With Michael Beale currently in the midst of what he has described as the biggest rebuild of the Rangers squad in years, there is no doubt what Brendan Rodgers’ main objective at Celtic will be next season.
Fending off the challenge of the new-look Ibrox side and retaining the Scottish title will be the Northern Irishman’s top priority in the new term.
Failure to maintain the Parkhead club’s domestic dominance will not go down well with their fans, many of whom were deeply unhappy when Rodgers was brought in to replace Ange Postecoglou last month, or in the boardroom.
But doing well in Europe and reaching either the Champions League or Europa League knockout rounds would also do much to endear a man who became persona non grata in the East End of Glasgow when he left for Leicester City before the end of the 2018/2019 campaign to supporters and directors.
Success on the continent has proved elusive for Celtic in the past 10 years. They have reached the last 32 of the Europa League three times during that period. However, on each occasion they have failed to progress further. Followers of the first British club to lift the European Cup long for, and believe they deserve, much better.
Rodgers had decidedly mixed fortunes against overseas opposition during his first trophy-laden stint in Scotland.
He led his side through to the Champions League group stages twice in his first two seasons. However, they suffered heavy and humiliating defeats at the hands of Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain when they got there due to their manager’s refusal to adopt more defensive tactics and were unable to finish in the top two in their section. Can he improve his record?
John Hartson was no stranger to glory on foreign fields during the five seasons that he spent plying his trade in this country. The Welsh internationalist scored memorable goals against Celta Vigo and Liverpool as Martin O’Neill’s men went all the way to the UEFA Cup final in 2003.
He is convinced that Rodgers, who took Leicester through to the Conference League semi-finals two seasons ago, is more than capable of finally delivering the European results which Celtic fans crave in the months and seasons ahead and will be determined to do well on two fronts.
“He has to make his mark in Europe this time around,” said Hartson, who is now a McDonald’s Fun Football ambassador. “I don’t think his job depends on it or anything, but he will want to himself. Celtic were disappointing in Europe when he was here before.
“I know last season the team had a few good games in the Champions League under Ange and could have pulled off some surprise results if they had taken their chances. But it was still a disappointing campaign when you look at the teams who were in the group.
“Real Madrid were always going to be the favourites and were always going to win the group. But RB Leipzig and Shakhtar Donetsk were beatable. I know Celtic gave Real Madrid a scare in the first-half in the home game. But they could have done better in the other games.
“Brendan will want to keep winning domestically. Celtic love winning leagues and have done so in 11 of the last 12 seasons. I wouldn’t be taking my eye off that if I was him. But he will want to do better in Europe as well.
“Of course, with Rangers getting to the Europa League final a couple of seasons ago, Celtic will want to push on in Europe with the quality they have. Brendan will certainly be looking to get to the latter stages of competitions. I am not saying they should be winning or getting to semi-finals. But he will want to progress.”
Rodgers admitted at his official unveiling at Parkhead last week that he has learned to take a more pragmatic approach – something he stubbornly refused to do previously - when the occasion demands it during his four years at Leicester City.
He stressed he will have no qualms about Celtic sitting deep and soaking up pressure when they play against the cream of the continent in the Champions League group stages next term.
Hartson is interested to see how the treble winners, who earned plaudits for their performances in Europe’s premier club competition last season despite only picking up two paltry points, set up when they play their opening match in September.
He is optimistic they will give a far better account of themselves with their new manager, who has faced expensively assembled English giants like Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United and Newcastle United on a regular basis in recent seasons, in the dugout.
“I think Brendan is better placed to get Celtic into the latter rounds of Europe than he was before,” said the man who netted for Arsenal in their European Cup Winners’ Cup final defeat to Real Zaragoza in Paris in 1995.
“He has always been a very good manager. But at Leicester City they won the FA Cup, finished fifth in the Premier League and came very, very close to getting into the Champions League. They looked nailed on to get into the top four at one point. They also got to the semi-finals of the Conference League.
“People have said that he didn’t do very well at Leicester. Yes, last season it all unravelled a little bit for him. He got sacked and his replacement Dean Smith just couldn’t quite do enough to keep them in the Premier League in the last seven or eight games.
“People have had a pop at him because of the situation the club were in when he left. But if you look at the whole time he was at Leicester, I thought he did very well in the first couple of seasons.
“I think managers get better with experience. They learn from recent mistakes, they learn on the training ground, they see different things every day. I think Brendan four years on from his last spell at Celtic, when he really formed a fantastic team and owned Scottish football for two or three seasons, will hope to make a far bigger impact in Europe.”
McDonald’s are pledging to provide 10 million hours of FREE Fun Football coaching over the next four years as part of the largest grassroots football programme in the UK. Start your kids football journey by visiting McDonalds.co.uk/Football
