Brendan Rodgers does not disappoint after 12-day Celtic silence: comms critique, fan anger and the future

They did not leave disappointed.

Aside for Rodgers’ comments on his future and the briefing to a newspaper suggesting he is engineering a way out of Celtic Park, which were as engrossing and explosive as one could wish for, there was also a fairly detailed critique of the club’s transfer dealings, fan anger and the club’s overall communication.

Rodgers did not stray off-piste when it came to Celtic’s recruitment. After saying all summer that he needed new players in his frontline, the tune was not about to change as autumn approaches. Celtic brought in wingers Sebastian Tounekti and Michel-Ange Balikwisha but the failure to purchase a reputable No 9 clearly still stings. The breakdown of Kasper Dolberg’s transfer means a lot is expected of Kelechi Iheanacho, a free-agent signing.

Nevertheless, the start of September also brings closure for Rodgers. He can only work with this group of players until January. He admitted to weeks of speculation affecting his squad. Now there can be no excuses.

“We're obviously glad the window's shut,” said Rodgers, “And I see a really good spirit back in the team again. I think naturally in the window, especially in those last few weeks, you have the uncertainty and the instability, which will happen at a lot of clubs, most clubs. But now that’s closed. We accept that it could have been better for us, but now it’s behind us and my job now as the manager is to pull everything together and get us moving again.

Celtic ‘have talented players in the squad’

“That's management, that's high performance in any sport. You're not going to have it all your own way. We have to accept and take responsibility for the fact the window wasn't what we wanted. But now we have to get back and really get tight as a group and as a squad.

“I believe that we have talented players in the squad. And now it's my job to maximise the extent to which they can play the game. I'm looking forward to that aspect of it. We could have been better in the market, of course, but it is what it is. And you can’t look back on it now. I have to look forward and I've already seen that in the last couple of days within the team training.”

That starts on Sunday against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park. The next problem Rodgers and his players have to deal with is the noise off the pitch. Many Celtic fans won’t turn up until the 12th minute as part of a protest against the board, its transfer dealings and a club statement last week that has been labelled tone-deaf and lacking in culpability.

“That frustration is shared,” was Rodgers’ take on it all. “We all felt that. Absolutely. Hence why months out we were saying about what we needed in the squad. So, yeah, I totally get that.

“You respect your fans at your club. That's why we love Celtic and the Celtic support. It's a club with the passion and the commitment and the drive. And that's what keeps us honest as a team and as a club. Because the expectation for us every day is to come in here and improve and be better. Why? Because we're expected to do that for the supporters. So they keep us honest. They keep us driving and pushing.

Rodgers didn’t want to be drawn on the official line from Celtic, which was released just before 9pm at the weekend. “The club put out a statement,” he said. “I'm not here to answer those questions because they're not mine [to answer]. That'll be something that over the coming weeks I'm sure will become clear on how that evolves.

Rodgers is pretty clear on Celtic comms

“I'm not here to tell supporters how to feel. They feel frustrated. They will have every right to feel that. My job is to drive wherever possible I can the team and the club forward.”

Rodgers also cannot be accountable for a glaring lack of savviness when it comes to communication. Say what you like about him as a manager but in terms of fronting up and answering questions, he is by far the best at it within Celtic. He clearly wants improvement in that area and his comments expressing such raised standards will have made the comms staff squirm a little - some of which were in the room.

“I've always believed that the quality of your life is the quality of your communication,” said Rodgers. “Especially in this modern world where there's so many avenues open to communication. After this summer, I think that’s something that most definitely the club will look at.

“You can't always say everything and the real detail around happenings that are going on, but you certainly can engage. And I've got no doubt that that will improve after this summer, because fans want it, modern society demands it, and you can still run a really successful business by communicating well.”

Fighting fires off the pitch, now Rodgers has to reignite one on it. “I felt we were in slow motion,” was his remark on early-season displays. “Our identity is all about speed and penetration, and when our game looks like that, we're a really good side. So that's my focus at this moment, getting the identity of the team back and then looking forward to the competitions.

Winning well is the only way forward now for Celtic. A board that has not properly backed Rodgers must now pin their hopes on him delivering victories to keep the noise down.