It might not go down as one of the great speeches of all time. Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King and Winston Churchill don’t need to worry about being nudged off the quote of the day toilet paper.
But it was a line that summed up the mood outside Celtic Park yesterday evening. “I’ve got my bag of cans… Now I’ve got Brendan back”. The happy chap wasn’t lying. He had a tin in one hand and a placky bag with some more in the other, in a less than subtle homage to the famous clip that did the rounds years ago. Back then, some misguided fellow barricaded himself in his Paisley flat with cops outside, demanding a ransom of a bag of cans, Brendan back, as well as a job. Who knows about the last wish, but Brendan is back in this job. Albeit it in slightly less hysterical style. The big return yesterday was a much more subdued affair than his first unveiling back in the summer of 2016.
So many fans turned up that sunny day, Parkhead chiefs had to throw open the doors of the stadium to let them in. It was like the Beatles landing at JFK back then. Around 13,000 flocked to the ground to hail the manager who would lead them to the next seven trophies on the bounce. If this was Rodgers’s first stint now, there would probably have been the same yesterday. Instead there was probably just over a thousand waiting to get a glimpse of the man they once worshipped and are ready to do so again. There were only a handful of punters mulling around when Rodgers arrived earlier in the afternoon. He may have left by a side door four years ago but he would walk back in the front one this time.
