In the first three fixtures of 2019 Celtic have scored 10 goals without reply.
At Parkhead today the three substitutes (Bitton, Burke and Forrest) were all full internationals.
Moreover, the champions have a trio of major players on their way back:
Odsonne Édouard, Tom Rogic and Kieran Tierney.
Consequently, the champions are in a good place at the moment and Rodgers should be quietly sanguine about that.
However, the world and her significant other knows that the Parkhead outfit requires a couple of first team starters in the back four.
I was reminded this week by someone very close to Rodgers that the only thing that will stop Celtic is Celtic.
“The only thing that will stop Celtic is Celtic.”
That’s the direct quote.
I’m not always a fan of banners from this part of Celtic Park, but this one today is spot on.
When the Rodgers said “I don’t think I need to sit and share with you how we work internally here at the club” I rather think he was inviting further questions.
That answer wasn’t pursued, but fair play to the questioner for eliciting the response.
If you find yourself in possession of an awkward question at a presser then that’s a goal scoring opportunity.
I’ve been in that seat and I always put it out there.
These incidents are outlined at length in the media section of Downfall.
Moreover, they were questions that the fans wanted to be answered.
Interestingly they all had a common theme:
A Celtic manager not being backed by the board when they clearly had the means to do so.
I fondly recall Peter Lawwell floundering in an AGM presser because of some gentle interrogatives from your humble correspondent.
At that time the guy in the home dugout at Parkhead was Neil Lennon.
For the avoidance of doubt, the guys in the board room are still there today.
It was clear to anyone who was paying attention that the recruitment function was considered above Lenny’s pay grade by the boardroom chaps at Parkhead.
Then there was Ronny Deila and that situation deteriorated.
For the first two years at Celtic Rodgers has been in complete control of what players come in and who are sold.
Is that still the case?
Well, if I was in a presser with the Celtic manager at the moment that would my first question to him and it wouldn’t be my last.
Wow, £50k for Kamara to Rangers in the window.
Are Dundee that desperate for the cash to lose the player for the second half of the season?
Around 9.30pm on Wednesday night we should be looking at 6 point gaps to Rangers and Killie and 8 points to the Dons, with a vastly superior goal difference. Same amount of games played as well.
No doubt at the same time the Rangers players will be carried from the field on the shoulders of their fans celebrating a famous win against Cowdenbeath.
Was wondering if anyone was paying attention at Stevie G’s presser when he commented on Southampton’s claimed interest in Tavernier?
Gerrard said that they had picked up the phone to the Saints, asked the question, and Saints replied that they had no interest!
I doubt this is standard practice in the football business unless you were keen to get the player out the door and bring in much needed income.
Exactly the same thing crossed my mind!
Phil; what I don’t get is why there appears to be such a hesitancy towards shoring up the back 4? I mean everywhere else seems to be backed up at multiple layers.
We have 2 issues right now that a blind man could see; 1) the current back up players (Ralston, Gamboa, Izzy, Simunovic and Ajer) appear ok for Scottish games (in limited outings) but are not good enough for games in Europe. 2) Boyata and Benkovic (barring a miracle) are both gone at end of season. That means that we will once again head into the summer qualifiers very light at a critical position with only 2 established players for that position (Ajer and Simunovic). What if one of them were to pick up an injury? Then we come to RB where much as I love him, and he has been really good for us, it is obvious that Mikael Lustig has lost a step (maybe 2) and is a weakness that gets ruthlessly exploited by decent teams. That is not to slight him as he is 32 years old it happens to all players. He is also out of contract at the end of the year so you need to fill that position for the Euro qualifiers as well.
as I said, I just don’t get why they can’t see this! And before anyone says it, I hope that the rumours about McKenna are not true as he falls into the not good enough for Europe category as well as apparently having recurring hamstring injuries (God help us)!
Just a thought, who makes and pays for these banners we see at Parkhead? These a professional-looking signs and not scratchings on the back of fag packets or empty cardboard boxes.
We have the best board in the history of Celtic. We are going for 8 in a row. One defeat against Rangers and our so called supporters are jumping out the window. Calm down ffs.
We have a wage bill that is unsustainable without regular CL Group Stage qualifications.
The first team squad is huge with decent money being paid to the main men.
As you point out Tierney, Edouard and Rogic will return to the fold, though the length of Kieran’s lay off is worrying.
Good to see Bitton back yesterday and the introduction of Forrest and Burke from the bench made a big difference.
If Ralston isn’t thought fit to replace Lustig then a right back is a priority now.
With regards to central defenders we have Benkovic, Boyata, Ajer and Simunovic with us till the end of the season when the first two will need replaced.
That should be the priority in the next transfer window rather than having a bloated squad with big earners sitting on the bench.
Phil . Why don’t you a attend a presser and ask the questions ? I believe that If Brown does not get a new contract Brendan will walk at the end of the season . Failure to resign a captain and club legend that Brendan speaks so highly l off, will be the straw that breaks the camels back .
I wish you had been there too,we’d know for certain one way or the other.But,I suppose sometimes things aren’t quite so clear cut.I can’t imagine either of the two wanting to be the one with embarrassment written loudly on his chops.
Thanks for the insight,HH🍀
I’m of the firm belief that Celtic will ease away from the pack over the next month or two.8’s in the bag…✅
I don’t know if you were at this season’s AGM. But I think if you had been, and had asked who was in charge of final decisions to both PL and BR in turn, we wouldn’t be asking it now. Without opening their mouths, body language would have given the answers. Especially when they were in such close proximity.
A ship can have only ONE captain.
I wasn’t at the AGM last year.
I take your point.
Pity no one else was there with the balls to ask.
There are certain questions…you’re not allowed to ask.
Sad …but true.
Phil, you would be doing supporters a huge service by making the trip to Glasgow. Between Celtic’s in-house media production (primarily CelticTV) and the MSM who clearly don’t care about the club nor care to truely investigate a story of any variety, I think you would be able to pull more relevant information out of BR and the board in 20 minutes than we normally get over the course of a year.
I mean, do we need to set up a gofundme to make this happen or what? I have no doubt your expenses would be covered after about an hour of fundraising…
Aye , but you cant sail a ship with one man , I don,t deny Brendan,s savvy , But i see future money coming in with the Million wingers as the tweet has been doing the rounds
Celtic is a far bigger club than the tribute act , we are in a different league from those guys , we do need a man who can look after the biscuit tin . In these uncertain times of ours , Bank of England can just grab any countrys gold and steal it
Phil, Brendan has been well backed by the board since he came in. Apart from the obvious success of Edouarde, Bain, a few others and the LOAN signing successes he has signed lots of DUDS (and the accumulative wages for those must be relatively massive). To name just some : De Vries, Gamboa, Kouassi, Hayes, Benyu, Compper, Musonda, Mulumbu. That’s just 8 that I can think of at the moment that were a total waste of money. Perhaps it is not difficult to imagine that the board just do not trust his judgement. Aye, fine and dandy with the successes BUT take a look at the bigger picture and it’s easily understandable. We’re beginning to get some important players back from injury, etc., and, at a crucial time of the season, all the other “challengers” will fade away due to injuries & suspensions – whereas we are becomingly increasingly stronger. Get off Brendan’s back, he has been utterly amazing and absolutely fantastic so far!
I don’t think he’s ON Brendan’s back. Neither are any of the rest of us for that matter. I think it’s interference from above that we’re concerned about. Particularly one PL. As a wheeler and dealer in the corridors of power, and as someone who knows the businesses side of football inside out, he has few peers. On field football matters AND who is sourced to go on that field should be ENTIRELY the domain of BR.
If PL and the other Board Members need more to do, why don’t they chase up Resolution 12. As the MAJORITY of Celtic shareholders and the VAST MAJORITY of Celtic fans have been urging them to do for years now. Instead of intentionally, or otherwise, doing all they can, or giving the impression they’re doing all they can, to keep that cesspit in Govan open. That way they can make THEMSELVES true CELTIC HEROES!!!
As Charger indicated, this isn’t so much an issue of who is brought in or how past transfers have worked out. This is about who has authority to make the decisions on such matters (and for the record, BR said he DOES have final say the other day when he was defending Congerton). The bigger issue here with the transfer policy relates to the budget and how it’s spent. We’re buying, or rumored to be buying, players who BR hasn’t yet signed off on yet (concerning to say the least) for relatively nominal sums while not spending the £5m+ each that it will take to bring in his desired targets on the back line. And when there’s £30m or £40m or whatever it is in the bank, that’s just inexcusable!
Also, on the issue of the poor transfer record, all of the guys who have signed and haven’t worked out, with the exception of Kouassi who is both still very young and also missed a lot of time with injury, all of them were of the ‘cheap’ variety that supporters are frustrated with! Edouard, Ntcham, Sinclair all cost £4m+ and have all been successful. Dembele would have cost that had we not gotten him on a cross border development fee as well. Likewise, Paddy Roberts would have been a smashing success of a permanant signing at a high price had City been willing to sell.
So I think the point here is that supporters want to see the club managed with a little bit more ambition on the transfer front. And with money in the bank and the success we’ve had at higher priced transfers, there’s zero excuses for the board not to make those investments.
Hoops, i get your point but do we really know if these players you named were BRs choices?
Snap
Does anyone actually know that Rodgers signed these players though? It’s commonly accepted yet who really knows, they stink of project material, failed projects that is. You are spot on Hoops440, a while ago on the forums I was practically booed off for saying that Rodgers has been fantastic and that all the “Celtic dads” were believing the papers rubbish of rangers winning the league. Booed off is an understatement, I was practically accused of being an arrogant little sh@t for stating the bleeding obvious. The same people will be saying “I was never worried” come May.