«UNVEILING A ‘BIG BEAST MANAGER’ IS A STATEMENT OF INTENT
SCOTTISH football has a bad case of low self-esteem. Chronic negativity. Fear and anxiety. A belief the game isn’t good enough to attract figures of substance or clout.
Instance the imminent arrival of Brendan Rodgers as Celtic manager.
When the Scottish champions set their sights high, they were shot down in flames.
Two years ago, David Moyes was the manager of Manchester United. Rodgers was his arch-rival at Liverpool.
People bluntly refused to believe either would look twice at Scottish football.
A man who has managed Wayne Rooney or Luis Suarez was hardly likely to find the idea of pitching Carlton Cole or Colin KazimRichards into a Champions League qualifier appealing.
Not when television companies are throwing 10 dollar bills around English football like a city banker in a strip club.
In Scotland, Motherwell asked their key players to slash their wages in half. John Hughes is quitting Inverness in a row over budgets. And St Johnstone’s Tommy Wright is being asked to turn bread into fish.
That Celtic might be able to land Rodgers as manager, then, was deemed inconceivable.
They could ask the question. But this is Scotland. And people already knew the answer.
In the case of Moyes, they were right.
The Glaswegian’s affection for Celtic, the club where he began his career, is genuine.
But Moyes still fancies his chances of landing the Aston Villa gig. Or an Everton return.
Right now, English Premier League clubs have a fixation with looking overseas for new managers and he may not land either of those jobs.
But he still preferred to take his chances rather than commit to Celtic.
The Parkhead club had been here before, flirting with a halfhearted manager.
Guus Hiddink was Real Betis boss when he was publicly courted by former Parkhead chief executive Allan MacDonald.
A deal was close until the major shareholder, Dermot Desmond, looked into the Dutchman’s eyes and saw a flicker of interest rather than a flame.
The outcome of that meeting proved critical to Celtic’s history.
Desmond subsequently marched into a board meeting with a fiery, charismatic, articulate Northern Irishman with a proven record in English football on his arm.
And lightning has now struck twice.
Because Brendan Rodgers — like Martin O’Neill before him — wants the Parkhead hotseat.
Currently in Majorca, the former Liverpool manager has been blanking Press calls.
The absence of a denial could hardly be regarded as conclusive. But in recent days, it’s been clear which way the wind was blowing.
Rodgers has made no secret of his boyhood affection for Celtic.
Growing up in the tiny village of Carnlough, they were his club. The late Tommy Burns was his idol and coaching mentor. At the age of 43, Rodgers knows the history.
No one thinks he has agreed to manage Celtic for washers. The Parkhead club will push the boat out and pay him a rumoured £1.7million a year.
He will become the highest-paid Parkhead manager of all time. Thereafter, he will need cash for players to rebuild a squad lacking in key areas and a sum of around £15m is believed to be available.
All of this goes against the natural, conservative instincts of the Parkhead plc board.
But when Celtic unveil the big beast manager their supporters crave on Monday, it will represent a statement of intent. The biggest coup the national game has witnessed since Desmond wheeled out O’Neill himself.
Crucially for Celtic, it would also put bums on seats. A board of directors at odds with their supporters have listened.
Ramp up the number of season tickets sold from 43,000 to 50,000 in the coming weeks and another £3m goes into the club’s coffers. The new manager’s first-year salary is effectively paid.
The rumour mill suggests that Desmond met with Moyes earlier this week.
But the Hiddink test would have taught him one thing.
When he looked into the eyes of Moyes, he would have seen a candidate with his mind on other clubs.
Hanging around waiting for a man unable to decide if he actually wanted to join Celtic was no longer an option.
Right now, the club is in limbo; decisions on who stays and who goes have been delayed until the new man’s appointment. There are decisions to be made on several key players such as Stefan Johansen, Charlie Mulgrew, James Forrest, Emilio Izaguirre and Nir Bitton.
Pre-season training resumes in a month, with the first Champions League qualifier in seven weeks.
And Rodgers needs all the cash, and time, he can get.
Call it low self-esteem. Or the Caledonian cringe. But for any Scottish club in 2016, the capture of Rodgers as manager represents a remarkable coup.