This impact Kyogo made on Celtic is difficult to overestimate. He cost three times more than any of our other recent players from Japan and established his credentials a week after touching down in Scotland. In August 2021, Celtic were trophyless and at their lowest point this century.
Kyogo was the spark that ignited the club. His perpetual motion, enthusiasm, selflessness and his goals, mostly his goals, gave us cause to hope for the future. He also gave us 8 out of 10 trophies contested during his time in Glasgow.
His first virtuoso performance delivered a hattrick against Dundee. We thought we were onto something special, but dare not dream of the levels he delivered. Kyogo enjoys a big game and took special delight in scoring against Newco. Including an incredible seven goals in 2023. He terrorised them at Celtic Park, Hampden and Ibrox.
With him on the field, you could be playing badly, but knew something special could happen at any moment. His hattrick of disallowed goals against Young Boys on Wednesday apparently bookends his time as an active Celtic icon. His inactive icon status will last decades, though.
Without doubt, he is the best since Henrik Larsson – the only appropriate reference point. We waited 20 years between the departure of Kenny Dalglish and Larsson’s arrival. The 17 years between Henrik and Kyogo were filled with some great Celtic strikers, but none possessed the sheer magic of Kyogo.
It wasn’t just his play. The man picked up litter, comforted injured opponents and wherever he went, made Scotland a better place. I cannot see someone throw litter away without contrasting them to our hero. He was an example of how to work hard and live your life. And there was that smile.
I have been preaching Asset Management here for decades. ‘Manage your assets or fail to manage your assets’. Fans like you and I have sporting heroes, but Michael Nicholson’s job (as well as being a fan) is to manage our assets. A reported fee of £10m for a player who turned 30 this month and had a significantly less effective 2024 than 2023 is Tier One asset management.
I only hope we do not backfill with one of Brendan’s agent pals’ players, or someone he watched a while back but is now out of favour in the English Championship.
Best of luck to Kyogo in France. Despite his horrendous performance last night Jack Butland will be a happy man today.
629 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- ...
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
- 16
- 17
There was a long and favourable feature on BR in the Times over the weekend. Worth a read if you didn’t see it.
JONATHAN NORTHCROFT
How Brendan Rodgers 2.0 evolved into one of Britain’s best managers
The 51-year-old may have matured but he is no less hungry for success as he bids to take his Celtic side as far as possible in the Champions League
Bendan Rodgers is not afraid to use a little theatre in his management but an unscripted moment said most about his second coming in Glasgow.
Needing victory to secure Champions League knockout football, Celtic led Young Boys 1-0 at Celtic Park deep in stoppage time. They’d scored late, sustained a red card and play was jagging end-to-end. We were in the mayhem zone, so often seen at the finish of knife-edge games.
Young Boys stuck the ball in Celtic’s penalty area. Celtic switched off. A ricochet — and suddenly Sandro Lauper could equalise from eight yards out. Kasper Schmeichel plunged and held the substitute’s shot, and 55,000 supporters removed their faces from their palms. And Rodgers? Rodgers turned to his bench and flashed an almighty grin.
It was a man enjoying himself, a manager in charge of his environment despite the pressure and stakes; a comeback coach perhaps at the peak of his powers. Rodgers is 52 on Sunday — mid-career — and has never done his job better. “I was 39 when I went to Liverpool, not a lot of first-team managerial experience but I had many coaching years. Now I’m 52 and still feel young as a manager, still have that curiosity and want to learn,” he says.
“I feel now that I understand what is really, really important in terms of the game. Twenty years ago I was maybe the idealist in the purity of football. But you grow and understand what it really takes to develop winning teams, winning mentality and winning culture. And the journey has been amazing.”
Rodgers’s Swansea City surprised the Premier League by playing like a mini-Barcelona, not a scrappy, promoted team. His Liverpool almost white-knuckled it to the title, his Leicester City finished fifth twice and won the FA Cup. Celtic first time round (2016-19) was a trophy procession. But maybe his present stint tops it all: he has rebuilt, turned a transfer profit, hoovered more silverware, conquered suspicious hearts and minds.
And the biggie — put Celtic in the Champions League knockout stage for the first time since 2012-13, this when competing there gets ever harder for Scottish clubs. The finances stack against it: Celtic are nowhere near the top 30 in the money league of richest European clubs. The Scottish Professional Football League earns £36million annually from television, the Premier League £3.9billion, and its income is dwarfed by leagues from Belgium to Poland.
Celtic are unmistakably a Rodgers team: small ball players, a side who play out, use width and press high with the captain, Callum McGregor, in the old Steven Gerrard/Leon Britton “midfield controller” role and Reo Hatate the James Maddisonesque maverick No10. Other managers would have substituted Hatate on Wednesday after a mixed display. Rodgers kept him on and Hatate’s sublime pass — after a move that began with Schmeichel and the centre backs playing through the opposition press — forced Celtic’s goal.
Stats reveal something remarkable. Rodgers’s best versions of Swansea, Liverpool and Leicester had near-identical passing numbers to Celtic in Europe this season. That is consistency of philosophy; a body of work. In the 2024-25 Champions League Rodgers’s side have played more passes than Liverpool, Arsenal or Real Madrid.
“He has helped me think about football in a different way,” McGregor says. “You start to understand the game, how it’s pieced together and how it should look with the ball, without the ball.
“When you see football like that it becomes so simple and you think, ‘How did I not know this before?’ ”
McGregor was important to Rodgers’s Celtic return. In summer 2023, sacked by Leicester after the seeming lack of vision and ambition in the club’s hierarchy sapped his energy, Rodgers envisaged a sabbatical. He accepted Celtic’s offer only after a long heart-to-heart with McGregor in Majorca, where both were holidaying. His doubts were because returning was fraught with hazards.
He’d be replacing Ange Postecoglou, who inspired cult devotion among Celtic fans, many of whom had not forgiven Rodgers for leaving for Leicester in February 2019. They’d held up a banner then that bore the message: “You traded immortality for mediocrity. Never a Celt, always a fraud.”
At his unveiling, Rodgers apologised for hurt caused (“as a Celtic supporter I understood”) and strode out to stand by the Jimmy Johnstone statue outside Celtic Park and address hundreds of gathered supporters. “So for those who have been with me and always with me, let’s enjoy the journey,” he said. “For those I need to convince, I’ll see you here in May.”
It started uncertainly. There was a League Cup exit at the hands of Kilmarnock, Celtic’s first back-to-back league defeats in ten years and, come mid-March, Celtic trailed Rangers, who were seemingly resurgent under their new head coach, Philippe Clement. “Open revolt probably wasn’t too far away,” Donald, a Celtic-supporting friend, recalls.
For the first time in his career Rodgers’s football was even being questioned: his attempts to add control and structure to Celtic’s game were seen as a dilution of the hallowed “Angeball”. He stayed resolute. “A narrative is being written about this group but we’ll write our own narrative,” he said.
Players returned from injury, tactical pennies dropped, the January signings Adam Idah and Nicolas Kühn made a difference and Celtic pulled away from Rangers to win a double. Donald says: “His calmness and conviction was very impressive, and perhaps a sign Rodgers 2.0 was indeed an upgrade.”
Rodgers stayed steady again after Celtic lost their second Champions League game this season 7-1 to Borussia Dortmund. A manager learns from experience and you sometimes just get those games. With Dortmund scoring wonder goals, the expected-goals metric was actually only 2.87-1.67 in the Germans’ favour.
Celtic went on to shut out a superb Atalanta side away from home and shred RB Leipzig on a fevered Celtic Park night. “The one glaring thing from my first time here was doing better in Europe,” Rodgers says.
“[Europe] is something we spoke about. It’s nice when you get nights like Wednesday where you kind of cross a little finish line and reach an objective,” McGregor says.
Rodgers 2.0? “He has more experience, he knows his way around the building. So you probably get a bit more relaxed version of him this time around,” the captain says. “But he’s still so demanding on the players.”
Rodgers has been demanding of himself throughout a coaching journey that started in his early twenties. To support his young family he worked 12-hour shifts at the John Lewis warehouse in Bracknell, Berkshire, starting at 5am so there was time in the evenings to coach.
He learnt Spanish, travelled and absorbed ideas from abroad and though he was pinned as a “Pep Guardiola disciple” when his Swansea side emerged, Chris Davies — now the Birmingham City manager, then Rodgers’s analyst and coached by Rodgers as an under-18 player at Reading — says: “Brendan’s rise has coincided with the rise of the Spanish teams but I can say from experience he was travelling to Spain and Holland, studying and doing these things in the late 1990s. Even if Barcelona had never been successful, Brendan would be playing this way.”
Over the years Rodgers added counterpressing and fast transitions to his game model and there is a list of players (hello, Caglar Soyuncu) who looked great in his teams and much less so after he departed. Rodgers even made Jon Flanagan an international player. “One thing Brendan does is simplify the game. He makes it really, really simple for players. Everyone’s in the right position and then it frees players up to make good decisions and bring their own personality to the game,” McGregor says. “When he came back I was excited for the young lads because I was one of them first time he was here and he opened my eyes.”
There are differences with Rodgers 2.0. He is less hands-on with his coaching, for instance, leaving assistants to take sessions while he patrols and observes. But one trick is unchanged. At Liverpool he produced a 180-page document entitled One vision, one club that he distributed to players; he did similar at Leicester and there is a Celtic version.
“When he came back, he did a big presentation and then gave us a physical copy of that,” McGregor says. “It’s nice to have that reminder you can look at and reference exactly where he wants the team to be at certain points. It’s another example of the way he teaches football.”
Detractors sniff at Rodgers’s penchant for such ploys. The chapter on him in Michael Calvin’s seminal football management book, Living on the Volcano, begins with Calvin pulling Rodgers up for a syrupy line about going jogging in Liverpool and loving “when the doors are open and the dinners are on and you can smell the mince cooking …”
But what’s often missed is that the “Brendanisms” that cynics mock have never seemed schmaltzy to his players. From streetwise veterans like Jamie Carragher to the kids he started off coaching, they have bought into him. All managers are storytellers. “He makes you feel like a million dollars when you walk on to the pitch,” McGregor says.
Schmeichel came to Scottish football for Rodgers. He’ll never forget, at Leicester, Rodgers leaving a family holiday to fly to a charity dinner he had organised. Kieran Tierney is poised to quit Arsenal and reject Bayer Leverkusen and Juventus to rejoin him. However, the impending exit of “modern day legend” (McGregor’s label) Kyogo Furuhashi is a reminder of Celtic’s obstacle: the Japan striker is joining the struggling French team Rennes because he wants to play in a bigger league.
Rodgers is pushing Celtic to be bold in the market (the coveted Danish striker Mathias Kvistgaarden is a target) as they seek a Kyogo replacement and his building of Celtic includes installing Paul Tisdale as head of football operations to oversee talent identification, development and analytics.
Rodgers has promised to be there for the remainder of his contract, which expires in 2026 — a factor that meant he was never in the running to succeed Gareth Southgate as England manager, but his work at Celtic reminds us of his place in the game. Only David Moyes is comparable, in record and talent, among present British/Irish coaches.
Rodgers talks a lot about Celtic maturing. What has the ageing process done for him? “It’s interesting,” he says. “I had a couple of good friends up from Chelsea [where Rodgers was head youth coach under José Mourinho]. They were asking similar questions. From when I was coaching with them to now, 20 years on. What does it look like?
“I think experience helps massively in terms of dealing with problems. When I was a young coach, I was trying to create this philosophy, this model for myself, because I wasn’t a big player, I didn’t have that sort of protection behind me, such that people understood what I was. But once you have longevity and experience you understand more about yourself and regulate the pressure more.”
The grin after Schmeichel’s save? “I’m here at a club that’s really authentic. Brilliant players, brilliant people that work hard. I had a point to prove and had to shake off some things that, for some people, will never be shaken off, maybe. But for me the most important thing was Celtic and giving the best I possibly could. And I absolutely love them,” Rodgers says, smiling.
“The moment the other night, maybe ten, 15 years ago you’re different but now you know that it’s what happens. Kasper makes the great save. You understand that’s the flip of a coin, at times, of being a football manager.”
Next to Villa Park where Rodgers is determined “to finish the group stage the best possible way we can”. Celtic fans will be there in boisterous number, enjoying a team who, as McGregor says, retain the “speed and aggression” of the Postecoglou edition but possess added tactical layers.
My mate Alec, another Celtic fan, puts it a certain way. “What’s different second time round? Maybe we should think of Brendan and the support as a relationship that just needed a break. We got our Angeball. Brendan got his spectacular major trophy in England. On a human level he’s returned to Celtic a more fulfilled individual.
“And we probably grew up and recognised that actually — fair play — Brendan needed to do what he did.”
Focus on CL first half of the week with the transfers to follow.
Jota , KT and Mathias would be terrific additions to the team.
Young Mathias based on selective video evidence looks a cracker , what’s not to like?
HH
Nice article Deniabhoy
Thanks for sharing.
My car is in for a service today and according to the app the technician is Chris Sutton. Wondered what his day job is.
Actually it explains a lot with his comments
He’s got a good engine
He put the brakes on that attack
He’s been flat this half
He’s got an inflated transfer value
He’s got nothing left in the tank
His acceleration is incredible
I’m sure the fans could throttle him right now
He’s had a clutch of chances
Well that went down like a leaded balloon
He’s clocked up some miles
Chairbhoy
I hope you are right re our managers capabilities and commitment.
A sense of perspective re busting myths.
His track record is not great. Just take a look at Leicester and the mess left there.
Right now he is doing ok for us short term against a bankrupt rival and after inheriting a winning team and against the weakest set of opponents we could have wished for in CL draw. 11th and 5th in Germany and 8th in England plus 3rd in Italy as our top challenges and then 2nd in Belgium, 3rd in Croatia and 9th in Switzerland plus Slovan.
He hasn’t come close to doing what WGS did on a fraction of the budget. I hope he does though. I really do.
He’s looking exhausted
Och a knew there would be a but …
Thanks for the comments ghuys…
Will get back later…
Hail Hail
DENIABHOY on 27TH JANUARY 2025 10:05 AM
That was a very good read. It certainly makes SOME CQN comments look a wee bit uninformed.
Burnley78 on 27th January 2025 11:16 am
“He hasn’t come close to doing what WGS did on a fraction of the budget.”
I loved GS as a manager despite a dip in the quality of football (to my eyes) as I was mindful that he was part of a cost cutting era following deliberate over spending during the MON years due to competing against an EBT funded rival however not sure that you can compare the two.
He was able to sign players from PSV and Real and despite the cost cutting era, wages remained pretty high, not to mention how much more player you could get for much less in those days the transfer fees and wages were not as skewed as they are now. His signing policy with regards to experienced players rather than development prospects was similar in ways to what some object to nowadays also.
During GS time we lost 5-0 to Bratislava, were put out of cups by Clyde and Aberdeen amongst others iirc. A lot of the football was effective but not great to watch and you could argue he only won 3-iar due to a midfield change he tripped over.
Our Last 16 was achieved with a reasonable group draw, Milan, Benfica and Shaktar so there are parallels there for me.
I share concerns over BR’s interest in our long term health rather than the short term fixation / self interest but whilst cash in the bank remains healthy and we are still trading well I think the club are getting the balance just about right.
QB
BURNLEY78 on 27TH JANUARY 2025 11:16 AM
You seem to have become a bit negative of late. Any particular reason for that?
Cheerio for now.
new article posted.
Cheers Paul67. Will grab a podium!
Chairbhoy
“ The Ange rea moved us on…”
Any relation to Chris?
Deniabhoy………..Interesting article by Jonathan Northcroft in the Times. He mentions on a couple times the all important goal and the sublime pass by Hatate that resulted in Celtic’s historic passage into the last 16 of the new European competition, obviously he never heard of Adam Idah who stilll had a lot of work to do before that ball ended up in the back of the net.
Pity Celtic will be heading for the game against Aston Villa without the services of Kyogo and and Daizan Maeda this week two of our top goaladors, could be described as one step forward and two steps backward. I presume the majority of the intelligensia at Celtic football club have third level education which i don’t, but why not keep Kyogo ’til at least the end of the month or preferably the summer.
Regarding Kyogo’s move to France which he thinks may help his selection for Japanese world cup squad, obviously the manager of his country doesn’t have a problem having Maeda as an automatic choice and playing in the SPFL.
Kyogo has been a wonderful player and will be sorely missed and wish him every success in the future.