BEFORE I get into the possible ramifications of Brendan Rodgers leaving Celtic for Leicester City, I would just like to place on record my thanks to him for something he did for me after I lost my job at Kilmarnock.

The morning after Celtic played Bayern Munich in the Champions League a couple of years back, he called me up and invited me in to have a chat and to watch training. There I was, a former captain of Rangers, in watching the Celtic first-team going through their paces, taking tips from it and receiving advice from the Celtic manager.

He was great. He had been sacked before at Reading and turned it around, so it was great to listen to his own experiences. He didn’t have to do that, taking time out of his busy schedule to be a sounding board for me, and I know that he did something similar for the likes of Paul Hartley too.

So, for me, that is the mark of the man, and I’ll never forget him doing that for me.

Furthermore, I think he is a huge loss to Scottish football as well as Celtic. He was a big name of course, and just like Steven Gerrard at Rangers, he has brought wider interest to our game.

Let’s not forget the fact too that he is an outstanding coach and manager. So, from the wider point of view of our game, it is a shame to see him go.

I highly doubt though that any Rangers fans were feeling that way yesterday morning as the news broke that the manager of their biggest rivals – who has won every domestic trophy since he arrived north of the border – was on his way out of the club. The glee of the Rangers supporters and the despair of the Celtic supporters tells you everything you need to know, and I do think this will give Rangers a huge lift when it comes to their chances of closing the gap at the top of the table or in lifting the Scottish Cup. That goes for all of the teams left in that competition, including my own Dundee United, who will now all feel their chances of lifting the cup have increased.

Inevitably, there will be a bit of turmoil at Celtic from this, and what a set of fixtures they have this week as they come to terms with it all. Hearts away tonight will be a huge test, and then they come back to the capital at the weekend on Scottish Cup duty. What a story it would be if Neil Lennon does take interim charge of Celtic and his first game in the dugout is back at Easter Road. Scottish football, you couldn’t make it up.

I have to say that while I am not surprised by Brendan Rodgers choosing to leave Celtic for a team in the English Premiership, I am rather surprised by the timing of it. Sure, Celtic are a bigger club than Leicester, there is no doubt about that, but with the money on offer down south not only on a personal level but to operate in the transfer market, the opportunity to get back down there was always going to be tempting.

He must have his reasons, whether it be the backing he will get to bring players in or perhaps the lack of backing he was getting at Celtic. He obviously didn’t seem happy with the lack of investment last summer, but only he could tell you if that was a factor.

I’ve played in England and you also have to consider the life it will offer his family. As the last week or two have shown, Scotland is unlike any other place in Europe when it comes to the way players and managers are treated, so he may just want to get away from all the baggage that comes with it.

Either way, his loss is a big one for Scottish football, a huge one for Celtic, and a massive lift for Rangers.