Brendan Rodgers’ comments to the media yesterday were about as timely as they were welcome.
He laid it out for the players at a special meeting; “I’m going nowhere” and that is the message he wanted communicated back to Scotland and to our supporters, and those in the boardroom as well. Message received and understood.
Now we move past the last week’s nonsense and towards the game.
I said the other day that meetings had been held to clear the air; those meetings sound as if they have been successful. The manager’s comments of yesterday have defused the whole situation. The next two weeks should see his new players delivered and a renewed sense of purpose fill this team.
It’s come at just the right moment.
The media has always gone to great pains to try to paint Sevco as a club pulling together at the centre of a storm, even when that storm involves ructions between the manager and the board; how can it be that adversity is good for them whilst at Celtic it’s painted as a crisis?
We know the answer, of course.
We play by a different set of rules.
But it doesn’t matter, because the wounds of the last week look to be healing and we’re coming out of it on the other side. Tonight’s game is huge for all of us, but the sense of purpose has been restored. The players know the manager is here to stay and that Project Rodgers remains on track.
That lets them get on with worrying about the football.
Sometimes a wee blow-out is the best thing that can happen at a club.
It clears the air and puts away simmering tensions.
We’re in the right frame of mind now to go and qualify for the next round of the Champions League.