Andy Townsend backs Brendan Rodgers for extended Celtic stay

The Celtic Star

·7 April 2025

Andy Townsend backs Brendan Rodgers for extended Celtic stay

Andy Townsend has revealed the belief that Celtic’s Brendan Rodgers is happy where he is right now and wouldn’t leave the club for a provincial English Premier League side like Leicester City again, after realising what he had before in Glasgow…

Celtic Manager Brendan Rodgers St Johnstone v Celtic, Scottish Premiership, McDiarmid Park, Perth, 06 April 2025. Stuart Wallace . Photo IMAGO/Shutterstock

Rodgers enjoyed a trophy-laden initial spell with the Hoops from 2016-19, in which he secured back-to-back Trebles and even had an Invincible season which is up there with the best in Celtic’s entire footballing history.

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A glorious time to be a Celtic supporter

It was a glorious time to be a supporter of the football club, as we developed a wonderful style of play and made great memories against our arch-rivals which caused them to cut the away ticket allocation for the debt marches as a result.

It wasn’t to stay that way forever though, as rising tensions behind the scenes and a power struggle at the heart of club saw a majorly disappointing transfer window in the summer of 2018 all but seal Rodgers fate away from Paradise. Sure enough, the John McGinn fiasco amongst other general dealings with recruitment saw the former Liverpool boss leave for Leicester City in the February of 2019, in what was a total shock, considering the timing.

Celtic Manager Brendan Rodgers in technical area at McDiarmid Park. St Johnstone v Celtic, Scottish Premiership, 06 April 2025. Photo Stuart Wallace IMAGO/Shutterstock

That left a bitter taste in the mouth and many Celtic supporters

That left a bitter taste in the mouth and many Celtic supporters could not understand the manner in which Brendan left, causing heartache throughout the fanbase for some years as a result. He admitted when he returned in the summer of 2023, that he was saddened that he had hurt the support in the manner in which he did, citing that no matter where he has been, nowhere has felt like Celtic Park.

Townsend reckons that the Bhoys manager is happy in his surroundings and knows what he gave up last time around, claiming he would only consider leaving for one of England’s biggest clubs if the situation arose.

“Brendan Rodgers is more than capable of getting Premier League jobs’

“Brendan Rodgers is more than capable of getting Premier League jobs given what he did at Liverpool and Leicester and then had even more success at Celtic,” he said to Boyle Sports. “He might even fancy a stint abroad, but this time he won’t leave Celtic for a Leicester, I think he took it loud and clear when he first left the club, and he got a lot of stick.”

Celtic Manager Brendan Rodgers applauds the Celtic fans at full-time. Final score St Johnstone 1 Celtic 0. St Johnstone v Celtic, Scottish Premiership, McDiarmid Park, Perth, – 06 April 2025 Photo Stuart Wallace IMAGO/Shutterstock

The pundit says he can’t see another Brendan flit on the horizon, unless it was an offer too good to refuse, saying: “I don’t see him walking out of where he is. They did really well in the Champions League, and I was really impressed with the way they went about it and the way they played. I think he would like to build on that naturally for next season.

“But say the Chelsea job becomes available; he’d be tempted, and you understand. It would’ve been the same if Eddie Howe had taken the England job. But if Andoni Iraola leaves Bournemouth, I don’t think he’d go for that role, as good as Bournemouth are.”

Paul Gillespie

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