Rodgers is happy to silence critics as title beckons
Celtic boss hits back after huge win over rivals
Brendan Rodgers watched Celtic put one hand on the league trophy by beating Rangers 2-1 yesterday and then took the chance to settle a score. After watching his side go six points clear at the top of the Premiership, Rodgers delivered an impassioned rebuttal to Chris Sutton, arguing he had been treated like a novice since his return to Scotland.
Back in December, ex-bhoys striker Sutton publicly suggested the Hoops boss was going through the motions in his second spell in charge at the club – a comment that clearly irked the man himself.
“From a personal perspective, I was surprised in a way that I heard somebody say about ‘Brendan Rodgers going through the motions’ earlier on in the season,” said the Northern Irishman.
“I get to work between half seven and eight o’clock every day of my life.
“I leave the training ground between half six and seven o’clock at night.
“And when I get home, I have my dinner and probably flip on the computer and look at more football. If that is going through the motions, I want to know what every other manager is doing!”
“From a personal level, I have been treated like a novice since I came back here, like it’s my first job.”
Meanwhile, Rangers manager Philippe Clement admitted John Lundstram let down his side by getting sent off.
The Belgian offered no defence for the Englishman’s tackle on Alastair Johnston.
He said: “I don’t want to see that type of tackle anywhere on the pitch. It was totally unnecessary. In the first 20 minutes, we were not aggressive enough. After that, the red card decided the game.”
Having watched his team put one hand on the Premiership trophy, Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers took the opportunity to settle a score himself. Back in December, former Hoops striker Chris Sutton had suggested the ex-liverpool and Leicester boss was going through the motions in his second spell at Celtic Park.
And while Rodgers did not take public issue with the claim then, his firm rebuttal of the claim here left precisely zero doubt about the extent to which it had rankled.
“I suppose it is part of the game,” he said in response to a question about his views on personal criticism he had drawn over the season. “From a personal perspective I was surprised in a way that I heard somebody say about ‘Brendan Rodgers going through the motions’ earlier on in the season.
“I get to work between half seven and eight o’clock every day of my life.
“I leave the training ground between half six and seven o’clock at night.
“And when I get home I have my dinner and probably flip on the computer and look at more football.
“If that is going through the motions I want to know what every other manager is doing. Because what is every other manager doing if I am ‘going through the motions’. “From a personal level, I have been treated like a novice since I came back here, like it’s my first job. “However, my principal objective is to make sure Celtic win.
“Part of that is the criticism and I understand that, but it’s the mentality of the team that is the most important thing. “You can see that mentality from where we were with injuries, how we have progressed, how we have stayed unified, how we stayed together and how we then get to this point where we are nearly crossing the finishing line.
“And we don’t just want to cross it, we want to sprint over it. We have two games to go plus a final and that is our mentality.”
Did the Celtic manager use the criticism as a motivational tool?
“No, not at all,” he said, adding with a laugh, “I go to confessions!”
“It is unification that you want here. Having had success here before, I know what the third season brings. “You know, we created history with a double treble. Then that third season the mentality become a real challenge.
“I have come into the third season with the team having won five trophies out of six.
“I lot of the players I hadn’t worked with before, so they didn’t know me and I didn’t know them.
“Then we lost really important players who make the football shine in this place.
“The likes of Carl Starfelt who was a brilliant defender. “So that, added to the injuries we’ve had, made it a real challenge from a management perspective. “But I’ve never ever doubted, since I’ve been a young coach, the process. And I felt, just keeping chipping away, the guys will come back at some point. “We just had to keep believing and working hard. Slowly we found a rhythm and now we sit here with eight wins out of the last nine.”