Brendan Rodgers
The legacy of Leicester City’s late chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha and the standards required “to be a champion” will have been drummed into the players by Brendan Rodgers at the camp where the manager first set out his values. Chairman Aiyawatt ‘Top’ Srivaddhanaprabha was at the club’s training ground at Seagrave earlier in pre-season and his late father’s legacy remains a key motivation for Rodgers. He has has taken his team abroad in pre-season for the first time since 2019, with Covid ruling out overseas trips in the past two years. The one issue is that Rodgers has no new players to instil his values in. And so, it will just be a case of a reminder for those already in the squad.
Brendan Rodgers said: “When I came in for the first summer, we went away to Evian and we created a set of values that was a signpost for our work going forward, based around respect and responsibility, unity and courage. It’s really about highlighting those values again and what they stand for, what they mean for our work and shining a light on them for the new players who come in. With the pandemic, that’s been difficult to do. Our cause here was always to protect the legacy of Khun Vichai and this gives us a chance to go back into that world again and really create that cause for everyone again and to shine a light on those values that I talked about. That behaviour and infrastructure is so important. It’s not that it’s dropped or diminished, but it’s a reminder, and it’s all about constant reminders. If you want to be a champion, your standards have to be like a champion every day, and that’s not just on the pitch, it’s off the pitch.”
City will are set to conclude their work in Evian on Friday and travel to Belgium ready for their second pre-season friendly of the summer. They face sister club OH Leuven in a 120-minute match on Saturday afternoon (1pm kick-off UK time).
