Q: Just coming back to kind of some of the kind of fan unrest and displeasure about the kind of activity in the transfer window. A lot of these questions that you rightly say you can’t answer yourself, but you’re having to answer these questions on a weekly basis. Is it starting to get a point that it’s not really fair that you’re having to answer these questions when it’s probably for the guys who are being targeted by the fans at the moment?
Brendan Rodgers: “Yeah listen, I accept the responsibility as the manager of the club. I’m just, I can’t tell you anything that which I would like to, but yeah, there’s only so many ways I can dress up that we haven’t got any players in. But I accept the responsibility to stand here, or sit here, sorry, and tell you where we’re at. And no, it’s listen, the privilege is mine to be here and if it’s my role to do that, then of course I will do that. So yeah, that’s what we’re at.”
Brendan Rodgers, Manager of Celtic looks on prior to the UEFA Champions League Play-offs Round First Leg match between Celtic and Kairat Almaty at Celtic Park on August 20, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
Q: Again, Brendan, forgive me because I do appreciate it’s difficult for you to speak about it, but at the same time, is it fair to say that this is a situation that you feared, that you envisaged, that you maybe warned was going to be a possibility if things didn’t happen as maybe you hoped they would?
Brendan Rodgers: “I think it was pretty clear. I think you don’t need to look into the future too far. You know these games are tough games and you know that you want to have your best players in and have players in as quick as you can to tackle these sorts of situations. So yeah, but it is what it is. And I just have to accept where it’s at. And we shall, as I said, get ready now for Saturday and then get ready for the long haul Sunday and really try and get through on Tuesday.”
Benjamin Nygren of Celtic and Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers are see during the UEFA Champions League Play-offs Round First Leg match between Celtic and Kairat Almaty at Celtic Park on August 20, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
Q: In terms of next week, what’s it going to take from your point of view? You’re saying about the team being quite passive tonight at the start. What do you think it’s going to take over in Almaty next week?
Brendan Rodgers: “Well, I think the beauty is it’s a one-off game now. You know, sometimes over two games, they come and you see they sit in and they defend quite well and get one or two little moments. For us, we weren’t quite quick enough, but we now know it’s a one-off game. We know we can win. We know we can win there and we know we can play better.
“For sure, that’s especially on the first half showing. So I think we can, absolutely, I think we can go out there and win, but we’re just going to have to, as I said, not wait on the game. And I said to the players, you know, at halftime, I was saying that I’ve heard before, if you’re going to miss the bus, make sure you run when you miss it. So don’t be walking. And for us, whatever happens in this next game now, we have to go and give everything and make sure we’re running. If it doesn’t happen for us, we’ve given everything. And I thought we wasted 45 minutes tonight, which has surprised me a little bit because up until that point of the season, we’ve been good. So we have to correct that. And we’ll start that on Saturday and then get ourselves ready and then it’s a one-off game and I’ve got every confidence that we can do that and win.”
Q: Brendan, if you do it next week, will that be one of your more satisfying results in the circumstances?
Brendan Rodgers: “Yeah, I would say going into these sort of games, this is probably the lightest that we’ve been in certain key areas of the of the pitch. You can see over the course of the season so far, we haven’t given away a great deal. Defended well, defended strong. But of course, goals win games and that’s the area of the pitch where we’ve been we’ve been short. And it’s more just in terms of freshness and energy and that bit of quality. We’re having to get midfield players out there and players playing two or three positions and then it can become a little bit messy. But yeah, listen, we’ve started the season well. Wee bit of a blip tonight in terms of the result we wanted, but I’ve got every confidence we can go out there and win.”
