Rodgers predicts ‘revolving door’ at Celtic
BRENDAN RODGERS predicted ‘a revolving door’ policy in operation at Parkhead next month as he seeks to freshen up his Celtic squad following yesterday’s stalemate with Rangers.
Celtic failed to score at home in a domestic game for the first time since March 2016 as Moussa Dembele, a £20million target for Brighton, and Scott Sinclair spurned a series of first-half chances.
While Rodgers stated his contentment at a fourth successive clean sheet, the Celtic boss was intent that changes would be imminent in a squad that needs a winter break. When asked if there would be new arrivals to add to German defender Marvin Compper, Rodgers said: ‘I suspect so. There are probably some players that will go out who want to move on and get games.
‘So it will be a revolving door over the month but we want to strengthen. I’m sure there will be something done.
‘The players who have been with us need the recovery and rest. They will be worked on as well.
‘You’re playing your 38th competitive game, your ninth in the month. That is a real taxing period for the players mentally and physically.’
BRENDAN RODGERS knows his Celtic legacy will be measured in trophies yet the human aspect of managing the club he loves provides personal fulfilment to go with the professional gains.
In describing 2017 as providing the most enjoyable spell of his career, he speaks not only of the three trophies picked up across the calendar year but the little moments away from the glare of the cameras that help bring home the scale of the job he has been doing for the past 18 months.
A keen storyteller with a sharp eye for an anecdote, Rodgers has regaled us with tales of meeting magnanimous Rangers fans in the Clyde Tunnel, a hospitality suite chat with Noel Gallagher and the family ties that bind him to the club he supported in his home town of Carnlough.
Step forward Patsy, the latest character to emerge in the Rodgers revue.
‘My biggest pleasure is seeing happiness in people,’ says the former Liverpool boss. ‘People will talk at New Year about the big moments but two things spring to my mind. One is seeing the happiness of the people when we’ve played well and won.
‘But probably the biggest concerns an old lady Patsy, who is in her 70s. She stands outside our hotel for every game we play whether it’s raining or snowing, covered up with Celtic gear.
‘She wears her Brendan hat, her Brendan scarf.
‘Her son came up to me not so long ago and said: “Thank you so much, you’ve given her a new lease of life”. That makes me as happy as picking up a trophy.
‘If you can do that for people — help them and make them happy, then that makes me happy.’
Rodgers may have a taste for the sentimental but he is not soft. In laying out the ground rules for his players on day one in the summer of 2016 he declared that there would be ‘no lazy days’ under his charge.
And so it was that on Christmas Day he convened a training session at Celtic Park ahead of the team’s Boxing Day win at Dundee. At some point during proceedings the Northern Irishman paused and took a moment to reflect.
In 2011 he managed Swansea City to promotion courtesy of victory in arguably the most-pressured, and certainly the richest, fixture in club football. Later he would go on to manage Premier League giants Liverpool and take them to within an ace of the 2014 title. But although he has enjoyed stellar moments elsewhere there was unique pleasure to be taken from 2017, a year in which he became only the third manager in Celtic’s history to guide the club to a clean sweep of domestic trophies. ‘This has been the best,’ he confirms. ‘I had some brilliant moments elsewhere. I think of the half year I had at Watford when they thought we were doomed for relegation, then we stayed up and transformed the way they played.
‘I had a brilliant time in Swansea, it was amazing what we did there to get them to be the first Welsh team in the Premier League. Liverpool’s charge for the title was incredible and really enjoyable.
‘But here, 2017, I’m at a club where I still pinch myself at times.
‘We trained on Christmas Day and I’m standing in the centre circle looking around and it’s Celtic Football Club. It still takes me back when I look at it.
‘It’s been an amazing year, so to bring joy and a winning mentality to it makes it even more special.
‘I’ve had an incredible 2017 really. From the first day to the end, it’s been an iconic year.
If you can make people happy, that’s as good as picking up a trophy I’m at a club where I still have to pinch myself at times. It has been an amazing year
‘You create the legend in terms of how you perform and how you do. Whatever I do going forward I know this will be very, very hard to beat.
‘I think everything we’ve achieved this year will be recognised more later on. While we are working away, it’s hard to appreciate it and I won’t until I’m long gone.
‘When I’m 60-odd and sitting in Majorca I can sit back and think about it all properly.’
The first month of 2018 will bring rest for the players and a chance for Rodgers to work closely with his head of recruitment Lee Congerton. The signing of German international Marvin Compper has already been completed but the defender will not be eligible to play in the Europa League tie against Zenit St Petersburg thanks to earlier European involvement with RB Leipzig this season.
The manager insists he will not recruit specifically with the Zenit tie in mind but admits he would like to re-enter European competition with a strengthened hand.
‘There’s some more players to come in, but it’s not about numbers, it’s about getting the right people in,’ he says.
‘I’m not blinkered in that we would bring in players in January just for that European game. We want to be successful and do well in that tie, but it’s not just about that game, there has to be a project in place.’
Such long-term thinking will likely see Lewis Morgan signed from St Mirren and then loaned back to the Championship contenders for the remainder of the season.