‘Telling’ – Pundit thinks Brendan Rodgers sent the Celtic board a £20m Scottish Cup final message

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The fallout of Celtic’s Scottish Cup final defeat to Aberdeen continues.

Brendan Rodgers missed the chance to become the first Celtic manager in history to win three trebles after Aberdeen won the Scottish Cup on penalties.

Pundits and ex-players heavily tipped Celtic to lift the cup but many of Rodgers’ big hitters failed to maintain the standards that won the Scottish Premiership and League Cup in the big Hampden final.

But as Rodgers made various substitutions during the final to try and kick his Celtic team into gear, one pundit reckons that the Hoops boss may have been trying to send the board a message by taking off two of his expensive summer signings on Saturday.

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Tam McManus thinks Brendan Rodgers’ Hampden substitutions sent the Celtic board a message

Rodgers took the decision to take off Adam Idah and Arne Engels as the Celtic boss looked to unlock the Aberdeen defence.

However, pundit Tam McManus reckons that there may well be another reason the Celtic boss decided to take off his two most-expensive signings in the showpiece Hampden final.

McManus told PLZ Soccer, “Just to come back to what you said about the substitutions. I thought taking Engels and Idah off, £20 million, in a cup final is telling for Brendan Rodgers.

“I don’t know if it’s a message to the board or whatever, but to take those two guys off in a cup final at 1-0, I thought, you still keep them on.

“You spend £20 million on two players and you bring a kid on, Johnny Kenny? Hmm.”

The only message Brendan Rodgers sent by taking off Celtic pair Adam Idah and Arne Engels

To suggest Rodgers was sending a message to the Celtic board by removing Idah and Engels is a bit of a bizarre take considering both players are the Hoops boss’ signings.

The only message Rodgers sent was not to the board, but to Idah and Engels. They were simply not good enough on the day and were not contributing to Celtic’s bid to win the cup.

These things happen. It’s not a slight on the players but a verdict on their performance. And what Rodgers has done is tell the rest of the Celtic first-team squad that no matter if you were his signing or not, if you don’t perform to his standards, you will be hooked even if it is the most high-profile and important game of the season.