Brendan Rodgers and Martin O’Neill are two of Celtic’s best-ever managers.
Rodgers and O’Neill are modern-day greats, yet Jock Stein, the European Cup-winning master, remains the best.
Rodgers, who is already in his second season as Celtic manager, has a same goal of achieving the Treble.
Rodgers’ return to Celtic as Ange Postecoglou’s replacement in summer 2023 was unexpected given his previous departure from the club.
The former Liverpool manager left the Glasgow giants in February 2019 to join English Premier League club Leicester City.
Despite winning multiple trophies in Scotland and topping the Premiership table by eight points when he left, the reaction from supporters was negative and left many angry.
During a chat with O’Neill prior to Celtic’s Champions League second-leg match against Bayern Munich on Tuesday night, the possibility of his departure was discussed.
Martin O’Neill puts Brendan Rodgers straight over why he left Celtic in 2019
One thing you have to like about O’Neill is that, like his previous Nottingham Forest manager Brian Clough, he is direct and tells it like it is.
So, when Rodgers revealed in an Amazon Prime interview that he left Celtic in 2019 because he thought ‘I had carried Celtic as far as I could’, the man sitting next him responded brutally.
O’Neill corrected Rodgers by stating, ‘no, you simply wanted to leave’, which elicited an uneasy laugh.
“How have you felt about coming back here, the second time around,” enquired O’Neill. “Have you seen any changes? I presume some of the previous visitors are still present.”
Rodgers said, “I thoroughly enjoyed it, Martin. When I initially arrived here, it was evident that I had a wonderful spell. Then, maybe more in my own mind, it was football, and I felt like I had pushed Celtic as far as I could.
O’Neill then interrupted by pointing at Rodgers, who smiled, saying, “No, young guy, you simply wanted to leave. You wanted to leave. “That is the point.”
Alex Aljoe, the Amazon host, then jokes, “Can you continue that conversation off-camera.”
Rodgers admits he ‘hurt’ people by leaving Celtic for Leicester City
Rodgers’ exit stung even more because the 10IAR was just around the bend.
But, years later, he recognises that he ‘damaged’ others and only now knows ‘what my leaving meant’.
The trophies continue to arrive at Celtic like they are on a conveyor belt at an airport, therefore the previous noise has subsided.
“But I always felt that, and I really should have known better in myself, that it was only really when I left that I realised probably what me leaving meant,” Rodgers told me.
“Not in an arrogant manner, but in a way that hurts others. I should have known that as a Celtics fan. But I was more focused on football and the next football move.
“I was extremely conscious that I had injured people when I left, and I wanted to make sure that when I returned, I realised and understood that my role as Celtic manager was more than that.
“It is people’s life. The love and enthusiasm for Celtic is remarkable. What happened when I departed did not sit well with me, and I did not want that to be my legacy.
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