The Soccer Interview is a brand new sequence by which the most important names in sport and leisure be a part of host Kelly Somers for daring and in-depth conversations concerning the nation’s favorite sport.
We’ll discover mindset and motivation, and speak about defining moments, profession highs and private reflections. The Soccer Interview brings you the particular person behind the participant.
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Interviews will drop on Saturdays throughout BBC iPlayer, BBC Sounds and the BBC Sport web site. This week’s interview will likely be broadcast on BBC One from 23:55 BST on Saturday, 18 October (and after Sportscene in Scotland).
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Brendan Rodgers has been a supervisor for nearly twenty years, however a coach for for much longer – after a knee damage ended his profession as an expert footballer when he was 20.
After travelling round Europe to study teaching strategies from totally different nations, Rodgers turned a youth workforce coach below Jose Mourinho at Chelsea in 2004, earlier than taking his first steps into administration, aged 35, with Watford 4 years later.
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Now 52, the previous Studying, Swansea, Liverpool and Leicester supervisor is in his second spell at Celtic, the place he has received 4 Scottish Premiership titles, plus each home cup competitions.
Rodgers sat down with Kelly Somers to speak about not taking part in 11-a-side soccer till he was 13, his standout match as a supervisor, and his bid to affix the 1,000 membership.
Kelly Somers: What does soccer imply to you?
Brendan Rodgers: Soccer, for so long as I’ve recognized, has been my life. To my youngsters, I’d typically choose up a measurement 5 soccer and inform them: ‘This ball right here has taken me around the globe and given me a tremendous life.’ That has purely been from once I was a baby simply loving the sport and watching the sport. I’ve {a photograph} of once I was solely two once I broke my leg. It is really how I turned left-footed as a result of I used to kick the ball with my proper foot. The my brother pushed me out of the pram and I broke my leg, and whereas it was in plaster they stated I at all times wished a soccer. I began kicking with my left foot and once I obtained the plaster off, I used to be all left-footed. I used to be very, very fortunate to have then spent my life in soccer. For so long as I’ve recognized, it has been part of my life.
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Kelly: Are you able to bear in mind the primary correct workforce you performed for?
Brendan: I did not play my first 11-a-side sport till I used to be 13. At main faculty, we cherished soccer however by no means had a workforce. I by no means had a workforce in secondary faculty however it was by way of pals at secondary faculty. They performed for a workforce referred to as Star United in Ballymena they usually requested me to return alongside and play for them. That was nearly my first sport.
Kelly: What had been these years like going by way of the system and also you perhaps realised you can perhaps make it as a participant?
Brendan: I might at all times hoped that I might. Clearly if you undergo these age teams, you’re at all times questioning when the possibility would come. As a result of I wasn’t taking part in in groups, I bear in mind I might learn the Shoot journal and there was the Bobby Charlton Soccer College and I will need to have irritated the life out of my mum and pa with saying, ‘I wanted to get to it’ – and I used to be in a position to go there within the hope I might perhaps be picked up. The entire dream was to have the ability to transfer throughout to England and be full-time.
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Kelly: You had been this younger boy with a dream of being a footballer however it did not go most likely the way in which you’d have hoped at that time, I’m guessing…
Brendan: No. I believe my youth profession – I began at 13 and really rapidly my first membership that I went to was Manchester United. I obtained picked up inside a matter of months of taking part in to go on trial at Manchester United. Then I went to a variety of golf equipment and have become a global participant for Northern Eire, which was a tremendous feeling, after which I went to Studying. The age once I stopped taking part in I recognised I most likely wasn’t going to be the participant I hoped and somebody stated to me the following smartest thing to taking part in is teaching, so I moved into teaching.
Brendan Rodgers (proper) was invited by Jose Mourinho (centre) to affix his teaching workforce at Chelsea in 2004 [AFP via Getty Images]
Kelly: The beginning of your teaching journey was fairly fascinating, wasn’t it? The place did you go to study your craft?
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Brendan: I had been out to Spain and to Barcelona. I used to be at all times fascinated by youth and I attempted to earmark golf equipment that actually had that top-to-tail philosophy – so from the very prime of the membership proper by way of to the underside there’s a kind of synergy there. That married in with my beliefs within the sport – a technical sport. I additionally went to Sevilla and Valencia and I used to be in Holland as properly – to Ajax and FC Twente. For me, the beginning level was seeing the European sport and the way they develop younger gamers in Europe, that should not be any totally different to how we develop our personal gamers.
Kelly: Shifting on to you going to Chelsea, would you say that was your first large teaching job?
Brendan: Sure. I believe it shone the sunshine on me most likely much more. Being at Studying was good – they had been a membership who sorted me as a participant. I ended up being academy supervisor there and had an ideal spell of practically 14 years there. Going to Chelsea with Jose Mourinho coming in, the place they wished to go to as a membership and the way they wished to rework the youth part… there was little question as a result of once I went in there and I used to be solely within the door two or three weeks and there have been 4 or 5 high-profile coaches linked with my job. I had by no means had that earlier than. I went to Jose early on and he advised me: ‘When you’re at these prime golf equipment you should have a minimum of 12 names linked together with your job. It is going to be the identical with me as a supervisor. Don’t be concerned, work arduous and work properly and will probably be OK.’
Kelly: That will need to have been an unimaginable studying floor and taught you so many belongings you nonetheless use at present…
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Brendan: The chance to work with world-class gamers and a few good youth gamers, after which I had the possibility to work nearer with the primary workforce. At the moment it was John Terry, Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole and Claude Makelele – to be round that and see how they stay their life daily, how they practice and function… it set the bar for me as a result of every little thing they wished to do was world class.
Kelly: You could have been at such quite a lot of golf equipment since then, from beginning out as a supervisor to Watford, Swansea, Liverpool and Celtic twice as properly. How you’d you sum up your teaching journey, and has it surpassed your expectations?
Brendan: I believe once I first began, if I assumed I might be sat right here after this length and managed the golf equipment I’ve, I’d be actually pleased with that, from beginning as a supervisor at 35.
Kelly: What was that like in itself?
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Brendan: Particularly with out the taking part in background, I needed to actually earn my stripes as a coach. As soon as I turned a supervisor, you actually realised that with the curtain drawn again and the sunshine shining on you as supervisor, it’s a totally different world. You could be so shut because the assistant or first-team coach however being the precise lead and the man accountable… it’s a totally different job altogether.
Brendan Rodgers guided Swansea to promotion to the Premier League in 2011 [AFP via Getty Images]
Kelly: Should you might relive one match, what would it not be?
Brendan: A sport that stands out as a result of it actually propelled me was the play-off closing – Swansea v Studying. To get Swansea into the Premier League as the primary Welsh membership to reach there and realizing how a lot it meant to folks on the time…
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Kelly: It is the worst sport in soccer to lose and the perfect to win, is not it?
Brendan: 100%. To go up out of the Championship… if you happen to knew you can do it by profitable the play-offs, you’d take it, even over profitable the league due to the entire drama round it and the massive Wembley day. That was particular. I have been lucky sufficient to have received trophies up right here with Celtic, which was particular to me. Profitable the FA Cup for the primary time in Leicester’s historical past was particular. However I really feel that sport simply modified it for me going into the Premier League, after which we did properly.
Kelly: Has there been a turning level in your profession?
Brendan: I am going again to my youth. My cousin Kieran McMullan within the little village the place I used to be from. He performed for the native soccer workforce and they might meet exterior the pub. I wasn’t allowed to go within the pub once I was youthful. We might be stood exterior and the workforce would meet there to journey to play video games. Guys would come out of the pub and simply go previous me into the automobile, however he at all times made positive I obtained in a automobile so I might see the soccer. I by no means ever forgot that. For the remaining years of my childhood, that obtained me began in soccer. If he did not take that point and care to take care of me, I might need obtained into Gaelic soccer or hurling as an alternative.
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Kelly: You’ve got managed quite a few golf equipment in England and now you handle one of many largest golf equipment in Scotland. How does the stress evaluate managing Celtic?
Brendan: It is an actual distinctive stress. When it comes to stress, Celtic is correct up there with essentially the most pressurised jobs in soccer. Even once I was managing Liverpool, you might need drawn with Manchester United and also you wished to win, however it would not have been the worst outcome. With Celtic, it is an expectation to win each single sport and never simply win the sport, however to do it in a mode that’s synonymous with the membership. The membership was the primary British workforce to win the European Cup. They did so in a mode which set the DNA for this membership. It isn’t nearly profitable. It is Celtic, it truly is greater than that. The psychological fortitude you might want to present right here as a participant, as a supervisor, below the highlight is big. You’ll be able to go to numerous groups within the Premier League and it could be like a vacation in comparison with managing Celtic, and Rangers for that matter.
Kelly: What is the proudest factor you will have achieved in your profession?
Brendan: I believe turning into a supervisor within the first place as a result of my journey was totally different – the trail to turning into a supervisor. That’s the largest achievement for me. Hopefully I can proceed to be as profitable as I presumably can – by that I imply serving to gamers develop, serving to them enhance, serving to the situations of their life. If that enables me to win trophies alongside the way in which, then nice. Being a supervisor is my spotlight.
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Kelly: Should you might solely obtain yet another factor in your profession, what would it not be?
Brendan: Attain 1,000 video games. That was the place it began. Once I turned supervisor at Watford, I went to an ideal occasion that the LMA [League Managers’ Association] do. On the stage that evening was guys that had been being inducted into the 1,000 membership. I bear in mind sitting there considering ‘wow, to have completed 1,000 video games’. I used to be perhaps on solely 20-odd video games. I assumed to have the ability to do 1,000 video games is a logo of resilience and perseverance and other people really liking what you do. I am on 800-odd video games now so nonetheless have fairly a couple of extra to go, however that may be the one profession factor to have the ability to do.