Losing at St Johnstone wasn’t the cause of Brendan Rodgers’ post match anger, it has been brewing for some time as he slowly slips into a re-run of his first spell in charge of Celtic.
It wasn’t caused by losing to the team that started the day eight points adrift at the bottom of the SPFL Premiership table. There has been a build up of events since the January transfer window closed, all depressingly familiar.
In May 2018 there seemed little sign of turmoil as Celtic completed a Double Treble, topped off by an open top bus arrival on The Celtic Way with three trophies on board.
A month into the following season Celtic lost back-to-back away to Hearts and AEK Athens, John McGinn was paraded as an Aston Villa player. Dealing with Dedryck Boyata and his agent was something that the manager could have done without.
Power had been removed from Rodgers, that was compounded in January with the arrivals of Oli Burke, Vakoun Bayo and Marion Shved. Within a month of mentioning a million wingers Rodgers was managing Leicester City.
After losing to St Johnstone he said:
For us, poor start to the game, but not the first time. This is something for me that we will look at, certainly in the summer.
But the start was really poor, it was soft, and it was too comfortable in the game. We go behind and then obviously we are much better in the second half. They make some great saves, they make some great blocks, some of it is per finishing from ourselves.
But overall, we disappointed today. We got three stands in the stadium full of our own supporters, expectant and that’s what you have to deal with as a Celtic player. We didn’t deal with that at all.
It’s mentality. It’s a group that has mental strength. But I’ve been in teams, especially up here, where you just power your way through the season, right to the very end.
And there’s maybe a few that are comfortable. And comfort is not a physical place. When you’re comfortable, you become a bit timid, and you lose duels, and you lose the fight.
Time is apparently a great healer but not inside Celtic.
Dermot Desmond instigated the return of Rodgers in June 2023 but the same figures were in charge of the day-to-day running of the club.
Rodgers’ welcome home was sabotaged by the horrendous recruitment of Mark Lawwell in the summer of 2023, after a three year contract had been signed.
The subsequent transfer windows have been far from ideal, for anyone wanting to know what is possible check out summer 2021 and January 2022, a period when a certain surname was off the payroll for the only time in 20 years.
Rodgers has been left short changed in the January 24 and 25 Transfer Windows, summer 24 was salvaged on Deadline Day but the new arrivals missed out on pre-season training, the most intensive coaching period of the season.
Selling Kyogo with no attempt made at sourcing a replacement was another message to the manager.
Recently asked about a contract extension for Daizen Maeda, Rodgers revealed that he had stated the case for that to Desmond, confirming to everyone that the current CEO isn’t involved in key decision making.
Comments like that aren’t welcome in the boardroom, regularly the clubs messengers are out there repeating that £26m was spent on Arne Engels, Adam Idah and Auston Trusty. They never mention that those deals were funded by selling Matt O’Riley, Celtic had played two competitive matches before the first of those three players were signed.
After the transfer window closed at the start of February Rodgers said:
We wanted another striker so we’re not hiding behind anything.
And absolutely the supporters will look and see a top striker going out, a legendary striker and we haven’t replaced it.
So I understand that. But all I can do is affect what we have now, and look to teach and work very hard and finish off what has been so far, a great season for us.
The transfer windows are never as plain and simple as some people will think, we all understood everyone and we all want the same at Celtic.
We all know that we lost a top class striker and we wanted to bring in another one, but if it doesn’t happen then we have to deal with that and understand going forward that we can be better in that process.
I think we brought in some really good players, could we have done better? Yes we could have, however we will work with the players who are here now and that is the focus. I don’t want to be looking back.
Tellingly, Rodgers added:
With experience, you learn not to kill your joy over things that you can’t actually control.
We’re sat in here now. We can do absolutely nothing about it. So, I go out that door and I’ve still got the same group of players, which I’m really happy with.
So, I don’t want to put any clouds over that and take a narrative which is negative. It can still be a really, really positive season for us until this point. It’s been outstanding. So, I want to continue with that.
It had been a similar story 12 months earlier when Rodgers had urged the club to be braver. Idah and Nicolas Kuhn were added to the squad as Rodgers steered the club to the domestic double and another Champions League windfall- the highest ever figure raked in with £35m direct from UEFA on top of five sell-out matches and associated hospitality.
To most people Rodgers comments after the St Johnstone game were a call for the club to be on the front foot when the transfer window opens in June. To build on this season’s Champions League campaign and be fully tooled up for the end of August Play Off to be negotiated in order to return to that stage.
For others it looks like Rodgers realises that he is in a power battle that he previously lost, with a year left on the manager’s contract it looks like it is time for Desmond to intervene if he wants to avoid having to present Nicholson with the successor to Rodgers.
Most supporters know the script- and the consequences.
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2 Comments
by Auldheid
In the interview with BR he not only questioned the attitude or mentality of players he questioned his own.
I did not see that in the quotes used.
DD appointed BR and it will be DD who decides the wage level that Celtic are prepared to pay .
The Board will fall in line so no point BR going to the monkey when he can go to the organ grinder.
This is a big moment for DD to keep promises he made to BR or renege.
The past is no indicator of the present or the future.
How Celtic conduct their budgets is on Celtic Web site and when a decision goes above the limit set for CEO the case goes to the Board and DD is a significant Board member with a promise to keep.
Try that as a narrative.
by Editor
The narrative is to maximise profits at every turn. To pay out more to HMRC on Corporation Tax than you spend on any individual player.
The narrative that gambles on cut price managers like Ronny Deila and Neil Lennon, that fails against Maribor, Malmo, AEK Athens, Cluj and Ferencvaros and accepts the comfort blanket of Thursday’s nights in the Europa League and cracking gags at the AGM.