Brendan Rodgers reveals why he kept Celtic talks secret

Brendan Rodgers recently opened up about his move to Celtic as manager and why he had to keep his talks with the club secret from even his family.

Brendan Rodgers takes us through his emotions following the semi-final loss to Rangers back in 2016 and how his appointment with the club was kept under raps from his community. The Irishman got on Eamonn and the Gaffers podcast to reflect on his Celtic years.

He heard snippets of information about Celtic while he was attending a christening. Church goers looked at match updates and Rodgers got updates in his ear about Celtic at Hampden, a loss that would eventually lead him to the manager promotion.

"“I was out of work at the time, travelling around, and I’ll never forget it. One Sunday, I was up in Belfast at a christening. It was the day Celtic were playing Rangers in the semi-final of the Scottish Cup.“So I was in mass, and I’ll never forget this, every time I looked round all the people in chapel were on their phone looking at the scores. I remember coming out and actually seeing everyone deflated Celtic had lost. So, it was at that moment I’d seen the reaction from everyone and what it felt like for Celtic to lose.”"

It was this crushing loss that inspired Rodgers to go for the manager position at Celtic . He had seen, first hand, the sadness on people’s faces when the Hoops lost. He also knew what excitement that his involvement with the club would bring to friends and family, to the point where he kept it a secret to prevent borderline frenzy.

"“Forward it on and I was given the chance to go into Celtic. I didn’t tell many people at all that I was even in talks, but I knew how excited they would be – it would just go through the roof.”"

Rodgers knew that he was in contention for the job but he kept it a secret from family and friends, to keep them from getting too excited about the position that wasn’t set in stone. He looked back on telling his brother about the job.

"“Once I finally signed I spoke to my brother and that first day when I turned up at Celtic Park I was the proudest man in the world.“You grow up back home in the community where it’s full of Celtic people and Celtic supporters.“To be out there on that day, it was just absolutely amazing.”"

For a man who claims to love Celtic with all his heart, the manner in which he left the club to hang out in the dry in the middle of the season to take over at Leicester City certainly raises a lot of questions.

Obviously, he plays the ‘it’s my job’ card but he certainly should have seen the season out before leaving Parkhead. If Leicester City were really that interested in his services, they would waited till the end of the season to give him the job.

Yes, he was wildly successful during his stint as the manager of the Hoops. But his exit left a bad taste in the fans’ mouths, most of whom will probably never forgive him.