
Kelly: If you could relive one match, what would it be?
Brendan: A game that stands out because it really propelled me was the play-off final – Swansea v Reading. To get Swansea into the Premier League as the first Welsh club to arrive there and knowing how much it meant to people at the time…
Kelly: It’s the worst game in football to lose and the best to win, isn’t it?
Brendan: 100%. To go up out of the Championship… if you knew you could do it by winning the play-offs, you would take it, even over winning the league because of the whole drama around it and the big Wembley day. That was special. I’ve been fortunate enough to have won trophies up here with Celtic, which was special to me. Winning the FA Cup for the first time in Leicester’s history was special. But I feel that game just changed it for me going into the Premier League, and then we did well.
Kelly: Has there been a turning point in your career?
Brendan: I go back to my youth. My cousin Kieran McMullan in the little village where I was from. He played for the local football team and they would meet outside the pub. I wasn’t allowed to go in the pub when I was younger. We would be stood outside and the team would meet there to travel to play games. Guys would come out of the pub and just go past me into the car, but he always made sure I got in a car so I could see the football. I never ever forgot that. For the remaining years of my childhood, that got me started in football. If he didn’t take that time and care to look after me, I might have got into Gaelic football or hurling instead.
Kelly: You’ve managed numerous clubs in England and now you manage one of the biggest clubs in Scotland. How does the pressure compare managing Celtic?
Brendan: It’s a real unique pressure. In terms of pressure, Celtic is right up there with the most pressurised jobs in football. Even when I was managing Liverpool, you might have drawn with Manchester United and you wanted to win, but it wouldn’t have been the worst result. With Celtic, it’s an expectation to win every single game and not just win the game, but to do it in a style that is synonymous with the club. The club was the first British team to win the European Cup. They did so in a style which set the DNA for this club. It’s not just about winning. It’s Celtic, it really is more than that. The mental fortitude you need to show here as a player, as a manager, under the spotlight is huge. You can go to quite a lot of teams in the Premier League and it would be like a holiday compared to managing Celtic, and Rangers for that matter.
Kelly: What’s the proudest thing you have achieved in your career?
Brendan: I think becoming a manager in the first place because my journey was different – the path to becoming a manager. That is the biggest achievement for me. Hopefully I can continue to be as successful as I possibly can – by that I mean helping players develop, helping them improve, helping the conditions in their life. If that allows me to win trophies along the way, then great. Being a manager is my highlight.
Kelly: If you could only achieve one more thing in your career, what would it be?
Brendan: Reach 1,000 games. That was where it all started. When I became manager at Watford, I went to a great event that the LMA [League Managers’ Association] do. On the stage that night was guys that were being inducted into the 1,000 club. I remember sitting there thinking ‘wow, to have done 1,000 games’. I was maybe on only 20-odd games. I thought to be able to do 1,000 games is a symbol of resilience and perseverance and people actually liking what you do. I’m on 800-odd games now so still have quite a few more to go, but that would be the one career thing to be able to do.