Brendan Rodgers has come up with another story to explain how wonderful Brendan Rodgers is.
It is fairly well known that soon after being appointed as Celtic manager he invited Scott Brown down one of his London homes where he sussed out whether the midfielder was on the right character to lead his new look Celtic side.
Like almost all of his team-mates Brown had lost his edge under Ronny Deila, putting in some tired and jaded performances while combining playing with one eye on coaching with the Development Squad.
In the latest ‘How Wonderful Am I’ story Rodgers claims that he was told to ditch Brown from his plans, much the same fate as befell Kris Commons, Charlie Mulgrew and Anthony Stokes.
It would be too much to expect the person to be named but in true Danny McGrain/Clyde Tunnel style there is no hint as to whether the tip-off came from someone inside Celtic, a journalists, a concerned fan or someone involved in Scottish football.
The Daily Record reports:
Rodgers said: “He was an incredible captain for me. But funny enough, before I joined, someone rang me and was telling me about the job and one of the first things they said was, ‘If you’re going to play how you want to play there Brendan, you’re probably going to have to move on Scott’.”
Rodgers took over at Parkhead in 2016 just after Celtic lost to Rangers in the Scottish Cup semi-final and he was not impressed by how they played, fearing their rivals were on the up.
He said: “When I knew I was taking the job, I invited him down to my house in London and we had a chat, had a really good chat.
“I explained the ideas but I also was telling him about behaviour, because before I went in Celtic had lost in the Cup semi-final and they were well beat.
They lost on penalties but they got dominated in the game by Rangers. So there was a real fear and a sense that Rangers had got back up to the top level, they’ve beaten Celtic in the cup.”
But he said it was the shocking snaps of Brown wasted and lying on an Edinburgh pavement after going on the lash days before the 2015 League Cup final that worried him more.
He said: “Obviously leading into that game Scott was sat on the street having had a night out.
“And the point I was making to him straight away was, “You can’t do that – if you want to be the best player you possibly can be and you want to lead a club of Celtic’s status, an institution, then you’re one of the pillars of this club.’ And from that meeting on he was incredible for me.”
Rodgers has still to discuss the thinking behind signing Marvin Compper, Jack Hendry, Youssouf Mulumbu, Marion Shved and Vakoun Bayo.
