Is Rodgers as hacked off as the fans by a lack of new signings?
ODSONNE Edouard’s Champions League goals against Rosenborg in midweek achieved two things.
They showed why Celtic paid Paris Saint-Germain a record fee for his capture.
And instantly made the striker Exhibit A. Key evidence in the prosecution of the Parkhead board for crimes against Brendan Rodgers and his transfer kitty.
At £9million, French Eddy is the most expensive player Scotland’s champions have ever signed.
And on Wednesday night they saw the proof that, in football, you get what you pay for.
Yet, so far, the star signing from PSG remains Celtic’s only significant cash purchase of the transfer window.
With £30m burning a hole in the club’s bank account — and Stuart Armstrong already sold for £7m — supporters can’t understand why.
This week came the first public hints that they might not be alone.
Before the 3-1 win over Rosenborg, Rodgers was unable to guarantee fans a better squad when the transfer window closes.
‘I’ll work with the players that’s here, the players that we have, and then obviously what the club can do, they will do,’ he said.
Before the Rosenborg game came an interview with the BBC where he appeared — possibly unintentionally — to put some distance between himself and the pending loan signing of Australian World Cup star Daniel Arzani.
‘It is not my job (to manage transfers). Let’s see what players
the club brings in. I work with the players that are here. Develop them, improve them and, apart from that, that is my job.’
Rodgers is a realist. He knows he’ll never get £20m to spend on a single Celtic player.
Talk of making Celtic a regular fixture in the Champions League knock-out stages has been quietly shelved.
But the architect of the club’s renaissance has been crystal clear. He wants quality over quantity.
People have spent this week poring over his public statements with the forensic guile of Sherlock Holmes, scanning between the lines to figure out what he really means.
It’s possible we’re all reading too much into this. Seeing things that aren’t there. But this week Rodgers has sounded less like the manager of Celtic. And more like the head coach.
All of which raises a question. Is he as hacked off by the lack of new signings as the supporters?
To say the former Liverpool boss has been starved of cash would be over-egging it. The board revamped his recruitment set-up by bringing in Lee Congerton. The wage bill has risen.
Olivier Ntcham, an increasingly effective footballer attracting interest from West Ham, cost £4.5m. They went big for Edouard. And just this summer the board spent £2m on a slick new hybrid pitch.
And that’s all before we get to Charly Musonda or the reported £3m paid for Eboue Kouassi.
When Dermot Desmond pushed the boat out to land a high-profile manager two years ago, it was an acknowledgement Celtic had to raise the bar.
The Parkhead board were under the cosh after the Ronny Deila experiment and Rodgers became their human shield.
In the last two seasons he has proven himself to be worth every penny of his £2m-a-year salary. He has raked in £60m in Champions League cash. He has delivered every target set. And then some.
If he feels directors should be handing over a few quid back by way of a thank you, he has a point.
But Rodgers is not the first Celtic manager to find fiscal reality a pain in the butt. And he won’t be the last.
When Martin O’Neill left, Scotland’s champions had the fifth-highest wage bill in British football and were £20m in debt. The situation was unsustainable.
Since then, Gordon Strachan, Tony Mowbray, Neil Lennon and Deila have all had a choice. Develop projects like Victor Wanyama, Virgil van Dijk, Ki Sung-yueng and Fraser Forster and sell them on for big money. Or seek a better job elsewhere.
This week’s change of tone suggests Rodgers is being nudged down the same well-worn path as past managers. And doesn’t care much for the scenery.
All of which spells real danger for the Celtic board.
Because the people who buy season tickets don’t pay much heed to a healthy balance sheet. State-of-the-art hotels, space-age lighting and museums are well down their priorities list.
What they really want is Rodgers hanging around long enough to lead them to ten-in-a-row.
And they couldn’t care less how much it costs.