New Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has made it clear early in his second spell at the club that his entire focus will be on the Bhoys rather than what’s going on across the city.
Rodgers won seven domestic trophies from seven during his first stint as boss, dishing out a number of humiliating defeats to a newly-promoted Rangers along the way.
The consensus is that the Ibrox outfit are stronger now than they were back then and their supporters have confidence Michael Beale has them on the right path.
Asked about their “strength” and how it compares to that previous era by a journalist at today’s media conference, Rodgers said [Celtic TV]: “All you can do when you are a manager is beat the opposition that is in front of you. When I arrived seven years ago, Rangers were getting promoted and had just beaten Celtic. There was a big feeling that they could go on and win the league.
“Obviously, over the next number of years, we were able to focus on ourselves and play the football we wanted to play. That allowed us to win trophies and have success.
“Michael Beale is a coach that I knew from back in the Chelsea days and then he came to Liverpool and I was manager there. I’ve known him over a period of time and he’s an excellent coach.
“But my focus will purely be on Celtic and improving us as a team. That’ll be my thought process every minute of the day.”
For me and most of our supporters, the Bhoys are undoubted favourites going in next season regardless of the change of manager. We have the best squad, the best manager and the most resources in the entire league. That comes with expectation.
But there is also no denying that Beale has improved their results against other domestic teams and will be eager to run us closer in his first full season. Those are ambitions we need to get on top of quickly and a strong start to the Scottish Premiership campaign is a must, especially with a busy European schedule later in the year.
In other news, Brendan Rodgers addresses Celtic supporter ‘hurt’ after 2019 exit to Leicester City.
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
