Rodgers’ arrival brings back feel-good factor

Brendan Rodgers has brought the feel-good factor back to Celtic Park, according to Hoops goalkeeper Craig Gordon.

The former Liverpool and Swansea boss was welcomed to Glasgow by 13,000 fans when he was unveiled at Parkhead last month and there were hundreds more queuing outside the stadium yesterday morning as Celtic opened their season-ticket sale to the public.

Now Gordon has confessed he cannot wait to return to pre-season training on June 20 and find out what his new manager has in store for the Scottish champions.

The 33-year-old Scotland stopper said: “The new manager coming in is really exciting. It is for everyone.

“I was across at Celtic Park this morning and the staff are talking about it and the queue for season tickets was round the corner.

“It’s a huge appointment and it’s brought a real feel-good factor around the club at the moment.

“Hopefully if we can carry that into the start of the season it will set us up for a big campaign.

“He is known for playing exciting, attractive football.

“As a player going back to work under that and to see what his ideas are and how he wants the team to set up, that is very exciting.

“I’m looking forward to getting back and seeing exactly how he wants me to play personally and how he sees the team going forward.

“It’s a great challenge and one I can’t wait to get started on.”

Rodgers’ arrival has injected a healthy dose of optimism into the Celtic faithful, who despite seeing their side clinch five straight league titles have been decidedly unimpressed with the downsizing of the club’s financial ambitions in recent times.

The European failures which blighted Ronny Deila’s two-year Parkhead reign hardly helped to balance the books but the £50,000-a-week contract handed to the club’s new boss is a sign the Hoops are ready to speculate to accumulate.

But majority shareholder Dermot Desmond will be looking to squeeze every penny of value from his new appointment and therefore Rodgers will be expected to steer his new side through to the cash-rich group stages of the Champions League.

To do that, though, he will have to negotiate three qualifying rounds, the first of which is scheduled for July 12 or 13.

But Gordon is confident the Northern Irishman, who has been linked with a move for Liverpool defender Andre Wisdom, will make swift work of his rebuilding project.

The Scotland international said: “That’s the next goal. There’s a few weeks of pre-season before that starts so we need to get in, get ourselves sorted out, find out how we are going to play and bed that in with the new manager and his ideas.

“But we’ve got good players who are capable of doing that.

“It’s an exciting time for us to go do that. We realise if we can get a few good results in pre-season and go into the season with a bit of confidence.”

Brendan Rodgers: brought optimism back to Celtic Park.