The Good Luck With Everything Brendan Rodgers Thread

Brendan never meant those original comments,

Even if he did, Celtic is a club steeped in Roman Catholic forgiveness.

Bad football results would be more adverse.

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More likely he didn’t realise how scummy a lot of Celtic fans are and shit himself afterwards

Sign of a true republican that he’s not afraid to confess his sins, request forgiveness, serve his penance and carry on as before.

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And they didn’t even have to kneecap him.

Stay forever.

Dragging Bitton over to the Green Brigade at full time. :clap:

:brendan: :brendanback:

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He’s a wonderful specimen of human being.

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You wanted him sacked a month ago :rollseyes:

:rollseyes:

Do you even read this thread?

Yes. Haven’t I just replied to you on it ffs sake :rollseyes:

How Brendan Rodgers got his mojo back

Taking Celtic job has re-invigorated manager, who found he ‘got tired’ towards the end of his Liverpool reign
Jonathan Northcroft, Football correspondent

“Last Christmas, I gave you my heart, but the very next day, you gave it away.
This year, to save me from tears, I gave it to Brendan Rodgers.” — Celtic fans

He was unveiled with 13,000 in the stands to hail a messiah, his uncle wet-eyed in the press room. Celtic Park, last May: 16 months on Brendan Rodgers and his football club are still surfing the wave of love energy. “I got tired towards the end at Liverpool,” Rodgers told a Premier League coaches’ conference recently. “I was absolutely flying, nearly won the league, played a great brand of football but felt as time went on my sort of control went, and I probably resigned myself a wee bit.”

No danger of that at Celtic Park. This is Brendan’s club. Scotland is a landscape becoming shaped by him (six Celtic players now in the national team). And he’s older, wiser, probably harder, and certainly more zealous than ever. Post-Liverpool, he reflected on how much a boss sets their workplace tone. “Just never get tired,” he told the coaches. “Everything you’re creating, the culture, the environment, the standards…just never get tired of doing it.”

And so, last week, Rodgers and his staff prepared for a visit to Hamilton Accies with the same focus, same zest as for the following game: Paris Saint-Germain. Scott Brown was same as ever, training full bore in shorts and t-shirt despite torrential rain. Brown wears the same attire even when it’s snowing.

Rodgers loves that, his captain’s hardy, up-for-it-ness, and that starlet Kieran Tierney wears the same. It’s not just quality but zeal that has taken Celtic to 54 domestic games unbeaten and if the Champions League is different, the approach is not. Last September Celtic lost 7-0 at Barcelona and Rodgers “felt we were intimidated. But now we’ve had a year together and play without fear wherever we go.”

A performance similar to the 3-3 draw with then-rampant Manchester City, in the game following the 7-0, “is the level” Celtic need reach on Tuesday, says Rodgers. “Domestically we dominate, we counter-press. [In Europe] we work on a different side of our game, counterattack.” The plan is more measured but still offensive.

“Our identity is important. I’ve always been about playing without fear and ensuring they know they’re in a game,” says Rodgers. “I always want us to really test the opponent, see how they feel under pressure when you’re breathing right up against them.”

If there’s hope, it’s that PSG folded in pressure spots (Nou Camp 2017, Etihad 2016) in previous campaigns, and Celtic Park can blow away any European team. The flipside, of course, is PSG adding £370m of talent, Neymar and Kylian Mbappé, to an already daunting attack and injuries leave Rodgers improvising in defence.

Rodgers wanted another centre-back in the summer, but Everton wouldn’t release Phil Jagielka and Jason Denayer was promised to Galatasaray. He may have to play Tierney in the middle with Erik Sviatchenko out and Dedryck Boyata only back in training this weekend. But, without fear: the two words with which Rodgers always signs off his programme notes. Neymar? He scored one and assisted four goals in that 7-0. “He’s like a motorbike, he’s so fast and balanced. He commits people. The best players go at people, they don’t pass it all the time,” Rodgers says.

If Neymar encapsulates PSG’s opulent ambition, Tierney symbolises where Celtic are: attempting to grow towards elite classs from disadvantaged base. “Kieran’s a wonderful example of what I would call the silver medalist. Guys like Neymar are the gold medallists, that’s where they always are, but Kieran had to fight.

“The (Scotland) under-17 team had eight players from Celtic’s academy and he wasn’t one. But make no mistake, this is now a young player who can play at the very top of the Premier League if that’s ever where he wants to go. He’s got an incredible, old-school determination. He lives his life right, he doesn’t drink or do stupid things, he’s in every day training like a dog. He fights, he runs, he’s aggressive — and he’s a lovely boy.”

Rodgers found Celtic “a bit broken” when he arrived. Ronny Deila filled the squad with such as Tyler Blackett, Teemu Pukki and Carlton Cole. The contrast is Rodgers rebooting the Scots at their core via his playing ideas; promoting kids like Tierney and recruiting youthful flair: Moussa Dembele, Patrick Roberts and, now, from PSG themselves, loanee Odsonne Édouard.

In Slovenia, during his first pre-season, he asked players to list three values they wanted central to their group. The answers were dedication, respect and watching each other’s backs. Rodgers and his gifted young No 2, Chris Davies, have re-enforced these values ever since.

Rodgers laid a gauntlet back. Celtic had five titles in a row, but Deila’s last was scruffy. “Could we win in a better way?” Rodgers challenged. In fact, could we win the best way we possibly could?
Individuals have bought in: Brown, reinvented as controlling midfielder, Craig Gordon as ball-playing goalkeeper. Upon arriving, when Rodgers and Davies watched videos of their new team, their eyes were drawn to Leigh Griffiths’ box-craft — not just his finishing but way he worked himself opportunities. Good enough for any level, Rodgers and Davies concluded. A striker once seen as mere Scottish Premiership bully has been worked on, broadened, elevated. Development makes Rodgers happiest and don’t bet against him fulfilling the four-year contract signed in April.

He’s 44, there’s still plenty time for a Premier League return, and friends have never seen him so fulfilled. He’s aware there can be snooty dismissal of achievements north of the border, like his undefeated treble, but who, south of the border, understands the dynamics?

Glasgow, Europe’s football-daftest city. Scotland, the most physically committed league. Limitless expectations, limited budget. Even when winning nine in a row with Rangers, Walter Smith remarked he was only two defeats from crisis and three from the sack.

“Listen, I came here because of Celtic,” says Rodgers. “but I’ve got to say, I’ve absolutely loved it. I’ve seen many parts of Scotland I wasn’t aware of. I’ve met many great coaches, great managers. What’s missing up here is finance. The TV deal is nowhere near. The Premier League is the best, most competitive league; the finances are there. But there’s something with that, that’s uncomfortable.

“I look and see Frank De Boer under pressure after three games: I mean, what is that? Slaven Bilic has done a great job, but he’s under pressure. I look and think, great league, brilliant clubs, but it’s going a different way. You get up here and it’s really authentic. You get authentic clubs. Clubs that are fighting for their lives, trying to do the best they possibly can.

“The games… you’re expected to win at Celtic, but they’re still tough games. Ask any player. If you were playing for Liverpool, a real tough game was away at Mansfield, Oldham. Because those players fight, they get in your face. Well, here it’s like that every game.

“It’s always been the case (Scottish football is belittled). It doesn’t go away, but there’s still an incredible environment here to play in, and work in, and one that leaves you happy, one that leads to actually see the fruits of your work — which is development

“And I love the tactical challenge. We played Aberdeen six times last year, Rangers six times, and in those games you’re having to find different ways to win. Lots of teams sit in against you, so tactically, can you find ways to win?

“In every way, I’ve become a better manager up here: tactically, working at a huge club, and being able to have the freedom to work.”

Fifty seasons ago Celtic entered the European Cup as holders. The Lisbon Lions commemorations further whetted Rodgers’ European appetite. His players get to wear a jersey with a European star, PSG’s do not.

A motivation for them? “That’s right,” says Rodgers, laughing. “Follow the star! Come to us… you get a star. There you only get 600 grand a week.”

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I really like what he’s doing at Celtic in building them up in Europe. I hope he doesn’t have his head turned by someone like Arsenal.

:brendan:

:shamrock:

:ireland:

:brendanback:

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image

7 (seven) trophies from 7.

The first Celtic manager to win 3 League Cup Finals in a row since Jock Stein.

He has us playing some stuff in the last 2 months after the behind the scenes turmoil last summer.

Brendan Rodgers. :brendan: :heart_eyes: :brendanback: :shamrock: :ireland: :soccer:

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Off to Leicester ??

5 year deal.

He’s done all he can at Celtic sure.