Brendan Rodgers responds to madcap Celtic rumour as he silences ‘strange’ Switzerland rage chatter

Brendan Rodgers responds to madcap Celtic rumour as he silences ‘strange’ Switzerland rage chatter.

Brendan Rodgers wasn’t in Switzerland in a huff.

He’s perfectly happy and wants to lead a successful Celtic for many more years. And Rodgers is clear that finger pointing and playing a blame game isn’t going to make that happen. It was blowing a gale at Lennoxtown on Friday. Apt given the fact there’s an ill-wind gusting in the club’s direction after a transfer window which was, to say the least, vastly-underwhelming for a number of the fanbase.

The manager’s comments prior to its opening over wanting three or four quality signings always meant that capturing just two was going to alarm or outrage, even before the debate over the actual quality of incomers Nicolas Kuhn and Adam Idah. Rodgers stated he was on the lookout for cover at left-back with Greg Taylor injured. No-one arrived.

Mix in the fact the club has over £70million in the bank and it’s understandable in some respects that a firm breeze of discontent is in the air with supporters who fear a serious gamble is being taken with the title and question the transfer workings of the manager and abilities of Celtic’s recruitment department, led by Mark Lawwell. Rodgers isn’t silly. He’s aware of the angst.

He knows the fans aren’t best pleased and understands their frustrations because, as he says, he would like the club to be braver in the market. But he reckons it’s not about making accusations or causing splits in the set up.

Rodgers said: “There were reports that I’m this really unhappy person and I flew out to Switzerland or somewhere after the game the other day, which I found strange when I was reading it in Finnieston!

“These were all the considerations I had to come back. I wasn’t going to be that person and I said that when I first came back because I only wanted the best for here. I wasn’t going to be in that place again.

“Sometimes because of how I am I might look unhappier than what I actually am, and that’s my dad’s fault because I look like my dad, and he always looked not so happy even when he was.

“I will always want the best but for whatever reason if that’s not available and we can’t get it, then we still have to look to progress. That’s why we’re here. I’m not going to start finger pointing at anyone. I was always told that if you start pointing fingers, you’ll get three pointing back at yourself.

“We’ve got to be really careful here. I get a sense of looking for someone to blame and that’s not what this club is about. The minute there’s a separation then it’s a difficult club. You can’t just purely label it on the recruitment team.

“The recruitment team clearly had a job to do like we all have a job to do. This is a collective responsibility.

“The recruitment team clearly had a job to do like we all have a job to do. This is a collective responsibility.

“I want us to get better. You’ve seen the success we’ve had with players and you can’t have success with all of them, that’s the nature of it.

“But I get why supporters would have an annoyance, I totally understand it. There’s the season ticket money, they are buying things in the club shops, everything in how they follow the team, I get all that. This is the great challenge of working our way through that. But I was definitely not in Switzerland!”

Rodgers’ reference came after a bizarre WhatsApp message doing the rounds after last weekend’s game with Ross County that he’d headed for the Alps to offer his resignation.

Such talk doesn’t affect him as he said: “No. It might have done years ago but certainly not now. There was something else that came out that again wasn’t true.

“I have the greatest respect for the people here at the club. I always wanted to come back to Celtic and I knew it wasn’t going to feel straight away like the first time because people were hurt. And they probably still are.

“There’s probably still a wee bit of that of people thinking, ‘how long is he going to be here?’, and, ‘can we trust him?’.

“But I want to give everything and be here as long as I possibly can be. If I can have success here and we can look forward and into Europe then brilliant. But I certainly wasn’t away having any crisis talks.”

Rodgers has moved to calm the waters, yet it make take more to appease a section of the support. Anger has already boiled over this season during the home loss to Hearts and the temperature has raised again following the window.

Yet Celtic are top of the table and, asked if that all makes the feeling around slightly odd, Rodgers said: “Aye it does, and that’s the thing I’m determined to try and navigate my way through that, because I know what it felt like the first time I was here, it was amazing.

“So, I want to have that feeling back in the stands and with everyone again but we’ll only do it together, that’s what is key. I always felt coming back here there was always going to be that extra bit of expectation and pressure. So I was prepared for that. It’s just navigating a way through and doing my best to pull people together.

“I’ve always said that if I was the major problem here, it’s not what I’d want for the club. When I do leave here, I’ll always support Celtic. But I now want to be there for a period of time that I can really see the benefits of that short-term and longer term.”