Rodgers trains Celtic’s sights on the Ibrox club, and you know what? He’s ready.

There’s a great moment in The West Wing, one that comes in Season 4. Toby Ziegler, the White House deputy communications director, has been trying to convince the president to have just one debate with his rival, Rob Ritchie, instead of three. He sells it by arguing that it shouldn’t be like any other debate. There should be back-and-forth. The two men should get to ask each other questions directly.

Much of the president’s staff doesn’t want it to happen, but Toby persuades him. The president knows he’ll crush Ritchie if given the chance to challenge him directly.

Foolishly, the Republicans agree to the debate and its terms.

They go into it knowing that Ritchie only has to avoid a total disaster and he’ll be president—he’s already ahead in the election.

On the morning of the debate, the White House team puts the president through a series of short drills, where a staff member asks him a question and he has to answer it on the spot with no preparation. Toby gets the first shot, asking about capital punishment: if a member of his family were murdered, would he want the killer put to death?

To Toby’s horror, the president flounders through a series of increasingly terrible answers—devoid of emotion, lacking coherence. He sounds like a machine trying to process a question about people and feelings, about the justice system and morality. Toby is appalled. Just as he’s about to explode at the president for his poor answers, the entire room bursts into laughter. The president himself joins in. And in that moment, Toby realises—he’s been the butt of a joke.

As they leave the room, press secretary C.J. Cregg tells him it was the president’s idea to have a little fun with him. Toby says nothing at first. Then she asks if he’s okay. Toby, normally one of the pessimists on the show, simply looks at her and says, “He’s ready.”

Later, at the debate itself, the rest of the staff are stunned by the president’s opening remarks—how sharp, how ruthless, how utterly devastating they are to Ritchie. But Toby? He isn’t surprised at all.

I was reminded of that yesterday, listening to Brendan Rodgers talk about the coming game against the Ibrox club.

He’s ready. We’ll be ready.

The team has been drilled. They know what went wrong last time. He knows what went wrong last time. And there is nothing there except a determination to put it right. He even used the phrase “the last time, they stole our game.”

And, of course, anyone who watched that match knows how right he is to use that term. He’s identified why they were successful that day. I think one of the reasons they’ve been so good in Europe is that they’ve played against teams who come at them and play football. That suits them—they thrive on the counterattack.

Rodgers has diagnosed their strength. And when a man like Rodgers does that, you can be sure he also recognises their weaknesses.

He’s ready.

You can always tell a lot about Rodgers by his demeanour, his tone, his inflection. And yesterday, he sounded like a man approaching this game with nothing but utter confidence. Complete belief in his ability. Complete belief in his players.

This is a man who has been through it all before. A man with a record in this fixture that speaks for itself.

Just as Jed Bartlett had been in more debates than anyone could count and probably won every one of them—probably the smartest guy in the room every time—Rodgers knows he has nothing left to prove. He just needs to prepare his game plan and trust his players to execute it. And he does trust them. Absolutely.

Nobody at Celtic will be allowed overconfidence. That might have been an issue at Ibrox last time. As Rodgers said, we had a 14-point lead then. Maybe that blunted the edge a little bit. We go into this game with an even bigger lead.

But this time, there will be no blunting of the edge.

No complacency.

No overconfidence.

That doesn’t mean you’re not allowed confidence at all. You can be confident when you’ve worked on the game plan, when you know the lay of the land, when you’re battle-hardened and have already had a stab at the enemy’s weak spot. Then, confidence is justified. And that’s what I read from Rodgers’ comments yesterday.

People in the media are talking about him having vowed revenge, but he said nothing of the sort. Rodgers doesn’t think in those terms. The result at Ibrox—and not just the result, but the performance—was inexplicably bad. There are rumours that a virus was going through the squad, affecting at least a couple of players. That would explain some of the lethargy. But it wouldn’t explain all of it.

There was mental fatigue, too.

I haven’t seen this Celtic team roll over too many times this season, but I felt like they did that day. They were caught by surprise. They didn’t know how to handle it.

But that’s a trick Ibrox can only pull on us once.

They won’t be caught by surprise this time. Rodgers won’t be caught by surprise. And whatever physical ailments were affecting the players that day, that’s long in the past.

It’s fair to say they’re coming up against a different Celtic now.

The side that played at Ibrox—while good, while driven—didn’t seem to have the cutting edge that this one does. Ironically, it took losing a player for us to put our best foot forward. And the player we lost was the one who had caused them the most damage.

Maeda’s effectiveness through the middle dwarfs anything Kyogo has produced this season. Maybe Kyogo had his mind on the exit door. Whatever the case, Maeda is sharp. Aggressive. Tuned into everything the team is doing. He’s not just turning heads—he may even have forced Rodgers to reconsider his summer plans.

Then there’s Jota.

It’s hard to believe, but the player who left—brilliant as he was—might be a lesser talent than the one we’ve brought back. It’s almost like we’ve got a better version of him. And I am very curious to see how the Ibrox defence handles what might be the quickest, most alert, and most aggressive Celtic front three I’ve seen in a long time.

The midfield has stepped up too.

I think Hatate has been immense in recent months. Engels has grown into a truly accomplished footballer. He could run the show at Celtic Park if he starts well. Schloop gives us something at left-back that Taylor simply doesn’t. There’s a confidence and a surety there that could be crucial on the day.

It just feels like the stars are aligning.

And into that mix, we have the fact that Fenerbahçe will almost certainly play better at Ibrox than they did at home. They’ll give the Ibrox club a tough night. They probably won’t do enough to knock them out—I don’t think they’re good enough—but they’ll make them work for every bit of possession. That might leave some of their players looking a little leggy, a little fatigued, heading into this game.

Rodgers will have it all worked out.

Rodgers already has it all worked out.

You can tell by the way he speaks about it. He already has a plan. He already has a system. He’s already making subtle adjustments in how we line up and approach the match. He may even have a tactical surprise or two up his sleeve. But one way or another, you listen to him and you know—he’s ready.

He was so offhand about it yesterday. So quietly confident. So secure in what he’s doing. I didn’t see a flicker of doubt. Just confidence.

Just a determination to put something right.

That’s not a thirst for revenge. That’s a statement.

And I think he’s about to make it.

One of the accusations the staff in The West Wing sometimes level at Bartlett is that he smooths himself out when on stage, that he tries too hard to be Everyman, that he worries too much about being nice and doesn’t use his intellect aggressively, as a weapon.

They call it his “Uncle Fluffy” side.

Watching him demolish Richie in the opening moment of the debate, CJ Cregg, turns to Toby Zeigler in disbelief and says “Well, he’s not going to be Uncle Fluffy.” And Toby, with a look of pure satisfaction, all his expectations met, simply keeps watching the show and says a single word; “No.”

I expect to feel a little bit like that next Sunday.

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