On Tuesday 26 February 2019, it was confirmed that Brendan Rodgers had left Celtic to join Leicester City. What followed was expected, the Irishman was labelled a traitor, a rat, a liar and that is putting it mildly.
Four years later and the once scorned former Celtic manager is now the favourite for the job after Ange Postecoglou’s sudden exit for Tottenham after the Tuesday after the Scottish cup final win completed a treble.
Things can change very quickly in football as we have seen, but not many could have foreseen the possible return of the man who kickstarted Celtic’s utter domination of Scottish football back in 2016.
But was Rodgers right to leave Celtic all the way back in 2019, and is he the right man to take Celtic forward now? Firstly, we must compare Celtic’s 2018/19 season and the most recent 2022/23 season. When doing so, is seems to be a tale of two transfer windows.
Upon looking at Celtic’s transfer business this season, £30 million was spent on respective players. After successful loan spells the previous season, Cameron Carter-Vickers and Jota make up almost half of Celtic’s total outlay on players and were two key additions to Ange Postecoglou’s squad. Other key signings were Alistair Johnston (replacing the departed Josip Juranovic), Hyeon-Gyu Oh, Sead Hakšabanović and Aaron Mooy who all contributed to a historic treble winning season.
In stark contrast, Celtic’s spent just under £15 million in the 2018/19 season, with two-thirds of it spent on the returning Paris Saint Germain loanee Odsonne Edouard. Back-to-back UEFA Champions League Group stages, along with £31 million generated from player sales would have left Brendan Rodgers expecting a significant transfer budget in order to further progress and compete among Europe’s elite.
But this was not the case.
Besides breaking the clubs transfer record for Edouard, Celtic spent just £4 million on projects Vakoun Bayo and Maryan Shved who would both ultimately fail in Glasgow and you have to remember that Rodgers distanced himself from these signings which were clearly coming in through the CEO/Director of Football’s office.
Underwhelming free transfers signings of Emilio Izaguirre and Youssouf Mulumbu (another Peter Lawwell after Rodgers target John McGinn waited and waited and waited but Peter Lawwell refused to meet the £2 million asking price) rather were an insult to the managerial ability of Brendan Rodgers and eek of players who Rodgers did not want or sign himself.
Unsurprisingly, Celtic failed to reach the group stages of the UEFA Champions League after a dismal transfer window and Rodgers would feel he was back to where he had started at Celtic.
After an average Europa League group stage campaign, Celtic progressed to the last 32 where they would lose out to Valencia 3-0 on aggregate.
Rodgers would leave five days later to a club in Leicester City with ambition and willingness to invest in players, two things Celtic did not have under the careless, out of date stewardship of Peter Lawwell.
Looking back, Rodgers was right to swap the East End of Glasgow for Leicester City. But questions remain regarding his potential return to the club.
Rodgers seems to lack the tactical individuality and detail Ange brought to Celtic. The Irishman’s 4-2-3-1 is past its sell by date in modern football, and his style of play would suit a rejuvenated Michael Beale and his team next season.
Celtic should always be looking forward as a club and not relying on the return of former players and managers. We have seen even recently that doing so is a dangerous game, with the return of Neil Lennon leading to the ultimate failure of the 2021/22 season.
Memories of success is ultimately what supporting Celtic is about. Although most players and managers are never at Celtic Park for too long, it is the memories that they create that give Celtic fans such satisfaction and jubilation.
It is okay to look back on these fantastic memories now and again, but seeking the return of a former manager in Brendan Rodgers to add to those earlier memories is not the right move and will never be the right move.
Brendan had his chance at Celtic, but it is now the opportunity for another ambitious, driven manager to add to the success – and memories – to the biggest and most successful club in Scotland.
James French
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