Anton Rodgers is close to his father, Brendan. He speaks to him every single day and they even share the same birthday. But for years he didn’t want his father or any of his family to come and watch him play football because it would upset them to see that he wasn’t enjoying it any more.
Growing up as the son of the now Leicester City manager, Anton had a love of football instilled in him from the moment he could walk and would demand that his dad simply stand in goal as he belted shots at him.
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His father would disappear at times, to work in a John Lewis warehouse to support his young family and then abroad as he travelled around Europe studying coaching, even inviting other European coaches to stay with them at their home in return.
Brendan was there to help guide his son as he came through the youth systems at Reading and then Chelsea, and years later, when Anton was struggling to find a new club, he had him train with him at Celtic in pre-season, even fielding him in a friendly game.
(Photo: Craig Williamson – SNS GroupSNS Group via Getty Images)Rodgers senior and mum Susan were also with him every day in court in 2013 when he faced charges of sexual assault and voyeurism along with fellow Brighton & Hove Albion team-mates Steve Cook, George Barker and Lewis Dunk. He was 20 at the time and they were all acquitted of the charges, but he says he struggled to move on from the experience.
Even now, eight years on, Anton has difficulty speaking about it. “That was tough and I think it was a big reason why it didn’t work out so well,” he says, visibly emotional as he reflects on that time in his life. “Emotionally I couldn’t take myself away from it.”
He can only nod in reply to a question about the importance of his parents standing by him, and only manages to speak to offer advice to young players coming through now. “I would just say never put yourself in that position.”
He was released by Brighton shortly after the trial and following spells with Oldham Athletic – with whom he faced his father’s Liverpool at Anfield in an FA Cup game – and Swindon Town, he drifted out of the professional game into non-League, where he struggled to maintain his enthusiasm.
However, speaking to The Athletic from Basingstoke Town’s temporary ground at the Hampshire FA’s county headquarters before a clash with his previous club Marlow in the Isthmian League South Central Division, Anton admits he has regained his love of football and would love for his father to watch him in action again.
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“This is the first time I have enjoyed football since I came out of the professional game,” he admits. “I have found my love of football again. The manager here has been a big reason for that. It is getting the right team.
“Dad hasn’t been to watch me for a long time because I didn’t really want him to see me when I wasn’t enjoying it, but he might come to a game now. I think I want him to come now.”
Regardless of his disappointment over how his professional career ended, Anton played nearly 100 games in the Football League. His father moved to England from Ballymena to sign for Reading when he was 16 but a knee condition forced him to retire aged just 20.
“He had the knee problems and a couple of other injuries, and I think he kind of realised early that he didn’t come over to England to play at the level he was playing at,” Anton says. “He didn’t get the chance so he had to drop down and play. Then it was a case of: what was he doing it for? This wasn’t the level he aspired to play. He had the strong belief he could get to where he is now because of his view of the game.
“Some of the stories he tells in terms of the journey he has been on just to qualify as a coach is unbelievable.”
That journey took him all over Europe and a young Anton remembers a few visitors with strange accents in the Rodgers household.
“The biggest thing with him is he is a learner,” Anton says. “He is intrigued. He did a lot of travelling, Barcelona, Ajax, all over Holland. At the age of 10 and 11 when he was academy director at Reading, I remember him bringing academy coaches over from Holland and putting on sessions. That was amazing for us at the time.”
For young Anton, the official coaching didn’t start until he was picked up by the Reading academy.
“As I was growing up I literally man-marked my dad, as soon as I could walk,” he recalls. “That is what I remember. I remember going to soccer schools, training sessions and games. I was always there with him and it was a big part of my development and learning.
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“There are a lot of boys out there who have come through academies who have a lot more one-to-one coaching than I ever did. But it was more the environment he had me in.
“But not in the garden. When we went in the garden it was ‘Dad, get in goal.’ I just wanted to hit shots at him. He would try to do things but I just wanted to have fun.
“I always wanted to be a footballer. That is why I struggled when I was in that period without a club. I suppose I felt hard done by and felt sorry for myself. I felt I was at a decent level. I had the career so it wasn’t as easy for me to give it up.
“I had a brilliant childhood. My mum gave him the freedom to go and develop and learn, going away to these countries to learn and develop.”
As Leicester manager, Rodgers says he doesn’t like to rant and rave at players from the touchline as he feels that doesn’t help when they are struggling, as it didn’t help him growing up when his own father, Malachy, would be critical.
Anton agrees his dad wasn’t vocal on the sidelines when he was playing, but he had his own way of showing displeasure.
“He wasn’t a shouter, but he had a look,” Anton says. “If you looked over you knew by his face whether you were doing well or not.
“He was never a shouter or raver, but we still had those conversations as father and son, mostly in the car on the way home. To be fair, he tries to do things differently. He tried to approach it in a different way to my grandad.
“The good thing about him is he was always fair. There wasn’t much he would miss. After a game, it always seems a blur to me. You know if you have played well or not, but I can’t remember specifics. He remembers everything, every detail. He would be in the car after and would discuss it.
“He was positive as well and it was always things to work on and take into the next game. That is where he is different to most. A lot of father-son relationships can be negative, and he was tough at times, but he knew what I needed to be, which was good. I then knew what the coaches were expecting from a player.”
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Having joined Reading at the age of seven, Anton excelled as a goalscoring midfielder while his father rose to the level of academy director after hanging up his boots following spells with Newport on the Isle of Wight, Witney Town and Newbury Town.
In 2004, Jose Mourinho convinced Brendan to join Chelsea’s academy and two years later his 13-year-old son was also approached, but it was on his own merits.
(Photo: Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)“Most people have been brilliant but obviously I get it sometimes that people think everything has been given to me,” Anton says. “But my dad has protected me in some sense. Take Chelsea, they may have taken me straight away but my dad insisted I go through the trial process. He wanted me to earn it.
“When I get signed, I get signed because of me. I made 100-plus appearances and I will still have people tell me it is only because of my dad! It is not easy and it is not my dad. He put me in the environment to learn but I had to do the rest.
“I had to work hard, practising things. Like my free kicks. My dad didn’t score them – I did. The one I scored [for Swindon Town] against Leyton Orient, that was from watching Matt Le Tissier. My dad was always about being creative. I have always tried to do that.”
After five years at Stamford Bridge, where he played with the likes Josh McEachran (MK Dons), Nathaniel Chalobah (Fulham) and Jeffrey Bruma (Kasimpasa, Turkey), he moved on to Brighton in search of first-team opportunities, although the contract he signed wasn’t quite the eight-year one mentioned on his Wikipedia page.
“The eight-year contract is a myth,” Anton is quick to state. “Someone has gone online and changed that. Obviously, that made me look good but it wasn’t an eight-year contract. It was one year with an option for another one!
“It was a breath of fresh air. Chelsea was amazing and you saw what world-class looks like. Brighton were moving into the Championship at that time. But it was the best move for me in terms of I met one of the best coaches and friends I would keep for life. Luke Williams. He is at Swansea now, doing very well. He is a big reason they are doing well. He was the reason I went to Swindon, because he took me there.”
Anton and Williams at Swindon (Photo: Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images)He made only one senior appearance in his year at Brighton and moved on to Oldham Athletic, where he came up against his father for the first time, in an FA Cup third-round match against Liverpool in January 2014. It was a career highlight, tinged with some frustration.
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“It was a brilliant experience,” says Anton, who came on as a substitute in the 84th minute of Oldham’s 2-0 defeat. “It is something I can say, ‘I played at Anfield’.
“But at the same time, I was frustrated because I wanted more time on the pitch. I think I only played 10 minutes. I was fuming, really.
“I can look back on it and say I did that. I have some great pics from that day. One of me hugging Dad. Raheem Sterling came up to me afterwards and said he couldn’t believe I hadn’t started the game, and that stays with me.”
(Photo: Clive Mason/Getty Images)Given his start in football and the schooling he has received from his father — to whom he bears an uncanny resemblance, with similar hand gestures and mannerisms — a career in coaching seems inevitable, but while he doesn’t rule it out, Anton, now aged 28 and father to 10-year-old Oscar, is heading down a different career path.
“I work for an agency, First Access Sports,” he says. “I never thought I would get into that. Coming through, my dad was experienced enough to look at contracts and things, especially youth contracts, so it has always been me and him. I thought I would go down the coaching route because of the way I am on the pitch. I play differently now and try to coach on the pitch.
“It got to a stage I needed work. I needed to get out and earn money. I had 12-18 months where I could afford to go and train with other clubs, but the reality was I needed to work.
“Just like in my playing career, I forge my own path. That is the next step for me. I knew I wasn’t going to be a full-time player anymore. I needed a career.
“It is in the back of my mind and I wouldn’t rule coaching out, because of my love for football, but I enjoy what I am doing and I am enjoying my football again. That’s the most important thing.”
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