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When Brendan Rodgers was appointed as manager of Liverpool, there were many supporters who felt it was a gamble on the club's part.
Having watched the curious and embarrassing recent events unfold at Anfield, maybe it was the Carnlough man who took the gamble, leaving the safe haven of Swansea City.
Three Premier League games in and with just one point from nine, the heat is already on Rodgers, who has not been helped by shocking transfer window business leaving the boss to dig the team out of a large hole with what amounts to a table spoon.
Once Liverpool allowed Andy Carroll to leave on-loan for West Ham it was a necessity that another striker was signed to bolster the attack.
I'm no fan of Carroll, unlike some pundits who seem to think he's now actually worth the ludicrous £35m Liverpool paid for him.
Let's get it right, in one-and-a-half seasons Carroll played well in a handful of games. To be blunt the big man was a big waste of money and Rodgers, given the way in which he wants his team to play, made the right call to move him on.
It was elsewhere that the problems arose when others higher up at the club failed to deliver in recruiting Clint Dempsey.
The American would have walked over broken glass to play in front of the Kop, but ended up at Spurs when Liverpool refused to pay £6m to Fulham.
Rodgers also wanted Chelsea's Daniel Sturridge, which would have been a shrewd signing, but that too did not materialise.
Therefore having Carroll to support a wafer thin front line, which had already lost the goals of Craig Bellamy and Dirk Kuyt in the summer, was better than nothing, but by the time the Dempsey and Sturridge deals fell through, Andy was blowing bubbles in the Eastend of London.
A couple of days later, that misjudgement by the suits was compounded by a toothless display from those in red shirts when Arsenal won 2-0 at Anfield.
At times like this managers need their so called top players to shine. Pepe Reina (again) and Luis Suarez (again) were found wanting at either end of the pitch. Even captain Steven Gerrard was poor.
Afterwards on radio phone-ins, you could tell some clowns had escaped from the circus with a few “supporters” calling for Rodgers to be sacked.
The more sensible Liverpool fans rightly questioned the transfer policy and what the owners were up to, prompting an open letter, published on the club's website, from principle owner John W Henry yesterday outlining that no more “risky spending” would take place and that in future any deals would be about “getting maximum value.”
In a nutshell that was telling Brendan and everyone else that the £80m or so thrown away by his predecessor Kenny Dalglish on Carroll, Stewart Downing, Jordan Henderson and Charlie Adam would not be wasted again.
Rodgers then is working with limitations and with free agent Michael Owen still more likely to go to Stoke than return to Liverpool, he may have to make do to January with what he has got.
When referring to the manager in his 835 word letter, Henry said: “We have a talented young manager and we have valued highly his judgement about the make-up of the squad.
“This is a work in progress. It will take time for Brendan to instill his philosophy into the squad and build exactly what he needs for the long term.”
The 39-year-old from County Antrim deserves that “long term” in charge. He could also do with more support from the board which was sadly lacking with Dempsey.
Rodgers will produce for the football club, but he needs much better from those around him, on and off the pitch.
