Car jibe hasn’t led to a fallout with players, insists Scales

23 Oct 2025 - Scottish Daily Mail

By JOHN McGARRY

LIAM SCALES is adamant that the Celtic squad were unmoved by Brendan Rodgers controversially comparing the current squad to a Honda Civic.

The manager’s remarks came on the back of a dismal summer transfer window which has led to the club exiting the Champions League and falling five points behind Hearts in the title race.

But the Irish defender insists Rodgers’ much-debated choice of words hasn’t even registered with the players as they seek to turn their patchy form around after Sunday’s 2-0 defeat to Dundee at Dens Park.

‘I don’t know about others in the dressing room but, for me, it’s not going to affect me, and it wasn’t a talking point among the players,’ claimed Scales ahead of this evening’s Europa League visit of Sturm Graz.

‘We know it was a disappointing result, and if that’s a way to motivate people to do better, then that’s the only way I could really look at it.

‘I didn’t notice anything different in how we’ve been leading up to this game.

‘Obviously there was disappointment about losing the game but there wasn’t any bad blood at all.’

The 27-year-old Republic of Ireland international (below) doesn’t feel that any of his teammates need any reassurance about Rodgers’ estimation of them.

‘He knows we’re all good players,’ he added. ‘We all know that there’s really good quality in the dressing room. We get that message day to day.

‘We all know there’s good quality there. The coaches know, the manager knows. He shows that day in, day out on the training ground.

‘He gives us confidence. There’s no real issues there.’

Celtic have failed to score in six matches this season, with the lack of creativity a legacy of the lack of quality summer dealings.

Scales, though, is convinced that those players who have come in will show more in the fullness of time.

‘The players that we’ve signed, you’ve seen the quality they’ve brought in patches,’ he said.

‘They’re really good players, it’s just going to take maybe a little bit of time for them to kick into top gear.

‘Like Nic (Kuhn) when he came, he struggled for the first six months. After that he was brilliant, teams couldn’t handle him. ‘So, sometimes it just takes a bit of time for new players to come in and get that confidence. But the quality is definitely there. ‘Maybe looking from the outside, players might think that coming to Celtic and playing is easy and you’re going to win every week. You’re going to win trophies. But it’s not like that. ‘You play against really good teams every week. Tough teams that are hard to break down. Teams that can hurt you in different ways. ‘I think that’s probably what’s happened in a sense. Maybe some players who aren’t used to the league and the level of the opposition, maybe they expect it to be different. ‘But they’ll learn. They probably have learned a lot over the last few weeks and it’s now time for everyone, not just the new lads, but for everyone to really up our game and take our game to the next level.’

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NO REGRETS

Boss has no regrets over comments

23 Oct 2025 - Scottish Daily Mail

By JOHN McGARRY

Rodgers sticks to his guns over criticism of Celtic team

BRENDAN RODGERS insists he has no regrets over likening the current Celtic side to a Honda Civic.

The Parkhead boss raised eyebrows after Sunday’s shock defeat to Dundee at Dens Park when he insisted that he had been ‘given the keys to a Honda Civic’ and told ‘to drive it like a Ferrari’.

Former Celtic manager Martin O’Neill questioned the wisdom of Rodgers’ comments, which were taken as a jibe at the Parkhead board for a dismal transfer window, while others wondered if his words were undermining a team who are already struggling for confidence and have fallen five points behind Premiership leaders Hearts.

Asked ahead of tonight’s Europa League game with Sturm Graz if he could understand why some might view his remarks as a criticism of his players, Rodgers said: ‘I don’t know because I haven’t seen or read or heard anything, but it was based around the speed in our team.

‘Clearly, it’s not the same as what we had last season. I’m pretty sure both of those cars (have) got a different speed, so that was the reference to that. ‘I’m not really worried, to be honest. You can’t please everyone and nobody’s trying to do that now. The players know that I’m with them, I’ve always been with them. ‘Our focus is now on performing, and performing to our best level.’ Pressed on whether he stood by the remarks, the Celtic manager was unrepentant. ‘Yeah, listen, it’s something that I said at the time and I said it because I felt it. So, I’ve got no regret, no,’ he added. Rodgers has acknowledged that it’s incumbent on him to find solutions for Celtic’s flagging form. 

While Alistair Johnston is in contention to feature at some stage against the Austrians, Daizen Maeda remains sidelined with stiffness in his back and hamstrings. 

Having also lost players of the quality of Kyogo Furuhashi and Nicolas Kuhn this year, the Northern Irishman admitted that he faces an impossible task to inject pace into the team. ‘It’s a different profile of player,’ he said. ‘If you think of what we had, football is going to look different. ‘Kyogo, and Daizen when he’s playing, and Nicolas Kuhn, it’s a different level of speed. ‘So, we don’t have that. The game will look different, but we can still be better and faster and more dynamic in our actions. That’s the challenge.’ 

Sunday’s game with Dundee was delayed when visiting fans threw balls on to the park in protest at the way their club has been run, with the Celtic players helping remove them from the pitch. With further disruption planned, Rodgers has told his players that it’s imperative to focus on the job at hand. ‘I’m sure there’s studies in terms of the impact, whether it’s positive or negative, of what this type of thing has on a team and a club,’ he said. ‘You’re going out fired up to start the game well and of course there’s a disruption, but you have to deal with it and that’s something we have to be mindful of now.’

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So, can Rodgers get his Honda banger fired up against Sturm Graz?

Board’s lack of maintenance has left Celtic in danger of driving off a cliff

23 Oct 2025 - Scottish Daily Mail

By JOHN McGARRY Chief Sports Feature Writer

YOU could question the timing of Brendan Rodgers’ automobile analogy in the aftermath of Sunday’s defeat at Dens Park.

The purpose it served in terms of reminding a distinctly average squad of their limitations was also unclear.

In terms of keeping the uneasy peace with those who employ the Northern Irishman, it was certainly no act of diplomacy.

What was beyond all debate, though, was that the Celtic manager was on the right track.

It could be argued that comparing the team to a Honda Civic — a reliable old piece of tin — was to talk up its merits. Celtic are currently anything but efficient and dependable.

A first loss on the road to Dundee since 1988 was no accident. Like the motorist who strips out the engine and makes do with sub-standard components, it was a long time coming.

As 2024 ended, Rodgers reflected with pride on the fact his side had lost just twice in the calendar year to Hearts and Borussia Dortmund.

The midway point of 2025 came up with seven losses sustained in five months. Matt O’Riley, Liel Abada and Kyogo Furuhashi had left the building, and Nicolas Kuhn was set to join them.

With their creativity and firepower diminished, Celtic needed a significant summer reboot. Instead, a club with tens of millions in the bank spent weeks submitting derisory offers then blamed the rest of the world when the window closed with the squad in a pitiful state.

In 14 competitive matches, a further three losses have been chalked up. Rodgers’ side have failed to score on six occasions.

The 11 goals they have managed in eight league matches is equalled by Kilmarnock and bettered by Hearts, Hibs, Dundee United and Motherwell.

Not since the days of Tony Mowbray has a Celtic team lacked so much guile and quality. Quite how the jalopy gets any sort of momentum going is anyone’s guess.

‘I think we all knew what we needed in the summer and, for whatever reason, we weren’t able to bring that level in, and at the right time,’ Rodgers reflected.

‘I can’t afford to look back. I understand if you’re looking from the outside in and if you’re a supporter, of course, you would do that and that would be a real sense of frustration. As a coach and manager, we knew what we had to do.

‘We weren’t able to do it and now we live with that consequence. But we have to find a way to win games and I’m relentlessly looking at solutions.’

At one point at Dens Park, Celtic had 96-per-cent possession. The truth of the matter was that Dundee could gave replaced goalkeeper Jon McCracken with a crash test dummy and still kept a clean sheet.

Keeping the ball for the sake of it, Celtic’s performance made for a tough watch for their fans. Rodgers, of course, is paid a lot of money to ensure whatever players he has at his disposal do much better.

‘It’s something that we constantly look at and think about in terms of personnel and team shape,’ he added.

‘You’ve seen on Sunday, we’re obviously down in the game, so we change the system. We have two strikers, two wingers on the sides, two attacking eights in midfield.

‘I think that’s what I have to do (look at alternatives) but, at the same time, you’re having to find some level of stability as well.

‘That is important and that hopefully allows you to find the tempo and the speed in the game that you actually want so you can deliver the best performance that you can.’

A dysfunctional team is only reflective of the club at large. When a club hoards millions through transfers but is unable to sign adequate replacements, it suggests there’s an issue with those running the show.

Showing no ability to read the room after a disastrous window closed, the Celtic board sought to blame everyone apart from themselves.

The upshot is the biggest disconnect since before Fergus McCann arrived on the scene. We’ve not seen the last of the protests that delayed the start of Sunday’s match.

Rodgers’ problems go beyond trying to figure out a way to break down a low block.

‘It’s clearly a huge challenge because it’s not just on the field, it’s off the field,’ he said.

‘I love this club, I want this to be the best it possibly can be.

‘It’s not the face I want us to show, what we’ve seen at the weekend, both off the pitch and on the pitch. That isn’t what Celtic is about for me.

‘It’s not meant to be easy. It’s not all about winning Trebles and Doubles and all that. You have to stand up and fight or else it’s over. We’re a club that’s a huge institution, a remarkable history and I’m very privileged to manage it.

‘There’s absolutely no doubt we’re in a difficult moment and we have to stand together and come through it.’

While all games are big at Celtic, the next four, Sturm Graz tonight, followed by Hearts, Falkirk and Rangers, feel absolutely critical.

The fear of many supporters who watched on at Dens was that the side just don’t have the wherewithal or the spirit to come through that testing period unscathed.

‘I think that I’ve never been so more motivated in my time at Celtic,’ insisted Rodgers.

‘If I look at my own style as a coach, I would say I’m a transformational coach, it’s a transformational style.

‘So, I think I can come into a club and teach and inspire and motivate players. At this point in time, I can’t be any more motivated to turn it around.

‘It’s okay when you’re winning trophies and playing great football and everything else.

‘We have all have seen the challenges from the summer through till now and the continuation of that. I’m so determined to try and turn the feeling around, the feeling on and off the pitch.

‘Because, for me, it’s not what Celtic is about and not what Celtic should be about. wwThis is an amazing club. Yeah, you will get frustrated at times. You’re very human and you will get disappointed, like at the weekend. I can never, with the greatest respect to Dundee, expect a Celtic team to go on and lose.

‘That’s what I’ve always felt. We were talking six months ago about the challenge in the latter stages of Champions League and now we’re losing these types of games. So, I’m super motivated to do the very best that I can for this club.’