Rodgers is the priceless asset on road to riches
THEY did it the hard way, making it tougher than anyone deemed possible. The bottom line, though, is that — by hook or by crook — Celtic are through.
When the powers-that-be of Champions League football gather in Monaco tomorrow, representatives of the Glasgow club will be among them. For Brendan Rodgers and the club’s supporters, that truly is everything.
Seeing Astana become the first team to beat his Celtic side since Barcelona on November 23 in such a manner will have irked the Celtic manager but not to the extent where the momentous achievement has been in any way diminished.
For all they opted to make progress so nerve-wracking, the journey to the group stage of the Champions League provides further affirmation, as if any were needed, that the former Liverpool manager’s suitability to his post in Glasgow is of the hand in glove variety. Defeated or not last night, he remains the man who can do no wrong in the eyes of the Celtic support.
Every appointment in football is a gamble to some extent, yet employing the man who took the Anfield club to the cusp of the English title in 2014 represented a significant shortening of the odds in Celtic’s favour.
As statements of intent in the competition go, employing Rodgers a year past in June was one written in large, bold, capital letters.
Hired hands like the Northern Irishman do not come cheaply, of course, but events of the past 15 months recall the old wisdom about getting what you pay for in this game.
Said to be earning circa £2.5million a year for the next four seasons, the man from Carnlough in County Antrim is unlikely to be heard pleading penury any time soon. When successive qualifications to the promised land rake in around £60m for your paymasters, however, not a single penny of it is begrudged.
The fat cheques from UEFA that will be popping through the door of Celtic Park later in the season are only one part of the financial equation that Rodgers has directly affected. The growth in the value of the club’s most prized assets, its players, has been equally as startling.
Putting a price on the improvement of players from Leigh Griffiths to James Forrest is obviously a hypothetical exercise unless you are prepared to sell them.
But what of £500,000 Moussa Dembele? Or £3m Jozo Simunovic? And, perhaps eventually, £4.5m Olivier Ntcham? Were they to one day move on, their progression under Rodgers would likely command a fee that would dwarf the initial outlay on them. Virtually everything he touches seems to turn to gold.
Having won just the fourth Treble in Celtic’s history last season, and the first while undefeated, Rodgers joined Jock Stein and Martin O’Neill in the pantheon of the club’s managerial greats.
One aspect of his time to date at Celtic does distinguish him from O’Neill, though. One that arguably shows him in an even more positive light.
For all his five-year stint as Celtic manager at the start of this century was an unqualified success which encompassed both domestic and European triumphs, O’Neill did spend big to take the club where he wanted to go. Chris Sutton, John Hartson and Neil Lennon each weighed in at £6m a pop.
Their impact captivated a generation of Celtic fans and few, truthfully, were bothering to look at the price tag. The reality was that in the season O’Neill’s side reached the UEFA Cup final, the club still made an £11m loss. Despite O’Neill famously bristling that without further such investment fans would need to get used to ‘life in the slow lane’, it was patently unsustainable.
Rodgers, on the other hand, not only recognises the financial limitations of working in Scotland, he seems to embrace the challenge.
Look at his signings to date. The aforementioned Dembele, daylight robbery at half a million. Scott Sinclair, another scorer last night, at £3.5m. Kundai Benyu on a free transfer from Ipswich. Rivaldo Coetzee, soon to arrive from Ajax Cape Town at just south of £1m. Every last penny spent as if it was Rodgers’ own to ensure value and sustainability.
Fans do not flock in their droves to admire a tasty balance sheet, of course. And, as welcome as the guaranteed cash injection from last night’s progression to the main event may be, the real success is measured not in cash but kudos.
After a three-year absence, last year saw Celtic joust with Barcelona, Manchester City and Borussia Monchengladbach.
Who knows who lies in wait when the draw is made in Monaco tomorrow?
Reigning champions Real Madrid, last seen in the 1980 quarter-final, would be the glitzy choice of the vast majority from pot one. What a welcome change they would make from the seemingly annual trip to Barcelona.
With five English sides in the hat, Celtic will do well to avoid breaking for the Border. Either Manchester clubs would set the pulse racing, as would a trip to the capital to face Chelsea or Tottenham. As for Rodgers eyeballing Liverpool again? There would be more sub-plots than a John le Carre novel.
For now, Celtic are simply happy to be at the party again.
Not only does he recognise the financial limitations, he embraces them