THERE were jubilant scenes at Parkhead on Wednesday as Celtic ended that long, long wait for a Champions League victory.
Just three days later, the stands were filled with fury as Brendan Rodgers’ men fell to a second successive Premiership defeat.
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Hearts left Celtic Park with an impressive 2-0 triumph, handing the Hoops back-to-back league defeats for the first time in more than ten years.
The defeat – Celtic’s first league loss at home since January 2021 – followed a 2-1 loss at the hands of Kilmarnock last Sunday.
It means the Hoops have won just two of their last five Premiership matches, a run that has seen the cap at the top cut to just five points.
Rangers, not in league action this week due to the Viaplay Cup Final, now also have two games in hand.
Celtic fans vented their anger from the Parkhead stands on Saturday, taking aim with chants of ‘sack the board’ ringing around the ground with chairman Peter Lawwell also singled out.
Things threatened to really boil over, too, with BBC pundit Michael Stewart claiming that Celtic fans “are almost having fisticuff fights” with each other.
Loud boos rung around the stadium at the final whistle.
Boss Rodgers was less than impressed and even admitted he wasn’t surprised by the alarming level of performance.
Apologising to the fans, he admitted the showing from his team was nowhere near the level expected from Celtic.
Rodgers’ return to the club more than four years after his controversial departure hasn’t gone as smoothly as his first spell in charge, that’s a given.
His first campaign saw Celtic go undefeated domestically as they marched to a domestic treble.
And the current predicament has led to one pundit questioning if Rodgers has the “stomach” for the fight ahead.
Ex-Hibs striker Tam McManus, who also criticised the Celtic Park atmosphere this month, has branded the Hoops’ transfer recruitment as ABYSMAL – and admitted he’s struggling to think of a worse window from a Celtic point of view.
And he reckons something just isn’t quite clicking this time around under the returning manager.
McManus posted on X: “Shocking result for Celtic today and the pressure really cranks up on the manager and the board.
“But also the recruitment from Mark Lawwell/recruitment team at Celtic has been absolutely abysmal can’t think of a worse window. That’s were the finger should squarely be pointed at.”
He added: “Also don’t think Brendan Rodgers has the stomach for the challenge at Celtic just doesn’t feel right this time around.
“He had massive shoes to fill in Ange and looks miles off getting near the previous two seasons.”
While McManus took aim at the recruitment as the underlying reason for Celtic’s struggles at the moment, Hoops legend Chris Sutton reckons the manager has to carry the can.
He reckons Celtic simply aren’t performing to the standard they should be with the level of player at the club.
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Sutton said: “You can blame the board, you can blame the lack of atmosphere because of the Green Brigade not being at matches, you can blame the recruitment but ultimately Brendan Rodgers should be doing much better with the players he has at his disposal… it’s been bang average all season.”
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