Former Celtic hero John Hartson reckons Brendan Rodgers has gone up in a lot of people’s estimations after a class weekend moment.
Celtic had just completed an impressive 3-0 victory away to Livingston when Rodgers found himself freeing a supporter from the grip of a steward.
The young fan entered the pitch after the final whistle in order to join his Hoops heroes. He was tackled and manhandled by security before Rodgers stepped in and escorted him back to the stand. The Celtic support gave the boss a huge ovation.
“It’s just common sense, it’s a young kid. He’s on to see his heroes, he wants to see his players. He shouldn’t be punished or prosecuted for that,” Rodgers said when explaining the incident.
It was a moment that went down well with former Hoops forward Hartson, who reckons the action may have further endeared the former Leicester City manager to the Celtic support.
“That was very good from Brendan,” Hartson said on the Go Radio Football Show. (31:30)
“It was excellent, the manager getting involved with the stewards and saying: ‘Hold on a minute. He’s a young boy, you’ve rugby tackled him, you’re lucky you haven’t injured him.’
“He just went over, took control of the situation and led the boy back in probably to his dad in the stand.
“Alright, it shouldn’t happen but it’s a one-off. You shouldn’t have people running onto the pitch even though it’s his heroes.
“I think Brendan Rodgers went up in a lot of people’s estimations. I know it’s probably what most people would do. But I thought it was dealt with brilliantly.”
Hartson is right to praise Rodgers. Watching the incident from many yards away, it would have been easy for him not to get involved and let the supporter be treated badly.
Whole the young fan shouldn’t have been on the pitch, he simply got a little too excited. No harm was caused.
Rodgers showed his leadership. It’s the kind of thing you would imagine some of our best managers to do. But it shouldn’t be taken for granted.
If we keep winning, his standing amongst the Celtic support will continue to rise.
In other news, Rodgers is seeing positive signs every day at Celtic
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
