Brendan Rodgers had planned to take a year out of football when he left Leicester City. Then all changed, changed utterly.  A terrible beauty was born because Celtic came calling for his services... again.

For Rodgers the terrible part was the manner in which he left the first time around back in 2019. The beauty was that he now had a chance of a redemption shot in the eyes of the Celtic faithful.

I don't believe new Rangers manager Phillippe Clement would be an avid viewer of Celtic TV but he may have been intrigued last week when the champions hosted a Q+A session with his new city rivals manager.

#Ask Brendan.

You know the drill - supporters get the chance to post questions online and via a video link Rodgers answers them. If Clement was tuning in he might not have liked what he heard. Rodgers was asked what his been his biggest achievement in football so far?

An 'Invincible' treble with Celtic? An FA cup win with Leicester? Nope. None of the above.

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His answer in a nutshell was a warning to the rest. Here was the Scottish football maelstrom that Belgian football coach Clement has just walked into.

Rodgers, in a rather matter of fact way simply said: "I think just having had the career that I have had up until this point. I entered into coaching without a big playing background whatsoever.

"I was a talented youth player but finished early. I think my journey to be sat here today (as Celtic manager) and everything I have had to go through to arrive here without the playing background makes me proud and makes me feel that is my biggest achievement.

"Hopefully I can continue with that as I am entering into my best parts and the really exciting parts of my career now this next decade or so. Hopefully I can continue to learn and develop in this period."

If you are Clement you might have exclaimed: "Come again, Brendan!" Or as they say in Fabrique Belgique: "Répète!" Clement has arrived with a real fanfare of trumpets in Glasgow but no real skin in the game thus far. Yet here was Rodgers casually underplaying the fact that the next decade were going to be the peak years of his trophy-laden managerial career.

Peak years? Half of that decade could well see him stay put at Celtic... unless he's emptied, of course. His words not mine.

So make no mistake about it, if there is one man licking his lips and rubbing his hands at the prospect of another Rangers managerial incumbent it will be Rodgers. He has seen all sorts of newcomers off the premises. Mark Warbuton, Graeme Murty, Pedro Caixinha and Michael Beale to name but a few. From his point of view, should Clement be any different?

On the day when Rodgers was unveiled he made these remarks: "I always set my teams out to win but with a tactical discipline. I'm a better manager now then when I first came to Celtic. Experience is good and bad and that's the beauty of coming back here. Hopefully I can keep improving and moving the club forward."

If Rodgers is a better manager now than the first time which saw him claim seven out of seven trophies and an Invincible treble in his first season then Celtic and their supporters are in for a treat. So, somehow the prospect of taking on the man who has won three Belgian Pro League titles with Genk and Club Brugge and a Belgian Super Cup with Club Brugge doesn't seem so daunting does it? Especially given Rodgers own managerial credentials and CV far outstrips the man who is aiming to knock him off his lofty domestic perch.

It's fair to say that Clement has inherited a challenging situation at Ibrox. He must have real faith in his own managerial ability though after signing up for three-and-a-half years in Govan. He'll have to get a tune out of somebody else's misfiring players for starters. He has walked into a rebuild of the Rangers rebuild. He will probably need at least four transfer windows to stamp major authority on the team that he has inherited. Not only that, Clement's first two windows would have to be akin to Ange Postecoglou's when he took over the managerial reins at Celtic. They would have to be utterly flawless.

However, transfer windows cost money. Lots of it. Do Rangers have the reserves to go toe-to-toe with Celtic this season? One would suspect not. For the time being Clement will also be working without a director of football.

He has four transfer windows to get up to some sort of speed. That's assuming that Celtic stand still. Which they won't of course. Yet no allowances have been made for the East End club exercising their superior financial muscle in any of these windows. Celtic has a proper business model, structure, and stability in place. They are managerially stable. Rodgers is a man with a proven plan.

Celtic Way:

It is largely why skipper Callum McGregor, Kyogo Furuhashi, Daizen Maeda, Tony Ralston, Matt O'Riley and Reo Hatate all penned new deals tying to the club for the next four of five years. Even if things start to turn, Celtic can at the push of a button switch on the after-burners and spend cash if they really needed to.

Newsflash to Clement - the challenge the Belgian faces is a massive one alright. After all, this is peak Rodgers managerial years territory we are entering here. He said so himself.

READ MORE: Liam Scales' amazing journey to Celtic: Mentors on his meteoric rise

The Rangers fans lapped up Clement's 'football animal' soundbite from his first interview. The Belgian becomes Rangers 19th manager in the club’s history. They told you themselves.

If you know your history Clement may not be aware that Rangers managers have tended not to fare too well when pitted up against Celtic’s current manager. And Rodgers 2.0 is a different football animal altogether.

It doesn't take famous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot to deduce that Clement will find Rangers his toughest conundrum to crack. Alas, it wouldn't surprise anybody in Scottish football if Rodgers were to claim his managerial scalp further down the line.

Being the new Rangers manager may well be an exciting adventure for Clement but Rodgers has seen this story play out before. He knows how it ends. And so do we.