The Brendan Effect

Broadsword takes a moment of reflection…

The Brendan Effect

I have recently decided to reconsider my priorities in life hence the fact you are being treated to my first attempt at ‘writing’ in several months.

The hiatus has given me time to enjoy Celtic in a way that I haven’t for a good while. The last few seasons have, in my humble opinion, not fulfilled potential. A lack of Champions’ League group stage football, generally uninspiring performances and part of the stadium being covered in a blanket was not conducive to being enthralled, enchanted and mesmerised as all football supporters hope their club make them feel.

The day before the Scottish Cup final last year was the day that Brendan Rodgers was announced as the new Celtic manager; Jock Stein would have approved of the delivery of the news. This came as a surprise to me. I was aware that Celtic wanted to up the ante, following the Ronny Deila spell – I had heard (and thankfully not invested on the basis of) rumours regarding David Moyes taking the job. From catching glimpses of Sunderland this season, I feel that we dodged a bullet and won a watch, at the same time.

I was excited about the Rodgers’ appointment. This was the guy who came close to winning the Premier League with Liverpool, established Swansea as an attractive and sustainable proposition as well as having the respect of many of the ‘top’ managers such as Mourinho. However, there was a minor sense of trepidation – a part of me had wished I had never seen ‘Being Liverpool’ the Channel 5 infomercial/documentary where Liverpool were clearly trying to tug on the heart strings and purse strings of the North American market. Some of it was cringeworthy – asking his team to at least get a clean sheet at Tynecastle, the 3 envelopes in the desk and, at first, the portrait of himself in his house (further reading informs me that this was a gift from a charity he helped in Swansea so if he wants to have it as a reminder of that association then fair f**ks to the man). There was also an unfair fear that we were getting this guy in a trackie…

However, the overall feeling was one of excitement. I wanted games to come thick and fast, I was desperate to know who we would be signing and how we were going to be set up. I wanted to put some of the players in their place, as he was seen to do with Raheem Sterling on the aforementioned documentary. I was more confident of Champions’ League qualification than I had been for a couple of years and then I watched him being officially unveiled at Celtic Park.

I showed this to my wife and she did share my view that such was the quality of this move by Celtic that my children should also be used as emergency scarves for a rendition of YNWA.

The preseason friendlies showed that friendlies are basically a bag of experimental shite and shouldn’t be taken too seriously. I attended the victory over Wolfsburg, watched the game against Barcelona and saw bits and bobs of the other in Slovenia. The formation didn’t look to be overly different from what we had seen in the last couple of seasons and that made me think that we were going to go proper bananas in the transfer market. I also thought that we going to give Ajer and Scott Allan a chance to impress so there you go.

The recruitment, to date, has been a major part of the success. Dembele and Sinclair have undoubtedly raised the standard of the first team. Kolo Toure, despite his unfortunate match at home to Borussia Monchengladbach has helped to settle and probably educate the defence. Gamboa looks like he will provide decent cover for Lustig, whilst Dorus De Vries has been a welcome addition for fans of the ‘Both Teams To Score’ coupon. Overall this has been a positive aspect of Brendan’s tenure thus far hence the board’s willingness to trust him with £2.8m for Kouassi Eboue – an unknown quantity. Hopefully there will be another couple or so before the end of the month.

Where I believe the management team deserve the greatest amount of praise is for the improvements they have instigated and inspired among the inherited squad. In my estimation, Scott Brown, Stuart Armstrong, Callum McGregor, Kieran Tierney, Craig Gordon, Jozo Simunovic, Erik Sviatchenko and Tom Rogic have all demonstrated clear improvement from what was offered before. In the cases of Armstrong and Rogic it feels like we have signed new player, to paraphrase a Dundonian pie enthusiast. These guys seem to be a yard quicker, much stronger and more mentally attuned to the needs of operating at the level we want to be at. It’s also abundantly clear that if you are not up to standard then you won’t feature. The poor performance in Gibraltar at the start of the season may have turned out to be a blessing in disguise – Efe Ambrose springs to mind. Kris Commons has bent sent to Edinburgh for a quick holiday and Nir Bitton, unfortunately in my opinion, hasn’t stepped up so he’s probably being lined up for a taxi in the near future as well. Good luck to these guys but they clearly don’t fit, along with a few others and if suitable offers come in then they’re off.

Another area meriting attention here is the ethos and culture at the club now. First up is the work ethic; expectations are higher than they have been for a good while – you need to put the shift in and have the right attitude or you best learn the words to ‘Sunshine on Leith’… Next is the focus on learning. A couple of months ago, Liverpool struggled in a few games, in a press conference some helmet from Sky asked Jürgen Klopp if he was looking to spend some money in the next transfer window. Klopp responded by asking the reporter if nobody in England believed in improvement on the training ground. Now, it could be said that this might not be the best manager to bring in to this article however it is evident from what we have enjoyed so far that Rodgers and his men are totally on board with this sentiment.

Brendan Rodgers has reignited Celtic. The domestic form and results have been tremendous. Europe was an encouraging and enjoyable foray this year; just remember Molde et al was just a season in the past. He’s clearly an able and adept football manager who knows how to organise a team, entertain supporters and improve players. It will come as no surprise that I want to be at the club for a considerable amount of time – he has been given the kind of control which many of us were hoping a Celtic manager would have. This link here is one of the better articles I have come across in relation to our manager https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/nov/26/celtic-brendan-rodgers-revolution-league-cup-scottish

I also think it is a bonus that he gets Celtic. I’ll leave you with two quotes. The first is from after the recentish victory at Soft Loan Towers, although you must dig for it as we were not able to hear or see our manager thanks to our broadcasters. The second one is from the day he was unveiled. Thankfully, he talks the talk and walks the walk.

“You’ve got to fight. Especially when you come to places like here, you’re not just playing for points. You’re defending the culture of your club and the history of your club.”

“I’ll never forget what Tommy Burns once said to me, ’When you become the Celtic manager, Brendan, you’re a leader of men and a leader of people,‘ “