JAMES Milner only played briefly under Brendan Rodgers at Liverpool after being signed by him on a free transfer back in the summer of 2015.

A disappointing run of form led to his manager at Anfield being sacked just 11 matches into the new season.

But the England midfielder saw enough in the four months they worked together to convince him the Northern Irishman would have turned things around if he had been given time.

“It was unfortunate I didn’t get to play under him for longer,” said Milner, who will meet up with Rodgers again at Parkhead on Saturday, September 8, when a Celtic legends team takes on a Liverpool greats side in A Match for Cancer.

“That remains a disappointment. From speaking with him before I joined Liverpool and then working with him full time I could see how well prepared he is, how good he is tactically during training sessions and how impressive his man management is.

“My impression of him was that he’s a very good manager. He was one of the main reasons I signed for Liverpool, in fact. It’s a massive club and doesn’t need too much selling, but Brendan played a very big part when I made my decision.

“Would he have turned things round if he’d been given more time? I’m sure he would have done; you don’t come as close as he did to winning the league without doing something right, but the club chose a different path.”

So, Milner is in no doubts that Rodgers, who suffered the first major disappointment of his two year reign as Celtic manager last week when his side failed to progress to the Champions League group stages, will recover quickly and enjoy another successful campaign both domestically and in Europe.

The former Leeds United, Newcastle United, Aston Villa and Manchester City laughs when he hears that the back-to-back defeats to Hearts and AEK Athens, the first of his trophy-laden tenure, described as a “crisis”.

Yet, he knows from his own personal experiences that the reaction to disappointing results at major clubs can often border on the hysterical and is confident that Rodgers does too and will not be fazed by the fallout to the reverses.

“That’s what happens when you’re at a club like Celtic,” he said. “You have to deal with those expectations. But Brendan has been there before and I’m sure he’ll cope with that. Celtic are still in with a chance of qualifying for the Europa League group stage and keeping that going until Christmas at least.”

Meanwhile, Milner admitted he had no hesitation agreeing to put together a Liverpool legends team for A Match for Cancer when Stiliyan Petrov, the former Celtic midfielder who he played alongside at Aston Villa, contacted him.

“I had started my own charity foundation around about the time as Stan was diagnosed (with leukaemia),” he said. “In fact, Bloodwise [formerly Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research] was one of the charities I added straight away after seeing what he was going through.

“Over the years we’ve helped at each other’s events and we’d talked about putting on this match for some time and now we’ve finally done it. It’s a great thing – he obviously has strong ties with Glasgow Celtic and he had a previous match here which had a great crowd. Everyone knows how good the club’s supporters are so this was the logical place to do it.

“Footballers are very lucky because we enjoy what we’re doing and we’re well paid for it. There’s a profile which comes with it and sometimes that’s not so good, but you can use it to help others and, for me, visiting the charities and seeing some of the people we’re helping, it makes the hard work involved in setting up these events worthwhile.

“You see what people go through: I saw first hand what Stiliyan and his family went through. This is a Match For Cancer because of that. Playing alongside Stiliyan, I knew how fit and strong he was and what a great human being he is.

“To see what the disease could do to someone as athletic as him and what he and his family had to contend with made me think about the children who were also suffering similarly, as well as the other people who weren’t as strong mentally and physically as Stiliyan was. It doesn’t just affect those with the disease but all their family and friends as well.

“We just hope that people will come along and enjoy the football match and their ticket will be a donation to help others. They can have fun while making a difference at the same time – and I’m sure there will be plenty of people who’ll be there on the day who’ll have had direct experience of this illness.”

A Match for Cancer which will take place at Celtic Park on Saturday, September 8. Tickets are now on sale priced £14 for adults and £6 for concessions.