Leicester City have appointed Brendan Rodgers as their new manager on a contract until June 2022, with Celtic confirming the return of Neil Lennon as the 46-year-old’s interim replacement. Leicester have also agreed to pay Celtic compensation of around £6m to secure Rodgers’ signature.
“I’m very privileged and honoured to be here as Leicester City manager and I’ll give my life to make the supporters proud of their club,” Rodgers said. “Together, we’ll be stronger and I’m looking forward to working with the players, staff and supporters to make the right steps forward.”
Rodgers will take charge of the team for the first time at Watford – the club where he began his managerial career – on Sunday, and will be in attendance for Tuesday’s home game against Brighton. He will be joined at Leicester by assistant coach Chris Davies, fitness coach Glen Driscoll and first-team coach Kolo Touré.
Watford
Rodgers’ first job as manager comes at then-Championship Watford, following coaching stints at Reading and Chelsea, where he worked as a youth coach for four years.
Reading
Rodgers returns to Reading as manager, with the club paying Watford compensation to sign him – but his tenure lasts just six months and he departs with the club in relegation trouble.
Swansea City
The Northern Irishman’s next job proves his breakthrough, as Rodgers leads Swansea to the Premier League, winning the play-offs in his first season. Their success continues in the top flight as they finish 11th in the 2011-12 season.
Liverpool
Rodgers replaces Kenny Dalglish at Liverpool, leading them to seventh in his first season before a dramatic title charge in 2013-14 with an attacking side led by Luis Suárez.
Liverpool ultimately finish second behind Manchester City, but can only come sixth the following year after Suárez departs. After a slow start to the 2015-16 campaign, Rodgers is sacked with Jürgen Klopp replacing him.
Celtic
After seven months out of football, Rodgers returns at Celtic and achieves total dominance in Scotland. Celtic have won seven trophies in his short tenure, and are on the verge of a treble-treble with the 46-year-old set to join Leicester.
Leicester
Rodgers moves to his sixth club – and third in the Premier League – replacing Claude Puel on a contract until June 2022.
Celtic had given permission for Rodgers to hold talks with Leicester earlier on Tuesday, and have now confirmed the interim appointment of former manager Lennon, who left Hibernian in January. Lennon will take over until the end of the season, joined by assistant manager John Kennedy and coach Damien Duff.
“I am absolutely delighted to be named manager of Celtic again,” Lennon said. “This is a club which has been such a huge part of my life already, and it is an honour to be asked to return.
“I have given everything to Celtic as a player and manager already in my career and I am ready to do the same again … I am returning to one of the biggest and best clubs in world football and I can’t wait to get started.”
Leicester had long viewed Rodgers as an ideal successor to Claude Puel but there were doubts as to whether he could be persuaded to leave Celtic in the middle of the season, with the Scottish champions on course to win a third domestic treble in succession.
Rodgers explained why he believed this to be the right moment to size an opportunity to return to the Premier League. “I think there was a number of reasons. I was certainly in no hurry to leave Celtic. [It] is a club that’s huge 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 as far as I could at this moment.”
Leicester City
(@LCFC)
Rodgers inherits a talented squad at Leicester that has underperformed this season, with some players and many supporters disenchanted with Puel’s style. Writing in the programme for the Brighton match, the club’s vice-chairman, Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, said “long-term progress had been compromised” under the Frenchman.
Rodgers has vowed to get the club back on an upward trajectory. “My message is that together we’ll be stronger and on and off the pitch,” he said. “Let’s make the right steps forward and I look forward to making [the fans] proud of their team.”
“My natural environment is on the grass, working with players. I want them to be really aggressive in the game, both with and without the ball, so those will be the messages early on. 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 give them the confidence and clarity to play to a level that I believe they can play at.”
The Celtic chief executive, Peter Lawwell, has paid tribute to Rodgers’ success with the team: “Brendan is a football manager of the highest quality and we are very disappointed to see him leave the club,” Lawwell said.
“This is an opportunity he wished to pursue and that is something we have to respect. He gave the club so much and has created so many wonderful memories for our supporters. His achievements are historic.”
Lawwell has also welcomed Lennon back to Celtic Park. “In bringing Neil back to the Club until the end of the season, we have appointed a man who knows what it means to be Celtic manager and someone who knows how to win. We know he has the commitment and desire needed to face the challenges ahead.”