Chris Sutton said that “the blame game has to stop” after Celtic crashed out of the Champions League in Greece on Tuesday night, but went on to say that both Brendan Rodgers and the board had to take responsibility for not recruiting over the summer.
He also refused to single out any of the players that lost to AEK Athens for criticism, instead levelling another shot at centre-back Dedryck Boyata, who allegedly refused to play last night.
He said that it was time for Celtic to sort the mess out and that this should start with getting Boyata out of the club.
The blame game has to stop and it’s time for cool heads at Celtic… the manager and board could have handled things better! Celtics poor recruitment is the reason they are out! I don’t care about disco lights..time to sort this mess out starting with Boyata
— Chris Sutton (@chris_sutton73) August 14, 2018
OPINION
AEK Athens didn’t look like a particularly good side last night and that’s where the real disappointment will lie for Celtic. Sutton is bang-on when he says recruitment is to blame. By contrast to bitter rivals Rangers, Celtic had a really poor summer window and cracks are starting to show already with the season only just starting. They’ve already lost once in the league to Hearts, after going the whole of 16/17 without a domestic loss, and now they’re out of the Champions League. Rodgers has come out after the game and said that Boyata could have helped them in Athens last night and with everything else that’s been said it’s clear he won’t play for the club again. Sutton is right in this respect – Celtic need to sort the mess out and they need to start with Boyata. Get as much money for him as they can, irrespective of where he wants to go, and spend the money on new recruits, including a new centre-back. Sutton infamously talked about Celtic spending money on ‘disco lights’ instead of players during the commentary of the match last night, and it’s time for Peter Lawwell to understand that his team aren’t good enough for the ambitions of the supporters and manager. Rangers could haul them back in in the Premiership, and with everything else that’s happened so far this season, that would be a disaster for Celtic.