Brendan Rodgers admits ‘surprise’ at Celtic’s numbers in 2024 and states ‘why I came back’

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Celtic are hoping the New Year brings as much joy and success as the last.

To nobody’s surprise, Celtic dominated 2024 in Scotland, once again, with Brendan Rodgers enjoying a winning return to the dugout.

After replacing Ange Postecoglou in the summer of 2023, Rodgers went on to deliver three trophies this calendar year – the Premiership title, the Scottish Cup and the League Cup.

All as memorable as the next, but the dramatic Hampden encounters to down Rangers, not once, but twice, are perhaps the standouts.

You could argue there was an element of surprise when Rodgers decided to come back to Celtic because how he initially left was pretty disgraceful.

As a result of it all, the Irishman had a lot of winning over to do and it’s fair to say that the Celtic players are doing the talking on the field for him.

Brendan Rodgers says ‘evolution’ of Celtic is why he returned

From Nicolas Kuhn’s rise to the consistent performances of Callum McGregor, there have been many standout players this year.

They have all contributed to such dominance, including the team currently heading towards ANOTHER unbeaten Treble under Rodgers.

But the manager himself admitted that when he had a look back at Celtic’s numbers in 2024, it ‘surprises you a little bit’ and he added that the ‘evolution’ of the club is why he returned, as he told BBC Radio Scotland.

“How would you sum up the evolution of the team and the club over the past 12 months,” asked a BBC Scotland reporter.

Rodgers responded: “Well, clearly very pleased. I think that we get the win and the performance to go with it. Hopefully, we can look back on it and 2024 has been one of the real historical seasons in the history of the club.

“I saw some numbers shown around on the last couple of days, which surprises you a little bit because you focus game to game. But when you look at the stretch of a calendar year, how we have prepared, how we have gone into every game and how we have played. Yeah, it has been fantastic. I think that evolution, like you say, it’s why I came back to try and progress the club and the team. Thus far, it has been fantastic.”

Rodgers’ Celtic record since returning

Many believe Celtic’s squad depth is as strong as it has ever been and certainly deeper – and with more quality – than what Rodgers had the first time around.

Of course, that team was invincible and broke all sorts of records. The current side has yet to reach those heights or levels, but they are showing signs that they can repeat it this term.

Since Rodgers returned, he has only lost nine games in all competitions and has a points-per-game ratio of 2.35. Many are hoping that increases ahead of Celtic’s trip to Rangers on Thursday.