Former Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has claimed that his early exit from the club in the 2018/19 season has worked out for both parties in the end.
Rodgers made a swift exit from the club when English Premier League side Leicester City became interested and in a matter of days completed a move to the King Power Stadium.
As we know from there, Neil Lennon was appointed as temporary manager before later going on to take charge on a permanent basis.
Speaking on Robbie Fowler’s podcast about his time at the club, Rodgers insisted that in the end, the move away from the club has worked out for both parties.
“I understand that there will be a narrative around (the early exit). I’ve always made decisions I thought were right. Although I was a supporter of the club this is also my profession. I felt at that time there was about, what, 10 games to go, we were eight points clear, we’d won the first trophy of the season which was the League Cup, we were in the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup.
“My feeling was the team was in a good place. We’d created an environment and established a mindset in the years I was there. It may not have been ideal to leave and I can understand any grievance towards me going away because I know Celtic supporters and there’s not another club like it. How can you walk out on it? I can totally accept that.”
“I know in my heart that from the first day I walked in there I gave Celtic my life, I gave everything to Celtic. My ambition was to improve them on and off the pitch and when that moment came that I felt I couldn’t do that, yeah I could’ve went on to the end of the season, but there was an opportunity to go to Leicester, see the players here for the last 10 games and prepare for the following season.
“It actually worked out quite well if you look at it for both. Celtic did stay on course to win the treble and they won it by nine or 10 points when I left, and I was able to go into Leicester and pick up a good feel for the players and establish a culture here which would provide us a good base for the next season. But I totally understand it and will never be critical because I get why people would feel why shouldn’t I stay. My memory is more towards my time there and the joy I felt when I was there, which was amazing.”
Since Rodgers departed the club, we have gone on complete another two trebles, with Neil Lennon completing the job by winning the league and cup in the season that the Northern Irishman left.
At that point, it may have looked to Rodgers that it has ended well for both parties. However, we have seen how much of a disaster this season has gone on to be.
The forward planning certainly hasn’t been great in recent years and we now find ourselves in a position where we are almost hitting the reset button and have such a massive rebuild ahead in the summer.
