Brendan Rodgers came in for a lot of criticism last season from all quarters for the form of the Celtic team just before the turn of the New Year.

Defeats to Hearts and Kilmarnock allowed Rangers back into the title race and turned the heat up on the Celtic manager as the media peddled a narrative against Rodgers and his team.

The view was that with Phillipe Clement injecting a new-manager bounce into Rangers and Celtic’s slump in form meant that the Ibrox club were almost a shoo-in for the league title.

Indeed, that didn’t turn out to be the case and Rodgers picked up a league and Scottish Cup double but it seems that the Celtic manager didn’t get the credit he deserved according to Jackie McNamara.

Rodgers must ensure European improvement

The former Celtic captain was asked if he would sacrifice domestic silverware for improvement in Europe when he admitted that that is the only thing holding back Rodgers from getting the plaudits he deserves for his work at Parkhead.

“I think for Brendan as well, his European record hasn’t been great, it’d be good for him to go and make his mark in that and take the club to the next level.

“I think that’s when he’d get real recognition for what he’s done.”

To be fair to McNamara, I can absolutely see where he is coming from. Domestically, Rodgers has worked out how to be successful in Scotland.

However, in Europe, his Celtic teams have been on the wrong end of some really poor results.

PSG and Barcelona embarrassed Celtic in his first tenure as the Celtic boss and whilst Rodgers didn’t get past the group stages last season, barring the 6-0 defeat when the Hoops played Atletico with 10 men, the results didn’t fare as bad.

With the new-look Champions League set to kick off next season, now is the perfect chance for Rodgers to remedy Celtic’s ills on the continent and hopefully get them out of the group stages for the first time since Neil Lennon achieved in 2013. [UEFA]

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