Brendan Rodgers keen to defuse ‘false’ narratives about Celtic’s summer business

Brendan Rodgers has claimed some people are “trying to drive a wedge” between himself and the Celtic board as he moved to clarify his comments from Thursday’s press conference about not being satisfied with the club’s summer business.

The Scottish champions signed nine players in his first transfer window since returning to the club in June, but when asked if he was content with the recruitment that had been done, the manager said: “No. No, I think if you ask any manager they will always be wanting more, of course.

“But we work with the players that’s here. I’m not saying that in any disrespectful way, I think every manager will tell you they maybe wished they could have done one or two more signings.

“But the window closed, we had the players we had in and I’m a coaching manager and we will work with the very, very best players at our disposal to make our performance level the best we can possibly be.”

Rodgers’ comments were perceived in some quarters as a criticism of the quality of some of the players brought in and a dig at the board for not backing him heavily enough ahead of the Hoops’ latest venture into the Champions League group stage.

However, when interviewed by BBC Scotland before Saturday’s 3-0 victory away to Livingston, he attempted to clarify what he had said two days previously and inferred that he felt his words had been taken out of context.

“What I did say was that any manager who goes into a window will always feel at the end of a window they maybe could’ve done a little bit more,” he said.

“I never said anything else other than that, so I’ve been really happy with the boys that have come in. We know the areas that we want to improve in, we know the areas that we have to improve in. You’re never going to do that in one window.

“What we aim to do and what we want to do going forward is improve the quality within the squad. That doesn’t mean I’m not happy with the club so I’m pretty sure that people will look at that and focus on that and try to drive a wedge very, very early on between myself and the board.

“Whatever stories try to get created around that, they’ll be false.

“The minute I’m happy here, really happy with everything, is the time I probably move on because to drive standards and move things forward you have to be looking for more.”