Howe will have to be pragmatic if he wants to succeed where Rodgers failed

GRANTED, Eddie Howe does not exactly seem the type to have a crack at ending sectarianism single-handedly or talk at length on breathing new life into old ladies who hang around the team hotel to touch the hem of his garment, but the similarities between him and Brendan Rodgers are too obvious to ignore nonetheless.

Playing careers cut short by injury, they are known to be avid students of the game, trainingground managers, guys who like to control all they survey. They have a reputation for taking players, making them better, creating a culture of improvement.

When it comes to football, and the way it should be played, their colours fly proudly from the mast. It is about attack, possession, being on the front foot and adhering to that style, that philosophy. No matter the competition. No matter the opposition.

The formations may be different, but the ethos is much the same. It’s why Rodgers looked a good fit for Celtic in 2016 and why Howe appears a good fit now. Their view of the game co-exists with the central tenets held by those fans for whom ‘The Celtic Way’ will always represent a higher plane of ideals rather than the paved strip in front of Parkhead where you gather to throw metal fences at underperforming players.

This is where Howe has to separate himself from Rodgers, though. Where he has to retrain himself. Where he has to show himself capable of readjusting his dogmatic approach and achieving what Rodgers was unable to — blending domestic trophies with making Celtic a presence in Europe again and finding a way to execute the grand vision with a level of player below English Premier League standards.

History was rewritten in the east end of Glasgow this season as things dissolved under Neil Lennon. Rodgers almost became the Messiah again. His ‘Invincible’ season was revisited through misty eyes rather than the fug of fury that descended when he hotfooted it to Leicester.

No one mentioned Europe, though. It was a stick with which to beat Lennon — quite rightly, considering events with Ferencvaros and Sparta Prague — but Celtic’s slide towards being an irrelevance at that level bears the fingerprints of the Brodge, too.

For all the domestic success against under-resourced opposition, he failed at Celtic. He never did realise his target of reaching the knockout stage of the Champions League. He never had a signature result. He couldn’t get the club past the last 32 of the Europa League.

He lost 7-0 to Barcelona and 7-1 to Paris Saint-Germain. The hammering in the Nou Camp was described as no embarrassment and part of a learning curve. So much of a learning curve that his team lost 12 goals in two games to PSG the following year.

We all remember how Rodgers blew the Champions League in his final season with that disastrous loss to AEK Athens in the qualifiers. Yet, it is instructive to look at his overall record on the road over three campaigns in Europe.

Including qualifying ties against the flotsam and jetsam, Rodgers won five out of 21. Against Linfield, Rosenborg (twice), Anderlecht and Alashkert. He got five other draws and lost 11. His decision to field a reserve team away to RB Leipzig in his final campaign showed just how reduced his ambitions in Europe became.

This sounds harsh, of course. It is harsh. However — and sorry to sound like a stuck record here — everything has to be measured against the statement made by major shareholder Dermot

Desmond in a rare interview in September.

‘Europe is so important as a yardstick of our football progression,’ he stated. And even though Howe’s first priority will most certainly be to take the Premiership title back from Rangers, Celtic cannot possibly neglect Europe again in the way they did when the obsession with Ten-In-A-Row sent everything off the rails.

Rodgers was an exciting, ambitious appointment after the apathy that came with the dying embers of the Ronny Deila era. Likewise,

Howe’s (below) expected arrival will send a bolt of electricity through Celtic Park, re-engage punters and shift season books. Like Rodgers, the 43-year-old has pedigree from the top league in England, having taken piddling Bournemouth to ninth in 2017. Like Rodgers, he has a reputation to restore after a rest period.

However, part of his remit must be to get Celtic at least punching their weight in Europe again. Preferably, over-reaching somewhat and challenging for the knockout stages in the Champions League or going deep in UEFA’s consolation tournaments.

Budgetary restraints suggest that will involve altering his style when required. Putting a greater emphasis on defence in those games against richer opposition that Rodgers never quite seemed able or willing to do.

How else can it work? Going toe-to-toe in the Champions League with the top teams from Spain or Germany or even England is unrealistic with the money Celtic have to spend.

Yet, in an interview with Sky Sports earlier this season, Howe was clear when asked how he would approach his next job.

‘I don’t think you can be something you are not. My mindset is to try to win the game first — not to try and not lose it,’ he responded. ‘I tried to instil that into my players every game.

‘I do not think I could ever go in with a different mindset.

‘We always decided to go on the braver side, the attacking side, because we know that if we pictured Bournemouth at our best, it was free-flowing attacking football. It was not sitting back, soaking up pressure and defending.

‘We almost looked at that as our best form of defence, to attack and attack hard — and to entertain.’

That’s just part of what makes next season so fascinating. Howe versus Steven Gerrard is box office. It is also tempting to dress it up as a confrontation between idealism and pragmatism.

Gerrard has learned hard lessons at Ibrox. He has made inroads in Europe with statement wins over Porto and Galatasaray. He finally solved the puzzle of how to juggle domestic commitments with manoeuvres abroad this year.

In a chat with The Mail on Sunday two months ago, he gave the impression that, despite making Rangers a more attractive side, adapting to specific challenges rather than setting out your stall to play one way has become his guiding principle.

‘I don’t think you can nail yourself to one philosophy and say: “This is the way I want to be or this is what I want people to say about my teams from now to the end of my journey in coaching”,’ remarked Gerrard.

‘I have had to bring a philosophy here that I think will work for the Rangers supporters and will bring success. But I might take over a role where maybe you are not one of the favourites in the league and you have to adapt that philosophy.’

Howe’s first job, of course, is to break down these strategies Gerrard holds. Longer-term, though, this has to be about more than local bragging rights given his anticipated salary. It has to be about making a mark in Europe.

For all those parallels between the pair, Celtic don’t need their new manager to do what Rodgers did in the past. If anything, it can be argued that what Gerrard is doing — and saying — at Rangers in the present is more of an example to follow.