Brendan Rodgers may return to Celtic with things to prove. Not to a fanbase in terms of his loyalty.
But in terms of making a proper dent in the Champions League, defeating a more competitive Rangers and showing he can take on Ange Postecoglou’s brilliant attacking style and lift it up to even more enthralling levels. Rodgers’ Northern Irish compatriot Steve Lomas doesn’t feel some fan unrest is a major issue.
The boss may have angered large sections of the support when he walked out of the door to Leicester in February 2019, but he’d also handed them trophy after trophy before he went. Former St Johnstone manager Lomas said: “Brendan Rodgers had unbelievable success before he left and is a Celtic fan. They say you should never go back, but I don’t believe in that. It’s a fallacy Listen, there are people running football clubs who have done some pretty unforgivable things. Football is a very fickle sport. As long as you are winning, everything is all right.
“This talk about people being sincere and all of that, look at what’s happening in golf. People like to have the morality and stuff, but there is very little morality in football. Apart from the fans who are the ones turning up and paying their money. They are the ones who do it every week no matter what.
“Let’s have it right, if you are being brutally honest, if Brendan goes back to Celtic and wins, that’s what it is all about, isn’t it? At Rangers and Celtic, it’s about winning. Everything is immaterial except for that.”
Lomas knows what it’s like to face a tough crowd. He was, after all, an ex-West Ham InterToto Cup-winning skipper who was appointed the manager of fierce-rivals Millwall in 2013 after his splendid two-year spell in Perth.
But he says that crossover is not at all comparable to a Rodgers and Celtic reunion and he stated: “Nah, listen, that was a totally different scenario. Yes, of course, I was going there as an ex-West Ham captain, so I was up against it from day one.
“On top of that, there was no money to change things and it was almost an impossible job. In terms of Scottish football, Celtic have got finances, so Brendan can go in there with a strong squad.
“There might be a few Ange wants to take to Spurs, but the team that he has left there is pretty good. I don’t care what anyone says and I laugh. People talk about coaching and stuff and, of course, that side of the game and management are important.
“But you look at Leicester having money and then them having no money. It doesn’t matter how good you are as a coach or manager, if you haven’t got the players, you are snookered. So that is one of the things that would be in Brendan’s favour, especially in Scotland.
“He’ll go from losing most weeks to winning most weeks and then throw the Champions League in there. Celtic is massive, anyway. They are a great club with great history.
“He’s in a very fortunate position having been with a relegated Leicester and then having a chance to go into Celtic. I don’t think he’d be taking it lightly. It’s just whether he wants to go back to Scottish football. If he simply wants back into the game, Celtic is a fantastic job.”
Instead of the challenges being in the stands, it might be affairs on the park that provide the biggest and most tempting motivations. Despite a blistering and unblemished record on the trophy front, Rodgers was unable to make progress beyond the group stage of the Champions League and that is an obvious target and incentive for any incoming Celtic boss.
Domestically, when he arrived, the challenge from across the city at Ibrox was weak under Mark Warburton and it could be argued was only really beginning to sustain a decent effort under Steven Gerrard just as Rodgers left for Leicester.
Intriguingly, as well as those aspects, Lomas also looks at the style of the Postecoglou sides. Although Celtic played some fabulous stuff in Rodgers’ Invincible Treble term, many Parkhead fans feel the high-octane performances under the departed Aussie took those thrill levels up another notch.
Lomas reasoned: “You could possibly say Ange maybe played even better football and argued he played even more attacking, so could it be Brendan would actually now be going back and has something to prove. Maybe that is something he wants.
“I suppose the other thing he has to look at is, all right Celtic are winning in Scotland, but the next big thing is to make some waves in the Champions League because the recent record has been pretty poor, really.
“There is something there for him to prove. There’s ambition there. Being brutally honest as well, Rangers were maybe not as strong. Maybe in his last season, they were coming back, but he has actually got a Rangers now who are now back being competitive.
“The jury is still out on whether or not Michael Beale is a big enough character for the job. It’s great Michael has the fantastic opportunity and I hope he does well. He’s obviously a very good coach having served his time under Stevie, but sometimes that is immaterial. It’s about players and recruitment.
“Ange’s recruitment was second to none. That’s why he got the Tottenham job and why we’re talking about Brendan and Celtic again. He went to Leicester and I thought the first couple of seasons were excellent and then, as I said, I thought he was a bit unfortunate then having no money. You can’t argue with a record of seven out of seven trophies won during his first spell at Celtic, but there is still stuff there for him to prove.”
