Rodgers treat for Toronto fans
It's been eight long years since Liverpool were last in Canada but for the 4,000 fans who turned out in Toronto on Friday night to see the team train, Brendan Rodgers treated them to an experience they won't forget in a hurry.
Having trained for over an hour inside the Rogers Centre, the session was over as a spectacle when the Liverpool manager signalled for the entire playing squad to go over to the fans and sign some autographs. The reaction of the fans as Jamie Carragher led the rest of his teammates over towards the supporters, some as young as two, one as old as 80, was frenzied as they threw down shirts, balls, trainers and flags for the players to sign.
Each player spent over 15 minutes signing as many items and posing for as many pictures as they could before having to depart to get the bus back to the team hotel. Earlier, while the session was still going on, Robbie Fowler and Ian Rush both spent an hour chatting to fans and signing autographs - with Fowler posing for a photo with a group of young Scousers who had travelled for 10 hours on a Greyhound bus from New York overnight to be here in time for training.
However, it was the sight of Brendan Rodgers chatting to fans, signing autographs and posing for photographs - including taking hold of one fan's young toddler - that was the most refreshing aspect of the evening. The Reds boss spent over half an hour with the fans - staying longer than anyone - and didn't turn down a single autograph request as he happily chatted with fans who wanted to wish him luck and find out who he wanted to buy.
Asked in the press conference later why he stayed behind so long after the session to meet the fans, Rodgers explained he felt it was his duty.
"It was very humbling for me to see the reaction of the fans," he said. "This football club is a worldwide institution and it's our job to take great players to the people. Liverpool have had so many great, great players throughout the years who have built this club into what it is today. They've done the hard work and now it's our job, as the next generation, to keep up the good name of the club."
One fan who certainly appreciated the gesture from Rodgers and the players was Khalid Magram, a local fan from Toronto. As he was in a wheelchair, he couldn't sit in the stand where the players were signing autographs for the supporters present but he waited patiently by the exit to the tunnel area for over half an hour and when Rodgers saw him, he immediately went over to shake his hand and have a chat.
"Brendan, I'm a big fan of tiki-taka," he said, when the manager approached him. "I hope you can get Liverpool playing that way."
The boss stopped and chatted and the smile on his face said everything. "I really think he's going to be special for Liverpool," Khalid told lfctour.com afterwards. "There's something good about him."
