Thursday, June 4, 2009

Brendan Rodgers left Watford to take over as manager of Reading.

The move had been mooted since Steve Coppell's resignation at the Madejski Stadium several weeks earlier; Rodgers had spent nine years as Academy manager at Reading, retained friends amongst the senior staff and still lived in the town. He had spent only seven months at Vicarage Road having previously managed Chelsea's reserve side. After a difficult start, he had steered the club away from the relegation zone to a mid-table finish.

Having ill-advisedly pronounced his loyalty to Watford in the weeks preceeding his move, his departure provoked considerable disappointment at Vicarage Road, only slightly assuaged by a considerable compensation package.

Reproduced by kind permission of Matt Rowson from his book, Watford FC On This Day