Whether on the touchline or watching from afar, Rodgers can’t get enoughig derby magic
FOR Brendan Rodgers, the Old Firm match has been a lifelong source of anticipation, fascination and wildly fluctuating emotions. Irrespective of the extent of his involvement, he is forever invested in the chaos. Rodgers grew up with the fixture as child in Carnlough, County Antrim, revelled in the rivalry as a boss to post 10 wins in 13 games first time round and then made do with a TV view while manager of Leicester City.
The 50-year-old insists that to be back front and centre of the searing focus remains as big a thrill today as it did on his maiden managerial outing in the derby seven years ago.
Those who have tried to forget probably include Mark Warburton, Joey Barton and Philippe Senderos. The date and drama, for Rodgers, feels like yesterday.
‘It was September 10th, the sun was shining,’ Rodgers smiles. ‘I remember it all very well.’
Rodgers had to pinch himself as he waited to take command of a Celtic side in the ‘iconic’ match. He recalls: ‘I had obviously watched the game for so many years on TV and seen it. There I was driving in and I realised that was me inside it, that I was in the game.’
His Celtic took apart a Rangers side, ill-equipped for the frenzy on return to the top flight, as Moussa Dembele scored a hat-trick in a 5-1 win.
The French striker became the first Celtic star to net a treble against Rangers since Stevie Chalmers 50 years earlier.
‘I remember Leigh Griffiths was out injured for that game,’ said Rodgers (right). ‘He’d been up to speed having played the games, whereas Moussa had joined us a bit later in the pre-season.
‘But Moussa really introduced himself to the Celtic support. Everything in the game was just what I wanted to see. We were fast, powerful, creative, stands, where they had a great day. To win 5-1 was special.’
Rodgers lorded it over Rangers on multiple occasions, repeating the result at Ibrox later that season against Pedro Caixinha and spelling the end of Graeme Murty with back-to-back drubbings a year later. He did not taste defeat until his final clash against Rangers when Ryan Jack’s strike settled the festive fixture in December 2018.
The match calendar was frequently kind to the Northern Irishman during his Foxes tenure, enabling him to enjoy his fix of Old Firm action.
For the most part it was a joy, as Neil Lennon initially carried on the dominant theme until the wheels spectacularly came off during Steven Gerrard’s invincible campaign.
Ange Postecoglou lost his first and last outings, but only one in between — in extra-time at Hampden to Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s Europa League heroes.
It was only five weeks after infamously leaving for the East Midlands that Rodgers plugged into the first of many Glasgow derbies from a distance. He watched James Forrest’s late goal secure a dramatic 2-1 win for Lennon as Alfredo Morelos and Andy Halliday saw red.
Throughout his four-and-a-half years away, the match never lost its allure. Rodgers said: ‘Even being away, it was still a great feeling to watch the games. I always tried to watch it on the telly.
‘I saw quite a few. I watched the first one after I left, in the hotel with my family, when James scored in the 2-1 game.
‘I watched others that had early
kick-offs, so I saw pretty much all of them. For me, there has always been an anticipation with Celtic vs Rangers games. When I watched them growing up, when I was involved in them and, likewise, when I was away. I know what the feeling is.
‘It’s always an exciting fixture, which is why it’s revered around the world for the atmosphere. They are such special games. I think I was involved in 13 when I was up here last time and every one felt really big, really special. It’s such a big part of being here. I can’t wait.’
Rodgers has been coy about the prospect of newcomers like Liverpool loan defender Nat Phillips or Honduran winger Luis Palma featuring at some stage.
The Scottish football snapshots enjoyed so far by Hyun-jun Yang and Gustaf Lagerbielke are insufficient to prepare a player for his Old Firm bow and Rodgers admits there’s never a guarantee of any debutant dealing with what the day might throw at them.
‘I think you can mentally frame certain aspects of what they can expect and anticipate,’ he said. ‘But it’s not until you’re in it that you can get that feeling.
‘The players will be talking to other players about the game and the importance of it. I will address it, naturally, as part of our preparation. But you really don’t understand it until you’re in it and have felt the atmosphere.
‘That’s something that I’m sure was a big part of the draw of coming here for players. I think if you can perform in these types of games then it’s a real marker for where you can go, always a good sign of your qualities going forward. Because I always think the biggest players perform in the biggest games and make the biggest contributions.
‘What our idea will be is to play the game we want to play; to try and win by being aggressive and attacking the game.
‘That’s always my way, always what I’ve said to the players. Rangers will, of course, have the support and we know we have to deal with that. That’s part of the job.’
With Celtic comfortably qualified for the Champions League, the build-up has been a breeze compared to the bruising experience of today’s hosts.
Rodgers has cautioned that a Rangers side on the rebound from their thrashing by PSV Eindhoven could make them a more dangerous opponent. However, he will hope that Thursday night thrashing might have come at a physical and mental cost to Michael Beale’s men.
His Leicester edged past PSV two years ago to reach the Europa Conference League semifinals. He noted: ‘Every player and every team when you lose — and lose heavily — wants to bounce back in the next game.
‘They’ll want to do that. Rangers beating PSV last year maybe created that expectation of going there again and doing the same thing. ‘But, let’s be clear, PSV are a good side and showed that to get there. We played them before in a quarterfinal, so I know the difficulty of playing them home and away. And the resources we would have had then down south were far greater than we have up here. ‘Part of success, sometimes, is when you don’t get the results and you have to be strong enough to go again. Michael and his team and staff will now be looking to have their guys ready for us.’