The Celtic Boss’s Sutton Dig Shows That He’s Tuned In To Everything And Will Respond.

Today at his presser, Rodgers was firing back with the precision and lethality of a sniper in an urban jungle. He had a good day. One of the targets he took a shot at was Chris Sutton. He didn’t name him by name, but the inference was clear; it was Sutton, after all, who suggested that Tynecastle was not the place to play young Daniel Kelly.

This blog wrote about that column, and it wasn’t the only criticism Sutton decided to throw at Celtic in it. The whole thing was just a rant about how bad the whole is at the moment, with the finger of blame pointed firmly at the manager.

Not only did Rodgers defend that decision, and express his frustration at the criticism of it, but he was sending a message in a not-so-subtle manner to everyone out there who thinks that they can have a free shot at him and this team; no more of that.

“I read somewhere the other week, that we were actually being criticised for bringing a young player into the team which I find incredible. We bring Daniel Kelly on against Hearts – it was supposedly not what should’ve been done.

“Thankfully I look after the short and the longer term of the club, and that’s bringing young players in to develop, to improve, give them that experience and then hopefully they become better players because they need to get that experience.

“Hopefully, we can do that in the coming years, get those players in to help support the team and eventually become first-team players. That’s something that I will always focus on.”

This man is on top of these details. He knows what’s being said out there in every corner of the media.

The days of people second-guessing every choice he makes with impunity, because they are somehow under the mistaken impression that he might not notice it … they’re over. Not only will he catch it all, but when someone goes too far he’ll respond.

And in case Sutton or anyone else is under the impression that because they can, with ease, slap around some gurning Cockney wide-boy, overpromoted on the back of media hype and a reputation as the “brains” behind his manager, or because he can easily dispense with the critique of some posing boy-band wannabe, that taking on Rodgers would be easy, I suggest they think again because this is a far more accomplished and experienced individual than those two.

Rodgers has had to put up with more trash-talking this season than any manager that I can recall in this league. The media always says that in Glasgow one boss is always made the darling and the other suffers as a consequence, as thought this were some immutable law of the universe and not just something they made up themselves … and you don’t have to examine it to understand that it’s largely their own invention, and done to suit a certain narrative.

Every Ibrox boss gets his honeymoon. Every single one. And as long as they are getting results there is no pause. Indeed, the hype rises exponentially the longer it can be sustained by results.

Every Celtic boss starts with the deck stacked against him. Ange was barracked every bit as severely as Rodgers has been, except that he started hitting back at them sooner and frightened some of them into submission; for all that, it was still Van Bronckhorst who was hailed as the hero amidst confident predictions that he would soon lead them to a title.

We don’t even have to examine The Mooch’s or the media love-affair with him; we all know how vomit inducing that became before the wheels came off.

And that’s the point.

Because once those wheels do come off and some in the newsrooms feel embarrassed and humiliated enough by their prior boot-licking to criticise the guy, they make him Public Enemy Number 1 in short order and that’s when heads start to roll down the Broomloan Road.

Rodgers knows all this, and upon his return was content to play nice. No more of that. As recent weeks have proved, he’s no longer going to take it lying down.

The kid-gloves are off, and the boxing gloves are on, and woe betide anyone who thinks they can take a swing without getting clobbered in return.

Join the rest of the Internet Bampots in discussing the big issues at Celtic. Tonight’s debate piece … the creation of a Celtic fan advisory board.

Celtic Fans Need To Organise, And They Don’t Need Celtic’s Permission To Do It.