Brendan Rodgers has opened up on the reasons behind his Celtic exit and admits that a lack of investment was influential in his move to Leicester City.
The Northern Irishman led Celtic to seven consecutive trophies and a 69-game unbeaten run before sealing a shock departure back to the Premier League.
Rodgers had previously voiced his frustrations at the club’s transfer business as Celtic missed out on a top transfer target John McGinn for around £3million from Hibernian - and he’s now valued at nearly 20 times that amount after starring with Aston Villa and the Scotland national team.
He is currently in a similar situation at the Foxes, who are the only side in Europe’s top five leagues yet to make a signing this summer, and the ex-Celtic boss has opened up on his Hoops departure in a recent interview.
He told Kammy and Ben’s Proper Football Podcast: “That was the dream for me. For me, in my coaching career and managerial career, if there was one club I wanted to manage it was Celtic.
“I grew up as a Celtic supporter… family, friends. And when the opportunity came I wasn't sure if it was going to be the right time or not because I’d just came out of Liverpool. I needed a break after that.
“But I knew going into my next job I needed pressure. When I came from Liverpool and the spotlight’s on you and you have that pressure to win and to be competitive, I knew I needed that in my next job.
“Celtic is right up there in terms of status of club and history with Liverpool, you know?
“If Celtic’s in the Premier League, you're talking about the top four clubs in the country. This is, you know, a monumental-sized club, partisan supporters, worldwide fanbase… you have to win every game.
“It was perfect for me and then to be able to be that guy that's grown up a Celtic man and then be the manager was really a dream and thankfully, it went really well for us."
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When asked why he left, Rodgers said: "[The] challenge. We’d qualified for the Champions League two seasons running, we’d won the treble twice. We brought in great investment into the club.
“But I felt that to take the next steps in Europe we needed investment and that was a little bit of maybe the club had that investment to put in to compete at that level and it was also one where the challenge… it was such a difficult thing to do to leave because of my friends and because of the club and everything.
“But the number one thing for me has always been taking on a challenge. I felt that it wasn't the ideal time to leave but I felt that what where I'd left the club from when I come in that February 2019 – the club had won seven trophies on the spin with the records and everything we’d done, we’d filled the stadium again – we gave the team back hope because when we first came in they’d lost to Rangers and they were coming into the league and everything else.
“So I thought we’d built up a great togetherness there and when I left we were eight points clear and in the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup, we’d already won the League Cup. So a really good position in the league.
“Neil [Lennon] came in and finished the season off really well, wins the league, wins the Scottish Cup and the team then finishes nine points clear and has got a really good foundation for the following season.
“Me coming into here [Leicester] my challenge could I disrupt the market? Could I bring a team into the top six? The top six had been very set here in England in the Premier League for a number of years.
“I think the only team that beat that was Leicester when they won the league so the challenge coming here was right.
“I felt it was a good squad, a fantastic owner and they had the plans for the training facility so could we then go into somewhere that could give us the chance to break into the top six – even though it was going to be a huge challenge.
“That was the reason I left. Such a hard one, such a difficult one but I only ever look at the great memories of good people, the great friends I made there, the happy moments that I had and then it was the next step in the journey.”
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