Rodgers retaliates after McGhee rant
CELTIC and Motherwell were last night embroiled in a bitter war of words over an explosive touchline bust-up at Fir Park.
Celtic assistant manager Chris Davies had to be restrained by stewards after the Bhoys’ fightback, with Well assistant James McFadden involved in the fracas.
Asked for his take on the incident, Motherwell boss Mark McGhee accused Davies – whose name he claimed not to know – of failing to exhibit “Celtic quality” behaviour.
But Brendan Rodgers leapt to his colleague’s defence, filleting McGhee for interfering in his side’s warm-up and branding his actions not “befitting” of an assistant manager of Scotland.
McGhee explained: “James wasn’t having words with Brendan at full-time. Brendan was as good as gold. As always he was dignified in victory like he is dignified in defeat. We had no problem with Brendan.
“But I think some of the staff weren’t really Celtic quality in terms of their behaviour.”
Asked directly about Davies, McGhee continued: “I don’t know his name. You’re telling me his name so I think that says it all.
“He seemed to be, for some reason, angry that they’d won, so explain that to me. He wasn’t shaking hands with me, but nothing had gone on in the game.
“I enjoyed the game, I think Brendan did too. “I didn’t enjoy losing.” The Celtic manager at first attempted to play down the confrontation, saying: “I don’t think there’s much in it.”
But when informed of McGhee’s “Celtic quality” jibe, Rodgers went on the attack, defending his assistant and accusing Motherwell’s gaffer of trying to sabotage the Bhoys’ warm-up.
Rodgers said: “I think that’s very unfair, especially when he comes into our warm-up before the game.
“He comes up and is asking our players to warm up in a different area. I don’t think that’s befitting of the assistant manager of a national team and the manager of Motherwell.
“My staff are exemplary in their behaviour. We know what we’re representing here. We’ll always be honest. We have integrity.
“My staff represent this club and have done since the day they walked in here. So I think Mark’s is a completely unfair representation of them.”
Asked whether Davies’ annoyance, clearly visible at full-time, had been sparked by McGhee’s warm-up interference, Rodgers said: “It could well be. He shouldn’t be doing that.
“We’ve gone to every stadium this season, and we’ve done our warm-up as we normally do.
“But why can’t we do the warm-up we do all across the world here at Motherwell? I don’t know what the issue was, and maybe that’s what sparked it.”