Rodgers Need To Stop Treating This Celtic Team Like He’s The Only Winner At The Club.

Last night, I watched the full press conference from yesterday and a couple of things stood out.

I know some of our fans were not impressed with Rodgers having a pop at the fans for booing his substation, and I know some in the media – including some of our own – continue to try and make a song and dance out of his Jane Lewis comments in spite of Jane Lewis herself telling them to stop being so silly, but what annoyed me were other remarks he made.

“I think this group now, being in here at this part of the season, will learn from the experience. They are going through that. So whatever happens this year, they are going to be better for having lived the experience because nothing can prepare you for the expectations around a club like Celtic.”

First, I don’t want to hear talk like that from a manager of Celtic. Whatever happens this year? Maybe he’s missed the bottom line; we need to win this title or there’s an overwhelming argument for relieving him of his responsibilities as manager. Those expectations are exactly as high as he has said they are, and he can’t skate them any more than the players.

He is in charge of a team that had a seven point lead. If we can’t win this title in spite of a seven point lead at one stage and having already beaten our rivals home and away he’s done, because there will be no excuses for his failure to close this one out.

As far as I’m concerned that sounds like the beginnings of an excuse for failure, and he should not be under any illusions about brass-necking his way around it if that’s how this ends.

But secondly, and this is what bothers me most, this is not the first time he’s referred to this team in a manner which suggests that he’s unaware of what some of them have done before. This is not the first time he’s done that, and it’s been bugging me all the way through the season.

He came in here talking about “teaching this team to win” … as if we weren’t sitting on three helpings of silverware from the previous campaign. He had nothing to teach these guys at all in that regard, and I found those comments ridiculous at the time and they are even more ridiculous now. What should we conclude if we lose all three of those trophies?

That’s he’s still in the process of fixing something that wasn’t broken?

Or that he’s taught them how to lose instead?

This isn’t the appropriate time to be trying to tell guys like Callum McGregor and others how much they can learn from him. I daresay he can impart the odd lesson, but not about winning and not about having the mentality to win.

This stuff about them never having been in a close race is all codswallop.

We watched some of these players claw back a deficit in Ange’s first campaign to storm home to the title. These guys won every high pressure, must-win game that came their way these past two seasons and their wins over the Ibrox club home and away in this campaign prove that they can do it when the chips are down in this one.

So, I really wish to God that Rodgers would cease this kind of talk. It doesn’t make him sound like the wise old sage he evidently thinks; he sound likes an arrogant man talking himself into trouble. It’s colossally disrespectful to the guys who have been there, seen it and done it … and I daresay some of them think so themselves.