Brendan Rodgers has seen a lot of Rangers managers come and go during his time at Celtic Park. The latest to depart was Michael Beale, who had arrived amid a lot of expectations and been hailed as a ‘footballing genius’ by many. He did not even last a year in the Ibrox hot seat though. And the club have replaced him with Philippe Clement.
Clement arrives with a big reputation as well. He won three straight league titles during his time managing in Belgium. And while he might have been shown the exit door by AS Monaco, he did hold his own during his time at the Ligue 1 club.
As a result, this could be an interesting challenge for Rodgers. It remains to be seen how he responds to it. The Northern Irishman has passed every previous one with flying colours though.
On the other hand, Clement has a mountain to climb at Ibrox. The club have struggled for any kind of consistency for a long time now. And the managerial door has continued revolving at the club, except for Steven Gerrard’s three-plus-year run, which did bring home only one trophy.
Celtic fans send cheeky message to Clement
Of course, it remains to be seen how Clement does at Ibrox. One Celtic fan decided to take a cheeky dig at the appointment on Twitter:
Philippe Clement will be gone by Christmas.
— CelticLisboa (@CelticLisboaa) October 15, 2023
Of course, it is a sarcastic comment in reference to what had been said about Ange Postecoglou, when Celtic had appointed the Australian a couple of summers back. We all know how that turned out.
Celtic should not, and would not, be taking Clement lightly. He has shown himself to be a winner in the past. But it is a different kind of pressure that managers have to deal with in Glasgow’s footballing fishbowl and very few thrive under that.