“Listen, there’s no rocket science in it,” Rodgers on Adam Idah’s Celtic woes

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The Celtic Star

·22 de agosto de 2025

“Listen, there’s no rocket science in it,” Rodgers on Adam Idah’s Celtic woes

Brendan Rodgers explained his reasoning for replacing Adam Idah at half-time in Celtic’s Champions League playoff clash against Kairat Almaty…

Adam Idah of Celtic vies with Aleksandr Martynovich of Kairat during the UEFA Champions League Play-offs Round First Leg match between Celtic and Kairat Almaty at Celtic Park on August 20, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

The Republic of Ireland forward appeared frustrated in the first half, prompting Rodgers to introduce winger Yang Hyun-jun and shift Daizen Maeda into a central role after the interval.

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Even with Rodgers’ tactical change, the match ended 0-0, with both teams unable to find a breakthrough during 90 minutes plus 10 minutes of stoppage time due to the ridiculous time-wasting from the Kairat players.

Post-match at his media conference, Rodgers explained his decision to substitute Idah, who is still searching for his first goal of the season for Celtic. “Listen, there’s no rocket science in it,” the Celtic manager said. “It’s all hard work. It’s all preparation. That will obviously lead to confidence, and then you normally succeed as a player from that. So yeah, it didn’t quite go for him in the first half. I wanted a little bit more activity in and around the box because I felt that we could get up there.”

“Adam’s a good boy; he’s an honest boy. He hasn’t quite started how he would have liked. But in games like these here, I can’t afford to wait – that’s why I made the change at half-time.”

Celtic 0-0 Kairat Almaty. Celtic’s Champions League hopes hang very much in the balance after they were held to a goalless draw in Glasgow by Kazakh side Kairat. Photo Kenny Ramsay IMAGO / News Licensing

Idah initially joined Celtic on a six-month loan from Norwich City for the remainder of the 2023/24 season, during which he netted nine goals in 19 appearances, notably scoring the decisive goal in the 2024 Scottish Cup final.

Following a series of lowballing negotiations from the Celtic board last summer, Rodgers finally secured the striker on a permanent £9 million deal with a five-year contract.

Indeed, if Celtic’s hierarchy think a forward line consisting of Idah, Shin, Johnny Kenny and Callum Osmand is good enough to see the club through for the rest of the season, they are tuned to the moon.

Peter Lawwell, Michael Nicholson and Christopher McKay watch on as Celtic draw 0-0 with Kairat at Celtic Park in the UEFA Champions League play-off match, worth over £40m to the winners.

The reality is the manager needs reinforcements at the top end of the pitch. And for whatever reason [the manager’s words, not mine], the Celtic board have failed to deliver and support Rodgers.

Word is that the message has finally got through to the Celtic Board

Word is that the message has finally got through to the Celtic Board, perhaps rattled by the disapproval shown by their ‘customers’ in Wednesday evening with the loud ‘Sack the Board’ chants and the message appears to be that they are working on bringing in four signings ahead of the window closing – a left-back, two wingers and a centre-forward.

Three of these should be good enough to be starters because essentially that’s what is desperately needed.

Conor Spence

Celtic in the Eighties by David Potter. Foreword by Danny McGrain. Published on Celtic Star Books on 5 September 2025. Click on image to pre-order.

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