Brendan Rodgers was aware the long-term plan at Celtic was for Peter Lawwell to step down from his role.
Rodgers worked with the chief executive closely during his spell at the club before he left the Hoops in February 2019 after seven trophies in succesion to take the job at Leicester City.
And the Northern Irishman admits he knew Lawwell would retire from the Scottish Premiership champions as he paid tribute to his former boss.
"I was obviously aware when I was there what the long-term plan would be and that at some point over the next few years this would be the case," said the Northern Irishman.
"You only have to look at how Celtic is run as a business and the figures behind that to see how well he has done there.
"He has brought great stability to the club and you only have to look at the bank balance to see he has run the club extremely well
"He loves the club and has a real passion for Celtic and it will be a sad day when he does retire, but he will always be a Celtic supporter.
"He's done a fantastic job and he will step aside and someone else will come on in and take on the mantle."
