Leicester City fans finally got their answer. They hung banners and sang songs, but all it took for Brendan Rodgers to lose his job was for the Foxes to fall into the relegation zone.
The loss to Crystal Palace with the last kick of Saturday’s game – in a game in which they were outscored 31-3 by Roy Hodgson’s side – left them 18th.
West Ham’s win puts them 19th. One point from their last six. Eight since the World Cup. The worst team in the division since the restart.
The fans wanted it but the owners didn’t. Leicester chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, known as Khun Top, thought and hoped that Rodgers would still be able to help and support them. In the end, he felt that he had no choice.
“We believed that continuity and stability would be key to correcting our course, particularly given our previous achievements under Brendan’s leadership,” he said in the statement confirming Rodgers’ departure.
Leicester City sacked Brendan Rodgers on Sunday with the club fighting for its survival
An agonizing last-gasp defeat at Crystal Palace on Saturday was the final act for Rodgers.
Leicester City chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha (right) issued a farewell statement as the decision to sack Rodgers was confirmed on Sunday afternoon.
“Unfortunately, the desired improvement has not occurred and with 10 games remaining in the season, the Board is forced to take alternative measures to protect our Premier League status.”
Rodgers leaves an intriguing legacy. As time passes and recent torment returns to the dusty corners of memory, fans will remember Rodgers as one of the greatest managers in club history.
Leicester won their first FA Cup with him. They finished fifth two seasons in a row and should, if we’re being honest, have been in the Champions League. They won the Community Shield. They beat Southampton 9-0.
He accomplished phenomenal things. It can be said that she overstepped. It can be said that he inspired Leicester to punch above his weight.
Those memories will linger longer, in decades to come, than a 4-1 loss to Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup defense or losing to Tottenham when you’re 2-1 up with 20 seconds to go and have a goal. -kick.
Or even being bottom of the table after seven games this season with just one point and having conceded more goals at that stage than any other team in Premier League history.
But over the past 18 months, Rodgers has been a massive underachiever. These players should not be in the relegation zone. Not James Maddison, not Harvey Barnes, not Youri Tielemans.
You can praise one and realize the other. The former does not undermine the latter. Likewise, the past should not cloud judgment about the present.
The Leicester fans wanted to see the back of their coach for a long time in the midst of a decline
The fact that Rodgers led Leicester to their first FA Cup win in 2021 will ensure that he is considered one of the club’s best managers.
This is a Leicester team in free fall. Without belief and without fight. Rodgers failed to unite the club when it mattered.
Spending 18 months telling the world their players aren’t good enough and surviving this season would be one of their career highs tends to do that.
Fans have had enough of being excited for Rodgers, and in the end, it seemed like the players were too.
For some, trophies dictate a manager’s success. On that front, Rodgers delivered unprecedented success to Leicester. However, for others, so is the landscape from which a carriage departs. Did they leave the club in a better state than the one they found it in?
In Rodgers’ case, it’s not clear that he did. And not only with the club looking at the relegation square between the eyes.
Just two years ago, Leicester stood tall and bright as the beacon for other non-elite clubs to follow. Since then, they’ve proven that you don’t go far wrong for disaster to be on your heels.
Leicester twice narrowly missed out on qualifying for the Champions League under Rodgers
Leicester’s 9-0 win at Southampton in 2019 was a highlight of his tenure.
Some will point to the lack of funds available to Rodgers. The man himself certainly did. He was promised a squadron review and he didn’t get it.
The club handed out inflated contracts to team players, oversaw an unsustainable wage bill and recently posted record losses of £92.5m.
You can’t blame Rodgers for some of that mismanagement over his head. However, it was Rodgers who presided over a terrible summer investment in 2021 when the club spent £55m on Patson Daka, Boubakary Soumare, Ryan Bertrand and Jannik Vestergaard and, for once, the club kept all its star players.
Previously great players like Wilfred Ndidi and Caglar Soyuncu have regressed with Rodgers to the point where they don’t have much, if any, resale value anymore. The contracts have run out. Tielemans is likely to leave in the summer for nothing.
There is a big rebuild to be done and who knows who will be the manager to do it, or in what division it will be done.
However, this season has seen a steep decline as Leicester struggle to stay in the top flight.
They dropped to 19th after West Ham won on Sunday but are just one point from safety.
The timing of the decision is strange. There is no succession plan and backroom staff members Mike Stowell and Adam Sadler will take charge of a monumental game against Aston Villa at the King Power Stadium on Tuesday night.
History suggests that changing managers so late does little to alter his fate. Since 2010, all management changes from March at clubs in the relegation zone have still seen those teams fall. The tight bottom half of the table will give Leicester hope.
Whoever replaces Rodgers has a job on their hands. Not only to keep Leicester, but to fix the mess that was left behind.