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Why Ex-Celtic Boss Isn’t Ready To Torch What’s Left Of His Moral Reputation.

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Brendan Rodgers is good at what he does. Not just the football management part, but the shameless self-promotion part. Some might say, in fact, that’s where his real genius lies. I find it hilarious at times because it’s so ingrained in his personality now that it’s automatic.

He is so lacking in self-awareness about it that it strikes the funny bone at times.

When Leicester won the FA Cup it was a momentous moment for their club and a triumph for him on a personal level.

But he let that part of it overcome everything else.

When he spoke to the media he boasted on his cup final record; “I’ve won them all,” he said, as though amazed that any mere mortal could have accomplished such a feat.

Note that he never said Celtic or Leicester or the players; he “won them all.”

Him personally. The rest of the world were mere passengers along the way.

When he leaked it to the press that he wouldn’t take the Newcastle job he went out of his way to make sure the world knew he’d take the job at Man City instead. It was a laugh out loud revelation; the prospect of working for a repressive oil state didn’t hold appeal.

But he would happily work for a different repressive oil state.

The real difference is in what one of those jobs would have meant for his self-image. Newcastle is a step down as far as he’s concerned, and no billionaire owner is going to change that. Until it changes.

That’s the crucial thing.

He’s doing what he does; he’s waiting to see which way the wind is blowing, because it might be a cold one that sweeps over St James’.

These guys might come in and be wholly intolerant of anything but instant success.

There might be a backlash from the civil rights organisations, something which makes life decidedly unpleasant for whoever sits in that seat. Some of his fellow managers might publicly sneer at the idea of working for such bloodthirsty bastards.

Rodgers is already seen as an untrustworthy charlatan in certain circles.

He promotes himself but he also defends what’s left of his reputation.

That’s why he makes sure to distance himself from every job that comes up, to let his employers and the fans know he’s loyal.

It helps that none of those jobs has sufficiently gripped his attention, and even more that he was never actually offered one of them, as, let’s not forget, he’s not been offered the Newcastle job either.

Rodgers would take the City job. Isn’t that great? Good of him to advertise his interest in it.

That will give their board food for thought, won’t it?

That will make them consider the future.

Except the job is currently inhabited by the best manager in the world. Does that mean Rodgers seems himself as the second best?

Because in his mind I’d have thought that was a step down.

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  • Nick66 says:

    And so the Brendan Rogers gravy train trundles on un it reaches a station worth his perceived ‘ Station’ in his career/journey.

  • JTT says:

    Hell hath no fury…

  • Bob (original) says:

    They say that to be the best in a sport it helps to be a bit arrogant, self-obsessed, narcissistic, supremely confident, etc.

    Rodgers’ ambitions were simply never going to be matched by our comfortable, staid Board.

    At the time I was extremely disappointed at Rodgers’ abrupt, mid-season exit.

    Today, I admire his ruthlessness: he’ll probably get to lift the ‘Big Cup’ in due course.

  • Iljas Baker says:

    When James dislikes someone he sure never misses an opportunity to get the boot in. Pundits, Lennon, Rodgers are all fair and unfair game. It’s all a bit juvenile to be honest. Remember: Rodgers was responding to speculations that he might be offered the Newcastle job (he has done the same before for other potential managerial vacancies). He wasn’t unilaterally announcing anything. He never gave any political reasons for saying what he said. Most commentators were much more generous than James. His response was interpreted as showing “respect for the present manager”. I don’t know where James got the idea that Rodgers might be trying to dodge a human rights bullet or something or he was simply waiting for the Man City job post-Pep. I haven’t seen that in others’ reports. Rodgers stated he is happy where he is and feels there is still a lot to achieve with Leicester. It’s inevitable that he’ll move to a bigger club than Leicester but it will be because he deserves it and believes he is up to the challenge. I too was angry when he left Celtic mid-9IAR but event should be laid primarily at the feet of the board and DD. The 9 million compensation clause wasn’t just perspicacious it was insurance as presumably they suspected that they would end up falling out over the future of Celtic as they would only go so far with Rodgers’s ambitions for Celtic and his integrity as a manager.

    • James Forrest says:

      Lol Rodgers stated that he was happy where he was just days before moving to Leicester.

      It’s not Rodgers departure that leaves a bad taste, it’s how he played up his love for the club but sneaked out the back door like a thief with the silverware.

  • Jim says:

    We’ve all had a pop at him for the way he left. As Lustig put it, if you are a fan you don’t walk out in mid February. I was dismayed by how he slunk away. You can’t put a gloss on that.

    But this all a bit snide. Until his leaving, I was very proud to have Rodgers as our manager. Quite apart from the professionalsm and the success he brought to us, Rodgers conducted himself very well on the whole. He does give credit to others and is very polite. You have picked out one thing.

    Anyway we now have a manager who I think might eventually take us to even greater heights.

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