Brendan Rodgers has ruled himself out of the managerial vacancy at Aston Villa.
The hoops boss was one of the first names mentioned when Steve Bruce was sacked in midweek.
Rodgers’ name was almost instantly linked with the vacancy despite being just 18 months into his four year Celtic contract.
Asked if he was aware of interest from Villa he told Radio Scotland: “No, not at all. All I would say is that like every job that comes up there is always speculation, lots of names. What I know from my time in England is that Aston Villa is a huge club, a very big club. A top Premier League club within the Championship and I’m sure with their support and resource they will want to get there (to the Premier League) as quickly as they can.
“But for me I’m so happy here at Celtic. My job, there is a challenge of course, because there is an expectation but it is something that I love with my staff, the players and the supporters here, they’ve absolutely been incredible for me here.
“So I wish Aston Villa well, sad to see Steve Bruce go, he is an excellent manager but I’m sure that they will have the person in mind that they want to bring in. For me I’m with Celtic here and still have lots of challenges that really excite me.”
Asked if that meant that he ruled himself out Rodgers replied ‘yeah’.
Rodgers was speaking after Celtic’s 6-0 win away to St Johnstone which lifted them into third place in the SPFL.
Going into today’s match Celtic had only scored seven goals in seven SPFL matches but almost matched that total in 90 minutes.
St Johnstone had no answer to James Forrest who scored four times in the first half as Celtic raced into a 5-0 lead.
Callum McGregor completed the scoring in the closing minutes as the hoops put together their most convincing display of the season to move to three points behind leaders Hearts.
After the international break Celtic host Hibs at home with Neil Lennon’s side sitting in second place in the SPFL table.