IN some ways, Craig Bellamy was probably bang on. Chairmen and executives of the biggest clubs in the Premier League or elsewhere might
not tune in to this lunchtime’s Old Firm match for proof of Brendan Rodgers’ suitability for a second chance in the billionaires’ playground. So dim a view do most observers south of the border tend to take of the standard of competition in the Ladbrokes Premiership that the Northern Irishman could mastermind another record-breaking Ibrox win without many of them batting an eyelid.
Rodgers, of course, can do nothing about that. The fact that Neil Lennon’s reward for beating Barcelona was a gig at Bolton, or that Gordon Strachan could only command the Middlesbrough job for his European exploits at Celtic, was presumably something that was factored in to the equation when he sat down with Dermot Desmond and Peter Lawwell in London last May. All he can do is continue compiling the convincing body of work which he has done since the day he set foot in Scottish football, and further add to the growing impression that this was a man who was harshly treated indeed when Liverpool dispensed with his services in such short order after he so nearly delivered them the title. There may come a time when this 44-year-old from Carnlough needs to plot his exit strategy from Scottish football, but even if he wouldn’t walk into an Arsenal, Chelsea, United or City right now, he was convincing this week when he said he is in no hurry to go anywhere else anyway.
Unlike his opposite number today, Rodgers knows the next 90 minutes will not make or break his job prospects. He has one of the comfiest seats in Scottish football, with a long-term contract which could in theory take him through to 10-in-a-row and a supporter base who utterly adore him.
Strictly speaking, so dominant are Celtic domestically right now in fact that even an early setback would hardly make a dent in the heavy favourites’ tag they have for a seventh top-flight title in a row. And, for once, you could even cogently argue that the Old Firm match isn’t even the most important match in their week, let alone their season, with a visit to Brussels to come on Wednesday night which already appears pivotal in their hopes to secure at least some continental football beyond Christmas. So what – other than another notch on his metaphorical footballing bedpost – exactly does today’s match mean for Brendan Rodgers?
Well, as much calm as he exhibited this week, don’t underestimate how much he also has to lose on occasions like these. As historic as that 56-match invincible run is, it is also a ticking time bomb. The 5-0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain proves that he is not immune to criticism and the Glasgow derby still wields a totemic importance to supporters which at times is completely out of kilter with its actual importance in league points.
I refer here, of course, to this mysterious commodity known as “bragging rights” – ie the chance to utterly lord it over your nearest rivals in work places across this country and beyond. And it is here that Rodgers is something of a victim of his own success.
Expectations of a third morale-sapping rout against their great rivals in 12 months have grown to the extent that some supporters might be rather underwhelmed with a 2-0 win. On the other hand, should things go against him this afternoon, as ludicrous as it may seem, some may feel every giant stride which the club has made since Rodgers arrived a year ago would be compromised if that incredible 56-match undefeated run came to a shuddering halt against Rangers.
Things would never be the same, the kind of doomsday scenario which Celtic fans wince at – the closest reference point being Arsenal’s Invincibles surrendering their 49-match streak at Old Trafford back in October 2005. That match was christened the Battle of the Buffet, with Cesc Fabregas said to have lobbed a pizza in the direction of Sir Alex Ferguson afterwards, leading to Sir Alex conducting his post-match interviews in a tracksuit rather than the suit he wore earlier. Incidentally, the Gunners haven’t won the league since.
In the old days at least, Old Firm managers used to be defined by head to heads against opposing managers. Walter Smith saw off a raft of Celtic managers during the nine-in-a-row years, then Martin O’Neill dented Dick Advocaat’s edifice before Alex McLeish landed a few notable blows back on the Northern Irishman. Graeme Murty is the only man so far to prevent Rodgers from victory in this fixture, and inflicting a third successive defeat on Pedro Caixinha may only hasten the arrival of a new managerial adversary on Edmiston Drive.
As for those slow-burning hopes of a second coming at one of the continent’s bigger clubs, it will take something more significant than a big Old Firm win for these more closed-minded chairmen and chief execs to genuinely take notice. Like guiding the club to a Europa League place beyond Christmas and scalping Everton or Arsenal in the latter stages. A win may have little wider significance. But Rodgers and everyone attached to Celtic would enjoy it all the same.
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