BRENDAN RODGERS’ second coming at Celtic was not universally welcomed, as we are all painfully aware.
Some of the club’s followers had been slightly disenchanted – to put it politely – at the manager’s rapid departure from Parkhead in February 2019.
No one saw it coming. Murmurings from within had been dismissed, so the news that Rodgers had cleaned out his Lennoxtown locker hit the headlines with all the force of a wrecking ball.
The popular team chief had gone on record as saying it would take “something special” for him to even consider leaving his boyhood favourites. And then the Irishman quit for Leicester City.
HAPPY BHOY…Brendan Rodgers applauds the fans as he keeps Celtic on course for a ninth treble.
No one in their right mind would have filed the Midlands club under “something special”. Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, maybe even Manchester United, but not the King Power outfit.
However, that was the path Rodgers had elected to travel and there were a few supporters who could not find it in their heart to forgive and forget on the June 19 day in 2023 when the club announced the Irishman as the successor to Spurs-bound Ange Postecoglou.
I’m from the old school who acknowledges the mantra of ‘I don’t forget and only God can forgive’.
Plus your humble scribe also believes in everyone getting a second chance.
On August 5 2023, I sat down in my study/dungeon to write a column for CQN.
Here are some edited comments from my musings of 19 months ago.
PARADISE REGAINED…Brendan Rodgers returns to the Celtic dug-out for James Forrest’s testimonial match against Athletic Bilbao.
“OUR chums across the Clyde are running scared of Brendan Rodgers. Actually, terrified might be a more appropriate expression.
“It’s not exactly outwith the bounds of imagination and expectancy to believe Celtic could present their fans with an early Christmas gift by emerging victorious in the Viaplay League Cup Final at Hampden on Sunday December 17.
“Rodgers, of course, has a bit of previous in this lifting silverware lark – seven in succession, including two back-to-back trebles, if I remember correctly.
“A triumph in the campaign’s first competition with a trophy at stake would ease Celtic onto 117 club honours which, coincidentally, is the same accumulation as the team residing in Govan.
“Okay, I realise a number of their awards were annexed by nefarious means following some financial jiggery-pokery by those in power at the time up the fabled marbled staircase.
“Yes, there is a sound and valid case all prizes gained during a prolific and corrupt period between 2001 and 2010 should have been withdrawn. Those honours were achieved by unlawful means. HMRC eventually caught up with the club’s misuse of an Employee Benefits Trust (EBTs) which had been set up to avoid paying tax and national insurance on player and staff salaries.
“For their prolonged dodgy deeds, the Ibrox club were banished to the naughty step for a few years. However, crucially, they were not stripped of titles or other trophies won by felonious means during that time span.
“It’s utterly preposterous that a judge, some bewigged character named Lord William Nimmo Smith, ruled secret payments to players and other influential employees did not help them win five Premier League titles. Ludicrous doesn’t come close.
“So, the number of crowns won by Rangers – or any other monicker you care to bestow upon them – sits at 55. Celtic won their 53rd championship last season and that fact is creating widespread consternation among the light blue ranks.
MASTERMIND…Brendan Rodgers prepares for the season ahead at Lennoxtown.
“If you had the impression our city neighbours verged on apoplexy at the thought of Celtic sealing a world record ten successive championships during the Jock Stein era or in more recent times, you can multiply that by any number that springs to mind and you will get a fairly accurate picture of the distress permeating in that particular grey corner of the universe.
“Serial winner Rodgers signed a three-year contract when he returned in June. Anyone believing the Irishman is here to top up his pension has been misreading the signals.
“Rodgers means business. And the team on the south side of our fair city are well aware of his mindset. They are close to being paralysed with fear of images of the Celtic manager showing off his pearlies and waving a large and elaborate piece of silverware at the completion of the 2025/26 campaign.
“They live in dread of a second time-around Rodgers conquering all to accomplish three successive championships which will propel the total of league flags to 56. A collection of crowns naturally all untainted, achieved by fair means and without a hint of any fiscal skulduggery.
“Forget the fact that Celtic can draw level on the trophy count if the League Cup is successfully defended before the turn of the year, appealing thought that it may be. That feat could be just about tolerated by our competitors.
“Rodgers could even mastermind his third clean sweep of treasures this time out to guide the Hoops to a superior silverware tally.
“The one that really matters is the championship accumulation. That’s the figure that has the occupants of Govan quivering in their brown brogues.
MAKE MINE A TREBLE…Brendan Rodgers poses with his first domestic clean sweep with the Premiership trophy flanked by the League Cup and Scottish Cup.
“Todd Cantwell arrived in January from Norwich City and at one of his first meet-the-media sessions the absurdly-coiffured Englishman spoke about his new club’s 55 titles being a world record.
“Does anyone believe for a heartbeat that Cantwell, born and brought up in Chris Sutton territory of Norfolk, has been a closet Rangers fan for his 25 years of existence?
“To rattle off that computation so soon after arriving in Glasgow tells you all you need to know. The recruit was being indoctrinated from day one.
“Anxiety is settling in an area across the river. You better believe it, my friends. Trembling thumbs are hovering in the proximity of panic buttons.
“Brendan Rodgers had that demoralising effect on our city foes first time around. I am not aware of any logical reason for that distinctly agreeable prospect to veer off course in his second coming.”
And here we are today, dear reader. The Ibrox side’s worst fears have been realised.
Michael Beale has been jettisoned from the dug-out to be replaced by Philippe Clement and the whining Belgian met an identical fate with a P45 winging its way after exactly 16 months and 498 days in charge.
Barry Ferguson will take the team across Glasgow for his fifth game in a caretaker capacity when he pits his wits against Rodgers tomorrow.
I wouldn’t hold my breath on Wee Barry getting the job on a permanent basis in the summer.
PRIZE GUYS…Brendan Rodgers (extreme left) joins in as Callum McGregor gets his hands on the Premier Sports League Cup at Hampden in mid-December.
Celtic overtook the city neighbours’ trophy haul when they lifted the Premier Sports League Cup in December – beating You-Know-Who in the penalty-kick shoot-out – to become the world’s most successful club with 119 honours.
Nothing that happens at Parkhead this weekend will alter the destination of the club’s 55th crown and there is the little matter of beating St Johnstone in the Scottish Cup semi-final next month before hopefully setting up another grand finale at Hampden on Saturday May 24.
Rodgers has sent the entire Ibrox set-up into a tailspin. You better believe it. They reckoned they would win the Premiership under the management of Clement last season.
They banked on going straight into the new-look Champions League set-up that would guarantee four money-spinning home games as well as the multi-million pound bonanza for participating among Europe’s elite.
Let’s not forget, please, Clement’s first signing for the club was the loan deal for Portuguese forward Fabio Silva.
I was reliably informed the player would be receiving £49,000-per-week at Ibrox. The board went with their new manager’s recommendation and brought in the misfit who had been signed for £35million by Wolves from Porto and couldn’t get a place in their first team.
He had already spent time at Anderlecht and PSV Eindhoven on temporary transfers without any significant impact.
Four goals in 62 appearances was not the expected return from a frontman who spent most of his time embracing the turf any time the wind picked up.
The Ibrox club could have signed Lawrence Shankland for a fraction of what they shelled out for Silva and the Hearts striker would probably have bettered the six goals in 25 appearances of the less-then-fabulous Fabio.
Rangers licked their financial wounds, sent Silva – now on loan at Las Palmas – back to the English club and things went from bad to worse when Kyiv Dinamo beat them in the Champions League qualifiers.
Once again, they find themselves in the slipstream of a superior opponent.
I did say terrified 19 months ago, didn’t I? I didn’t think it was an exaggeration back then and I certainly see no reason to change that mindset today.
Have an enjoyable weekend, folks.
ALEX GORDON
