Brendan Rodgers Full Of Praise For Motherwell Boss Ahead Of Betfred Cup Final

Brendan Rodgers Full Of Praise For Motherwell Boss Ahead Of Betfred Cup Final

Brendan Rodgers has enjoyed an enormously successful spell in charge at Celtic winning three trophies in his incredible first season in charge at Celtic Park.

The Celtic boss has also noticed how well Motherwell manager Stephen Robinson has been doing over at Fir Park in his first season as the boss after serving as the assistant manager at Fir Park for a short time before being appointed manager of Oldham Athletic in July 2016.

Robinson stayed at Oldham until being relieved of his duties and replaced by John Sheridan in January 2017.

Robinson was appointed this past summer as the Motherwell manager and he has actually benefitted from the current Celtic boss in the past as he met with Brendan Rodgers when he was at former club Liverpool along with old Northern Ireland team-mate striker David Healy (now managing Linfield) when Robinson was assisting the Irish Football Association.

Sunday’s Betfred Cup final will see the first meeting of the two managers as Celtic look to retain the trophy they won last year as part of their treble winning campaign.

Speaking ahead of the Cup final as Sky Sports reported, Brendan Rodgers said: “I was aware of Stephen of course, I remember him when he was a player and he was a very good player, and then working with the IFA.

“I didn’t know Stephen at the time but I was aware that his work was very good when I spoke to a number of people.

“Then Stephen and David Healy came and spent a bit of time with us at Liverpool when I was there as the manager.

“We had a great day talking football and talking about Northern Ireland and everything that goes with it. So that was the first time we had met. They were two really good guys and two guys I am glad to see doing well.

“It was difficult at Oldham but Stephen has come to Motherwell and has done absolutely brilliant with them.

“When I analyse them and see the intensity at which they work and play with, they leave nothing in the changing room. It’s all out there in the field and they have had some very good results.

“They deserve to be in the final. They got the results to demonstrate that. I have been very impressed by how he has started at Motherwell.”

Rodgers will be hoping that Celtic can overcome the free-scoring threat of Stephen Robinson’s Motherwell and add another piece of silverware to their trophy cabinet.