Rodgers has unfinished business and is right to take on this challenge
BRENDAN RODGERS is not settling for mediocrity over immortality by leaving Celtic for Leicester.
He is taking on a challenge in one of the best jobs he could hope to land in the Premier League.
I have a huge respect for Celtic – by fan base alone, one of the biggest clubs in the world – and I can understand the supporters’ disappointment that Rodgers did not hang around until the end of the season to complete the ‘treble Treble’ in Scotland.
But I also understand the attraction of the job he has taken on at the King Power.
We are talking about a club who won the Premier League three years ago and reached the Champions League quarter-finals in 2017.
We are talking about a competition where Rodgers can test himself every week against the likes of Jurgen Klopp, Pep Guardiola, Mauricio Pochettino and Unai Emery.
There are no freebies in the Premier League: if it’s not Klopp or Pep, you have Sean Dyche’s effective football at Burnley or Eddie Howe at Bournemouth to face down.
In Rodgers, Leicester have a man who feels he has unfinished business in English football after coming so close to landing the title at Liverpool in 2014.
For me, if he takes the Foxes back into the top six, or wins one of the cups, that would be a bigger achievement than winning numerous titles in Scotland.
With respect, Celtic are not the force they were half a century ago, when Jock Stein’s Lisbon Lions became Britain’s first winners of the European Cup.
With their Old Firm rivals still recovering from financial trauma, Rodgers was effectively winning a one-horse race in the title until Steven Gerrard took over at Rangers.
And he is not going to get a more attractive challenge in the Premier League than breaking back into the top six with Leicester – which is a realistic target.
He will be given money to spend, encouraged to develop Leicester’s crop of young players, the style of football he preaches will be vibrant and he has a great blend of youth and experience to work with.
Do I blame Rodgers for jumping at the chance? No.
Was he going to get another job at one of the Premier League’s top six in the short term? No.
Did he have anything left to prove at Celtic? No.
Mediocrity over immortality? Celtic fans may well think I was a mediocre player, but for what my opinion is worth, I think Brendan Rodgers has made the right call.