Brendan Rodgers’s Celtic reign got off to a farcical start with defeat to Gibraltar part-timers Lincoln Red Imps in the Champions League qualifiers. It was hard to know what was more embarrassing – the 1-0 defeat under the Rock or the fact Rodgers subsequently claimed it wasn’t an embarrassment.
Nonetheless, Celtic safely negotiated the return leg to restore calm and have hit the ground running too in the Scottish Premiership. They play Israel’s Hapoel Be’er Sheva in the first leg of their Champions League play-off round; the new manager’s biggest game to date.
Rodgers signed a 12-month rolling contract with Celtic following his sacking by Liverpool and logically that means he doesn’t necessarily see his long-term future in Glasgow. However, the Northern Irishman and Celtic have met each other at a crucial juncture. Celtic need to be reassured of their place in the world - their new manager is helping to do it - but the man himself could do with a boost too.
His time at Liverpool had extreme highs – coming so close to winning the title in 2014 – but also lows from which he has not yet truly recovered. The 6-1 defeat on the last day of the 2014-15 season against Stoke City reverberated through the summer and into the start of his last campaign with Liverpool.
The club that had been so close to the title were powerless to prevent Luis Suarez leaving immediately after and a year later he was followed by Steven Gerrard and Raheem Sterling. The new signings were only middling and before long Liverpool gave up on the man who made them dream.
Celtic might well be Scottish champions five times in a row but sometimes it doesn’t feel like it. Their crushing penalty shoot-out defeat to Rangers in the Scottish Cup semi-final last season was sufficient to see Ronny Deila off in his role in the Parkhead hot seat. Moreover, underachievement in Europe overshadowed the Norwegian’s reign at Parkhead.
That explains the lack of enthusiasm for a serial league-winning team who barely ever fill their stadium. The last time Celtic qualified for a Champions League group stage was during the 2013-14 season; Neil Lennon’s last campaign in charge. Deila may have won two Scottish titles in a row but was found wanting on the European stage. Celtic under Deila fell at the play-off hurdle to Maribor and then Malmo to leave a fug of discontent over Celtic Park.
The defeat to Rangers last April prompted plenty of soul searching at the club and encouraged chief executive Peter Lawwell and shareholder Dermot Desmond to go big in their search for a new manager. They put up Premier League wages and duly attracted Rodgers to the role. Rodgers stands to gain a reported £1m bonus if Celtic qualify for the group stages and that sits atop a reported basic £1.5m. Celtic pulled out all the stops not only to halt any momentum on the other side of Glasgow but to also ensure they punch their weight on the continent.
“I saw the games towards the end of the season and the team was suffering after the Rangers game and whatnot,” Rodgers said this week. “The team wasn’t in a good place. When I took the job I looked forward to see how they would develop and cope with what I wanted.
“I’ve been pleasantly surprised from a positive perspective. The players have bought into what we are doing. Now we have a mentality at the club of dominance, of wanting to be aggressive and press and we play without fear.
“I still felt the players needed help and needed to bring a different tempo to the game, but they have done that. Now there’s more hard work to do.”
Celtic are proud of being the first club from this island to win the European Cup and Rodgers proved at Liverpool he’s not shy about tapping into glorious histories as methods of inspiration. He is convinced Celtic belong at the top table and has made the signings that prove that. No way would players like Scott Sinclair, Moussa Dembele and Kolo Toure choose to continue their careers in Scotland if he wasn’t there to talk them into it. Significantly, stars Tom Rogic, James Forrest and Kieran Tierney have also signed new contracts over the summer.
Rodgers says he has followed Celtic all his life – as an Irishman it is not hard to dispute – and so will put his heart and soul into taking the club as far as they can go for as long as he is there. The confines of Scottish football mean that Rodgers is not likely to stick around too long but enough – hopefully – to re-establish Celtic again as a consistent Champions League team and also restore his own reputation.
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