Brendan Fraudgers!

It makes perfect sense: he is shirking his managerial responsibilities, feigning ignorance, and I am expressing my incredulity.

I am well aware that his remit involves much more than taking training sessions; that is my point.

 

Brendan saying he is in charge of the final say on players we sign.

Said the boy from Ukraine literally came to our attention a few weeks back that he was available.

Talented player but maybe one for next season. Says he knows the players agent from his time at liverpool

Praising Congerton and the role he does said scrutiny and critics are unfair. Has a wee dig at the supporters imo.

He can’t persoanlly scout every player

Said Édouard was found by Congerton.

Said if the deals present themselves to do business before window shuts we will but search for players in the areas we need to improve (right back and centre back) might roll on into the summer

Board has know from summer what the objectives where in terms of strengthening the squad.

Quite frank and honest tbf

 

Getting sick of him going on about how it's so difficult for us to get players in today's market.

There's a whole world out there. You're not telling me there's not a number of right backs (for example) who are:

a) Affordable
b) Would want to come to Celtic (you know... perennial winners of silverware, European football, massive club, good 'stepping stone' for some players etc)
c) Better than Lustig

Is it extremely difficult to attract players who are better than the likes of Eddy and Rogic? I would imagine it is. But if he's finding it difficult to get upgrades on Lustig and Gordon then Rodgers and the scouting team aren't doing their jobs properly.

 

Got to agree doofy if our budget is say £4m for a RB then there has to be something out there for us to sign even in the January window.

To think since 1st July we have brought in £20m in fees and spent £4m is shocking coupled with over £30m in the bank.

 

If it's so difficult to find players how have we managed to find decent attackers? Complete and utter * being fed to us as if we are stupid.

 

Surely this interview cements what many of us think about the board actually being in control of just about everything in terms of transfers.

I can’t understand the criticism that is attributed towards Rodgers following that interview. What do you want him to say? He’s hardly going to start causing palpable friction with the board in the media. As well as that, he is hardly going to throw his squad under the bus by saying X player is not good enough or Y position needs strengthening. That is a principle of good management.

The signing of this Ukranian boy tells a big story.

For what it’s worth, I think the remark by Rodgers about this player is a passive aggressive comment directed towards the board.

He can’t put it much more bluntly that that in the mainstream media.

 

Brendan Rodgers insists he has the final say on all Celtic transfers.

The Hoops boss has been at the centre of speculation suggesting he’s at loggerheads with the club over their signing policy, driven by head of recruitment Lee Congerton, after appearing to distance himself from the imminent arrival of Ukrainian kid Mryan Shved.

Rodgers' less than enthusiastic assessment of the club’s latest capture refuelled talk of his frustration stretching back to the failed attempt to sign John McGinn from Hibs in the summer.

But yesterday, he made a strong defence of the Parkhead set-up, backing Congerton but declaring that he has the last word on every new face that joins the Premiership champions.

When asked if he has to green light all transfers, Rodgers said: “Yes. Absolutely. It will come to me in the process. I’ll look at him and see where he’s at and then we decide from there.

“My job is also to protect the club. The club work in a particular way to develop young talents and my job is to assess the talent.

“But when you are managing 60-odd games a season you can’t be a scout as well.

“My job is to coach and manage the players and put them on the field. We have a network of scouts behind that to try to find the players.

“In this case something came up and you make a decision.

“I don’t need to share anything about the internal working of the club. What I said the other night was we were presented with a young player who is a talent.

“He’s a winger. I don’t need a winger now but he’s a talent and if the club sign him then we’ll look at a development plan, whether it’s coming in now or going on loan to play games.

“The deal should be done at the beginning of the week and we’ll go from there.

“I was being honest. I’m not going to say I’ve been tracking the boy for six months. It’s a young talented player and that’s the club’s model, that’s how it works.”

Rodgers admits that his inability to hide his frustrations at times has led to a level of scrutiny being put on the club’s recruitment set-up.

But he reckons the criticism being copped by Congerton - a former colleague of Rodgers at Chelsea recently linked with a move to head up scouting operations at Anderlecht - is unfair.

He added: “I’ve never known a head of recruitment get criticised the way he does.

“And it’s unfair. Whether it was John Park or Lee or whoever, it’s not an easy job being head of recruitment at a club like Celtic.

“Because the expectancy here is to do well not just domestically but in Europe – but you don’t have those resources. There are constraints and there is the finance.

“But, if you look at the likes of Benkovic, that was them. Odsonne is a big talent - one of Lee’s players.

“I remember the likes of Coutinho, Oscar, guys like that he brought into Chelsea. So there’s no doubting his eye for talent is first class.

“The regular supporter wouldn’t know the operation. And when one or two get emotional in the media and start to point fingers, that can snowball.

“It’s easy for people to criticise but he does a great job, he’s very talented. He hasn’t worked in the game for this period of time without having that talent.

“Part of Lee’s job is to find not just players for now, but to find players who are strategic for the club, who can help the club later on.

“He obviously has to scour the market and at this moment in time, in terms of recruitment, it’s probably never been more difficult.

“In terms of not just attracting players to Celtic, but in terms of finance, it’s very, very tough.

“He puts in a lot of miles, a lot of hours and of course the torch gets shone on him. But it’s very unfair because, a lot of the time, he’ll find players we just can’t bring in.

“That is the job of the recruitment officer, unfortunately. They spend many hours travelling and working. And sometimes you aren’t getting that player in.

“I know how it is now, supporters want to see that yellow bar on the TV screen saying Celtic have signed some player, blah, blah and everything is perfect.

“But there’s a lot of tireless work that goes in to looking at players. It’s then, are they available and can we afford them?

“If we can, the club will do the best they can to bring them in.

“Sometimes it will frustrate you because you know what it can give your team when you are after a certain kind of player.

“I probably didn’t hide that so well. I am not so good at hiding my emotions sometimes.

“But you get on with it. You respect the environment you are working in and I think we’ve done ok since I’ve been in terms of developing players and we’ll continue to develop if we don’t get in what we want.

“If there’s any message, it’s the club will do everything they can to get the right type of players who will help the squad.

“If we don’t, we have a strong group of players going in to this part of the season.”










Brendan Rodgers has maintained that he has final say on all transfer dealings at Celtic as he sought to play down any ambiguity surrounding the midweek comments made in relation to the imminent signing of Maryan Shved.

The Parkhead manager seemed to originally distance himself from the deal to sign the 21-year-old Ukrainian when he claimed that Celtic already had “a million wingers,” a comment that suggested it was an arrangement that had been made without his input.

However, Rodgers has firmly insisted that he has the call on who comes into the club and has also revealed the process behind the move for Shved.

Asked if he had final say on transfers, Rodgers said: “Yes. Absolutely. It will come to me in the process. I’ll look at him and see where he’s at and then we decide from there.

“My job is also to protect the club. The club work in a particular way to develop young talents and my job is to assess the talent.

“I just happened to know the agent, coincidentally, from my time at Liverpool and I know he has a good reputation.

“It’s an opportunity the club could look at.

“When you are managing 60-odd games a season you can’t be a scout as well.

“My job is to coach and manage the player and put then on the field. We have a network of scouts behind that to try to find the players.’

“In this case something came up and you make a decision.

“I don’t need to share anything about the internal working of the club. What I said the other night was we were presented with a young player who is a talent.

“He’s a winger but he’s a talent who can come in and help the club.

“I don’t need a winger now but he’s a talent and if the club sign him then we’ll look at a development plan, whether it’s coming in now or going on loan to play games.

“It should be done at the beginning of the week and we’ll go from there.

“I was being honest. I’m not going to say I’ve been tracking the boy for six months.

“It is an opportunity and you’ll find in this window there are circumstances where that will happen.

“If your processes are right you’ll have tracked players for a number of months but sometimes an opportunity come to you to get a talented young player and you have to make a decision.

“We have a lot of wingers, but in six months we there won’t be as some will go back to their clubs and others might leave.

“It’s a young talented player and that’s the club’s model, that’s how it works.”

Between now and the closure of the window of Thursday night, it remains to be seen if there are further additions to Celtic’s squad. It seems likely that there are a number of players who could head out on loan but getting another one in may well be dependent on what happens elsewhere with players and other clubs making late decisions.

“In the modern game the key is not getting them in, it’s keeping them out,” said Rodgers. “We have a very good squad. I have always known the areas we want to improve but we can’t just bring anyone in. It has to be a certain quality.

“I know how it is now, supporters want to see that yellow bar on the TV screen saying Celtic have signed some player, blah, blah and everything is perfect.

“But there’s a lot of tireless work that goes in to looking at players. It’s then, are they available and can we afford them?

“If we can, the club will do the best they can to bring them in. The key ingredient has to be quality.

“You always have to be ready right to the last moment because there’s always opportunities that will come to you.

“Sometimes they are decided late on. But we’ll be waiting for the right type of player.

“Our plan is to add to it but if we can’t then we’ll continue to work.”

The summer proved an acrimonious one for Celtic with Rodgers critical of the board and the failure to get deals over the line. There has not been the same rancour expressed in this window – indeed, Rodgers has declared himself happy with the squad he has should there be no further arrivals – and the Celtic manager has offered a public appreciation of the circumstances around the window and the challenges it presents.

“It’s very difficult for Celtic, unless you have the big finances to go and get the kind of players who are going to help us improve,”he said. “The market down south is really, really difficult, but you can’t stop looking for the ones you can develop and improve or is ready made and can come in.

“That’s ongoing. You can never please everyone.

“If there’s any message, it’s the club will do everything they can to get the right type of players who will help the squad.

“If we don’t, we have a strong group of players going in to this part of the season.”

“We've done really good business in bringing in these young players and you can see the difference they have made.

“It’s never easy. If we don’t have another signing then I’m happy with the players we have.

“If we can get the players in certain areas, then great, but it has to be the right quality, otherwise there’s no point.

“We have a really good squad and we’ll get Kieran Tierney and Tom Rogic back."











BRENDAN RODGERS has insisted he has the final say on ALL of Celtic’s signings.

The Hoops boss this week admitted he knew little about incoming Ukraine winger Maryan Shved.

That led to surprise among Celtic fans — but Rodgers has now made it clear he approves every new recruit.

He said: “Yes. Absolutely. It will come to me in the process.

“I’ll look at him and see where he’s at and then we decide from there.

“What I said the other night was we were presented with a young player who is a talent. I was being honest. I’m not going to say I’ve been tracking the boy for six months.

“I don’t need a winger now but Maryan is a talent and if the club sign him then we’ll look at a development plan, whether it’s coming in now or going on loan to play games.

“It should be done at the beginning of the week and we’ll go from there.

“I just happen to know the agent from my time at Liverpool and I know he has a good reputation.

“It’s an opportunity the club could look at, and you make a decision.

“You’ll find in this window there are circumstances where that will happen.

“If your processes are right you’ll have tracked players for a number of months.

“But sometimes an opportunity comes to you to get a talented young player and you have to make a decision.”

Celtic have already signed Timo Weah, Oli Burke and Vakoun Issouf Bayo in this window — and are searching for a right-back.

But head of recruitment Lee Congerton still gets a lot of stick for his success rate and Rodgers insists that’s totally unfair.

He said: “I’ve never known a head of recruitment get criticised the way he does.

“So I’m not sure where the stories come from. Because I’ve never known it. It’s unfair. Whether it was John Park or Lee or whoever, it’s not an easy job being head of recruitment at a club like Celtic.

“The expectancy here is to do well not just domestically but in Europe — but you don’t have those resources.

“There are constraints and there is the finance.

“But Lee helped bring in the likes of Odsonne Edouard and Filip Benkovic. He does a great job with the resources he works with.

“Lee obviously has to scour the market and in terms of recruitment, it’s probably never been more difficult.

“He puts in a lot of miles, a lot of hours and of course the torch gets shone on him.

“But it’s very unfair because, a lot of the time, he’ll find players we just can’t bring in.

“His job is to find the players and, in his time here, he’s done that.

“Now whether we get them here or not is a different story. But players he identifies are exactly what we need as a team.

“Once he’s found them and recommended them, that’s where he’s away. He’s out of it then.

“But, listen, the regular supporter wouldn’t know the operation.

“And when one or two get emotional in the media and start to point fingers, that can snowball.

“Lee is very talented. He hasn’t worked in the game for this period of time without having that talent.

“But he loves it. He enjoys working here and he’ll continue to work tirelessly with his staff.

“I know how it is now, supporters want to see that yellow bar on the TV screen saying Celtic have signed some player and everything is perfect.

“But there’s a lot of tireless work that goes in to looking at players. It’s then, are they available and can we afford them?

“If we can, the club will do the best they can to bring them in. The key ingredient has to be quality.”

 

quality...........the best (quality)we manage at one point was to bring back izzy and have known lustig is done for the best part of 2 seasons.....but we cant find quality.....utter * *.
We got tons of money for dembele but we cant find a right back.....and what happens in the summer when half our defence leaves or goes back to their clubs......more quality hunting problems......tired of this * now.

 

this is lyrics awesom...some doom Heavy guitars….i just read your post as Music...Lovely ..

 

Does seem to be the same old sound bites reappearing window after window. I get that it's difficult trying to target European level players who will come and play in the SPFL but the way we've developed players such as Wanyama, VvD, Moussa, you'd think it's an attractive proposition for some talented young players.

It's as if we're basing our scouting and recruitment on an EPL clubs network where we're competing with smaller clubs who have much more money than us, when it'd make more sense to scout in smaller nations who have leagues at a comparable standard to our own.

So frustrating that either the manager/board or both aren't tapping into these markets and always making excuses theres no quality that we can actually recruit.

 

Money thing is it mate....i feel the same

 

Prove us all wrong Brendan. Bring in a RB and lead us to eight,nine and then ten. HH

 

Prove who wrong?

He doesn't need to prove me wrong. Why would the man who has won 7 straight domestic trophies need to prove anything to anyone?

 

Just a comment in general. Seems a lot of folk think he'll be off in the summer. People will interpret what he says as an indication he's setting up his 'escape route' or whatever.
So 'prove us all wrong', while maybe being factually flawed, is just me trying to be a bit positive.

 

Fair dos. I worry he will be off as well.

I don't think we need defenders to win the title though.

RB and CB and we could give Valencia a good game though.

Here's hoping.