Brendan Rodgers hits back at Rangers chairman Dave King

Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers has hit back at Dave King for comments made by the Rangers chairman regarding the gap between the two rival clubs at the top of Scottish football.

Dave King made some controversial comments at the weekend. Picture: John Devlin

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Rodgers also dismissed claims by the South African-based businessman that Celtic would not reach ten-in-a-row because they’d have to win the next eight titles.

King hit the headlines at the weekend after insisting Celtic had only won two-in-a-row because Rangers were not in the top flight.

This came after he expressed his surprise that Celtic had not lengthened the gap between the two clubs during Rangers’ absence from the Ladbrokes Premiership, despite the Ibrox club finishing a distant 39 points behind the champions last season.

Talking from Celtic’s training base in Austria, Rodgers rubbished both of King’s arguments, saying even the Rangers players and management staff would have been wondering what on earth he was talking about.

Rodgers said: “People who know football will wonder what he is talking about to be honest and nobody more so than their players and manager.

“Last year with the level of consistency and performance of our players, and every record possible they tried to break, which we managed most of, I don’t think you can discredit that.

“Football people don’t. They look at it and go, ‘Okay, you’ve had a great season, let’s see if we can do better to challenge it’.

“You make your noise on the field. You respect your opponent always, you respect the traditions of the club, but you look after your own club and yourself.

“I say to the players if you want to be a champion and be in that gold box you have to walk the walk.

“That is what we had to do. But owners and chairpeople sometimes see it differently.

“I’m sure people in football, the Rangers directors, the players themselves, will know where they’re at.

“They will know that finishing 39 points behind, losing in five of the six games, the work they have to do to get better. But my focus is on us and how we can get better.”