The aftermath following the departure of a football manager is always one of great intrigue for the media and fans, especially for a club with a massive following and history like Liverpool's.
Football fantasy is now set to turn into reality with two of the game's great minds available at Liverpool's disposal.
Jurgen Klopp and Carlo Ancelotti have been linked to Anfield since Sunday evening. While Ancelotti has plenty of experience and pedigree with the likes of AC Milan, Juventus, PSG, Chelsea and Real Madrid, he does carry some baggage from his recent stint at Real Madrid and of course, his stint at Chelsea which only ended 4 years ago.
Ancelotti has also tended to sign established stars rather than build from the academy - he is an Italian football manager of the very traditional sense and do not think he would fit the mould of manager that the Kop expect.
Which leaves us with Jurgen Klopp - an appointment which apparently is set in stone according to a Pravdabl, a Bosnian newspaper who claim to have the exclusive scoop on Klopp's appointment as Liverpool manager. Klopp's assistant, Zeljko Buvac, is of Bosnian descent which is where the link lies.
Whether or not the German becomes Liverpool's next manager as predicted by the media, there will be plenty of challenges to face for the new manager who will be taking on what is transpiring to be football's poisoned chalice.
1. History -
Even the most ignorant of football fans know how successful Liverpool were in the past. While their current form bellies it and much as the likes of Chelsea and Manchester City would like to disagree, Liverpool is still one of the top 3 biggest clubs in England up there with Manchester United and Arsenal, and one of the biggest names in football. Their global fan base is testament to that.
While Klopp knows about the impact of the crowd from his time at the massive Westfalenstadion, Liverpool is not just the 40,000 at Anfield every other weekend. It's about thousands of fans in Europe, Africa, Asia and North and South America. Liverpool's influence on world football dwarfs Borussia Dortmund's by a long way.
It is vital that Klopp has the emotional connection from the off - something which Roy Hodgson didn't quite understand.
2. Playing Style -
It's not just winning that matters at Anfield. It's the way the club play - a committed, free-flowing, quick passing game with lots of goals scored which epitomises the best of English football.
Rodgers delivered this type of football to Anfield and was a refreshing change to Houllier, Hodgson and Benitez, but defence was clearly sacrificed and without Suarez's goals, those frailties are now all clear to see.
Thankfully Klopp is familiar with that style of football having brought a version of total football to Borussia Dortmund which resulted in 2 league titles, and Bayern Munich signing Pep Guardiola to imitate them. On the other hand, Dortmund weren't specialists when it came to clean sheets particularly in Klopp's last season.
3. Players -
It has been a chronic problem at Liverpool since the departure of Kenny Dalglish as manager. Lots of great players but also lots of average players who don't deserve the jersey. Unfortunately, Rodgers just added to the list that includes Heggem, Cheyrou, Diouf with the likes of Markovic, Aspoas, Lambert, Balotelli all flops and the jury still out on Adam Lallana and Mamadou Sakho.
Rodgers faced the same dilemma after that Andre Villas-Boas faced in the aftermath of selling his best player for a world record price. Both managers couldn't quite strengthen the squad and fill the gap left by Bale and Suarez and both now find themselves no longer at their respective clubs.
However, Pochettino has managed to unite whatever new signings were left at Tottenham while getting rid of those who no longer have a future there and it is now up to Klopp to do the same at Liverpool.
Klopp also has the added bonus of not having to worry about the shadow of Steven Gerrard with the Liverpool great out of the picture, so should be able to start on a fresh template with these guys.
Could he turn Danny Ings into the goal machine that Robert Lewandowski and Patrick Aubemayang are now?
4. Ownership -
The current owners of Liverpool are definitely a vast improvement on the Gillett-Hicks show that nearly sent the club into ruin. Fenway Sports Group are disciples of the Moneyball indoctrination and this is evident in the way they've run their other big sports team, the Boston Red Sox.
The formula has yet to work in a league where money still pretty much rules along with tradition and there are questions over the structure and influence of certain members of the backroom staff, i.e. the staff who sign players.
A balance needs to be struck. On the one hand, Rafa Benitez was given far too much power and this turned out to be a negative for the club. On the other hand, having the backroom have too much say on players undermines a manager as it appeared to have done so with Brendan Rodgers.
Jurgen Klopp would be familiar with this scenario - his Dortmund club ended up selling their best three players, Mario Goetze, Shinji Kagawa and Robert Lewandowski to bigger clubs, but he still managed to rebuild the club - something Rodgers has clearly failed at.
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