It is the reunion that at once makes perfect sense and very little sense at all.
Let’s start with the latter: four years ago, Brendan Rodgers departed Glasgow’s east end to a level of vitriol that suggested he may never again be welcomed back through the doors of Celtic Park. ‘Never a Celt, always a fraud’ was the fans’ banner at the club’s very next fixture – unequivocal stuff as to the extent to which Rodgers had burned his bridges.
It was not only that he had left for Leicester City in what felt like the middle of the night, but the timing as Celtic approached a crucial point of their season and attempts to take his entire backroom team south of the border left a fanbase feeling painfully betrayed. Here was the man they had entrusted to deliver 10 titles in a row, upping sticks at the first chance of a return to the Premier League.
It was the bitterest of pills to swallow and left a heavily lingering resentment, which is why it feels a little surreal that Rodgers is now closing in on a sensational return to Scottish football.
He has held extensive discussions with Celtic's hierarchy and the club has made up its collective mind that he is the outstanding candidate, that the pros outweigh the cons.
The rather obvious upside to rehiring Rodgers is the unprecedented success he brought with him last time. The Northern Irishman won two consecutive trebles for the first time in Scottish football history and did not lose a single domestic match across an all-conquering debut season. His Celtic were a winning machine in the SPFL, and the attraction to rekindling relations with such a figure is obvious.
To be honest, if it is the maintenance of current domestic dominance that Celtic crave above all, it is difficult to make a superior case for anyone else. For example, Maresca’s only senior managerial experience was a 14-game spell at Parma in Serie B, a veritable world away from the demand to win convincingly every single he would face at Parkhead, regardless of his strong reputation as a coach.
Rodgers’ preference for attacking football also makes him a viable continuity option to the expansive Ange Postecoglou. Celtic were truly scintillating in that 2016/17 season, and Rodgers would find a squad littered with goalscorers and creative influences at his disposal should he chart a course for Lennoxtown in the near future.
He is also regarded as a highly personable man-manager. His effect on players already on the building following his first appointment was profound; Scott Brown enjoyed a career renaissance many considered unlikely, Stuart Armstrong improved markedly, Callum McGregor took his game to another level, Ryan Christie became a key player and Kieran Tierney made the club £25million.
There are several players in the current squad whose potential to improve further is vast, and Rodgers has a proven track record in that area. Across the board, Celtic’s contract situation is strong, and while some big sales are likely, there will be no mass turnover of players that would require a new manager to start from scratch.
Rodgers ticks plenty of boxes, but there are other considerations – the most obvious being how his appointment will be received. As news of Celtic’s interest becomes public, this will have allowed the club to gauge which way the wind is blowing.
Social media is hardly the most reliable barometer of public opinion but, if anything, negative perceptions are often amplified above what’s actually happening in the real world. Basically, there would probably be no need for mass confiscation of torches and pitchforks the first time Rodgers sets foot back in Celtic Park.
Celtic will be aware that a ropey start to any potential reunion could bring some ill-feeling back to the fore, but it also feels a relatively safe bet that any remaining anger would dissipate completely amid the glow of a few wins over Rangers. It already appears plenty of punters are thawing on the idea of taking Rodgers back.
The only other concern the club and fans may hold over the 50-year-old would be recruitment. There were undoubted transfer successes on his watch, namely Moussa Dembele, Scott Sinclair, and Odsonne Edouard. But there is no ignoring Marvin Compper, Youssouf Mulumbu, Marian Shved, Jeremy Toljan, Oliver Burke, and a few others Celtic fans would probably rather not be reminded of.
And yet it would be unfair to pin those missteps entirely on Rodgers. The more significant signings of his reign tended to be successes, and the way many of his latter-day arrivals consisted of loans and short-term fixes suggests the Celtic board may have become unwilling to make expensive long-term investments for a manager they suspected may not be around for much longer. Clarity on recruitment will surely have been a feature of recent discussions, and there are growing indications that both Rodgers and Celtic are increasingly aligned.
The consistently excellent recruitment of the past two seasons suggests Celtic have improved on that front. Postecoglou and his knowledge of untapped markets was clearly a factor but there has been an efficiency, decisiveness, and forward-thinking feel to Celtic’s recent business. This points to significant improvements behind the scenes.
But what does Rodgers himself stand to gain from coming back? This is a man who achieved just about everything he could in Scottish football, short of delivering ‘the 10’. Nobody in their right mind believes he would hang about for the eight consecutive title-winning seasons it would take for him to make good on that one. By the time he left in February 2019, Rodgers seemed disillusioned with his surroundings, and he has since managed under the bright lights of Anfield, Old Trafford, and the Emirates in the four intervening years.
Does the idea of playing the same teams with vastly inferior resources – a gap that will only continue to grow – four times a season really appeal to him that much? Even the most ardent Celtic fan might struggle to present a convincing case there.
It does, therefore, stand to reason that the Champions League has caught Rodgers’ eye. He guided Celtic there twice in his own tenure, but only via a protracted qualification process that proved too treacherous to overcome in his third and final season. But fast forward five years and Celtic have guaranteed entry to the group stage and an entire summer to recruit for it, unhindered by trips to far-flung corners of Europe.
Rodgers is unlikely to be courted by any of the Premier League’s current top four in the near future, so there’s every chance he sees this as his most viable route back to competing at the very elite level of the game. It is the one area from his original stint where he may feel there is unfinished business.
A draw against Manchester City and an admittedly memorable home win over RB Leipzig aside, Celtic failed to flourish on the continent under Rodgers’ guidance. His European travails have been remembered more for the harrowing nights than the exhilarating ones.
Could he be keen to create a new legacy there, and wash away the pain of his exit for good? It feels increasingly like he might be about to get the chance.
