The Rodgers Roar – “Days like today make it really special,” 200% Brendan

The Celtic Star

·27 April 2025

The Rodgers Roar – “Days like today make it really special,” 200% Brendan

Brendan Rodgers spoke to the media after Celtic were confirmed four-in-a-row Scottish Premiership champions yesterday…

Celtic Champions 2025. Dundee United v Celtic, 26 April 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

Q: Brendan, champions again. Tell us about your emotions at full-time?

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Brendan Rodgers: “We’re very happy, firstly, for our players because of what they’ve given to this season. Their mentality, their work, I’ve said before, but it all boils down to an idea, how you want to play, working your socks off and having the club values at heart in everything that you do. This team have shown every moment of that right the way through the season. When we’ve needed to, we’ve turned up. That’s the reality.

Celtic Champions 2025. Dundee United v Celtic, 26 April 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

“We knew this was going to be a tough game, and it was a tough game despite the scoreline. We had to stand up for the first 15 minutes, be strong, be aggressive, do all the things you have to do, do the dirty work. From that, our football comes into it, and we scored five and could have had more. This is a place where Jim [Goodwin] has done an incredible job. He’s done an incredible, here, of bringing the team up and getting them into the top six, fighting for European football. Today was about Celtic – and I am so pleased for everyone.”

A Minute of Silence for Pope Francis. Celtic Champions 2025. Dundee United v Celtic, 26 April 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

Q: It was almost a performance, as you say, that encapsulated the whole season and everything you wanted to do this season…

Brendan Rodgers: “Yeah, I’ve had of these, to win titles and be dominant and showing a concentration level that’s needed. We didn’t slow down the whole game. We still kept going to try and get more goals and hit the targets that we wanted to. At this point in the season, I’m really pleased with the progress of the team. We’ve won more games than last season, scored more goals, and conceded fewer. It’s just the case of working our way through to finish the season as strong as we can.”

The Celtic Huddle. Celtic Champions 2025. Dundee United v Celtic, 26 April 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

Q: You’ve won a number of titles with Celtic, but what would you say makes this one special?

Brendan Rodgers: “They’re all special, I would say, but this is really satisfying. I think that, tagged on to where there’s no breaks this season, we’ve been much more competitive in the Champions League. Why it’s so special is that the winter period, when there were so many games, from October, November time through to February, the games were relentless.

The Pope’s XI flag. Celtic Champions 2025. Dundee United v Celtic, 26 April 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

“The players kept their concentration, kept their work rate. I changed the team to keep the freshness, keep the energy, and they still delivered. It feels like a really special one. Last year was tight. We needed to improve, and we have improved. I know there was a wee bit of chat around, tedious, I think the word was, if someone is in here who said it, it’s okay. That’s your opinion. It’s not tedious for me, for the football club.

Celtic open the scoring. Dundee United v Celtic, 26 April 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

“We are in a competition that we want to be the very best. If we land at 15 points, clear with five games to go, with a plus 42 goal difference over our nearest rival, then I can tell you what, that’s not tedious. That’s professionalism at its highest level and concentration, and performance. For me, it is so satisfying. We’ve got four more games to go, we’ve got records we want to beat, and then we have a Scottish Cup final to finish off the season. Hopefully, it will be a really memorable one.”

Jota celebrates. Celtic Champions 2025. Dundee United v Celtic, 26 April 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

Q: You had an injury setback to deal with. How is Jota?

Brendan Rodgers: “He just felt his knee with the medical guys, we’re looking at whether his meniscus is a little bit sore. We’ll just have to assess that. Of course, they put it in the brace to protect it, but we’ll see in the next couple of days.”

Q: It’s fair to say you’re happier now than you’ve ever been?

Brendan Rodgers: “It’s fair. It’s been interesting, I’ve got to say, the last few months. People were deciding where I was supposed to be going, and I wasn’t happy. But what I can tell you, and I would say, listen to what I say, not what people try to anticipate my mood to and what I might be.

Brendan Rodgers talking to Sky Sports. Celtic Champions 2025. Dundee United v Celtic, 26 April 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

“I can tell you I said 150 per cent, 200 per cent, I’ll be here for sure next season because we want to build again, we want to grow. But what I’ll also say, there are very, very few people who know me, and there are even fewer who understand me. So that’s a really, really small group of people.

Brendan Rodgers. Celtic Champions 2025. Dundee United v Celtic, 26 April 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

“So when I see all the headlines, I don’t have an agent, so I don’t have an agent spinning a story for me or anything like that. It’s just a guess. So if there’s a headline out there, I am telling you and you guys, it’s a guess. Because I have hardly anyone who knows what I think and actually understands how I work. But absolutely, I am so, so happy. I came back because of the professional challenge of Celtic, knowing the pressures. My emotional attachment to the club clearly has me here rather than elsewhere. And just the chance to be the best manager at Celtic that I can possibly be. And days like today make it really special.”

Q: You said few people know you and understand you, but Dermot Desmond, is he one of those people there, who know you, and understand you?

Brendan Rodgers: “Well, he certainly does, and I haven’t spoken to him yet – we spoke the other day. But I wouldn’t be sitting here if it weren’t for Dermot. That’s the reality of it. Dermot put so much faith in me. When I first met him, when I first came, the first time, we hit it off in that first meeting. And from there, he’s always believed in me.

Celtic v RB Leipzig – UEFA Champions League – League Stage – Celtic Park Dermot Desmond in the stands ahead of the UEFA Champions League, league stage match at Celtic Park, on Tuesday November 5, 2024. Photo Andrew Milligan

“And then you imagine the courage he had at the time to offer me the chance to come back, when I’m pretty sure there’d be people inside the club, a lot of people outside the club that wouldn’t have had me back. But he believed in me, trusted me, and supported me. And yeah, hopefully all these rewards and everything, he can feel as I feel, because I wouldn’t be here otherwise.”

Q: Do you still feel you’ve got more to achieve?

Brendan Rodgers: “Yeah, I believe so. I think so, I’m two years virtually into a three-year deal. I said a minimum I would be three years. The big thing with Celtic is it’s about having the energy. That’s the big thing. And there are lots of other things.

Brendan Rodgers talks to Reo Hatate . Celtic Champions 2025. Dundee United v Celtic, 26 April 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

“Of course, as any manager, you need to feel wanted, you need to feel appreciated. You need to feel that you can develop the team, you can develop the club. So there are lots of things that come into it. But I definitely know that we want to finish better than what we did last year. And then I’ll go into next year super hungry to beat this year, whatever we end up doing.”

Q: Brendan, did days like today make you want to stay here longer term when you’re celebrating in front of all those fans?

Brendan Rodgers: “Well, I’d sense more to stay in the present, really. I don’t want to think too much about it going forward, because like I said, I love the time here. It’s been absolutely amazing. And seeing the happiness of everyone else. And it has felt different this time, because the last time I was here, everything was there. And obviously, there was always that bit of awkwardness and difficulty coming back.

Celtic Champions 2025. Dundee United v Celtic, 26 April 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

“But it never affected me in terms of wanting to be as professional as I could to make the club successful, to make the team successful. And that hunger to do that is still burning strongly inside. And I want to be able to take that into next season and see what happens.”

Conor Spence

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The Rodgers Roar – “Days like today make it really special,” 200% Brendan | OneFootball