The headline that accompanied the confirmation conveyed exactly why Al-Qadsia acted so decisively.
“Al-Qadsia appoints European coaching giant Brendan Rodgers as head coach,” reads an article published on the club’s official website and circulated around the world via social media.
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With most of the 2025-2026 Saudi Roshn League still to be played and Al Qadsia in fifth place, the council decided that change was needed. To some surprise, Michel was absent and the former manager of Liverpool, Celtic and Leicester City was in.
Michel, a Real Madrid legend, led Al Qadsia to promotion to the RSL from the 2023-24 Saudi First Division League and then captained their first top-flight campaign last season as a club. ushered in a new era and a new identity.
Impressively, he finished in a more than respectable fourth place (and runner-up in the King's Cup), while Al-Qadsia boasts the best defensive record in the division.
But having fallen 10 points off the pace this season, hampered by a single win in their last four matches, the club have decided now is the time for a change as they look to get back into contention.
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The appointment of a former Celtic manager may seem strange for the former Rangers chief executive, but James Bisgrove, who now plays the same role at Al Qadsia, is confident Rodgers is the man to lead the next phase of their evolution.
“This is a landmark moment for the club,” Bisgrove, who was with Rangers from 2019 to 2024, said in a statement released by the club. “The scale of his experience and track record of winning reflects our ambitions and long-term vision to develop Al Qadsia into one of Asia’s leading clubs.”
While there has been acrimony surrounding Rodgers' recent departure from Celtic, he is a respected figure among fans and has led the club to four Scottish Championship titles. It won back-to-back trebles between 2016 and 2018, and most recently won back-to-back top flight titles in the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons.
However, Rodgers' journey began long before his second stint with the Glasgow Giants. His first notable managerial appointment came somewhere down south in Wales, at Swansea, when he was just 37 years old.
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There, Rogers led the club from the English Championship (the country's second division) to the Premier League, while earning a reputation as one of the most progressive managers to emerge in recent times in the British Isles.
This reputation was based on the way his teams played: they prioritized possession, played forward, and were aggressive. Indeed, he has 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 how Henry viewed Swansea in 2012.
His then-manager Wenger echoed the applause.
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“They play everywhere without fear,” the Frenchman admired. “This team looks completely at home in the Premier League. It's very pleasing and very good news for England that a manager like Brendan Rodgers has adopted this style.”
Rodgers soon challenged Wenger's Arsenal for major trophies. Having taken his place on the Liverpool bench since June 2012, the Northern Irishman was appointed to end the club's long title drought.
However, if not for the memorable mistake of the captain and former Al Ettifaq manager Steven Gerrardperhaps they would have achieved this in the 2013–14 season.
Regardless, Liverpool finished second and became only the second team in Premier League history to break the 100-goal barrier in a single season.
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It was the “Rogers Ball” and although he never achieved title success on Merseyside, he found a winning formula in Glasgow as Celtic dominated the domestic scene.
Bisgrove worked for UEFA during Rodgers' first spell at Celtic, but when he later joined Rangers when his rival's manager returned to the green and white half of the city, he saw first-hand what the famous manager could do.
That was likely the focus when it came to finding a new man to lead Al Qadsia's attempt to challenge Saudi Arabia's traditional football elite.
Despite all of Michel's achievements at the club in just over two seasons, there was a perception among some that the team was too defensive at the expense of its attacking threat.
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Remember in Mateo Retegui And Julian Quinonesthey boast two of the RSL's best attacking talents, with a playmaker Musab Al Juwair is the tournament's reigning Young Player of the Year..
As good as Al Qadsia's defensive record was, when it came to the other end of the field, they lagged well behind the teams around them, scoring the fewest goals among the top six last season. There were 53 of them missing by about 26 Al-Ittihad championsand 42 goals less than second-placed Al-Hilal.
Only Al Ahly have scored fewer top six goals this season (12 to Al Qadsia's 16), with their average goals per game only marginally better than last season (1.8).
To compare, league leader Al Nasr an average of more than three goals per game. Meanwhile, second-placed Al-Hilal and third-placed Al-Taawun have an average score of 2.7.
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So there is clearly a feeling within the Al Qadsia hierarchy that they want the team to play a more expansive, attacking style. The thought should be that this, in turn, will allow for a more complex problem to be posed at the sharp end of the RSL table.
And then Rogers comes to the rescue. With just over a week left before Al Qadsia resume league play (they host Damak on December 27), there is not much time left to get up to speed.
However, by appointing a 'European coaching giant', Al Qadsia has managed to bounce back as the award-winning Rodgers sets about building a team in his image.
“When you walk onto this field, you will see every blade of grass on this field… it belongs to us,” says the voice of the new appointment in the club’s video announcement, foreshadowing what’s to come.
As the new year approaches, another new era is about to begin in Al Qadsia. Rogers' reign promises a lot.
