About joining greats
“It overlapped into a general discussion at Celtic. We’re both from the same boat back home in terms of being supporters.
“We know what it means to people and what it means to manage here.”
And experience which, Rodgers says, owes so much to the man who pulled the trick off first, Jock Stein, and, just as importantly, his Lisbon Lions.
“I was aware of the story before but it’s obviously been highlighted a lot more in this year of celebrations,” he said as he looked to Thursday’s 50th anniversary of the Hoops’ European Cup win.
“When you think of the football that they played, it really started the idea of The Celtic Way against which every team would be measured in the future.
“Every team was then held up against that. They were the architects and the pioneers of Celtic.
“Nine of them came through the system with Ronnie Simpson and Willie Wallace brought in.
“Big Jock had actually bombed Ronnie out at Hibs and he came to Celtic so when Jock came to Celtic Ronnie must have thought that was his time up.
“Ronnie was in the Reserves for a bit and then got brought in and was then a part of that great history. It’s an incredible story.
“And for me what we have done this year has been very fitting in terms of honouring the memory.
“We were never going to win five trophies. The Champions League wasn’t a realistic target.
“But if you look back at that 1967 team, the football they played, the creativity, the togetherness, the spirit, the behaviour really – there are a lot of similarities to what we have done this year.”