Brendan Rodgers’ claim last weekend that “some people here at Celtic don’t like me” has sparked a reaction across the media, with veteran pundit and journalist Peter Martin suggesting the Celtic boss is being fed only the negative side of public opinion.
Speaking after the 2-0 win against Aberdeen the Celtic manager said:
“There’ll always be a narrative. I heard something the other day about ‘we don’t play good football and we haven’t in the last two years.’ So I think there’s a number of people that really don’t like me here at Celtic!”
Speaking on The Football Show, Martin questioned the role of the club’s communications team in shaping the manager’s perception of outside views. He believes Rodgers is being presented with a filtered, gloom-heavy version of media coverage.
“I don’t think the Celtic manager should give two hoots who likes them and who doesn’t,” Martin said. “The biggest problem I have sometimes with Celtic managers when they come out and try and have a dig at people is that the PR people only put negative things in front of their desk. They only highlight the negatives. They very rarely would say, here’s a good piece, here’s a positive piece.”
Martin even drew on past experience from the Martin O’Neill era. “The reason I know that is because Martin O’Neill told me — that’s exactly what you got. You got, ‘here’s this, they’ve said this about you, they’ve said that.’”
“I don’t know what he’s ranting on about”
For the PLZ Pundit, the noise from critics should be irrelevant to a Celtic boss. “Does a Celtic manager really bother? Because you have to stay so focused. There’s so much noise coming at you, you’d be off your head to listen to it.”
He also stressed that Rodgers isn’t being shown the full picture. “Brendan doesn’t get fed the people across the whole of the media, written, broadcast, podcasts, who have been raving about the way his team played against Bayern Munich and what he achieved last year. They may have faded towards the end of the Scottish Cup, which might have disappointed fans, but people are looking at him and saying he is a good coach. He has faults like everybody, but he is a good coach.”
Peter’s bottom line was blunt: “I don’t know what he’s ranting on about — he should just forget about it.”
There is clearly some truth in what Peter says, having discussed this with Martin O’Neill. The comms at Celtic haven’t changed much in twenty years, and from our own experience, negative stories tend to get Celtic’s attention, like Peter says.
There will always be a cohort who won’t care for a Celtic manager, but again, this shouldn’t concern Brendan. What should concern the Celtic manager is the lack of strategy when it comes to his club recruiting the right type of player in a timely fashion.
