A league and Scottish Cup double didn’t get him manager of the year last season. A league and League Cup double and a place in the Scottish Cup final hasn’t been enough to sway the voting from his peers in his direction this term either.
Brendan Rodgers could well this month become the only Celtic manager to win three trebles and yet John McGlynn’s back-to-back promotions into the top flight with Falkirk have twice denied the Northern Irishman the top award from PFA Scotland.
What more could Rodgers do? And does he get the credit he deserves?
The answers, for me, are: nothing, and no. Incidentally, I have no problem whatsoever with McGlynn’s double. He’s a fantastic manager.
For Celtic, however, to be standing on the brink of a sixth domestic treble in nine seasons – with Rodgers at the helm for three of them, if he can steer his side past Aberdeen at Hampden – means there’s a serious side effect to the club’s addiction to success. Such domination tends to diminish the scale of the achievement.
If you’ve done five trebles recently, how big a deal can it be to make it to the half dozen? Given the main opposition, Rangers, rotate through managers at the rate of roughly one a year, is it any wonder Celtic’s relative rock-solid stability breeds triumph after triumph?
The complacency with which Celtic’s honours are sometimes greeted does a great disservice to the players and manager. Ask any professional sportsperson how difficult it is to lead from the front, with a target forever on your back.
St Johnstone, Hibs and Rangers (twice) have all beaten Celtic this calendar year. Yet still Rodgers’ side sits 17 points clear at the top with just three games left. They could yet amass 94 points.
Yes, Celtic have the biggest budget in Scottish football and therefore better players than everyone else. That doesn’t guarantee you continued success or blanket domination. Just ask Pep Guardiola at Manchester City.
Where the Celtic manager earns his corn – and should earn the respect of anyone else in the game – is building, and maintaining, such a winning culture. He transformed the side in one season into ‘invincible treble’ winners in 2017.
Another treble followed in 2018, while he set the foundation for the 2019 domestic clean sweep by winning the League Cup and establishing a gap at the top before abandoning ship for Leicester.
He wasn’t therefore universally welcomed back in 2023. Rodgers held firm and delivered a double. He may well go one better this time around.
Still not enough to win the first boss of the year award. Will the football writers perhaps gift him their managerial prize? He’s not likely to lose any sleep over it if they don’t. All he has to do is keep his support base and board happy.
His team nearly beat Bayern Munich in their own backyard in the Champions League knockout phase. European progress achieved. Domestic domination? Box nearly ticked, although the Dons will have plenty to say about that at Hampden.
If you can only beat what’s in front of you, Rodgers has consistently done so, and then some. His problem is that it’s perceived as all too easy, and greeted with little more than a shrug of the shoulders in some quarters.
Credit should be given where due – Celtic have a top coach doing a top job. Fans who still wish he hadn’t come back are pretty thin on the ground these days.
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