Leicester City Have Huge Potential, Says Rodgers
Rodgers, on Tuesday, signed a contract until June 2022 having won seven major trophies in the space of just two-and-a-half seasons at Celtic Park.
Having already managed in the Premier League at Swansea City and Liverpool, Rodgers is vastly experienced, and says he is eager to begin working with a squad that he describes as dynamic.
“It feels great, it’s obviously come very quickly and obviously, of course, over the last few days, but I know I’m joining a fantastic club that has grown so quickly over these last few years,” Rodgers told LCFC TV.
“I’m just delighted to be here. I think there was a number of reasons [why I joined]. I was certainly in no hurry to leave Celtic. Celtic is a club that’s a huge club worldwide, a renowned club, and I loved working with the players there.
“We were on a journey of great success over these last years but when the opportunity came to talk to Leicester and I was able to analyse it, it allowed me to think that I’d probably achieved and taken the club maybe at Celtic as far as I could at this moment.
Rodgers: I'm Delighted To Be Here
Brendan Rodgers spoke exclusively to LCFC TV after being confirmed as the Club's new manager.
“The opportunity to speak with Leicester and find out their ambitions and where we can grow the Club and the training facility. Of course, the big attraction for me is working with the players.
“It’s a young squad, a very dynamic squad, it’s got huge potential and you’ve got some of the players with good experience also. There was a number of factors in being here and, like I say, I’m absolutely delighted.”
While Rodgers arrives at King Power Stadium with only 11 2018/19 Premier League fixtures to play, the Northern Irishman believes it will give him and his staff an opportunity to begin implementing their football values.
He continued: “Coming into the Club at this point of the season, it’s never normally ideal, but it gives me the chance to observe and analyse the players over this last period of games.
“I know it’s been a really difficult season for the Club on and off the pitch. It’s been really emotional in many ways.
“For me it’s the case of just trying to stabilise the emotion of everything that’s happened this season and looking to inspire the players so that they can then inspire the supporters.
“Myself and my staff will come in and we’ll look to immediately put in place our philosophy and that identity that my teams normally play with and hopefully then over the course of time, the supporters will recognise that and they’ll come to enjoy it.”
Rodgers will aim to develop the first team squad, emphasising the commitment Leicester City’s stars will display under the Carnlough-born 46-year-old.
“My teams always are very structured,” Rodgers explained. “That’s how we train, how we work. If you put it on a slide and scale, the team is very structured, but it also has improvisation.
“If I look at the squad of players, it’s got players with fantastic experience, it’s got some young, dynamic players that are fast and technically good, and what I try to impose on to the ideas of how we play is that commitment to our work.
“We’ll work very hard on the training field, that’s what you have to suffer as a player, you’ve got to work hard, so that when you come into the games, it becomes automated work.
“Hopefully we can bring in a structure to how we play, which firstly means that you’ve got to defend well, so you’ve got to press the game.
“Supporters maybe have seen my teams at Swansea and at Liverpool and at Celtic and will recognise how intensely we try to press the game and from that.
“That’s the base then to use your qualities technically so that will be something that we look to do over the course of time and that will take place straight after the game (vs. Brighton & Hove Albion) and into our first training session.”
His time at Swansea and Liverpool saw him build his reputation as a high-calibre football manager before a trophy-laden spell at Celtic, and a move back to England's top flight is one that thrills Rodgers.
Rodgers said: "It’s obviously a league I was involved in heavily with both those clubs and it’s been nearly three years away from it, but of course, you’re observing from the outside looking in.
“The one thing I’ve always known with the Premier League, it gets quicker each season. I felt that when I was there with Swansea and Liverpool and it doesn’t look any different to that, so I’m really looking forward to the challenge of coming to work with the players.
“They seem a very honest group of boys who want to work well. We want to go on and impose that way of working and give them the confidence and clarity to play to a level that I believe they can play at.”
During his first interview as Leicester City manager, Rodgers underlined two key characteristics that he will be looking for from the Club’s first team stars.
He said: “The two things that I would always ask for is commitment and a positive attitude. Players will make mistakes, but you have to be able to let them go, but primarily I always ask my teams to play with that commitment, that structure, but also the attitude.
“I want them to be really aggressive in the game, both with and without the ball, so those will be the messages early on and then, of course, when we’ve had more working time together we can start to implement the tactical ideas.”
Rodgers will be watching Tuesday night’s Premier League encounter with Brighton & Hove Albion at King Power Stadium from the stands, with First Team Coaches Mike Stowell and Adam Sadler assuming responsibilities for the senior squad.
“I’m looking forward to watching the game this evening (Tuesday),” said Rodgers. “Of course, we haven’t played a part in any of the preparation, so it’s only right that the squad of players and the staff that are here get the chance to prepare the team for tonight.
“We’ll watch the game and then tomorrow, we’ll go into the training ground and spend time with the staff and we’ll look to prepare the team for Thursday’s training session, so I’m really looking forward to that.
“My natural environment is on the grass, working with players, and that’s something that, as I’ve said, I can’t for.”
Concluding his maiden interview with LCFC TV, Rodgers underlined the importance of unity following a difficult season for the Football Club in which Chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha tragically lost his life alongside four others in a helicopter crash.
“I’d just like to say that I’m very privileged and honoured to be here as the manager,” he said. “I promise that I’ll give my life to making them proud of their team and proud of their club, and I look forward to working with them because together we’re stronger.
“It’s been a really difficult period, like I say, but my message is that together we’ll be stronger and on and off the pitch let’s make the right steps forward and I look forward to, like I say, making them proud of their team.”