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.
But while Marseca will undoubtedly be a person of interest, along with an ever expanding list of others, when it comes to the appointment of a new manager, there is one golden rule of which Desmond, Lawwell and Nicholson will be only too well aware.
Invariably, the key to it all is to minimise the element of risk. And if that’s Celtic’s overriding motivation this summer then this job opportunity must surely have the name of Rodgers written all over it. How better to replace a treble winning manager than with a manager who was on his way to winning three of them on the bounce before he was pinched in his prime and spirited off to the King Power?
Of course, that hasty departure has left a bad taste in the mouth where some of the club’s fans are concerned. The working relationship between Lawwell and Rodgers was also somewhat strained before the end. By that point, Rodgers had long overstayed his point of optimum influence in the club’s affairs.
Players were being recruited seemingly without his consent - like the City Group’s Daniel Arzani for example - while Rodgers was unable to bring in his own priority targets, such as Belgian international Timothy Castagne, who would eventually join him in the Midlands. But all of the above ought to be water under the bridge now that Rodgers is out of work and Celtic are in need of a new manager.
Of course, the landscape has changed over the last four years. Lawwell is now in the chairman’s office rather than calling the shots as chief executive. Postecoglou has come and gone and the legacy he’s left behind has nudged the dial in terms of the quality of football expected by a support which is feeling more than a little scorned and bruised by his apparent betrayal.
That’s the very word which was being thrown around with considerable venom when Rodgers left the building. And it’s why there will be a great deal of soul searching required on both sides before giving this relationship a second go. As Record Sport revealed last week, Rodgers had also made up his mind to take a year out of the game to focus on precious family time following his panic triggered departure from Leicester.
Then, when he felt the time was right, he might scratch an old itch by taking on a job in somewhere like La Liga or Serie A. But that lifestyle decision did come with a caveat that he might unexpectedly be offered a job at a club he would find too tempting to turn down.
If Rodgers feels that Celtic could be that club - and he has never hidden his desire to return one day despite all the bad blood around his departure - then it’s no wonder if he needs a bit of thinking space. After all, it was always his intention to return to Glasgow one day to put his roots down. Around 18 months ago, in fact, he bought a family home on the northern outskirts of the city, a 15 minute drive from Celtic’s Lennoxtown HQ.
All of which would make him exactly the right man, in exactly the right place. It’s only a question of whether or not he feels this would be the right time for him to dive back into the goldfish bowl. Or if it’s all a bit too soon. Either way, this could be another moment of optimum power. If he likes what he hears then it’s hard to imagine how Celtic could land themselves a better boss.
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