So yesterday, the boss appeared in front of the media after the game at Ayr and the journos around him got right to the point. There’s basically just one question on the lips of the fans, and he was no more getting around it than a red-headed roofer is getting around sunburn. The fans want to know why, in early July, we’ve not made a single signing yet.
Rodgers gave the hacks the soundbite for the ages.
“We could have had nine players by now,” he said, and if, like me, you were straining at the leash at that point with frustration at the obvious response – “But we don’t …” – well, he had an answer for that too.
“It’s important to get the right people,” he said.
Which, to me, is illuminating, and something I really can’t argue with.
If you believe that Rodgers is now driving the bus – which that statement strongly suggests he is – then you can easily understand why, having watched those around him at the club dump rubbish on his doorstep last summer that he would want this one to be nearly pristine.
There’s no point in signing another ten players if they can’t fit the system.
Rodgers has had enough of that.
If he’s handpicking every component personally then that’s all to the good. He knows this process needs to be quicker too, which is why he’s set himself a target of having some of them in place prior to the US. He has given himself a little more leeway on the keeper, if you’ve spotted that … he says that deal will be in place by the time the season kicks off, because that’s the area, it seems, where the biggest decision is.
His neat side-stepping of the Idah issue was classy.
He confirmed what’s in the public domain about talks but re-iterated that Adam is Norwich’s player and he is not going to comment on someone else’s footballer. That’s Rodgers at his best, as it protects all parties involved. But his tacit admission that recent stories are true confirms we’ve made the bid.
The game itself yesterday was a low-key affair as most of us had expected, with a lot of the academy kids getting a run out.
The standouts, as the manager said, were Dane Murray who we’ve all seen get a run-out in the first team before, and, as expected, Bosun Lawal.
He has real aggression and energy and we look as if we’ve got a right good player there.
Later on we have to talk about Nawrocki.
It’s the first pre-season game, and the boss has addressed the elephant in the room with the signings.
So we’ll see what the week ahead brings for us in that regard. We’re not doing business as swiftly as last summer, but when you see the mess we made of it that might be a positive. Much better, as the boss has said, to get it right.
At last, we’re getting back into it, and that should see a marked increase in the tempo right across the club. The break is over, folks, and Celtic is back. And you know what? I am glad of it. The new season can’t come quick enough.
That’s about as reassuring an article we could have hoped to expect. 100% on everything you say. As the days since the window opened have progressed, I have actually become less jittery rather than more so. What you say makes sense and I’ve heard it said elsewhere, by people who know Celtic and know what they are talking about.
More power to your elbow.
Before the last season ended Brendan will have identified where recruits were needed and would have passed this information to those in charge. After many weeks we are no further forward and it once again reeks of Lawwell’s penny pinching and interference. When will these people ever learn. I hope this season the fan base get together and begin a campaign to rid the club of Lawwell and the others.
All good and in Brendan I trust…
Better a promise of a couple of signings for America than a scattergun approach like that of Sonny Lawwell last summer for sure…
But the promise has been made so let’s await with baited breath and see –
I just hope Brendan is more honest with his promises than any bloody UK politician is !
PS – On the subject of politics – MASSIVE CONGRATULATIONS to SINN FEIN on an outstanding election result in The Six Occupied Counties of The Island of Ireland – The nationalist party has the most seats at MP level there and The most MLA’s there and The most in the local council elections there…
UNITED IRELAND HERE WE COME !
Time now for a Scottish Sinn Fein to oust The Butchers Apron Loving Scottish Labour Mob !!!
Amen to that, comrade. But remember Sinn Fein didn’t gain any seats. It was the DUP who lost seats that makes Sinn Fein the biggest political party in Norn Iron based on number of MPs (and other measures).
In Scotland, the SNP have royally cocked it up. As much as I admire Nichola Sturgeon, she is mostly responsible. Eck Salmond got it right that the SNP put themselves on the line so as to be judged by the competency of their term in government. As soon as Eck was booted out, I think that was it. The dream was over.
There are too many dafties out there who think UK Labour is a better option than full Scottish autonomy. I thought that, myself, in 1997. I won’t be fooled by that line of thinking ever again. The system is fkd. We need out. The only viable way out was the SNP. They need to reinvent. I don’t trust them to do that. The factions will split from the main party now.
All in all a good evening for optimism, chance to run the eye over the youngsters and see how they coped. Agbaire needs a bit of work, Ure looked to have a bit about him and Murray impressed. As for Lawal I think he’s ready to stake a claim this year, not just for celtic but also for ireland. Big, aggressive, athletic and can play. And as you say the comments after give a good insight into what’s ahead and who is in control HH
The right people? Fine. So what’s the delay?
BR’s words definitely brought some crumbs of comfort, however I’m sure he was saying similar things in the run up to the last window when he was talking about bringing in quality. I really hope we get it right this time.
Funny is it not James, when yesterday I suggested that the club were keeping their cards close to their chests and that it was the time show faith , you were against that and once more demanding instant action, now a change of heart. Still better late than never. We will make the necessary signings and have a good season, keep smiling it will only get better. HH
What are you on about?