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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Ewan Murray

Celtic’s latest title triumph owes much to Brendan Rodgers’ frustrated ambitions

Celtic's Viljami Sinisalo celebrates after winning the Scottish Premiership title.
Viljami Sinisalo celebrates after winning the Scottish Premiership title, their 13th in the past 14 seasons. Celtic have now claimed 21 of the past 26 domestic trophies. Photograph: Russell Cheyne/Reuters

Twelve months from now, Brendan Rodgers will either be preparing to bid farewell to Celtic for surely the final time or the manager will be embarking on phase two of this second tenure. Mystery around the more likely scenario means that what happens next to Celtic is far more intriguing than the comfortable retention of their Scottish title. Make that 13 in 14 years.

Rodgers will already know his future plan. So, too, will Dermot Desmond. There may be no official board role for Celtic’s principal shareholder and no public utterances on all things Celtic, but Rodgers has been sure to drop in that he deals directly with the Irish billionaire as opposed to, say, the club’s chair, Peter Lawwell. If this feels structurally odd, it is the kind of thing that is ignored while the team keeps winning.

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