Rodgers refuses to rule out extending his Celtic stay… but will the club continue to match his ambition?
Brendan Rodgers stated that gaining recognition in Europe was the primary driving force for his choice to rejoin Celtic on the day he was reappointed manager in the summer of 2023.
In addition, Rodgers pledged that he would fulfill his three-year deal unless the people in the boardroom had other ideas.
It is unclear whether Rodgers will continue his second stint as manager in the bittersweet mixture of pride and grief that followed Celtic’s Champions League loss in Munich on Tuesday night.
The resentment that surrounds his abrupt departure in February 2019 has surely diminished in the eyes of the vast majority of Celtic fans.
Given the evidence of this season’s Champions League campaign, which began with a devastating 7-1 loss in Dortmund but saw the team gain strength before succumbing to Bayern Munich 3-2 on aggregate, few would doubt that Rodgers is the ideal guy to lead them.
Naturally, it’s unclear if the team would support his goals on the transfer market in order to expand on this season’s European journey.
When questioned yesterday about the prospect of a new deal, Rodgers was evasive, but he made it apparent that he believes Celtic can advance in the Champions League with the correct additions to his team.
He stated that he would be amenable to staying past the conclusion of the upcoming season when those talks do take place.
“To be honest, we haven’t really discussed that,” Rodgers remarked. We prioritize Celtic’s best interests over that of any one person. Celtic’s interests will always come first.
However, my domestic record was respectable when I returned, and I understood that I needed a more formidable team in order to improve in Europe. In that regard, the club has been excellent in supplying that.
We’ve now demonstrated our abilities while staying within the club’s budget. Hopefully, we can maintain pushing in that direction moving forward so we can continue to develop into a skilled and demanding team.
We can never reach certain financial levels. It seems obvious to me. Going to the next level is a topic of conversation. However, for a club like ours or those lacking the resources of the truly great clubs, that will always be a problem.
However, we can undoubtedly advance to the next phase. The next step is what we’ve demonstrated this season in terms of our ability to play at a high level and the confidence you develop because, at this stage, having the self-assurance to go to the Allianz Arena and perform in that manner is crucial.
The players will feel much more confident as a result, and there’s no reason why they can’t get to the quarterfinals or the last-16 if they can advance past these group rounds and play as well as we did.
All of that is undoubtedly a part of the future strategy, hopefully. Given how long I’ve been here, it’s clear that I’m happy. However, it will always be in Celtic’s best interests. Right now, our main goal is to end the season as strongly as possible.
When his team returned to their hotel on Tuesday night after Alphonso Davies’ strike in the 94th minute denied them extra time against a relieved Bayern, Rodgers (below) gave them a rare opportunity to think and unwind.
He wanted them to be proud of their progress since that crushing defeat in Dortmund on the first day of the competition’s new league phase.
He laughed and said, “Don’t worry, it wasn’t a typical Scottish night out.” We remained overnight, trained the following day, and returned to prepare for Hibs on Saturday after enjoying a great, laid-back beer and wine.
You must swiftly move on, but it’s crucial that you have time to relax, think back on the game and performance, and reflect for a little while.
Considering the Dortmund match, it’s one of those possible outcomes. Since life doesn’t always have sunshine, it all depends on how you respond to setbacks and bounce back from them.
Although it was a brutal night for us, I claimed at the time that it was kind of a fluke outcome because of the way each of their shots went in and how well everything worked out for them.
You still have to recover from it at that point, even if we’ve shown over ten games that it was an odd outcome. After the players took that action, they came together. Although it wasn’t a pleasant evening, I know from my life and football experiences.
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