Michael Stewart has noticed what Brendan Rodgers keeps doing in the media since Celtic return

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Brendan Rodgers’ second stint as Celtic manager isn’t going as he planned with the heat well and truly turned up.

The former Liverpool boss absolutely dominated proceedings the first time around, winning Trebles and swatting Rangers away like a fly.

But from inconsistent performances on the pitch to Celtic producing two abject transfer windows, Brendan Rodgers is already coming out and insisting that nobody is to blame here and fingers don’t need to be pointed.

Michael Stewart has noticed the Celtic boss constantly sending out ‘a lot of coded messages’ since returning to Glasgow, as he told The Scottish Football Podcast.

Going back to November, the Irishman was insistent on greater quality needing to be added, but to the annoyance of Andy Walker, he then changed the narrative.

After the January transfer window, Brendan Rodgers also called for the club to ‘be braver’ in the transfer market, but insisted that those comments weren’t aimed at the board.

All in all, these have been a challenging few months for the team and it’s only going to get tougher because there is a title race on.

Brendan Rodgers’ comments to the media

“There are a lot of coded messages that Brendan Rodgers has come out with since he has come back to the club,” said Stewart.

“He is trying to mitigate it by talking about no finger-pointing or blaming any individuals.

“But there is no question the Celtic squad is dramatically weaker than it was last season. In part due to key players being out injured this season, but also having lost Jota, in particular. He is such a huge, huge loss for Celtic who hasn’t been replaced.

“When you look at the acquisitions that have been brought in, then inevitably, there is going to be serious questions asked.

“That aspect of it does really harp back to the season when Celtic were going for ten-in-a-row and their transfer business ended up being a disaster.”

Talking out on the pitch

Celtic were short in a number of areas during the winter transfer window, especially at left-back.

But those players didn’t arrive and there’s nothing the club can do about it now, other than doing the talking out on the pitch.

That didn’t happen as the Bhoys dropped points against Aberdeen on Saturday and they have to put that right against Hibernian on Wednesday night.