Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers reckons the Kilmarnock victory over Rangers at the weekend is just further proof of the coaching talent in the Scottish Premiership.
Rodgers arrives back in Scottish football after an extraordinary stint during his first spell as Celtic boss, winning seven trophies from seven available and sending the Bhoys well on their way to more.
But the Celtic manager isn’t complacent about the challenge ahead for him and his staff this time around. In fact, he reckons there’s enough managerial talent in Scotland to keep him very focused on the task at hand.
Rodgers said [Scottish Daily Mail 10/08 print edition, page 68]: “There are some outstanding coaches up here in Scotland. Malky Mackay is at Ross County but with the greatest respect to Ross County, Malky is an excellent manager.
“It wasn’t that long ago I was facing Malky when I was at Liverpool and he was at Cardiff and he was a really up-and-coming manager. He was very good tactically and a good motivator of his team.
“You see Derek McInnes last week with Kilmarnock (beating Rangers 1-0 at Rugby Park). Derek was outstanding when I was up here the last time.
“So that’s two but there will be other coaches here — Michael (Beale) at Rangers; a young up-and-coming manager. And I’m looking forward to meeting the other guys I haven’t met, like Stephen Robinson at St Mirren. There’s always a challenge in every league.”
Rodgers meets another manager in league action this weekend with a visit to Pittodrie for a match against Barry Robson’s Aberdeen. That will likely be a stiffer test to the home fixture against Ross County and will be another good indicator of the current status of this Celtic team.
The Bhoys boss clearly has his eyes open to potential road bumps ahead. Celtic need to prove their excellence against the rest of the Premiership, nothing comes to the team as a given.
As Rodgers alludes to, McInnes has just shown that upsets can happen if the performance of the stronger team isn’t where it needs to be.
In other news, Brendan Rodgers on sit down Celtic chat with Starfelt; strength of Jacynta factor made clear.
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