Brendan's back - Can he succeed at Celtic?

By Simon Wright – Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88

After seven months out of the game, Brendan Rodgers is back in football management. The former Swansea City and Liverpool FC boss has been appointed as the new manager of Celtic on a 12-month rolling contract.

Brendan Rodgers will have some issues to iron out at Celtic

Rodgers (pictured) becomes the third Northern Irishman to manage the Hoops in the last 15 years. Can he follow in the footsteps of his compatriots, Martin O’Neill and Neil Lennon?

LMA Manager of the Year in 2014, Rodgers is almost certain to bring excitement back to Parkhead after two frustrating years under Ronny Deila. However, there are areas he will need to address in his early weeks. Can he succeed at Celtic and make them into a European contender?

Unbalanced squad

The playing staff at Celtic Park is huge – a roster of players which is bound to cause some form of dressing room unrest, especially if they aren’t playing.

Deila focused far too much on the midfield area and only seemed to be bringing in players who play in a similar position. This is something Brendan Rodgers will want to address pretty quickly.

Celtic’s list of midfielders reads: Scott Brown, Nir Bitton, Scott Allan, Stefan Johansen, Tom Rogic, Liam Henderson, Ryan Christie, Kris Commons, Stuart Armstrong, Callum McGregor, James Forrest, Patrick Roberts and Gary Mackay-Steven.

As you can see, he has far too many midfielders, so will need to sort this issue out. Henderson is currently on-loan to new Scottish Cup holders Hibernian, whilst Forrest is out of contract and unlikely to stay. What Rodgers needs to do is choose the players he wants to build a team around. Commons can be infuriating but when he is on top of his game, he is one of the best in the division. McGregor and Rogic were two bright sparks in the 2015/2016 season, whilst Brown and Bitton would be expected to hold the team together in central midfield.

This means it could be a testing summer for the ex-Dundee United pair Armstrong and Mackay-Steven. Both came with a burgeoning reputation and have only shown flashes of their potential so far. Rodgers might have to choose one to stay and one to go, unless he moves Commons on.

Emilio Izaguirre is definitely moving on, but defensive options look solid enough. In attack though, Celtic look weak. The only senior forward is PFA Scottish Player of the Year Leigh Griffiths, who scored 40 goals in all competitions last season.

Griffiths will need support though, so another forward is a priority. It will be interesting to see whether he decides to buy from within Scotland, or try and attract players from England to head north of the border.

European force

As they won the Scottish Premiership title for a fifth consecutive season, Celtic will once again enter the qualifying rounds of the UEFA Champions League in the summer. This is where Deila was found out in his two years in the hotseat in Glasgow. Celtic were dumped out of the qualifying rounds by Maribor and Malmo.

These are teams they should be beating. Getting into the group stages of Europe’s premier club competition is absolutely essential for the fans and for the players. It has made Celtic’s recent campaigns slightly redundant by the end of August – with the knowledge that Europe’s powerhouses won’t visit Parkhead in the autumn/winter months.

It is a huge financial incentive and something Rodgers needs to improve on. He didn’t take his chance with Liverpool FC in the group stages of this competition in 2014, even fielding a shadowed side in the Bernabeu against Real Madrid.

Celtic supporters don’t expect their team to win the Champions League but they do expect to make the final 32. Rodgers seems to be a popular appointment, so this makes the first few competitive fixtures for him in Europe absolutely crucial.

The Rangers effect

Since Rangers were relegated in 2012 due to their crippling financial debts, Celtic have had the top-flight all to themselves and it has devalued the reach of Scottish football. Aberdeen have bravely put up a decent fight in the last two campaigns and beat the champions both times at Pittodrie last season. However, they don’t have the financial clout or the playing squad to push Celtic all the way.

For 2016/2017, Rangers are back in the Premiership. Four seasons out in the wilderness, but the Gers have clambered back into the pinnacle of Scottish football and it means the resumption of the great Old Firm rivalry in the league.

Rangers will set their targets high and Mark Warburton is an excellent manager, as he has proved already with Brentford in the Championship and now at Ibrox too.

Rangers beat Celtic on penalties in a dramatic Scottish Cup semi-final in April. They would love to wrestle the title off their great rivals.

Brendan Rodgers only won one Merseyside derby from five during his Liverpool FC reign. He needs a much better record in this derby.

Aberdeen will remain an irritation and Hearts aren’t a million miles away too. Whilst you would expect Celtic to win the Premiership title again in Scotland, the Rangers effect next season means it isn’t as a forgone conclusion as it has been in recent campaigns.

Is the job too easy for Rodgers?

For Brendan Rodgers, it is the perfect job for him to get back into football management. He isn’t a bad manager either. He got Swansea City promoted to the Premier League and took them to an excellent 11^th place finish in the 2011/2012 debut campaign the Swans had.

That got him the Liverpool FC job and he made the Reds an exciting and entertaining side to watch. He maximised the talents of Luis Suarez and got the best out of Steven Gerrard, Raheem Sterling and Daniel Sturridge too. But for an unfortunate slip from Gerrard at home to Chelsea and late collapse at Crystal Palace; Liverpool FC would have been Premier League champions in 2014.

The final 15 months of his Anfield reign did stagnate and although the timing of his sacking in October 2015 was slightly strange, it looks like the right decision. The fans wanted change and ultimately, so did the board.

Going back to Swansea was an option, but possibly a step backwards, so this is a great job and a challenge I’m sure he’ll relish.

He will be expected to win silverware at Celtic and if he doesn’t, it won’t look good on his CV. The job might look an easy one but the challenge of Rangers, the reshaping he needs to make to the playing squad and the pressure of getting into the Champions League mean this is not going to be as straightforward as it looks.

He will be unveiled on Monday and it is good to have him back in the game. His appointment is a plus for Scottish football.