If Brendan Rodgers fails, it will be on his own terms –
New boss only relies on himself and if he fails, it will be on his own terms, hears Graeme Macpherson
BRENDAN Rodgers has never waited for the other side to blink first. Whether standing at his own career-shaping crossroads or on the touchline trying to find a moment of clarity amid the bedlam and tension of a match, the Celtic manager has always favoured a proactive approach.
“Don’t wait for it, create it,” he says, boiling down a life strategy and philosophy into the sort of succinct slogan so beloved of advertising agencies.
There is something quite revealing about Rodgers admitting he has learned to rely largely on himself. Perhaps that comes from previous experiences of feeling helpless or at the mercy of others, in the same way that it is impossible to relax when someone else has the remote control for the TV. It speaks of a singlemindedness to take matters into his own hands, to not leave his destiny to the capricious whims of fate. Still relatively young for a manager at 43, Rodgers knows what he wants and has the resolve and confidence to try to achieve it. Should he fall short on occasion, it will never be for a lack of trying.
“I always think whether it is in life or in football, if you rely on yourself, then you can be happy,” he said. “Because at least if you fail, you fail on your terms. So that’s by creating. If I wait [for something], I’m reliant on someone else. In life, you only rely on yourself, and the team and the people around you.
“If I wanted to become a manger, I was never going to cry in a pub when I was 60 or 65, saying ‘well, [Jose] Mourinho never gave me a chance, or Luiz Felipe Scolari never gave me a chance, or Steve Coppell, or Alan Pardew, or Tommy Burns, or whoever’.The responsibility is with me – I have to create it.”
Rodgers has the same attitude when it comes to trying to influence a football match when it is in mid-flow. That his side travel to Israel this week for the second leg of their Champions League play-off tie against Hapoel Be’er Sheva accompanied by the luxury of a three-goal cushion is largely down to the manager’s willingness not to turn a temporary firstleg drama into a crisis. Having watched the Israelis shave Celtic’s 3-0 half-time lead down to 3-2 in the matter of two second-half minutes, Rodgers could have found himself immobilised by shock.
Instead, he made bold decisions, bringing on Nir Bitton to add steel to the midfield and then letting Moussa Dembele run at a tiring defence. The reward for such boldness was two more goals that, barring some unlikely disaster in the desert, effectively ensure Celtic will be in Friday’s draw for the group stage for the first time in three seasons.
“I think I’m a positive coach,” he said. “I like to be aggressive in the game. I just felt at 3-2 the momentum had swung [in Hapoel’s favour].
“So you can go two ways: you can stick on a defender and consolidate what you have. Or you can think that the space is going to open up even more because they feel they’ve got something. So sometimes in the game if you make offensive substitutions it can set the team on the front foot again. You are either a coach that waits, or creates. And I come from the creative side. So I’ll never die wondering or waiting.
“Sometimes you just wait for the momentum to change, to swing back again. But this time we had enough quality on the pitch to hurt them so we went a little more offensive.”
The Champions League is up there with baseball’s World Series as the biggest misnomer in sport and many of its champions are in danger of being squeezed out. Rodgers, who took Liverpool into the group stage in 2014, hopes there will continue to be a home for the smaller nations alongside Europe’s all-powerful behemoths after enduring “the most difficult pre-season of my life” in trying to steer Celtic safely through the qualifying rounds.
“Football is for all; it can’t just be for money,” he said. “The Premier League is the most sought-after in the world. There isn’t a league that can compare financially. The Premier League as a brand is a superpower. Big teams in big countries like Germany, Spain and Italy are worried about what is happening in England with players. AC Milan and Inter are big clubs and it worries them that Leicester are in the Champions League.
“It worries the game. They want historical teams at the table. But talking after doing the most difficult pre-season of my life so far, if you are here and you qualify through the champions’ route, you’ve earned it. You have earned it from a physical perspective and a psychological one. You go through your season and you become a champion. Within a matter of days and weeks, you are back in, setting out on a journey to put the flag in and try to represent your club and country. It’s so tough for clubs in these countries and you have earned the right to be in the Champions League.
“It wouldn’t just be great for Celtic, it can empower a nation too. Scotland probably suffered for a few years and there has been a bit
You are either a coach that waits, or creates. I come from the creative side. So I’ll never die wondering or waiting