Brendan Rodgers believes some people are “trying to drive a wedge” between himself and the Celtic board as he clarified his comments from Thursday’s press conference about his dissatisfaction with the club’s summer activities.
The Scottish champions signed nine players in his first transfer window since returning to the club in June, but when asked if he was happy with the recruitment that had been made, the manager said: ‘No. No, I think if you ask any manager they will always want more.
“But we work with the players who are here. I don’t say that in a disrespectful way. I think any manager will tell you that maybe they wish they could have made one or two more signings.
“But the window closed, we had the players we had and I am a coaching manager and we will work with the very best players at our disposal to make our level of performance as good as it can be.”
Rodgers’ comments were seen in some quarters as a criticism of the quality of some of the players brought in and as a criticism of the board for not backing him heavily enough ahead of the Hoops’ latest move in the Champions group stages League.
However, when interviewed by BBC Scotland before Saturday’s 3-0 win against Livingston, he tried to clarify what he had said two days earlier and concluded that he felt his words had been taken out of context.
“What I did say is that any manager who comes in at the end of a period will always feel that maybe he could have done something more,” he said.
“I’ve never said anything other than that, so I’m very happy with the guys who have come in. We know the areas we want to improve in, we know the areas we need to improve in. You’re I’m never going to do that in one window doing.
“What we want to do and what we want to do in the future is to improve the quality within the squad. That doesn’t mean I’m not happy with the club, so I’m pretty sure people will look at that and focus on that to concentrate.” that and try to drive a wedge between myself and the board very, very early.
“Whatever stories are created around that will be false.
“The moment I am happy here, very happy with everything, is the moment I will probably move on, because to raise standards and move things forward you have to look for more.”
What’s next?
Celtic’s next match in the Scottish Premiership is at Motherwell on September 30. Starts at 12.30 pm.