Brendan Rodgers has given away a little more detail about his abrupt departure from Celtic in February 2019.
In April 2017, with Celtic close to an Invincible Treble he signed a four year contract despite rumours of EPL sides renewing their interest in the former Liverpool boss.
The summer transfer window of 2018 will be one that Celtic fans will regret for some time. The Invincible team started to break up when Stuart Armstrong and Moussa Dembele left. Dedryk Boyata wanted to join them but was allowed to enter the final year of his deal.
Rodgers wanted to bring in John McGinn, Peter Lawwell failed to deliver with Youssouf Mulumbu presented as an alternative.
When Leicester sacked Claude Puele on February 24 there were a few hints at Rodgers being seen as a successor. Forty-eight hours after steering Celtic to a win over Motherwell Rodgers was gone, sitting in Leicester completing negotiations with most of his Celtic backroom staff following him to the Midlands.
Speaking on the Robbie Fowler Podcast Rodgers admits that less than halfway through his contract he was unable to develop Celtic any further.
48 minutes
Towards the end I felt that I had taken Celtic as far as I could, I could have stayed on and done the Treble Treble. We’d won seven trophies in a row, we’d created so many records and incredible memories but I just felt that I had taken the club as far as I could.
I’m the type that needs the next test and the next challenge and unfortunately I wasn’t able to develop that there at Celtic.
For me then, OK it was to come to here (Leicester City) and see if I could help disrupt the market of the top six, break into that. That was a huge challenge but that is what I’ve always taken on. If you look through my managerial career, going to Watford down in the bottom three and keeping them up was a challenge.
Going to Reading to get them into the Premier League- fail. Swansea, could we become the first Welsh team to get into the Premier League? We did that, right, going to Liverpool when I could have went elsewhere. Liverpool were eighth, they had been out of the Champions League for a few seasons, could I get them back in, yes we were able to do that. Nearly won the league, yes OK.
Celtic, could we get back to the best ways, could we get back to the Champions League. So for me the story is all about the test and the challenge.
Peter Lawwell will formally leave Celtic on June 30 but his successor Dom McKay could join the club this week.
