West Ham were reportedly refused permission by Celtic in 2017 to speak to then-manager Brendan Rodgers about his availability of moving to the east London club.
Should Pellegrini be sacked as West Ham manager?
Yes
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According to Claret and Hugh, the Hammers were keen on appointing the former Liverpool boss to replace Slaven Bilic in the early months of the 2017/18 season. However, the Scottish giants flat-out refused to let West Ham speak to Rodgers, resulting in the Irons hiring David Moyes.
The revelation comes a few days after Rodgers, now manager of Leicester City, took the Foxes to second in the Premier League table following a comfortable 2-0 win at home against Arsenal (per BBC Sport), whilst West Ham fell to a 3-0 defeat at Burnley (per BBC Sport).
With Leicester currently flying in the league and West Ham lingering near the relegation zone (per the Premier League’s official website), it would be something of an understatement to say that the 2015/16 Premier League champions got the better end of the managerial bargain.
Even fellow Premier League managers have been impressed with what Rodgers has managed so far with Leicester, with Jurgen Klopp, who won the Champions League last season (per BBC Sport), saying to ESPN about the Foxes boss: “He’s doing really well, eh? I’m not surprised about that. He did an incredible job at Celtic, now at Leicester.”
For current West Ham boss Manuel Pellegrini, though, the Chilean could seemingly be thankful for still being in a job after failing to win a game in the league since September (per BBC Sport), with BBC Sport reporting that the former Manchester City manager will have more time to regain the Irons’ form.
Back in 2017, it would have been near impossible to predict the success Rodgers would go on to have with Leicester, yet it appears that the Hammers missed out on a trick not pursuing the then Celtic manager with more vigour and desire.
With Moyes departing West Ham after just six months in charge (per BBC Sport) and Pellegrini under intense pressure to turn the club’s fortunes around, West Ham with Rodgers at the helm could have seen the east London side in a completely different place as to where they are now.
West Ham fans, where would Rodgers have taken the club had he been appointed? Let us know!
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