Brendan Rodgers has warned that change must come at Celtic this summer — or his own position will soon come under scrutiny.
The Parkhead manager was angered that his team lost for a fourth time in the league this year at St Johnstone last weekend and fully expects to see a response when they face Kilmarnock at lunchtime today.
Even though a 55th league title could be wrapped up this weekend if Killie are defeated and results elsewhere go Celtic’s way, Rodgers feels the club will only remain the dominant force in Scottish football if steps are soon taken to shake-up the squad.
Warning that a lack of change at any club will inevitably intensify the pressure on a manager, he explained: ‘I think it’s all about improvement.
‘I think naturally what you have at our club, there is a natural slide of players that move out and come in every three or four years.
‘So, I think naturally that will happen. It’s the nature of our model here. It’s also the nature of players being here and maybe either looking to move on or want to come away from the pressure that’s here. Because three or four years of it, it’s a lot of pressure.
Brendan Rodgers expects there to be big changes made to the squad at the end of this season
The manager hit out at his players following last week’s 1-0 defeat at St Johnstone
Gred Taylor and Callum McGregor suffered a fourth domestic loss of the year in Perth
‘But I just think it’s a natural progression for here. We always have to be ready to replace any players that go. But, important for us, is improvement.
‘We always want to improve the team, improve the hunger in the team. That’s always key. Because one of the ways to succeed, across what I’ve been talking about, is you need the freshness.
‘It’s either that or the manager goes. It’s as simple as that — there’s no rocket science to it.
‘You cannot be at a club for a long period of time with the same group of players. And likewise, the same group of players need a different voice. But at this moment, it’ll be about improving the squad.’
Celtic were unbeaten in the league until the turn of the year, but have since lost to Rangers twice, Hibernian and Saints.
Adamant that he’d have wanted new arrivals in any event, Rodgers added: ‘No, I think change is needed. I think it’s that freshness, that new energy coming into your squad that alleviates any of that sort of complacency.
‘So we will bring players in to challenge the squad and the team for the summer.’
Rodgers denied suggestions that there was a degree of complacency at boardroom level in January when Kyogo Furuhashi was allowed to move to Rennes without a suitable replacement waiting in the wings.
‘No, I wouldn’t like to say that. Listen, everyone will have an opinion on it,’ he said. ‘I said at the time we wanted a striker.
‘But if it didn’t happen, because we couldn’t get the right one, then of course I was happy for Daizen (Maeda) to play there. Because he can.
‘Listen, the club and the board have been great. You look at how we improved the squad in the summer.
‘We will look to do that again this summer. We can’t afford to be complacent. We always want to progress.’
