When Brendan Rodgers left Scottish football for a post with Leicester City, it rocked fans north of the border.
Reaction from Celtic fans was, as expected, intense and negative. Leicester City were in the third tier of English football in 2009, whilst Celtic are one of the most popular and domestically successful clubs anywhere in the world. It appeared to be a sad indictment of the attitudes towards our domestic game, when a manager with seven straight trophies and a fresh four-year deal in Glasgow would choose to take up a role at a much smaller provincial English club.
He took over a club languishing in the middle of the Premier League pack, not a position that would displease most owners. However, this was a Foxes side who made history in 2016 when they lifted the Premier League title, after being favourites for relegation the summer before. An article by Gala Bingo refers to Leicester City winning the Premier League as their top winning moment of 2016 and it is clear to see why. It was a fairytale win, followed by a Champions League quarter-final in 2017, but the years since had not been kind. Both Craig Shakespeare and Claude Puel tried their hand at managing the club and both failed. Rodgers was a final roll of the dice.
It was the last chance saloon for the Northern Irish manager too. After making his name with Swansea City, he found himself managing Merseyside giants Liverpool, the sort of club you might expect a manager to leave Celtic Park for. Between 2012 and 2015, Rodgers won nothing, and he was dismissed by the Anfield side after one win in nine matches. His replacement was Jürgen Klopp and despite leaving the Reds, his legacy there lives on as he signed Roberto Firmino, Joe Gomez, and Divock Origi, all players who went on to have a huge impact at Anfield.
His move to Celtic was a safe bet in terms of trophies – with Rangers struggling to get anywhere near their pre-demotion form, he simply had to steady the ship and maybe improve on the European adventures, but even a silver-laden spell could not prevent him casting his eyes south of the border. Now, almost two years after he left Celtic Park, it is a good time to ask whether it was the right decision?
He thinks so, and he believes the timing was right too, as he told the Daily Record. He has ensured the Foxes are once again challenging for a European place but took the last three months of the 2019 season to refine their approach and mould them into the image of his sides. He ensured a ninth-place finish in his first season, improving that to fifth last time out and a place in the Europa League Group Stages. They were League Cup semi-finalists and FA Cup quarter-finalists, ensuring fans had plenty to cheer on all fronts.
Heading into 2021 the Foxes sit 3rd in the table, just one point off the summit and have a Europa League last 16 match to play against Slavia Praha after dominating their qualifying group.
On the other hand, Celtic are now a whopping 19 points behind league leaders Rangers after losing at Ibrox last weekend, they are out of the League Cup and out of Europe with a bump, twice.
Whilst the Hoops failing might be due to Neil Lennon’s stewardship, there does seem to be little doubt that Rodgers move to Leicester, whilst highly controversial in one half of Glasgow, was the right thing to do at just the right time too.