The football department at Celtic Park is stronger than it has been in a long time. We haven’t seen the full extent that because watching us right now is like watching a good magician putting on a show.
But in the context of that example, magic is only a series of very good tricks and they lie behind the frontage, underpinning all of it.
My AGM article will be up tomorrow and I’ll talk about the concept of The Club.
But the most important part of The Club is the football department and it is comprised of more than just the manager and the players. They do the big stuff, but don’t underestimate what the behind the scenes guys in the football department do.
And Rodgers has spoken about the importance of these guys, and how good they are for the club. It is typical of him to give a shout-out to those who don’t get any of the love from the fans. This is one of the reasons people want to run through walls for the guy.
“I have been impressed with all the coaches,” he said. “John Kennedy is brilliant, and I saw that in my first spell. He works as hard as I’ve ever seen anyone work in football. Besides all of that he is a good man. A very loyal man. I didn’t know Gavin and Harry. I met Harry prior to taking the job and had a chat with him at my house down south.
“And I have to say, for a player who was world class in his pomp, the commitment he has to being here at Celtic and helping all our wingers, he is very good. And I think former players like him give you that bit of gold dust.
“He shares that with the players and he is good for our team and gives a different viewpoint. Gavin is an excellent coach, very diligent and has lovely human qualities. He is always there for the players. And obviously Jack Lyons. I brought in Jack as a really young, talented coach who is analytically brilliant. He can analyse and present that to players too.”
It is great to see some of the love for those in the backroom team. It’s such a Rodgers thing to do, and keeps the great spirit at our club going.
Too many manager want to be the star of the show, we are lucky we’ve had guys who like to put others on the podium too.
John Kennedy : “He’s a good man – A very loyal man”
I’m being pedantic here but Brendan, I’d have preferred “A very faithful man”
Always for me – Faithful over Loyal and also Folks over People which sounds too like ‘peepil’
But anyway – Once again some brilliant man management by Brendan… From putting an arm round Abada taking him for dinner away from the media shit stirring to remembering his forgotten backroom staff –
He gets it – And gets it well at that !
Look upon Rodgers as the decision maker upon the footballing front, which requires big decisions upon a weekly basis also.
For it all to work properly then all the coaching staff have to be on board, so it translates down into the player’s.
Seen enough already to see that the whole process is working well enough, even after a relatively slowish start, but that’s normal enough in the transition period of a new manager with the changes involved.
Already can start to see the extra details being bought into many of the player’s now,which in turn makes them better all round player’s?
The whole structure of the squad is forming very nicely,with confidence growing as players become more used to the roles and expectations that the manager places upon them all.
A joint overall effort is required to make it all work well, and seen nothing as of yet, to suggest it’s not, even if not totally completed with the squad of players involved as of yet?
January and next summer will give Rodgers the opportunity to pinpoint the areas he will want to strengthen even more so, where I believe squad depth took preference over the summer imo.
Right decision taken?
Believe so now, with the amount of injuries we have had already to overcome with key players already during this season?
Has hardly been an easy return for Rodgers, but certainly can see the effect he brings with him, and keeping everyone concerned on board also.
These are top qualities a good manager requires to keep everyone pulling in the right direction, and seen nothing as of yet to suggest otherwise, for which we benefit hugely from also imo
To think a lot of our fans wanted these guys chased out the door after the Covid season.
Thankfully we have people within our club who recognise and respect the value and worth of our staff, as did Ange and now Rodgers. Lennon too actually.