Celtic have ditched convention by binning special slots for Daily and Sunday newspapers from their media activities.
Normally Brendan Rodgers would start off with a conference for broadcasters such as Sky Sports, STV, Radio Clyde and a few others including some fan media outlets then hold separate conferences with reporters from Daily newspapers then ‘The Sunday’s’.
That arrangement gave each section the chance to get their own breaking news and has been jealously guarded despite the now rolling nature of news where issues are surfacing at any moment.
Last Sunday Graham Spiers and Andrew Smith discussed the breakdown in relations between Rodgers and the written media which was triggered at the start of March when Keith Jackson of the Daily Record reported on a Tactical Tutorial that had been delivered three days earlier, Off The Record.
??PODCAST:
There has been a row – a dispute – between Brendan Rodgers and the Scottish football press. What’s going on and can it be resolved?
My conversation with Andrew H Smith.
*Warning: Joseph Goebbels content.
LISTEN:https://t.co/H5NZWURd61
— Graham Spiers (@GrahamSpiers) March 31, 2024
While the other reporters and their titles respected it as for background use only Jackson opted to inform Record readers that the Celtic manager feels that his side are playing similar football to the two seasons under Ange Postecoglou.
By disclosing the comments and detailing how Rodgers had spent half an hour with the written media going through goals on a 78 inch touchscreen TV the Celtic manager didn’t come over in the most impressive of lights.
Not only was Rodgers furious at the breach of confidence but reporters on other papers were equally angry that Jackson had jeopardised their special status, their once a week opportunity to question the Celtic manager in the hope of getting a back page from something that was missed by the broadcasters. Today there was one all in conference from the Celtic manager.
10 minutes Keith Jackson
12 minutes 50 seconds John McGarry, Daily Mail
13 minutes 40 Jackson
15 minutes 10 seconds Danny Stewart Sunday Post
17 minutes 37 seconds Keith Jackson
Today things were a little bit different, for starters the media conference was much longer, 18 and and half minutes with some different voices included in the room including Jackson who managed three questions and earned a name check from Rodgers.
To my out of touch hearing it also sounded like John McGarry of the Daily Mail and Danny Stewart of the Sunday Post pitched in with questions but there certainly wasn’t ‘a line’ to emerge from their questions.
Most of the back pages on Saturday and Sunday will be dominated by the fitness of Callum McGregor, everyone else in the Celtic squad appears to be fit and available.
It remains to be seen if today’s arrangements become permanent or whether it is a short term measure/punishment for that Tactical Tutorial.
©? McGregor doubt due to double injury
7? Building on Dundee demolition
?? Tactics talk: “Nothing has changed”
?? Threat of Shankland and HeartsBrendan Rodgers looks ahead to Sunday’s trip to Hearts, live on Sky Sports ? pic.twitter.com/qQwha9wWVc
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) March 1, 2024
2 minutes 50 seconds Rodgers answers on the Off The Record tactical tutorial.
