In terms of first seasons, few could have seen a better scenario playing out as Brendan Rodgers makes his maiden voyage as Celtic manager.
But, just nearly six months after his introduction and Celtic have gone from barely hanging on to titles in Scotland to dominating the domestic game and making the Champions League proper.
There’s the £30 million in the bank for Champions League group stage play, a £500,000 striker lighting the world on fire and likely to net the club an insane transfer fee in the not-too-distant future and a trophy already in the case this season.
Not too bad for a debut season after the decimation of Celtic we’ve seen over the past few campaigns. However, Celtic fans have a right to be leery that this success is going to be fleeting.
Celtic have been very reluctant to spend crazy money in the past, especially given the financial black hole the club went in to in the early 1990’s. But, those days seem long gone, especially as Celtic chairman Peter Lawwell spoke to the Evening Times about the club’s future.
“We have committed to Brendan in terms of players and going forward our ambitions are as high as his,” said Lawwell. “Expectations here will always be high. We want to dominate in Scotland for as long as we can and we want to get into the Champions League regularly and go as far as we possibly can in that.”
Most importantly, Lawwell and Rodgers share the same ambition, vision and roadmap to getting there.
That vision includes the ability to have the resources needed to succeed within reason financially.
“Brendan shares our vision,” said Lawwell. “We strive to get better in every aspect on and off the park. If you stand still you go back the way so we are always, always looking to improve.”
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After all, Celtic is a club that has bought low and sold high so many times before. It is the nature of the game for a club in Scottish football. But, Celtic is a special club and it appears that with the coffers filling up again, Lawwell and Co. are willing to commit to what needs to be done to be more than a fringe European success story.
That vision of Celtic as a special place for special players is going to be tested by the nature of the crazy hoopla over 21-year-old striker Moussa Dembele. However, Lawwell is pretty clear that Dembele and his agent aren’t looking for shot-term money or short-term success. They are both looking ahead, and that may be to the benefit of the Bhoys for longer than some expect.
“It is very early for him (Dembele),” said Lawwell. “Hopefully we have enough here to keep him. When we spoke to his agent, it was to his credit that he was not looking at the short-term but rather the medium-term. He could have got more money elsewhere but he wanted to work with Brendan, he wanted coached and he wanted to develop.”
Who knows just how long Rodgers will stay at Celtic. The hope for Lawwell and Co. is that the commitment made to him and the special nature of this club will keep him in the fold for more than just the short term.
"“We feel again that when people leave here, they miss us,” Lawwell told the Evening Times. “There are attractions in going elsewhere but we can be sufficiently attractive for Brendan and where he is at the moment and how he is enjoying it. Of course, there are never any guarantees in football but all that we can do is create an environment which is one that he enjoys and finds fulfilment and satisfaction in. He is certainly finding that at the moment. The plan is for us to ensure that remains that way in order that he stays with us.”"
All of this is great, but these are feelings of a club riding on a high it hasn’t felt in nearly a decade and certainly since early this decade at the very least.
What happens when challenges present themselves and things don’t go all sunshine and roses at Paradise? For now, let’s enjoy a club in lock step with its manager and a squad in lockstep with everything the club envisions for itself.