Brendan Rodgers may still be a couple of bad words for some Celtic fans but Mark Wilson insists they'll soon forgive and forget if he makes a successful return to Celtic.
The former Hoops defender has the Irishman at the top of his wish list as a possible successor to Ange Postecoglou despite the lingering animosity of the 50-year-old's midnight flit to Leicester City two years ago with accusations he left them in the lurch. Bookies have Rodgers at even money favourite regardless of a belief he's not ready to relocate again to Glasgow and Wilson is adamant even the coldest of hearts have started to melt over the prospect of the double treble winner being unveiled at Parkhead.
He said: "There is a thawing with the fans over Rodgers because some couldn't mention his name. Now they're mentioning his name and saying he did great things, even if they still don't forgive him. If he was appointed that would go further, it would thaw gradually over time. It's all about the product on the pitch and Rodgers, in his time here, was extraordinary, he was a great spokesman for the club but backed it up with performance.
"The only thing that really failed him was European football, like Postecoglou. He was wide open attacking and took a couple of thumpings. But apart from that you couldn't argue with his record. If it was me and I had the choice of anybody, and if Brendan Rodgers was available, I would take him back in a heartbeat. There’s obviously levels to management and all these names get bandied about, people look at their past and what they’ve done and that’s attractive."
Wilson believes the imperious spell which saw Rodgers claim a clean-sweep of all the domestic silverware on offer ensures there's still more than enough credit left in his bank to excite the Celtic fans for a man who was bagged earlier this season by the Foxes.
He said: "When you have a manager like Rodgers, who came here with 15,000 people outside Celtic Park to welcome him, he backed it up with real success and a style of play that Celtic fans loved at the start. Okay, it faded a bit at the end. That possession-based football was great at the beginning and Celtic fans loved it.
“But he’s still a top, top manager. People can say ‘look what happened when he went to Leicester’ – he finished 5th and won the FA Cup with a team that was never going to reach the heights of what they’d achieved before. Everybody gets sacked at one stage, he’s a real top manager. I suppose Celtic are fortunate that he’s out there and not in a job. If he wants it, I think he’d be a great fit."
Rodgers may have left a sour taste in the mouths of a support for jumping ship mid-season but Wilson is adamant it's a brutal part of the business for managers to talk the talk and declare undying love for a club before being seduced by big money offers from teams in the English Premier League.
He said: "Football fans hold things dear especially at Celtic, where if the manager says the right thing, the fans believe it 100-per-cent. They struggle to let it go. Brendan Rodgers had to come in and get results right away and the brand of football was good again. If a couple good signings came in the door, all would be forgiven. It's the only thing that stands in the way for me - that a few supporters don't forgive the way he left. But it's going to be the same whoever's appointed next. They're going to either leave at the end of the season or they're going to get the opportunity to go down south to a Premier League club, and that's something we have to get used to in Scotland."
Of all the other names mentioned in dispatches for the Hoops vacancy, Wilson has Manchester City assistant boss Enzo Maresca on his best of the rest list. The one-time Scotland full-back is convinced the Italian would be ideally suited for a line of succession where style and the 'we never stop' mantra is continued.
He said: "Maresca is an interesting one; part of the City Group under Pep Guardiola and it’s a link Celtic have utilised well over the years. The style of play would maybe be closest to what Postecoglou brought. When you’ve got full-backs who have been reinvented like Greg Taylor and adapted like Alistair Johnston and Anthony Ralston – a different player now – you’d want to use that again if it’s been so successful.
“To bring in a manager who scraps it and goes to a rigid four at the back, it may yield different outcomes. They need to be careful with who they pick.”
As Celtic continue to hunt for the perfect fit for life in the post Postecoglou era, Wilson is convinced whoever leads the club next season has huge shoes to fill and he also believes the Hoops board won't have been caught on their heels by the Australian's hasty exit to Tottenham.
He said: “I don’t think the people in charge at Celtic will be relaxed. They must have had a succession plan in place, but when they were planning on using it probably wasn’t right now.
“I know these talks will probably have taken place over a couple of weeks, so more time than the public will have had to deal with it. It’s still a tall act to follow and it’s going to be very difficult to replace a manager like Ange Postecoglou.
“The ties they have, they have used them well in the past and will be looking for the same. But whoever comes in, it’s not only a tough act to follow with the style of play and the squad that’s been amassed under Postecoglou, but the connection with the fans this Celtic manager had was something special.
“Going back years, Brendan Rodgers may have had a wee bit of it at the start, but it faded a bit. Gordon Strachan didn’t have anything like what Ange had."
Mark Wilson was speaking at the launch of the Glasgow European Capital of Sport 2023 Refugee Football Tournament - Scotland's most diverse football event.
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