Fir Park must see a change of approach or it’s curtains

There’s been much said and written about Brendan Rodgers and his Celtic side this season and most of it is not great.

The prodigal son had returned in the summer to a fraction of the fanfare that greeted his massive ego the first time around, and it was a signing that divided the fanbase to say the least.

Nevertheless, as we always do, the support got behind the manager and hoped that he would be able to build upon the strong foundations which his predecessor, Ange Postecoglou, had built during his two-year spell in Glasgow’s East End.

With swashbuckling football straight from the off, the Greek-Aussie’s tenure was littered with nothing but success; winning five trophies out of a possible six, including a Treble in his last season.

It was thought that Rodgers would be able to come in as the “safe” option to ensure we maintained our stranglehold of the domestic scene over the past decade or so. However, it seemed as if Brendan picked up where he left off before his acrimonious departure last time, with an entirely underwhelming summer transfer window in which the majority of the players the club signed were deemed unfit for purpose by the boss, who has echoed ad nauseam the need for “quality”, which has thus far eluded him to put it generously.

These glaring deficiencies were made abundantly clear during our second successive adventure into the UEFA Champions League group stages this year, where inexperience and a general lack of talent saw us put to the sword on more than one occasion. Despite this though, we reluctantly accepted that it is what it is – for now – until Rodgers had the chance to sign his own players to his own particular specifications.

Yet, when the team suffered back-to-back defeats in the Scottish Premiership before Christmas time alarm bells were starting to ring alongside the chorus of boos within the ranks of the Celtic Faithful. They had seen enough.

It was time for Brendan to be backed, or we were in soappy bubble. Then the January transfer window opened, came and went without a whisper it seemed. We had found ourselves in an unthinkable position. Nobody but nobody envisaged this scenario when Ange Postecoglou was lifting the Scottish Cup at Hampden Park on 3 June to complete a domestic clean sweep.

Oh how the mighty have fallen indeed.

In recent weeks Rodgers has gone with two up top, but with Kyogo generally dropping back more to midfield behind Norwich City loanee, Adam Idah, there’s still a severe lack of penetration in the final third for Celtic and it has been costly; with draws against Aberdeen and Kilmarnock now putting us two points behind in the title race.

As our Editor has already stated unequivocally, there is a severe dearth of creativity from the wingers at this club and that has seen our main man Kyogo Furuhashi starved of service this campaign. It was beyond pathetic what was served up for the loyal Celtic support at Parkhead last weekend and Rodgers MUST see that he has to change both the formation and personnel now.

Fir Park this Sunday lunchtime really does feel like the last turning point for our season and Rodgers simply has to change it up for all our sakes. With the momentum well and truly now with our Glasgow rivals under their new incumbent in the manager’s chair, it doesn’t look like they will concede many points out-with the derby matches, where they have been found out twice already this season.

We are now at our last port of call as far as this season is concerned and nobody else can change the state of play other than Brendan. It’s time he earned his crust and showed why he is so respected within the game of football.

It is in times like these when true leaders and tacticians show their qualities’.

Fir Park must see a change of approach or it’s curtains.

Paul Gillespie