Ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League second leg between Bayern Munich and Celtic, Amazon Prime brought together Brendan Rodgers and Martin O’Neill for a special interview.
While the two former Celtic managers shared plenty of insight, there was a notable moment of tension when O’Neill bluntly called out Rodgers over his controversial exit from Celtic in 2019.
During the discussion, Rodgers reflected on his first spell at the club, explaining that he felt he had taken Celtic as far as he could before leaving for Leicester City. However, O’Neill was having none of it, cutting Rodgers off with a no-nonsense response.
The Exchange Between O’Neill and Rodgers
Rodgers: “I was here the first time, I had a great spell, and then probably more on my own mind it was football, I felt maybe I’d taken Celtic as far as I could.”
O’Neill: “No, you just wanted to leave, young man. You just wanted to leave.”
Rodgers laughed and smiled, but there was a clear bit of needle between the two, as O’Neill’s matter-of-fact response left no room for interpretation.
A Talking Point Among Fans
Rodgers’ mid-season departure to Leicester back in 2019 remains a sore subject for some Celtic supporters. While he won seven domestic trophies in a row and built one of the most dominant sides in club history, his sudden exit in February—with a treble still on the line—left many feeling betrayed.
O’Neill, one of Celtic’s most iconic managers, clearly wasn’t going to let Rodgers rewrite history with a more diplomatic explanation. His direct response will resonate with fans who still question Rodgers’ motives for leaving at that time.
Focus on Bayern
While the exchange provided a bit of entertainment ahead of Tuesday’s match, Rodgers will now be fully focused on trying to overturn the 2-1 deficit at the Allianz Arena. With Amazon Prime broadcasting the match live, Celtic fans will be hoping to cause a massive upset.
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Respectfully, I don’t think Mertin O’Neill has any room to accuse Rodgers of this! He did the same thing himself! In fact, in many ways, what he did was worse! Martin used his wife’s cancer scare as his excuse and said he needed to take a while away from the game to take care of his wife as she recovered.
Less than three months later he was manager of Aston Villa!
So get yourself down from that high horse Martin! You’re no different!
In fact, at least Brendan came back and against all odds, faced the music and has brought back success to the club he has proven he LOVES!
Martin O’Neill didn’t take over Aston Villa until 15 months after he left Celtic, not 3.