KRIS BOYD reckons a defeat for Celtic in the Premier Sports Cup semi-final could cost Brendan Rodgers his job.
The champions could find themselves 11 points — or more — behind Hearts by the end of the weekend.
Derek McInnes’ side face Dundee at Tynecastle on Saturday, while Celtic are given a weekend off league action for their Old Firm showdown.
Celtic have only won one out of their last four league fixtures, and pressure is mounting on Rodgers after a disastrous start to the season.
They currently sit eight points behind Hearts after losing their first league meeting of the season at Tynecastle on Sunday.
Rangers legend and SunSport columnist Kris Boyd believes Sunday’s derby clash could force Celtic chiefs’ hands – IF Rangers progress to the final and Hearts extend their advantage at the top of the league.
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Speaking on the Scottish Sun’s Go Ballistic podcast, Body said: “If Rangers knock Celtic out next week and Celtic are sitting 11 points behind Hearts at that stage, does it come a time where the Celtic hierarchy is then looking at finding a new manager?
“Rangers have been so poor, they’ve changed their manager as well, but there is no doubt that Celtic are heading into that territory when they’re going to have to ask questions of the manager.
“But we all know that winning an Old Firm game can paper over the cracks. It’s an interesting time for Brendan Rodgers at Celtic.
“They’re going to have to find a way to get themselves back into a title race, because if they don’t, then for me, I think there has to be a change in the dugout.”
Celtic have dominated Scottish football for nearly two decades, winning all but one of the last 14 league titles.
Rangers’ sole triumph during that period came in the 2020/21 campaign, when Steven Gerrard‘s men went unbeaten in a season behind closed doors.
Boyd believes there are parallels between that nightmare year for the Celtic and their current campaign.
He said: “I think for Celtic right now, it seems to be like the way the Covid season was, just everything unravelling.
“There’s questions being asked of more or less every single thing that’s going on at Celtic. You look at the players that are underperforming. Kieran Tierney, I don’t know what has happened to him.
“But even Tounekti as well, people are raving about him. I think that’s now nine games, he’s scored against Partick Thistle, he hasn’t had an assist.
“So, when you’re looking to get players, Daizen Maeda was Celtic’s player of the year last year, playing on that left-hand side and everybody has a go at the recruitment. Brendan Rodgers has the last say in every signing that comes in at Celtic.
“Michel-Ange Balikwisha just does not look as if he is at any level to contribute to Celtic going forward right now.
“Tounekti is a downgrade on what has been there in previous seasons, although he’s fit and he still looks bright and sharp enough.
“But at the same time, the numbers that the Celtic wingers were putting up in the past, he’s nowhere near that.
“And then going back to the forward area Celtic forwards have got a lot of credit in the past, and rightly so, but a lot of that was down to Carter-Vickers defending properly, Scales, trusty, whoever it was in the backline.
“But a lot of that was down to their domination in the middle of the pitch. They were dominant in there. It just doesn’t seem to be the same.”
This season, Celtic have won just five of their nine league fixtures.
Rodgers also oversaw a catastrophic Champions League exit, with Celtic crashing out at the first hurdle to Kairat Almaty.
However, when results haven’t gone their way, the poor performances have often been overshadowed by fan protests aimed at the board rather than Rodgers himself.
Boyd insists serious questions must be asked of the Celtic manager, who has failed to get his team firing – even after what was a disappointing summer transfer window.
The Rangers legend continued: “I think the negativity from the fans towards the board doesn’t help. There’s no getting away from it.
“But at the same time, Celtic have still got enough players out there that can go and win games of football.
“When you look at the teams that they’ve dropped points to, or been knocked out of Europe from. Kairat Almaty, let’s be realistic, they’re in the Champions League this year. I would be astonished if they’re anywhere near it ever again.
“You then look at Celtic, if recent times go back to last week against Dundee. Tounekti would have cost more than what it cost to assemble that whole Dundee squad.
“I think the shield that Brendan Rodgers has had of the fans on the board, I don’t think it’s there any longer.
“You’ve then got to ask yourself, why is Kieran Tierney not at the level that he was before? Why has Hatate fell off a cliff? Why is Engels nowhere near the level that you would expect from an £11million signing?
“There are other players within that team that we’ve always seen Brendan Rodgers being able to get a tune out of, make them into better players for a period of time. I’m not seeing that.
“What I am seeing is, towards the end of two and a half, three years of a Brendan Rodgers cycle, I’m seeing those things appear again.
Starting to do interviews down the road, I think being calculated in what he’s saying. Because last week, you go back to the car analogy, he never mentioned it on Sky. He obviously thought about it before he went to the press conference.
“He then churns out two cars, and then all of a sudden labels Celtic a Range Rover Sport during the week.
“As a player, you’d be looking and saying, and I know he then spins it, this group know that I’ve got full backing of them, this group know that I trust them, as he does.
“But as a player, you’d be sitting and thinking, my manager has just more or less said I am absolutely s***. It’s not right.”
Celtic may be on the brink of a crisis — but across the city, their rivals are looking to end theirs.
Boyd believes Rangers can turn their season around under new boss Danny Rohl, but insists it’s IMPOSSIBLE for him to win the league after Russell Martin’s horror start.
He said: “There’s no chance Rangers can win the league.
“They can get themselves back into pushing for second. But I mean, if you actually crunch the numbers together, I don’t think that Rangers can get back into the league. It’s too big of a gap.
“They’re going to have to go on a run that is virtually impossible for this Rangers team to do.”
When Martin was sacked after seven games, Rangers were sitting EIGHTH with just one win.
Hearts, meanwhile, were top of the pile – and still are – having won every match except a thrilling 3-3 draw with Motherwell.
Boyd, a huge admirer of McInnes, believes the Hearts boss would have been the perfect fit for the Ibrox hot-seat.
He said: “I think in all seriousness, he was overlooked for the Rangers job. There’s no doubt about that in the summer.
“Hearts looked at someone who they felt could take them to a level to challenge. Have they got the right man? Of course they have. Because I don’t know how many times we’ve said it, Derek McInnes knows his way around Scottish football. He knows how to win games of football.
“And all of that put in together is pushing Hearts towards a level of consistency that is going to be very difficult to stop. It’s going to be difficult. They’ve got a good balance within their team. When you look at them against Celtic, they love to defend.
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“I think that’s been something with Derek McInnes’ team over the years. They will defend and they’ll get the balls forward. I listen to people say ‘wait till everybody changes and plays against Hearts sitting in’.
“Derek will just put the ball in the box. There’s managers who get the term of old-fashioned and out of date. The only thing that matters is winning games of football.”
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