SHAKE IT UP
Rodgers believes switch to summer football can raise Scottish standards
CELTIC manager Brendan Rodgers has thrown his weight behind the concept of summer football, insisting that radical surgery to the Scottish calendar would raise standards and enhance clubs’ prospects of European progression.
Rodgers, who leads Celtic into his first cup final against Aberdeen this afternoon, argues that the Scottish game would benefit from an extended winter shutdown that would see the season run from spring to November.
The Northern Irishman believes the switch would bring the dual benefit of avoiding the harshest winter weather and allowing the country’s Champions League and Europa League participants to hit the ground running when their preliminary matches commence in June and July.
He said: ‘Having been here now and experienced it, I would say that there is an argument to say a season which starts in February and runs to November would actually work up here, and there would be benefits for clubs.
‘I’ve only been here a few months, but it’s getting colder. And, in terms of coaching, it’s tough.
‘We’re blessed in terms of what we have here compared to other teams in terms of facilities, but they still need to be better.
‘It’s just about keeping kids warm. You can’t coach them. It was minus eight here (at Lennoxtown) on Friday morning.
‘There would be benefits for coaching in the warmer months and then, when you are midway through your season, you get the qualifiers. Astana had played 22 games by the time we faced them — and that’s remarkable because we had only played once.’
Although Rodgers’ team made it through this season’s Champions League qualifiers, they started with an embarrassing 1-0 defeat to Gibraltarian champions Lincoln Red Imps and were left hanging on for a slender aggregate victory during a fraught second leg of the play-off tie against Hapoel Be’er Sheva.
Given the financial rewards and season-illuminating fixtures that followed against the likes of Barcelona and Manchester City, Rodgers (above) is not relishing the prospect of another tense set of summer qualifiers.
He continued: ‘Look at this season — if we are lucky enough to be in the Scottish Cup Final, that’s on May 27. Then there’s Scotland v England on June 10. And the first qualifier, potentially, in the first week of July.
‘It’s Catch 22. You want to be at your best when you go into these games, as prepared as you possibly can be. But you start behind the eight ball. You are tight behind it.
‘If we don’t qualify and then go on to win a league and cup then what is said is: “You didn’t make the Champions League”.
‘It’s a massive prize and you see what it gives you, the learning, the games and the fans love it — brilliant. To not be given the best chance to achieve it, well it puts you on the back foot.’