Copyright Yardbarker
A Premier Sports cup semi-final at Hampden awaits, with high stakes and even higher emotion, and what the team doesn’t need right now is distraction, speculation, or ghosts from the recent past. The interim management team have a tough enough job without the distraction of Brendan Rodgers returning. Not even a ticket for the game. Not even the cameras picking him out in the stand, and certainly not on a press gantry offering co-comms to some media outlet. I understand Rodgers will want his right of reply. Dermot Desmond eviscerated him in his statement, where corporate governance in a PLC was ridden roughshod over. I get that. Rodgers has an ego. He likes a stage. But not now, and you know what, preferably never. No-one believes Desmond’s take is 100% accurate. No-one with a brain cell. It was like asking a jilted lover for their immediate thoughts on their ex-partner. It was never going to be accurate, balanced or fair. It was hot-headed, bruised ego stuff. And what would Rodgers say? Not the truth, but his truth. All we’d get is another version of the truth, Rodgers’ viewpoint, and the fans would be none the wiser. In any break-up there are three parties, the husband, the wife and the truth. It’ll be out there somewhere, but there’s a reason why friends don’t take sides in a break-up. They don’t believe two out of the three versions, and they’ll never know the third. Not really. Celtic have had a good start under O’Neill in his interim management role. O’Neill has played it well, a calm exterior, accentuate the positives, simplify the message, relax, play with freedom. He’s asked defenders to defend, attackers to play near the 18-yard box, midfielders who run to run, and those who create to get near the striker and give him some bullets. Full-backs and wingers? Interchange. Underlap, overlap, get the ball in the box. Crosses or cutbacks, mix it up. Don’t worry if it gets chaotic for now. Get a defender to foul tactically and regroup at the free kick. The simple things done well. But that was Falkirk. Sunday is a cup semi-final at Hampden. Against them. The pressure ramps up. O’Neill will have reminded the players that they are good, that they belong here, and that he’ll deal with the outside noise. But Brendan Rodgers returning, on a match ticket, a corporate invite, or God forbid, in with the media on co-comms or anything like it, is a distraction Celtic simply don’t need. Rodgers has been in Rio but he’s communicated he’s coming back for the game on Sunday. I’d suggest he extends that recharge break until after the weekend. He’s a fan of the club. He’s been in O’Neill’s shoes. He knows the players are still absorbing his loss, and Desmond’s loose lips. Let them recover before coming back and causing a distraction. Falkirk at home was a welcome 4–0 win under O’Neill and Maloney, the football was exciting and Celtic feel mobile again. We know there will be challenges to come, Brendan. Things will get tougher. Games will get harder. We don’t need to manufacture our own stress. Watch this one from a beach bar in Rio, Brendan. Sip something chilled and expensive. Work on the tan. The right of reply can wait. Wait until the ship has steadied. Don’t imbalance it still further. We know media outlets want the story. We know a sit-down would pay well. There’s another international break on the horizon. There’s your window. If you must. For now, Celtic need quiet heads, clear minds and full focus. O’Neill and Maloney have earned that space. Rodgers’ day to speak will come, but this weekend belongs to the team trying to rebuild, not the man whose shadow they’re still stepping out of. Celtic in the Eighties by David Potter, signed copies by Danny McGrain available from celticstarbooks.com Don’t miss the chance to purchase the late, great Celtic historian David Potter’s final book. All remaining copies have been signed by the legendary Celtic captain Danny McGrain PLUS you’ll also receive a FREE copy of David Potter’s Willie Fernie biography – Putting on the Style, and you’ll only be charged for postage on one book. Order from Celtic Star Books HERE.
