‘How long is he going to be here?’ – Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers believes that supporters are once again behind him and the team.

Now that his team is fully together, Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers believes that having the fans back in the fold has been just as important to his team’s success.

Rodgers will have his full roster for Saturday’s match against Hearts thanks to Daizen Maeda’s comeback from a hamstring injury. This season, he has missed out on players like Reo Hatate, Callum McGregor, and Cameron Carter-Vickers.

However, having previously allowed a seven-point advantage over Rangers to slip, Rodgers emphasised the significance of the support of 60,000 fans in the stands in order to reclaim the Premiership.

Not everyone was happy with Rodgers coming back to replace Ange Postecoglou, and the Green Brigade fan group—who contribute a lot of the energy at Celtic Park—was temporarily banned earlier in the season.

But the former Leicester manager has sensed a greater sense of unity recently, and he thinks the supporters will be important because Celtic have played three of their previous four league games at home.

Leading team by three points and five goals, Rodgers stated, “They’ll play a huge part.” “That’s been the difference in the last few months, I think they’ve been what’s helped keep things connected.

When asked what had changed, Rodgers replied, “Everyone is now focused on football. It felt like there were a lot of distractions in the first six months of the season in various ways.

“Once the focus has really come into football and everyone really being together – that makes a huge difference.

“The players feel that too. This is such an incredible fanbase here and it’s an extension to the team and staff. When they get behind us, as we’ve seen in the last few months, you see the strength in that unity of everyone moving forward.

“That for me, from a managerial perspective, has been the real catalyst.”

The 51-year-old continued, “I think there was a lot of settling in, a lot of adjustment in me coming back, talk about ‘how long is he going to be here?’

“There was Ange leaving after two successful seasons. You lose one manager and another comes in that some people don’t want in.

“There is all that settling going on, then, obviously the principal difference in the performance levels has been the unavailability of players.

“That’s been the main difference at times when maybe the team hasn’t played at the tempo or style you want. We’ve missed players that give a dynamism and directness to this team. All of that thrown into the pot made it a little fragmented.

“But as time has gone on and everything has settled, the team has picked up important results and performances.

“We are now at the stage when it all comes together and I would say this is the most settled we’ve been.”

Despite having a complete roster, Rodgers acknowledged that McGregor hasn’t quite recovered to full strength following his Achilles injury. The skipper has made two substitute appearances but has played for around an hour in Celtic’s last two games.

“It’s just a case of trying to get him to as near a level as he can be at,” Rodgers said.

“We have been managing him and I have seen a difference in him this week to be honest.

“He has been doing a lot of work in the last couple of weeks on strengthening his Achilles. That left him a little bit leggy, I would say, in the games.

“But we have cut a lot of that out this week. He has looked a lot lighter on his feet, a lot fresher.

“He is not quite where he was earlier in the season but he certainly looks in a much better place.”

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