It was tantamount to the Liverpool manager issuing a variation on the old 'come and get me' plea that suggested quite the opposite.
“For everybody connected with Liverpool, we are all embarrassed by that today," said Brendan Rodgers. "They, the supporters, deserve an apology.
"I've always said that if the owners want me to go, then I go. It's as simple as that."
The venue, of course, was Stoke City, shortly after the Reds had ended the dismal 2014/15 campaign with a truly shocking 6-1 reserve.
Not since April 1963, when they were thumped 7-2 by Tottenham Hotspur, had Liverpool lost a game so heavily.
Not since December 1976, when they found themselves 5-1 down at Aston Villa, had Liverpool conceded five goals before half-time.
Not since November 1931, when they ultimately lost 6-0 at Arsenal, were Liverpool 5-0 down by the interval in a top-flight game.
Grim, grim and grim some more. Small wonder Rodgers was braced for the worst, not helped by one of the most remarkable team selections of his Anfield tenure that led to a collection of the lowest ratings the ECHO has ever handed out after a Liverpool performance.
Perhaps it was out of sheer exasperation at Liverpool slumping out of top-four contention during the closing weeks of the campaign that prompted the Reds boss to put Emre Can at right-back, Joe Allen and Jordan Henderson on the wings and, yes, Phillipe Coutinho and Adam Lallana up front. Mario Balotelli and Fabio Borini didn't even make the squad.
There had already been a sense of finality on that afternoon with Steven Gerrard, who scored Liverpool's only goal, playing his last game for the club.
Glen Johnson, another omitted from the matchday squad, had previously revealed he was on his way out of the club. Lazar Markovic and Rickie Lambert, both on the bench, wouldn't play for Liverpool again, nor the absent Balotelli and Borini.
And then there was Raheem Sterling, an unused substitute after being dropped due to the ongoing controversy over his refusal to sign a new contract with Manchester City beckoning.
This was all five years ago today. But rather than be sacked, Rodgers survived the summer and made changes to his backroom staff.
They were, though, mere window dressing. FSG had proven themselves ruthless in the past with the removals of Roy Hodgson and Kenny Dalglish as manager and Damien Comolli as director of football.
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And, sure enough, when there was a belief Jurgen Klopp - the man they had earmarked as Rodgers' replacement - could be persuaded to end his sabbatical early and move to Anfield instead of other interested suitors, Rodgers was invited to depart in October 2015 after a five-month stay of execution.
It was all for the best. Rodgers, after a period nursing his pride, returned renewed to win successive trebles with Celtic and remains on course to take Leicester City back into the Champions League.
Klopp, meanwhile, gradually built Liverpool towards becoming European, world and, they will hope, domestic champions.
Stoke may not have been quite the end for the Rodgers era at Anfield. But it was the moment everyone knew change was coming.
