This trio can put even the Double Treble in shade
LET’S be clear here. A second successive Treble for Brendan Rodgers would be a magnificent, historic achievement, a resounding testament to the ambitious decision to bring him into Celtic and galvanise a wobbling club. But it still cannot be enough to see him named Manager of the Year. Depending on how things go during these closing weeks of the season, it might not even be enough to get him into the top three.
Not when Kilmarnock’s Steve Clarke is re-energising an entire club, an entire community, that still has half-a-chance of getting into Europe whilst building a base for the future. Not when St Mirren’s Jack Ross has taken the doomed, broken shambles he inherited — not to mention the disgruntled punters he waded into the stand to confront — back into the Premiership within a year of avoiding relegation to League One.
And definitely not when Neil Lennon, Rodgers’ conqueror yesterday, has such a wonderful opportunity to take a Hibernian side, built largely on the players who won the Championship, into second place in the top division at the first time of asking ahead of sides boasting considerably bigger budgets.
This is not intended to be a cheap shot at Rodgers. He will move on to bigger things before long and has been great for Celtic at a time when they needed to rediscover themselves as an institution.
It remains a wonder that he ever came to Scotland in the first place.
This is more a consideration of what the criteria ought to be when judging the boss of all bosses. Results are the primary factor, of course, but there must be marked progress, evidence of punching above your weight, using the transfer market well and bringing the very best out of your players.
Clarke, who remains the frontrunner for these end-ofseason trinkets, ticks all boxes. Those who watched the home defeat to Ross County that ended Lee McCulloch’s reign as manager — and witnessed the shellshock among Killie’s directors in the car park afterwards — could have predicted little other than a season of agony and meltdown.
Yet, here we are six months later. The same players, orchestrated by the excellent signing of Youssouf Mulumbu, have beaten both sides of the Old Firm, earned a top-six finish and were 11 unbeaten until yesterday. A number of players have already signed new deals to ensure continuity.
In terms of pure progress, of effecting large-scale change, it will take something special to shade Clarke’s achievements. Yet, Lennon is now in the perfect position to do just that by taking Hibs into second. Indeed, the Manager of the Year award is almost certainly a two-horse race between them.
This was a team that couldn’t really be trusted in the Championship. They would hammer Dundee United and then draw at home to Ayr United. There were signs of something good, but a lack of consistency made you fear for them at a higher level.
Lennon has made them stronger and better. Dylan McGeouch, John McGinn and Martin Boyle have thrived. They’ve beaten Rangers and Aberdeen comfortably of late and now have Celtic’s scalp after two draws earlier in the campaign.
Lennon was also self-critical enough to ditch Simon Murray and the errant Anthony Stokes, two questionable signings in the first place, in January and bring in Florian Kamberi and Jamie Maclaren. It has worked. And how.
At St Mirren, Ross did most of his recruitment last term. Yet, the act of coasting the Championship cannot be underestimated. When he argued with those fans in the stand after a home loss to Queen of the South in January 2017, the Buddies were seven points adrift at the bottom.
Had they not suffered a 4-1 pasting at Aberdeen in the cup, a chastening lesson in the need to temper attacking instinct at times, there would barely be a blot on the copybook this term. It is maybe pushing it a little to say Ross has achieved more than Rodgers, but it is an argument that can be made.
Domestic trebles do not come easy, of course. No one has ever won two on the trot. However, the Manager of the Year award can only be determined through what has happened this season. Not last.
Celtic were never likely to remain the Invincibles, but they are not the force they were in Rodgers’ first campaign. Scott Sinclair and Moussa Dembele are just two players who have gone off the boil and will surely leave. Indeed, the squad looks like it may need some pretty serious surgery.
The question is: will Rodgers or, more tellingly, his lesser-spotted recruitment chief Lee Congerton get bang for their buck in the market?
Too many signings haven’t worked. Of this term’s arrivals, Charly Musonda and Marvin Compper don’t play. And Jonny Hayes wasn’t playing before injury either.
Celtic did make Europe after Christmas, but there were some awful displays amid signs of light away to a chaos-stricken Anderlecht and at home to Bayern and Zenit. Losing seven to PSG and being destroyed in St Petersburg spoke to a defence that was never properly reinforced and an unwillingness to put results over ideals.
For all the money Celtic spend, can it honestly be said they are a better, stronger team now than they were 12 months ago?
Clarke, Lennon and Ross have seen their sides jump forward huge distances in relation to the money and manpower available. Harsh as it sounds, that carries considerable weight when attempting to measure who has done the most remarkable job.
Double Treble or not.