Brendan Rodgers' Team Behind The Team
Chris Davies, the Club’s Assistant Manager, is joined by Kolo Touré, the First Team Coach, and First Team Fitness Coach, Glen Driscoll, who all followed Brendan Rodgers from Celtic.
They have worked in close coordination over previous seasons, specifically in Glasgow, but also elsewhere, and their personal journeys to Leicester include fascinating, surprising, tales.
Naturally, the loyalty and friendship which exists between the trio is evident almost immediately, while they all share a deep-rooted admiration for Rodgers’ methods.
Watford-born Davies is a fiercely intelligent and experienced coach, despite being just 34 years of age, and his association with Leicester City’s new manager goes back 18 years.
He swapped Hertfordshire for Berkshire when he was 16 and quickly became the captain of Reading’s youth team – managed by Rodgers, aided by Driscoll.
An exciting career as a midfielder was cruelly cut short just three years later, though, and Davies had to revaluate his professional life – swiftly deciding to pursue a career in coaching.
He headed to the breathtaking seaport of Napier, on the eastern coast of New Zealand’s North Island, to work with Wimbledon’s FA Cup-winning former manager, Bobby Gould, and his son, ex-Celtic goalkeeper Jonathan, at the recently-formed Hawke’s Bay United FC.
“That was a fantastic life experience,” Davies remembers. “To work with Bobby and Jonathan, and to be over there, it was brilliant, both in a footballing sense and in a life experience one.”
He has since worked with Rodgers at Swansea City, Liverpool and Celtic.
Davies is now planning on living in north Leicestershire, in Charnwood, and the 34-year-old says the Club’s family ethos is perhaps the biggest impression it’s left on him so far.
“I’ve been so pleasantly surprised by how warm the Football Club is,” he adds. “In the Premier League, that can be lost easily, but there’s a genuine warmth and closeness here.
“It gives me a lot of confidence for what we can achieve here because, if the culture is there, you can achieve big things – and we’ve seen how far Leicester City have gone in the past.”
Meanwhile, Touré, an icon whose CV includes successful spells at Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool and Celtic, is instantly recognisable to football fans around the world.
The Ivory Coast legend played under Rodgers at Liverpool, before a short spell at Celtic ended with the Northern Irishman inviting him onto the coaching team.
Touré’s beaming smile is particularly striking – an expression of his infectiously positive outlook.
“Life is about tomorrow,” he tells LCFCQ, on sale now. “I always say that what you did yesterday happened yesterday. You can learn from it, but don’t dwell on it.
“I’m also very excited to work with such a top, young manager – one of the best in the world right now. He is a great leader, he’s a great coach as well.
“He has a vision for the Club, which is very important. He wants to bring the Club to a better level and he wants the Club to be one of the best in England.”
Driscoll, on the other hand, has been a colleague of Rodgers for the longest period of time – over 15 years – after working at the Hurlingham Tennis Classic and the PGA Asian Tour.
A childhood Leyton Orient supporter, Driscoll grew up in Ilford and studied Sports Science at Teesside University before earning another degree at the University of East London.
He says: “I’ve been fortunate to work with really top managers but I really feel that Brendan has an amazing mix of the qualities of all of the managers I have worked with in my career.
“He’s got a brilliant blend and I love working with him. He’s unbelievable to work with, especially in my area, he’s so forward- thinking and approachable.
“Now I’ve come in here, I’d say that the medical and science team at Leicester are second to none.
“I’ve been very fortunate to have worked with great departments at very big clubs, but the level of Dave Rennie and Matt Reeves and the team is very high.
“I feel very privileged to be here at Leicester City and on this journey with Brendan.”
To read The Team Behind The Team and Issue 8 in full, including interviews with Brendan Rodgers, Wes Morgan and Hamza Choudhury, click HERE or buy LCFCQ in the Foxes Fanstore.