GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - OCTOBER 05: Celtic Manager Brendan Rodgers during a William Hill Premiership match between Celtic and Motherwell at Celtic Park, on October 05, 2025, in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Craig Williamson/SNS Group via Getty Images)
Here’s Brendan Rodgers’ incentive for the rest of this season: a domestic treble and the chance to add another Ibrox scalp to his collection. Another head for his mantelpiece. Another boss driven out of the job after being crushed under the weight of Celtic.
We all knew in the summer that whoever the Ibrox manager turned out to be, Rodgers would eventually hang that head on the wall. What none of us could have predicted is that it would happen after just 123 days. Now Rodgers has the chance to add one more.
I don’t think there has been a Celtic manager of the modern era who has seen off quite so many pretenders and challengers.
It is remarkable that Rodgers, in his second spell, might still have the time to add to his tally. Depending on who they appoint next, it is entirely possible he will chalk up yet another managerial casualty before the season is out.
He spoke up for Martin publicly, but privately Rodgers knew what the rest of us knew: the man was never going to last.
Rodgers must have known he would be boasting another managerial scalp soon enough. His record as Celtic boss is outstanding in trophies and victories, but it is the sheer number of rival managers he has personally outlasted that makes it truly extraordinary. From Mark Warburton onwards, the list of Rodgers’ “victims” just goes on and on.
Right now, Celtic look vulnerable. That much is true.
Rodgers himself has taken flak, and this has not been his easiest campaign. But the brutal reality is that no one would envy whoever takes Martin’s place.
They will inherit a squad that is one of the poorest Ibrox teams in recent memory – threadbare, lacking quality, and battered by failure. They will also have to satisfy a fan base which has no tolerance at all for failure or even the idea of it.
Yes, results will improve under a new boss. They almost always do. But improvement from this standing start does not equate to success. A club in crisis needs more than a dead-cat bounce, and their fans won’t settle for “better than Martin.” They demand trophies, yet their squad doesn’t look remotely capable of delivering them.
One of the earliest tasks for the new man will be to lead that beleaguered side into the League Cup semi-final against Celtic at Hampden.
The fans will convince themselves they can win, as they always do when a new face appears in the dugout. But if they think that squad is truly up to the task, they are delusional. Hampden will be no honeymoon for whoever steps in.
Should Rodgers best the new man in that semi-final, the next derby is at Celtic Park in January. Imagine it: a fresh Ibrox boss already under immense pressure, facing Rodgers in front of 60,000 Celtic supporters.
Lose both those games and the pressure will be intolerable before he has even got his feet under the desk. Rodgers will smell blood. The angry mob outside Falkirk may just as easily be surrounding another car by the turn of the year, because once rebellion seeps into an institution it becomes almost impossible to purge.
This is not like the Celtic fan movement for reform. That was built on real grievances, real history, real accountability issues stretching back years.
The fury across the city is different. It is the fury of entitlement. They are enraged at being Scotland’s second-best club, but that’s what they are.
That is their stature. That is their reality. Until they accept that, they are going to remain locked in this cycle of failure. Demanding miracles from managers who can’t deliver them only guarantees more carnage.
So yes, it is very possible that by the start of 2026, their new manager is already in deep trouble. He might not even see the season out.
If he doesn’t, Rodgers will almost certainly add another Ibrox boss to the long list of managerial sacrifices he has overseen during his Celtic reign.
None of the names being touted – Gerrard, Dyche, or whoever else – will worry Rodgers in the slightest. He will relish going up against any of them.
In Gerrard’s case, he might even enjoy the unfinished business. Rodgers didn’t stay long enough to see Gerrard collapse the first time, although the so-called “golden boy” was already teetering by the time Rodgers left. Another round of that duel would be irresistible for Rodgers, who might fancy delivering the killer blow.
Rodgers loves trophies. He loves titles. That goes without saying.
But I’ve always thought he took a special satisfaction in the number of Ibrox managers he has seen off. He has even joked about it openly. On the day Martin was appointed, he couldn’t resist a smirk when asked about it.
Rodgers knows exactly how many “execution orders” he has signed with a victory over Ibrox. He revels in it. That might just be the spark he needs to drive this Celtic team forward again.
Make no mistake: Rodgers is under pressure. Celtic are not playing at their best. Yet in the back of his mind, he knows that he is still the man every Ibrox manager dreads facing. He is the one who has ended careers and exposed pretenders. He is the one who has left a trail of managerial corpses behind him. And now he is hunting another.
Martin lasted just 123 days.
Whoever comes next may not last much longer. Rodgers the Executioner waits for him, sharpening the axe, ready to add another Ibrox head to the wall.
I agree the Ibrox outfit is extremely poor. Therefore it is extraordinary that Rodgers hasn’t managed to beat them in a year!
If the new incumbent at Liebrox learns how to beat ‘the rest’ then he might not have another execution on his block !
How has BR ‘seen off’ RM given that we haven’t beaten Sevco for over a year?
Strange story for me James. I wondered if it was tongue in cheek. Easily the worst sevco manager in history. Rodgers the executioner, yes in part he killed our hopes of playing Champions league foitball puting out two teams that were unable to score against a very poor team from Kazakhstan.
True dat……
Gerrard? No, it would cost him his family.
What happens if Rodgers doesn’t win the semi-final and the next league match derby? Will he be for the chop?
The only reason that managerial fraud gerrard would come back, is at a time like now. When he knows Celtic are a weakened side and in conflict. Wouldn’t have dared tae come back while Ang was there, or even at the beginnin of last season when we were a better side under BR. I was hopin he would be brave enough at that time, so that he would be exposed big time. And he would’ve been and he knows it. Tho he’ll always want tae keep his myth intact. Wouldn’t put it past him, tae try and get in on it now because of our present situation. He’s fly enough.
JT (11.38pm) – He nearly should be !
I don’t see how BR has dismissed any of the last 3 managers over there. Clemont he could partially claim the scalp but really it goes to the manager of queens park & the other managers in the SPFL. We rode our luck against his Ibrox team in the Final of the League Cup & were soundly beaten in the January game.
He doesn’t get to claim BF either. Getting beat by him is one of the worst results he will ever experience.
Brendan I’m afraid to say hasn’t claimed a scalp since Beale. It’s the rest of the SPFL who are claiming these scalps.
If Rangers were winning every other game we would be in a full on title race because the fact is for the last 12 months probably 18 really they have had our number. Player quality has been our saving grace because nobody can claim our players try harder during the match or give it more.
I think as bad as it is over there, they know beating Celtic buys them some respite from the ire of the fans.
Our players don’t look like they could give 2 tosses about beating them or not. It isn’t the OF any longer but they are still the local rival that we will always want to beat & beat soundly but other than the Celtic Park game at the start of last season we haven’t been at the races.
James, I don’t know what your optimism for beating The Rangers FC is based on, Haven’t beaten them over 90 mins for over a year and 5 games, whilst the rest of Scottish football were beating them every other week.
Under Rodgers, Celtic are notoriously slow starters against the Ibrox mob, whilst they start games against us like men fired up with determination and effort. This Semi-Final is important to Rodgers and Celtic, another no show against the Ibrox mob would be unacceptable and it would continue probably the worst run of results against them this century.