BRENDAN Rodgers has admitted he still fears being sacked as Celtic manager despite the Parkhead club going undefeated domestically and winning the treble in his first season in Scotland.

The Northern Irishman led the Glasgow club to the Betfred Cup, Ladbrokes Premiership and William Hill Scottish Cup in the 2016/17 campaign.

However, the 44-year-old, who parted company with Liverpool two years ago little over a season after the Anfield club came close to winning the English title, stressed that he is wary of becoming complacent in his role.

He believes Celtic, who will take on either La Fiorita of San Marino or Linfield from Belfast in their opening Champions League qualifier in under a fortnight, must build on what they achieved last term if he is to survive.

“I am not secure in my job,” said Rodgers at the Scottish champions’ pre-season training camp outside of Linz in rural Austria. “After an experience has gone I am looking over my shoulder. I can never rest.

“Am I secure? No chance. Not in the modern game. Even here. This is new football, it’s totally different.

“I’m seen it. Look at Claudio Ranieri (the Italian was sacked by Leicester City last season just months after they won the English title). That’s the reality of modern football.

“As a manager you either walk on water or you’re the devil. That could be within the space of two days. For me, I don’t get too carried away when we win, or too disappointed when we lose.

“We are just very focused on winning. We never plan to lose, we want to win, because if you don’t then you lose focus.”

Rodgers added: “There’s always something in the modern foot-ball. I said it last year. We were 1-0 down to St Mirren at half-time and there was banging on the dugout.

“There is a different mentality now. You look at the longevity of the managers, it’s very tough. That’s why you can never be comfortable and that has to feed through to the players.

“That’s the fear. But it’s a positive fear. I meet lots of Celtic supporters and quite a lot of them will say: ‘You’re doing well . . . at the moment’. Our message to them is we always want to win.”

Rodgers held a meeting with the Celtic squad at their hotel in Berghausl earlier this week and emphasised to them the importance of putting the triumphs of last season behind them and focusing on securing more success in the forthcoming campaign.

“When we came in we said to the players what was done last season was amazing,” he said. “But let’s not say it’s a once in a lifetime achievement. What makes you think we can’t do it again?

“The target is to win every game. What we have done is celebrate the success, but we are back even hungrier and more ready than last year.

“It’s been brilliant. We want to have friendships for life. We’ll all be when we leave, but it’s about really making our mark while we are here.

“The best time to capitalise on success is the present. You have to be ruthless. You can’t go soft. There’s no point in talking about being ruthless after you’ve lost eight games. It’s too late. There is a time to be ruthless and that is why we are ready to go again.

“Success is a moving target. You have to look to be better all of the time and I see that here. It’s important to have humility, but I also see the backs are straighter, the shoulders are up. That’s what we want.”