Rodgers Issues Ultimatum to Celtic Players: ‘Leave Parkhead Pressure or Fade Away
Rodgers only wants players who can handle the heat – and anyone who can’t is free to leave.
Brendan Rodgers has challenged his under-fire Celtic players to deal with Parkhead pressure – or find another club.
The Hoops boss is up for a title battle with Rangers, who are now five points clear at the top of the Premiership table. Rodgers, whose side take on Motherwell at Fir Park on Sunday, admits the scrutiny his team are under will be like nothing they’ve faced before. But he’s told them it’s part of the deal in Glasgow and if they can’t handle it, they’re in the wrong city.
After being eight points clear in the title race at the turn of the year, Celtic have slipped up and allowed their Old Firm rivals to take over. They were booed off the pitch after last weekend’s 1-1 draw against Kilmarnock at Parkhead. Rodgers has vowed to stay calm under criticism as the champions look to get back on track – and says his players have to cope with copping flak.
The Celtic gaffer said: “I’ll be fine. For me it’s about 38 games over a season. I’ve heard throughout my career that I’ve never had this before and never had that before.
“That’s normal – but it’s not my story. If you can’t handle pressure, especially at the biggest clubs – those aren’t the clubs for you. Go away, there’s plenty of clubs for you where it’s like a holiday. You play one game a week and there’s no drama.
“If you draw a couple of games and win eight, you’ll be held up there. But with the biggest clubs, that’s part of the deal.
“You have to be able to deal with playing home and away here. In my experience of Celtic Park, it has been an amazing place to play. For players coming here, it’s great when you look on YouTube and see 60,000 fans singing You’ll Never Walk Alone or Champions League nights. But in the small print it says, by the way, there’s big pressure. Deal with it.
“You have to accept that as a Celtic player. You can prepare and can create an illusion for them of what it might be and might feel like. But not until you actually feel it yourself and go through the process, do you really understand it.
“That’s why I have huge admiration for players who come here. Because the expectations are so high, as high as anywhere I’ve ever been in my career.
“That’s why I’m always keen to support the players and bring them through that. Every man and his dog will criticise them now. It’s my job to help these players, especially when a lot of them are still young.
“This is a journey for them, to come through to be a Celtic player. It’s all about time. It’s difficult for any player or manager to come into a club where the expectations are absolutely huge, if you’ve never felt or sensed anything like that before.
“At a club like this, that comes onto you pretty quickly. Then you have to get through that. So this is all part of a phase of players getting used to that expectation.”
Despite their recent demise, Celtic are still in touch with Rangers and have two Old Firm derbies to play before the end of the season. They’ve also got a quarter-final tie at home to Livingston in the Scottish Cup.
That’s why – with two trophies still up for grabs – Rodgers is refusing to panic. He said: “I don’t need to remind myself that we can still win the Double, I know that’s the case. To do it, you need to step up and meet the challenge.
“I can see the players are excited by that, as we all are. This title race is going to be brilliant for the league. And we know what we have to do.”