HOOKED ON THE HOOPS
TODAY, CELTIC PARK, 3PM Brendan insists he’ll never get bored at Celts as he signs for four more years
EVERY Celtic manager will tell you the job has a shelf life. When the roundabout swings four times a season, even the most successful ones decide at some point they need to get off.
Martin O’Neill felt it, so did Gordon Strachan and Neil Lennon thought four years was plenty to put up with the Parkhead pressure cooker.
Brendan Rodgers accepts he might one day get to the same stage but he doesn’t reckon it’s going to happen any time soon.
The opposite in fact. The Hoops manager yesterday penned a new four-year deal and insisted it’s because he’s already hooked on a feeling.
The constant links with jobs in England won’t stop just because he’s tied down on a package that will ensure his club won’t be short-changed if an offer that can’t be refused does one day drop.
Rodgers will cross that bridge if it comes up but in the meantime he said: “We will play Rangers six times this season. I’m sure there’s a timeline when sometime you might look at it. But you never get bored of winning.
“There might be other things you want to experience. But there’s never been a tired day since I’ve been here at Celtic.
“I drive in here at Celtic Park and it’s like driving into the best cathedral in the world. Of course there might be challenges down the line but I don’t think I’ll ever get bored of managing Celtic.”
Rodgers has been touted for the Arsenal job but the former Liverpool, Swansea, Reading and Watford gaffer insisted Celtic have something no other club can offer – a sense of being right at home.
He said: “I didn’t really take any notice of that stuff. It’s nice when guys like Charlie Nicholas, who has been down there a long time, and Ray Parlour and whoever else say things like that.
“I’ve got experience of working at a big club so maybe that can have an influence. I went close with Liverpool with a team at the time which was eighth in the league. I’ve got experience of a big club but I’m happy to be at this club now.
“Happiness is the key. If you’re not happy then despite what money you can get, you can’t work very well.
“There’s maybe possibilities to have gone to the Premier League. But I would forfeit all of that to be here and happy. This is a club I love and know well.
“I could be a manager till I’m 60 so that gives me another 16 years. But in these next four years I want to give everything to Celtic.”
The symbolism of the fouryear deal won’t go unnoticed by Celtic fans. Peter Lawwell called it “a coincidence” but he did so with a glint in his eye.
With six titles in the can, it doesn’t take Carol Vorderman’s calculator to work out what’s coming. Rodgers is already building a legacy at Parkhead but supporters are already dreaming of the man in charge leading them to the mythical 10.
Rodgers admitted he is in tune with the punters and said: “Every manager here wants to win the league each year. I’m no different, so that’s the aim. We want to dominate Scottish football, get into the Champions League and look to make a mark in Europe.
“When you start to accumulate titles and you get up to six then of course that’s what they look towards. That excites the supporters.
“There’s a heck of a lot of work and things that could change before then. But I just wanted to commit myself to a life I love both professionally and personally.
“I have a special feeling here. I know exactly what the people think, from the board to the guy in his seat watching the game.
“I have that connection with supporters having been one myself.
“I feel I can really help the club. I have no notion to be anywhere else but here.”
It wasn’t a hard decision for Rodgers, shifting from a rolling one-year deal to a more long-term arrangement.
He reckons he needs time to build his vision for the club and this is just the start.
Rodgers said: “I was very honoured when the club came to us and spoke to us.
“It might be a term that would frighten other managers. But for me it just felt so right. I feel really at home here. I still feel there’s a lot of work I want to give – we’ve only started.
“The journey has only just begun and there’s a lot of differences that I still feel I can make.
“It’s hard to express how I felt when the club let me know they wanted to do this. This just makes me even more motivated to be the best I can be for them.”
It’s also the manager leading from the front. Most of his squad are on long-term deals and he was determined to show them he was going to stick around.
Rodgers said: “These are guys I want to commit. I had one year because that was the agreement with the club at the beginning. “But I want to see through the stability to stay for three, four, five years. I’m here for that and it hopefully shows them that this is the best place for them to be.
“I want to show them I believe in what I say.
“Do I see myself being here at the end of the four years? That is the notion. Maybe after one or two years the club say, ‘Brendan, we’ve had enough of you, it has been great’.
“I signed for four years at Liverpool, I will never forget, and after a year it was thank you very much. You never know what will happen. But the plan is to be here for four years.”
RODGERS