PROTECT HIS LEGACY
RODGERS WANTS TO DRUM INTO PLAYERS THE STANDARDS NEEDED TO BE A CHAMPION
THE legacy of Leicester City’s late chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha and the standards required “to be a champion” will be drummed into the players by Brendan Rodgers this summer as the club return to the camp where the manager first set out his values, writes Jordan Blackwell.
City will be heading off to a base in Evian, France, on the banks of Lake Geneva, in just over a week’s time to get themselves ready for the new season, just as they did in 2019 during Rodgers’ first summer in charge.
While the overseas camp will help build the squad’s fitness ahead of the upcoming Premier League campaign, Rodgers will also use the time to instil his mantras and prepare the players mentally for the season ahead.
City chairman Aiyawatt ‘Top’ Srivaddhanaprabha was at the club’s training ground at Seagrave yesterday.
His late father’s legacy remains a key motivation for Rodgers, who is getting to take his team abroad in pre-season for the first time since 2019, with Covid ruling out overseas trips in the past two years.
“When I came in for the first summer, we went away to Evian and we created a set of values that was a signpost for our work going forward, based around respect and responsibility, unity and courage,” Rodgers said before the end of last season.
“It’s really about highlighting those values again and what they stand for, what they mean for our work and shining a light on them for the new players who come in. With the pandemic, that’s been difficult to do.
“Our cause here was always to protect the legacy of Khun Vichai and this gives us a chance to go back into that world again and really create that cause for everyone again and to shine a light on those values that I talked about.
“That behaviour and infrastructure is so important.
“It’s not that it’s dropped or diminished, but it’s a reminder, and it’s all about constant reminders.
“If you want to be a champion, your standards have to be like a champion every day, and that’s not just on the pitch, it’s off the pitch.”
City will travel to Evian after playing their first pre-season game next Saturday, when they host National League side Notts County at Seagrave.
On their way back from Evian, they will stop off at fellow King Power club OH Leuven in Belgium for a friendly.