Brendan Rodgers left Celtic to join Leicester City partly because he was running ‘scared’ of Rangers and their manager Steven Gerrard, according to talkSPORT host Adrian Durham.
Rodgers was confirmed as Leicester’s new boss on Tuesday after two-and-a-half trophy-laden years with the Scottish Premiership giants.
He won seven honours as Hoops boss and Celtic are still on to achieve a ‘treble treble’ of three trophies in the same season for three years running.
However, Celtic’s dominance has reduced since Rodgers‘ first season (2016/17) where they won the league by 30 points.
They won it by nine points last term and currently hold an eight-point lead in the top flight over their Glasgow rivals.
Meanwhile, Rangers are a club on the up in Gerrard’s first season in charge and Durham suggested that while Rodgers did move to Leicester to advance his career, he also used it as an opportunity to not be the man in charge of the Hoops when Gers overtake them as Scotland’s biggest club.
Durham said on Drivetime: “I think he’s actually scared of Steven Gerrard. The fact that Rangers beat Celtic just after Christmas, that’s a worrying sign for Brendan Rodgers.
“We all know Celtic will win the title but if you look at how much they’ve win the title by that’s the key.
“The gap with Rangers is getting closer and closer. He doesn’t want to be the guy who’s in charge when Rangers overtake Celtic.
“It’s a little bit about bottle and a bit about managing your own career but I think Gerrard has got him running scared a little bit and that’s why he’s coming to Leicester.”
The Drivetime host went on to say that Rodgers’ appointment at the King Power Stadium is actually the Northern Irishman’s ‘last chance’ to prove his credentials in the Premier League.
Durham added: “After what happened at Liverpool he couldn’t recover from when he came so close to winning the title [in the 2013/14 season] they’re losing 6-1 at Stoke a year later.
“A few months after that he had to rebuild himself so he needed a relatively easy job for him by his standards and Celtic was exactly that – all he had to do was be better than the previous manager (Ronny Deila) and that wasn’t hard.
“Domestically he’s achieved everything and as for this ‘treble treble’ it’s meaningless even for the most hard-boiled Celtic fan. It doesn’t mean a thing outside of Glasgow.
“For me, he’s got a last chance to prove himself.
“At Watford, he left under a cloud. At Reading he was sacked after six months, had a great time at Swansea and took them up to the Premier League, got the job at Liverpool and then it all started to go wrong.
“This is a last chance for him in the Premier League to really gain some currency.
“His stock European wise was absolutely on the wane. He’s looking over his shoulder at Steven Gerrard as well.”