What a week to be a Celtic fan!
As if winning the title in style at Tynecastle wasn’t enough to put a smile on every supporters face the news that Brendan Rodgers had agreed a new four year contract has sent the support into raptures.
Rodgers commitment to the club has been earnest and sincere from day one but getting him to knock for six thoughts of EPL clubs coming up to whisk him back to the land of milk and honey is fantastic news.
With Rodgers there is a much bigger picture than ‘how much will you pay me?’
He wants to push his own ambitions as far as possible, he wants to test himself as much as he can and he enjoys the control that he has over all matters Celtic. No manager in England has the same degree of control, every manager in the EPL has boardroom pressure to do things certain ways. Within an already agreed budget Rodgers calls all the shots.
With title number six done and dusted the countdown is underway towards number 10, a well run Celtic will take some displacing, cup competitions can be decided by honest mistakes but it will take a combination of self implosion and incredible good fortune elsewhere to stop the ten.
Celtic have never been an insular club, success has always been judged in terms of Europe with the focus very firmly on making an impact rather than being the place the big names have on their bucket list.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE LAST EIGHT!
Is it a pipe-dream or could it be reality?
Three times Celtic have made it through the group phase but the draw has never been kind with AC Milan, Barcelona and Juventus waiting at the knock out phase.
The more often you reach that stage the better the chances of a favourable draw, if Leicester can be up against Atletico Madrid for a place in the semi-finals then why shouldn’t Celtic do the same?
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GROUP PHASE
Even with the trips to the Nou Camp becoming routine no Celtic fan will ever tire of the Champions League.
Making Celtic a fixture in the group phase would be a big step in the right direction rather than enjoying the games because you don’t know when we’ll be back again!
Rodgers enjoyed the way his side grew up and developed over six matches this year- making the Champions League group phase every season will lift the club in every area of the game.
BACK TO BACK TREBLES
As every Celtic fan will know winning a treble is never to be taken for granted, there have been many great Celtic sides over the last 70 years but only three have managed to win the treble.
Jock Stein managed to win eight out of nine trophies in the late sixties but a Scottish Cup defeat from Dunfermline denied his side three consecutive trebles.
No club has ever won back-to-back trebles, over the next five years it could be possible- maybe this time next year it’ll be the subject that we are all debating.
THE HOMEGROWN BHOYS
With six players in the most recent Scotland international squad the local dynamic of the Celtic side has changed in recent times.
Kieran Tierney is the shining star of the club’s academy but Rodgers would clearly like to unearth a few more KT’s.
The talent is there it’s just that difficult phase between 17 and 20 that needs worked on but perhaps by 2020 we’ll be watching a team that includes Tierney, Liam Henderson, Jack Aitchison and a couple of others that have come all the way through the club.
THE £50M TRANSFER
If Virgil van Dijk is now valued at £50m why shouldn’t Celtic sell a player for that figure over the net couple of seasons?
If Moussa Dembele continues at anything like the rate he has improved at this season he could be getting close to that value.
Fairly average players in England are costing £15m and upwards, it’s not ridiculous to suggest that within four years Celtic could bank a cheque for £50m.