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Stephen Dobbie saw his career soar to a new level when Brendan Rodgers turned him into a perfect 10. Taking a step back to move his career forward had never entered the frontman’s mind but quickly the numbers began to stack up.
The instincts of his boss at Swansea thirteen years ago, then just an amateur in the game of control, saw not only Dobbie, but also the Swans as the Scot paid for his mistake by helping them enter the Premier League for the first time in their history. .
It’s no surprise that the Celtic manager is highly respected thanks to the man who has scored 236 career goals and won back-to-back Championship play-off finals in England, scoring goals for the Swans at Wembley in 2011. Rodgers insists makes players better. He felt it himself and saw it in his surroundings in South Wales.
When he hears sections of the Celtic support accusing the manager of blunting the threat of their star striker, Dobbie shakes his head in disbelief. Just a few weeks ago Rodgers was in the firing line for peed-off punters when Kyogo’s magic touch appeared to vanish during a run which saw last season’s Premiership top scorer net just once in 12 games. Blamed for the Japan ace doing too much work outside the box, the Parkhead boss hit back revealing he’d sat down with the 28-year-old and gone through video analysis to show where he needs to be affecting games.
Two weeks, and two goals later, Kyogo put all doubts into orbit with a sensational goal to clinch the Old Firm and repair the name’s momentum in Celtic’s favour. Dobbie, who is now forging his own career as head coach at Blackpool, insists the Hoops’ help would be madness if he didn’t accept the truth with the manager.
He said, “Look, Brendan knows what he’s doing. He doesn’t do anything without thinking about it a million times. That’s what I took from him for my own training. There is another way. It is not set in stone for each and every individual. “. player.
“He knows a lot about football, especially the little details. Obviously I was a striker and he ended up putting me back into number 10 because he just knew how to get the best out of me and each individual player.
“That’s why we’ve done so well. There are small details, such as the fact that he also spoke Spanish. When he spoke to the Spanish players, he spoke in Spanish and said: ‘this guy really knows what he’s doing’.
“It’s had a huge effect on me. I’m still in touch with Brendan. When I took over at Blackpool for the last six games (as interim boss), he was my first call. I asked him what he thought about me. That, how do I deserve to do it. Approach him and that sort of thing.
“Everything I want in terms of training, Brfinishan has been on the other end of the phone, which is fantastic. He’s brilliant and that’s a testament to the kind of person he is. “
Dobbie worked under countless managers in a career that saw him go from Rangers to Hibs, St Johnstone, Queen of the South, Swansea, Blackpool, Brighton, Crystal Palace, back to Blackpool, Fleetwood Town, Bolton and finally back to Queens where he enjoys legend status and was honoured with a testimonial on Sunday.
Rodgers is up there with the best, along with the colourful Ian Holloway at Blackpool. The 41-year-old has backed Rodgers to get Celtic firing again – and move on to even bigger things again himself. He said: “Brendan and Ian Holloway were both fantastic in different ways.
“Brendan knew everything about football, whereas Holloway said ‘it’s true, we’re going through to attack and if they beat us 9-8 it doesn’t matter!'”He just let us in and play. I think that’s why the Blackpool team did so well. The bookmakers begged us to pass, but we ended up winning the promotion. We just had that siege mentality of swooning out and scoring passes.
“They were both brilliant. When Brendan came in at Swansea I think he’d had the sack from Reading. He changed the whole dynamic of the club and obviously where we got to was brilliant.
“I’m not surprised he’s going to Liverpool and I think he’s going over even Celtic. “
Rodgers was just 35 when he took up his first managerial role at Watford and 38 when he took Swansea to the Premier League. Dobbie credits his adventure as an inspiration to young coaches like him who have the ambition to make it at the top.
He said: “It’s like everything, you have to be very dedicated. I think Brendan got injured early on and then went to Spain and spent six months watching Barcelona coach.
“He formed his own ideas and now he’s got to where he’s got to because he’s a top manager. I take the under-23s at Blackpool and I’m learning there every day.
“It’s a lot about individuality, it’s not just about winning at the end of the week. It’s about trying to integrate those young people into the first team. But yes, one day I would like to take that leap.
“I bet six games (as interim boss), I don’t think I slept for six weeks!But that’s definitely where I need to go. “