It has been more than three years, but Brendan Rodgers’ decision to leave Celtic in order to join Leicester City remains one of the most controversial in club history. Perhaps the biggest reason behind that is the fact that he admitted to being a boyhood fan of the Hoops time after time only to make the jump back to the Premier League in the middle of the 2018/19 campaign.
Of course, Celtic fans are no strangers to seeing the club’s best leave for the glitz and glamour of the Premier League. But leaving while the season was ongoing is something that left a bitter taste in the mouths of the supporters.
As a result, while Rodgers might have won so much during his time as the manager of Celtic, he is not remembered very fondly by the fans, who have never really forgiven him for the manner of his exit.
In fact, even the players were not aware of what was going on during those last few days of Rodgers as Celtic manager. As reported by Football Scotland, Kieran Tierney said while speaking on BT Sport’s Currie Club podcast:
"“I just remember the night before, speaking to all my mates and saying, ‘There’s no chance, we’ve not heard anything, it’s just rumours’. Then the next morning I woke up, my mum had the radio on and she told me. It all happened so quickly.”"
Tierney revealed how he found out Rodgers had left Celtic
Tierney would himself go on to leave Celtic not too long afterwards. The only difference was that he left in the summer and the club had the proper time to scout and bring in a replacement.
Celtic ended up signing Boli Bolingoli and Greg Taylor that summer. The Belgian has already departed after a nightmare run at Parkhead both on and off the pitch. On the other hand, after struggling for so long, the Scottish international has found his form under the management of Ange Postecoglou.
Of course, Rodgers went on to achieve a lot of success at Leicester City as well, but right now, he finds himself in the relegation zone and could be headed for the sack.