Why Rodgers is right man to usher in Al Qadsiah's next phase | OneFootball

The headline that accompanied confirmation conveyed exactly why Al Qadsiah had acted so decisively.

“Al Qadsiah appoints European coaching giant Brendan Rodgers as Head Coach”, declared the article, posted on the club's official website and transported around the world via their social media.

With so much of the 2025-26 Roshn Saudi League still to play, and with Al Qadsiah sitting fifth, the board had decided change was needed. Coming as somewhat of a surprise, Michel was out and a former Liverpool, Celtic and Leicester City manager was in.

Michel, a Real Madrid legend, had guided Al Qadsiah to promotion to the RSL from the 2023-24 Saudi First Division League, before overseeing their first campaign back in the top flight last season as the club ushered in a new era and a new identity.

Impressively, there was a more-than-respectable fourth-placed finish (and a runner-up in the King's Cup), with Al Qadsiah boasting the best defensive record in the division.

But having fallen 10 points off the pace this term, hindered by a solitary victory from their past four fixtures, the club concluded that now was the time for change as they look to work their way back into contention.

A former Celtic coach might seem an odd appointment for an ex-Rangers Chief Executive Officer to make, but James Bisgrove, now enjoying the same role at Al Qadsiah, is confident Rodgers is the man the lead the next phase of their evolution.

“This is a landmark moment for the club,” Bisgrove, who worked at Rangers between 2019 and 2024, said in a statement released by the club. “The calibre of his experience and track record of winning reflects our ambition and long-term vision to establish Al Qadsiah as one of Asia’s leading clubs.”

While there was acrimony surrounding Rodgers' recent exit from Celtic, he is a revered figure among supporters having guided the club to four Scottish league titles. Between 2016 and 2018, he won back-to-back trebles, while most recently came consecutive top-flight crowns in the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons.

However, Rodgers’ journey began long before his second spell at the Glasgow giants. His first managerial appointment of note was some way south, in Wales with Swansea, at the age of only 37.

There, Rodgers guided the club from the English Championship - the country’s second tier - to the Premier League, while earning a reputation as one of the more progressive managers to emerge in recent times from the British Isles.

That reputation was borne from how his teams played: they prioritised possession, played forward, were aggressive. Indeed, it earned praise from two Premier League greats who know a thing or two about stylistic football: Thierry Henry and Arsene Wenger.

“They play football the right way,” was Henry’s view of Swansea in 2012.

His manager at the time, Wenger, parroted the plaudits.

"They play without fear everywhere,” the Frenchman enthused. “They are a team who look completely in place in the Premier League. It's very nice and very good news for England to have a manager like Brendan Rodgers adopting that style."

Before long, Rodgers was challenging Wenger’s Arsenal for major trophies. Taking his place in the Liverpool dugout from June 2012, the Northern Irishman was installed to break the club’s long title drought.

However, were it not for a memorable slip from captain, and former Al Ettifaq manager, Steven Gerrard, they perhaps would’ve achieved that in the 2013-14 season.

As it was, Liverpool finished runners-up and became only the second side in Premier League history to break the 100-goal barrier in a single season.

This was “Rodgers Ball” and, while he never tasted title success on Merseyside, in Glasgow he found the winning formula as Celtic dominated the domestic scene.

Bisgrove was working at UEFA during Rodgers’ first stint at Celtic, but when he later joined Rangers as his rival manager returned to the green-and-white half of the city, he saw first-hand what the celebrated coach was capable of delivering.

Most probably, that was front of mind when it came to finding a new man to helm Al Qadsiah’s push to challenge Saudi football’s traditional elite.

For all Michel achieved at the club across two-and-a-bit seasons, there was a view among some that the team was too defensively minded at the expense of their attacking threat.

Remember, in Mateo Retegui and Julian Quinones, they boast two of the RSL’s premier offensive talents, while playmaker Musab Al Juwayr is the competition's reigning Young Player of the Year.

For as good as Al Qadsiah’s defensive record was, when it came to the other end of the pitch, they fell well short of the sides around them, with the lowest goals scored of any of the top six last season. Their 53 fell some 26 short of champions Al Ittihad, and 42 goals short of second-placed Al Hilal.

This season, only Al Ahli have scored fewer goals of the top six (12 to Al Qadsiah’s 16), with the average goals per game only marginally better than last season at 1.8.

To compare, league leaders Al Nassr average well more than three goals per game. Meanwhile, second-placed Al Hilal and Al Taawoun, in third, are averaging 2.7.

So there’s clearly a view from the Al Qadsiah hierarchy that they want the team to play a more expansive, attacking style. The thinking must be that that, in turn, allows for a greater challenge at the pointy end of the RSL table.

Which is where Rodgers comes in. With little more than a week until Al Qadsiah resume league action - they host Damac on December 27 - it appears not a lot of time to get up to speed.

Yet, in appointing a “European coaching giant”, Al Qadsiah have managed to make up ground as the hugely decorated Rodgers embarks on building a team in his image.

“Going on that pitch, see every blade of grass on that pitch… we own it,” the new appointment’s voice says in the club’s announcement video, foreshadowing what is to come.

Heading into a new year, another new era is about to begin at Al Qadsiah. Rodgers’ reign promises much.