As regular readers know, this site keeps track of a lot of different facets of the game up here, and sometimes that means things get put on the To Do list rather than on the Done Already one. One story that popped up like a mole on a bowling green and which I didn’t have time to tackle over the last couple of days was this one about Brendan Rodgers blotting his copybook with Chelsea and “ruining his chances” of landing a job there.
First, this is typical of a certain type of journalist and blogger in England; the last time I checked there was still a manager at Chelsea. And yes, he’s on the way out as everyone knows full well, but to be constantly talking about the guy’s replacement before he is … well that’s just bad form. If that kind of stuff was “throwing Murty in the garbage” – which it was – then it’s equally true for Antonio Conte. Not that these muppets care about that.
The logic of their position this time is that Brendan Rodgers has infuriated Chelsea bosses by not giving Charley Musonda the “game time” he was promised; maybe it’s just me who thinks that the whole premise of the story is as phony as a Dave King guarantee. Since when do loan deals between two top flight clubs stipulate that a player has to play?
The notion that Chelsea feel aggrieved … well if true that just breaks my heart, but tough. Because Brendan chooses the Celtic team according to Celtic’s needs … not those of another club. And I would be infuriated, and so would every Celtic fan, were it otherwise.
If Chelsea valued Musonda so highly they ought to have kept their own promises to him. If Musonda were more professional in how he conducts himself – working hard instead of moaning on social media – perhaps they would have. If this kid has an attitude problem, I’d suggest that it was created long before he made the journey north to Parkhead.
Flowing beneath the surface of all this is a certain contempt for our club and for the game up here. These self-entitled articles fairly reek of “he should be good enough to be a regular in Scotland”, and this is the type of thing most often said by people without the first clue about the game up here. He wouldn’t be the first footballer to grossly under-estimate the pace and the physicality of the game as its played north of Carlisle, but try explaining that to EPL-centric fools.
Like every other Celtic fan, I want to see Charley Musonda in the Hoops.
We paid good money for this kid, and he comes here with a burgeoning reputation.
He has already made a good fist of a loan spell in Spain. He has talent. If he needs time to adapt he’ll get it … and we’ll see something of him before too long. But I cannot stress this enough … the team comes first and he will be part of that team only when Brendan Rodgers thinks he’s good and ready.
The rest of it is just white noise. I couldn’t care less how much alleged unhappiness there is at Stamford Bridge over this affair. You’d think a team currently fifth in the table might have one or two more important things to worry about.
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