I don’t want to go to England just now. This is the best job in the world

AFIFTH consecutive piece of silverware has been added to the Celtic trophy cabinet. Rare golden rays of sunshine are suddenly beaming down again on Glasgow.

Brendan Rodgers has heard all the talk linking him with a return to the English Premier League when Arsenal’s long-serving boss Arsene Wenger finally departs the Emirates this summer.

However, after clinching sevenin-a-row with a 5-0 destruction of Rangers on Sunday, the Northern Irishman insists there is nowhere on earth he would rather be working than at the Scottish champions. For now, at least, loyalty will keep him at Parkhead.

‘Listen, I woke up here on a Monday morning as manager of Celtic,’ Rodgers told talkSPORT.

‘Believe it or not, the sky is blue here in Glasgow and I’m in the best job in the world. I’m absolutely loving it.

‘Arsenal is a club I have huge respect for. When I started my coaching career, Arsene Wenger was just coming into the club and I learned so much in that period as a young coach, watching him and watching his dignity and class and how he dealt with everything.

‘But I’ve always said it — I’m so happy here at Celtic. I’m in a job that I love. It’s a huge club. A big expectancy, big pressure.

‘I would love to work in the Premier League again one day, but I’m hopefully going to be coaching for another 20-odd years. So it’s no time soon.

‘I’m so happy. I’ve got a great loyalty and relationship with the board here. They’ve been so supportive for me.

‘From the first day I walked in here, the supporters have given me everything and I feel a loyalty to them to ensure that we keep moving the club forward and keep progressing.’

The SPFL Premiership does not have the technical ability of Spain’s La Liga or the glamour and money of the English Premier League. But Rodgers believes Scottish football does not get the credit it deserves and cites Sunday’s Old Firm victory as the perfect advert for the much-criticised game up here.

‘This is a wonderful country. There is great football here,’ said the 45-year-old.

‘Football is shown from all over the world and it highlights all these great games in Spain, or wherever.

‘But Sunday at Celtic Park was as good as it gets in terms of a spectacle, intensity and that balance between supporting your team and everything else.

‘Of course, Scotland doesn’t have the image of the Premier League down south. There’s nowhere near the same level of money.

‘But a spectacle such as Sunday’s game is a great advert for Scottish football. And that’s what I enjoy. The work, the development and the pressure that comes with the expectancy.

‘The league has been even better this season with some outstanding coaches.

‘There is a greater scrutiny on you and you are playing more games with even greater intensity.

‘So to have won it this year, from a coaching and management point of view, makes it better.

‘Scotland is a brilliant place to work. You have real honest players who make it difficult for you.

‘When I was at Swansea and playing a non-league team, or at Liverpool and playing an Oldham, quite often those are actually your hardest games. Up here, when you are Celtic, you have that every week.’

After Sunday’s contest passed off with little off-field trouble, Rodgers hopes the SPFL feel more secure in scheduling future Old Firm title-deciders rather than avoiding the issue for fear of anarchy breaking out in Glasgow.

His initial plea for a showdown with Rangers after the split fell on deaf ears, with Celtic instead scheduled to play Hibernian first, losing 2-1 at Easter Road.

‘Clearly, they must not have thought too much about it (the fixtures) because they put us away to Hibs in the first game,’ he said.

‘But if they want to make the title-deciding game after the split, do it. Trust it.

‘It can be like it was on Sunday. People have to learn to live with it and deal with it, which I’m sure they will.’

Celtic are now just 90 minutes away from an unprecedented Double-Treble.

Motherwell, vanquished 2-0 in the Betfred Cup final in November, stand in the way in the Scottish Cup final at Hampden on May 19.

Rodgers and his players will spend this week recuperating and preparing for that date with destiny at a training camp in Tenerife that the Celtic boss has used in the past as manager of Swansea and Liverpool.

Yet, while trophies are the ultimate goal, Rodgers gets deep satisfaction from the progression he sees in the players he coaches.

It is the work on the training ground at Lennoxtown that represents Celtic’s best hope of bridging the chasm between the Scottish champions and the continent’s big-spending elite after some bruising defeats in the Champions League over the past two seasons.

‘I say when I finish my coaching career, my enjoyment is seeing players develop,’ he said.

‘You will always be judged on what you win, of course you will, but it’s not what gives me the big satisfaction. It’s seeing players improve and get better. And seeing our consistency against Rangers pleased me.

‘You look at James Forrest, his goal on Sunday was sensational and it was his first against Rangers.

‘Odsonne Edouard is a massive talent, Tom Rogic scores big goals in big games and Callum McGregor is just a wonderful footballer who has cleverness and an eye for goal.

‘This is still a very young team we have here with lots of learning and development to take place.

‘But they have shown they can go and handle situations and play with composure, which is important and can take you a long way.

‘It’s tough here because you have a domestic level and then you have the very, very top end where you are competing in European football. It’s always going to be difficult for Celtic to make up that gap.

‘But what we can do is take players and develop them, really maximise their talents to take them as far as we possibly can.’