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Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers refused to apologise after being accused of casual sexism for saying ‘good girl’ to BBC reporter Jane Lewis. 

Speaking on Tuesday for the first time since his terse interview with Lewis, for which he was branded a ‘dinosaur’, Rodgers revealed he has spoken to the reporter and blamed society for the backlash. 

He said: ‘I’ve spoken to Jane and she wasn’t offended, we had a laugh about it. She’ll continue to ask me awkward questions I’m sure, but I see her every week. We’ve got good relations, like I have with most people in my life, whether that’s professional or social.

‘So I find it saddening as much as anything, I’m not that type of person, it’s not who I am or how I’m built. But sadly for society now, people are just looking and trying to find ways to somehow bring you down if they can and that’s not nice.’ 

On Tuesday, Lewis, 53, also broke her silence, saying: ‘Clearly, the interview on Sunday has become a talking point. I don’t believe there was any offence meant by Brendan Rodgers – and for my part, there was none taken.’ 

Brendan Rodgers (left) was accused of casual sexism after saying ‘good girl’ to BBC reporter Jane Lewis following a terse exchange after Celtic’s win over Motherwell 

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The 51-year-old Rodgers reiterated that he did not feel he was at fault and did not address the ‘good girl’ remark directly.

‘Obviously sadly for me I think now in society, people are looking to find something that is offensive to try and pin onto people,’ he continued. 

‘You guys up here, any journalist or reporter, I’ve always based my life on relationships so I’ve always offered a warmth, respect, being courteous and offered time to people. That will never change. 

‘Obviously when there was that little bit that was out there, or big bit, whatever it was, then I feel the need to address that. I deal with people in life, whether it’s players, wanting them to become better, people in the media.’

Only one question on the incident was permitted in the broadcast section of the press conference and other journalists were then shut down from that line of questioning, being told it was ‘a football press conference’. 

Rodgers was also keen to point out a recent example of using a woman as inspiration for his Celtic players.  

He said: ‘The irony of it all is, and I shared this with players not long ago, the story of Jessica Watson, who was a young woman, 16, who travelled around the world solo on a boat and the documentary I watched was really inspiring. ‘True Spirit’, it was called and I shared that with the players in terms of the inspiration they could take from a young woman like that, what she’d been through.’

Campaigners at the For Women Scotland organisation accused the Celtic boss of ‘casual sexism’ after he said the ‘good girl’ comment to Lewis following a terse exchange in the interview after Celtic’s win over Motherwell on Sunday.

Rodgers cut a relaxed, happy figure as he took Celtic training on Tuesday afternoon

In the video of the exchange, since released by the BBC on TikTok, Rodgers appeared to pat Lewis after his ‘good girl’ comment, before walking off to abruptly end the interview.

Lewis, 53, had asked Rodgers to explain himself after he told her: ‘In terms of the title race, the story has already been written about this group, but we will write our own story.’ When she asked him to elaborate, he seemed unhappy with the line of questioning and said: ‘No, no, you know exactly what I mean.’

Lewis again pressed Rodgers to explain, but he appeared to wind up the interview and said: ‘Done, good girl, well done.’ 

Campaigners at For Women Scotland called on Rodgers to apologise.

A spokeswoman said: ‘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.’ 

Meanwhile, former Hibs player Tam McManus described Rodgers’ comments as ‘utterly embarrassing’ on X, formerly known as Twitter.

A spokesperson for the Scottish Feminist Network said: ‘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 legendary broadcaster Jeff Stelling was left aghast at the Celtic manager’s ‘good girl’ remark.

Speaking on TalkSPORT, he said: ‘Good girl, good girl? Goodness me, Brendan. What does he mean?’

Others played down the exchange, with Eamon Holmes saying on GB News: ‘He meant good girl. Brendan Rodgers is from Carnock in Northern Ireland. We say ”good girl” all the time. We are admonished for it all the time because it’s not contemporary.

‘I can honestly tell you that Northern Irish people will say ”good girl, good boy, good lad”.’

Experienced broadcaster Lewis, who has previously worked for Sky News, Sky Sports, Eurosport and STV’s Scotland Today programme, was targeted by social media trolls after Sunday’s exchange.

There was plenty of backing for Lewis on social media following Rodgers’ comment 

Lewis has covered major sporting events such as the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro and the Commonwealth Games when staged in Glasgow and on Australia’s Gold Coast.

She reports on European and World Cup qualifiers with the Scotland national football team as well as covering Scottish domestic football and European games involving its clubs.

Lewis previously defended herself against criticism from Celtic supporters. In December 2021, she was presenting Sportsound on BBC Radio Scotland when Celtic won in then 97th-minute away at Ross County.

It sparked a mass pitch invasion by Celtic fans, with those on social media of the opinion Lewis was upset at the crucial late winner and the reaction.

Lewis tweeted at the time: ‘I am slightly baffled that some seem to get more joy out of my “apparent hurt” than their team winning a football match.

‘Just for the record, I’m not “rattled”, “hurting”, “bitter” or “deflated”…’

Rodgers is under pressure amid a tight title race with arch-rivals Rangers in the Scottish Premiership.

Rangers beat Hearts 5-0 on Saturday to move five points clear of Celtic at the top but their late goals at Motherwell cut the gap back to two points.

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