3 weeks ago
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Even with the prospect of Champions League football and a £40million windfall in serious danger of going down the drain, Brendan Rodgers is doing a fairly decent job in terms of diplomacy.
In the aftermath of a dull and laboured performance in the 0-0 draw with Kairat Almaty in midweek, many had suspected that the Celtic boss might open fire on the board over a lack of transfer activity.
A feeling that the very same movie which played out in 2018, when Rodgers was throwing verbal hand grenades into the Celtic boardroom, may well be set for a sequel.
Listen, we may yet arrive at that point in the fullness of time.
Certainly, only a fool would rule it out. But, for the time being, Rodgers is letting others do the talking for him.
He was subtle with his message in the aftermath of the Almaty game on Wednesday night, saying enough to make his feelings clear, without pressing the nuclear button.
Brendan Rodgers was frustrated after seeing his side labour to a draw against Kairat Almaty
Has backed his players to play to their full potential in Kazakhstan on Tuesday evening
Peter Lawwell has come under fire from Celtic supporters throughout this transfer window
The fans weren’t quite as reticent, with chants of ‘sack the board’ echoing around the stadium as they turned their fury on chief executive Michael Nicholson and chairman Peter Lawwell.
Rodgers stated that he always feared a result like that could well be in the post, given the lack of investment in the squad over the summer. But he stopped short of another ‘terminado’ moment.
That was the phrase he famously uttered back in 2018 on the eve of a Champions League qualifier against AEK Athens, which Celtic duly lost. Later that season, Rodgers left to join Leicester City.
We have not reached that point. Not yet, at least. Part of the reason why Rodgers is mindful not to say too much is because Celtic could yet pull this out of the fire against Almaty.
Even faced with a 7,000-mile round trip to the middle of nowhere, they could yet dig out a result and secure Champions League football.
Calling for unity around the club, Rodgers said yesterday: ‘I’ve said that repetitively over my time here. Everyone in unison at this club is a real, real strong force.
‘But I do understand where supporters are coming from. The supporters pay, they want the best team on the pitch as early as it possibly can be and they have every right to feel frustrated or air that when it’s possible.
‘But certainly what my message would be is that, of course, everyone together and unified, that’s the real strength of Celtic and I’ve always felt that and that hopefully can be the case.’
Callum McGregor knows the team must improve if they are to book a Champions League spot
Daizen Maeda passed up a glorious chance to give Celtic a vital first-leg advantage late on
But diplomacy and patience will only last so long. If it goes wrong for Celtic in Kazakhstan on Tuesday, it would be no surprise if Rodgers snapped.
Celtic have regressed since they pushed Bayern Munich all the way in the Champions League knockout stages back in February.
Whilst he is choosing his words more carefully than compared to his first spell at the club, there’s still a chance he could only be one disastrous result away from another ‘terminado’ moment.
Especially given the fact he is out of contract at the end of the season, if Celtic were seen to be stagnating and failed to reach the Champions League, it may well confirm in his own mind that his time in Glasgow is up.
Asked how he felt about the Almaty game after having a couple of days to reflect, Rodgers continued: ‘I’m very stable on it. Naturally, you’re disappointed you didn’t win.
‘This team have given me a lot of value in this early part of the season. Working very hard on pre-season, started our league season really well.
‘We didn’t start well in the first half, which I’ve said all along, the first five minutes of games is really important and for some reason, we were a bit lethargic and lacked energy and lacked speed and tempo.
‘When only a few days earlier on the Friday (against Falkirk), we were excellent in all of that. That was the only disappointment, but second half we were better.
Rodgers is looking forward to seeing Livingston manager David Martindale this weekend
‘I was just explaining to our new players that 0-0 will always feel like a disaster here. You have to live with that because the demands here are to win. And sometimes even winning 1-0 can feel that way as well.
‘The reality is we’re still very much in the tie, and in many ways, it’s fairly simple now. I think the expectation going into the game from people outside was that this will be an easy tie.
‘Because we’ve won 5-0 before against a team from Kazakhstan and won other (qualifying) games 5-2, and of course we’d love to have done that.
‘We didn’t do that, but we’re still very much in the tie, we know what’s at stake, and we will go there on Tuesday to look to qualify.
‘In certain moments of the game, we could have been better. It’s still 0-0 and we still have a big chance of qualification.’
Celtic face a mammoth trip just a few days before they face Rangers at Ibrox in the first Old Firm game of the season.
On their travel plans, Rodgers added: ‘We’ll stay in UK time. We’ve had experience of it before. As soon as the tie came out, all the logistics, all the operational side of it was planned and prepared.
‘We’ll leave early Sunday and virtually get a day of travelling and then we’ll be able to stay in our time zone, and that’s worked well for us before. Train Monday, game Tuesday and hopefully job done.’
Back on the domestic front, Celtic will welcome Livingston this afternoon looking to maintain their 100 per cent start to the new league season.
‘Our full focus is on Livingston,’ said Rodgers. ‘I really like David Martindale and I’m looking forward to seeing him. I like his passion.
‘I think he’s done a brilliant job at Livingston, and I’m so happy for him and his club because it’s a very, very good club.
‘Of course, you analyse the (Almaty) game afterwards and then look to prepare for the next game because I think that is the danger that you look too far ahead.
‘We have a game to perform well in at home and continue with our really good start to the domestic league and we want to continue with that tomorrow.’
