The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Rodgers hits back and insists Celtic are united
Parkhead manager refutes talk of divided dressing-room ahead of Saints clash
Brendan Rodgers hit back at Kris Boyd as he denied the Kilmarnock striker’s assertion that there is “a divide in the Celtic dressing-room”.
The former Rangers forward spoke out after sitting on the Killie bench in the Hoops’ 2-1 defeat at Rugby Park on Sunday.
The back-to-back treble winners were left with 10 points from six Ladbrokes Premiership games which confirmed their worst start to a league campaign in 20 years.
Ahead of tonight’s Betfred Cup quarter-final against St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park, Rodgers was told of Boyd’s claim.
“Kris is probably best suited trying to get himself into the Kilmarnock team to get playing and we will concentrate on our own job in here,” he said.
“When teams lose games the logic used to be and clearly still is, there is a split in the dressing-room.
“Sometimes there is no plan B. That is another accusation. For us, we are very much unified as a club.
“We set such a high standard over these last couple of seasons. Yes, we haven’t started as well as we wanted in our season, but we are very much together.
“It is something I am very calm with, we have a blueprint which is very stable in terms of the way we play football and normally when we execute that we have shown we have a winning strategy.
“Sometimes we won’t win games and we have to accept that.
“There is a bit of heat that comes with that but what is very important is that you stay calm and unified and that is very much what we are.”
Following the Killie defeat, which came through a last-gasp header from former Celtic youth defender Stuart Findlay, Rodgers admitted that the Hoops supporters should be alarmed at their side’s start to the season.
However, he moved to allay any fans’ fears about his commitment to the club.
“For me, I only gave that notion of them being alarmed purely because of how we’ve started the season and there should be nothing more than that,” he added.
“The only message I can give them is that I am absolutely privileged to be here. I want to continue to be here.
“Yes, we haven’t had the start. Yes, we haven’t had the Champions League qualification, but I still love my work here, love the challenges here.”
Filip Benkovic will miss the quarter-final clash with an Achilles problem.