The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Celtic boss sad to see Warburton leave Ibrox
Rodgers felt ‘outstanding coach’ faced difficult task after promotion
Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers has expressed his sadness at the departure of Mark Warburton from Rangers.
The Ibrox club – 27 points behind the Ladbrokes Premiership leaders after coming up from the Championship – announced last Friday that they had accepted the resignations of Warburton, assistant manager Davie Weir and head of recruitment Frank McParland.
The trio subsequently denied they had resigned, but under-20s manager Graeme Murty was in the technical area for Sunday’s home William Hill Scottish Cup win over Morton.
Ahead of tomorrow’s visit of Motherwell, Rodgers, who was manager at Watford when Warburton worked in the club’s academy, said: “I haven’t spoken to him as yet. I have sent him a message.
“It is obviously disappointing when any manager loses his job, especially when they lose it in the way that they did.
“I think it is worth pointing out when he played Celtic not that long ago, everyone was lauding the job he had done.
“He came into a club where Ally McCoist had been in before, a legend of the club and a good guy.
“They wanted to go a different direction with Mark, for whatever reason, and his job was to come in and restructure the club and the playing style and in his first year I don’t think anyone would have argued with that.
“The step up to the Scottish Premiership was always going to be difficult in that first season no matter what their budget would be.
“So I find it disappointing that after this period of time that he ends up losing his job because he is an outstanding coach and all his interest and passion for Rangers was to make them the very best they could be under the circumstances they were in.
“So I feel for him, Davie Weir, a good guy and real Rangers legend. Those two guys along with Frank McParland, they wanted what was best for Rangers and it is sad to see them go.”
The former Swansea and Liverpool boss, who confirmed that former Dundee United striker Nadir Ciftci was on his way to Poland to begin a loan spell with Pogon Szczecin, was surprised by Motherwell’s 7-2 thrashing by Aberdeen at Pittodrie on Wednesday night.
And while he is looking for Celtic to extend their unbeaten domestic run since the start of the season to 31 games, he said: “It doesn’t make our task any easier because when you ship a lot of goals like that your next game is to ensure you are water tight.”
Well boss Mark McGhee’s misery was compounded when he was sent to the stand after a row with the fourth official.
Rodgers has never been ordered from the technical area but can understand the frustrations of fellow managers.
He said “Everyone reacts differently to pressure and different situations.
“I would never point the finger at coaches or managers that do (lose their cool) because everyone’s circumstances are totally different.”
Midfielder Stuart Armstrong returns to the squad after recovering from a hamstring injury but striker Leigh Griffiths is still working his way back to fitness after a calf complaint.