Footie boss Brendan Rodgers reveals horror after masked crooks raided his home while wife and stepdaughter hid
The new Leicester City manager opened up his panic when burglars ransacked his house in the middle of the night whilst his wife and stepdaughter were home alone
FOOTBALL boss Brendan Rodgers has revealed the horror of masked burglars raiding his home while his wife and stepdaughter were alone.
The Leicester manager’s wife Charlotte Searle, 35, and stepdaughter Lola, six, were forced to barricade themselves in the bathroom during the break-in at 2am, on Wednesday.
Rodgers, 46, yesterday revealed his wife hid and pressed a panic button connected to cops as soon as she heard the intruders.
The ex-Celtic boss said: “I assume the house was watched and they assumed no-one was in.
“Charlotte didn’t hear the house being broken into at the back and they came in and ransacked the bottom of the house then went on a wander through the upstairs.
“She heard voices and was daydreaming and thought maybe it was me coming back.
“They came into the room and then panicked.
“We have a panic button for the police and she hid in the bathroom and called me.”
He added: “I didn’t hear the phone because I was deep in sleep but I saw a missed call and rang about 3.30 and she told me what happened.
“It’s a horrible experience for anyone to go through, but in particular for the ladies.
“When you’re away they can worry and you’re always worried about the experience of a young child seeing that but she’s okay.
“It’s difficult as you can imagine. You could never imagine that you’d get broken into.
“That the burglars entered the bedroom with my young daughter there. It’s not nice.
“But I’ve got a really good friend in Lord Willie Haughey, who is up there and was brilliant and got a security team in straight away.”
Rodgers told how the break-in unfolded at his Glasgow home while he was away with his new role at Leicester.
He said: "It's an unfortunate incident, it's sad for the girls - for someone to come in at night - it's horrendous really. It gave the girls a fright.
"I just made sure they were secure up there.
“My wife and Lola were down here and had a lovely couple of days, then they flew back up and were coming down for the game on Friday.
“But our plan overall was for them to come back later on and keep our daughter in school in Glasgow until the end of term.
“Then I was going to buy a house down here and they would all move. This makes that happen a bit quicker now.
“But they’ll be down for the weekend’s game and stay down - we’ve got to find a house soon after that.”
Northern Irish Rodgers said he did not know if the break-in was linked to the resentment among Celtic fans after he left to join Leicester City.
During the team’s first game after Rodgers left Celtic fans held up a banner which read: “You traded immortality for mediocrity. Never a Celt, always a fraud.”
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The burglars made off with Rodgers’ Celtic medals and memorabilia.
Rodgers said: “I’ll have to win some more now. I’m always very focused on the football as well, so it won’t detract from my work.”
Rodgers married Charlotte, from Liverpool, at Loch Lomond in June 2017, four months after popping the question in New York.
The couple met when Rodgers was boss of Premier League giants Liverpool and Charlotte was the club's travel co-ordinator.
Rodgers also has two children — Anton, 25, and Mischa, 22 — with ex-wife Susan, 43.
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