Brendan Rodgers has a long held theory which feels pretty relevant right now, as Celtic’s top brass plan for life post Ange Postecoglou.
It goes something along the lines of this - all managers wield optimum power in the days and hours leading up to them actually putting pen to paper on a contract with their next club. During that critical window, they are fully aware of how highly they are valued by their prospective employers. And that gives them quite a hefty pile of chips to bargain with at the negotiating table.
It’s a moment in time when promises are made which need to be kept. And, perhaps even more importantly, it’s when demands can be laid out which are absolutely required to be set in stone. It feels worth keeping all of this in mind right now, while Dermot Desmond, Peter Lawwell and Michael Nicholson go through the process of identifying the man most qualified for the task of keeping Postecoglou’s treble winning juggernaut on the road.
And it’s also worth remembering that Rodgers was that man way before most of this country had even started grappling with the big Aussie’s surname. The Northern Irishman was the best man for the job when he was still in it, sweeping all before him in what was an unprecedented trophy grab before leaving in the dead of night for Leicester City.
So it stands to reason then that Rodgers remains the outstanding candidate for the vacant Parkhead hotseat, now that Postecoglou has also been lured south by the irresistible pull of England’s Premier League. The list of names being linked with Postecoglou’s old gig grows by the hour. And Desmond, Lawwell and Nicholson wouldn’t be doing their own jobs properly if they weren’t carrying out due diligence on each and every one of them. Of course they will be.
With golf buddy Pep Guardiola on Desmond’s speed dial and with Lawwell’s privileged access to the City Group’s database, there will be all manner of runners and riders in the frame. For example, it didn’t go unnoticed last week when Barcelona boss Xavi Hernandez gave an interview in which he stated quite unexpectedly that his brother, Oscar - currently his assistant at the Nou Camp - is equipped and ready to go it alone as his own man.
A kind word from Pep might help fast-track someone like Hernandez to the front of the City’s Group’s taxi rank which, coincidentally, is exactly where Postecoglou was loitering when Eddie Howe started blocking Lawwell’s phone number two years ago.
Of course, Guardiola may also have given a glowing reference to his own right hand man at Manchester City, Enzo Maresca, who appears ready to fly the Etihad’s nest after helping the club complete a historic treble in Istanbul on Saturday night, when they successfully bought the Champions League to add to their Abu Dhabi sponsored collection. Well done them.
