Rodgers: Horrendous foul could have wrecked career
Parkhead manager calls for greater protection from officials after Tierney challenge
BRENDAN RODGERS last night called on Scottish referees to provide greater protection for his Celtic players – and claimed the horrific foul on Kieran Tierney by Motherwell substitute Ryan Bowman at Parkhead last Saturday could have ended the full-back’s career.
Tierney suffered a cut knee after being scythed down by a shocking high challenge from Bowman and Rodgers has described the challenge, which match official Don Robertson only punished with a yellow card, as “horrendous”, adding that he felt the prodigiously-talented 19-year-old defender could easily have suffered a serious injury.
The Northern Irishman was reminded of the career-ending injury that John Kennedy, the current Celtic first-team coach, suffered after a foul by Ionel Ganea when he was playing for Scotland against Romania at Hampden in 2004 when he saw it again.
He believes the Tierney incident isn’t an isolated one either – Scott Sinclair had been brought down by David Raven in a league game against Inverness Caledonian Thistle the week before – and appealed to Scotland’s referees to do more to ensure his squad members are unharmed by their opponents.
“My only worry at this moment in time is the protection I want for my players,” said Rodgers. “I didn’t see the tackle on Kieran Tierney until after the game but, when I did see it, it was a horrendous challenge. And we had one the week before on Scott Sinclair that was a horrendous challenge.
“I need the officials to control if something is a bad tackle. They have got to see it. I have a brilliant young coach on my books called John Kennedy who lost his career on the back of an absolutely disgraceful challenge and I don’t want that. That could have happened to Tierney if his foot was planted – easily.
“It is the responsibility of officials to protect players – that is their duty on the field. Not just the referee – all four of them – and how that was never seen I don’t know. The same with Sinclair the other week. They are awful challenges. That is my only worry at the minute.
“We play an aggressive game and we have lots of games like that … that are great, away at Aberdeen, tough games where you fight and tackle and are aggressive. But when it goes over the top we need the help of the referees, otherwise you are going to lose talented players and you may lose careers because of it.”
Asked if he had spoken to SFA head of refereeing John Fleming about his concerns, Rodgers said: “I’ve not spoken to them yet. We’ll see. I don’t know what it is. I know a player like Sinclair is quick and dynamic and that can affect timing. But a bad challenge is a bad challenge. I don’t care who it is. There is a duty to make sure the laws of the game and the welfare of players are looked after.
Rodgers added: “I ask my players to respect referees. We are not a team that goes charging after officials. We say this is a man’s game. You expect to get hit with challenges, you take it, you get up and you fight.
“But I’ve just seen a couple of things lately, whether it’s because we are on a run and are a target for teams, that means we need to be careful.
“The last thing I want to be sitting here talking about is a serious injury to Kieran Tierney. I’m frightening to think what could have happened to him. ”
His response has been brilliant. He is a real good kid and he knows that I am looking out for him in every aspect of his life
LEIGH Griffiths’s very future at Celtic was cast into doubt last month when his manager Brendan Rodgers was publicly scathing of the striker’s lack of professionalism outside of football. The fact that Griffiths hasn’t been involved in a game since Rodgers’s remarks and, indeed, hasn’t started a match this year, has done nothing to silence the Glasgow rumour mill.
However, the Parkhead manager revealed yesterday that he had been delighted with the reaction of the errant player to his stark warning – the Scotland internationalist was told he would be unable to compete at the top level unless he cleaned up his act off the park – and confirmed he is on the verge of making his first-team return.
Rodgers is hopeful the 26-year-old, who netted 40 goals for the Scottish champions in all competitions during the 2015-16 campaign, can maintain a consistently high performance level and become an all-time Celtic great now he has embraced his advice.
“Leigh has had a good few weeks in training now and has looked fit and strong and ready to come back,” he said. “I speak to him every day. It wasn’t something I sprung on him. He knows I have my eye out for him and I want to help him.
“He has had one good season here and my aim here is to make that six or seven or eight seasons and the only way you can do that is by changing a little, which can then change a lot in the short, medium and long term.
“His response has been brilliant. He is a real good kid and he knows that I am looking out for him in every aspect of his life and I just don’t want him to be a player who has one good season and then falls away.
“I want him to stay at the top of his game and to do that then you need to stay fit and be ready to play as often as you can.”
Meanwhile, Rodgers has expressed his confidence that Celtic goalkeeper Craig Gordon, who was the subject of two failed bids from Chelsea during the January transfer window, will agree a contract extension even though talks with his representative have been put on hold until the summer.
That is despite suggestions the Barclays Premier League leaders, who are believed to have had an offer in the region of £3.5 million turned down, may try to sign Gordon again in the close season. “I think it is close on a lot of the details, but not closed out,” said Rodgers. “But I am fairly confident it will be, for him and for the club.”
Many Celtic players were unable to make it in to training at Lennoxtown yesterday due to the adverse weather conditions. But Rodgers was prepared for the disruption that Storm Doris would bring and is unconcerned about the impact it will have on preparations for the Ladbrokes Premiership match against Hamilton at home tomorrow.
The former Liverpool and Swansea City manager, though, did admit that Celtic would continue to assess and improve the facilities at their training centre at Lennoxtown.
“Thursday was going to be a down day anyway, with the players inside doing some lower-intensity stuff like head tennis and a bit of fun,” he said. “So the weather hasn’t impacted on our training really. My main concern in the morning was players travelling in and their safety.”
Rodgers confirmed that Eboue Kouassi, who contracted malaria after arriving at Celtic in a £2.8 million move from Russian club Krasnodar, had lasted the full 90 minutes in a training game against Dundee this week. But he stressed it was too early for him to be involved in the first team.
“It just takes time to recover from his illness,” he said. “It takes time to recover because you are sapped for energy. You need to build up through diet.”
Rodgers had, along with Celtic captain Scott Brown, Griffiths and Liam Henderson, been an interested spectator at the Edinburgh derby, which Hibernian won 3-1 at Easter Road on Wednesday evening. He admitted he had been impressed with the occasion and had felt it showcased all that is good about the game in this country.
“It was great,” he said. “I was interested to go and see the game because we could get one of the teams as opponents.
“I wanted to ensure I’d seen Hibs close up to get a feel for them in case we meet them at some point. I also wanted to take in the occasion, which was a wonderful one.
“All derby games are really special. Down south people may not be as appreciative because there are so many games. But it’s a game up here you can be very proud of. There was real passion in the game with good intensity. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
“It was a shame it wasn’t televised. I didn’t see the last game but, by all accounts, it wasn’t the greatest. But this one was. There were quality goals and good chances created in a brilliant atmosphere. I think if it was on TV it would have been a nice advert for Scottish football.”
John McGinn was one of Hibs’ outstanding performers in their emphatic win over Hearts in the William Hill Scottish Cup fifth-round replay and Rodgers confessed the midfielder had caught his eye in particular.
“He’s very good,” he said. “He looks like the type of player you love as a manager. I’d heard a wee bit about him without seeing a great deal of him myself. But he is very industrious and looks a great lad. He knows the game, you can see that with the way he fills in positions.
“Defensively he’s strong. He puts his foot in and can make a tackle. He doesn’t oversell himself. He’s technically very good when he tackles. Tactically, he looks like he’s got a good understanding of the game. He passes it well and had a couple of good moments when he moved into the box.
“He was a real driving force for them in there. So it’s great to see a kid like that, an honest boy, doing well.”