WHEN it comes to nostalgia, they just don’t make it like they used to.
Everyone nowadays it seems is desperate to transport back in time to a period of their lives – real or imaginary – when complications were few and things were easier.
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.
READ MORE: Brendan Rodgers admits Celtic doubts were a career first
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.
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.
READ MORE: Celtic hero Lennon's return to football backed by legend
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.
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.
READ MORE: Brendan Rodgers savours sweet Celtic title win after 'tedious stuff'
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.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here