Former Celtic goalkeeper Pat Bonner reckons the arrival of Brendan Rodgers gives hope to fringe members of the squad who weren’t getting a look in under former boss Ange Postecoglou.
Rodgers has a reputation for improving talent low on confidence or match minutes. He did it with the likes of James Forrest and Ryan Christie during his first spell as manager, even rebuilding the career of Scott Sinclair after a couple of difficult seasons prior to his Celtic switch.
It’s already been reported that the new Bhoys boss is set to give all of his firing talents a fair shake over the next couple of weeks before decisions are made on their future and, after a chat with one of them, Bonner senses a few could resurrect their Celtic careers.
He said on BBC Sportsound on Saturday afternoon: “I think it also gives a wee bit of light to a few of the ones that have been on the edge of the squad. I was talking to Mikey Johnston over in Ireland, he’s probably come back, I don’t know if he’s moved on again. But he said ‘oh I’m delighted Brendan’s came in because he likes me’, you know what I mean?
“So there might be one or two there now thinking they can resurrect themselves within the squad, you know, players who haven’t quite been in the game. So that’s an interesting one.”
Johnston will be one of the group of players getting extended leave after international duty, so we’ll see how involved he is when the club provide updates from the Portuguese training camp.
That’s where he spent the season on loan, of course, making 31 appearances in all competitions for Vitoria Guimaraes and helping them into a European qualification spot. He stayed fit and injury free for the majority of the campaign, which is a major bonus considering how the previous few years went.
Whether he or any other players thought to have little future in Glasgow manage to rekindle their Celtic careers remains to be seen. But Rodgers has done it before, so it’s not an outrageous shout to suggest he can do it with one or two again.
In other news, Celtic delivered a big statement of intent this week and the next one surely isn’t far away.
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