Success as Celtic manager - of late - is not winning the league, though the view of that may change with Rangers back in the top flight of Scottish football. To be a successful Celtic manager, progress has to be made in European competition. Anything less than making the group stage of the Champions League is looked on as failure.
In Brendan Rodgers' first competitive game as Celtic manager last night - a 1-0 loss to Gibraltarian part-timers Lincoln Red Imps in the Champions League second qualifying round - he took a step towards failure. Though, let's not kid ourselves, Celtic will probably win the second leg at Parkhead 5-0.
It was a team featuring just a handful of full-time footballers. One player, a taxi-driver, just finished his shift hours before kick-off.
The Imps' left-back was driving a taxi until 1pm today apparently. A colossal humiliation for Celtic.
— Tom English (@TEnglishSport) July 12, 2016
Prior to the match, Rodgers was saying all the right things.
Celtic were not just treating the Imps with respect, they were looking upon the game as if they were heading out to play Barca or Real.
A Barca or Real featuring taxi drivers and police officers.
Will we treat them the same as if we were playing Barcelona or Real Madrid?
Yeah - that’s what I said to the team when we went through the video analysis. We will give them full respect and the same preparation whether it’s a team from Gibraltar or anyone else.
It doesn’t matter if it’s the Champions League or a big game in Scotland.
We will always respect our opponent.
The game is based on ourselves and we’ll go out with a focus and on the front foot.
