Football management is a fickle business.

You’d be hard pressed to be too critical of Brendan Rodgers but the Celtic manager was clearly irked this week in the light of what he has perceived as a bit of unnecessary flak from some quarters.

The bottom line for me is that no matter how well you do or what you do, you never please all of the people all of the time.

There will always be someone bumping their gums about something.

As a manager, you do try to rise above it and get on with your own concerns but there are times when you feel like turning around and telling people to, in the nicest possible way, get knotted. Few people can really understand the kind of pressure that comes with being in charge of a club like Celtic and the daily tensions that come with it.

It can be all consuming. It is just the way it is, especially in Glasgow where the appetite for news and gossip never lets up – and I am going back to a time before we had social media to stir the pot.

I don’t want to sound like a sycophant as when the situation calls for it I am happy to offer constructive criticism, but the reality of the situation is that you can’t blame Rodgers for taking the hump a wee bit this week.

This week it was Kris Commons telling him what he should be doing but I also felt when I was managing that you are the one who sees players train day in, day out. That is the only way to form a valid opinion of whether someone is or isn’t up to playing in the first-team and it is also the only way to ascertain just what you need.

There has been a huge shout from the summer to get in another centre-half but he done that. He signed Marvin Compper to lend the defence a bit of experience so the thing that people were crying out for has already been addressed.

In some ways the whole buy another defender is like a dog with a bone.

Compper was never going to be eligible for the Europa League game against Zenit St Petersburg but he was bought more so with this summer in mind and a look at the Champions League qualifiers, of which there are now four rounds this year.

I never had to deal with a transfer window that is open only twice in a season but I do also think that it is foolish to buy if you don’t believe in the player you are bringing in – you need to spend money in the full thinking that you are enhancing your squad.

There is money in the bank from the Champions League and the kickback too from the Virgil van Dijk sale but if you can’t get what you want then it is daft to buy in a player simply to keep people happy.

Yes, everyone loves a new signing and wants to see the club go out and keep looking to improve but from my own experience, halfway through a campaign is not when anyone wants to be selling players.

If the player you have targeted is available and the money is right and both parties are keen, then you’ll get what you want but it is rarely as straightforward as that.

I’ll reiterate that I have liked the look of Kristoffer Ajer over the last month or so. Jozo Simunovic and Dedryck Boyata are there too and while Compper’s injury will have been a disappointment to both the player and the manager – you always want a new signing to gel as quickly as possible – the fact is that he is there and shouldn’t be out for too long.

His injury is just one of those things.

Erik Sviatchenko has done the right thing in heading back to Denmark for game time. He has really fallen out of the first-team picture and, again, you have to judge the manager on what he sees every day on the training pitch.

The one other thing that I suspect Rodgers might have been irked at was the suggestion that his training methods are suspect. Listen, this team is far and away the fittest team in the league – and has been since Rodgers arrived.

That in itself gives you a confidence and an assurance when you walk out onto the pitch and it is reflected in games where you can maybe keep it going and keep pressing even when the game is in its final stages.

I thought that comment was nonsense.

We can all say that Celtic could have done better in the Champions League this season but take that out and the fact remains that this could be another historical campaign as the club look to seal a back-to-back treble for the first time.

That in itself tells you they must be doing something right.