Brendan Rodgers has revealed that he will have contract talks with Celtic during the close season.
Dermot Desmond was in the Directors Box to watch the 1-1 draw with St Mirren followed by the presentation ceremony for the SPFL Premiership trophy.
Over recent weeks Rodgers has increasingly referenced the Irish businessman in the high profile issues affecting the club.
Right now, no issue is of more importance than the future of the manager who has produced the highest success rate of any Celtic manager.
First time around Rodgers won seven trophies out of seven with Caretaker Neil Lennon presented with a handover that was within touching distance of the SPFL trophy and Scottish Cup.
Since returning to manage Celtic in June 2023 only Alan Muir in an inspired performance has prevented Rodgers from maintaining his 100% record, next Saturday at Hampden the Irishman will be hoping to overcome Aberdeen to become the first manager in the history of Scottish football to win three trebles.
That record plus progress this season in Europe makes the future of the manager pivotal to Celtic’s future direction.
Entering the final 12 months of his three year contract Rodgers knows that his future is going to be under discussion until a decision is made one way or the other.
The Daily Record reports Rodgers saying:
Yes, listen, it’s up to the club. The club might think, three years is enough of me and that’s it bq1ut yes. I think one, we’ll speak around the team. And obviously, it’s always what is most important for Celtic.
We’ll catch up over the summer but the idea was to just make sure, I wanted us to focus on this season and have no distractions, just focus on performance, focus on winning. And then when there’s a bit of spare time at the end of the season, we can chat around that.
Transfer activity this summer will provide a good guide as to whether Celtic want to meet Rodgers’ football ambitions or prefer to build on the Balance Sheet.
The loss of one key player each summer seems inevitable, as soon as Rodgers returned Jota was sold with Carl Starfelt sold to Celta Vigo one game into the season.
This term Matt O’Riley and Kyogo Furuhashi were sold as the squad built by Ange Postecoglou starts to break up.
Rodgers wants to add three players to his squad this summer in the wishful condition that no-one leaves the club.
Injuries to Jota and Reo Hatate complicate the picture, by the time the 24/25 Title flag is unfurled Celtic fans will have a good idea if Rodgers is in the final year of his second stint or building a new team to consolidate Celtic’s domination of Scotland and make inroads into Europe.
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