Rodgers wants kudos and respect... and you can’t get that at Celtic
BARRING a niche interest in east European football, chances are you may not have heard of Viktor Goncharenko or Alyaksandr Yermakovich.
They are the most successful coaches in the history of BATE Borisov, the leading Belorussian club from the city of Barysaw. BATE are currently enjoying the longest run of dominance in European football: 13 consecutive titles. The new season starts later this month.
Goncharenko won five titles straight between 2008 and 2012 and was succeeded by his assistant Yermakovich, who added another four between 2013 and 2016. Why Goncharenko he leave? Well, in 2013, Goncharenko accepted a position at a club in Russia, Kuban Krasnodar.
The previous season Kuban came fifth and qualified for the Europa League, but the club had experienced mixed fortunes across the previous decade.
They were relegated from the top division in 2004, 2007 and 2009, and while historically Kuban had been Russian champions, the last time was in 1987 and the time before that 1973.
These days Kuban are no longer a professional entity. The club went bankrupt in 2018, although their name continues in the Krasnodar Krai regional league.
So, why would Goncharenko desert a club so dominant, one that he had taken for the first time to the Champions League group stage, to take charge at what, frankly, appears a midranking outfit? Simple: Brendan Rodgers syndrome. No new worlds to conquer.
BATE had already won the league the two years before Goncharenko took over. By the time he left, it was seven titles straight. Relative success in Europe had further strengthened their position because UEFA’s money has a corrupting influence in a league so small.
BATE, like Celtic or Dinamo Zagreb in Croatia, can use their annual UEFA windfall to recruit the best young players from around the country and later sell them on, or abroad. One revenue stream creates another, so the money builds and builds.
The year after Goncharenko left, reaching the Champions League group stage earned BATE roughly £9.4million. The current prize money for finishing second in the Belorussian Premier League is £77,000. Third place gets £ 35,500. So where’s the challenge?
Goncharenko left BATE for the same reason Rodgers turned his back on Celtic. Nothing he did, domestically at least, was seen as an achievement and European success was unattainable.
It was the same for Pep Guardiola at Bayern Munich. Winning the Bundesliga became par. Unless he won the Champions League, his triumphs were met with a shrug.
Rodgers may have had hundreds of thousands of Celtic fans celebrating every win, but if his ambition was to manage again in the Premier League elite, beating St Johnstone 6-0 away is nothing to put on a c.v.
Where is Goncharenko now? He is the manager of CSKA Moscow, the second-best team in Russia last season, and currently third in the table. CSKA were desperately unfortunate not to progress beyond the Champions League group stage after beating Real Madrid home and away.
And where is Yermakovich, BATE’s second most successful manager? He is his assistant.
The move into mediocrity at Kuban worked for them, the way Rodgers hopes swapping Celtic for Leicester will benefit him.
Rodgers lost his first match as Leicester manager on Sunday, repeating inauspicious starts at Swansea and Liverpool.
It took him 69 games to lose at Celtic. Still, no doubt at Parkhead they are happy, closing in on a treble treble, just as BATE Borisov will have enjoyed a 13th straight title.
Yet competitive advantage leading to complete subjugation does not equate to credibility in the world beyond. Any ambitious young coach wants kudos and respect, too, which will not come shooting fish in a barrel.