Brendan Rodgers admits he feels sympathy for Philippe Clement – but he insisted the Belgian boss paid the price for failing to keep up with Celtic’s relentless consistency.
The Hoops gaffer has now seen off his FIFTH Ibrox rival – with Mark Warburton, Graeme Murty, Pedro Caixinha, Michael Beale and now Clement suffering the axe during his two spells in Glasgow.
Rodgers rates the now departed manager – but he knows the stakes are high in this city. He said: “Like it is for any manager, I’m always disappointed when a manager loses his job. Obviously, Philippe has been in there for the period of time that he has and I’m disappointed for him as a coach. I think we all know the conditions up here. You have to be winning and show that consistency to win. I’m always sad when another manager loses his job.
“Philippe has shown previously, coming into the Rangers, that he’s a very good manager. He’s won titles. He’s not just a good coach, he’s a winning coach and has won. Like I say, we know the conditions up here. There’s relentless pressure on you to win at Celtic and Rangers. Expectation is there. That doesn’t stop on a daily basis. You have to then come out and be a consistent winner.”
Rodgers admitted Celtic ’s relentless drive at the top of the table turned up the heat south of the river.
He said: “I think that’s been key too. I think we didn’t get off to the best of starts last season when I came in, certainly in terms of consistency and performance level. I think when Philippe came in, obviously, they had that bounce and had a really good run.
“But then once we started to find our feet and get our rhythm, then I think how we dealt with pressure, we dealt with it really, really well. From that moment, we’ve continued to grow and improve. It’s a great credit to the players and how they’ve coped with that and how they’ve consistently performed.”
Rodgers admitted he wasn’t close with Clement – but there was respect He said: “You don’t really have that (relationship). That’s the honest answer. I think that you actually play enough times, you come up against each other quite a lot, of course. But in terms of the interaction, there isn’t so much. But like I say, I’ve seen his work outside of Rangers as well. You need to look at that in his CV to show that Rangers employed a very good manager. That’s what they felt at the time and that’s why they gave him the job.”