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8 Brendan Rodgers Celtic presser takeaways as boss talks 'snarling' Scott Brown St Johnstone snub, Champions League frustration and manager sackings

Brendan Rodgers
-Credit: (Image: Reach Publishing Services Limited)


Brendan Rodgers reckons he's destined to meet Scott Brown in the dugout as an opponent manager sooner rather than later - but it won't be at St Johnstone.

The Celtic hero turned down the chance to move to McDiarmid Park as Craig Levein's replacement and instead chose to sign a contract extension with Ayr United. For Rodgers it was a decision which made sense in terms of his old captain's development as a head coach in his own right.

It's the Saints who are this weekend's opponents for the Hoops and could have been a baptism of fire for Broony against his old club. Rodgers, though, reckons eventually the 39-year-old will manage at a higher level but it has to be done in his own time as he reflected on his own "impatience" as a young coach.

READ MORE: Cameron Carter Vickers Celtic injury latest as Brendan Rodgers confirms blow

Rodgers also discussed his squad's injury issues, Champions League hangover potential and the previous rollicking he gave his side the last time they played at McDiarmid. Football Scotland picked out some key takeaways as Rodgers met the media.

Cameron Carter-Vickers latest

Cameron will miss out tomorrow, there's a good headline title! He'll miss tomorrow, he's just got a pain in his big toe in the joint there, so we just have to look at that each game. He's been playing with it for a little while, but we've got to try and manage it now because he was in pain in the Bratislava game. So hopefully it'll settle down quite quickly and we'll see where it's at for Tuesday.

Will he be ready for Dortmund? It is difficult to tell, just concentrating on this game, really, and then we'll see after this where he's at over Sunday, and Monday. No, it's not (more significant). It's just the tolerance of pain. I think he'd gone through a lot and pushed him through a lot but it was not getting any better. There were signs of it. I don't think it was getting worse but he was having to go through too much pain with it really. He's a tough character. We just felt that it's obviously one of those ones that with rest it will self-correct and he will be okay.

Playing a club without a full-time boss tougher?

No, I think professional players will always look to do their very best. Clearly, it's a shame Craig's (Levein) now left there and a very experienced manager. Andy (Kirk) the guys that are there now are obviously holding the fort and they'll have the team prepared and ready for the game. Clearly, if there's a manager in place, then you know the philosophy, and the football ideas and that allows you to understand it better. I still think looking at how they play and how they've been, we get an idea of how they work. For us, it's really about ourselves and bringing our rhythm to the game and making it really, really difficult for St Johnstone.

Thoughts on Brown turning down St Johnstone

Scott's doing a fantastic job at Ayr and he and Steven (Whittaker) and his staff are doing really well there. They've obviously lifted Ayr into a really good place having joined them last season. I think for Scott there's no rush. I've got no doubt he'll be a really successful manager. He went into Ayr and obviously kept them up last year and had a really good pre-season. I could see that in pre-season. They were a few weeks ahead of us but I could see the ideas of what they were trying to implement and how they've played. They've started the season very, very well. For Scott, it's not about a club for his next step, it's about the right club. I always think that especially when you're a young manager, getting to the right club is important. But not if you're already at a good club. He's at a good club and he's happy. I wasn't surprised that he didn't take it, but I'm not surprised that his name is linked with it.

I was probably in my younger days guilty of it. You're in a rush. When I was a young manager I was in a rush to get to the Premier League because it's the most competitive league in the world and it's a challenge. But obviously when you can sit back and have more information and more knowledge and experience then you can probably look at it a lot clearer. I think ambition is important. I think you have to have that. But the ambition can be for the club you're in and the people you work with as well as yourself. I just see him in a really good place. I don't think there's any doubt he'll manage at the highest level. It's all about timing and at the right time. I'm very, very confident that he will get there. But being a manager and a coach at the highest level is totally different to being a captain. Those leadership qualities will really help you of course. But there are no shortcuts. Being a top coach or a top manager you have to take your time and you have to learn and you have to find those experiences. I see him doing that very, very well at the moment.

When I first arrived I didn't know him. I only saw this snarling guy on the telly that I used to see and watch. Then when I first met him I found out he was totally different. We obviously clearly had a really, really strong relationship in our time here, which you need - your captain and your manager to be tight. At Celtic that year there were many challenges, so being together is very important. I had no doubt his leadership qualities were immense. I just felt that if he wanted to do that it's something he could absolutely do. He had that first little taste of it at Fleetwood. He'd been really brave coming out of Scotland and going down into the lower leagues in England. He took on that challenge to understand and find that apprenticeship as a manager because that is important as well. You have to learn the trade. He's obviously come back up to here and done a very, very good job so far. He feels and sounds like he's in a happy place. He'll get linked with jobs I'm pretty sure. Numbers of jobs in the future. But there's no rush. Just take your time and work well.

Do you envisage taking him on one day?

Probably. He's on that trajectory. If I'm still here and want it then we may well do. I've had it before.

I came up against Nuri Sahin on Tuesday and I had Nuri at Liverpool as a young player on loan from Real Madrid. It happens and it all happens so quickly. That's the game. What I know about Scott is that he's doing really, really well. He and his staff. He's had a really good club. Having been there in the summer when we played them and meeting the owner and seeing what it is they're trying to do. I think he knows he's in a really good place. I think for him to manage at the top level here in Scotland it's only a matter of time. Whether that's with Ayr or someone else it's a matter of time.

Celtic stars who could be managers

I look at the likes of Callum McGregor. I think Callum can be a manager if he wants to be later on. It's the big what if. I think playing and coaching and management are three totally different things. When you're coaching you're giving opinions and you're working with the players. When you're managing you're making decisions. It's a totalset-upferent set up. I look at the guys that I have. I've got some fantastic players here who in their own right may want to go down that route.

But it's not always the ones that clearly stand out that become the manager. I'm sure there are plenty of players that will tell you that they would have thought someone was going to be a manager and they've gone on and done ever so well. I would look at starting as a starting point and think that when the time comes for him if he wants to go down that route then he certainly shows a lot of the facets that you would need to manage and coach.

Sunday/Tuesday turnaround frustrating?

I think for all British teams it is a frustration. I'll watch Borussia Dortmund play tonight, they'll play Bochum on Friday so they're able to move the game that day early. It gives them three full days to prepare for our game and the game at home. For us, we'll probably not be home until after midnight from the game tomorrow.

Then it's a very, very quick turnaround travel and then you're out playing the game. I think it's for most British teams. The TV and the slots and everything seems to take priority over the game and preparation. But we're not the only team. That's happened to others having seen it for a number of years. The European guys will have their slots and they'll find agreements to help their teams prepare the best they can.

Previous rollicking at McDiarmid

Yes. I think firstly at the point when we arrived there last year when I was there we definitely weren't on the same page. But that's my job as the manager to ensure that we were and that our standard was better than that. I look at the second-half response and then I look to where we're at now a year later. We're in a much different place. The team's gone in the direction I wanted to go in. Playing with the intent and the technicality and the physicality and the coordination and the hunger in the team. It's night and day from that first-half performance last season. We've done well up there in my time going to St Johnstone I've always enjoyed going there but purely the supporters there.

We scored some fantastic goals like the one you mentioned. I think James Forrest scored four goals in one half of a game which was an incredible achievement for a player. In all of that, you have to work really hard. It doesn't just come to you. I think for us the mantra right over the course of this pre-season and into this season is to make our organisation and our attitude and our talent really difficult for the other team. If we can show all of those things and bring that into the game then it can be a difficult game for an opponent. That's what our aim is again. The goals you mentioned were fantastic goals and some really good goals that day.

Managers sacked thoughts

No, I think it's a shame. For Craig, he's a really experienced manager and he dips in and out of the media and has done other roles. For him, it won't be a surprise. Sometimes no matter how well you can be doing if an owner wakes up one morning and you're not to be the manager then you're out. It's as simple as that. All you can do is do your best. For Steven in his first job, there's always empathy there for a coach and a manager. It's one of those ones where he'll go away and learn from that experience. He was a fantastic player. Steven had a really good career in the game, moved into coaching and then into the lead role.

He'll go away and look at it and find the areas in which he can be better in and develop and improve and then for sure he'll come back in his next job and be a better manager. Sometimes it takes that. It's not nice when it comes but the strength is then going again and learning from it. That's the guys that succeed in the game. When you can pick yourself up, identify where you could have been better alongside all the good things that worked really well.

I looked at Hearts last year and I thought they were very good, very well coached, good idea of the game and finished third in the league and did really well. Sometimes the momentum at the beginning of a season just didn't quite go with them and then all of a sudden you're on the back end of what he had lost. I never felt they were as bad as that but sometimes people feel the need to change and they did do.