Next eight weeks could be crucial for Brendan
“Brendan Rodgers is here for 10-in-a-row”, goes the song sung by Celtic fans.
I used to think they would be proved correct.
Now I’m not so sure.
In fact, I reckon Brendan could walk before the turn of the year.
It depends on the right opportunity coming along – that means a decent Premier League job.
But there is no doubt in my mind that there will be movement on that front in the next six to eight weeks, which would leave the door wide open.
I want to see Brendan stay at Celtic more than anything.
He has been fantastic for the club and fantastic for Scottish football.
If he stuck around to lead the club to a tenth consecutive title, he would go down in history. But Rodgers seems like a man with a keen eye on the future.
He has said loads of times that he’s happy at Celtic.
If a West Ham or a Leicester got in touch, the Hoops boss would have a big decision to make
I don’t doubt that has been the case up until this summer.
But he will know better than anyone that the Hoops didn’t have a great transfer window.
They splashed a club-record fee on Odsonne Edouard.
But they also lost Moussa Dembele and Stuart Armstrong – and almost Dedryck Boyata, too.
Brendan won’t necessarily be worried about conceding the title to Rangers just yet.
The Gers are stronger under Steven Gerrard than they have been over the last few years – we know that.
They should be able to push Celtic harder as a result.
With Hearts going well, too – and Hibs and Aberdeen sniffing about – the title race could well be closer than before.
But I’d still say Celtic will have too much for every single one of their rivals over the season. Brendan will be confident of that.
Yet if a Premier League club comes knocking, I could see him being tempted. In my own head, I’m probably 60/40 that he’ll stay at Celtic.
But if a West Ham or a Leicester City got in touch, the Hoops boss would have a big decision to make.
For me, they are the two obvious clubs that Celtic should be wary of at the moment.
West Ham fans aren’t convinced that Manuel Pellegrini is the man to sort their problems out.
I also hear that Leicester fans are far from happy with how things are going under Claude Puel.
If either of them came to Brendan in the next wee while and said: “We’ll give you a Premier League salary and big money to spend in January”, he would be tempted.
He has been great for Celtic – every single Hoops fan will tell you as much. But if he ever wants to get back to a position where he gets a job with a club like Liverpool again, he’s going to have to come back to England first.
That’s not to say he hasn’t proved anything about himself at Parkhead.
He has proved he’s a winner – and I think he has also proved he is loyal enough.
It just comes down to what he’s looking for over the next five to 10 years of his career. It depends what his ambitions are.
We are getting to the end of the road now for a few managers in the Premier League – that is for sure.
Clubs will start to press the panic button in the coming weeks.
And for my money, Brendan would be a great candidate for any of them.