Brown Nose
Well-Known Member
In a profession that can devour managers at clubs outside the elite, Brendan Rodgers will mark the day of his fourth anniversary at Leicester City as the fourth longest-serving manager in the Premier League.
Of the managers who joined clubs that were already in the Premier League, only Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola have been in situ longer than Rodgers – Thomas Frank’s appointment at Brentford was when they were in the Championship.
The landmark is on Sunday, the day after Leicester face league leaders Arsenal, and Rodgers will be doing what he loves most: spending time on the training pitch and watching football.
He will settle down in front of the television to watch Celtic, whom he left in 2019 to take over at Leicester, in the Scottish League Cup final against Rangers. There will also be time to reflect on a tenure at Leicester that has been filled with glorious highs and, more recently, some difficult moments.
For a man who trains six days a week, in the gym and on the bike, he is lasting the distance in an unforgiving occupation.
After leaving Celtic in February 2019, he has written his name into the club’s history. In May 2021 he led them to their first FA Cup triumph. In his first two full seasons he unsettled the elite by challenging for the top four, agonisingly missing out on Champions League football on the final day, two seasons running.
While some supporters and neutrals pointed to evidence of a manager and his team capitulating under pressure, the fact Leicester were even up there was impressive, considering their resources.
Leicester’s style of football was also exhilarating at times, with the 9-0 win at Southampton in October 2019 Rodgers’ vision in high definition. There have been regular European excursions and, last season, they reached the semi-final of the inaugural Uefa Europa Conference League.
Since his appointment, Rodgers has stayed despite interest from Arsenal and, most recently, Newcastle. This is the longest time he has been at a club as a manager. “When I first came in I analysed the squad and felt it was a team that we could coach and work and deliver our game model to the team and help it progress,” he said.
“We were able to do that whilst losing the best players, but that’s the model of the club and it will happen. It’s a challenging league because of the resources and everything that’s in this league, but that doesn’t quash our ambition or our ability to be competitive.”
Eventually, though, chasing the dream brings its own challenges. The past two seasons have been difficult, and perhaps Leicester have paid the price for showing so much ambition.
There is no shame in that, but for a club who lag behind the big beasts on commercial revenue it was always going to be hard to sustain.
Recruitment is all important, and Leicester’s summer business in the 2021 transfer window was poor, with over £40 million spent on five signings. Last season and perhaps even before that, the football became a little cautious and risk-averse. Many fans were also running out of patience with performances they considered disappointing, and the jeers at the end of a 2-2 home draw with Burnley frustrated Rodgers and club officials.
Some of those fans had been expressing concern for some time. Tension began to build last February after the humiliation against Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup and 2-2 draw with West Ham. It seemed to be either a choice of changing the manager, or changing the players in the summer.
Rodgers’s position was safe, largely due to his achievements and an alarming number of injuries, and he did respond to finish a creditable eighth. The final months were still plagued by difficulties, with the relationship between Rodgers and goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel – whose appointment as captain was not universally popular with the squad – becoming fractious.
Defending from set-pieces remained a huge issue: with 21 of the 59 goals conceded from dead-ball situations last season, Leicester moved to address it by appointing specialist coach Lars Knudsen in the summer.
Rodgers was determined to undertake a “healthy shake-up” with the addition of three to four players who would go straight into his team. Finances, however, were limited. Leicester’s squad is still too big, with an unsustainable wages-to-revenue ratio, and the threat of punishment for breaches of Financial Fair Play remains a concern.
Rodgers needed to sell before buying, and though Schmeichel joined Nice for £1m, he also lost Wesley Fofana to Chelsea in an unwanted development. Wout Faes joined from Reims as a replacement, but Rodgers’ mood was dark on deadline day after a home defeat by Manchester United.
Six league defeats in a row left him in what appeared a vulnerable position, but chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha did not panic. It is understood that before the 4-0 win over Forest in October, he made it clear to players that Rodgers was going nowhere.
Rodgers has recovered, again, and that is no mean feat in this division. Though Leicester remain in danger, the three January signings – Victor Kristiansen, Harry Souttar and Tete – have galvanised manager, squad and fans. They have beaten Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur this month, and performed impressively in the first half at United.
Arsenal will represent another test this weekend but Leicester now appear a different proposition. Rodgers will go again, and is looking ahead to another summer of change.
The January window has perhaps served as a reminder to the board that no club can afford to stand still, despite the impact of the pandemic on owners King Power, a duty-free travel retail company based in Thailand.
With eight players out of contract, and the futures of James Maddison and Youri Tielemans uncertain, Rodgers will get the rebuild he finally wants. Leicester also have a new head of recruitment, Martyn Glover, who has already impressed with his work in January. He excelled in interviews by outlining how the squad could become more effective, and will be crucial ahead of next season.
Rodgers remains determined to turn this around and get Leicester fighting at the top end again. There is no question that he still has the hunger and ambition. To pinch one of his favourite quotes: “Everything is possible.”
