Brendan Rodgers was officially unveiled as Liverpool manager on Friday with the 39-year old saying he can't "wait to get started on this incredible project."
"I'm blessed to be given this opportunity," Rodgers said at a press conference on Friday. "I want to thank John Henry, Tom Werner and FSG (Fenway Sports Group) for the opportunity to manage such a great club.
"I'm really excited and I can't wait to get started on this incredible project going forward. I promise to dedicate my life to fight for this club and defend the great principles of Liverpool Football Club on and off the field.
"Once I had found out I was the number one target from the important people at Liverpool it was quite an easy decision."
American owners FSG had planned a role of sporting director to help the manager, but the idea was scrapped once Rodgers made it clear he wouldn't work with proposed the structure.
"That was something I made clear I couldn't work with," Rodgers said. "What you need is an outstanding team. We will form a technical board that will have four or five people that will decide the way forward."
Liverpool's principal owner John W Henry said the club was not expecting "miracles overnight."
"Brendan Rodgers' appointment today as manager of Liverpool Football Club is one of the most important steps we will take in building the kind of club on and off the pitch supporters can be excited about," Henry said.
"We do not expect miracles overnight nor should anyone else. But we firmly believe that the direction the club is heading in will lead to Premier League championships. We will embrace the unconventional, build the right way and together set a bold, exciting course for this historic club.
"Brendan's comprehensive soccer philosophy is perfectly aligned with those at the club and those soon to join the club. He was the first choice unanimously among them and he had no hesitation at all in embracing exactly what we want to try to build at Liverpool."
Liverpool chairman Tom Werner was excited about Rodgers bringing his attacking philosophy to Liverpool. "In Brendan we have acquired a very exciting and talented and young manager. He's a forward-thinking coach at the forefront of a generation of young managers and will bring to Liverpool attacking, relentless football."
Meanwhile, Swansea City chairman Huw Jenkins revealed Rodgers had agreed not to take any of their players to Liverpool for 12 months. "I have a good relationship with Brendan and we've got some protection with him coming back in for our players in the short term," Jenkins told Wales Online.
"We've got that agreement and a 12 month respite. The most important thing is our relationship is intact. We have to look after our own interests and look to continue in the right manner."
