English respect will be Rodgers’ legacy
BRENDAN RODGERS last night insisted he couldn’t care less whether Rangers rally under new boss Pedro Caixinha – because Celtic drive their own progress.
Portuguese gaffer Caixinha will step into the Gers dug- out after today’s Old Firm clash.
But Bhoys’ boss Brendan, who on Friday claimed never to have heard of Caixinha, isn’t interested in goings on at Ibrox.
Asked whether the prospect of the Gers becoming legitimate challengers under new management spurs him on, Rodgers said: “Not really.
“You can hopefully see developments in what I am trying to do here at Celtic.
“Putting in new pitches, making the facilities better, getting an indoor arena here, improving standards.
“You have to keep moving to be successful and it’s not reliant on what the other one is doing.
“You can do nothing and sit and win it by the least amount you can, or you keep moving and never become complacent, just focus on yourself and keep raising the standards.”
Rodgers has already raised Celtic’s standards substantially in a short time.
But his 12-month rolling contract leaves the door open for a sudden departure.
With Arsene Wenger’s coat peg getting ever shakier at Arsenal, Rodgers has been touted as a possible replacement.
But while the Bhoys boss may not be at Celtic Park for the long haul, he is focused on leaving “a legacy”.
“My plan in my time here is just to do the very best that I can,” said Rodgers.
“Whether that’s for one year or another four or five years, I want to raise the standard here, and hopefully push the club to the maximum.
“I’m on a one- year contract so you can’t predict a manager’s stay.
“On a Saturday, you walk on water and on a Monday, you’re the devil.
“A manager would love to say that you can stay and build something, but modern society doesn’t really allow you to do that – look at Claudio Ranieri.
“You can only promise that while you are here, that you do the very best that you can.
“My obligation is for a legacy here. So what is the one I want to leave here?
“It is that when you compare the first day I walked in and the day I walk out, the club is in a better place.
“Can I develop players? Can I influence them to play the game in a different way to what they maybe thought before?
“If that spreads to helping the Scottish game, then great, and hopefully I can bring some sort of profile to a game that everyone was starting to ridicule.
“People were maybe putting Scottish football down, but hopefully now people are thinking: ‘Actually, it’s okay up there’.
“That’s my legacy for Celtic, for however long that is. Time will tell.”
Pushed on his view of Scottish football, having now experienced it first- hand, Rodgers insisted he has become a convert.
He said: “I always defend here to people in England. Unless you’ve been in and lived it, you don’t know.
“The English Premier League is based around money. Let’s be clear. It’s maybe no longer the richest league in the world because of China but it’s certainly the most competitive.
“It’s about money and in Scotland we don’t have that. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t really good coaches up here, good teams, great clubs and good people.
“This is where money distorts the reality of a lot of things. There are huge clubs still up here and I will always defend that.”
If Rodgers is still in charge this summer, he insists his priority when it comes to recruitment will be to look closer to home.
“My first look is always inside the club,” he said. “Why look for a potential £15-20m player when you might have one in your academy who just needs a chance?
“After that, the next look will be Scotland, then beyond that.
“I’ll always have a core of Scottish players, that’s for sure. Then the responsibility here is to tap into our worldwide scouting network.”
RANGERS captain Lee Wallace insists his team-mates won’t meekly be put to the sword by Celtic this afternoon.
The defender is desperate to wipe out the painful memory of that 5-1 thrashing suffered by the Light Blues at the start of the season. A lot has happened since then. It was the match that sparked the departure of Joey Barton, and he has now been followed by manager Mark Warburton and his assistant, David Weir.
Celtic, meanwhile, have gone from strength to strength, boast an unbeaten domestic record and are 33 points ahead of the greatest rivals.
Wallace said: “The defeat hurt. It was one of the low points for guys who’ve experienced this fixture before.
“It wasn’t about any gap at that point. It was the fact we’d lost the