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)
THE NOTAPRODDYGAL – 5/10 – Well, a conundrum. Must have been a relief to hear the crowd turn on the suits while he sat sweating in his. He’ll find the animosity a blessing as he wrestles with his own problematic truths : That 26 million bucks worth of his signings were not on the park during our best spell tonight. That the players most likely to win the game were the previous boss’s inherited jewels.
That despite two seasons at the helm and a lot of trading and spending, his squad’s not strong enough to put away the Khazak champions comfortably in front of a bursting Parkhead. So many grey areas, so many contradictions to the ‘poor BR/ big bad board’ narrative. If you were in charge of the Celtic coffers, would you allow this man to go to the well again, unchecked, unquestioned?
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)
But…
If you were The Brodge would you want to keep working for those scrutinising, disingenuous
overlords? It’s all about facts, folks… Facts, and plenty of confusion…
MIBBERY – 4/10 – Apart from VAR missing a pen on Negan, and the ref booking KT for…being there… he and his polar bear-hunting linesmen did alright, at least managing to count the extra minutes while the Almaty performing minstrels re-enacted death scenes from Khazakstan’s greatest battles: Ubi v a Yak, Baba Yanga v Cousin Ombo, Borat v wife #4…
OVERALL – 5/10 – It’s a stuffy, tricky, nasty CL play-off situation we’re in. They came, gave their all – looked like they might fold mid first-half as we exerted pressure and our press had them kicking it anywhere. But we failed, miserably, to work an opening, or to really pin them in and whip them about the heid until they lost the plot and discipline. That was due to the startling lack of CL tempo and intensity we’ve used to compete at this level.
Somehow the players just could not pick up that mojo again; a bit bizarre because they know how wild the vibes get when they’re buzzing and the crowd’s roaring.
An opportunity missed. But we didn’t concede. And if they want to beat us they’ll need to open up. And if we’re the matured, savvy, experienced CL competitors we showed up as on a few nights last season, then the result’s there for us to take. And what a moral and confidence booster that would be.
So, in summary – torpid mince with a possible silver lining…
Go Away Now
Sandman
CELTIC IN THE EIGHTIES BY DAVID POTTER, FOREWORD BY DANNY McGRAIN is published by Celtic Star Books on the fifth day of September. You can pre-order now to guarantee your copy which will be signed by Danny McGrain, while stocks last. We have LESS THAN FIFTY signed copies remaining of the ones Danny will sign next week.
And there’s another great benefit for readers who pre-order their copy of Celtic in the Eighties. You will also receive a copy of an earlier David Potter book – Celtic’ Icicle – Alec McNair – which you’ll receive for FREE when you pre-order with Celtic in the Eighties.
So you get two great Celtic books by David Potter and better still the postage is only charged on one. Click on the image below to order. (Just order Celtic in the Eighties and we’ll automatically add a copy of the Alec McNair book to your order). This offer is only available for pre-ordered copies sold via Celtic Star Books.
Celtic in the Eighties by David Potter. Foreword by Danny McGrain. Published on Celtic Star Books on 5 September 2025. Click on image to pre-order.
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I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, it’s not the players failing to get up to tempo (barring Idah), it’s Brendan not allowing them to take any risk whatsoever. It’s like watching Craig Levein’s Scotland all over again. 0-0 is a good result the mantra. I’m over it. He should never have been taken back but the board knew he was a pushover and so they did.