Everything that Brendan Rodgers said to the media ahead of Celtic's Scottish Cup tie against Raith Rovers
First of all, can you bring us up date with regards to your Champions League squad and any changes?
I'll tell you on Tuesday. I don't have it to hand, to be honest. I think we've got a few that will come in. I thought it was here in October, to be honest. Yeah, we've got some of our young guys that will be involved, and our guys are coming in but there will be no big shocks.
You've got that game next week, but as you say, it is the Scottish Cup tomorrow, is it easy to keep your focus on that when you've got such a big game coming up?
It's very easy. We're looking forward to the game. We're very much a modern manager. I say, modern manager in the modern game, you really are genuinely thinking about the next game.
You can't look too far ahead. So yeah, we had a great performance in the midweek, and we want to carry that through. A little bit of recovery, and then we're at home. We love playing at home.
So we want to be able to take our game and our values and ideas and ultimately our hard work because that's what it boils down to in the end, all into the game. When we do that, we connect the game really well.
Does this kind of game tomorrow night give you a chance to use your squad to rotate it about when you've got these big games coming up?
Well, I think if you look at all the games I've played, I've virtually done that in every game. It's why we think, why we sit in a good place with the squad, very few injuries.
Sometimes you might not have wanted to, but you have to because of the health of the group, and so that you can arrive in the latter part of the season with as many personnel available as you can. So I'll just continue to do what I've done throughout the season.
Is it good news regarding the Celtic fans being able to attend the match in Munich?
Yeah, it's great. That was a big worry for me when I spoke a couple of weeks ago, and maybe even only last week. So I was concerned that they wouldn't be able to travel because there's such a massive part of this club.
The support that we get and the passion that they have for the game as it drives us and helps us. So to have them there, it's going to be great, and we'll need them.
The cautious notice is that this suspended ban is still in effect and there can be no more instances of this, do you agree?
Yeah, I think we're all aware of that. I think it's still hanging over us. So like I said, I hope that we can give that support, which the majority of the supporters give, which gives us greater strength on the pitch.
We can follow the rules and not have any more fines or have anything come against the club.
It's crucial how important the fans were. I suppose that you were able to know then but that's sort of what you need in these big atmospheres, isn't it?
Yeah, it's just sheer passion. The supporters are having for this club. What they give to the team, it's what makes it. I've said it many times before, the support, whether it's financially or emotionally, what supporters give to Celtic is what makes Celtic what it is.
So to have the support there with is always makes a huge difference. We see it domestically. We see it on the travel. We see it in Villa Park. I think the young player Morgan Rogers said he'd never seen it the way he'd like that in any game. So that obviously makes me very proud as a manager of the club.
It's not a surprise when you're Celtic-minded but we just want to make sure that there are no barriers and no way for us to play and have that support so that we can play the very best we can.
You don't want it to become a distraction either with guys like us asking you about it all the time?
Yeah, I think in every which way the questions will come and I respect that. They have to because it's a point to debate. People travelling, they need to organise as well.
So yeah, there are many reasons why it's good that the news has come out now because there was talk around we might not know until after the first game which wouldn't have been ideal. So yeah, it's really good news for everyone and then just to concentrate on the football.
Does it come with a kind of warning that as repeat offenders you are in the last chance saloon then?
I'm not sure they're going to listen to me if I'm honest. So whoever that may be. But let's hope. I think the game as a whole and it's not just a small group of Celtic supporters. You see it throughout football. There's this element of ultras and all this sort of thing.
You see it throughout Europe. So it's not just Celtic supporters. But my only worry is for Celtic and our club so that we can attain the status of what we have, which is an amazing club with the main support base and a club where the supporters can travel anywhere in the world and always be welcomed and those are always open for them. So that's what we always want to have.
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Are there reports in the last couple of days from Croatia about Greg Taylor potentially agreeing on a pre-contract with Dino Zagreb? Has this situation changed at all as far as you're aware?
No, not that I'm aware of. And I know there was interest there back in January but it was nothing that was ever concrete or spoken about too much. My feelings will be still to help to convince Greg to be here. Of course, as time goes on, the longer it goes on, then that becomes much less but it doesn't change his profession. He's a brilliant professional and we'll just have to see how the next four months go.
Bringing in Jeffrey Schlupp adds competition in that area in January. I don't think we've had the chance to ask you about him. He was saying that there was interest in the summer initially from the club and that maybe could have happened. Are you quite pleased you managed to eventually get that deal done?
Yeah, very pleased because it just happened the cover and the positions are important for us. We didn't expect to lose Alex Valle. So then we need cover. So to bring in someone of his experience, he only spent the last decade or so in the Premier League.
I know through people I know well at Leicester City that he's a young player who came through there and came through the system and won the Premier League. So I had a real depth of his character and his mentality and everything else. That fitted into here perfectly.
So yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing him come here and showcase his talents when he has the opportunity. It will be good for him to experience being here because you're in the Premier League, you think the Premier League is the only league in the world with so many big clubs but they come here and they recognise the size of this club, the institution that it is, the pressures that are here that will be different to wherever he's played before in his career.
I'm pretty sure he'll enjoy the city of Glasgow as well. So yeah, and I know that he is, he's really looking forward to it.
How tough will it be to convince Greg his future lies here with Kieran Tierney coming in the summer, albeit there are so many big games that it comes very involved? Does that make it tougher?
I've had a number of open conversations with Greg on it and I do think that is an issue. There's no doubt about that. He's been a starter here for virtually six years. He's always had a challenge that he's overcome from other players coming in, which is a great testament to him and his mentality and his professionalism.
He knows Kieran well and he knows his qualities and his abilities but there still can be room for two of them here. There's absolutely no doubt, you know, in an upward of 35 to 60 games a season, we can't play one player and I wouldn't want to play one player in all of those because you're just not going to have the right physicality, you're going to need an intensity.
So, to have two players of that quality here would be brilliant for the club, for the team and obviously for the changing room. So that's probably the things that Greg has to think about. From my perspective, I don't see it as a problem because I know he'll play a lot of games, he'll play big games and like I said, as with Kieran. So, he has to decide for himself that it would be a different role for him but it's not something that we still can't conclude.
His performances have been great recently and he still has a big part to play this season no matter what happens, doesn't he?
I've had a lot of respect for him as a footballer and as a person. Even at Motherwell, I thought he was excellent, just his aggression on the ball and his position he plays the role perfectly for us how we want, you know, he knows when to be inside, outside, he's level, he's passing everything is at such a consistent level?
So, yeah, I just think that it is his time he has sat on a five-year deal and he is now down to his last four months, I think we'll get the same from him. Of course, from a manager's perspective, you're always trying to stabilise your squad and stabilise young guys with their futures as well. That ultimately is down to them and their decision.
What are your thoughts on Raith Rovers and Barry Robson?
Yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing Barry. I was disappointed for him at Aberdeen because I think when he stepped up he'd done a really, really good job. The challenge of Europe for any club is really, really difficult and he'd done so well in his time there that he'd qualified Aberdeen into Europe and the shallowness of the squad meant it was really difficult for him.
He was in European football going away and the expectation and then coming back. If I was honest at the time, you want to see the manager back and allowed to go through that tough phase of it all because it's tough because he has done so well and then maybe he'd never quite had the squad to support that and that isn't the manager's problem.
So it'd be nice for him to be able to ride through that, learn from it and then go again because having just stepped up, he'd done a good job. So I was disappointed when he lost his job but good to see him back in.
It will be good to see him tomorrow. His teams will always be like him. He was a competitive player and a tough player and they'll come to defend very, very well. So we just have to make sure we play our game because that's what I've learnt in this year and a half since I've been here is that our true strength is when we are at our level and we can do that in all phases of the game and then we aim to then get through from that into the next round.
No concerns at all squad-wise?
No, only one. Kasper Schmeichel won't play. So Viljami Sinisalo will start and go. Kasper had a little issue with his back. So he'll miss out in the game and like I've seen in pre-season with Viljami, he's a young goalkeeper who came in and played those games really well and so I'm really looking forward to seeing him make his debut.
Is it a short term thing?
Yes, he will be okay for Wednesday.
Has Viljami been keeping himself fit whilst sitting on the bench?
Yes. He's a great boy and that's always a challenge, he'd come in here but he's known that having been at Villa and then investing his time playing down in England with Exeter. He knew then coming into here he's got a real top-class goalkeeper to learn from so sometimes you have to invest your time into learning
We took him in, we'd seen him play, obviously represented Finland as well. Very, very talented young goalkeeper has come in, been patient, understands the role at this point so it's really nice for him now to get the opportunity. So I've seen him a pre-season, I've seen him through the season since and yeah, I've got no doubts.
How is James Forrest is he close to a return?
He shouldn't be too far away from getting out onto the pitches so yeah, but he's obviously not good for the weekend.
Can I ask you about VAR? St. Mirren and Dundee United have come out and said that there needs to be a bit of reform to get rid of the inconsistencies with it, is that something you would be welcome and what's your view of it?
Yeah, I think there's a number of things that fit around it, you know, it was clearly a funding issue in terms of maybe not having their best system, you know, that's in place and that's financial and everyone would maybe love a big house but if you can't afford it then you can't get it, you know, so then you have to adapt and deal with that.
So we've got numbers of little issues around that aspect and I think it's probably the same with officiating as well. Stephen mentioned full-time referees and I'm totally in agreement with that but for that to happen you need funding and if you don't have the funding then they can only be the best that they can be. So I understand the dilemmas in it.
The VAR as I said, it's the best package that is available and I think on many, many occasions it has worked really, really well. We've certainly seen other moments of real good clarity from it and then other issues take a little bit longer maybe because you'd have quite the extra angles that you would need and again it all boils down to the funding I would say and there's also the decision making within that.
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