Celtic boss Rodgers branded ‘dinosaur’ for condescending ‘good girl’ put down to female reporter

Brendan Rodgers looks down the touchline during a match

Former Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers has been labelled a “dinosaur” for calling a female reporter a “good girl” during an interview after Celtic beat Motherwell on Sunday.

Rodgers is under pressure after two draws in their last four Scottish Premiership matches allowed Rangers to take charge of the title race.

Motherwell deservedly led at half-time through Blair Spittal’s impressive goal but substitute Adam Idah quickly headed Celtic level after the break.

Celtic forced Motherwell back in the final quarter of the game and the pressure told four minutes into stoppage time when Idah stabbed home Alistair Johnston’s pass.

Luis Palma quickly added another to seal a 3-1 victory which cut the gap at the top of the table back to two points.

Rangers had moved five in front with a 5-0 win over Hearts on Saturday and Celtic faced a big challenge at half-time after dropping four points in their previous three league matches.

The former Liverpool manager was spiky in his post-match interview with BBC Radio Scotland’s Jane Lewis as he seemed unhappy at the media coverage of his side, referring to the female reporter as a “good girl” at the end of the interview.

Full transcript:

Rodgers: “There’s a story being written about this group, so we will write our own story.”

Lewis: “Can you give us-”

Rodgers: “No.”

Lewis: “You can’t give us-”

Rodgers: “No.”

Lewis: “You don’t want to give us a bit more insight into that and what you mean?”

Rodgers: “No, no. You know exactly what I mean.”

Lewis: “I’m actually not sure I do exactly know what you mean.”

Rodgers: “Okay.”

Lewis: “Can you tell us-”

Rodgers: “No.”

Lewis: “People might be interest to know-”

Rodgers: “No, no.”

Lewis: “But you’re the one that’s bringing that up…”

Rodgers: “Yes, absolutely.”

Lewis: “So can you not give us some more on it?”

Rodgers: “Okay, done. Good girl. Well done. Cheers. Good girl.”

Lewis: “There you go, he’s done.”

A spokesperson for the Scottish Feminist Network commented: “Jane Lewis was just doing her job, trying to extract an explanation from Brendan Rodgers on his cryptic comment.

“That the go-to attitude was condescension is quite illuminating, but really very depressing in 2024. We thought dinosaurs were extinct.”

And campaigners at For Women Scotland added that Celtic boss Rodgers should apologise to Lewis: “It’s depressing that casual sexism is still embedded in sport. Women’s achievements are underrated and dismissed, and their professional status undermined. Rodgers owes the reporter an apology.”