MOURINHO: I WOULD HAVE WAITED FOR 8

FROM BACK PAGE third successive domestic clean sweep.

Former Manchester United boss Mourinho admitted he isn’t surprised at Rodgers being tempted by a return to the Premier League despite Celtic being a “giant” club.

But the Portuguese, who appointed Rodgers as his youth coach at Chelsea in 2004, believes he was wrong to walk out mid-season.

Rodgers lost his first Foxes game yesterday with his side – who’ve lost seven of their last nine games – now 11th after a 2-1 defeat at his old club Watford.

And, speaking on beIN Sports, Mourinho said: “If you say to me, am I surprised by Brendan leaving Celtic to go to Leicester, I would say no.

“But if I was in his position I would have said to Leicester, ‘I want to come to you, but not now’.

“I want to come next season, I want to be champion in Scotland, I want to leave in the right moment. In my opinion, the right moment would be pre-season.”

Mourinho managed Porto to victory over Celtic in the UEFA Cup Final in 2003 but admitted while Celtic are a giant club, the Premiership isn’t comparable to the English top flight.

The 56-year-old said: “Celtic is a giant club but the Premier League is the Premier League. The Scottish championship is not the same as the Premier League, with all due respect.”

But Rodgers says it’s time to move on after Celtic booked their Scottish Cup semi-final place.

His successor Neil Lennon guided Hoops into the last four with a 2-0 victory at his own former club Hibs.

Rodgers said: “I understand how the Celtic fans are feeling but they had a good result on Saturday and are into the Scottish Cup semi-final and we’ll both move on.

“There’s obviously a lot of noise around but I don’t tend to suffer so much with that. I’ve only been focused on the football.

“It was sad to leave Celtic and the quickness of it meant I didn’t have a chance to say goodbye to people who meant a lot to me.”

Rodgers was also given a hostile reception on his return to Watford yesterday after their fans were also unhappy at the manner of his departure for Reading after a six-month spell at Vicarage Road in 2009.

But he said: “I didn’t hear so much from the Watford fans. I’ll always be grateful to the club.

“They have a tradition of giving young managers an opportunity and they gave me mine and I loved my time here.”