BRENDAN RODGERS went out of his way yesterday to explain that he is in tune with the club’s Chief Executive Peter Lawwell as the two work together in the next few weeks to bring in quality players who will enhance the Celtic squad.
Rodgers, despite the vast sums of money the club has taken in over the past two seasons with him in charge, is well aware that the spending potential at the Scottish Champions will never match the transfer funds available south of the border, with their huge TV revenues propping up their business models.
Few clubs are run as well as Celtic but the reality is that Scotland gets peanuts from the TV companies while even the clubs at the bottom of the English Premiership walk away with figures over £100million.
Rodgers though has appreciated that this financial gap exists and was well aware of it before he agreed to replace Ronny Deila as Celtic manager. It certainly gets to him now and again but in general he is prepared to work with the funds available to improve his squad.
There will be no rush of signings for signings sake – to grab some TV headlines (dig, dig) as Brendan sees that as stockpiling a problem. for down the road.
“I think there’s always going to be a limit and I am fully aware of that. No matter what my feeling is I have to respect where the club is at,” Brendan said.
“The club isn’t a Premier League club down south. They’re always going to have to be mindful of the types of salaries they can pay because it is a totally different market.
“But it is the job of the manager, the coach, to try and push to get in the best possible players we can to help keep the club moving forward.
“I don’t run the club which has a very clear structure of how they work. Of course, these last couple of years have been great for us.
“I have got no reason to ever believe that club don’t want that, either. They have supported me extremely well since I have been here. All the changes I wanted to make, all the things I wanted to do, I have had great support in that.
“I can easily bring in 10 players. It looks nice and it might flash up on the telly. But I am looking at efficiency, I am looking at the quality of the players.
“I don’t really want to bring in players who are just going to come in and, you know, just stockpile a group.
“We’ve got a core that really connect to how we work, but we have to bring in the level of quality that we need that’s going to help us improve because that’s what’s important.
“We aren’t as strong a squad as we were last year. We have lost players.
“I think everyone can see that, but the club know that, as well. We all push to try and get in the best quality we can to make us better. That is always the key.
“Of course, every manager from time to time will always have that little frustration of wanting a player in. But it doesn’t happen just like that.”
On the players lost – Paddy Roberts, Stuart Armstrong and Erik Sviatchenko – Rodgers will be looking to replace them by the close of the window and the candidates for each spot seem to be pretty clear.
John McGinn may yet get his dream move this month.