Brendan Rodgers is not fondly remembered by most Celtic fans these days despite all the things that he achieved during his time at Parkhead. All of this has to do with the manner of his exit though. He would go on to leave the club in the middle of the season in order to jump back to the Premier League and take the Leicester City job.
Several years have passed since then, and yet, most Celtic fans have not forgotten about the manner of Rodgers’ exit. As a result, his achievements at Parkhead often do not get the credit that they deserve or the manager simply does not get the recognition for them.
Of course, Rodgers has enjoyed quite a bit of success at Leicester City, even winning the FA Cup and the Community Shield. But unfortunately, it might have come at the cost of his legacy at Celtic Park.
Of course, there are some players who did not have the best of time at Celtic, while Rodgers was the manager. One such player, who lost his place in the team was Erik Sviatchenko. As reported by the Daily Record, while speaking to Danish outlet ‘Offside’, he said:
"“We had an extremely good relationship (Rodgers) with each other, but from one to the other I also felt… I had played every game in the Champions League and had started in every game, and then we go on winter break. There was a lot of talk with Leicester about a possible transfer, because I had done really well in Scottish football.“Leicester were ready to pay a three million sum for me at the time, but the move fell through when Celtic demanded more money. Then we come back from the break after a week and we go to training camp.“I’m suspended for the first game after a yellow card and without explanation I just don’t play anymore. Then he plays Dedryck Boyata, who is also a fantastically skilled player. He hadn’t seen much playing time for nine months, but suddenly I wasn’t playing. I didn’t play the second match either, and I didn’t play the third match either.”"
Former Celtic star makes blunt Rodgers claim about losing his place in the team
Sviatchenko would ultimately go on to leave Celtic in order to join FC Midtjylland. And he has been good enough there that he has been linked with a move back to Parkhead at times.
Of course, Celtic have a couple of brilliant centre-backs in Cameron Carter-Vickers and Carl Starfelt right now, with Yuki Kobayashi and Stephen Welsh providing cover. Thus, a return for Sviatchenko is hard to see.
Of course, these kind of things happen at clubs often and is nothing out of the ordinary. It is hard to question Rodgers’ decisions, because Celtic did continue to achieve success throughout his time at Parkhead.