Nine years after his loan move to Celtic, Patrick Roberts is on his next loan journey
Former Celtic loanee Patrick Roberts has opened up on his latest career move as he prepares to push for a strong season in the EFL Championship with Birmingham City.
The winger joined the Blues on a season-long loan during this summer’s Deadline Day, and he’s made four league starts so far this campaign. Birmingham City is the tenth club of Roberts’ career and seven of those have been loan clubs. After signing for Manchester City from Fulham in 2015, his first temporary move came a year later when he joined the Celtic ranks.
Roberts spent two loan spells in Glasgow, amassing 78 appearances and contributing 18 goals and 26 assists in that time. He has reflected on his time at Parkhead during an interview with his new club, and had a lot of praise for Brendan Rodgers.
Patrick Roberts reveals why he moved to Birmingham City
Speaking to the club website, Roberts admitted Amazon’s ‘Built In Birmingham: Brady & The Blues’ documentary was what sparked his interest in the club.
“I have always been interested in sports documentaries, so I had to watch that one! I really enjoyed it, and it was a great insight into what was going on at the club,” he revealed.
“As pre-season went on and I started to see that I was probably not going to get the opportunities that I wanted to play at Sunderland this season, then this was one of the only places I wanted to come to. That documentary had really interested me, and I felt like this was a place where I could offer something positive.
Patrick Roberts on how Celtic helped shape his career
Roberts won seven trophies during his brief time with Celtic, including consecutive Scottish Premiership titles. He has reflected on the winning mentality instilled in the players who join Celtic.
“Rangers came back to the top division in my first year there, so you had the derby game, which you have to win, then there is the expectation to win the league and the cups, and to do well in the Champions League. It is not a place where you go and if you lose a game, they accept it,” the winger said.
“You have to win game after game. That was where I got my first taste of the importance of that and where I learnt that real desire to win every game. That's a good thing to get at a young age and I think that gets factored into the development of young players a lot more now, getting them out to play under pressure.”
Roberts also played under Chris Davies during his time with Celtic, who is now the current manager of Birmingham City. Davies followed Rodgers to Parkhead to become his assistant manager in 2016.
“Brendan Rodgers was fantastic. He was known for bringing in young players at Liverpool and then when he came into Celtic, he still looked to do that whenever he could,” Roberts continued.
“Chris Davies was there as well. He was starting out in his first assistant role, and he was great to work for. He was really good with me, and I learnt a lot from both of them and the players at Celtic. I really enjoyed my time there, it was some of the best football I've played.”
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