As criticisms go, this was a bizarre one. John Barnes coming out and taking a bit of a pop at Brendan Rodgers was a real eyebrow raiser.
Barnes has got a bit of a cheek saying Rodgers has an easy life at Celtic. As someone who has been the manager of the club, you’d think he’d know better.
It wasn’t easy for him during his time in charge. It didn’t look easy falling 20-odd points behind Rangers in the title race back then. It wasn’t easy to beat Inverness Caley Thistle in the Scottish Cup.
If anything, Barnes made a difficult job harder than it was. I loved Barnes as a player. But to suggest Rodgers has an easy life in Scotland is laughable.
Let’s be clear, Rodgers had made it look easy. This is a manager who is on track to win 12 out of 13 competitions he’s entered.
I don’t care what state Rangers or whoever else are in, that is a remarkable return. It’s up there among the best any boss has managed at the club or in the country.
The consistency shown over his two spells has been incredible. It’s not easy winning every week. It’s not easy dealing with the demands of having to win every week and every single trophy.
And not many managers are capable of dealing with it. Ask Martin O’Neill if the Celtic job is a breeze. Ask Gordon Strachan, or Neil Lennon, Ronny Delia or Ange Postecoglou.
Yes, Celtic might have a bigger budget than the rest, but making it count is a difficult balancing act.
This is a job where draws are a disaster and defeats are a catastrophe. Across the city the demands are similar and it’s churned up plenty of managers.
Barnes went on to admit there are unrealistic expectations of the club in the Champions League. What part of that is easy then?
Celtic managers are expected to get to the knockout stages of Europe’s premier competition – with a budget comparable with teams in the English Championship.
If you parachuted the likes of Burley into the Champions League, most people would expect them to get battered.
But Celtic have to hold their own – and they did that this year. There’s nothing easy about it. And this week won’t have been easy on the back of defeat to Rangers.
The club are 13 points clear and in the hunt for a Treble – but supporters have been miserable all week.
That’s the challenge of this job. There’s been plenty of fallout from Sunday but a few things has stuck with me.
The importance of Callum McGregor for one. There’s been some supporters who have raised doubts about the captain. Sunday should shut them right up.
McGregor was a major miss, not just in terms of his leadership but as a player. The flow wasn’t the same, the ball wasn’t being moved around with the same speed, there were too many square balls and back passes.
Too many players took the safe option. McGregor is the one man who is prepared to take the ball in tight areas, commit opponents, either spin then and go past or pick out the right ball to get Celtic moving through the press.
I know Rangers have tried to stifle him and sometimes they have achieved bit of success, like at Ibrox and the first half at Hampden
But more often than not, he’s found a way to dominate this fixture. You can bet the Rangers players would have got an immediate boost when they got the team sheet and he wasn’t on it. That says everything.
That was the challenge for Arne Engels last weekend – but you’ve got to say he came up short. Listen, he’s still only 21 year-old and it’s clear from his displays this season he is a talent.
I also don’t think the McGregor role is his best position on the pitch. Speaking to people who watched him in Germany, the general feeling is he is much more effective further up the pitch.
It might come, but I’m not sure he has the physicality just yet for that deep role and it was obvious he wasn’t comfortable being put under intense pressure. He wanted more time on the ball – and you just don’t get that in Scotland, and certainly not in a derby.
Engels gets battered with his price tag, but the fee was nothing to do with him. You get some people saying he doesn’t look like an £11m player, but what does an £11m player look like these days?
I see plenty who cost far more in the English Premier League and they look like they’d struggle to control a beach ball.
It’s all relative. Yes, Engels has struggled to impose himself in games against Rangers.
But last weekend was the first one he has started. For more experiences players have lost the plot in this fixture in the past and I’m sure he will learn from it.
The problem for Rodgers last Sunday was he didn’t really have much scope to change things from his bench.
Paulo Bernardo was a loss but, in general, Celtic’s squad looked a little light.
All this strengthens Rodgers’ hand for the summer. I know Kieran Tierney is coming in but it shows there is work to be done.
Celtic are in a superb position in that they pretty much know the title is in the bag.
That means the Champions League planning has to be happening now. Who knows what kind of backing Rangers will get from the 49ers as well.
Celtic brought in Paul Tisdale to sort out the recruitment after Rodgers admitted in recent years it hasn’t been up to scratch.
Well, now we’ll find out what the football doctor is all about. Rodgers has his work cut out to achieve again next season – and it will be far from easy.