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Brendan Rodgers is a big club appointment.

Celtic are acting like a big club. From the disappointment of Ange Postecoglou's departure to the appointment of the Northern Irishman.

Rodgers is the best manager they could have recruited at this moment in time.

It’s box office. It’s a statement of intent. The Scottish champions mean business.

There may some fans who are sceptical about the return of the 50-year-old, but there is a genuine interest from many in seeing how this appointment pans out.

Celtic are taking it to another level. They are, for all intents and purposes, kicking on.

The club blew a great chance to cement 10-in-a-row in the aftermath of Rodgers leaving the club in February 2019.

The so-called managerial CVs of those who applied were reportedly never ever pulled out of the drawer as Neil Lennon was appointed after he guided the club to another treble at the end of the 2018-19 campaign.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, of course.

Celtic was an attractive managerial proposition then, and it is now. That much is true. This time it feels different. Vastly different.

Celtic took their time and they have delivered on their promise of appointing the best managerial candidate possible.

However, on this occasion they were after one man and one man only. Only this time, they were after the right candidate for the job. The best option to take charge.

While all the other candidates were interviewed or mentioned in honourable despatches, Dermot Desmond and Michael Nicholson knew who they were after.

Celtic wants to kick on, after all. That's why the appointment of Rodgers makes perfect sense this time.

The Scottish champions are finally acting like a big club and conducted the due diligence and processes that they should have done back in 2019.

READ MORE: What Celtic means to Brendan Rodgers in 2023 - Tony Haggerty

The very hands-on nature of the managerial selection process and public wooing of Rodgers by Desmond and Nicholson tells you everything you need to know.

They were going to get their man come hell or high water and get his signature nailed onto a contract.

A so-called promise of a £35 million plus transfer kitty to make serious inroads in Europe.

Rodgers is not just here to dominate domestically. The treble-holders want to do it on the biggest stage of all - the Champions League.

Rangers and the rest of Scottish football should be afraid, very afraid.

Just when the Ibrox side were thinking that Celtic were not too far ahead of them in terms of the title race, Desmond and Nicholson appear to have slammed on the afterburners.

It's like that moment in the 1977's Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope when Han Solo makes the jump to hyperspace in the Millennium Falcon as the Rebel Alliance freighter ship becomes a dot on the horizon as the evil Galactic Empire gives chase.

Desmond and Nicholson have played a blinder in the Solo role. Michael Beale's men are in the middle of a summer rebuild and gaining a conceit of themselves after dismantling Celtic 3-0 at Ibrox in the last Glasgow Derby of the season.

The gap was narrowing, or so Rangers thought. The return of Rodgers is boot-on-the-throat stuff at a critical juncture for both clubs.

Seven out of seven domestic trophies told their own story.

Now if Rodgers can improve Postecoglou's squad of players who are all tied down on long-term deals, then there are no limits to what he feels he could possibly achieve in his second managerial stint at the club and all backed by a Celtic board that appears to be onside and committed financially to their new man.

Rodgers previously spoke of how he wanted Celtic to evolve as a football club, especially on the European scene, before he left for Leicester City in 2019.

Certain factors prevented that from happening. This is an entirely new Celtic hierarchy and one that was helping Postecoglou evolve the club slowly but surely.

Every Celtic supporter can get invested in the hard-nosed business football side of things where results and trophies are paramount.

It is up to individuals to wrestle with their conscience over their personal feelings about Rodgers.

Players and managers come and go. Rodgers and Postecoglou are a case in point. That is also the nature of the football business.

By this solitary act alone, the Celtic board have not only acted like a big club. It is also a shot over the bow, an early indication that alongside the supporters, they wish to see the club scale the heights of European football once again and return it to its former glories.

It rankles a bit that since Celtic's last appearance in a major European final under Martin O'Neill in 2003, their rivals have been to two such occasions.

The Celtic supporters crave success on the biggest stage of all. Rodgers could be the next man to make that happen. The faithful certainly feel that is what a club of Celtic's stature deserves. The re-hiring of Rodgers evidently shows that the board quite liked this feeling of the manager, players, and fans all working in tandem to achieve those same goals.

READ MORE: The Celtic transfer lessons that Rodgers must learn from

The arrival of Rodgers suggests Celtic mean business and is tooling up domestically as well as for Europe.

Time will tell, of course. The Rodgers era mark II commenced in earnest today after Desmond and Nicholson pushed the hyperspace button.

It's Michael Beale and Rangers who now fear their rivals could well become a blip on the Scottish football horizon and they are left to fly Solo as Celtic get to work.

This piece is an extract from the latest Celtic Digest newsletter, which is emailed out every weekday evening with a round-up of the day's top stories and exclusive analysis from The Celtic Way team.

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