Brendan deal is huge boost for Malky
MALKY MACKAY says Brendan Rodgers’ new Celtic deal is a serious boost to him in his bid to revolutionise Scottish football.
Hoops boss Rodgers last week signed a contract tying him to his Celtic Park post until the summer of 2021.
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“That helps my job because kids read and they are the people leading the top teams. They think: ‘If I do that, I’ve got a chance of getting to the top’.
“There is an aura about Brendan – you can see it. It is imprinted all over Celtic right now.
“You have seen the impact on the team, but I think the impact on the staff and on the fans coming to games is probably just as big.
“He has got 20-odd thousand more people coming to games. He is also working hard on legacies, sitting down with Dermot Desmond and speaking about improving the training facility and structures.”
The most-commonly used image of Rodgers this season has been of the former Liverpool boss grinning from ear to ear.
Small wonder. With Celtic already crowned champions and unbeaten in all domestic competitions heading into this afternoon’s clash with Ross County, he has plenty of reason to smile.
Mackay, who worked with the Northern Irishman at Watford, says no one should be fooled into believing he is in any way a soft touch.
“He is very positive and also decisive. He knows exactly what he wants to do and there is a real steeliness to him,” he said.
“But he gives people a chance. In my own case, he could quite easily have got rid of me but he didn’t. He kept me on and, then over a period, trust builds. You earn that.
“I could see what kind of boss he was. I found we had similar thoughts on football, values and ideas on the way we think a club should be run. Over the years we have kept in contact.”
Mackay is, meanwhile, upbeat about the general response to the Project Brave plans from the country’s top clubs.
“The document went out and I don’t think there was too much railing against it, even in the press!” he said.
“I think in general, going forward, there is a feeling throughout the country we have to improve. How are we going to do that? Where are the problems?
“There has been massive progress. The problem is I want it done yesterday.
“I have plenty of thoughts and ideas and I want to push them all. But it is not like there is anybody saying: ‘No you can’t do that’. It just takes time, which is frustrating.”