Brendan Rodgers has done his best over the last month or so to do one thing.
The Celtic manager is always the one to front the press and tackle the hard-hitting questions while the club’s board hide in the shadows.
But when the likes of Michael Nicholson and majority shareholder Dermot Desmond come under fire, Rodgers is quick to support them.
Rodgers said last week before deadline day that his connection with the Celtic board is good, despite how it is perceived on the outside.
However, a report has now cast serious doubt over how the Celtic hierarchy view Brendan Rodgers now after some fairly recent comments made.
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Rodgers comments have ‘not gone down well’ with Celtic hierarchy
The Scottish Sun are reporting that the Celtic board are unimpressed with Rodgers saying the club must ‘show ambition’ in the transfer market, as well as the need for a huge inquest after losing to Kairat Almaty.
His comments are reportedly his way of working his Celtic ticket, with the report stating: “Senior figures inside the club believe Rodgers is engineering his exit.
“What he’s said in public has torn the club apart. On and off the record discussions are creating division throughout the club.
“He’s the only manager in the club’s history who has repeatedly questioned things. It’s been the same board, same management and same strategy. The club have spent tens of millions.
“When Brendan came back, he agreed to the club’s strategy. There are now people inside the club who are deeply unhappy with his words.
“To make matters worse, these issues appear to be seeping into the performance of the team. It’s like Groundhog Day again.”
What did Rodgers actually say?
In July, Rodgers said Celtic need to show ambition to progress as a club. That, sadly for him, did not resonate with the Hoops board.
At the time, the boss remarked: “It depends what your ambition is. If your ambition is to really progress and push forward, then we need to improve the squad.
“But I can’t fault the players. The players that are here, they’ve been working so well, so hard and you see some of the play and how they work has been very, very good.
“However, if you want to progress, then, as I said, you need to bring in quality and that’s something that we hopefully can do.”
Then after losing to Kairat Almaty, Rodgers explained: “Listen, it’s very frustrating. We all know where we want to get to.
“We showed last year with the strides I felt we took. But we have to build on that. The last thing you want to be in football is manufacture your own stress.
“That’s what you don’t want to be doing. We now have to look at where we’re at as a football club and decide what way we want to go.”
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