GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - DECEMBER 13: Gustaf Lagerbielke in action for Celtic during a UEFA Champions League group stage match between Celtic and Feyenoord at Celtic Park, on December 13, 2023, in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Craig Foy/SNS Group via Getty Images)
Part of the continuing campaign to absolve this Celtic board of responsibility and shift the blame elsewhere, mostly to Rodgers, focusses on players who have left the club over the past 12 months and who are allegedly doing well somewhere else. I always find those arguments fascinating because of what they reveal about the people making them.
Earlier today I posted one of my longer pieces. It took a couple of days to pull together, and it was about how Celtic’s problem is now structural. This board has been in place so long, and the rot has spread so far, that the club has internalised too many bad habits for a simple change of personnel to fix anything.
One of those habits is the refusal to recognise near misses for what they are. A near miss is a warning sign. Yet too often, because we get away with the risk, we never learn the lesson.
Some of us fear that a title win this season would only reinforce these people’s belief in their own brilliance. Right now, with us sitting third, everyone defending this board is forced by the league table and the state of the squad to admit that we have a problem. They have to admit something has gone badly wrong. They may try to downplay that if we win the league, but at this moment they cannot ignore the evidence in front of them.
Once you accept that things have gone wrong, you then have to ask who is to blame. We already know the answer. Yet some people still seem determined to pin all of this on Brendan Rodgers, the very manager who highlighted these problems when others were still in denial. That continues to astound me.
Over and over again, the same small group of players gets dragged out as evidence against him. Lagerbielke is one. Kwon is another. Oh is another.
Now Lagerbielke has helped his team reach a European semi-final, so once again those who want to blame Rodgers think they have their proof. He did not give the player a chance or properly develop him. He did not care enough to give him opportunities.
That is the line. His success elsewhere is now being offered up as proof that Rodgers got it badly wrong.
But that argument ignores the most important point. The player did not fit the way Rodgers wants his team to play. That does not make Lagerbielke a bad player. None of us has ever said that. In a different system, in a different version of Celtic, he might have been an excellent signing. There would have been room to accommodate his style. But this was a system failure. The club handed Rodgers a player he could not use.
It does not matter whether the scouts identified good defensive qualities. If the player cannot fit the system, then the signing makes no sense. That is why handing managers players, instead of working with them to identify what they need, is the road to ruin. Yet instead of acknowledging that and blaming the people who built this system, some would rather blame the manager forced to operate within it.
It is also telling that the same people do not apply this logic consistently.
Our January loan signings have disappeared completely. The right-sided winger we almost paid £3 million for? Gone. The second striker? Gone. They have dropped so far out of the picture that you cannot even see them in the rear-view mirror. Were they victims of an uncaring manager? No. They do not fit the system. They are not good enough for what Martin O’Neill is trying to do. But the club signed them anyway. Instead of recognising the pattern, people keep blaming Rodgers.
There is another element to this as well. Because Lagerbielke has reached a European semi-final, we are apparently supposed to believe we missed out on an elite player. But the Ibrox club reached a European final not that long ago. If someone had suggested we sign James Tavernier or Connor Goldson, we would have laughed it off. Neither is good enough to play for Celtic. So how did they reach a European final?
Because football is a team game.
A team can be greater than the sum of its parts. If a side has enough decent players and the manager organises them properly, it can elevate itself beyond its individual limitations. If reaching a semi-final makes Lagerbielke elite, then by that logic Tavernier and Goldson must be world-class. Clearly, that is nonsense.
Football is full of mediocre players and mediocre teams that make deep European runs. Brendan Rodgers took Leicester to a Europa Conference League semi-final. That squad included players most Celtic fans would have dismissed. They still got there.
They beat PSV in the last 16, and in that game, Kelechi Iheanacho scored the winner. He came on for Jamie Vardy in the semi-final against Roma.
You see what I’m trying to say here?
I am not saying Lagerbielke is not a good player. Braga have built a strong team out of imperfect pieces. Sometimes teams catch lightning in a bottle. Look at Hearts right now. They sit top of the league, yet I do not see a single player there I would sign if Celtic were operating at full capacity.
So, to keep battering Rodgers over the head with this is absurd, especially when you consider the sheer volume of poor signings he had to sift through. Every minute he spent at Celtic involved justifying which players deserved a place in his team from a pool largely assembled without his input. Now look at Martin O’Neill dealing with a January window that was a complete shambles from start to finish.
If you cannot see the pattern by now, you are never going to see it.
And if you still blame Rodgers for this, then you are choosing to stay in denial about what the real problems are.
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Keep in mind that the Lagerbielke bullshit came from a twat that Celtic fans have treated as a standing joke for years, and whose tongue is still severely bruised after someone kicked Lawwell on the backside.
James, if I had to highlight in my opinion a flaw in your thinking, it is your sometimes hero worship of Rodgers. He had some great qualities but also a history of being worked/found out during his career. I get the argument of fitting creative attacking players in a particular system may not always work but Lagerbielke is a centre half for gods sake. They are there to defend and no coach should complicate a system so much that a centre half cannot fit in. Lagerbielke has proved himself at a lot higher level than Scottish football. He is a really decent player and it is a worry that Celtic could not get a tune out of him. I’ll ask you this. If Rodgers was such a great coach, how has he managed Celtic twice and is now in Saudi. Can you see a world where Pep managed us twice or even a Mourinho. The truth is Rodgers is a nice guy albeit with an absolutely massive ego, but an elite manager he is not!! You cannot slate Lennon and heap praise on Rodgers, they both proved they had limitations
Rodgers found out at Celtic?
7 trophies in 2 and a half years first time round.
4 trophies in 2 years second time around.
11 in 4 and a half years.
Also responsible for a near £150 million turnover in his last full season, a record that was miles more than anything ever achieved in Scottish football before.
If that is ‘found out’ then please bring in another manager that will get found out as soon as possible.
11 trophies in a one horse race league, poor in Europe. Eye bleeding to watch. Before he left teams knew how to play against us and he couldn’t change his system, no plan B, his system does get worked out. He is doing well in Saudi, give it time, the same will happen there
I thought we did very well in Europe last year.Record breaking year for goals to ,were Sevco still in 2nd division last year? 1 horse race? Did you dismiss Ange’s trophies in the same way ?
Apparently BR is playing a different formation to what he did here so so much for your can’t change his style comment eh ?
Lagerbiekle is going to the World Cup as a first choice player too. He’s good and always was. If Rodgers didn’t fancy him then fine, you can’t argue against Rodgers record but Lagerbiekle is definitely good enough to play for Celtic.
Lennon 5 league titles out of 6,
2 trebles. Lennon did better in europe than Rodgers for sure.
10 trophies in 6 years = total failure.
Where do you draw the line Christopher?
What the fuck has turnover got to do with Rodgers? Incredulous thinking!
Wolves are last and relegated with a turnover well above £150m and it has nothing to do with the manager.
Rodgers was only at Celtic because he got sacked twice in England.
When he left we were trailing Hearts ffs!
‘What the fuck has turnover got to do with Rodgers? Incredulous thinking!’
The success we had under Rodgers helped provide that turnover.
‘Incredulous.. unwilling or unable to believe something’…dont let your hatred for Rodgers blind you to what he achieved.
Wolves revenue includes massive tv income from Sky, yet you compare both clubs turnover without even mentioning that..hey, maybe it just slipped your mind, or it was just you being incredulous…
I didnt say Lennon was a total failure,obviously you did though or wouldnt have said it.
I see your stats for Lennon are off, he lost 2 league titles.
Rodgers left when we were 2nd, last I checked we are 3rd.
I believe we would have the league if he was still manager, he had never lost a league so I would have trusted him to keep doing so.
Nobody sees it as success Chris. Where the fuck have you been? Rodgers got us to the last 24 in the UCL..big deal. That’s his biggest achievement at Celtic.
UEFA changing the format so that we get 8 games in europe minimum + the extra cash they give out is more to do with it than Rodgers. Without that we get the usual 6 games and finish 3rd or more likely last like every other year Rodgers was in UCL.
Ps you are one of very few posters on here who saw Lennon as a success!
Make yer mind up ffs!
Lennon was a failure everywhere except Celtic but Rodgers wasn’t.Get a grip ffs ,none of us wanted Lennon back for 10iar for a good reason.
Volp, So lennon was a success at Celtic but nobody wanted him back?…very strange situation.
Also Rodgers was a failure at Liverpool. The only manager in living memory to have been there over 2 years and not won a trophy.
Im not saying Rodgers wasn’t a decent acquisition. He was probably the best we could possibly have got but he was never a manager one of the big time clubs were going to come for…not an elite manager.He had his chance at the big time and blew it.
You are arguing with yourself you fucking eejit. My point was that I never said anything about Lennon. It was you. What a tool.
So spit it out Chris . Whats your thoughts on Lenny as a manager?
He won 10 trophies at Celtic working for a fucked up board. Beat Barca UCL last 16, 2 trebles secured.
Heres your chance to put your cards on the table Chris.
I won’t hold my breath.
I’m more interested and concerned by the process that we follow when identifying, assessing and then signing players. If we take Lagerbielke as an example, the first team needed a centre back. Did the manager provide a profile of the type of centre back he wanted (I would hope so). Who did the initial search to identify possible targets – did they search aligned with the profile provided? Who was in the room when candidates were being discussed and scouting reports assessed? Who made the final decision to go for Lagerbielke? And was there consensus on this? These should have been all footballing decisions.
I wouldn’t expect the board to be involved in any of these discussions and decisions right up until the final decision and approval on fees and wages.
At some point there was a breakdown in the process of making the footballing decisions. But even that makes no sense to me as if I were the CEO I would want to see confirmation that the football department were united in the decision to buy Lagerbielke – why would I write a cheque if I didn’t have that confirmation?
As for the recent January window – it gave every impression that those employed to identify and assess transfer targets had done nothing in the preceding six months.
I’m not sure we’ll ever get to know the truth on our transfer dealings.
And one point specifically about Lagerbielke. When he scored the late winner for us against Feyenoord I thought the reaction of his fellow Celtic players was joyous in a sort of personal, delighted for you way. Obviously it was an important moment in the game but I came away with an impression that his fellow pros were almost more pleased for him putting one over the club/manager/coaches. I don’t think we will ever know the ins and outs of our wider squad management – we seem more able to waste talent than we are develop it.
What a strange take.
Tell me what specifically makes you think their celebration of that goal was directed at the ‘club/manager/coaches’ ?
I didn’t write that the players celebrations were directed at club, manager or coaches – but that they seemed very happy for Lagerbielke proving a point/getting his moment. As I wrote, it was an impression I took away right or wrong.
“The club bought the players for Martin not his system”
“The club bought players for Brendan not his system”
Absolutely NO Fuckin club would buy a player for me if I was manager…
I’d buy the players that fitted my system not some washed up has (never fuckin) been like Pissdale Tisdale !
Mojorisin:
‘Also Rodgers was a failure at Liverpool. The only manager in living memory to have been there over 2 years and not won a trophy’
I can’t reply to this comment of yours above as there is no reply option for some strange reason,so I’ll do it here.
Roy Hodgson was a much worse Liverpool manager and that was in 2011 ,sacked after 6 months and Souness had a much less win percentage.
So why do you lie ?
BR took Liverpool within a whisker of their first premier league win in 20 years ffs.