By Michael Gannon

Copyright dailyrecord

Stiliyan Petrov insists the Celtic board should bend over backwards to get behind Brendan Rodgers’s long term vision for the club. The Hoops boss is expected to exit when his contract is up at the end of the season after frustration in the transfer market and signs of tension behind the scenes. But Rodgers claimed he could STAY with Celts – if Parkhead chiefs match his ambitions. Petrov insisted Rodgers was bang on to make his demands and he’s hoping the club’s powerbrokers get on board. He said: “Of course. I believe Brendan Rodgers deserves that. I think he’s a very good, strong coach who knows what he wants. He’s proven around the world how good he is as a manager. “So he has the right to make demands and to ask for players, for the club spending money. “Obviously, there’s a risk with that, but I believe a strong manager should do that. “And you know, having a strong manager, the club should be proud, the fans should be proud, because that means that this manager thinks the best of the club. “When you have a man like Brendan Rodgers demanding for more quality, better players, depth of the squad, this is something that every big team does. And I believe that he’s got the right to do that. “Listen, in football, you know what, people say so many things. I want to stay, I don’t want to stay. The only good thing for Brendan Rodgers is he’s a proven manager, he’s a proven coach. “He can get results, he gets his teams to play in a certain way. So managers like that will always have interest from different places, different clubs and different countries. “But having Brendan Rodgers here at this present moment is great and I hope that will continue. “Of course, you have to back the manager. I know that when you have a board of directors and you’re spending money, it’s down to the manager to put the team together, to make them play, make them believe in what he wants to do and have success. “But having success, it’s about winning trophies and achieving better every single season. “That’s what Brendan Rodgers wants to do for Celtic. Because he knows the club, he knows the fans, he knows the demand from the fans and he wants to do it. He doesn’t want to fail.” Celtic fans are fuming on the back of dithering over deals in the summer which cost the side the Champions League. A coalition of supporters groups issued a vote of no confidence in the board with a section of fans waiting until after the 12th minute to enter Rugby Park at the weekend and continued the protest with banners and chants throughout. Petrov understands the frustration but he insisted performances on the pitch – including in the Europa League – and a strong January window could ease some of the tension. He said: “I think after the last season, with some good performances, pushing close at Bayern Munich, I think everybody was expecting Celtic to be in the Champions League. “It was really disappointing for the fans. The pressure came from there. I think there’s a lot of protests against the board, a lot of unhappy fans, but that’s normal in football. “I think when the fans demand and they want success, they want new players, they want investment, that’s part of football. “I don’t think it’s anything strange. People talking about the board, the manager, it’s one of these things that you have to deal with. “I believe the players mainly play the key role. If they win games, if they have a good European campaign, if they continue to dominate domestically, that will be forgotten and probably the board have to learn from it and make sure that in the next transfer window they’ll do the business quickly.”