Revered boss who is Newcastle United’s first choice, not interested in jumping ship
Leicester City boss Brendan Rodgers will reportedly turn down all offers from Newcastle to take over from Steve Bruce.
Bruce is expected to get the boot on Tyneside imminently after the club were taken over last week.
Director Amanda Staveley was at the club’s training base this week and is understood to have spoken to Bruce. But the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF), who are the club’s majority shareholder, have yet to give the green light to axe the 60-year-old.
Assistant manager Graeme Jones is being tipped to step in for Bruce, who is on the verge of taking charge of his 1000th game at the weekend.
Newcastle are not only looking for a new coach, they also want a new sporting director. And Luis Campos is the latest name in the frame.
However, their efforts to get a new boss in place will surely take precedence and Gianluca Di Marzio has reported that former Celtic boss Rodgers is in “pole position” for the job. And the new Toon bosses are willing to pay the £16m release clause in his contract.
The 48-year-old Northern Irishman has a superb reputation in the game. He shaped Celtic’s success and has returning to England to help Leicester gate crash the top six.
Rodgers though, who turned down the Spurs job earlier in the year, has “no interest” in Newcastle’s project.
That line comes courtesy of reliable journalist John Percy.
Brendan Rodgers will not be leaving #lcfc for Newcastle if/when Steve Bruce is sacked. No interest in the job and fully committed to Leicester
— John Percy (@JPercyTelegraph) October 13, 2021
Apparently Rodgers is “fully committed” to Leicester. And he has a contract until June 2025 after signing a new deal in December 2019.
Subscribe for free to TEAMtalk’s daily newsletter…
Rodgers snubs Tottenham, Arsenal
Former Liverpool boss Rodgers was also wanted by Arsenal. But he ruled himself out of the running and said he had no need to “look elsewhere” before penning a new Foxes contract.
Spurs then came knocking for Rodgers, who has been at the King Power since February 2019, and in April said: “It’s football, there is always speculation around, every job which comes up there will always be different managers speculated to go in.
“Tottenham is a fantastic club, it’s a huge club but my focus is here. I’m at a world-class training facility. The project we’re in here we still want to develop and have a lot of work to do.
“I have a great connection with the players, the board and we have plans to keep progressing.
“While I have the energy, the happiness and see that challenge continuing I’m very happy to be here. You can’t stop gossip but I don’t think about it.”
READ MORE: Newcastle hold key to unlock transfer as proposed Chelsea move gets confirmation
The post Revered boss who is Newcastle United’s first choice, not interested in jumping ship appeared first on TEAMtalk.