IT was not so very long ago that it was Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers, not his under-fire Rangers counterpart Philippe Clement, who was having his signings, his team selections, his tactics and even his suitability for his job questioned by all and sundry in Scottish football.
Indeed, it was only in September last year that the Northern Irishman went into an Old Firm game at Ibrox desperately needing to win to alleviate the intense pressure he was under following a disappointing run of results.
So it was maybe, with that difficult experience still relatively fresh in his memory, no surprise yesterday when Rodgers admitted he has sympathy with anyone who is in the position that Clement finds himself in ahead of the William Hill Premiership match between the city rivals in Govan tomorrow afternoon.
The Belgian, whose team fell no fewer than 14 points behind the runaway leaders and defending champions in the league table when they were held to a 2-2 draw by Motherwell at Fir Park on Sunday, has been savaged by supporters and pundits in recent days.
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It is highly doubtful that he will survive in his position for much longer even if his injury-ravaged side somehow manage to come out on top in their first fixture of 2025 such is the level of unhappiness in the stands.
His opposite number - who has, it is fair to say, overcome the shaky start which he experienced to his second spell in charge of his boyhood heroes and silenced his doubters - appreciates exactly what he is going through.
“I have empathy for every manager and coach because until the curtains go back and the spotlight is on you, you can never ever even begin to imagine what it feels like,” said Rodgers.
“People can sit so close to you and be there, but until you’re charged with leading a team and club and what comes with that, then you’ll never truly get the grasp of it and what it means. So, for every coach and manager, particularly every manager, I have real empathy for.
“Because at times you’re biting your tongue. You’re having to listen or acknowledge people that couldn’t manage their way out of an empty room. And you have to bite your tongue.
That, however, will not stop Rodgers going for the jugular at Ibrox. He wants Celtic to take exactly the same attacking approach to the game against Rangers tomorrow as they did when he was “on death watch” early last season despite their commanding Premiership lead.
“I hear the talk about a ‘dead rubber’,” he said. “There is never a Rangers-Celtic game that’s a dead rubber, not in my book. There’s always pressure of some sort. You want to win every game and you want to perform at the very best level. For me, I love the occasion, I love the game. It’s an iconic game and one that I always want to win.”
“Yes, the gap really doesn’t come into it, I have to say. I went there last season, my first game since I came back, under pressure and all the rest of it. Now I go there with a 14-point lead. But there’s no change for us. The mentality is to go and perform and look to play our game.”
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Rodgers continued: “We always want to start well and finish strong. It’s always our approach to any game. You are always going to have moments in the game where you have to defend and the crowd will push them.
“But that’s always how we aim to play. We want to bring our own game which is a pressing game and a passing game with penetration which allows us to create and score goals.
“We want to control the game and find a way to dominate the game. If we can’t for whatever reason because the home team has pressure then we stay calm in our defending, defend when we have to and then we get back to our own structure.
“We go into this game with a real attacking mindset, being really aggressive in our game and playing the level of game we have played consistently now for a period of time - despite the mini slumps!”
“Hopefully this will be the last one of these types of games,” he said. “I understand the game. I understood it as a supporter and I understood it from the first game I had as manager in September 2016. I’ve enjoyed every single one of them. That pressure will always be there and especially a game at Ibrox with no supporters. But that makes it even better.”
Rodgers is keen for Celtic to give a better account of themselves tomorrow than they did in the Premier Sports Cup final earlier this month despite the penalty shootout win they recorded at Hampden.
It is, with the number of key Rangers players who are missing and the growing disaffection in the stands, difficult to see past another away win if the visitors do perform to the best of their abilities.
"We won the game, which is what a cup final is all about,” he said. “But in the first half we weren't clean enough on our work. It was our positioning and not playing forwards in the areas we wanted to. Sometimes the occasion can bring that.
“It's very difficult for me to forecast what game Rangers will bring, what game they will play. You try to anticipate that, but it's very difficult to at times. You can really only focus on your own game. These types of games can throw up something. But for us it's about going to perform and performing well and seeing what that brings.”
