With Celtic less than a week away from starting pre-season training there is no doubt that the future of Brendan Rodgers is the most important issue facing the club.
In June 2023 he was convinced to take over from Ange Postecoglou, following his sudden departure in February 2019 it seemed an unlikely scenario but at that moment, following the sudden exit of a treble winning manager Rodgers seemed the obvious candidate.
Dermot Desmond set the wheels in motion, Michael Nicholson and Chris McKay headed out to Mallorca for face to face talks as the notion of Rodgers’ returning gained momentum.
Callum McGregor even dropped in to deliver an update, some fans fumed online but the vast majority recognised that Rodgers was the best option, that his 2019 exit had been created by a CEO that just can’t take a back seat.
Agreement was reached, Rodgers signed a three year contract, from the media conference to announce his return he has regularly been grilled on whether he will see out that contract. Towards the end of the 24/25 season he said that he was 150% certain to stay on till the end of his deal, that was later raised to 200% when the SPFL Premiership title at Tannadice.
What next for Rodgers and Celtic?
The three year contract offered and signed in June 2023 was very much the exception, all Celtic managers over the previous decade signed 12-month rolling contracts, generally it worked well.
It was flexible, everyone was aware of what was involved, either party could bail out with the terrms well established.
In April 2017, in a departure from the norm Celtic announced:
CELTIC Football Club are delighted to announce that manager Brendan Rodgers has signed a new four-year contract with the club which will run until June 2021.
Celtic Chief Executive Peter Lawwell said: “Brendan has made a huge impact at Celtic already. He’s an outstanding manager and we believe he is one of the best coaches in Europe, if not world football, and we’re delighted that he has committed his future to Celtic.”
That didn’t play out very well, less than two years later Rodgers was managing Leicester City with Lawwell ignoring all other applications to appoint Neil Lennon as his successor, again on a one year rolling contract.
Right now there are a lot of unknowns and variables surrounding the manager, it isn’t a far fetched conspiracy to suggest that he won’t be agreeing a new deal until the scale of transfer ambitions this summer becomes clear. Equally the PLC won’t be investing in players until they find out the future intentions of the manager.
Another 12-month rolling contract seems the solution for Celtic and Rodgers?
Taking on board all of the circumstances getting Rodgers to sign a new 12-month rolling contract seems like the best option going forward.
It has worked well in the past, removes the question mark of his current contract running down and provides everyone with an element of security, as much as you are likely to get in 2025.
Jota, Matt O’Riley and Kyogo Furuhashi were all on long term contracts when they were sold, supporters accept and almost expect it to happen although obviously the team manager is of far more importance than any player.
Transfer business can advance, players joining Celtic know where they stand with the manager, most of them will be looking to spend two seasons at Celtic before they move on to a richer league
Rodgers and the 2025 transfer window
For most fans retaining players is as important as bringing in new faces.
There is no shortage of speculation over Nicolas Kuhn, Daizen Maeda, Reo Hatate and Cameron Carter-Vickers, losing one of them is probably inevitable, losing two would be very concerning.
In any transfer discussions, whether for new signings or getting current players onto new deals it is only natural that they will ask about the situation with the manager.
At this moment there isn’t much difference between a contract running until June 2026 and a 12-month rolling deal but that will soon change.
Whether the club or supporters like it or not speculation over Rodgers and his future won’t be far away from all media discussion around the club.
A new rolling contract should ensure that the club remains committed to backing their manager rather than scaling back with no idea over who will be replacing Rodgers at the end of the 25/26 season.
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