A very interesting WhatsApp message was rapidly being forwarded last night, apparently from a Question and Answer session with Brendan Rodgers.
The uneasy nature of his return to the club was cleared greatly by a win at Ibrox on September 3 followed by the eventual sacking of Micky Beale and the resulting meltdown on the dark side.
Rescuing the young supporter from the Police and Stewards away to Livingston helped his image with an appearance at St Roch’s on the way back from Santa Ponsa hard to pick fault with. On the back of the Daily Record’s Liel Abada fantasy Rodgers took the winger out for dinner to round off his busy Sunday.
The way that he reacted in February 2019 to the overbearing influence of Peter Lawwell into the playing side of the club seems to be an area of deep regret for Rodgers, something that he has had reinforced in almost every interaction since that decision.
Admirably he stuck by the decision when he returned to Celtic in June, confirming it as a career move while acknowledging the consequences at Celtic, quickly pointing the agenda forwards with the hope of improving on his first spell managing the club.
Late last night the following WhatsApp dropped in on me, it seems very plausible:
Just back from a Q&A at CP with the man, absolutely blown away, as humble as I’ve ever seen him!
Bit of a summary, he was choking back tears and struggling to speak when he talked about the kids he sees wearing their Celtic gear on the way to games and how that was him, when he sees the older guys it reminds him of uncles and elderly relatives that have passed, if that was an act it was Oscar winning stuff.
He knew how we felt about him leaving, would meet supporters all over the world and he felt that look of disappointment in him, he came back because he didn’t want to be that guy who was edited out of the history of this football club, that bit was very emotional.
On a lighter note, he’s here to stay, has no ambitions to go anywhere else, could be here another 2, 3, 5 or 7 years (his words), happy with the structure of the club, support from the board and the facilities he operates with are up with the best (post improvements that are being made)
Tried to get a couple of big players in before window closed, wanted 4 to improve the 1st team before Jota & Starfelt left, read from that what you will.
Loves Maeda and will play him as the main forward at times, he’s Kyogos back up, not Oh (BR never said that but how I read it)
Had dinner on Sunday with Abada, don’t believe the DR, strong boy mentally who wants to be here, back in December, as an aside another great example of his man management, knew what was going on and pro actively took him for dinner after he left St Roch’s.
Loads of other stuff, I’m sure some of the sound-bites will get out from other quarters but rest assured this man is on a mission and laser focused to ensure his Celtic legacy is at the fore of the annals and not edited out.
It is interesting, or diplomatic, to note that he is happy with the structure of the club but wanted four starters from the summer window. Hopefully that message is being taken on board by the real decision makers with the January window free of projects with more signings of the calibre of Alistair Johnston.
Everything sounds reasonable and believable, Rodgers is getting his message out, these days events like that don’t remain in-house with the ball in the boardroom to deliver for their elite level manager.
