GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - NOVEMBER 22: Celtic Manager Brendan Rodgers, Celtic Chief Executive Officer Michael Nicholson and Celtic non-executive chariman Peter Lawwell during the 2024 Celtic Annual General Meeting at Celtic Park, on November 22, 2024, in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Craig Williamson/SNS Group via Getty Images)
Brendan Rodgers has let it be known that he wasn’t the driving force behind Celtic signing Shin Yamada.
The main details in the deal to sign the Kawasaki Frontale striker have been completed with just a medical, international clearance and other formalities to be completed.
Yamada scored 19 goals last year in the J-League but has scored just twice thos season from over 1,000 minutes.
Celtic sold Kyogo Furuhashi fto Rennes in January without bringing in a replacement- a decision that proved costly as Bayern Munich edged past Celtic in the Champions League with Daizen Maeda exhausted by the time Celtic reached the Scottish Cup Final at Hampden.
Speaking after Celtic beat Sporting Lisbon 2-0 Rodgers made it clear that Yamada had been identified by Celtic’s scouts with the manager saying he he’s need to ‘look and see’ when Yamada arrives adding that ‘hopefully he can do well’.
Ahead of the official club announcement which will no doubt carry softer and more welcoming comments, the Daily Record reports Rodgers saying:
He’ll have a medical over the next couple of days and we’ll have a look at him.
We’ve lost a lot of goals so we need to replace that. Hopefully this can be one of a number of players we can bring in that aspect.
He’s got intensity and workrate. It’s something the scouts have seen.
In terms of the club, we will bring in players to develop and players for now. Even though he’s a bit older, he’s probably one of those that can give us that intensity and pressure.
I need to look and see him when he comes in and hopefully he can do well. The idea was to bring him in and assess him. He’s a strong boy – but we’d want to add to our front line also.
It remains to be seen of Michael Nicholson will pick up on that last line or decided that Maeda, Adam Idah, Yamada, Johnny Kenny and Callum Osmond is enough options for what is effectively one position in Rodgers’ team.
CLICK HERE for Yamada’s Transfermarkt profile.
Is this the start of the ROT! as Distrust between the Manager and Board,with the Board buying in players who suit their price and manager being told, there you go we know better than you hopefully not the Celtic supporters we need to sort this miserable money grabbing shower of Manure out.
We’ve done it once, we can do it again
It absolutely is Charlie – If it was ever Away in the first place!
And yet there are still happy clappers
Rodgers cxouldn’t make a player out of Kyogo, nor Idah either by the looks of it. Another year and he’ll be offski. But we will have to endure it!
Editor: Which project manager do you think will improve on Rodgers’ success rate- especially in Europe. When will Celtic next get more than 12 points from the Champions League?
Rodgers had what, five or six cracks at the UCL and he never qualified from the Group stages once!
He had one good season – last season. How long did we have to wait for that!
Compare with Gordon Strachan. He qualified for the KO stages, what twice in three seasons?
If you remember, all of Europe thought we would dominate European football throughout the seventies. It didn’t happen!
We had an excellent chance of progression last season. But Rodgers came up short!
It is not my job to pick Celtic managers!
You used the term
“Project Manager”.
What is that?
Is it not exactly what Rodgers is, a project manager? And he has won what?
Scottish Titles against a Rangers Club that died years ago! A FA Cup in England with a club that won the English Title just a few seasons before!
Remember this: Rodgers never played the game professionally beyond the age of twenty-four. His two head coaches have never played the game for any length of time either.
Football is a craft!
Our Club is riddled from top to bottom with cruisers who NOTHING about football!
Have you got it?
A board with no ambition, unless lawell and Nicholson are chased from our club they will leech from us.How many years are our supporters going to put up with this inept board. ,SACK THE BOARD!!!!
This is exactly like the Shved scenario where it seems the Board or Scouts think they know better than a top class manager. It would seem BR didn’t know about him which is history repeating itself. Have we had too much success and it is now time for managed decline as James Forrest labelled it? Have we seen that the Ibrox takeover is now nothing to worry about and we are recruiting accordingly, totally ignoring any hope of European glory. I am sick fed up with this seeming in fighting whilst fleecing the fans of their hard earned to swell coffers for what purpose? You can be sure if that sort of bank balance was sitting in the Ibrox vaults every penny of it would be spent to grind us into the dust permanently. The fans need to find some way of bringing this to an end as it is every window we see seeming low balls, projects and penny pinching but massive marketing for tickets and merchandise to enlarge the bank balance.
Meada is not for the front line. Am betting he wont sign untill the dust settles on what the final squad will be Brendan sets out personal targets for his squad this we know, those targets = money and for meada they will be vastly differnt depending on where he settles brenda wants him out wide hence 1 more of quality of his choice into that front line mix.
Dermot Desmond must be giving his Approval to this??
So I can certainly see Brendan leaving at the end of the season.
Wish he had distanced himself from Idah.
Friendly or not his ineptitude and apathy was staggering, just staggering.
The shirt doesn’t and shouldn’t shrink for the likes of him. More of the same and he’s outstayed his welcome in my opinion.
If he doesn’t rate him in training, he won’t play him and it will immediately be clear that he’s likely off at the end of the season. The difference is this time there’s no lockdown, nothing to stop the fans voicing vocal displeasure with the board.
What I find surprising is I assumed accountants were also aware of forecasting, not just balance sheets. Given all other teams we’d face in the CL will strengthen and given we’re likely to participate there initially if we get through qualifying, and have that opportunity each year, the logical assumption would be spend to strengthen and receive more money in return.
If you don’t strengthen, the pot of cash will drop drastically as you enter the Europa league. So forecasting a profit and loss sheet for the following financial year would lead you to the answers above? Which is why we’re all perplexed at why these experienced accountants who run the club don’t seem to be aware of this logic and keep buying projects.
Which drains the wage bill if you have too many and creates disharmony in the team. If Desmond wants Rodgers to stay, he’ll have to let Calm Doon and his sidekick know that the biscuit tin needs to be fully opened. Hopefully it all comes good, we unearth 2 wingers and a striker of note and get a run past Christmas. HH
Editor: Board will be quite comfortable with dropping into the Europa League, sell an extra player to make up the difference and they are still Balance Sheet heroes.
I don’t think the Board would be happy at all, dropping into the UEL, with just one tie to negotiate for the riches of the UCL. I mean, they may be poor, but they’re no daft!
The form shows we are a UCL side at the moment. To sell ourselves short and settle for a UEL place would be pure folly!