A New Era At Celtic Park

BY EWAH CHIKA

Brendan Rodgers was unknown outside the second tier of English football, but all that changed when he won promotion to the Premier League with a less fancied Swansea team in 2012.

As if that wasn't enough, Rodgers' team(Swansea) played possession and attacking football which they stuck to in all situations all through the season. Swansea finished their debut season beating relegation and also beating Arsenal at the Liberty Stadium before drawing the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool, Tottenham and Newcastle. As if that wasn't enough , the Northern Irish man was quickly snapped up by Liverpool in 2012 and though he didn't perform much in his debut season, he led Liverpool to a second place finish after topping the table before the season's last four games. Liverpool under Rodgers played their best football in decades scoring 101 league goals which is the third highest in the Premier League History. Under Rodgers the likes of Luis Suarez, Danny Sturridge, Raheem Sterling and Henderson played their best football and soon became linked with several clubs.

This wasn't the case in his third season immediately star striker Luis Suarez was sold to Barcelona in 2014 summer. Liverpool were on a free fall and never recovered before his sack last year.

While many might criticise his signing with Celtic, Rodgers is a big improvement on the various managers to have managed the Scottish giants. Celtic are no longer the giants they used to be under now Irish manager Martin O'Neil who left in 2005 to attend to his sick wife.

Celtic have consistently struggled and failed to qualify for the Champions League Group stage for the past two years under Danish man Ronny Deila. While Rangers were relegated to the last tier of Scottish football in 2012, Celtic have won the Scottish league thrice but have regressed in European competition .

The Scottish team under Neil Lennon made the Champions League Round of 16 before losing to Antonio Conte's Juventus in 2012/2013 season after beating Barcelona in Camp Nou in the group phase.  This has been the only notable progress the club has made.

With his global branding and recognition in football, Rodgers would be able to attract certain players to Celtic notably from the English Premier League. Also his experience will count after managing in the top level with Liverpool and Swansea. Often described as the "Best One-on-one manager" by no one else but Steven Gerard, Rodgers will come with a breath fresh air.

Although he is not a Jurgen Klopp or a Pep Guardiola, Rodgers isn't a novice in football as his time at Liverpool showed . At Celtic he will have the privilege of signing his own players which wasn't given to him at Anfield as the likes of Mario Balotteli who flopped at Liverpool were signed on the board's recommendation.

Rodgers must not consider Celtic a step-down as he is taking over a club with over nine million fan base of which one million reside in the USA and Canada. Celtic Park  also has a 60,000 capacity  and the club is also considered the club with the  12th highest average attendance in the whole of Europe judging by the data of 2010/2011 season.

With the likes of Emilio Izaguirre, Scot Brown, Leigh Griffiths and Anthony Stokes, Brendan Rodgers would be expected to kick start a new era at Celtic Park come next season.