SCOTT Bain has stressed that Celtic's players "would love" boss Brendan Rodgers to stay at Parkhead amid speculation linking him with Leicester.
The Northern Irishman is reportedly a frontrunner for the vacant managerial post at the King Power Stadium following the departure of Claude Puel.
However, ahead of the trip to Hearts in the Ladbrokes Premiership on Wednesday night, the Hoops goalkeeper said: "You have a top manager, there is always going to be speculation when other jobs come up but obviously we would love him to be here.
"He has a contract here and there is nothing much that we can do, we just would love him to stay.
"He is important to all the squad, he fills us with confidence and belief of how good we can be and the style of football that we play is so attractive and enjoyable to play in.
"He is very important for the club. The Premier League is always an attraction to players and managers alike.
"It is nothing to do with us as players, we come in and work away and hopefully he will be here."
Celtic again moved eight points clear of Rangers at the top of the table with a 4-1 win over Motherwell at Parkhead on Sunday.
Bain, however, insists the Steelmen should be "embarrassed" by the controversial way they scored, the first domestic goal in nine matches he has conceded since the turn of the year when he took over from Craig Gordon.
Early in the second half, with the Hoops leading 2-0, Celtic thought they were getting possession back from a throw-in only to see 18-year-old attacker James Scott, making his first league start for Well, race through to force a save from Bain with Gboly Ariyibi sweeping in the loose ball.
The 27-year-old former Dundee player said: "I have never seen anything like it. I would be embarrassed today if I was them, waking up.
"They had a chance as well after it to rectify the situation and let us score a goal, they would have got plaudits today for acting like that.
"I think it was discussed heatedly that you just don't do that in the game. We have seen their player with a head knock and we played the ball back to them. You do that in any game.
"It is something I have never seen before and I'd honestly be embarrassed if I was them waking up this morning, to try to get a goal like that.
"It is disappointing but we can start again with the clean sheets hopefully.
"I enjoyed the third and fourth goal, I am not going to lie, but we deserved to win."
