Brendan Rodgers Discussion Thread

Never mind then

 

Does feel like this has hardened his resolve a bit. Bringing out a bit of fire in him that I've rarely seen since he has come back. Hopefully rubs off on the team

 

A mate said once, if you’re pushed against a wall with a bit of 4 by 2 you’d be amazed what you can do. This feels that moment has arrived.

 

Brendan Rodgers says the Liel Abada saga WON’T stop him signing Israeli players for Celtic.

The Hoops boss expressed his sadness last week when the winger was sold to MLS side Charlotte FC. Abada had barely featured in Rodgers’ team since returning from injury in December. Two months previously, his country went to war with Palestine whose flags are regularly waved by supporters at Parkhead.


From then, Abada wasn’t in the right frame of mind to play for the club. Despite Rodgers’ efforts to try to resolve the situation, the 22-year-old felt pressure from fellow Israelis, given Celtic fans’ support for Palestine. Eventually, the manager had to admit defeat and let Abada go to America for a fee of around £6.5million


But Rodgers is adamant the controversy around Abada at Celtic won’t put him off bringing a player from Israel to Glasgow if it will improve his side. When asked if it would stop him signing an Israeli in the future, he said: “No, because I just want good players. It doesn’t matter where they are from


After the departures of Abada and Alexandro Bernabei – who went on loan to Brazilian outfit SC Internacional – Rodgers is already planning for NEXT season. Keeper Joe Hart is retiring this summer and there are question marks over the futures of several Celtic stars. And despite being in the midst of a tense title race with Old Firm rivals Rangers this term, Rodgers says he’s looking forward to rebuilding the squad with new players


Following the resignation of former recruitment chief Mark Lawwell, the manager said: “I’m really excited about next season, having now had a look at this group. I’ve seen players who were out for a while and I want to develop this squad.

“There’s a lot of work going on on that front. Is it a chance to put my stamp on it? Yeah, because I think we lost influential players (last summer) who make the game look different. Those players weren’t just good footballers but they were personalities. It’s hard when you lose that personality from the team. The guys have been great this season with everything that’s been thrown at them. But it’s about seeing what it needs, how it can develop and grow.

“I had to give guys who were here an opportunity because they’d just come off the back of a Treble-winning season. But I also know because of my experience in football – especially at clubs like Celtic – that there’s a revolving door every three or four years. Even if you’re a winning team you have to fire up the squad again. That’s something we’ll look at doing in the summer.”


Rodgers wasn’t happy with the level of investment in his squad during the January transfer window.

But that hasn’t dampened his desire to have a long-term impact at Celtic in his second stint as gaffer. On his return to the club, Rodgers stated that he’d be at Parkhead for at least the length of his three-year deal. And even if his side aren’t crowned champions, the gaffer says nothing will change on that front


Rodgers said: “Unless I get told otherwise, that’s my expectation. That was the whole thing I had to consider coming back. In a funny way I’ve enjoyed this season as there have been so many disruptions and hurdles. But I feel we’ll benefit from that long-term. We’re in a great title race right now and we’re still in a good place.”

One player who could be added to the squad permanently is on-loan Norwich striker Adam Idah, now Celtic’s first-choice striker ahead of Kyogo Furuhashi


He still has four years on his Canaries contract and Rodgers revealed there is no option to buy this summer in the current loan agreement. But the gaffer said: “I’m excited to work with him. He thrives on the pressure here and has a hunger to improve. So we’ll assess that at the end of the season. It’s not all in our hands.”

 

Ppl keep posting about this newfound "fire".

But that's three times by my count that he's given the ol' "no matter what happens this season" patter.

Yes, everyone is fully aware that he's been * in the market by Desmond and Lawell, but constant hinting that next season is when we get up and running smacks of defeatism to me. It sounds like Desmond has given him a pass to lose the title, and will invest next year.

We apparently have a better squad and a better manager than the mutants, so no matter the transfer * ups, losing this league is unacceptable, and if it happens, he should be out on his * ear. Surrendering a 10 Point lead to new manager with a squad of serial losers and loanees should be the end of his career, nevermind the end of his tenure at Celtic.

* fix it Brendan.

 

I commend him for calling the corruption out, but it's clear to me that he's also using this whole saga as a massive deflection tactic from the * awful football and the fact we've surrendered a double digit lead at the top of the table (with the better squad).

If he loses this league he needs rocketed out of the club, that's shouldn't even be up for discussion. His coaching has been so poor, the transfers too (not all his fault but entirely predictable given his record at other clubs).

Best case scenario is we win the league and maybe a cup, then we part ways with him in the Summer. I can't deal with another year of Brendan ball, and I'm terrified of what damage he'll do if given any sort of "control" over the club, especially transfers.

 

In Brendan I don’t trust. The thought of another season with him at the helm fills me with utter dread.

 

Hes just doing it back to front this time. Starting slow and finishing on a bang hopefully man utd decide to give him a chance so he begrudgingly has to leave against his will

 

a great title race is that * for real ,we have been that pish we have found ourselves behind a brutal sevco team ,there is nothing great about it

 

Why does the lead keep increasing? It was only ever 7 points when the games played was even. 7 points isn't that great a deal over a season. Ange came back from 7 points to win. Any team that goes on a winning run like sevco have since the new manager would trouble us.

Is our points total down on ange? Ange won the league with 82 points then 92 points. We are on target to smash 82 and could even beat his top points of 92. Both total would would not win us the league this year. So in essence, Rodgers has had a harder challenge than ange.

His footballs been *. His team available has also been *. No point pretending sevco are a pish poor side to try downplay the manager when there points total shows they are on target to get enough points that they'd have won the league every single season except Rodgers first season way back then.
Thats the exact type of challenge we are facing. You may think they are pish but points wise, they are on target for being the strongest challenge we've ever faced since before the original died. Now that is a title race and would be every single season in over 20 years.

 

Lol any board that brought back a manager who split the fans can GTF. There were many others options available to unite them. All this see me in may pish lost us the league aready and the calling out the cheating is his defence if when should the * huns win it . Im too old to fight for the club. Our younger fans must chase this board boycott games merchandise whatever it takes to save the club.theres no way we are winning this league.and the irony is if the huns get 60million CL money our board will have to spend the same on the club snyway. *. Once again its a * rigged league we play in so we deserve the shaftings every season before we kick a ball. The dice are loaded for thise DOBs . If you are complicit in it then your part of the corruption.COYBIG HH

 

For all his many faults, BR is a smooth operator on the communications front.
First he takes focus off the team with the ref debate/excuse, then give us the 'I'll stand up for me and my club' now followed by his big, ambitious plans for next season - roughly translated 'yes we might lose the league, but just wait till next year'

Don't patronise us Brendan, we see through your and the boards recent 'we royally fecked it up, please don't sack me/us' messaging.
Deliver the league and you stay, if not - go.

 

As has always been with a celtic manager. Deliver the league or leave. Fairs fair. Points wise, he could lose us the league with the second highest points tally in 20 years. That imo would normally bring the manager some grace and I'd keep them. It's the boring way we play that's why I'd want change though.

However, back what he's saying now. If we stay on this path of self destruction and moaning theyll win it. They just hit a rough patch. We finally called out the cheating so they'll have to reign it in. A perfect time during a rough spell for them because they cant give the obvious help. Keep the pressure on the refs just now. We can riot in the summer.

 

100%. He'll be telling us it's "good for Scottish football" next.

 

I dont think that just because we have moaned about it that the cheating will stop. It wont

 

You'll notice when a team goes in on a referee large, you'll get less obvious mistakes for a few games until the noise dies down. We need to keep the noise high. The back pages had 3 obvious kicks to rhe head and only 1 got a red and the others nothing. That's the noise we need. Bringing attention to it.

 

So BR is out doing the PR for next season already. Shows what an * they've made of this campaign. All this talk of 'work going on behind the scenes', being 'really excited', having a chance to 'put my own stamp on things' etc used to be the preserve of sevco, usually after we'd stuffed them again to end their season in January. Now we're doing it. And only 7/8months after winning a treble. BR is part of the problem now. I appreciate what he did 1st time round but if we are to realise our potential then he must go.

 

We were never double digits in front, BUT we had the chance to go 11 points clear but blew it.

At the November International break, we were 8 points clear. We then proceeded to draw 1-1 with Motherwell (Palma missed a pen, Turnbull then scored a pen with 3min to play to give us a 1-0 lead, only to give up an equalizer in 91st minute), which put the lead to 9. Had we won that day, we would've been 11 clear.

Since that game, we have both lost & drawn with Killie, drawn with Aberdeen and lost twice to Hearts. Meanwhile, Sevco have won all their games except for last weekend (v Motherwell), which brings us to where we are, from potentially 11 points ahead to 2 points behind.

For the record, this time last season we were already on 79 points from 28 games. We are currently on 68 points from 29 games. So we are 11 points worse off having played a game more this season.

If you don't recall after the league was secured we dropped a bunch of points at the end of last season. After the league was secured with 4 games to play, we lost to Sevco and Hibs, with a draw with St M in between, but we were also rotating fringe squad players or resting key players with the Scottish Cup to be played, while CCV and AJ were both out.

So to answer your question, yes, the points tally is well down on Ange.

At this same point in 2021/22 we were on the same as this season, but we had a really poor start to the season, losing 3 of the first 6 games etc, before things started to click. We didn't take the lead in the title race until Feb 2022 before going on to win the league.