Leicester set to announce Brendan Rodgers as their new manager.

[liquidfootball2]

Leicester have made Brendan Rodgers their target and are preparing to make a formal bid for him to come as a permanent replacement mid season, it could cost them upto £7.5m although they're hopeful a compromise can be reached.

Leicester prepare official move for Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers with aim of securing appointment this season

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/20 ... n-rodgers/?

Edit - Looks a done deal now, set to announce him as their new manager after Celtic gave them permission for talks. Lennon to take over at Celtic.

Celtic may play a few matches a year in Europe, which usually brings them back down to earth fairly quickly too, but they play every week in a non competitive poorly financed football backwater which hardly anyone ever watches outside Scotland.

Where could he really have gone with Celtic, just win another one team league yet again ? - it must be a real dampener for an ambitious manager anxious to make his way at the top again.

The burgeoning finances of premier league football and the attraction of coming up against top class managers in front of the massed media and packed stadia home and away is another world.

TV deals and finances have made it a magnet for anyone with ambition, Guardiola, José when in his prime, Klopp etc, its worldwide, the big league, the place to be.

He's experienced that before with Swansea and Liverpool and wants another taste, it's worldwide and the big league.

An analogy could almost be made with Sunday League park football vs Wembley

[Zimmerman]

But the landscape has changed... having established himself at Swansea (low expectations) - moved to Liverpool with debatable success and disappointment.

However, that set the precedent for him.
Celtic was a means to an end - he’s achieved the bare minimum expectation as Celtic manager (he could have fallen short if he was inept, but he at least met expectations).

However, the issue with Leicester is that they are competing to be the best of the rest. 7th place would be success IMO. 6th place would be exceeding it. Obviously Leicester is a curve ball to this line of thinking given their recent success!

I think the Leicester squad looks very exciting and has a lot of potential.

Pereira, Maguire, Chilwell, Ndidi, Barnes, Maddison* and the Belgium loanee* all look very promising. Schmeichel and Vardy not what they were... but they aren’t finished yet.

* can’t work out if these are the real deal or not. “Look” very good on the eye, but how effective are they? They remind of a young Jamie Redknapp. Look very good, obviously have some ability and technique - but ultimately not actually that good. They still have age on their side.

[liquidfootball2]

But the landscape has changed... having established himself at Swansea (low expectations) - moved to Liverpool with debatable success and disappointment.

However, that set the precedent for him.
Celtic was a means to an end - he’s achieved the bare minimum expectation as Celtic manager (he could have fallen short if he was inept, but he at least met expectations).

However, the issue with Leicester is that they are competing to be the best of the rest. 7th place would be success IMO. 6th place would be exceeding it. Obviously Leicester is a curve ball to this line of thinking given their recent success!

I think the Leicester squad looks very exciting and has a lot of potential.

Pereira, Maguire, Chilwell, Ndidi, Barnes, Maddison* and the Belgium loanee* all look very promising. Schmeichel and Vardy not what they were... but they aren’t finished yet.

* can’t work out if these are the real deal or not. “Look” very good on the eye, but how effective are they? They remind of a young Jamie Redknapp. Look very good, obviously have some ability and technique - but ultimately not actually that good. They still have age on their side.

.I suppose for Brendan it's more a case of where do you see yourself going?

Do you really want to stick at being the manager of a big fish in a very small pond, and an absolutely unnoticed one as far as wider European football goes? - Acclaim in Scotland and totally invisible and irrelevant to everyone in Europe?

Or do you want to be on the bigger stage again, with worldwide focus on how you can get Leicester competing against really top star players managed by the very best in the business?

Then there's the financial side which goes with the richest league in the world where even mid and lower ranked clubs have income Scottish clubs can only dream about.

To carry on being the big fish in the puddle or move onto a greater stage? Leicester, although now enjoying worldwide renown and unrivalled (given their size) name recognition after arguably the greatest shock in football, have progressed since being a second tier or struggling first tier club. It's true they haven't the stadium, support or history of Celtic, but they don't have to compete against absolute dross every week in a league going nowhere, either.

Do well at Leicester and, although a good job in itself, it will be noticed, both at home and in Europe, even domestic cups are worth it. Roberto Martinez and Ronald Koeman have moved onto international football after being sacked, so even failure in this league still gets your name up there in peoples thoughts and your whole record good times included, not just the bad, is taken into account.

For Europe, the manager of Celtic is pretty much anonymous, we in England being part of Britain get a false sense of just how unimportant it is, as the BBC and commercial sports news networks go relatively big on it, Europe gets nothing even remotely similar, for them it's the equivalent of the Swedish or Norwegian league.

The premier league, even if your realistic limit is seventh is a no brainer really given he can't achieve much more up there anyway and any even modest achievements in England would be far more noticed abroad.

If he has any ambition left he really had to take the Leicester job.

[murf]

Where else could he go next? Big 6 wouldn't want him so Leicester is as good as he could get unless maybe he wanted to go abroad or try international level.

[Zimmerman]

I think Chelsea or Spurs would still have been a possibility if the stars aligned.

However, he fails at Leicester and hes on a slippery Moyes-esque slope.

Agree with Liquid if it’s purely down to cash and the league status’ etc. But I just think it’s boom or bust for Brendan with this next move. And fair enough - maybe the time has come to move on from Celtic anyway. Move on whilst still at their peak and he is held in regard (in their puddle).

[blahblah]

I think Chelsea or Spurs would still have been a possibility if the stars aligned.

However, he fails at Leicester and hes on a slippery Moyes-esque slope.

Agree with Liquid if it’s purely down to cash and the league status’ etc. But I just think it’s boom or bust for Brendan with this next move. And fair enough - maybe the time has come to move on from Celtic anyway. Move on whilst still at their peak and he is held in regard (in their puddle).

It would have needed some alignment. There are other clubs in other pants leagues with less cash who have done better in Europe?

[Zimmerman]

Arguably... but not massively so.
They can be in pants leagues but do they still have decent resources (whether it’s Swiss, Dutch, Romanian players)? Scotland is a small country. Are they a victim of being in a one team league. Celtic were progress in Europe not that long ago (goes off to check im Not barking back to 2003).

[liquidfootball2]

In recent times the major European league's largest clubs have dominated the latter stages of the premiere European competitions, and when you add to this the TV deals and worldwide exposure to a wider audience the major leagues now enjoy, it's clear that being in one of these leagues, is an essential requirement for any manager of substance.

The managers of even lesser clubs in those leagues' top divisions also get noticed as they take on the very best. These leagues are filled with superstar players and managers right at the top of their profession. If a manager has any ambition at all and wants to have the potential of new challenges both now and later at the very top level, you really have to get yourself in one of those leagues and get yourself noticed by that wider audience.

As stated it's very hard for us in Britain to fully appreciate just how insignificant and minor Scottish football has become, in Europe it really is invisible, and being somebody big but invisible doesn't really help much.

[forestfan]

I still think that when Rangers went into liquidation, Celtic should have taken the plunge alongside a reformed Rangers and both joined the bottom of the English pyramid. It was an opportunity that won’t come round again, and they opted for the status quo, which is having a lesser status than middling English Premier League clubs, winning the title every year and being cannon fodder in Europe.

As for Rodgers, it seems a sensible move, if he does well he might be back in the frame for a top six club, or someone half decent on the continent. If not, he probably joins the “crap managers” merry-go-round, with a succession of short term assignments. There’s potential there at Leicester, with talent in the squad and “Top” clearly wanting to continue his father’s legacy, although some potential issues with their business in Thailand could have an impact on the finances available to the club. But it seems a pretty good fit at first glance.

[liquidfootball2]

Jamie Carragher writes....

As soon as it became clear Leicester City wanted Brendan Rodgers, I had no doubt he would leave Celtic and take the job. The power and lure of the Premier League has spoken.

I have to admit to being saddened for the Scottish game this has happened. There was a time when it would have been inconceivable a club of Celtic’s size and history would lose their manager to Leicester City.

That is not meant as disrespect to Leicester, but Celtic are a world-renowned football club, with an extraordinary fanbase. They are an institution.

If they had the finances to genuinely compete for European trophies – as they once did – this kind of move would never happen.

The money in English football has changed everything. I am not only talking about the motivation of personal finance for managers and players, but the resources to sign the best talent, develop the most productive Academies, offer longer contracts to those who will be pursued by the Champions League clubs. Difficult as it will be for Celtic to accept, Leicester – like all Premier League clubs – are more equipped to meet the ambitions of a top manager. All of the best coaches want to be here, and although there is understandable disappointment at the timing of Rodgers’ move back to the Premier League, no-one can be really surprised by it. He was always going to be back.

He will have been thinking of that day ever since his Liverpool departure, seeing the likes of Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp arrive and eager to test himself against the stellar coaches of the modern game.

It is four years since Rodgers left Anfield, several excellent jobs coming and going in that period, many of which he was entitled to believe he would be a strong candidate. Every manager wants to be at one of the top six clubs. Chelsea and Arsenal could have turned to Rodgers, but did not feel he was the right appointment. He can prove them wrong.

With those who expect to pursue the Champions League spots unconvinced, Rodgers will have known the most desirable alternative is a post that gives him a chance to have grand ambitions and compete for the European places.

Leicester are one of those just below the top six – probably the seventh best side in the country in terms of their squad quality – but have shown with the right man in charge they can break the status quo.

Previous Celtic managers have discovered success in Scotland is no guarantee to one of the biggest jobs in England. Neil Lennon left for a championship club in Bolton, as did Gordon Strachan when joining Middlesbrough. Premier League opportunities do not come around too often for UK-born coaches.

I stated earlier this season that Rodgers is currently the best manager from the UK out there. He has the experience of managing two of Britain's biggest clubs, knows how to impose a playing style which Europe’s top sides demand, and now has numerous trophies on his CV.

He would have added more had he stayed until the end of the season, which is the only shadow over the appointment. It is hard to believe Rodgers did not intend to stay until May. At least he is leaving Celtic in a fantastic position, eight points clear. He must have calculated there are key members of Leicester squad considering their future so he needed to make his mark sooner rather than later.

The likes of Harry Maguire and Ben Chilwell are sure to be targeted by Champions League clubs this summer. Perhaps Rodgers wants to show them and other young talent his vision between now and then to convince them they can challenge higher up the Premier League next season.

Things will change at Leicester now.

The club’s surprise title success was built on Claudio Ranieri’s defensive, counter-attacking style. There has been plenty of discussion about the club failing to replicate that, especially when it comes to maximising Jamie Vardy’s strengths. They won’t get a return to the Ranieri way under Rodgers.

His appointment suggests the board are not looking to appease senior players such as Vardy – although I am sure he can do well under the new manager – but is looking to the future, building around Maguire, Chilwell, Demarai Gray and James Maddison. They are the ones I believe will relish how Rodgers wants to play from the back, retaining possession, prepared to adopt a patient, passing game.

I am convinced Rodgers will do well at Leicester. From the moment he arrived at Celtic, it looked like the first step towards this eventual return to the Premier League.



It's sad but Brendan Rodgers move shows Celtic cannot now match the lure of Leicester

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/20 ... GKg3fMnj79

[forestfan]

Celtic fans’ reaction, and that banner... what petty, ungrateful idiots.

Although there would have been an argument for Rodgers waiting until the end of the season, I mean it’s not as if Leicester were going to go down under a caretaker.

[blahblah]

I read a "for" in there and wondered who was managing in Oz