CELTIC are Glasgow’s football East Enders.
That’s pretty fitting, as the drama surrounding them over the last fortnight wouldn’t be out of place in a soap opera.
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Where do you even begin with all the events from Parkhead since the final days of the summer transfer window?
From failed attempts to sign players, to in-fighting, fan protests and THAT statement, it has been a shambles.
Then, to top it all off, Brendan Rodgers announces yesterday that despite everything that’s happened, he still wants to sign a new deal.
Who’s kidding who? There is more chance of me being the Celtic manager next season than him.
SunSport’s explosive ‘Brexit’ story set the agenda for the week and gave a glimpse behind the scenes at Parkhead.
Rodgers denies trying to engineer an exit, but all this talk about aligning with the board and signing a contract extension is pie in the sky.
That won’t happen. He will leave at the end of the season, if not before.
Rodgers knows his relationship with the club’s hierarchy is probably as fragile as it’s ever been. All is not rosy at Celtic, and the manager is playing a blinder in getting the diehard fans on his side.
Incidentally, are those supporters now backing him the same ones who chanted vile songs about him at Tynecastle when he did his disappearing act to Leicester City back in 2019?
That’s all conveniently been forgotten about now and Rodgers has them eating out of the palm of his hand.
All the fury is being directed at the board, when so much of the blame for the Champions League exit should be pinned on the manager and his players.
It was good to see that Rodgers did finally take some responsibility for his team failing to score a goal against Kairat Almaty across 210 minutes in the play-off.
It’s only taken him over a fortnight to do that, so credit where it’s due.
But it still puzzles me how a manager who has spent north of £60million since returning to Celtic in 2023 gets such an easy ride from the Hoops support.
It’s a myth to say that Rodgers hasn’t been backed, and the squad he has at his disposal was more than good enough to win that tie.
They were up against a bang-average team from Kazakhstan and messed up. Plain and simple.
Yes, Celtic should have had a replacement for Nicolas Kuhn in before that tie, but they weren’t playing PSG.
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No matter how much Rodgers moans about the timing of the signings, I’m just not buying his excuses.
The Celtic boss held court for over 30 minutes at Lennoxtown yesterday, but I would take a lot of what he said with a pinch of salt.
As for the fans who are planning a ‘late entry’ protest at Rugby Park, do they realise they have won 14 out of the last 15 titles?
Do they realise they are top of the Premiership, and have yet to concede a league goal after four games?
It’s all just tit-for-tat — and it’s incredible to think that a club who have had so much success recently are now in the middle of a civil war.
Across the city, there has also been aggro between Russell Martin and Nico Raskin and everyone is waiting to see how this plays out.
There is clearly a clash of personalities and it’s obvious that something has happened.
As of last night, there was still a chance of Raskin being moved on to one of the Turkish clubs interested in him.
If he stays, the Belgian has been told be will have to bide his time and that’s fair enough.
The Rangers fans want to see him back in, but Martin has a big squad and has to manage that.
His midfield functioned OK against Celtic in the 0-0 Old Firm draw, and there will be an element of the manager staying loyal.
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Raskin is Gers’ best midfielder but he needs to do what Martin is asking him to do.
There is no one individual bigger than the football club.
Both manager and player will have their version — and thoughts — of
what has gone on to lead to this situation.
More often than not, the truth lies somewhere in the middle.
But what Martin said about “looking after the best interests of the group” really stood out for me.
The Ibrox boss has not left a player of Raskin’s talent out of his squad for no reason.
Maybe Martin is protecting the Belgian by not publicly disclosing what has gone on.
That issue will resolve itself in time, but the need for a first league win is now urgent for the Rangers gaffer.
Martin has had a quiet fortnight while the noisy neighbours have a scrap — but the focus switches back to Ibrox today.
It’s Rangers’ fifth Premiership game of the season, and they must finally get a win on the board by beating Hearts.
If they don’t, then Celtic will have a rival soap opera in the city.
Keep up to date with ALL the latest news and transfers at the Scottish Sun football page
