WHEN it comes to Brendan Rodgers, Craig Beattie's testimony is worth listening to. The striker regards him as by far in a way the best manager he has ever worked with, and that only becomes more of an accolade when you consider that he also played under Gordon Strachan, Martin O'Neill, Walter Smith and Alex McLeish. The 32-year-old spent two successful seasons at Swansea City with Rodgers between 2010 and 2012, a time which saw the South Wales club promoted to the Barclays Premier League, and his admiration has only grown since.
"As big as Celtic are, I think it is a massive coup getting Brendan Rodgers," Beattie told Herald Sport. "He has got great experience in the Premier League and quite apart from everything else at 43 he is still very young and ambitious. He could have sat out and waited on a big job in England again but it shows you the ambition he has got that he wanted to get back in and manage at a big club and it really is a wonderful signing.
"Without a doubt he is the best manager I have worked with and that is not being disrespectful to any of the managers I have worked with, because some of them have been brilliant, guys like Gordon Strachan and Martin O'Neill," he added. "But Brendan was the best. He is very thorough, very articulate, a great motivator and a great man manager. I think Celtic have pulled one out of the bag here to be honest with you."
So fast has the football world turned that you have to remind yourself that it was only two seasons back that Rodgers' Liverpool were within a Steven Gerrard slip of achieving the holy grail of the English top flight title. At Anfield, he proved he was comfortable operating in a big club environment and working with young players and world stars.
"Brendan was great for me," said Beattie. "He came in to Swansea and inherited the staff he had previously and everything just clicked. His personality, the way he wanted to play, and his attitude just brought everything together. He added the final touches to it and obviously took Swansea to the Premier League. Everything he did and which subsequently got built on is still flourishing now in one of the toughest leagues in the world.
"There aren't many bigger clubs in Europe than Liverpool, they have just played another big European final just the other day," he added. "So he is well aware of how big clubs work and I am sure behind the scenes they have already discussed how all this will function at Celtic. But with the qualities Brendan offers there is absolutely no doubt that he is going to be a success.
"In football things can happen quickly, they can turn sour or else it is vice versa. Leicester are the ultimate example of that. But that group of players are very very lucky, the ones that are already there that is because he will also bring players in."
Beattie reckons he will deal comfortably with Old Firm matches against his old Watford colleague Mark Warburton while bringing Celtic back into the Champions League is the next step. "He is very passionate, but also very controlled, very measured in everything that he does," said Beattie. "He has dealt with the richest game in world football, the playoff final, he has had the Everton-Liverpool derbies, and the big game against Manchester United as well down there. So I think he will be able to deal with the Old Firm too.
"I wouldn't say he is relaunching himself, that is probably not the right way to talk about it, but if he can get the time to build something and put foundations in place it is just really exciting. We would have talked about Celtic when we were at Swansea but there was nothing that really comes to mind. He is just a football man."
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