Stiliyan Petrov: Celtic board should be working on new Brendan Rodgers contract

Stiliyan Petrov believes the Celtic board will already be working on a new contract for Brendan Rodgers – and would be “silly” to be thinking of letting him go.

Rodgers is in the second season of the three-year deal he signed when returning to Parkhead in 2023, and he said at the weekend he has every intention of honouring that contract. However, there has not yet been any indication of a move to extend his second stay at the club.

Last season Rodgers led the team to the Premiership title and Scottish Cup, while this term there’s been a thrilling Champions League campaign and Celtic are on course for a domestic treble.

Ahead of Celtic’s Scottish Cup semi-final against St Johnstone, which is live on Premier Sports and STV Player+ on Sunday, Petrov said the manager’s future is something the board should be working on right now.

“He’s done a great job,” the former Celtic midfielder said. “I think it will be silly from the board not to continue with Brendan. So far, he hasn’t given any reasons for the board or the fans to think anything else.

“If the team finishes with a treble this year and a good European campaign, you have to look at that, and I’m sure that the board is looking into it because he’s Celtic through and through and he’s a great manager. He knows the club inside out, he knows the players as well now, and he’s got the opportunity to add his own players that he feels can help the team develop.”

One thing key to persuading Rodgers to extend his stay might be activity to improve the squad and he said last week that he expected summer signings to add a freshness to the group of players he has.

Petrov believes those comments were well-timed and that the board needs to match his ambitions with the quality of signing that can help raise the level of the squad.

“It was really clever from a strong manager asking for players,” he said. “I think with the new format of European football, Brendan feels that if he had more quality, more good players, then he can do even more in European football.

“We all remember that when Brendan came to the club, he was talking about the European adventures, that he wanted to achieve a lot more with Celtic in Europe, so that will be his intention.

“I don’t think he worries about domestically, he has a strong team, good players, healthy squad and he’s quite happy with that (for Scottish football). But I think with his comments, he tried to challenge the board, and now the board needs to answer. What they have to do is just go and spend money.

“I’m sure that Celtic will do that because what I’ve seen over the year, their recruitment has been really good. The development of the players has been great.”