DO YOU ever feel you are caught in a loop, dear reader?
I suppose we should thank Brendan Rodgers for breaking cover and spelling it out and, helpfully, putting a merciful end to all the subliminal messages some folk have been reading into the Irishman’s words of wisdom in recent weeks.
The Celtic manager couldn’t have made his thoughts any more emphatically if he had taken out advertising on the big screens in New York’s Times Square.
Now we are all aware of the state of play; if the board do not match his ambition then he is for the off at the end of his three-year contract.
On this occasion, Rodgers didn’t quite get around to using the terminado word, but he might as well.
Astutely, the Hoops gaffer waited until the right time before he introduced the majority of us to an expression that was fairly vehement.
HEADSCRATCHER…Brendan Rodgers lays it on the line in Sky Sports interview.
Back then, I admit I was more than a little intrigued when “terminado” cropped up in media coverage on August 7 2018. In the newspaper world, it’s known as a bullet word; any reasonable headline-writer on a tabloid journal would make absolutely certain it dominated the page and smacked the reader between the eyes.
I’ve already stated I didn’t believe the word had simply popped into the manager’s consciousness. I reckoned it had been a plant for maximum exposure. Why, though?
A week before the second leg of the Champions League third round qualifier against AEK Athens in Greece following an uninspired 1-1 stalemate in Glasgow, Rodgers spoke to the Press at Lennoxtown.
Asked if it would mean the end at Celtic if he stopped pushing for advancement, Rodgers, surprisingly blunt, answered: “Yeah. My job is done then. Terminado. Gone.
“It’s a joy to work here. I love my life here and I enjoy being the manager here. But it’s no good if I just sit back and get comfortable. Being comfortable is the enemy of progress.”
At the same venue yesterday, seven years after the original delivery, Rodgers was asked if his future had become any clearer.
POOR SHOW…Brendan Rodgers watches Celtic’s second-half collapse in the 5-1 loss to Ajax in the Como Cup.
Once again with a fair degree of candour, Rodgers, as CQN reported, answered: “There’s no further update and, for the sake of honesty and clarity, I can tell you exactly where we’re at.
“I said when I came here first that I would do three years minimum. I love being here. I’ve done two years. I’ve got one more year to go.
“Dermot and Michael and I had a conversation over the summer on where we were at and where it sits with myself and everything else and I said I’m very happy here.
“There are conditions we want in to be able to improve and be better because I’m not the type of manager who is good at maintaining anything.
“If it’s just something to maintain, I’m not the manager for Celtic. It’ll be someone else. But to build and grow and develop and push, then, of course, I love being at Celtic.”
Sound familiar?
It was like being in an echo chamber. Six months after the original ‘terminado’ introduction, Rodgers was on his way to Leicester City.
RECORD-BREAKER…Celtic’s £11million man Arne Engels.
This time around, if things are not to his satisfaction off the field, he will remain until next summer before clearing out his locker. Of course, his exit date could be hastened if the board decide to sack him as they are entitled to do if they are not impressed with his endeavours.
These situations cut both ways in football, as Brendan will be well aware and, in fact, joked on the day of his return he had every intention of being in place for at least three years unless he was “emptied”, a quaint Glasgow expression for getting the boot.
He was handed his P45 at Liverpool a few months before he arrived as Ronny Deila’s successor in May 2016.
Four years after joining the King Power outfit following his speedy departure from Celtic in February 2019, he was fired and it was evident there was friction between the manager and the owners.
Earlier in the 2022/23 season, following a frustrating summer transfer window, Rodgers had said Leicester City was not the club “that it was a couple of years ago”.
To be fair to the team boss, the Midlands outfit had sold key player Wesley Fofana to Chelsea for £70million and brought in cut-price Wout Faes from Ligue 1 side Reims as a replacement. The club had overspent massively in previous years and announced pre-tax losses of £92.6million for the year up to May 31 2022.
Those figures would be abhorrent to Peter Lawwell and Celtic fans everywhere should be thankful to the financial astuteness of the current chairman who was chief executive for 17 years during the club’s phenomenally successful 21st Century in which an extraordinary FORTY-THREE honours have been won, including 19 titles.
EYES ON THE BALL…inspirational captain Callum McGregor.
Michael Nicholson is now the man with the responsibility to steer Celtic through the sometimes choppy fiscal waters. He received a taste of it last summer as anxious fans displayed displeasure at the alleged sluggishness in strengthening the squad.
And then, on deadline day, Arne Engels, Auston Trusty and Luke McCowan arrived for an £18million outlay. Adam Idah, at £9.5million, had joined from Norwich City a couple of weeks earlier.
Rangers were blown away 3-0 on September 1 – Engels, McCowan and Idah all featured as second-half substitutes – and even Mr Angry in Row E had to put a sock in it for the remainder of the campaign.
With monotonous regularity, there has been the predictable call for reinforcements. I understand the concern, but I don’t feel the need to push furiously on the panic button. I’ll leave the knee-jerk reactions to others.
I trust and accept hard work will be going on with agents and lawyers for prospective arrivals while the selling club plays hardball. These situations usually ease as the deadline creeps ever closer and some demands become a little more realistic.
One of the main talking points throughout the summer has centred on Rodgers, Dermot Desmond, the board and the manager’s contract situation. Now everything on that front has been clarified, can we now get our focus back on the actual football?
It’s time for the talking to stop. Not quite a case of ‘Belt up, Brendan’, but the manager has much to do on the football field. That will now be his main concern.
With or without multi-million pound signings – and I firmly believe vasts amount of money will be made available – the manager can look around a dressing that contains Callum McGregor, Kieran Tierney, Kasper Schmeichel, Reo Hatate, Daizen Maeda, Alistair Johnston, Engels, and Cameron Carter-Vickers (when fully fit) and realise he has the nucleus of a very good team.
Rodgers talks about his ability to coach youngsters and get the best out of them, so let’s see how Yang Hyun-jun, who is going into his third season as a Celt, Shin Yamada, Hayato Inamura, Dane Murray and Callum Osmand develop under his tutorage.
Like Mr Angry in Row E last September, it’s time to put a sock in it and get on with the game.
