Brendan Rodgers

Brendan Rodgers
Rodgers as Leicester City manager in 2021
Personal information
Full name Brendan Rodgers[1]
Date of birth (1973-01-26) 26 January 1973 (age 51)[2]
Place of birth Carnlough, Northern Ireland
Height 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)[3]
Position(s) Defender
Team information
Current team
Celtic (manager)
Youth career
1984–1987 Ballymena United
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1987–1990 Ballymena United
1990–1993 Reading 0 (0)
1993–1994 Newport (Isle of Wight)
1994–1995 Witney Town
1995–1996 Newbury Town
International career
1988 Northern Ireland Schools[4] 7 (0)
Managerial career
2006–2008 Chelsea (Reserves)
2008–2009 Watford
2009 Reading
2010–2012 Swansea City
2012–2015 Liverpool
2016–2019 Celtic
2019–2023 Leicester City
2023– Celtic
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Brendan Rodgers (born 26 January 1973) is a Northern Irish professional football manager and former player who is manager of Scottish Premiership club Celtic.

Rodgers began his career as a defender at Ballymena United, where he stayed until he was signed by Reading at the age of 18, although a genetic knee condition forced him to retire at age 20. He remained at Reading as a coach and then academy director, and continued to play non-league football at Newport, Witney Town and Newbury Town for several years. After a period travelling around Spain to study coaching methods, he was invited by José Mourinho to leave Reading and join Chelsea as youth manager in 2004, later being promoted to reserve manager in 2006.

In 2008, he was appointed manager of Watford, where he remained until he accepted an offer to become manager of his former club Reading in 2009. He left the club by mutual consent after some disappointing results six months later. He returned to management with Swansea City in 2010, leading the club to promotion to the Premier League, the first Welsh team to do so, before guiding them to finish 11th the following season. On 1 June 2012, Rodgers accepted an offer to become the new manager of Liverpool, whom he led to runners-up position in the league in the 2013–14 season before his dismissal in October 2015.

Rodgers became manager of Celtic in May 2016 and led them to an undefeated domestic season in his first year, and trebles in both of his first two seasons. He left Celtic for Leicester City in February 2019, winning the 2021 FA Cup in his second full season, before he left by mutual consent in April 2023. He returned to Celtic in June 2023 and won his third Scottish league title in his first season back at the club.

  1. ^ A Record of Post-war Scottish League Players 1946/47 to 2017/18. 7. John Litster and Scottish Football Historian magazine. 2018.
  2. ^ "Rodgers: Manager". BDFutbol. Archived from the original on 15 March 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
  3. ^ "Brendan Rodgers". Sports Mole. Archived from the original on 9 October 2019. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
  4. ^ "NISFA U15 & U16 International Players". tiscali.co.uk. Archived from the original on 18 October 2012. Retrieved 10 March 2013.