Brendan Rodgers says he “has enough to worry about at Celtic” and hasn’t concerned himself with Tony Bloom’s claim Hearts can challenge for second spot in the Scottish Premiership this season.
The Brighton owner bought a 29% non-voting stake in the club earlier this year and suggested the Tynecastle side have a “very good chance” of at least finishing second in the top flight this term.
So far Bloom’s ambition has been vindicated with Derek McInnes’ side sitting top of the table with seven wins from their first eight games. Plus, if they beat Celtic at Tynecastle on Sunday they’ll go eight points clear of the Glasgow club.
When asked what he made of Bloom’s suggestion of where Hearts can finish this term, Rodgers said he “never had any reaction”.
“Tony’s a clever guy,” the Northern Irishman said.
“He’s done fantastic in his life and business. I know Tony and Darren, his brother. I go way back to the time at Brighton when they were coming through the levels and they weren’t even at their own ground. The job he did at Brighton is and has been amazing.
“He obviously has seen an opportunity at Hearts and will come in and look to add his expertise and knowledge and look to get them up there.
“Hearts are one of the biggest clubs up here and will want to be challenging, and being in European football.
“So I didn’t think either way of it. I’ve got enough to worry about with Celtic.”
Rodgers is expecting a tricky encounter on Sunday when his side travel to Edinburgh to take on a Hearts side who “deserve” to be top of the table.
“They’ve got a really good manager who knows what he wants from his teams in Derek,” he added.
“He goes in there, he knows it’s a big club, he knows they’ve got good players, and obviously they’ve made a really, really good start.
“It’s still very, very early. I would expect us to get better as we move along. We’ve been so inconsistent and our goals and all that side of it hasn’t been to where we want.
“Hearts, they’ve made a really, really good start and deserve to be where they are. They’ve got their points on the board and I think they’ll be looking to challenge right the way through the season.”
