Celtic invincible Kolo Toure has thanked both the club and former manager Brendan Rodgers after being unveiled as Wigan boss.

The ex-Hoops defender, who played under the Northern Irishman during his first year in charge of the Parkhead club, has detailed how important a part the coach played in his career.

The Ivorian also featured for Rodgers at Liverpool, and after retiring, joined the Bhoys backroom staff before eventually following his ex-boss to Leicester City.

"I want to take this opportunity to thank Brendan Rodgers because he is my mentor really," he said.

"I have been working and learning from him, and I want to thank him and his assistant Chris Davies and all the people from Leicester City and Celtic because that’s where I really started my coaching career.

"I finished my career as a football player and never had time off.

"I went straight to coaching with Brendan Rodgers. I’ve been with him for nearly five years now and it was a process for me.

"I knew being a good footballer doesn’t guarantee you will be a good coach or manager.

“I felt I had to work with a top manager which was Brendan to learn all the skills that a manager needs to make sure he can implement the best quality possible to give to his players and I’ve been doing that for five years.

"And when Wigan came you can’t turn that down when you’ve been waiting for five years.”

Glasgow Times:

Our Celtic Digest newsletter brings exclusive content directly to you rather than solely through the website. You can already find us on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, TikTok and Instagram but we will also send bespoke opinion pieces and special features directly to your email inbox every evening. Not only will you receive this article from Sean Martin, Tony Haggerty or Aidan Macdonald (or, sometimes, from all three) but you will also get easy access to our best content from the last 24 hours too. It’s a great way to keep up to date with what’s happening at Ange Postecoglou’s Scottish champions. To sign up, simply take five seconds to type in your email here. Simple!


READ MORE: