Leicester can finish in top 3 and the big clubs that didn’t take a ‘gamble’ on Brendan will be kicking themselves

HOW many clubs right now are looking enviously towards Leicester, and the job Brendan Rodgers is doing?

Yet he was out of football for almost a year… had to take a job in Scotland on a 12-month contract, such was the lack of interest in Rodgers when he left Liverpool. I know it ended badly there, but c’mon. He almost won the title 18 months before he was axed. I believe quite a few teams – and some big ones at that – are now kicking themselves for not taking the ‘gamble’ on him.

I never thought it would be a gamble, and I’m not jumping on a bandwagon here just because he’s had a few decent results.

When he arrived at Liverpool and I got a close-up view of his methods, I could see a proper manager.

I’ve been saying this for a while – just go back and read the wisdom of these columns!

Rodgers has always conducted himself well, always come across as a decent person. When he was sacked by Liverpool, he didn’t say a bad word about anyone, even though he maybe had the right to question how the club did it.

Technically he’s very good, and crucially he’s improved most the players who worked under him… with the exception of Mario Balotelli, obviously!

It makes me howl when I hear people saying he only got close to the title at Anfield because he was carried by Luis Suarez.

Is this the Luis Suarez who scored 16 goals for Liverpool the season before Rodgers arrived, and who people claimed needed six chances for every goal?

Or for that matter, the same Luis Suarez from 2010-11, playing for Ajax until December and then Liverpool for the rest of the season, who scored a grand total of 13 all told? In his final 15 games for Ajax, he only scored twice.

A bit left-field this, but maybe Suarez (above) got so good because Rodgers improved him?

Maybe Raheem Sterling progressed from being a 16-yearold with a bit of potential, to being a full England international and one of the best players in the Premier League, because he became a better player under Brendan?

The way Sterling was handled gave him the foundation for what he has become now, which is one of England’s most exciting players in a generation.

That famous moment in the Being: Liverpool documentary when Brendan chewed Sterling out on the pre-season tour of America shows he was no pushover. Players can walk all over you as a manager if you let them, but he was tough enough at the right moments, and it was an important moment for Sterling.

I’ve said before that Jurgen Klopp has taken Liverpool to another level. I stand by that. But he’s been helped by some good recruitment, and that let Rodgers down when he was at Anfield.

The worst was Balotelli, and it was painfully obvious that was an imposed signing... the quote, “You have permission to shoot me, if I’m ever linked with Mario” gave it away.

At Leicester, he’s benefited from some astute recruitment. They have a great mix of young players, with a bit of experience thrown in, and they have the perfect manager to develop those players. I think we are seeing that already this season.

All those executives who were quick to overlook Rodgers will have some explaining to do if Leicester finish above the likes of Arsenal and Manchester United.

It’s a sobering thought.