Brendan Rodgers, 2019-2023
Rodgers joined the Club on Tuesday 26 February, 2019 after winning a double of 'trebles' with Celtic and is now contracted to Leicester City until June 2025.
During his two-and-a-half-year spell in Glasgow, Rodgers’ side also embarked on a staggering 69-game unbeaten run – the longest stretch in 100 years of British football. The Northern Irishman won every single domestic trophy he contested in Scotland, winning every cup tie his side participated in.
Following on from guiding Swansea City to becoming the first Welsh club to compete in the Premier League and establishing Liverpool as genuine title contenders, Rodgers holds a reputation as one of the game’s most respected and successful managers.
After Rodgers was named as manager, he brought with him Assistant Manager, Chris Davies; First Team Fitness Coach, Glen Driscoll; and First Team Coach, Kolo Touré, who all joined the Club’s established team of First Team staff.
Upon his arrival at King Power Stadium, he said: “I’m very privileged and honoured to be here as Leicester City manager and I’ll give my life to make the supporters proud of their club.
"Together, we’ll be stronger and I’m looking forward to working with the players, staff and supporters to make the right steps forward.”
His first game in charge of the Foxes resulted in a late 2-1 defeat by former club Watford at Vicarage Road, but City recovered well and went on to win their next four fixtures.
They first beat Fulham 3-1 at King Power Stadium, with Jamie Vardy scoring twice during Rodgers’ first win as Leicester manager, before a brilliant 2-1 triumph at Burnley followed, as Wes Morgan headed home in injury time, despite City playing the majority of the game with 10 men.
A 2-0 win against AFC Bournemouth and a convincing 4-1 victory at Huddersfield Town followed, before City beat Arsenal 3-0 and drew 0-0 with Chelsea during their final five fixtures of the season.
During the summer, the Northern Irishman completed the signings of James Justin, from Luton Town, Newcastle United's Ayoze Pérez, AS Monaco midfielder Youri Tielemans and Sampdoria's Dennis Praet.
On 6 December, 2019, meanwhile, Rodgers signed a new contact at the Club until June 2025 and, in his first full season, he sealed a fifth-placed finish and European qualification for the Foxes in July 2020, after the campaign was elongated due to COVID-19.
City would go on to reach the UEFA Europa League's Round of 16 stage in 2020/21 alongside challenging in the upper regions of the Premier League once more. On 21 March, 2021, Rodgers managed his 100th game in charge as Leicester beat Manchester United in the quarter-finals of the Emirates FA Cup.
That 3-1 success over the Red Devils ensured the Club's first semi-final appearance since 1982 and also a 53 per cent win rate for Rodgers after a century of games - which was, at the time, the best-ever ratio for a full-time Leicester City manager.
The FA Cup run, though, was only just getting started. A semi-final triumph over Southampton set up a final against Chelsea at Wembley on 15 May, 2021 - in front of a crowd of 22,000 - the biggest by far nationally since March 2020 as part of a COVID-19 test event.
Tielemans scored the only goal of the game on a day of high emotion in London as Rodgers became the first Leicester City manager to ever lift the FA Cup, securing the seventh final victory of his career. The FA Community Shield would follow after a 1-0 win over Manchester City in August 2021.
Speaking afterwards, Rodgers said: "It feels amazing. My initial reaction after the game is that I’m just so happy. The courage they showed in the game was incredible, to produce that quality performance against a top level team.
"Secondly, obviously, for the supporters, for the first time in their history, they can now say they’re FA Cup winners. I’ve heard all the stories since I’ve been here, of the glorious failures and how unfortunate it’s been, so to be able to give them that moment was special."
The 2021/22 campaign would prove to be a challenging one for the Foxes, who had to contend with scarcely believable injury issues coupled with COVID-19-related fixture postponements causing fixture congestion later in the season. Those rescheduled games coincided with City's furthest-ever European run.
After exiting the Europa League, finishing third in their group, Leicester headed into the UEFA Europa Conference League - where they defeated Randers, Rennes and PSV Eindhoven, before falling in the semi-finals against AS Roma. Rodgers' men, though, commendably still finished eighth in the league.
The 2022/23 season, however, was a damaging one for the Club. City lost six games in a row after an opening day draw with Brentford, which saw the Bees come back from two goals down. An upturn in form did see the Foxes overcome Nottingham Forest, Leeds United, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Everton and West Ham United between early October and mid-November.
An unusual season break due to the 2022 FIFA World Cup, however, sparked another rough run of form. Just two wins in 13 league games saw them sink towards the relegation picture. Rodgers departed Leicester City in April 2023 with the Club inside the bottom three. Dean Smith was his replacement until the end of the season and City were relegated from the Premier League. In June 2023, Rodgers returned to Celtic on a three-year contract.