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davieG

The awkward Celtic truth made clear as day by Brendan Rodgers' Leicester team sheet - Keith Jackson

By davieG, in Leicester City Forum

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davieG

davieG

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It would seem Rodgers wanted Castagne & Justin at Celtic?

 

 

 

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/awkward-celtic-truth-made-clear-23377490

 

Also commented on here - https://videocelts.com/2021/01/blogs/latest-news/report-revives-almost-forgotten-aspect-of-rodgers-celtic-exit/

 

 

 

Keith believes the Parkhead club's failure to match their former boss' ambitions in the transfer market set a course for the current crisis.


Keith Jackson
ByKeith Jackson
06:00, 25 JAN 2021UPDATED07:21, 25 JAN 2021

It will hardly be remembered as a love triangle. But there were three managers in this season of all seasons even if only two of them have been left to slug it out for the title.

Last week, just as Celtic’s moon shot of a campaign was blowing up like a clown’s car, Brendan Rodgers was climbing the summit of England’s Premier League and threatening to rewrite the greatest story English football ever told with Leicester.

Neil Lennon was blowing his top at a post-Dubai media conference which might well, in time, become the toe curling defining moment of 10 In A Row gone wrong.

Steven Gerrard was back doing what he does on the training ground at Auchenhowie, nipping a potential malaise in the bud and applying the tactical tweaks required for his side to rediscover its scorching early season form ahead of a 5-0 rout of Ross County.


Three managers all inextricably linked to a campaign which will go down in history, no matter what extraordinary twists may still be to come between now and May.

Yes, Rodgers may be long gone now but the sight of him swatting Chelsea aside last Tuesday night to claim top spot, must have sent a shiver down the spine of Celtic and their supporters as they waded through the quagmire of Lennon’s Monday morning rant.

It was the ultimate in take-a-look-at-what-you-could-have-won moments and a twisted reminder of what the club let slip through its grasp.


Yes, in the here and now, it’s convenient to assume Celtic’s self-harming decision making only began in the summer.

That would be to ignore an awkward truth where the loss of Rodgers is concerned and why Lennon found himself shoe-horned into this situation in the first place.

A closer look at Leicester City’s full-backs from the other night reveals the root of the problem.

At right-back Timothy Castagne. On the left James Justin.

Two players who Rodgers identified as targets during his final few months in charge at Parkhead but who he was only allowed to recruit when he upped sticks for the Midlands instead.


Rodgers had wanted Belgian international Castagne as a Champions League level upgrade for Mikael Lustig.

He believed too that Justin could be routinely snapped up from Luton Town as succession planning for the inevitable sale of Kieran Tierney.

Throw in the failure to land John McGinn from Hibs at the start of the season, as well as a long running struggle to convince the club to fork out £5million on an indoor training complex for the academy, and the picture becomes complete.

Rodgers was in no rush to bail out on Celtic but their reluctance to match his ambitions left him with little option. If he could not get his way at that moment, on the back of securing successive domestic clean sweeps, then he probably never would.

So he went somewhere else instead and, two years on, the plans he had for Celtic are now being put into
practice at the King Power.

This then, was the moment when the unravelling really began.

One bad boardroom decision too many bouncing the club into a succession of blunders which culminated in chartering that flight to the United Arab Emirates.

In between times, Lennon stepped into the breach like the return of the prodigal son. Where Rodgers was accused of treachery, Lennon’s passion for the club was never in doubt.


But if Rodgers couldn’t force the club’s arm into getting the recruitment right - let’s not forget the mysterious arrival of Marvin Compper who was not even a footnote on his list of targets at that time - then, really, what chance did Lennon stand?

In fact, the former captain has not been sufficiently empowered to appoint his own backroom team, never mind drive the club’s policy in the transfer market.

As a result he’s been left stuck between a rock and hard place. Or Shane Duffy and Vasilis Barkas to give them their proper names.

On top of all that, Lennon inherited a small group of unsettled players who believe their time at the club should have been up already.

It would have been too had it not been for the unique set of circumstances presented by this particular season. Had Celtic opted to cash in on an Odsonne Edouard or Kristoffer Ajer before a ball had been kicked the car park would have been overrun months earlier than it was.


But the immaculate job Gerrard has been carrying out on the other side of the city has compounded all of the above and this was hammered home at the weekend when the Rangers manager arrested a recent wobble to romp 23 points clear at the top of the table.

As much as Celtic have made an almighty mess of their own business, the rebuilding work Gerrard has done at Ibrox cannot be overstated.


It seems reasonable to argue that not too many of his players would make it into an all-star select from championship winning Rangers squads of the past. That makes Gerrard’s contribution and that of his coaching staff all the more remarkable.

Between them they have come up with a system and a contemporary style of play which makes the sum of the parts more important than the individuals within it.


Where Walter Smith might have relied upon an Ally McCoist, Mark Hateley or Brian Laudrup to dig his team out of trouble, Gerrard does not have any such luxuries.

On the contrary, his team has to function at full tilt every week in order to keep on winning matches and that fact that Rangers have now claimed 69 points from a possible 75 underlines an astonishing level of consistency.

On Saturday, Gerrard’s players appeared to be nearing their maximum levels again after a punishing schedule over the last month or so. There will be no stopping them now.

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Koke

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2 minutes ago, Wolfox said:

Castagne to Celtic?????

 

Atalanta wanted a bigger fee but Celtoc refused. The guy is class and would have been wasted up there at the age he is. 

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davieG

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It wasn't just the player recruitment either

 

After their training stint in Dubai the Celtic squad were back training outdoors at Lennoxtown last week with one grass pitch having undersoil heating surrounded by snow.

In October 2016, five months after joining Celtic, Rodgers discussed the need for an indoor training area at Lennoxtown, something that Ronny Deila had raised with the club.

Rodgers said:

You do need it. If you have the facility to do that up here, or the finances, I think you should. You can work all year and do great work but then the weather sets in. That’s the big advantage the Europeans have over us.

You lose your coaching. You might go through three or four months, losing time, because it’s not about coaching, it’s about keeping the players warm.

Those comments were made while Celtic were playing in the group phase of the Champions League. Four years later the matter hasn’t been addressed but there are now much more pressing issues for the club to deal with.

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davieG

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It brings another dimension to what is a big club, Celtic are viewed as such and I suppose with respect to size of fan base and Scottish Trophies won they are but in most other respects they're not. LCFC Women are now better supported in terms of facilities than they are. They're obviously not even a rich club even compared to many English Championship teams.

 

 

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David Hankey

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What has to be realised as well about Celtic's ambition is that they only have to beat Rangers in the main and the title and cups are there for the taking. Basically they have little or no competition. No doubt, after succeeding for many years complacency has set in with the owners/directors and they have failed to recognise that football continues to evolve and it is fatal to rest on your laurels as we witness them doing so this season.

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Scotch

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28 minutes ago, David Hankey said:

What has to be realised as well about Celtic's ambition is that they only have to beat Rangers in the main and the title and cups are there for the taking. Basically they have little or no competition. No doubt, after succeeding for many years complacency has set in with the owners/directors and they have failed to recognise that football continues to evolve and it is fatal to rest on your laurels as we witness them doing so this season.

To be in the CL year in year out is the ultimate goal for Celtic. They've let that slip recently but it should get easier now that Scotland have a second CL place. 

 

4 minutes ago, Pliskin said:

These kind of articles are getting a bit boring now. 

I think this one is more centred around the boards failures, rather than about Rodgers leaving. 

 

Its essentially saying, if the board properly replaced outgoing players with quality and invested in a training complex that the last few managers have wanted then they would be more likely to hold on to the likes of Rodgers. 

 

It's actually pretty mental to think that, if they had spent HALF of what they got for Tierney, they could have had a new training centre, James Justin, Castagne and McGinn with potentially Rodgers still in charge...

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Carl the Llama

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1 hour ago, davieG said:

It brings another dimension to what is a big club, Celtic are viewed as such and I suppose with respect to size of fan base and Scottish Trophies won they are but in most other respects they're not. LCFC Women are now better supported in terms of facilities than they are. They're obviously not even a rich club even compared to many English Championship teams.

 

 

Top Suttoning lol

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Spudulike

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1 hour ago, Wolfox said:

Castagne to Celtic?????

 

1 hour ago, Koke said:

 

Atalanta wanted a bigger fee but Celtoc refused. The guy is class and would have been wasted up there at the age he is. 

 

1 hour ago, LCFCCHRIS said:

Yeah but both of them would have only got into the reserves there... 😬

Lucky escape for the pair. Had they gone to Celtic and been outstanding (as they would've been, obviously) they would have found it difficult to get recruited by a Premier League club, most of which treat players coming out of the SPL with extreme caution. Not a good career move for either. 

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davieG

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33 minutes ago, Pliskin said:

These kind of articles are getting a bit boring now. 

I think the fact that Castagne and Justin could have ended up there and that they haven't even got indoor facilities is somewhat different to previous articles.

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