RODGERS WILL SPEND CHRISTMAS MORNING AT HOSPICE

The 43-year-old Carnlough man is to lend a helping hand at the Irish Hospice where he is an ambassador.

Rodgers will be there during the morning with the families and children of terminally-ill patients before meeting his own family later in the day.

The Hoops manager lost his mother and father to cancer in the space of just a year.

His father, Malachy, died in 2011 at the age of 59 and was cared for by the NI Hospice in his final days.

Rodgers plans to travel back to Northern Ireland from Scotland on Christmas Eve after his team play away to Hamilton.

He said: “On Christmas Day, I’ll spend time with the Northern Ireland Hospice as I’m an ambassador there.

“Later on, I’ve got family that I’ll have Christmas dinner with and then I’ll fly back first thing on Boxing Day morning as we’re training and we’ll be getting ready for the next game.

“I became an ambassador earlier this year. I’d done a number of things before, but this has been the first Christmas Day I’ve had off for a number of years, so I’m taking the chance to help the children and families in whatever way I can.”

*LISBON LION Bertie Auld has signed a limited number of copies of That Season in Paradise – ten Months of Celtic Heaven for us and these are available now at www.cqnbookstore.com – but hurry because they’re going fast!