Brendan goes back to the future

So the Bhoys are back at it.

I’m sure there was a warm welcome for Brendan when he turned up at his old place of work.

The Hoops are under new management, but the same objectives remain extant:

Win the league.

Of course, there is only one possible team that can stop Celtic from retaining the SPFL title.

In the days after wrapping up yet another treble, I’m told that the mood was remarkably upbeat in the Blue Room.

The departure of Ange Postecoglou was deemed to be an unexpected slice of luck.

Indeed, one senior member of the Sevco High Command enthused that the Australian would almost certainly gut the coaching staff at Lennoxtown and take them to London with him.

Moreover, he would then almost certainly come calling for the players that he had brought to Celtic.

When it was pointed out to him that he had arrived on his own and that Spurs shopped in a different market, the Blue Room chap wouldn’t hear of it.

He was convinced that it was an unmitigated disaster for Celtic to lose Postecoglou, and worse was to come, as soon they would be denuded of experienced coaches and their best players.

Better still, he opined, the chances were that the Parkhead board would go for an untried manager, the cheap option.

Then Ibrox chap’s reasoning was, at that point, they would be ahead in the rookie manager steeplechase as Mr Beale at least had a year under his belt.

When it was rumoured that Michael Nicholson and the Celtic CFO had travelled to Spain to have a sit down with Brendan Rodgers, this Blue Room grandee wouldn’t believe it.

Sadly, on the day it was confirmed that the Irishman had indeed returned to manage the Hoops, the Sevco fellow was apparently unapproachable.

Indeed, that nice young Mr Bisgrove advised staff to give the Blue Room gentleman some space.

So, Celtic, having lost one experienced manager, promptly replaced him with another experienced manager.

The coaching staff at Lennoxtown remained intact, and there were worrying reports that Rodgers had a transfer budget that dwarfed what was available to Mr Beale.

Now Celtic may lose more of their squad to highly profitable offers, but it’s business, not personal.

The last day of the transfer window is when it gets iffy, not in July, especially as the Hoops have no Champions League qualifiers.

This one is something of a collector’s item from the Daily Radar as it is essentially accurate.

My information is that the young Israeli is also being tracked by Borussia Dortmund at the moment.

If he goes, then it is yet another profit generated by the player trading model, and his replacement is already in the building.

Moving players on for a profit and having a ready-made replacement identified is the system working as it should.

Successful clubs in Europe regularly achieve a much higher rate of churn than Celtic have in recent years.

Here Alan Morrison explains the process in his piece for The Celtic Way.

Now today, there is another statement of intent from the Celtic board.

The elusive frontman from Japan will be at Celtic in season 2023-2024, and these days, that’s as much as can be hoped for.

I would not be surprised if Daizen Maeda is the next player to be secured on a longer deal at the SPFL champions.

The shape of Brendan’s squad is still unclear, but he does have resources at his disposal that they can only dream of across the city.

Indeed, the  Sevco High Command will be praying that he uses them with spectacular incompetence.

Actually, I would blame them for hitting the dignified stuff in the Blue Room right now.

I really wouldn’t.