Rodgers opens up on Leicester City transfer struggles but 'won't go to war' with club

[Aus Fox]

4 minutes ago, smudgerfox said:

Raineri - Mendy 

Puel - Tielemans, Ghezzal, Diabate 

 

Leicester managers always have input to transfers as the list above shows. In addition Brendan had his best mate Lee Congerton as head of recruitment. Neither of the above had that. The agent of Ryan Bertrand is from a company in which Brendan’s son is involved. Putting aside conflict of interest issues, Brendan was ideally placed to know of Bertrand’s availability, to persuade him to come (relationship with agency, coached the player before) and to understand Bertrand’s likely value to the team.
 

Plus Celtic and Liverpool fans say poor recruitment limited their clubs’ horizons under Brendan. How much evidence do you need? 
 

 

 

My post wasn’t about who he has signed, it was stating that he doesn’t negotiate contracts and transfer fees.

He will tell Ruskin or whoever that he wants a certain player or two, it’s then the job of the club to agree a transfer fee and wages with the player - not Rodgers himself.

[smudgerfox]

9 minutes ago, Aus Fox said:

My post wasn’t about who he has signed, it was stating that he doesn’t negotiate contracts and transfer fees.

He will tell Ruskin or whoever that he wants a certain player or two, it’s then the job of the club to agree a transfer fee and wages with the player - not Rodgers himself.

Well if Brendan says he wants Ryan Bertrand - Rudkin goes off and negotiates fees and contract to get him. You can’t blame Rudkin for that. He’s backing the manager and the head of recruitment’s judgement in assessing the value of the player concerned and getting him for the manager. Where it goes wrong is when those initial judgements are so catastrophically misplaced. You could say the same about Vestergaard, Praet, Perez possibly Soumare - though I think the club had identified him as a potential recruit before. 

[BenTheFox]

11 hours ago, Steve Earle said:

Thought BR spoke very well on the forum.

 

I’m sure he regrets his post-Forest outburst. 

To be fair, I'm sure we all had an outburst. I wanted everyone involved in the debacle to have been lined up and shot. 

[smudgerfox]

2 hours ago, pmcla26 said:

Don't understand how that's Rodgers fault? That'd be like me giving you a fiver, and asking you to get me a KitKat from the shop, and you not getting me any change. Yes I wanted the KitKat, but I didn't expect you to spend the whole £5 on it. 

Okay - so we offer RB £30000 a week for one year and he turns it down. Then what? Sorry Brendan no can do. Anyone else you want at that price point? 
 

What Brendan’s interview makes perfectly clear is that he takes no responsibility for the mess we’re in or for an underachieving season this time out. In fact he’s pretty much admitting defeat in maintaining standards at previous levels. 
 

He only just found out about the need to balance the books. He makes no mention of last seasons disastrous transfer window which saddled us with three players who fulfill no function with no possibility of getting rid without incurring further expense. Or the likes of Praet, Perez, Hamza, Mendy and Kelechi - players he’s cast to the outskirts of the squad - gaining little to no value ..in the case of the first two players brought to the club while he’s been manager …

[JimmyC74]

4 hours ago, volpeazzurro said:

Communication is a two way thing. Perhaps Rodgers shouldn't have started spouting about a refresh before speaking to someone regarding the financial possibilities?

 

Even better still, don't even mention it at all, if possible, just do it and don't alert others to our intentions. Saying such things mid-season only serves as a slap to current players and an excuse for a manager who wasn't exactly pulling up any trees at the time, merely deflecting from his own inadequacies. For the master coach he was, he didn't exactly have much clue regarding our defence over a long long period of time.

 

We seemed full of praise for Rudkin and our recruitment boys until Rodgers came, are we all falling for his slobber? 

Faults on both sides no doubt. Amazing reverse ferret from what was being said in Feb to now - and all over the media making other clubs thinking we are desperate for cash. Not the best look.

[smudgerfox]

20 minutes ago, pmcla26 said:

Well clearly no one turned around to Rodgers and said that... so again, how is that his fault? 

 

Why would someone take responsibility for the financial situation that they didn't negotiate/create? 

 

Also, he's not going to come out and say "oh yeah, the last window we signed a load of crap" when they are still on the books and may need to play for us, that would be terrible man-management. 

 

I'm sorry, but your logic is really flawed.  

I’m not sure what you think is illogical ..

 

Did BR want Ryan Bertrand? Yes. Was BR in a good position to assess what RB could bring to the squad? Yes. Did he fight against the transfer? No. Was the head of recruitment at the time, Brendan’s best mate? Yes. Did Jon Rudkin bring the player that BR and his head of recruitment both wanted, to the club ? He did. 
 

So rather than argue with the manager and the head of recruitment and effectively defy them by imposing a left wing back more in keeping with the clubs recruitment policy, our DoF backed the manager and his head of recruitment. And it is precisely these kind of signings - Vestergaard, Perez, Praet - all made on Brendan’s watch, which clog up the squad and make further recruitment financially unviable. 
 

And btw if you listen to his interview he IS saying that there are players on the books which aren’t good enough … 

[BKLFox]

48 minutes ago, smudgerfox said:

Okay - so we offer RB £30000 a week for one year and he turns it down. Then what? Sorry Brendan no can do. Anyone else you want at that price point? 
 

What Brendan’s interview makes perfectly clear is that he takes no responsibility for the mess we’re in or for an underachieving season this time out. In fact he’s pretty much admitting defeat in maintaining standards at previous levels. 
 

He only just found out about the need to balance the books. He makes no mention of last seasons disastrous transfer window which saddled us with three players who fulfill no function with no possibility of getting rid without incurring further expense. Or the likes of Praet, Perez, Hamza, Mendy and Kelechi - players he’s cast to the outskirts of the squad - gaining little to no value ..in the case of the first two players brought to the club while he’s been manager …

The 1st part is exactly what Rudkins job is, if he sets a limit then goes over it it's on him he controls the purse end of.

 

The last part about casting players aside you mention 5 squad players do they fit into your starting 11?
They have all had game time they are not training or playing with the Unders he hasn't cast them anywhere.

If some don't make the 25 man cut its simply down to maths 32 into 25 don't go, if its not these 5 its another bunch.

[smudgerfox]

7 minutes ago, BKLFox said:

The 1st part is exactly what Rudkins job is, if he sets a limit then goes over it it's on him he controls the purse end of.

 

The last part about casting players aside you mention 5 squad players do they fit into your starting 11?
They have all had game time they are not training or playing with the Unders he hasn't cast them anywhere.

If some don't make the 25 man cut its simply down to maths 32 into 25 don't go, if its not these 5 its another bunch.

On Rudkins job - yes I agree. But my point is that it’s almost impossible and potentially reckless to buy players that the manager explicitly doesn’t want. In that role you want to bring in players which meet the manager’s needs - otherwise you do have two crucial parts of the club pulling in opposite directions. For reasons I stated earlier, I have no doubt that RB was a BR signing and any attempt to blame Rudkin for sealing the deal is really far fetched. 
 

On Praet, Perez, Hamza, Vestergaard and Bertrand - and you could add Soumare - the question is not whether they are first teamers for us but whether their use as squad players has enhanced their value and attractiveness to potential buyers. Most have regularly been deployed away from their natural position and used only when all other options have dried up. Apart from Bertrand they gave all been rejected by the manager either publicly or implicitly which makes them difficult to sell. 

[Sharpe's Fox]

Simon Jordan getting this spot on imo

 

 

[StriderHiryu]

 

Didn't see this posted yet, pretty informative. 

 

[HankMarvin]

6 minutes ago, StriderHiryu said:

 

Didn't see this posted yet, pretty informative. 

 

I think the club factored in selling Youri 30-40m

Possibly Soyuncu too

Its seems like the club have been caught on the hop, but something has changed in that 4-5 months.

That or they don’t trust BR with the budget after his recent acquisitions and his performance last season put him on unsteady ground.

Elite level businesses don’t get projections wrong, especially when they have had to factor in the training ground project.

 

Also it doesn’t make sense, how the club are allegedly rejecting bids if the finances are truly in a dire state.

[Ric Flair]

1 hour ago, Sharpe's Fox said:

Simon Jordan getting this spot on imo

 

 

Absolutely bang on from Simon

[Always Next Year]

42 minutes ago, HankMarvin said:

I think the club factored in selling Youri 30-40m

Possibly Soyuncu too

Its seems like the club have been caught on the hop, but something has changed in that 4-5 months.

That or they don’t trust BR with the budget after his recent acquisitions and his performance last season put him on unsteady ground.

Elite level businesses don’t get projections wrong, especially when they have had to factor in the training ground project.

 

Also it doesn’t make sense, how the club are allegedly rejecting bids if the finances are truly in a dire state.

Would  Rodgers still be here if Vichai was still at the helm of the club is Top strong enough to get rid of him  

[Les-TA-Jon]

So many unknowns - was the messaging in February that of BR and the Club's? Did BR go off script? Was there miscommunication? 

 

Did the club change its plan since but not tell BR? Did it inform him ASAP? Did they not want to give him the rebuild job? Did they see the even bigger mess we're in next summer with even more players out of contract or with 1 year remaining? Was it more prudent to simply tread water this season and see what happens? 

 

What it does tell us is that there's very little to be gained by having these sorts of conversations publicly. Historically the club has kept its cards very close to its chest. The BR comments in Feb and now this summer contradict that somewhat. 

 

It feels like a bit of an own goal of bad man-management to me. BR told loads of players in Feb 'you're not good enough and if I get my way loads of you will be gone and we'll have a rebuild'. Now, not only does he have to work with those same players, he also has returning loanees like Praet and an entire squad that has been hearing BR say over the summer "like it or lump it I've got to work with what I've got and we can't hope to be competitive like have previously" 

 

Not ideal...

[cityfanlee23]

It's really frustrating, I'm so pessimistic on pretty much everything Rodgers says these days because he just seems to constantly shift blame to nobody in particular as long as it's not himself. The bottom line is this, we've had a pandemic yes, and that has to take some of the portion of reasoning as to the situation we are in, but we have wasted ALOT of money on garbage under Rodgers so far, and I don't trust him with a fiver let alone the £100m+ we will need to have a proper shout of fighting for top 6 consistently. 

When BR came in, he inherited from Puel a team consisting of some of the brightest under 25 players in the league, some of them in Europe, Tielemans, Maddison, Perreira, Soyuncu, Barnes, Maguire, Chilwell, Benkovic off the back of his celtic displays looked very good, even Choudhury looked like he could become a half decent premier league midfielder for us to bring on. And credit to BR, Fofana looks like he could become world class and Justin will be an England regular. 
In the opening season of BR's tenure, we were on the up, going in the right direction and really driving a blueprint of how to run a football club, all without ever really breaking the bank, we had a strong policy of signing players who can improve us now, but also have the space to profit from in future.

Fast forward a few seasons and it almost feels like we've lost direction, we have made some good profitable signings like Fofana and Justin, but then we have already wasted the profit from those future sales on players we will lose money on, one minute Rodgers is publicly saying we need to refresh or revamp the squad with multiple players, the next he's saying we can't really sign anyone, it's as if he's not even talking to the board? We are signing players who never would have been signed before like Bertrand, Vestergaard, Bennett, Under, alongside some players who you could say we needed cover for like Praet and Castagne but arguably don't actually improve us a huge amount (although I do like Castagne, at our current expectations he probably fits) 

Don't get me wrong, we signed some stinkers before Rodgers and we will after him also, but it feels like we have more deadwood than ever, on higher wages. And now we potentially face a period where all of those young top players like Maddison, Fofana, Barnes, Tielemans, Ndidi etc are somewhat likely to want to move on if we don't improve and instead go backwards, which is a real possibility, I appreciate this is just speculation, maybe i'm proven wrong and we finish top 6, but it just seems logical that these players want to continue to win, and will likely move on if the prospect of that at Leicester is getting further away. We cannot control the pandemic, and it's hit us hard, but I don't feel like we have any real direction anymore. Scatter gun signings and injury problems have followed BR everywhere. 

I really hope he can turn this around, but i'm not holding my breath for it. 

[Lambert09]

1 hour ago, StriderHiryu said:

 

Didn't see this posted yet, pretty informative. 

 

This has annoyed me. He’s making excuses already! I’m really against a manager publicly lowering expectations in this way, it sends such a negative message to your players.  This is still the most talented squad we’ve ever had and i’d rather he just gets on with it. 

 

As usual it feels like it’s all about him and trying to make it seem like he’s doing a good job (or not a bad one). 

 

I heard people praising the interview but if I was wes or maddison and I hear a manager saying this (whether it’s true or not) it’s going to make me think I need to move to achieve what I want. 

 

This squad can still compete with the best and yes it will be tricky but it always is… don’t suck the hope out of the players before they’ve even got started 

[volpeazzurro]

8 hours ago, coolhandfox said:

Maybe it was a slap they needed?

 

Our form definitely improved after those comments.

 

The players weren't exactly pulling up tree either.

We also played some very down and out teams.

[Always Next Year]

16 minutes ago, cityfanlee23 said:

It's really frustrating, I'm so pessimistic on pretty much everything Rodgers says these days because he just seems to constantly shift blame to nobody in particular as long as it's not himself. The bottom line is this, we've had a pandemic yes, and that has to take some of the portion of reasoning as to the situation we are in, but we have wasted ALOT of money on garbage under Rodgers so far, and I don't trust him with a fiver let alone the £100m+ we will need to have a proper shout of fighting for top 6 consistently. 

When BR came in, he inherited from Puel a team consisting of some of the brightest under 25 players in the league, some of them in Europe, Tielemans, Maddison, Perreira, Soyuncu, Barnes, Maguire, Chilwell, Benkovic off the back of his celtic displays looked very good, even Choudhury looked like he could become a half decent premier league midfielder for us to bring on. And credit to BR, Fofana looks like he could become world class and Justin will be an England regular. 
In the opening season of BR's tenure, we were on the up, going in the right direction and really driving a blueprint of how to run a football club, all without ever really breaking the bank, we had a strong policy of signing players who can improve us now, but also have the space to profit from in future.

Fast forward a few seasons and it almost feels like we've lost direction, we have made some good profitable signings like Fofana and Justin, but then we have already wasted the profit from those future sales on players we will lose money on, one minute Rodgers is publicly saying we need to refresh or revamp the squad with multiple players, the next he's saying we can't really sign anyone, it's as if he's not even talking to the board? We are signing players who never would have been signed before like Bertrand, Vestergaard, Bennett, Under, alongside some players who you could say we needed cover for like Praet and Castagne but arguably don't actually improve us a huge amount (although I do like Castagne, at our current expectations he probably fits) 

Don't get me wrong, we signed some stinkers before Rodgers and we will after him also, but it feels like we have more deadwood than ever, on higher wages. And now we potentially face a period where all of those young top players like Maddison, Fofana, Barnes, Tielemans, Ndidi etc are somewhat likely to want to move on if we don't improve and instead go backwards, which is a real possibility, I appreciate this is just speculation, maybe i'm proven wrong and we finish top 6, but it just seems logical that these players want to continue to win, and will likely move on if the prospect of that at Leicester is getting further away. We cannot control the pandemic, and it's hit us hard, but I don't feel like we have any real direction anymore. Scatter gun signings and injury problems have followed BR everywhere. 

I really hope he can turn this around, but i'm not holding my breath for it. 

Loose to Brentford and he’ll be gone.

[Corky]

Jordan is spot on - Rodgers needs to get on with the job. If he's an elite coach he'll find a way.

[Sharpe's Fox]

1 hour ago, Ric Flair said:

Absolutely bang on from Simon

 

59 minutes ago, Corky said:

Jordan is spot on - Rodgers needs to get on with the job. If he's an elite coach he'll find a way.

Jordan's box office

[Ric Flair]

1 hour ago, Les-TA-Jon said:

So many unknowns - was the messaging in February that of BR and the Club's? Did BR go off script? Was there miscommunication? 

 

Did the club change its plan since but not tell BR? Did it inform him ASAP? Did they not want to give him the rebuild job? Did they see the even bigger mess we're in next summer with even more players out of contract or with 1 year remaining? Was it more prudent to simply tread water this season and see what happens? 

 

What it does tell us is that there's very little to be gained by having these sorts of conversations publicly. Historically the club has kept its cards very close to its chest. The BR comments in Feb and now this summer contradict that somewhat. 

 

It feels like a bit of an own goal of bad man-management to me. BR told loads of players in Feb 'you're not good enough and if I get my way loads of you will be gone and we'll have a rebuild'. Now, not only does he have to work with those same players, he also has returning loanees like Praet and an entire squad that has been hearing BR say over the summer "like it or lump it I've got to work with what I've got and we can't hope to be competitive like have previously" 

 

Not ideal...

UEFA announced changes to FFP in April/May.....

[Les-TA-Jon]

13 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

UEFA announced changes to FFP in April/May.....

What are the changes?

[CosbehFox]

2 hours ago, volpeazzurro said:

We also played some very down and out teams.

Which everyone does. We had Norwich away as a newly promoted team at their most aggressive. It’s swings and roundabouts on that score 

[Guest ttfn]

4 hours ago, Sharpe's Fox said:

Simon Jordan getting this spot on imo

 

 

It took Jim White 2 minutes and 15 seconds (90 Seconds of which he is talking for) to ask his question to Simon Jordan.

 

It can’t just be me who thinks that is absolutely terrible broadcasting?

Edited 2 August 2022 by ttfn

[Guest ttfn]

40 minutes ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

Which everyone does. We had Norwich away as a newly promoted team at their most aggressive. It’s swings and roundabouts on that score 

Norwich were in the middle of a 16 game losing streak in the PL when we played them at the start of last season. Even at the start of last season they lost their first 6 games and took 2 points from the first 10. They might have been aggressive but they were crap.

 

We played a Watford side that had lost 11 games in a row at home until the midweek before they played us where they drew 0-0 with a poor Everton side.

 

Southampton had taken 4 points from 10 games before they played us on the final day.

 

Of course it’s very possible that had we played those games earlier in the season we’d have won them anyway but we could hardly have had a more generous end to the season (the opposite having been true the previous two years).

Edited 2 August 2022 by ttfn