Celtic boss ‘saddened’ by Michael Beale Rangers sacking but insists ‘outstanding young coach’ will bounce back

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has backed Michael Beale to bounce back from his sacking at Rangers by proving to be a success in his next job.

The 43-year-old Englishman was dimissed by the Ibrox board on Sunday evening after just 307 days in the post with Rangers sitting seven points behind Celtic in the Scottish Premiership following the 3-1 defeat by Aberdeen 24 hours earlier.

Rodgers and Beale - friends from their time together as part of Chelsea’s coaching staff and when the former Gers boss was Liverpool Under-21s head coach when Rodgers was in charge at Anfield - expressed his disappointment at the news.

The Northern Irishman admits that Beale is unlikely to come under the same pressure or expectation in his next post, and that his spell in Govan will prove a valuable learning curve moving forward.

“I’m always saddened when any manager loses their job, no matter what club they work at,” stated Rodgers when asked for his reaction to Beale’s dismissal.

“When you manage Celtic or Rangers, they are big-pressure jobs. I am sure Michael will go away and reflect on his time here and no doubt he will he come back in again, he is an outstanding young coach and manager.

“He will go away and reflect on the pressure he was under and the expectation and the stress that this job can bring, and he will learn from it and go on and get another job and make a success of it, I am pretty sure.

“Whatever club, whoever it is, it’s not nice when someone loses their role and position. I hope for him the best for the future, of course.”

Meanwhile, Rodgers hinted that centre-back Cameron Carter-Vickers could be in line for a surprise early recall ahead of tonight’s Champions League encounter with Lazio.

The American has not played for the Hoops since picking up a hamstring injury against Aberdeen at Pittodrie on August 13, but the Gustaf Lagerbielke absent through suspension and Maik Nawrocki and Stephen Welsh still out through injury, Rodgers’ options in central defence are limited.

Liam Scales is likely to keep the jersey following his impressive recent form, while on-loan Liverpool ace Nat Phillips is fit and available after coming off the bench during Saturday’s dramatic 2-1 win over Motherwell - his first appearance since suffering an ankle injury on his debut in mid-September.

Rodgers commtend: “In terms of Nat, he came through fine so he will be available. Cam, we wouldn’t take a risk unless he was fit. He has come through really, really well. He is further down the road than we thought.

“He has had a real good week of training and he’s been doing lots of other work out on the field before that. I said before that it (his return) might have been after the international break but he’s made great progress, so we will just assess that to see if he can be in for the squad (on Wednesday) and if he is, then obviously it would be great news for us.”