Leicester coach Brendan Rodgers aims to “shake up the hierarchy” of English football and participate in European competitions every year, while his club is third in the championship, according to comments reported on Sunday by the PA agency.
Harvey Barnes and his ambitious coach.
Pool via REUTERS
“We want to be a team which, from one year to the next, obtains (the right) to play in European competitions,” said the 47-year-old technician after the victory in Newcastle of the “Foxes”, champions of England. unexpected in 2016.
“Our job is (to ask the question) ‘Can we turn the hierarchy upside down?’ Maybe not financially – we do not have the budget to buy a player at 70, 80 or 90 million pounds (100 million euros, editor’s note) – but we can in football, “said Rodgers.
In mid-December, the Foxes manager had already judged that the title race would be “tight”, while recalling that “the season (was) still long”. On Sunday, he made it clear that his ambition was to finish the championship in a qualifying place for the European competitions 2021-2022, as the club narrowly failed to land a ticket to the Champions League last season.
Engaged in the Europa League, Leicester will play in the round of 16 against Slavia Prague in February. In the Premier League, the Foxes are one point behind Liverpool and Manchester United, and have played one game more than the two leaders. Behind them, the battle rages between seven teams, the last of which, West Ham (10th), is only six units behind Leicester.
In 2016, Leicester were the first team since 1995 to strip the four-club group of Manchester United, Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal of the domestic title. It was the first first division title for the club founded in 1884.
(AFP)
