Brendan Rodgers applauds the fans after the UEFA Champions League match between Celtic FC and BSC Young Boys at Celtic Park on January 22, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
Q: I just wondered where Celtic are on the journey you hope to take them on when you came back here. What do you think’s developed in your time? And where are the next steps? I know you’re not someone who likes to sit still, so where do you want to go from here?
Brendan Rodgers: “When I came back, that was one of the agreements and discussion points with the hierarchy, the club and Dermot Desmond in particular, because it was based on how we can improve as a club. So, domestically, the club have had great success over a period of time. And the one glaring thing from my first time here was to do better in Europe. But for that, you need to have a level of player and equality that allows you to be competitive at that level. So, that was something we spoke about. And that’s something that we’ve looked into over the period I’ve been here.
“It’s not just about getting in players, and players you can sell on and make money for, but players that can improve you for now as well. And then that journey started in the last season with the team. I thought we had some really good performances. I didn’t quite get the results and the points to show for that, but we started to play with authority and maturity, even last season.
“And I’ve seen all of that. We’ve improved the squad; players have become better naturally in our development. So, that put us into the Champions League. We’ve added to the squad, and then we’ve seen that level. But what was also important then for this group was how they recovered from a setback, because Dortmund was a challenging night for us. But you see that from that moment, we’ve only conceded three goals. And that’s been a way to even a club like Atalanta, who are so good going forward. So, in that period from then until now, they showed that response and it’s been very, very pleasing.”
“So, where do we want to go from here? Well, our next game, we want to go, okay, we’ll have players missing at Aston Villa, but we want to go and finish off this group stage in the best possible way we can. And then for our future, it’s just to keep growing and sustain it at this level. It’s about growing and developing. And that is then about improving the players that you have and then bringing in a higher-quality player.”
Adam Idah of Celtic celebrates victory with teammate Kyogo Furuhashi after the UEFA Champions League match between Celtic FC and BSC Young Boys at Celtic Park on January 22, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
Q: I know it’s your birthday on Sunday, isn’t it? Maturity has been a theme of the week. You know, the team maturing, the crowd maturing and all that sort of stuff. So, I wonder what the ageing process, what experience changes as a manager in terms of how you work, maybe your enjoyment of work, how it adds to the qualities you already had?
Brendan Rodgers: “Yeah, it’s interesting. I had a couple of good friends up from Chelsea that I worked with 20-odd years ago. They were up for a few days, and they were asking similar sort of questions, you know, from when I was there coaching with them at Chelsea to virtually 20 years on. What does it look like? I think experience clearly helps massively in terms of dealing with problems. I think when I was a young coach and I’m trying to create this philosophy and this model for myself because I wasn’t a big player. I didn’t have that sort of protection behind me as such that people understood what I was.
“So, I was new to it all and had to earn my respect as such over that period. But I think then once you have that sort of greater longevity and you experience more, you just understand more, you understand about yourself more, and you regulate the pressure more. I think that’s the big thing. You know, I was 39, for example, when I went to Liverpool. First-team manager experience, but I had many coaching years. When I look now, I’m 52 on Sunday. I still feel young as a manager despite starting early, but I still always have that curiosity to want to learn.
“But I feel now that I really understand what is really, really important in terms of the game. Back then, 20 years ago, I was maybe the idealist and the purity of football. But you understand and you grow with that and understand what it really takes to develop when in teams and when in mentality and a winning culture. The journey has been amazing.”
UEFA Champions League 2024 2025, Celtic Glasgow vs Young Boys Bern YB Celtic Park. Kasper Schmeichel cheers Celtic’s 1- 0 victory. Photo JOERAN STEINSIEK (IMAGO)
Q: You just look like you’re enjoying it more than ever. You enjoyed that moment where Kasper made the save in the final minute and your picture just smiling at yourself on the touchline. Would it be fair to say that’s the case as well? Has your appreciation and enjoyment increased as well?
Brendan Rodgers: “To be in management, you need to have a real commitment and a real passion for the job. But for that, you have to enjoy it. I’ve been very, very lucky in my life to work with brilliant players but more importantly, brilliant people. I’m here in a club that’s really authentic. People that work hard and they give you absolutely everything.” I came back here with a point to prove, and I had to shake off some things that, for some people, I will never be able to shake off. The most important thing for me is Celtic and giving them the best that I possibly could.”
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The fact that there waa a fee for Kyogo AND Jota was very strange imo. No swap deal with the difference in cash which would be more usual in this situation. Stinks of Kyogo’s new agent making sure that he gets his %age cut .. as well as making Kyogo obviously unsettled.
Too bad, so sad .. bye bye!
He’ll realise he’s made a big mistake soon enough, I think.
He doesnae want tae play for us .. there’s the door!