Back in 2017 the Celtic support believed that Brendan Rodgers walked on water after the former Liverpool manager put himself in the history books by claiming a first-ever Invincible treble immediately after arriving in Glasgow.
That prompted the Parkhead powerbrokers to award him a new and improved four-year deal (he’d initially been on a one-year rolling contract) and many saw significance in the length of that agreement.
When Brendan finished in pole position at his first attempt it was a sixth consecutive title for the club and fans believed the Irishman would be there to deliver the much-coveted record-breaking ten in a row.
It didn’t work out that way, of course, and there are still sections of the fanbase who haven’t forgiven him for quitting to join Leicester City in February 2019.
Neil Lennon came in to steady the ship and got as far as nine-in-a-row before Steven Gerrard’s Rangers stopped the ten in 2021.
Lennon is convinced, though, that Rodgers can get the doubters back onside with more record-breaking achievements.
Rodgers publicly declared this week that he won’t walk out on the Hoops before the end of the three-year deal he’s signed and Lennon claims that his fellow Irishman can smash Rangers’ record of 55 titles – Celtic are currently on 53 – by the time that agreement ends.
Pundits and former players have stressed that Rangers are a different proposition now than when Rodgers’ team frequently scored four or five against them at Parkhead, Ibrox and Hampden during his first spell in Glasgow and Lennon agrees but still backs Brendan to come out on top.
“He’ll see that as a challenge and he’ll embrace it,” he argued. “You want to be pushed because it keeps you and your players on their toes.
“Celtic already have a guaranteed goalscorer in Kyogo Furuhashi and I’m sure Brendan will add another to that department as well.
“Look at it this way. Brendan’s signed a three-year contract and has publicly promised to fulfil it. If he can win the league in each of those seasons then Celtic will have overtaken Rangers with 56 titles.
“That’s an incentive for the board, the management and the players. It’ll be just one more thing which we have over them, added to the European Cup win, the Invincible Treble, the Quadruple Treble and two nine-in-a-rows.
“So if Brendan can reach 56 before Rangers then the section of the support who are still wary of him would forget all about the fact he didn’t stay – as they used to sing – for ten in a row.”
Lennon has been in touch Rodgers since he came back and reckons he’s pumped up by the prospect of more success in Scotland.
“I bumped into Brendan last week and he told me he’d planned to take a year out in Majorca after leaving Leicester but when Celtic come calling – especially given the situation he was in – you don’t say no,” he stressed.
“His priority will be winning the league, continuing to dominate the landscape here in Scotland and going further in the Champions League.
“Some say this is a step backwards for him but it really isn’t. If you’re working as a manager then there aren’t that many clubs who can give you the opportunity to compete in the Champions League.
“Everyone wants to take on the best teams and the best coaches so those are the pros of coming back. As for the cons, if he doesn’t get off to a great start then the fans may start doubting him but I don’t believe that will worry Brendan at all.”
Lennon, a League Cup winner with Leicester, is also convinced that his former club would still be in the Premier League if they’d kept faith with Rodgers.
Instead, after a defeat by Crystal Palace saw them drop into the bottom three with ten games still to play, the Foxes owners pressed the panic button and sacked him.
“I thought he did a great job at Leicester,” said Lennon. “He won the FA Cup for the first time in their history, had two fifth-place finishes and also reached the semi-finals of the Europa Conference League, which suggests he’s learned to be a bit more pragmatic.
“They made a mistake in sacking him in my opinion, particularly with the fixtures they had left: I believe he would have kept them up if he’d stayed.
“Brendan was the outstanding candidate for the Celtic job and it helps that he’s familiar with the club and the league, although there will have been changes here and there since he left in 2019.
“Unlike his first time, he’s now taking over a team which has just won a treble and he’ll be looking to continue in that vein. At 50, he still has the appetite for success which you need at Parkhead.”
Rodgers’ will also have noted that if he can win the treble for a third time in the forthcoming campaign Celtic will move ahead of Rangers with 119 major trophies to their derby rivals’ 117.
