What Brendan Rodgers told Neil Lennon he had planned in the week he signed for Celtic

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The return of Brendan Rodgers to Celtic has certainly kept the club in the headlines this week. Not that it needs much to do that.

The Irishman’s return has been much discussed in the tabloids and online over the course of the last two weeks but reports that Rodgers was planning to take some time away from football before Celtic contacted him are bang on the money.

That’s according to former Celtic manager, Neil Lennon. Lennon says he bumped into Rodgers after he had agreed to become the Hoops boss for a second time where the 50-year-old confirmed that after leaving Leicester City, he wanted a break from the game.

Lennon said [The Sun], “I bumped into Brendan last week, and he told me he’d planned to take a year out in Majorca after leaving Leicester.

“But when Celtic come calling, especially given the situation he was in, you don’t say no to them.

“His priority will be winning the league, continuing to dominate the landscape here in Scotland and going further in the Champions League.

“Some say this is a step backwards for him but it really isn’t.

“If you’re working as a manager then there aren’t that many clubs who can give you the opportunity to compete in the Champions League.

“Everyone wants to take on the best teams and the best coaches, so those are the pros of coming back.

“As for the cons, if he doesn’t get off to a great start then the fans may start doubting him.

“But I don’t believe that will really worry Brendan at all.

“He was the outstanding candidate for the Celtic job.

“It helps that he’s familiar with the club and the league, although there will have been changes here and there since he left in 2019.

“Unlike his first time, he’s now taking over a team which has just won a Treble and he’ll be looking to continue in that vein.

“At 50, he still has the appetite for success which you really need at Parkhead.”

And now that Rodgers is in the building, we can look forward to next season when the Celtic manager is planning to make a mark in Europe with the club.

Rodgers has spent no time at all in adding to the squad with the signing of Odin Thaigo Holm. And if all reported accounts are correct, it won’t be long until Yang Hyun-jun and Marco Tillio will be joining him.

The Celtic manager will also need to sort out the contract situation with Liel Abada and look to sort out the futures of some of Celtic’s fringe players as there are many of them who haven’t featured much or at all over the two seasons.

Much work is to be done by Rodgers but with the talented squad he has at his disposal, I bet he will be thanking his lucky stars that he never took that year out now.

In other news; Report: Liel Abada turns down new Celtic contract; Rodgers to schedule player talks