Paul Lambert reckons that Celtic pulled off a major coup in bringing Brendan Rodgers back to the club in the summer.
It was a testing old period for the Hoops hierarchy when Ange Postecoglou decided to end his connection with the club at pretty short notice.
The Celtic board are likely to have been taken by surprise at the Aussie’s decision to leave days after our treble triumph. Yet they soon landed on the bold decision to bring Rodgers back to the club following his controversial exit in 2019.
Since then, things have been pretty steady. We perhaps got off to a bit of a rocky start. But now the team are hitting their stride and already have a seven-point lead at the top of the Premiership.
“After what Ange did in his two years at Celtic, a magician would have found it tough to follow him,” former Hoops midfielder Lambert said on the latest Official Celtic FC Podcast.
“But getting Brendan was a major coup as he knows how to win here. He has changed one or two things, and he is now getting the best out of the team.
“The start of the league season has been great. In the Champions League, we have seen they aren’t far away, but they need that result at home.
“However, what Brendan has done so far is more or less replicating what he did first time around.”
The one real disappointment in the second Rodgers era so far was the weak League Cup exit at the hands of Kilmarnock. That one is still likely to rankle with the boss and his players, although there were extenuating circumstances.
After a solid start this season, I’m really excited to find out what is next for this team. We have a pretty young squad with bags of potential, our injuries issues are lessening and we have a number of new signings who we’re yet to see the best of.
My gut feeling is that Celtic will be ready to motor once the club football returns. With every other team in the top-flight unable to match our consistency, we could soon be in an even more commanding position in the league.
Hopefully, with the addition of a bit European result or too, things will feel very good, very soon.
In other news, the Cameron Carter-Vickers boost for Celtic teammates
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