A remarkable appointment at the peak of our reach

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In 2014 Brendan Rodgers was within touching distance of immortality on Merseyside, but Manchester City were on Liverpool’s tail throughout the campaign and snatched the title by two points.

The locals were distraught but loved the incredibly attacking formations Rodgers deployed. Liverpool were back, or so it seemed. Within 17 months, Jurgen Klopp made his availability known to Liverpool and in October last year Brendan was out of a job.

Celtic wanted Rodgers from the off but their major concern from the start was the familiar lure of English and Welsh lucre. Average managers there can command between £3m and £5m a year, getting on for 10% of Celtic’s income – and we pay tax and employer’s National Insurance, remember!

In recent weeks it became clear that Brendan is a Celtic man and was very interested in the job, while an offer he couldn’t refuse from England or Wales didn’t materialise. What went wrong for Brendan in Liverpool, after coming so close to the title, opened the door for Celtic.

The Merseyside team dropped from second to sixth last season, still higher than they were when he picked them up, but the slip worried the club to the extent that they could not resist Klopp’s availability. There’s reason to believe Liverpool were a tad hasty.

Much of Rodger’s success at Liverpool was based on getting the very best out of Suarez and Sturridge. They electrified English football in a manner which just didn’t happen before Brendan arrived, but Suarez fled for Barcelona as soon as he returned from his infamous World Cup, while Sturridge missed most of the following season through injury.

Suarez will be the first to break the Messi-Ronaldo Ballon d’Or duopoly. He is one of the world’s truly great players.  Remember our own experiences when losing world class players.

We went from double winners to fifth (and sacked Jock Stein) when Dalglish left, and from 26 consecutive league wins to second when Larsson went. Losing one of the best players in the world takes time to recover from. What made Liverpool championship contenders just wasn’t there anymore. This cost Brendan his job, and a little of his reputation.

Before last night’s Europa League final the inane commentators told us, when discussing Klopp, that good managers can always improve players. This wasn’t meant to be a slight on Rodgers, but neither was it a deserved accolade for Klopp. Liverpool finished the season 8th in the league, lower than at any of Rodgers’ finishes.

Good managers can improve players, but only if they are taking over from less-effective managers. Klopp is one of the very best in the business, but Brendan Rodgers bettered him with the same team. He’s a manager at the absolute peak of our reach, it will be a remarkable appointment.

Usual caveats apply, until the lawyers have triplicate copies signed……

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681 Comments

  1. Hopefully for Timdom, Brendan Rodgers will be the man.

     

    Certainly the talk of his arrival has energized the Celtic fans that I’ve been talking to.

     

    An EPL manager who was a slip away from clinching the title for Liverpool.

     

    Hopefully this isny a sign that he has a black cloud over him ?

     

    He was introduced to coaching by Tommy Burns(RIP).

     

    Don’t know if that’s a guid omen or, a bad one ?

     

    Would BR be like an Irish TB ?

     

    Fancy-wonderful-breathtaking-walking-10-feet-tall-fitba-the -Celtic-way ?(what is that?)

     

    Or,…….

     

    Naive-complacent-easily-mugged-knife-through-the-heart-type-of-fitba ?

     

    There is also talk in the SMSM about BR being able to bring in big money stars ?

     

    Surely the sensible thing for BR or, whoever is appointed would be to evaluate, with his own eyes, exactly what types of players are already at his disposal ?

     

    I smell a ‘big’ squirrel to get the hapless-sleekit-deceitful-hierarchy aff the hook re: all they’re collusion-looking-the-other-way-cheating to try to keep R*ngers alive then, when that failed, looking the other way as the huns were allowed in the back door to – tool-up for revenge!

     

    Jim McIntyre Ar La is the cutest bhoy on the block.

     

    ……laters…….

  2. SydneyTim says sack Lawell now on

    Kev. You forgot one thing

     

     

    If we appoint BR then what about the elephant left in the room with a big ego , an elephant that has preached to us in a rag of a newspaper that everything is wonderfull and we will not change what we have been doing over last 4 years

     

    Well if we appoint BR then PL is going to look like a fool and was wrong

     

    Time for the elephant to leave :)))

  3. SYDNEYTIM SAYS SACK LAWELL NOW on 20TH MAY 2016 5:55 AM

     

     

    PL has been given his orange juice and told to rip it up and start again

     

     

    aff oot to earn some pennies enjoy your day CQN

  4. Kev

     

    Morning. Healthy I hope bud.

     

    Where to start with yer nonsense this morning?

     

    Tommy Burns? Well , as you defend Mr Mcghee ( officially worst manager in Aberdeen history and gifter of too many goals to count on his various visits to CP), I’ll attempt to do the same with MY hero Tommy Twists Tommy Turns Tommy Burns.

     

    Tippy Tappy football? Before he took over at Celtic Park he got Kilmarnock promoted with his brand of football. Such was the angst of the SFA when he joined Celtic, you’ll recall them giving Celtic a fine of £100k for illegally tapping him. Rich eh!

     

    The football he employed at CP was the best I’ve seen in my lifetime. ( just a wee bit young, not much, to remember the lions well enough)

     

    Given he was up against a Rangers side who had seen over £30m spent on it he was a shade unlucky. Losing only one game in the 95/96 season v the free spending RFC , Laudrup, Gascoigne, Albertz, Hateley, Mikhalichenko et al was a mighty effort. 55% of games he won as manager of Celtic on an uneven playing field and v a corrupt SFA. That’s a remarkable win rate in anyone’s book.

     

    You dismiss him as a poor manager yet come on telling us to give the keys to MM?

     

    Sheesh, when those medics have got ya at your fighting fit best, I’m coming up to take you for a beer, then to Specsavers:-)

  5. SydneyTim says sack Lawell now on

    Lionroar. Unfortunately the man with the juice is still getting paid 1m a year for failure. No bonus next year as no zero debt

  6. Sydneytim

     

    Has PL had his wings clipped by DD? It seems perhaps he has. All but removed from the recruitment process, then his ‘ nothing to report’ announcement eclipsed by another from DD within a few hours.

     

    His usual narrative ” we cannot go into debt, look what happened to RFC ” bull, again seems to have been super ceded by DD’s ” the new manager must get us into the CL” statement of Tuesday.

     

    Going to be interesting on CQN if Brendan is appointed and given a budget that puts us into debt.

     

    We’ve been force fed on here for as long as I can remember that those of us calling for sustainable debt were fools without business acumen. That the SPL environment made it foolish to go into debt.

     

    So, what will happen now if we do go into the red? Calls for Lawell to go on here? Fear of liquidation? We are all doomed?

     

    Or will it be that debt is now ok ?

  7. SydneyTim says sack Lawell now on

    Twist and turns My point exactly

     

     

    Why did we not push out the boat when we got 18m for hooper and vic

     

     

    We got tosh on here that some of that cash was needed for day to day running of club. Tosh it was kept for agm balance sheet for CEO bonuses

     

     

    We have been feed one lie after another

  8. TWISTS N TURNS on 20TH MAY 2016 6:15 AM

     

    _______________________________________________

     

    Guid morning amigo, hope you are well also.

     

    Well, without being cynical, Tommy Burns(RIP) was one of the worst managers of Celtic FC, right ?

     

    Larsson apart – TB had the best squad of players at Celtic Park, outside the Lisbon Lions….imho.

     

    Maybe, the job came too early for Tommy ?

     

    Maybe that suited McCann ?

     

    Maybe the naivete of Tommy’s management made, Laudrup, Gascoigne etc….look guid ?

     

    Maybe, the hun players that you mentioned were made into ibrokes legends because they were confronted with a Celtic FC that was led by a bullying tyrant, with a ‘project’ in the dug out ?

     

    Has there ‘ever’ been a Celtic manager who hizny been cheated ?

     

    Maybe Big McGhee was too cute for todays version of bullying tyrants who hold office at Celtic Park ?

     

    Maybe ‘if’ ?????….the appointment of BR goes through, the beneficeries of hindsight will recall this period in the clubs history as, the day that DD panicked away 10 in a row ?

     

    Maybe one day you will reflect upon me as the prophet that you dissed ? :(

     

     

    SYDNEYTIM

     

    _____________

     

    Hail Hail amigo, hope your well.

     

    The clock has been ticking on Lawwell since he placed the club at the back of the bus after the shame-game, govt-summit were, Celtic had 3 players booked….imho.

     

     

    You’ll Never Walk Alone….in the Jungle.

     

    ………zzzzzzz……….

  9. BOBBY MURDOCH'S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on

    SYDNEYTIM

     

    TWISTSNTURNS

     

     

    It would certainly appear that PL has been told to leave the footballing operation to the experts.

     

     

    And that since he had seen to it that we didn’t have any,DD would find some!

     

     

    I reckon his interview last week was a final throw of the dice-and he even cocked that up by allowing it to seem like a Sun exclusive for some time.

     

     

    He’s lost his mojo,best way to get it back is to stick at what he knows.

  10. SydneyTim says sack Lawell now on

    All Tommy burns needed was a good goalie to park a few busses

  11. Sydneytim

     

    Tell ya what though, I’m very excited at the thought of Brendan taking over. This appointment has a real feel good factor about it. (There’s a buzz about the place:-)

     

    I’ve no doubt we will still need to sell on occasion, as there needs to be a limit to debt levels, but as you allude to, reinvesting wisely is the key.

     

    If we sell for £10m, let’s hope we replace for £6mor £7m on a quality replacement and not on 6 X Carlton Cole’s.

     

    I note DD says the new manager must ‘build’ to get us into CL, so perhaps the most realistic expectation is the season after this coming one. I’m good with that. Tall order for any new manager to make it this next season.

     

    A CP bursting at the seams again as Zadoc is belting out? Can’t wait.

  12. Good morning my friends and a Big Happy New Balance Friday from a dry but blustery and grey cloud covered East Kilbride.

  13. Kev

     

    Try this:

     

    Have a wander around the Midlands, try Wolverhampton, and shout ‘ Mark McGhee’

     

    The next bit is important…….

     

    RUN:-)

  14. An Teach Solais on

    Good morning, CQN,

     

    A big week coming up for us, what with the appointment of our new manager- hopefully with the confirmation of Brendan Rodgers- and the two, or possibly three, newspaper adverts regarding Res12, and, a statement from the club.

     

    Let’s hope that we have much to look forward to and other issues can be discussed at AGM leaving some of the contributions to the comic pages.

     

    The cyber attack on James Forrest’s site shows where we should be concentrating : people out there who hate the truth being exposed. HH

  15. BOBBY MURDOCH'S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on

    TWISTSNTURNS

     

     

    Shifts on a Thursday in particular are hellish,but from Tuesday about 8pm till about this time on a Friday,that’s when the blog gets a bit of a break from me!

     

     

    BTW,I’ve always tried to talk people into buying/retaining their ticket. Even though it’s difficult to make any other meaningful form of protest. ACGR still holds me personally responsible for persuading him to sit through the season just gone!

     

     

    Aye,Brendan would make me a happy Bhoy,for sure.

     

     

    PS-my uberhun mate,former doyen of The Bristol and The Louden,spells his surname like you. I canny wait to break the news that he’s really a Tim after all…

  16. SydneyTim says sack Lawell now on

    Twists. Have said it before when Scotland lost our automatic place in CL and then played the likes of Arsenal in 2009 , I really feared for future CL appearances

     

    But along came Michael platini and gave us the Champions route where we were seeded This gave virtually a free run at CL against lesser teams like Marbor , legia , Malmo etc

     

    But to woefully not to reinvest what was earned in our team plus employing a coach who had no idea on European tactics has brought us to the position where this coming qualifiers will be our last Seeded

     

    I am sure DD has been well aware of this situation now and has had to act

     

     

    We could have had some good players and received substantial money from CL over last two years if we had reinvested in 2012 and still have zero debt

     

    Now indeed we will go into debt due to Peter lawells fixation with golden nuggets

     

    If BR accepts then there will be conflicts with Peter Lawell

     

     

    It is best all round if he leaves. He has done well for himself while our team was embarrassed in Europe and income lost

  17. Bobby

     

    My kids ( well 30 odd year olds now) are all renewed. They’re phoning me, texting, whattsapping me, to ask ‘ you renewed yet?’

     

    Been waiting on res 12 outcome, well , not so much outcome, as I think sod all will come of it despite the heroic efforts of some good bhoys, but more to see what Celtic’s part in it has been.

     

    Assuming they’ve not been complicit in any way, I’ll be good to go. (Literally)

     

    The tangled web the SFA weave stretches far and wide. Will UEFA act? I doubt it. Some sort of statement that has plenty words but says nothing meaningful type of thing.

     

    On a playing front:

     

    6 in a row

     

    Europa league respectability

     

    7 in a row

     

    CL group stage

     

    8 in a row

     

    CL group stage / perhaps last 16

     

    9 in a row

     

    CL last 8

     

    10 in a row

     

    Treble

     

    CL finalists

     

    Not much to ask for eh:-)

  18. Sydneytim

     

    Yes fully agree bud.

     

    I’m of the opinion £8m to £10m invested would have seen off the likes of Maribor.

     

    Guaranteed?

     

    Of course not, but that’s a daft argument. As DD may be about to demonstrate.

  19. SydneyTim says sack Lawell now on

    Indeed twist and turns A few months after Marbor at the AGM we announced we had cash in the bank Wow

     

     

    Anyway having a few beers at the beach thinking about my first ever away game, which was at love st Quarter final replay in Scottish cup 1980. Would love to see a clip of that game 36 years ago

  20. Celtic continue to alienate their fans by employing managers with difficult names to spell it seems.

     

     

    I blame Desmod and Lewell…….

  21. PL as he said in his sun interview is the executor of a strategy, that if he went they would get someone else in just like him, to execute the same strategy.

     

     

    Did PL force DD’s hand by publicly airing his views on his job in that shitrag?

     

     

    Not long after this has happened with DD going public and looking like we are gona spend some cash……….

     

     

    Just a thought. Tin hat, bullet proof vest on, into hiding again I go………………

  22. …..and we will refer , in the future, to this so called G.O. D as the wilderness years.

     

     

    People will say to their grandchildren, as they watch Kieran Tierney lift the CL trophy:

     

     

    “It wasn’t always like this son.I remember the wilderness years, when we were in a one horse race for the title, playing in front of dwindling crowds and losing a cup semi final to a newco. You see those 3rd and 4th tiers on the stand son, they weren’t there then. That standing area for 25,000? That used to be tiny.

     

    That number 9 you see that we bought for £200m? He would have been sold and peanuts spent on a project striker.

     

    That fillet steak you’re tucking into? Nothing like that in the wilderness years son. Cardboard pies and Capri sun’s was all I got.”

     

     

    Aye, the golden era is coming…………

  23. SydneyTim says sack Lawell now on

    Bournesoup. Love ya

     

     

    Never seen it since that night

     

     

    Never saw their first goal or sending off. Was outside love st turnstiles pressed against a wall

     

     

    Just saw Mrs Sydney Tim and wee Sydney Tim heading towards me

     

     

    Will check it out later

     

     

    Thanks so much :)). Made Ma day

  24. BOBBY MURDOCH'S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on

    TWISTSNTURNS

     

     

    Keep some of that good stuff for me-I’ll be up the morra!

     

     

    I’ve tipped off DELANEYSDUNKY,chance in a lifetime for him!!

  25. Doc, Cowiebhoy, WITS,

     

     

    There was indeed a bus run from the Braes in Falkirk by Lawrence Harvey, i had a couple of seasons on it before the Neil Mochan bus from Denny started. It used to pick up through Falkirk then Denny at the Railway Hotel.

     

     

    Lots of great guys on the bus at that time, they were in deed behind enemy lines in places like Maddiston, Rumford, Westquarter, Hallglen.

     

     

    gebhoy

  26. WITS,

     

     

    Cheers for the GG’s again yesterday, over the last few years i have scored a good few winners from your tips, as i have posted before if our paths ever cross the drinks are on me!

     

     

    gebhoy

  27. blantyretim is praying for the Knox family on

    Petec

     

    Tierney at Accies is a Blantyre Bhoy, no relation to our Kieran Turrney

     

     

    Accies Tierney (Ryan) has received rave reviews and has, hopefully a good chance of making a good career for himself

     

    The Accies management constantly remind their kids about the 2 James’s and how they could be the next player to make it big.

     

     

    Oldtim will be on later to remind us that Grangemouth had the largest CSC for a very long time, not sure if that is still the case.

     

     

    Hail Hail

  28. SydneyTim says sack Lawell now on

    Bobby. What csc are you a member of ?

     

     

    I used to go on the Glasgow Uni bus from 1980 till 1988. Ran the club with another guy about 85 to 88

  29. BOBBY MURDOCH'S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on

    SYDNEYTIM

     

     

    Chucked the CSC idea in favour of less-regimented public transport. I was in Ardrossan Garryowen in my early days.

     

     

    More recently,I was in Swindon Shamrock,fair number of us until about 2008.

     

     

    I still drink wi a few of them,gets the memories and the songs flowing!

  30. blantyretim is praying for the Knox family on

    Ladbrokes & Corrals to merge.

     

    Was this what ole DD was against?

  31. Alternatively : Assuming BR completes the deal.

     

     

    Peter Lawwell has pulled an amazing Rabbit out of the hat.

     

    He has persuaded a top rated manager who was one slip away from winning the most prestigious league in the world to come to the back water that is Scottish Football.

     

     

    Of course to some the narrative that PL is going to look foolish is much preferable.

     

     

    HH.

     

     

    PS : Was DD in Glasgow when the interviews were taking place ?