there?' I just thought, ‘If you’re saying that about them, I’m finished!’
“But it was an amazing time in terms of the players because the team was getting better and better.”
Now on the books of Perth Glory, Jones is playing in his native Australia for the first time in his career. However, he did get to play Down Under during his time with Liverpool one pre-season. An occasion he’ll never forget, he hopes the club will repeat the trip and he’ll get a chance to line up against the Reds one last time before he hangs up his gloves.
“To play in Australia for Liverpool was incredible,” he said. “We’d done a bit of a tour and ended up in Melbourne, and walking out in the MCG and 95,000 people there for a pre-season game was pretty epic.
“I look at the footage now and again because I show people, saying, 'This was pre-season! This was our pre-season. You don’t understand. Like three weeks into training and you’ve got nearly 100,000 people there!' The passion of all the people in the crowd. Everyone was wearing red.
“You had people tearing up singing You’ll Never Walk Alone. That was their moment to be part of it, people who hadn’t had the opportunity. It was amazing.
“Hopefully while I’m here, there might be another opportunity for the club to come over. That would be something special.”
Jones would make 27 appearances during his five years at Anfield, winning just the League Cup before establishing himself as a successful first-choice goalkeeper in both the Netherlands and Saudi Arabia. While he might not have got to play as much for Liverpool as he would have liked, he has no regrets. After all, as a boyhood Red, he was lucky enough to live the dream.
“Regrets? Hard to have regrets, I got to play there for five years!” he said. “It’s something you don’t really think you’re ever going to achieve. I would have liked to have not got injured at the end there and finished that way. But I can’t be too sad after being there five years.
“I hope fans remember me as someone who was like one of them. I just wanted to be there, wanted to be part of it. People have said for the five years, they never heard me complain about not playing.
“It wasn’t for the fact I didn’t want to or just accepted it. My job was just to get on with it, to be there and support and that’s what I always tried to do.
“It’s probably something the fans and people on the outside don’t really see. I was always there for the club. Just one of them who managed to get in there.”
