Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers: ‘Sack the board’ normally means ‘sack the manager’

By Ronnie Esplin, PA

Brendan Rodgers heard the Celtic board come under fire from fans after his fears were founded with a goalless draw against Kairat Almaty in the first leg of the Champions League play-off.

Much of the build-up to the game at Parkhead was centred on if and when Rodgers would further bolster his squad for the European campaign, but there were no late signings.

It was a frustrating night for the Hoops and in the second half fans, also frustrated by a lack of transfer activity, chanted ‘sack the board’ and aimed their ire at chief executive Michael Nicholson and chairman Peter Lawwell, while there were further chants and boos after the game.

Rodgers said: “I think it was pretty clear. You didn’t need to look into the future too far.

“You know these games are tough games and you want to have your best players in and have players in as quick as you can to tackle these sorts of situations.

“But listen, it is what it is and I just have to accept where it’s at and we’ll now get ready for Saturday and then the long haul on Sunday.

“Then we’ll try and get through on Tuesday.”

Asked about the fans’ reaction, the Northern Irishman said: “I do know that, over many years, ‘sack the board’ normally means ‘sack the manager’.

“It’s normally the manager that goes when that starts to be sung.

“I can only really look at the players we have here, and the performance.

“We’ve known for a long time what we’ve needed as a squad, so I don’t want to go into that.

“Of course, at the end of the game, we’re having to shuffle things about to try and make it work.

“The players are out of position, but the players’ endeavour in the second half was really good.

“But at this level, it’s more than that. So hopefully we can show that.

“The boys are a great bunch of lads, they’re really honest. They’ve started the season well.

“Defensively, they’ve been strong. But tonight, offensively, we just couldn’t show those moments of quality to break through.

“We need to improve the squad. There was clarity around that for a long time.

“So we see that. I think supporters see that. We certainly do in football. We need to improve.

“This is a performance club. This is a club that has to perform. And that starts on the field. You do that with getting the very best players you possibly can to allow you to perform.”