The Celtic legend Brendan Rodgers pretended to be growing up as a boy

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Celtic have had many legends walk through the Parkhead gates but the one that Brendan Rodgers used to pretend to be growing up was Frank McGarvey.

Rodgers was fortunate enough to meet his childhood idol across his two spells as Celtic manager and as for McGarvey himself, he is one of the best to have worn the green and white.

McGarvey sadly passed away in 2023, during Rodgers’ second stint at the club, where the Northern Irishman revealed how he grew up wanting to follow in his footsteps.

Is Brendan Rodgers a Celtic legend?

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Brendan Rodgers revealed Frank McGarvey was his Celtic idol

Following the announcement of his death, Celtic paid tribute to the forward, who scored over 100 goals for the Hoops.

As the manager at the time, Rodgers paid tribute and revealed that he was his childhood hero growing up.

“I was a huge fan growing up and, when I was a young boy in Carnlough, playing out the back, I used to pretend I was Frank McGarvey,” he told the club website.

“He was a player who played with such a magic and a grit. He was a real Celtic hero and a player who was a massive part of a very successful era for the club.

“To then be the manager of the club and meet Frank, and see the great person he was, those are the moments you still pinch yourself.”

Brendan Rodgers names the moment Frank McGarvey became a Celtic legend

McGarvey did many wonderful things for Celtic but it was the 1985 Scottish Cup final that cemented his legacy as a legend, according to Rodgers.

He recalled how he watched the game in a pub and was in awe of what he saw.

Speaking to The Times in 2016, he said: Celtic 1-0 down and thinking it was all over and then Davie Provan equalising – and going absolutely berserk afterwards. Then Frank McGarvey scoring the winner.

“I watched it as a 12-year-old kid in the pub, having a lemonade and running in and out to watch. I’m not telling you the pub’s name. But I was allowed in! ‘Will visiting Hampden tick a box? I am not up here to tick a box and then go again.”