Brendan Rodgers won his first major title on Sunday afternoon, after his Celtic side won the Scottish League Cup, defeating Aberdeen in the Hampden Park final.
It was the 100th major title won by Celtic in their history, and Rodgers used the occasion, to try and convince the Scottish FA to move their season, to summer football. That calendar is used in many countries around Europe, most notably in the League of Ireland.
Scottish football regularly suffers from a fixtures backlog near the end of the season, as teams try and recoup the games they lost to frozen pitches, between November and January.
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Brendan Rodgers continues the proud tradition of Celtic Football Club, joining an illustrious group of Hoops managers...#CenturyCelts pic.twitter.com/jw26aezfFp
— Celtic Football Club (@celticfc) November 27, 2016
Speaking to The Sun after the win, Rodgers compared Celtic's situation to that of their Champions League opponents Astana. The two team met in a qualifying round earlier this year.
"I would say that there is an argument to say a season which starts in February to November would actually work up here and there would be benefits for clubs. There would be financial benefits and benefits for coaching in the warmer months."
"Then when you are midway through your season you get the Champions League qualifiers. Astana had played 22 games by the time we faced them – and that’s remarkable because we had only played once."
Excluding Celtic, Scottish teams have performed poorly in European competition in recent years. As Dundalk and Shamrock Rovers have shown in recent years, their Europa League performances have shown how much summer football can help.
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