Smooth-sailing Celtic hit rough waters: Liel Abada Loch Lomond visit, Brendan Rodgers reassurance, ticket row won't go away

Even when the waters around him seem relatively tranquil compared to the froth and foam across the city, Brendan Rodgers knows the latest drama is only just around the corner.

The Celtic manager returned to the public forum at the end of the international break with little on-field issues to cause a frown to traverse his forehead. His team, after all, sit seven points clear at the top of the table ahead of Sunday’s Premiership trip to play Hearts, with their early-season wobbles looking increasingly like a blip. The second coming of Rodgers is starting to bear an uncanny resemblance to the dominance of his first time in charge.

Sports psychologists repeatedly preach the line about “controlling the controllables”, however, and there are still some things that not even the Northern Irishman can have an effect on, much as he would probably like to. Two such topics arrived on his desk this week, neither of which Rodgers can influence but which he is still required to comment and reflect on.

One was the thorny issue of ticket allocation for away supporters. There will be far fewer Celtic fans inside Tynecastle than was the case for Rodgers’ previous visit five years ago, something that has sparked debate about whether the host club is always within its rights to put their own fans first or whether visitors ought to be guaranteed a greater share of a stadium’s capacity.

Rodgers took Celtic winger Liel Abada to Loch Lomond this week.

Given the enduring impasse between Celtic and Rangers on this matter, it would be something of a liberty should either of the Glasgow clubs start pointing the finger at other rivals but Rodgers hoped some kind of amicable solution could be reached that would appease all parties.

“Every club has got every right at this moment in time to issue what they want to give to away supporters,” he said. “Until there is something standardised, Hearts are more than [within their rights] to do that. As a Celtic manager I love to see more supporters in there, of course, because they come from all over the place to follow their team. But hopefully we can standardise a certain percentage for away supporters and that allows all the supporters of all the teams to be able to go and watch their teams.”

Bickering over the split of ticket sales feels somewhat trite compared to trying to tackle the subject of the escalating bloodshed between the rival factions in Israel and its, admittedly minor, knock-on effect on Scottish football.

Celtic supporters have never shied away from voicing their backing for the Palestinian plight, with another show of support expected at Wednesday night’s Champions League game against Atletico Madrid. That stance places someone like Liel Abada in an awkward position. The Israeli winger won’t have to directly confront the supporters’ protest given he is out injured for the next six weeks but Rodgers was astute enough to appreciate how his player would be feeling given all the uncertainty in his homeland and took him away to offer his counsel. It might be wishful thinking of the manager when he stated that “every true Celtic supporter” would offer their backing to Abada, but Rodgers referred to the conflict he himself faced in the summer when a number of fans expressed their disapproval of his return to Parkhead after walking out for Leicester City four year earlier.

Brendan Rodgers' Celtic team travel to Tynecastle on Sunday to face Hearts.

“I picked up Liel and took him up to Loch Lomond to have a bit of food, take him out of the city and just get to understand what he was thinking and the traumas he’s gone through,” he revealed. “I don’t pretend to care about my players — I do care. I genuinely care about them and can always draw a line where that is. I always think that eventually that helps them play to a better level. My job is to reassure him that everyone within the Celtic family will always support him. As a player at Celtic, that’s what they do. Supporters support their own and their players.

“Then us as staff and the people within the club all really want him to succeed and do well here. Of course, there are always going to be lots of opinions in terms of people and what to do, but he loves being here. He signed a new deal to stay here. I gave my own example. Obviously, a group of supporters didn’t want me here, but that was never going to stop me coming back. With my love of the club, I came back here for Celtic and wanted to create a legacy that is greater than what it was in my first time here. So sometimes you have to override that [animosity] You never want any relationship to be toxic. It doesn’t work. You want to minimise the enemies you have in your life whether it is football or life, in general.”

And does Rodgers believe he has won over all his enemies? A smile. Maybe not quite yet. “I don’t know. I don’t think so, but it doesn’t bother me really. I don’t lie awake at night worrying about it. I knew what I was coming to. Hopefully, as I said, I always think as a coach or a manager, you will always have your critics, no matter how well you have done.

“When I was here the first time, I’m pretty sure in the first year when we won the Invincible Treble, I would have had critics that year. It’s the beauty of experience. It doesn’t really matter. You focus on what does matter and that’s I know the vast majority of Celtic supporters, we can work together. The ones that we can’t, we’ll try and change their minds.”