Brendan Rodgers

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.

He began his senior career as a defender for Ballymena United, his local team, in 1987.

Three years later, at the age of 18, he was signed by Reading where he played in the reserves.

His professional playing career was ended when he was 20, due to a genetic knee condition.

Following this enforced retirement, Rodgers spent several years playing in non-league football for Newport (IOW), Witney Town and Newbury Town, while remaining as a youth coach at Reading.

He found employment at John Lewis to support his young family.

As a teenager, Rodgers represented Northern Ireland at schoolboy level, notably playing against Brazil in 1988.

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.

Rodgers spent a large amount of time travelling around Spain studying different coaching methods, and was eventually invited by manager José Mourinho to leave his role of academy director at Reading and join the Chelsea Academy as their head youth coach in 2004 after a recommendation by Mourinho's assistant and future Premier League manager Steve Clarke.

Rodgers was promoted to reserve team manager two years later, and was kept in that position by subsequent Chelsea managers Avram Grant and Luiz Felipe Scolari.

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.

On 24 November 2008, Rodgers left Chelsea to become the manager of Championship club Watford.

Rodgers won only two of his first ten league games as manager, leaving Watford in the relegation zone by January.

However, he eventually agreed a deal to become the new manager of Reading on 5 June 2009, after a compensation package worth an initial £500,000 with Watford was agreed, which later rose to £1 million.

The Watford Supporters' Trust stated that Rodgers' reputation was "severely damaged" in the eyes of the supporters as a result of the move, but they nevertheless "thanked (Rodgers) for his efforts last season" and "(wished) him well for the future".

On 11 August, Rodgers got his first win as Reading manager with a 5–1 win over League Two side Burton Albion in the first round of the League Cup.

Despite a good start in the league, a disappointing string of results followed, and Rodgers left Reading by mutual consent on 16 December, just over six months after his arrival, with Reading one place above relegation in the Championship.

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.

His mother died in 2010 at the age of 53, and in September 2011 Rodgers was by his father's side when he died of cancer, aged 59.

Rodgers accepted an offer to become the manager of Championship side Swansea City on 16 July 2010.

Prior to this appointment, he had been asked to join the coaching staff at Manchester City under manager Roberto Mancini.

His beginning as Swansea manager was very successful, leading to Rodgers being named the Championship Manager of the Month for February 2011 after Swansea won five out of the six league games they played that month, while keeping four clean sheets.

By 25 April 2011, Rodgers had managed to comfortably secure Swansea City's place in the 2011 Championship Play-Offs for promotion into the Premier League, with a convincing 4–1 victory over Ipswich Town at the Liberty Stadium.

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.

Watford's form dramatically improved, however, and Rodgers was able to guide them to finish 13th, avoiding relegation.

Weeks after guaranteeing Watford's survival, and following the resignation of Steve Coppell as Reading manager, Rodgers quickly became the favourite to succeed him and rejoin his old club.

He initially distanced himself from reports linking him with the job, saying that his "concentration (is) fully on Watford".

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.

Rodgers was born in the seaside village of Carnlough in County Antrim, Northern Ireland.

His father Malachy was a painter and decorator, while his mother Christina was a volunteer for the Irish charity Trócaire.

Rodgers is the eldest of five boys.

His younger brother Malachy became a well-known country-and-western singer locally, and is now pursuing a career in Nashville, Tennessee, United States.

He grew up as a supporter of Sheffield Wednesday and Celtic.

Rodgers was brought up a Catholic.

He attended St John's Catholic Primary School in Carnlough, and then moved on to St Patrick's College, Ballymena until the age of 16.