Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers is under fire for comments he made to a female reporter from the BBC after his side's last-minute winner against Motherwell in the Scottish Premiership this weekend. The Glasgow side won thanks to goals from Adam Idah and Luis Palma deep into stoppage time. However, Rodgers' comments to the BBC’s Jane Lewis afterward made headline news in Scotland.
Rodgers was asked by Ms. Lewis about his side's role in the Scottish title race and their place in it. Celtic are two points behind league leaders Rangers, and some feel that Celtic's destiny has been written as the second-best team in Scotland.
Lewis had asked Rodgers to explain himself after he told her that, in terms of the Scottish Premiership title race, "the story has already been written about this group, but we will write our own story."
Lewis then pushed and said, “You don’t want to give us a bit more insight into what you mean by that?” to which Rodgers retorted, “You know exactly what I mean.” Lewis then firmly replied, “I’m actually not sure; I do know exactly what you mean. Can you tell us? People might be interested in knowing.”
Brendan Rodgers has been labelled a DINOSAUR, following the Celtic manager referring to female broadcaster, Jane Lewis as 'good girl' 😲 pic.twitter.com/1EsaFTOLsb
— Mail Sport (@MailSport) February 26, 2024
Rodgers repeatedly interrupted her by saying, “No, no, no," before Lewis added, “But you’re the one that’s bringing that up, so can you not give us some more on it?” Abruptly cutting her off, Rodgers said, “Okay? Done. Good girl. Well done.”
The "good girl" comment created a firestorm on social media, with some calling Rodgers "a dinosaur." “Rodgers’ throwaway comment encourages other football fans to behave in a similar way, demeaning women they work with or engage with," said a spokeswoman for the Scottish Feminist Network. “It has to stop. Jane Lewis was just doing her job, trying to extract an explanation from Brendan Rodgers on his cryptic comment. That the go-to attitude of a manager of a winning team was condescension is quite illuminating but really very depressing in 2024. We thought dinosaurs were extinct.”
For Women Scotland has also called on Rodgers to issue a swift and meaningful apology. They said, “It’s depressing that casual sexism is still embedded in sport. Women’s achievements are underrated and dismissed, and their professional status is undermined. Rodgers owes the reporter an apology.”
As of Monday afternoon, there has been no such apology made by the former Liverpool manager.
Celtic's next game will be against Dundee United on Wednesday. That game kicks off at 19:45.
