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Jose Mourinho was the Special One. So ever since Mourinho rang up Watford to persuade them to give Brendan Rodgers his first job as a manager, Liverpool's new boss has been referred to as "The Special One's Special One."

We got to understand that billing last season. His Swansea side became everybody's second favourite side, the team you almost didn't mind losing to because of the way they passed the ball. Probably the only people who hated what Rodgers did on a shoestring budget were the assortment of managers who either lost their jobs, or found themselves under massive pressure, because their own expensively built team looked so poor in comparison.

That track record in South Wales is almost certainly why Rodgers is setting off on Liverpool's American pre-season tour this week with so much goodwill behind him. Take a look at the local papers on Merseyside and everybody is backing Brendan. Roy Evans says he'll do a great job. Craig Bellamy is full of praise. Jamie Carragher is excited about working with him.

And Betfair's punters share the optimism. A few months after the Anfield club finished eighth under Kenny Dalglish, Rodgers is heading towards the new season with his club odds-on at 1.55 for a top six finish. They are as tight as 3.75 to return to the Champions League with a top four finish.

Well sorry, but at the moment I think the value is in laying both bets. First of all if you check out Rodgers' track record, the one thing you can't expect is immediate results at the start of the new season. His style of football tends to mark a sea change when he takes over a club and there is always a learning curve to go through.
At Watford he took just nine points from his first ten games. The transition from Aidy Boothroyd's direct approach to his passing game was described as going from route one to Route 66. When he moved to Reading the players struggled again to take his ideas on board and they were in the Championship relegation zone when he was sacked five months into the job. Even at Swansea, where he inherited players used to passing the ball under Paulo Sousa, he lost half his first eight games while they settled into his new regime.

At Anfield if he wants to crack the top four - or even the top six - there won't be time for a slow start while the squad settle into his ideas. And it's not as if he's got a massive budget to bring in his own men to help the process along. He's already missed out on Gylfi Sigurdsson because Tottenham offered a bigger pay packet. He's now linked with Italian Under 21 international striker Fabio Borini, who is obviously unproven in English football.

It all points to a difficult start for Rodgers, and then it will be a question of how well he can handle the pressure that moving to one of the Premier League's elite clubs will bring. His experience of the media as a Premier League manager so far is limited to explaining his success . When you first have to deal with the glaring worldwide examination into things going wrong, it's a substantial ordeal.

Liverpool's supporters have already been split in phone-ins over whether Rodgers has the credentials to take over from their idol Kenny Dalglish. A poor start would only magnify that debate on TV and radio stations up and down the country, and pile some pressure onto players and staff.

Don't get me wrong. Rodgers may well turn out to be as special as Mourinho forecast. But it will take time, and while that is happening, if you've laid Liverpool at short odds now you should be able to turn the market green. You can then feel pretty special yourself at making a profit whatever happens next.

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