Brendan Rodgers says his Honda Civic comment was a reference to the lack of speed in Celtic’s squad at the moment.
The Hoops boss caught headlines after Sunday’s 2-0 defeat to Dundee when he said: “Listen, it’s not all linear and all smooth right the way through the season, that’s for sure.
“The challenge from the summer, now leading into here, where we lost a lot of firepower, a lot of goals out on the team.
“And there’s no way you’ll go into a race and be given the keys to a Honda Civic and say, I want you to drive it like a Ferrari.”
It was interpreted as a dig at his own players, but Rodgers has now said ahead of facing Sturm Graz that he isn’t ‘worried’ by the impact his words may have had.
The Celtic manager later reiterated he feels ‘no regret’ over the comment.
Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty ImagesRodgers stands by ‘Honda Civic’ remark
Asked if he understands why some viewed the remark as a criticism of his players, Rodgers replied: “I don’t know because I haven’t seen or read or heard anything, but it was based around the speed in our team.
“Clearly, it’s not the same as what we had last season, and I’m pretty sure both of those cars have got a different speed, so that was the reference to that.
“Yeah, I’m not really worried, to be honest. You can’t please everyone, and I’m not going to start trying to do that now. The players know that I’m with them, I’ve always been with them, and our focus is now on performing and performing to our best level.
“Listen, it’s something that I said at the time, and I said it because I felt it. So I’ve got no regret now.”
Rodgers can’t look back now on summer of ‘frustration’
People will say Rodgers knew exactly what he was doing by delivering the now infamous reference after the Dundee defeat.
They will say it was effectively a dig at both the players and the recruitment in the summer, questions around which will rumble on until January.
But Rodgers says that he can’t look back now and he simply must find a way to win games with the squad he currently has.
He continued: “Listen, I think we all knew what we needed in the summer, and for whatever reason we weren’t able to bring that level in, and timely at the right time.
“So yeah, I can’t afford to look back. I understand if you’re looking from the outside in, and if you’re a supporter, of course, you would do that, and that would be a real sense of frustration.
“But as a coach and manager, we knew what we had to do, we weren’t able to do it, and now we live with that consequence.
“But we have to find a way to win games, and I’m relentlessly looking at solutions, and because obviously the guys, when they come in, it wasn’t in pre-season, so you’re now having to look at things within games with very little coaching time.
“Because you’re playing over the weekend, and you get mid-week games, and you’re doing a lot of your coaching on video, and analysing that way.
“So yeah, I understand it, but on a personal level, I can only really focus with my coaches on the players that are here, and the team that’s here, and look to stand up and rise to the challenge.”