I‘M THE BOSS! BRENDAN RODGERS CELTIC TRANSFER CRITICS REMINDED WHO CALLS THE SHOTS
- BY LIAM CARRIGAN
- Jul 24
- 3 min read
Updated: Jul 30
If there’s one thing you can say for Brendan Rodgers, it’s that he doesn’t suffer fools gladly, especially when it comes to dealing with our sometimes incompetent, other times willfully belligerent tabloid press.
Brendan Rodgers Celtic Signing Policy Question Cleared Up
A common question among many media outlets and, let’s be honest, quite a few of our own fans recently has been the issue of which signings the manager sanctioned and which ones were “presented” to him by the scouting team.
The ongoing debate has crystalized into a question of who are the “Rodgers signings” and who are the “club signings”.
General sentiment among fans and most of the media was that Benjamin Nygren was a player Rodgers specifically wanted. The likes of Shin Yamada, Hayato Inamura and Callum Osmand however, were seen as “club signings”.
Rodgers, however, shot down this notion completely as he spoke to the press yesterday ahead of Celtic’s friendly with Ajax in Italy tonight. He said: "It’s pretty straightforward. There will be players within our recruitment team that are not just for now but for the future.”
So, there it is set in stone. Brendan Rodgers, Celtic Manager, has the final say on any players coming into the club, even if he isn’t the one who initially identifies them.
The fact that our latest signing Shin Yamada disclosed in his first interview as a Celtic player last Friday, that he knew of Celtic’s interest for about 6 months before he signed, offers an insight into just how deep this process goes.
Clearly a lot of time and effort went into identifying this player, confirming his suitability for Celtic and then getting a deal done. Rodgers would have been kept appraised throughout this process, I imagine.
Rodgers also clarified what he meant by his initial comments about Hayato Inamura shortly after he signed for Celtic. Rodgers spoke about assessing the player in pre-season.
Some people took this as an indication that Rodgers was not aware of the player or his abilities before signing him. In other words, Inamura was a “club signing” not a Rodgers one.
However, Rodgers refuted this yesterday.
He elaborated: “Clearly, I will look at those players and assess, and see if those players can come in and play. Then there will be other players we specifically need. It’s still very much joined up.”
In other words, the manager decides if a player is good enough for Celtic or not. However, once the player is here, then a further assessment needs to made as to whether they go into the first team pool immediately, or if they need to develop further first.
Rodgers added: “I suppose it’s more around whether the players are for now or later. People know the model over a number of years. There are players who come in who are maybe not expected to hit the ground running, but some of them do.”
This appears to be an allusion to Inamura’s case specifically. Rodgers probably thought that, even though the technical tools were there, the player lacked the experience and “street smarts” to step up to the first team squad right away.
However, that attitude has probably shifted somewhat based on what the manager has seen of Inamura in pre-season so far.
Rodgers was also pragmatic about recruitment, and he acknowledged the need to bring in experienced, first team ready talent, in addition to long term prospects like Inamura.
He concluded: “I also need to win now, and we need to get those players in. Either way, I will be responsible for that.”
So, the manager is calling the shots. However, we can all benefit from a bit of help sometimes. It’s good to see that Celtic’s scouting department appears to be doing just that.
Now, all we need is a few more first team ready signings and we’ll be good to go, in my opinion.
