Former Celtic midfielder Stiliyan Petrov has been talking to the media about the impact Steven Gerrard deserting theRangers could have on the club and the opportunities this may present to Celtic.
Gerrard waited until the International break before scurrying out the Ibrox back door for EPL relegation battlers, and Petrov’s former club, Aston Villa. Many have compared this to when Brendan Rodgers turned his back on Celtic due to the lure of the EPL and all the hubris that it entails.
“Celtic haven’t been given a gift by what’s happened with Gerrard moving to Villa, but they have been handed a major opportunity to win the league. It’s an unexpected boost but they will have to make the most of this opportunity by winning games,” Petrov told Daily Record.
“Of course it could be a decisive moment in the title race, Steven Gerrard leaving has in itself given Celtic fans a boost. They will now believe even more that this upheaval across the city is the perfect scenario for Celtic to become champions this season. There’s no doubt (the)Rangers now have a big problem with Gerrard leaving midway through the season.
“If you look back to when Brendan Rodgers left Celtic, he’d been working with that team for several years. He’d taken time to build that side, to get them playing in the way he wanted, that doesn’t happen overnight.
“There was a specific philosophy with the way Celtic played under Rodgers and the biggest factor within that was the trust the players had in their manager. Those were the ingredients which led to success.
“This is now the problem which (the)Rangers find themselves in – and it’s a big one. It’s inevitable that disruption is created by the manager leaving. It happens at every club, but at the Old Firm (sic) it can send a massive shockwave through the dressing room.
“Gerrard has been at (the)Rangers for over three years, he’s had to build the side and create that trust between himself and the players both in the way he manages and the way he wanted the team to play.
“Regardless of who the new manager is, it’s going to take time for him to build that trust. Can Celtic use that time? We will see.”
Compared to some of the other pundits views on this I actually agree with what Petrov is saying here. Personally I fully believed whether Steven Gerrard remained or not that theRangers were there for the taking this season. Obviously with such upheaval in both our managerial team and playing squad at the start of this season it would take us a while to bed in, but that has happened much quicker than most expected and Steven Gerrard’s men didn’t really take advantage of our early season instabilities the way they should have.
As Stan says, we must now grasp this opportunity presented to us as Gerrard leaving will definitely cause some level of turbulence within their squad, with many maybe looking at the direction their former manager has went in and fancy making a few extra pounds in the land of milk and honey south of the border.
Regarding the period when Rodgers left Celtic and his former teammate during the Martin O’Neill era, Neil Lennon, took over Petrov said “When Neil Lennon came to Celtic in the February, the side had a good balance and was playing with confidence.
“For that reason he didn’t have to touch much and allowed that consistency to carry on from Rodgers, so that was a big help. Lenny just had to continue that work and do certain things. It allowed for a nice transition that season and there wasn’t long left in that campaign.
“The situation at (the)Rangers is different as there is still so much of the season left to be played. There is still so much which can happen and at the moment (the)Rangers don’t have a manager.
“There is speculation that may change, but it’s possible they still won’t have anyone in permanent charge when the players return from the international break. The games could start again this weekend and it’s a possibility (the)Rangers won’t have a manager, which is a concern for them as well.”
“There’ll be a bit of panic and uncertainty as (the)Rangers have lost their main man, the person who made the big decisions and now he’s gone. Gerrard created the opportunity for the players to go out and he implement a particular way of playing.
“He was the one who would be challenging those players every single day. All of a sudden this person leaves so of course there will now be a huge distraction within the dressing room. If you take any other business or place of work and remove a person who does a great job then it’s always going to be difficult to bring someone else in who can continue in that same way.
“That’s not realistic as every manager works in a different way.”
Again I think Stan is talking a lot of sense here regarding both how the Celtic squad was left after Brendan departed and also about the difference between when Rodgers left compared to Gerrard. As he says, when Neil Lennon took over from Brendan it was at the tail end of February, with Celtic 8 points ahead in the league and the team performing smoothly.
Whoever theRangers appoint will be taking over a malfunctioning team who’s form has been up and down and is taking over at a time when the season isn’t even a third of the way completed. Stan is right. Celtic haven’t been given a gift but they sure as hell have been handed an opportunity to put the pressure on a team who will be under the microscope after their manager abandoned them at such a crucial junction.
Conall McGinty
