Brendan Rodgers has been sacked by Leicester after the club dropped into the Premier League relegation zone following a late defeat at Crystal Palace on Saturday. The loss extended their winless run to seven matches, an alarming sequence that triggered crisis talks and the end of Rodgers’s four-year tenure.
The club said they have reached a “mutual agreement” with Rodgers, who was under contract until 2025. The 50-year-old is and is the 12th top-flight manager to depart this season. Rodgers, who guided Leicester to the FA Cup in 2021, leaves with the club a point from safety with 10 games to play.
Rodgers was supported by the Leicester hierarchy after a miserable start to this season with the chairman, Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, maintaining belief that the former Celtic and Liverpool manager was capable of turning things around.
It had long been felt that as long as Srivaddhanaprabha was confident of avoiding relegation then Rodgers’s position was safe, but defeat and a poor performance at Palace – a relegation rival – prompted the decision that large sections of the fanbase have been calling for in recent months. The chairman said Leicester felt “compelled to take alternative action to protect our Premier League status”.
Srivaddhanaprabha said Rodgers’s “place in history is assured”. As well as the FA Cup and Community Shield in 2021, Rodgers led the club to successive fifth-place finishes and subsequent European campaigns, including a Europa Conference League semi-final against Roma last season.
Rodgers oversaw an upturn in results before the World Cup but since Christmas his side won just two league matches and a sixth defeat in seven games forced the owners’ hand before games against Aston Villa and Bournemouth in the coming week.
2022-23, 13 (record): Scott Parker (Bournemouth), Thomas Tuchel (Chelsea), Graham Potter (Brighton, joined Chelsea), Bruno Lage (Wolves), Steven Gerrard (Aston Villa), Ralph Hasenhüttl (Southampton), Frank Lampard (Everton), Jesse Marsch (Leeds), Nathan Jones (Southampton), Patrick Vieira (Crystal Palace), Antonio Conte (Tottenham), Brendan Rodgers (Leicester), Graham Potter (Chelsea).
2021-22, 10: Xisco Muñoz (Watford), Steve Bruce (Newcastle), Nuno Espírito Santo (Tottenham), Daniel Farke (Norwich), Dean Smith (Aston Villa), Ole Gunnar Solskjær (Man Utd), Rafa Benítez (Everton), Claudio Ranieri (Watford), Marcelo Bielsa (Leeds), Sean Dyche (Burnley).
2020-21, four: Slaven Bilic (West Brom), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), Chris Wilder (Sheffield United), José Mourinho (Tottenham)
2019-20, seven: Javi Gracia (Watford), Mauricio Pochettino (Tottenham), Unai Emery (Arsenal), Quique Sánchez Flores (Watford), Marco Silva (Everton), Manuel Pellegrini (West Ham), Nigel Pearson (Watford).
2018-19, six: Slavisa Jokanovic (Fulham), Mark Hughes (Southampton), José Mourinho (Man Utd), David Wagner (Huddersfield), Claude Puel (Leicester), Claudio Ranieri (Fulham).
Premier League's longest-serving managers
1 Jürgen Klopp (Liverpool) – seven years, 177 days
2 Pep Guardiola (Man City) – six years, 276 days
3 Thomas Frank (Brentford) – four years, 169 days
4 Mikel Arteta (Arsenal) – three years, 102 days
5 David Moyes (West Ham) – three years, 94 days
6 Marco Silva (Fulham) – one year, 276 days
7 Steve Cooper (Nottm Forest) – one year, 194 days
8 Eddie Howe (Newcastle) – one year, 146 days
9 Erik ten Hag (Man Utd) – 315 days
10 Gary O'Neil (Bournemouth) – 216 days
11 Roberto De Zerbi (Brighton) – 197 days
12 Unai Emery (Aston Villa) – 153 days
Rodgers’s assistant, Chris Davies, and fitness coach, Glen Driscoll, have also departed. The long-serving first‑team coach Adam Sadler and goalkeeping coach Mike Stowell will take care of training and match preparation. Sadler and Stowell are expected to take charge of the crucial home match against Villa on Tuesday.
Rodgers was frustrated at failing to add to his squad last summer owing to financial fair play concerns but planned to revamp his group at the end of this season after a £30m outlay on three players in January. Youri Tielemans is out of contract and their star midfielder James Maddison is expected to be sold.
“The achievements of the team under Brendan’s management speak for themselves – we’ve experienced some of our finest footballing moments under his guidance and will always be grateful to him and his staff for the heights they helped us to reach on the pitch,” Srivaddhanaprabha said on Sunday.
“However, performances and results during the current season have been below our shared expectations. It had been our belief that continuity and stability would be key to correcting our course, particularly given our previous achievements under Brendan’s management.”
