What Brendan Rodgers cleverly said about Celtic fans chanting ‘sack the board’ on the BBC

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If the Celtic board or the fans could have picked a Champions League play-off opponent it would have been Kairat Almaty.

The Kazakhstani side were the lowest ranked UEFA team in the draw as Celtic avoided tricky teams like FC Basel or Sturm Graz.

However, Celtic struggled against Kairat as Brendan Rodgers’ side failed to break down a side who are ranked 301 against Europe’s elite clubs.

And as chants of ‘sack the board’ rung around Celtic Park after a toothless 0-0 draw, Brendan Rodgers cleverly addressed them on the BBC post-match.

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Brendan Rodgers protects the Celtic board after Kairat Almaty draw

Celtic frustratingly couldn’t break down a well-organised Kairat defence as the attacking front line ran out ideas, if they had had any at all.

But as Rodgers addressed the ‘sack the board’ chants, the Celtic manager was clever in his answer.

Rodgers told BBC Radio Scotland, “Well, listen, what I do know is over many years, the sack of the board normally means sack of the manager.

“It’s normally the manager that goes when that starts to be sung. But no, listen, I think I can only really look at the players that we have here and the performance.

“We’ve known for a long time what we’ve needed as a squad, so I don’t want to go in to that. I can only concentrate on what we have here.”

Deflecting the chants from the Celtic board to himself, Rodgers tried to quickly defuse the situation but the message was loud and clear from the fans.

Brendan Rodgers throws arm around Celtic’s misfiring players vs Kairat Almaty

Addressing the performance, Rodgers refused to criticise his Celtic players as he then protected them from any blame for the Parkhead stalemate.

Rodgers continued, “Of course, at the end of the game, we’re having to shuffle things about to try and make it work and play players out of position.

“But the players’ endeavour in the second half was really good, but at this level, it’s more than that. So hopefully we can show that. The boys are a great bunch of lads.

“They’re really honest. They’ve started the season well, defensively have been strong. But tonight, offensively, we just couldn’t show those moments of quality to break through.”

All very admirable from the Celtic boss but the fact remains that even without adding fresh players, this Celtic team should have been good enough to take at least a single goal advantage to Kazakhstan next Tuesday.

As it stands, Celtic, Rodgers and the Parkhead board have it all to do if they really want to rub shoulders with Europe’s best clubs in UEFA’s elite tournament.