RODGERS: AXE AT ROYALS CUT DEEP
SAYS BRENDAN RODGERS
BRENDAN RODGERS promoted his new autobiography yesterday but his time in charge of Reading was so short he would probably have struggled to fill a chapter.
The Celtic boss left Watford eight years ago to return to the club where he had been a player and youth coach.
Rodgers had to drastically overhaul the Royals squad after a summer exodus of players and put his stamp on the club.
But just six months and 20 games later he was out the door, taught a harsh lesson that results mean everything.
Rodgers recalled his brief time at the Madejski Stadium after Old Firm rival Pedro Caixinha was sacked by Rangers after just seven months. Similarly, the Portuguese made wholesale changes but there was little evidence of progress on the park despite his long-term vision and he paid the price.
Rodgers is on the brink of equalling Celtic’s own century-old British record of 62 games unbeaten when they face Kilmarnock at Parkhead today.
But the Reading experience and Caixinha’s sacking this week mean he is always living in fear of the axe despite his astonishing success.
Asked if seven months was long enough for Caixinha, the 44-yearold said: “Well, I had an experience at Reading that didn’t last that long. I had 20 games.
“I probably shouldn’t have left Watford when I did but I felt I was going to a club I knew very well. “That summer they wanted an overhaul. Because I felt I knew the club, and because Reading is a great club, my fault was that I didn’t really understand – or even ask – what the expectations were.
“They’d lost out in the play-offs to Burnley, so they wanted to make a change. Stevie Coppell left and I was asked to bring in a younger generation of players – and impose a football idea that was different to how they worked.
“You go in and you sign for three years. And you believe you’re going to get the opportunity to do that.
“We lost 14 players that summer so there was a big overhaul, young players came into the team. And
You can go in with best intentions but what you learn is you need to win games BRENDAN RODGERS
then, before you know it, 20 games and you’ve got the sack.
“So you can go in with all the best intentions but what you learn is that you need to win games.
“The sack certainly promotes that idea in your mind! The first time it happens it does. After that you become that bit more clinical and understand the situation.
“It’s very clear in modern football you need to somehow impose your way of working as soon as you possibly can.
“At the big clubs with the big pressure and big demands to win, and to win in a certain style, you’ve got to be very clear and concise in how you do your work.”
Despite arriving at Celtic amid huge fanfare, Rodgers admitted the same could easily have happened to him if he hadn’t been such a success. He said: “You live with that fear as a manager. Always.
“You can never rely on what you did yesterday. It doesn’t guarantee you success tomorrow.
“The worry for me coming here was, considering the people I grew up with and now working at the club I supported, that I would fail. And how that would feel.
“I still have that in my own mind. So that’s part of the driving force to ensure you can never become complacent. But thankfully I’ve got an outstanding board of directors here and we communicate very well. We’re very clear on our strategy going forward and very much in unison.”
Rodgers will be up against a familiar face at Parkhead today with his former Chelsea colleague Steve Clarke in the opposite dugout.
Clarke had been assistant to Kenny Dalglish at Liverpool and remained at the club but was axed and took the West Brom job before Rodgers arrived at Anfield.
However, the Celtic boss had the new Kilmarnock gaffer to thank for his move to Stamford Bridge.
Rodgers said: “I first came cross Stevie when I was a youth coach at Reading and he was at Chelsea.
“He actually put my name forward for the role at Chelsea at the time when he stepped up to work with Jose Mourinho.
“He’s an excellent coach and the biggest surprise was how long it took him to get a job after Reading where he did a very good job.
“It’s a coup for Kilmarnock getting him. If you look at the league there’s a really high level of coaches and it’s testament that guys like him and Owen Coyle have come up.”
Celtic produced one of their best displays under Rodgers as they cruised to a 3-0 win at Aberdeen on Wednesday. Rodgers said: “I don’t look for validation but there was a real nice comment from Willie Miller. “He is someone I respected as a footballer. I have never met him in my life and towards the end of the game he talked about how he hadn’t seen a Scottish team play this way. “I’ve taken a Swansea team around the Premier League and a Liverpool team around the Premier League and played in some big pressure games and played well. That was right up there with those games. That is a deliverance of how we work.”