Walkaway Rodgers won’t get warm Watford welcome
IF CELTIC supporters were shocked by the manner in which Brendan Rodgers left this week, then they should have cast their minds to when he walked out on Watford.
It was in the summer of 2009 that Rodgers departed in circumstances that ensure he will not be given the most welcoming of receptions at Vicarage Road on Sunday when he returns as manager of Leicester.
Undoubtedly it will not be as hostile as the atmosphere Marco Silva faced when he took Everton to Watford last month, but there is no love lost between Rodgers and Hornets fans.
It was Watford who gave Rodgers his first job in management in 2008, plucking him from Chelsea, where he had been earning praise for his work with the club’s youth teams.
After a shaky start at Vicarage Road, the 46-year-old guided the then cashstrapped club to 13th in the Championship. His fine work led to him being linked with Reading, a club that were attractive to him given that his family were based there at the time.
The Watford Observer quizzed Rodgers over reports linking him with a move but they were swiftly put down.
“When I am asked about other clubs, people are questioning my integrity and one thing I have mentioned is I always have integrity,” Rodgers told them on May 22, 2009. “I am loyal and find it disloyal when I am asked about other clubs when I am the Watford manager. Nothing has changed in that respect.”
Just weeks later, Rodgers was unveiled as the new boss of Reading. The Watford Supporters Trust quickly voiced their displeasure and told Rodgers he had “damaged his reputation in the eyes of Watford fans”.
There was frustration, too, from within the club, who had initially rebuffed Reading’s first approach. However, when they returned with the required £1million compensation to release Rodgers from his contract, Watford were powerless to stop him going. Those who worked at the club at the time echo the words of many today by saying how talented a coach Rodgers was.
There were fears when he came in he could leave as Watford lacked the financial clout they have now under the Pozzo family to match his ambitions.
It is a story that may well sound familiar to Celtic fans. Only last Sunday, Rodgers said: “I’ve been stood here for two-and-a-half years and I’ve been asked similar questions, my message is always very, very clear, I’m very concentrated on the game.”
Two days later, Rodgers was unveiled as the Leicester boss and Celtic fans were left with the same bitter taste Watford supporters had. The season after he left Vicarage Road he hired a bodyguard after receiving death threats ahead of Watford’s visit to the Madejski Stadium.
Sunday’s atmosphere will be nothing like that but Rodgers has since admitted he made a mistake in leaving the Hornets when he did. He will just be hoping he hasn’t made the same mistake again.