Frustrated Brendan Rodgers reckons British broadcast deals have left clubs with an uphill battle in Europe.
The Celtic boss is facing a tight turnaround from Saturday night’s Premiership encounter with St Johnstone in Perth to Tuesday’s crunch Champions League clash with Borussia Dortmund in Germany. Meanwhile the Bundesliga outfit will have more recovery time after managing to get their weekend match against Bochum bumped back 24 hours to last night.
Rodgers insisted Celtic are far from alone in being forced into frantic schedules because of a lack of flexibility in the television deals. The Parkhead boss – who admitted Cameron Carter-Vickers will sit out the Saints trip and facing a race to be fit for Tuesday – said: “I think for all British teams it is a frustration. Borussia Dortmund played Bochum on Friday so they’re able to move the game that day early.
“It gives them three full days to prepare for our game and the game at home. For us we’ll probably not be home until after midnight from Perth. Then it’s a very, very quick turnaround travel and then you’re out playing the game. I think it’s for most British teams.
“The television and the slots and everything seems to take priority over the game and preparation. But we’re not the only team that’s happened to have seen it for a number of years. The European guys will have their slots and they’ll find agreements to help their teams prepare the best they can.
“I think if there’s a Friday night slot then that would and could work well. A Friday night game can be a really good game to open up the weekend. I think it has to be beyond the clubs. I think it has to be something in place with the federations and then of course linking in with the TV.
“In fairness in Germany there’s more Friday night slots for their TV games which means they can request that which gives them the extra recovery. It may be in the future but it’s been ongoing for years I’ve got to say. I’ve been in the Premier League and seen it there and seen it across many years. That at times takes priority over the wellbeing and the preparation for footballers.”
Rodgers insisted he’ll send out a full strength side against manageress Saints – but Carter-Vickers won’t be risked. The centre back is struggling with a toe injury but the Hoops gaffer revealed the stalwart won’t require surgery.
Rodgers said: “He’s just got a pain on his big toe in the joint, so we just have to look at that. He’s been playing with it for a little while, but we’ve got to try and manage it now because he was in pain in the Slovan Bratislava game.
“Hopefully it’ll settle down quite quickly and we’ll see where it’s at for Tuesday. I think he’d gone through a lot and pushed him through a lot but it was not getting any better.
“I don’t think it was getting worse but he was having to go through too much pain with it really. He’s a tough character. We just felt that it’s obviously one of those ones that with rest it will self-correct and he will be okay. We’ll pick a starting XI to go into the game. It certainly won’t be the XI that will finish it. It’s important for us to win the game and win it well and win it in the way we want to and then we can get ready, recover and get ready for Tuesday.”
Rodgers roasted his side at half-time in Perth last December before recovering from a goal down to claim all three points. But he insisted his side are a different animal this term. Rodgers said: “At the point when we arrived there last year when I was there we definitely weren’t on the same page.
“But that’s my job as the manager to ensure that we were and that our standard was better than that. I look at the second half response and then I look to where we’re at now a year later. We’re in a much different place. The team’s gone in the direction I wanted to go in.
“Playing with the intent and the technicality and the physicality and the coordination and the hunger in the team. It’s night and day from that first half performance last season. We’ve done well up there in my time going to St Johnstone.”