Whatever the fall out from last week’s Glasgow Derby the achievements of Brendan Rodgers for Celtic can never be doubted or questioned.
Like many cases in sport it may be only after he has left that the enormity is fully appreciated.
As it stands Rodgers has won 10 out of 11 of the domestic trophies that he has entered, another SPFL Premiership title is a certainty over the next month with two Hampden matches standing between another Scottish Cup parade to make it 12 out of 13.
Only a puzzling display by Alan Muir at Kilmarnock in August 2023 has prevented Rodgers from a clean sweep, Muir is no longer involved in SFA matches after his actions against Hibs last month.
Rodgers has won far more trophies for Celtic than Martin O’Neill (seven) and Gordon Strachan (six).
When they were in charge their success was greeted as almost unprecedented, certainly in comparison to the thin pickings of the nineties.
Detractors of the Celtic boss will point to the level of opposition that he has been up against without realising that Rodgers has been the main reason for failures elsewhere.
At Ibrox Mark Warburton, Pedro Caixinha, Steven Gerrard, Micky Beale and Phil Clement have all been welcomed as saviours, men guaranteed to bring success, to end the darkness throughout much of the nation.
Combined, their trophy trail matches what Rodgers won during 2024, each domestic trophy just once.
Had Rodgers been less than exceptional more honours would have found their way to Ibrox, they would still be shouting about being the Most Successful Club in the World. That was dropped like a stone in December by the club and their media messengers.
At any other stage in Scottish football history Derek McInnes would be Aberdeen’s second most successful manager, unfortunately he was second to Rodgers in three cup finals and to Celtic three seasons running in the SPFL Premiership.
That is the magnitude of success that we are currently looking at, genuinely unprecedented.
Never forget Brendan Rodgers made them take these down pic.twitter.com/dmT9qUI2bc
— R4bbitSlipp3rs67 (@HoopySlippers67) March 21, 2025
Since the turn of the year things may not have went as well as fans and the manager would have hoped but there are mitigating circumstances to that.
Michael Nicholson’s delight in negotiating a £10m transfer fee for Kyogo while knowing that was unable to sign a replacement was a turning point.
Once YB Bern had been defeated the Celtic CEO decided that his KPI’s had been met, it was time to cash in with another round of Champions League football secured and a double digit lead in the SPFL.
Kyogo’s sale sent a message throughout the squad, this is a business to deliver profit rather than a football club driving success in the only arena that matters- Europe. Not every player is focussed on how next season will look at Celtic.
Finishing ahead of a club that hasn’t had a manager start and finish a season since 20/21 is no earth shattering achievement. Callum Davidson got the better of them in the Scottish Cup and is currently out of a job.
Rodgers knows that he has hit the glass ceiling in Europe, mixing it with PSV Eindhoven and Club Brugge is a step too far for the Celtic board, domestic success keeps them back slapping and cracking gags at the AGM.
Domestically Rodgers has picked up exactly where he left off, he gave the club a window of success in the Champions League but transfer activity this summer will show a club afraid to build on this seasons progress.
‘Let’s sit back and stay in front of our city rivals’ is the mantra, next season will almost certainly be Rodgers’ final one at Celtic, leaving behind an incredible legacy, he pushed for more but the club power-brokers won’t commit to the hard work required to deliver on that front.
8 minutes, Nicholson
I think, from our perspective the strategy has always been clear. Em, that is to be a world class football club in whatever we do. As Brendan mentioned we want to dominate in Scotland, we want to compete in the Champions League and that has been clearly stated for many many years.
So there is no change in that regard, what we have always done over many years is to continue to improve as a football club, to invest, we’ve got a sustainable model, a self financing model so invest when we can for today, tomorrow and the long term. There is no significant change there and, em, we all want the same thing which is to win.
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Too embarrassed to remove it 😂
— R4bbitSlipp3rs67 (@HoopySlippers67) March 22, 2025
Thing is,
They had this on the wall knowing full well Al Aly or whatever they are called (apologies) are the most successful.
They cheated since 1874 -2012.
And the new club are the same— Kai (@NiadhMcaoidh) March 22, 2025
Sevco fans still singing their club most successful team shows the mentality over at ibrokes
— bornacelt (@bornacelt) March 22, 2025
2 Comments
by Dando
What I can’t figure out is how can you be “The World’s Most Successful Football Club” and yet be Glasgow’s 2nd most successful football club?
HH
by BriBhoy
Do they include their famous Petrofac Cup win in that tally? Celtic weren’t in that, so by their weird logic, it shouldn’t count. Nor should any of the Champions’ League titles Real Madrid and everyone else won when Rangers weren’t involved in that competition, for that matter. Dumb fecks.