| Celtic Multimedia | Media | Players & Managers Biogs | If You Know The History |
Details
Title: Invincible: Brendan Rodgers’ Historic First Season at Celtic
Author: David Friel
Published: 30 June 2017
Player Homepage: Brendan Rodgers
Synopsis
‘The Inside story of a football revolution’ –John Hartson
About the Author David Friel has worked in journalism since 2004. A Strathclyde University graduate in History, he started off at the Kirkintilloch Herald. From there, he spent four years at the Celtic View between 2006 and 2010, covering the Gordon Strachan years and Celtic’s two runs to the last 16 of the Champions League. After a brief spell in the world of Scottish local government, David joined the Scottish Sun newspaper as a football writer in May 2012. Based in Glasgow, he covers all teams in Scotland but has reported extensively on Celtic’s fortunes under Neil Lennon, Ronny Deila and Brendan Rodgers. During the 2016/17 season, David covered the majority of Celtic’s domestic and Champions League games, gaining a true insight into a historic Invincibles campaign.
Review
As the Scottish football season entered it’s final moments rain laden clouds lingered menancingly above a packed Hampden. Into the first minute of injury time the 2017 Scottish Cup final remain tied at 1-1. It was then Tom Rogic picked up the ball halfway inside the Aberdeen half. With purpose and grace the Celtic midfielder raced across the sodden turf towards the opposition goal. The Australian displayed magnetic control of the ball as he entered the penalty area and glided forward. With the angle narrowing he unleashed a fierce low shot. The ball ripped past the inside of the near post and settled in the wet goalnets with a joyous swish. The skies and stands errupted. Celtic had created histoy.
In just his first season as Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers had rewritten the record books. The Irishman had guided his team through an unbeaten domestic campaign. A campaign which climaxed with that dramatic Scottish Cup triumph and completion of an ‘Invincible Treble’. The statistics were extraordinary – 47 domestic games. 43 wins. 134 goals. Zero defeats. Three trophies.
Now in ‘Invincible – Brendan Rodgers’ Historic First Season at Celtic’ David Friel tells in detail the remarkable story of the Rodgers revolution. Twelve months when one man transfomed Celtic Football Club and it’s players. A year when the ambitions and hopes of the Celtic support were were reinvigorated by the passion, dedication and ideas of one of their own. But as the author reveals the impact of Rodgers cannot be measured in statistics and trophies alone.
While the book focuses on the Invincible season Friel does not neglect the unique backstory – the Celtic suppoting childhood in Carnlough, his relationship with Tommy Burns and his commitment to developing players – which made Rodgers such a perfect appointment for the Parkhead board. For the manager’s part this was ‘more than a job’. While immediate success was essential Rodgers’ describes his role as an ‘architect’ with the expectation that he is here to build not just a succesful team but a structure and ethos that will thrive for generations to come.
The manager’s insatiable appetite for the game is laid bare. The author details Rodgers’s obsessive commitment to detail and prepartion. The much heralded benefits of ‘marginal gains’ is something Rodgers’ appears to subscribe to. Friel tells us how soon after the new manager’s arrival at Parkhead every member of the football staff was presented with a dossier detailing the his philosophy on the game. On the pre-season tour Brendan insisted on all members of the Celtic party – from chef to club captain – wear the same colour co-ordinated kit. “We are unified” he declares.
The reader is given a glimpse into the Rodgers’ man mangement methods and we learn of how in his first act as manager he invited Celtic skipper Scott Brown for an informal meeting at his London home. When asked by Rodgers how long he believed he had left at the top of the game Brown replied “Two years”. Rodgers told him he was wrong: “You can go on until you’re 35…at least”. Brown’s reaction to that meeting is perhaps best illustrated by his performances in the season that followed.
The journey would not be without some turbulance. Rodgers’ first competitive game ended in a humiliating defeat to Gibralter’s Lincoln Red Imps while the Bhoys suffered a Champions League thrashing at the hands of Barcelona. But as Friel highlights these lows were mere milestones on the road to success. That success is covered in enjoyable detail with every collective and personal triumph vividly recalled. The demolitions of Rangers, the thrilling clash with Manchester City and of course the battle with Aberdeen for domestic silverware.
There’s also plenty of behind the scenes insight. Football fans have always reveled in the rumours of those clandestine meetings behind transfers. Tales of secret meetings in car parks and contracts being hastily signed in a roadside cafe have long been part of football folklore. In many respects little has changed. Indeed in the age of social media the lust for such gossip has thrived and fortunately ‘Invincibles…’ does it’s best to satisfy this appetite. Except these days, as the book reveals, such deals are no longer completed in service stations on the M6.
Friel tells how Rodgers convinced Moussa Dembele to join his Parkhead revolution in a meeting at the plush Royal Garden Hotel in Kensinington. As they discussed the prospect of a move to Scotland the Celtic manager handed the French striker his mobile and urged the young striker: “Call Luis Suarez. He’ll tell you what I can do for you”. That’s quite a reference.
‘Invincibles…’ provides a fascinating account of a genuinely remarkable season in Paradise. An accessible instant recall, it is a celebration of an historic year of personal and collective triumph. Celtic supporters will now hope this proves to be merely the first chapter in the ongoing success story of Brendan Rodgers’ Celtic.
Product Details
- Paperback: 224 pages
- Publisher: BackPage Press Limited (30 Jun. 2017)
- ISBN-10: 1909430277
- ISBN-13: 978-1909430273