Brendan Rodgers’ Second Celtic Stint Stats and How They Don’t Stack up to First Term

Brendan Rodgers’ season as Celtic boss was not going too well before he tendered his resignation this week.

The now former Hoops boss opted to leave the club early this term with several issues taking place behind the scenes to prompt that decision.

Reasons Rodgers left Celtic have been discussed ad nauseam since his Monday night resignation.

But the decision from the Irishman coincided with what was a brutal personal attack from non-executive director Dermot Desmond who accused the boss of being “divisive and self-serving”.

Celtic are well behind apparent title rivals Hearts this season so far and that has left supporters frustrated at how their squad has performed – or in this case, underperformed – in a poor start to the campaign.

The Hoops’ beginning to the term is one of their worst in more than 25 years and that is where fans have questioned Rodgers despite the Celtic board receiving most of the criticism from punters who have planned protests already this year.

The manager’s record this season has been poor by the club’s standards and by his own.

And that is where we have made sure to take a close look on the Irishman’s first stint in Glasgow compared to his second.

Brendan Rodgers’ first Celtic stint – 2016-2019

It was an incredible run of wins and trophies for Rodgers during his first stint at Celtic before he acrimoniously parted ways with the club to join Leicester City.

Rodgers’ side in that three-year period played 169 matches and won 118 of those in his time in Scotland’s Premiership.

In terms of draws they picked up 25 and were only beaten 26 times from those matches which resulted in a points per game ratio of 2.24.

In that period his Celtic side also scored 377 goals and conceded 136 which was a strong record in front of goal, albeit the manager had strong forwards during that spell including Moussa Dembele and Leigh Griffiths among others.

The win percentage in his first few years was 69.8 percent.

If we are going season by season and his statistics specifically, we can break it down further.

In 2016/17, his first at Celtic, Rodgers guided his side to 46 wins from 59 matches and that came with eight draws and just five defeats.

The goals went flying in – 150 – and they conceded only 50 strikes. A 2.47 points per game ratio was almost immaculate.

That season was Celtic’s invincible campaign where they went completely unbeaten domestically with a 77.9 percent win rate.

They won the treble that year.

In 2017/18 Celtic won 39 of 61 (63.9 percent) of their matches with 11 draws and the same number of defeats all season.

That brought another treble to their trophy cabinet.

The season Rodgers would leave Celtic for the first time saw him manage 49 matches and win 33 of them (67.3 percent) before he moved to the King Power.

He did depart having already won the League Cup to add to his tally and Neil Lennon who replaced the outgoing Rodgers secured another treble with wins in the league and the Scottish Cup.

Brendan Rodgers’ Celtic return form – 2023-2025

In Rodgers’ first year back at Celtic in the 2023/4 season, his team won 35 of 50 matches which represented a 68 percent victory rate.

That came with a 2.24 points per game ratio with 121 goals scored and just 56 conceded by his club.

The following season – last term – his Celtic squad won 40 of the 57 matches he took charge of as they only lost eight times with nine draws spliced in there, too.

That was a near-69 percent win rate according to Sky Sports and showed the boss had not lost his touch.

It also brought another four trophies from those two campaigns with Celts losing only the League Cup in 2023/4 and the Scottish Cup to Aberdeen in the final last season.

Celtic’s season this year has been poor so far.

Hearts are eight points clear at the top of the Scottish top flight and are yet to be beaten. They even saw off Rodgers’ Hoops on Sunday afternoon in a 3-1 victory at Tynecastle which solidified them as top dogs right now.

The Covid season at Celtic (2020/21) is considered one of the worst years of all time in the club’s recent history but that start after 10 games dwarfs this season.

From 10 matches Celtic have won five in the league, lost two and drawn two.

In total they have played 16 including in Europe and won just eight (50 percent), drawing four and losing the same number of matches.

The points per game ratio sits at 1.75 with 25 goals scored in total, conceding 16.