Brendan Rodgers is being backed to steer the team through its current challenges without succumbing to panic.
Former Celtic midfielder Paul Hartley experienced similar pressure during a title race and he believes Rodgers possesses the calm and strategic mindset needed to navigate the remainder of the season successfully.
Drawing parallels with Gordon Strachan’s leadership during his time at Celtic he emphasises Rodgers’ ability to simplify the situation and focus on securing wins, regardless of the performance quality.
At this stage in the season, Celtic just need the points on the board, but in order for this to happen performance levels have to improve.
“Brendan won’t panic. He is far too good a manager,” Hartley told SunSport.
“He was very honest after the Kilmarnock game last Saturday, and admitted Celtic didn’t put in the performance he wanted or expected. But he has good players and he is the ideal man to settle things down again. Brendan Rodgers returns as Celtic manager on three-year deal
“Brendan has won so much in his career and he will stay calm and clear. Gordon was the same in 2008 — he made things really simple.
“We knew it was a case of fighting and battling to get the wins. Myself and Barry Robson played together in midfield against Motherwell and it worked well.
“We won that game 4-1 and it was a real turning point. We had to play Rangers twice soon after, and we won both of them.
“Suddenly we had the momentum in the title race and we never looked back. Brendan will know that Celtic will need to be better moving forward, but there is a long way to go this season.”
Celtic have a big run of games ahead of them, starting with a trip to Motherwell at the weekend. 5 of Celtic’s next 7 games will be played on a Sunday, 1 on a Wednesday and 1 on a Saturday. Tough away days to Hearts and Livingston forms part of this run of games.
