Newly appointed Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers watched from the stands as he witnessed the first test of his managerial time at King Power Stadium. The fact that Claude Puel had just left the chair and a new man was appointed just hours after the departure, might give an idea of how clear it was that Leicester City wanted Brendan Rodgers as their new manager.
Brendan Rodgers has done well in his previous positions at Liverpool and Celtic and peaked their teams with new addition of players and dealing with pressure at two of the biggest “football brands” in the World.
He has of course noticed the development at Leicester City and will be eager to get this club into a challenging position and hopefully attract the type of players that can make impact straight away, instead of using the first team as a development platform, something Claude Puel had done, and of course got mixed results in that way.
The team put on grass against Brighton was probably the best at the moment, and the team that should be playing, just an easy pick really and no fuzz. No talk of using Premier League as a development area, but going for the three points all the time and hopefully Brendan Rodgers will continue to do just that.
The start was perfect for Rodgers and his next test will be away to his former club Watford. Rodgers has a past at Vicarage Road, taking over the club back in 2008, and guiding them to a safe position in the Championship, ending 13th. Rodgers left to take over Reading just after the season finish.
We hope and believe that Brendan Rodgers will be the appointment needed to get the club into the best shape possible, reach the goals as they are established and really get all people related to Leicester City backing their own team.
What we all hope for is that as the Premier League progress, as we see it developing and hopefully more of the major clubs are finding their path, Leicester City can again challenge the top six and be counted, maybe establish a run in Europe on a regular basis and be there to fight for domestic cup titles.
Looking at the previous appointments of Leicester City managers, this was one faster that anyone have seen before, but also the first ever to be brought in from a major competitor and really blinking out as a “special one”.
Rodgers will be the fourth N Irish manager to take charge of Leicester City, counting Nigel Worthington, Martin O’Neill and Bryan Hamilton as the three others. Rodgers has led Liverpool to a runners-up medal in the Premier League and of course won many trophies while at Celtic. He was in charge at Swansea City when they got promoted from the Championship, and his list of good work is long and well documented.
Rodgers was a popular man at Celtic, despite not reaching the Champions League final rounds this season and being knocked out of the Europa League this term. His tenure at Celtic Park might have been coming to a stage where challenges might be difficult to find and without financial backing as needed to progress from the current level, he might have seen his time at Celtic close to finish anyway.
The former Liverpool boss will take with him Kolo Toure to Leicester City. His experience is well known as a former player at Man City, Liverpool and Celtic, and as well as Rodgers assistant after retirement from his time as a player. Chris Davies and Glen Driscoll are also coming in.
Tcf hope that there will be a place going forward for Adam Sadler and Mike Stowell who both have worked under different managers and being juggled in different positions as former Leicester City managers have seen their capacity and great knowledge.
Looking at progress and brining forward young talent, you would first of all name players such as Raheem Sterling (Liverpool) and Gylfi Sigurdsson (Reading / Swansea), both under the wings of Rodgers when breaking into their teams.
Talking transfers, he has done well at Celtic and Liverpool, with players such as Firmino and Coutinho, and later adding enough talent to a Celtic team that has progressed under Rodgers and qualified for Champions League and also been able to keep the performances running in the SPL and domestic Scottish cups.
We hope that Rodgers will have a more direct approach towards reaching good results and winning games instead of looking at a development strategy with too much young players and not really peaking Leicester City as a major force in the Premier League.
To be able to do both is difficult and at the moment what Leicester City need now is a steady hand who knows how to peak performance and establish the team in a challenging positon for a top six finish.
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