Under-pressure Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers has strongly reaffirmed his commitment to turning around the club’s form after his desire to fight on was questioned. Rodgers has suffered five straight defeats as City boss and has seen the club’s own fans call for him to be sacked. He has said it is the most challenging time he has ever had as a manager. He has expressed frustration with the lack of transfer activity in the summer, unable to freshen up the squad as he had planned, and his former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher said, in listening to Rodgers, he felt the Northern Irishman had “had enough” at City. Ahead of a crunch clash with Aston Villa, Rodgers refuted Carragher’s verdict.
Brendan Rodgers said: “It’s not the case at all, I love being here. I probably get lots of questions that tire me out to be honest. But no, I repeat, it’s the longest I’ve been at a club and I love being here and I will fight to my very last breath to stay here and make the team the best we can with what we have. It’s a challenging moment, definitely the most challenging period I’ve had as a manager but the idea is to get through it and the only way you do that is to work hard. This is what you would call the hard yards now as a manager. So you’ve got to take what comes your way. Like 18 months or so ago you get the credit, I’ve never been too high with that and I’ve been too low with this. I’m a bit like my father (Malachy, who died in 2011), he was a happy man but never looked happy and all my friends would come into my house and say: ‘Your dad’s really funny’. But he looked miserable on the outside, bless him. You’re never happy and you’re never jumping for joy when you lose but anyone who knows me knows I’m full of optimism and, like I said, I like to always have a good energy to inspire others.”
A decision on whether City’s game against Aston Villa will go ahead is expected to be made on Friday morning. The passing of Queen Elizabeth II may prompt the Premier League to postpone all of the weekend’s fixtures.
