Ange nostalgia lifts as Rodgers flips 'negative narrative'

There were times during the current Premiership campaign where, if you looked closely enough at some of those in the Celtic end before, during and after any one of their 48 competitive outings to date, you could catch a tear wiped from the cheek of a fan reflecting on those glory days of yore under Ange Postecoglou.

It’s been a curious theme of the Parkhead club’s championship-winning campaign, and one which manager Brendan Rodgers seems to have taken umbrage with. The Northern Irishman, who remarkably clinched an eighth piece of silverware in nine attempts at the helm of the Parkhead club on Wednesday night, has expressed his frustration with the “negative narrative” surrounding his return to the club last summer.

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Postecoglou certainly left his own mark at the Parkhead club. But during Rodgers’ first spell in charge, the air of invulnerability about his all-conquering side was palpable. The former Liverpool and Swansea manager laid the foundations for a period of unprecedented success, with five trebles, a double, and the possibility of another brace of domestic honours presenting itself next weekend at Hampden, in the eight seasons since he first arrived to great fanfare at Celtic Park in 2016.

So why does "Ange-ball" nostalgia persist?

As a child of the ’90s, a time commemorated now for its prompt doctors’ appointments on the NHS, for wholesome High Street retailers like BHS, and trips to Blockbuster to rent VHS, I am well versed on wistful nostalgia for the Tommy Burns era which ought to come with a laminated membership card for Celtic supporters of a certain vintage.

Jorge Cadete celebrates with Paolo Di Canio and Pierre Van Hooijdonk (Image: SNS)

Burns’ achievement in leading the Parkhead club to a first major trophy in six years in 1995 meant his already deified place in the hearts of supporters was immortalised forever. And rightly so. After that silverware success, Burns built a team that looked capable of challenging the behemoth of Rangers during the David Murray era, with cup-winner Pierre van Hooijdonk joined in attack by Jorge Cadete and Paolo Di Canio to form one of the most memorable and formidable forward tridents in Scottish football history. While that vintage side has become a totem of “the Celtic way”, no further silverware success would follow and Burns left without adding to that Scottish Cup triumph in 1997.

Postecoglou’s uncompromising attacking style was in many ways a throwback to Burns’ heyday, and maybe there was something in his taking over during a rare recent low ebb after the barren Covid-afflicted 2020-21 season. But the circumstances could hardly have been more different to Burns’ era.

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Rodgers’ current crop’s thunderous 5-0 victory over Kilmarnock at Rugby Park on Wednesday night clinched an 18th title in the 26 years since Wim Jansen took over the reins following Burns’ departure. The swashbuckling nature of the victory was a fitting tribute to the late Celtic and Killie great who was commemorated before kick-off with a large tifo display in Rugby Park’s Chadwick Stand.

A tifo display commemorating Celtic great Tommy Burns in the Chadwick Stand (Image: PA)

You can understand, then, Rodgers’ frustrations around the negativity surrounding his team this season. From losing key men like Jota and Carl Starfelt from Postecoglou’s treble-winning side before a ball was kicked, to frustrating dealings in the summer transfer window, there was a sense that the engine hadn’t quite clicked into gear by the time the first Champions League fixtures came round last autumn.

The issues which plagued Rodgers during those six matches at the top level of European football have been reflected throughout the season: inexperience and ill-discipline proving costly, new arrivals failing to bed in quickly, defensive injury crises leaving them vulnerable at the back, injuries to key players like Cameron Carter-Vickers, Greg Taylor, Alistair Johnston and Callum McGregor all being felt keenly.

But in recent weeks, as Carter-Vickers has returned to the side and full fitness, as midfield maestro McGregor has been gradually reintroduced to the team despite an Achilles injury which threatened to end his season early, and with the welcome return to scoring form for the likes of Kyogo Furuhashi and Matt O’Riley, as well as the re-emergence of evergreen winger James Forrest as a potent attacking threat, Celtic’s propensity for the kind of late lapse which had plagued their campaign around the turn of the year has receded further and further away.

Matt O'Riley celebrates scoring at Rugby Park with Luis Palma (Image: PA)

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The form Celtic showed in midweek, when five minutes in O’Riley shifted the ball onto his weaker right side at the edge of the Killie penalty area and whipped a wicked, low ball across goal for Adam Idah to knock home in front of the jubilant away support in the very stand where Burns' image had been projected before kick-off, was Celtic at their free-flowing best.

Any worries that they might once again find themselves protecting a precarious lead faded as Daizen Maeda and Forrest rounded off further emphatic attacking moves before the break. Two well-taken second-half strikes from O’Riley underlined the Scottish champions’ dominance, and the only question left was why performances like this were not more recurring all season.

Given the aforementioned difficulties, the victory on Wednesday night offered a glimpse of what Celtic supporters have been missing.

And while some continue to pine for “Ange-ball”, if Rodgers clinches the double next weekend, that success would rival the relative cakewalks of his previous spell in charge. If the result and performance in Kilmarnock in midweek is a sign of things to come, meanwhile, then Celtic’s rivals will fear the Rodgers factor far more than any other incumbent in their recent history.

There will no doubt be a time in the not-too-distant future when supporters reflect all dewy-eyed on the trophy-laden Rodgers eras at Parkhead. Perhaps they don’t realise how fortunate they are to have such an accomplished manager at the helm.

If the club's board do, however, and back their man in the transfer market this summer, as well as in keeping star players like Carter-Vickers and O'Riley, then supporters can anticipate a grand old team to see.