Barnes' bitterness towards Celtic is still pouring out as he attacks Rodgers for choosing the "easy life"

03/21/2025 08:22 AM

There is a serious hint of hypocrisy in the latest attack levelled at Celtic from former manager John Barnes.

He’s in the Record today, stating that Brendan Rodgers chose the “easy life” by returning to Celtic.

Apparently Barnes is also an authority on Brendan Rodgers’ future job prospects, stating that EPL clubs won’t touch the Irishman.

That’s rich coming from Barnes, when you consider he wasn’t touched by a club of any stature after he left Celtic.

Tranmere Rovers is the only other club he has on his CV.

Then again, he failed miserably at Celtic.

Unlike Brendan Rodgers.

One thing is for sure though, whatever future prospects Brendan Rodgers might have, they will not be measured by his successes in the Scottish domestic game.

They will be measured by his achievements in Europe.

He certainly didn’t do his credentials any harm with some of the performances Celtic produced against top European opposition in this season’s Champions League.

Barnes comments in the Record this morning are dripping with bitterness.

But then again, any reference Barnes makes to Celtic, in any way shape or form, is always dripping with bitterness.

Barnes will never accept accountability for his miserable failure as Celtic manager during the ill-fated Barnes/Dalglish experiment back in the 1999/2000 season.

Barnes was given a huge transfer backing at the time, especially if his spending was looked at in the monetary terms of today.

He broke the Scottish transfer record with the purchase of Eyal Berkovic for £5.75 million.

In today’s money, that’s £11 million.

Barnes was also involved in the disastrous purchase of Brazilian defender, Rafael Scheidt, for £5 million.

Once again, that’s £9.5 million in today’s money.

Scheidt’s purchase was probably a major determining factor in Barnes’ sacking in early 2000.

But it can never be said that he wasn’t backed in the transfer market at the time.

He also spent £3 million on Stilyan Petrov, amongst others.

Barnes even had Mark Viduka in his squad at the time, so it’s pretty clear if Celtic had invested in a decent manager back then, things might have been a whole lot different.

Celtic spent big for that season, and still finished up 21 points adrift of Dick Advocaat’s Rangers 1872.

So, it’s pretty clear why Barnes lost his job.

But he’ll never admit that to anyone.

Listen to his interview with Paul John Dykes on ACSOM a couple of years ago, and you’ll hear every excuse under the sun as to why he lost his job.

But none if it was his fault.

The Record were clearly looking at a way to have a go at Brendan Rodgers after losing to Barry Ferguson, but they had to dig deep.

They found their content for this article on gambling website Pokerscout.

Here’s what Barnes had to say when he was asked if Rodgers would manage in the EPL again:

Well, it's a question of will the Premier League clubs be of interest to him because he's not going to go to Liverpool, Arsenal, Man United, Chelsea.

Tottenham possibly, but it's a question of is he going to have to come back to being a team in the Premier League who is going to be a mid-table team or maybe a Newcastle, finishing seventh or eighth. He's going to win the league most years up in Scotland.

He's been to the Premier League a couple of times and he's gone back to Scotland. It's up to him what he wants. It's a very easy life for him up there. Celtic are the best team and Rangers are struggling

How does Barnes know any of this?

How is he even in a position to give his opinion on something like this?

He has no idea what the future holds for Brendan Rodgers, and he’s making assumptions about Tottenham based on the fact another former Celtic manager is currently managing there.

But it seems as if Barnes knows everything about Brendan Rodgers’ future:

I don't think he'll be able to come back to the Premier League to a title challenger.

If he then says he wants to come back to the Premier League because he wants to be playing in a tougher competition, week in, week out, to show what he can do, that's up to him.

Well, who else would it be up to?

Barnes was also asked to give his opinion on Celtic’s performances, albeit to clearly ensure it was negative:

That's never going to change, is it? Because what are Celtic going to do? Celtic is never going to win the Champions League.

If they can get through to a knockout phase or to get through to a group stage, fine. But that is never going to change. Not in his lifetime anyway. So I don't know what they expect.

So there you have it.

The Record went out of the way to try and find some negative comment on Brendan Rodgers.

And John Barnes was the best they could come up with?

Knowing full well how bitter he is when it comes to anything to do with Celtic?

Of course, it’s now time to pile in in him after last weekend’s result.

The man who is on the cusp of delivering another treble for Celtic must be brought down.

The SMSM really are pathetic at times.

Celtic lost a game to the Ibrox side.

It’s the beginning of the end.

Again.

Jesus wept.

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