Sport: Rodgers tells Bellamy ‘I’m not here for my CV, I’m here for Celtic’
● Celtic boss dismisses Bellamy claims
Brendan Rodgers has shrugged off Craig Bellamy’s assessment of his achievements as Celtic manager and has insisted he does not view his tenure at the club as a vehicle to eventually return to the English Premier League.
Bellamy, who spent a brief loan spell at Celtic in 2005, caused a stir this week when he claimed Rodgers’ success at the helm of the Scottish champions carries no weight south of the border.
According to Bellamy, former Liverpool boss Rodgers will not attract interest in his services from leading English clubs, regardless of how many trophies he wins at Celtic.
But Rodgers, who earlier this year signed a new contract with Celtic which runs until 2021, has responded by stressing how content he is to remain in Scotland.
“I am not here to win titles for my own CV or to get a job in England,” he said. “I am here to do a job at Celtic. I love life in Scotland, first and foremost. I love the city of Glasgow.
“It has been great for me for the last 15 months or so. Of course the football has gone well and that is why we are here, we are here to win. I love that aspect of it and that is my only concern.
“I am not here to boost a CV – I am here because of Celtic. It is a club I love. I have really loved the life here, I love being here, I love the challenge of trying to develop the football club to a standard or a level that hopefully we can sustain and dedicate that excellence to.
“I have enough challenges and worries here to look forward to that are really exciting – whether that initiates a job elsewhere, I am not even worried about that.
“I am not in a rush anymore – this is my fifth job and I started my career in management in my mid-30s and now I am 44. So in less than ten years in management, I have had five jobs. So I was in a rush for probably the first few years, trying to get to the top, trying to get to Liverpool and blah blah blah, but I don’t really sense that anymore. My life has always been about developing players – if we can win trophies along the way then great.
“I respect Craig, he is very passionate about his life, very passionate about his football. Seeing some of his comments, I am not sure it is meant in that way but if it is, then okay. I am not here to worry about my next job, my only worry is
board has been clear that any meaningful review would have had to be carried out in association with the Scottish FA and with the full and active cooperation of both organisations.
“The SPFL board has therefore concluded that it cannot, by itself, take forward an effective independent review.”
In a statement, the SPFL board said it was “disappointed” in the SFA’S decision not to take part in a review, which it called for after the Supreme Court ruled Rangers should have paid tax on about £50 million of payments to players and other staff during the first decade of the century.
It continued: “The SPFL board still believes that an independent review, promoted jointly by the Scottish FA and SPFL, would have resulted in a better understanding of the procedures and processes adopted by football’s governing bodies.
“Such a review would also have enabled any lessons learned to be implemented for the future benefit of the game in Scotland.”
Both bodies may still be the subject of scrutiny with plans for a fan-funded judicial review apparently progressing.
Rangers were fined £250,000 by the Scottish Premier League in 2013 after the oldco club failed to disclose dozens of payments to players in breach of regulations, but a commission led by judge Lord Nimmo Smith declared they had gained no “unfair competitive advantage”.
Both the governing body and the league stated that legal advice meant there was no recourse for further disciplinary action following the Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling in July.