Rodgers: Glass ceiling is as good as it gets
Brendan Rodgers has admitted Celtic’s business model is such that the club are likely to keep banging their head on the glass ceiling, season after season, when it comes to European football.
Beaten 2-0 at home by Valencia on Thursday, the Hoops face a near-certain Europa League exit when they go to Spain for the return this week.
And, while fans appreciate there is credit in reaching the last-32 of the competition, there is also frustration about the now-familiar cycle of qualifiers, group stage, then the inevitable defeat.
“Look, it’s a constant challenge and we will dust ourselves down,” said the Celtic manager.
“We made a really good fist of getting through the group with 10 points, which was great, considering the group we were in.
“We also have to remember we still have another leg to go!
“If we can get the first goal out there, you can see that if we don’t make the mistakes then we’ll have the opportunities.
“But if we can get that first goal, it might just give you the belief to go and get something.
“Again, the challenge here is constant. Be it at a European level or domestic.
“The thing about my players is that for the last two-and-a-half years they have played 60 games a season.
“What they have brought, is they’ve given me everything. I have absolutely no complaints.
“Yeah, sometimes we will lack at that higher level which, you know, I can understand.
“And especially at the level we play. Sometimes you have to try to bridge that gap, however which way.
“You have to find a way of playing.
“If you try to just match up against better players, then the likelihood is you will lose.
“Part of the development since I came to Celtic, was to have a blueprint that allows you to try to do it differently.
“If you don’t have the money to get in the players then you have to find an identity that can.”
The difficulty being that those talents they do successfully identify, and develop, then tend, as in the cases of Virgil van Dijk, Stuart Armstrong and Victor Wanyama, to hold big appeal for the big English clubs.
“Absolutely. Aye, that’s the model. It’s where it’s at. It’s not necessarily the club’s fault.
“They can only bring in a certain type of player, get them to a certain level and then the guys move on because of the money in the game.
“But Thursday was disappointing because we are a lot better than that.
“It wasn’t as if they were peppering our goal, it was our own mistakes that hurtus.”