MOTD2: What Happened with Brendan Rodgers and Graham Potter Leaving the Same Day?
Brendan Rodgers recently had to leave Leicester City and this was a major surprise for both the club and himself. It looks like he left because he didn’t want things at his club to get any worse than they were.
For a while, a 50-year-old coach called Rodgers was known to be a very progressive coach. He and his team played in an attacking style that eventually won the FA Cup in 2021 when they defeated Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea 1-0 at Wembley.
The owners of Leicester had been waiting for the team to show improvement, but their last-minute defeat at Crystal Palace sealed their fate. This was too much for them and they decided that it was time for a change: They replaced Rodgers with Roy Hodgson, an experienced soccer coach.
Leicester has not won any of their last six league games and have fallen to the bottom three in the standings. The club’s board had reacted similarly to Everton, Leeds United and Southampton’s decisions by firing their manager.
Rodgers did well in leading Leicester to FA Cup success, but he’ll also be remembered for having bad endings in two Premier League seasons; this ultimately stopped them from being able to continue succeeding.
Leicester finished 5th place in 2019-20 and 2020-21. But sadly, they did not make it into Champions League both times. This was because they lost games on the last day of the season against Manchester United and Tottenham. So, there were mixed feelings even though they put up a strong performance throughout the two seasons.
The FA Cup win made 2021 season really special since it gave them tangible success which is more than making fourth place in the league.
After the loss against Tottenham Hotspur, it could be argued that this was the start of Leicester City’s fall from being a top club. This also marked when they won a shocking title in 2015-16!
Leicester’s failure to qualify for the Champions League is a major setback as it means they lost out on a lot of money. Therefore, their owners and chairman had to make some budget cuts so that they don’t get in trouble with Financial Fair Play rules. Then, after Leicester lost again over the weekend, their manager Brendan Rodgers was let go.
Leicester did quite well in the new Europa Conference League last season but their performance dropped in the league, leading them to the 8th spot.
This season hasn’t been much better as manager Rodgers wasn’t able to strengthen his team’s lineup. Goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel even left for Nice and Jamie Vardy, who was a key player for Leicester, is 36 years old now so it’s getting harder for him to perform well.
The recruiting of players by the club had some questions marks around it. But then, things got worse in the summertime when one of their most successful athletes from October 2020 named Wesley Fofana suffered a broken leg and his last day at the club ended with him being moved to Chelsea for £70m which was more than what he was signed for initially (£36.5m).
Leicester’s team needed some new players, but they waited until the very end of the transfer window in the summer to get any. They spent £30m on three players – Harry Souttar, Victor Kristiansen and Tete – in January, but their results haven’t improved much since then.
People thought that Manager Rodgers should be getting better results from the team, which still had great players like James Maddison, Youri Tielemans and Harvey Barnes. Even with such talent in the squad, he couldn’t stop them from making silly mistakes which lead to goals being conceded too often.
Leicester had two great wins against Aston Villa and Spurs, winning 4-2 and 4-1, but ultimately, they lost their FA Cup fifth-round match at home to a team from a lower division. Now that there are only ten more league games left, the manager of Leicester has been let go. The club needs to figure out what will come next.
This is a big disappointment for Rodgers, who worked very hard to rebuild his reputation at Celtic after he was let go from Liverpool in 2015. He became such a popular figure in Glasgow that when he decided to leave and return to the Premier League again, many fans were angry and upset.
Things were going really well for Rodgers. People wanted him to manage teams like Arsenal, Spurs, and even Manchester United despite his connection to Liverpool! He was even being considered to be the manager for England’s national team. But then he lost a game at Selhurst Park and didn’t get those jobs any longer. So, his time with Leicester ended after that game.
Because of the way his time at Leicester ended, clubs in the Premier League won’t be interested in hiring Rodgers at this stage. Even though he can speak Spanish, Rodgers has said that he is open to working overseas which hints that his coaching skills could be successful in another country.
Roberto Martinez, who used to manage at Everton when Rodgers was at Liverpool and Swansea City, has now gotten two great jobs with Belgium then Portugal. Rodgers should feel proud of himself because he is as great a manager as Roberto.
Leicester City will try their hardest to stay safe and successful in the present, while the coach thinks about what’s going to be best for them in the future. Our coverage of Leicester City is bigger than it’s ever been before with everything you need to know and all the best content.
