Brendan Rodgers is 'rattled and cranky' but NOT sexist as Celtic boss earns Chris Sutton defence

Chris Sutton says Brendan Rodgers is "rattled and cranky" but has denied the Celtic boss is sexist after the backlash to his "good girl" comment following a spiky post-match interview.

Rodgers signed off with the phrase after his side came from behind to beat Motherwell 3-1. The Hoops boss had claimed that a story had already been written about his team this season, but they planned to write their own. When pushed on what he meant by that, Rodgers insisted the interviewer already knew and refused to answer before walking off.

He's since been slammed for apparent sexism, with the Scottish Feminist Network calling him a "dinosaur." But Sutton has gone to bat for the Northern Irishman, claiming it's just the way he speaks and has heard him call male reporters "boy" and "lad" after interviews. He told the Daily Mail's It's All Kicking Off podcast : "I work up here a lot and I understand the environment.

"Up here, I think Brendan is a manager under pressure. There's a title race on at this moment in time. And I think he'd maybe wake up this morning and accept that maybe he'd made a misstep. But some of the stuff I've seen online about, 'it's casual sexism'.

"I don't think that Jane Lewis - and actually it was a really good question about the narrative and I'll come to that - but she's not taking any offence. I mean I went to interview Brendan for Sky at the start of the season and on a couple of occasions called me 'lad'.

"That's his terminology. After most press conferences you hear him say to some of the press guys 'good man', 'good lad', whatever.

"I really think that we're going down a dangerous route if that's the way that Brendan speaks - and he's always been very courteous with the press as far as I can see - if