When Brendan Rodgers left Celtic in early 2019 in order to join Leicester City, a large portion of the Hoops fan base turned on him, despite of his achievements. At the end of the day, he had left the club he had grown up supporting while they still had two trophies left to play for. And back then, not many would have expected the Northern Irishman to ever be back in the Parkhead hot seat, let alone just a little over four years later.
Football is a funny game though. Following Ange Postecoglou’s move to Tottenham Hotspur, it looks like Celtic are on the verge of bringing back Rodgers to the club for a second stint as manager.
Rodgers is without a job right now, having been shown the exit door by Leicester City last season. And out of all the options available to Celtic at the moment, he certainly looks like the best one.
If Rodgers does indeed return, which all signs are pointing to right now, then he will have to win over a large part of the support. There is no better way to that than winning games of football and trophies.
Celtic legend sends blunt message to Rodgers before Parkhead return
As reported by The Scottish Sun, Martin O’Neill told Greatest Hits Radio about Rodgers’ potential return:
"“When Brendan left the football club some fans weren’t happy, so he has to overcome that.“I think he knows that himself.“But like anything else, you start winning football matches, that’s forgotten. The sooner you win the games, the better.“He’s coming into a really winning side, he was successful himself as the manager.“At the end of it all, there’ll be the occasional feeling he left under more difficult circumstances, but I think if you win the football matches, you’re forgiven.”"
It is safe to say that Celtic fans will have a much easier time forgiving and forgetting, if Rodgers wins games of football and trophies. He showed that he is very capable of doing that the first time around, winning all seven domestic titles available to him before leaving.
But, one also has to point out that the Rangers are in a better position right now than they were then. Thus, Rodgers should expect a tougher challenge from the Ibrox side this time around.