Scattergun.

Definition: An approach or method that involves doing something to many things or people in a disorganised way, rather than focusing on particular things or people. Does that sound familiar at all? It does if you are a Celtic supporter. Alarm bells are ringing. Loudly.

However, let's start with a few positives, shall we? Celtic's 1-0 win over Ross County - courtesy of Alistair Johnston's first-minute goal at Parkhead at the weekend - was Brendan Rodgers's team's sixth win in a row. The victory saw the champions remain five points ahead of Rangers at the top of the Scottish Premiership table. That's about as good as it gets.

Anyway, back to the scattergun approach and the fact that at Celtic it seems to be alive and well. It's prevalent in everything that the club does in the act of going about their daily business. Rodgers is a smart, highly decorated and successful manager, but at the weekend he let his mask of diplomacy slip when he had a barb at the supporters who booed the team off the park despite the success.

The Northern Irishman said: "I have had that [negative fan reaction] since I have been here. If it’s not the result, it’s me. If it’s not me, it’s the board. All we can do as a team is win games and try to improve and develop which is what the team has done.

"The team and staff work hard every day so we are very much together and that is how we will continue to be. If it falls below the expectation then we will do everything we can to be better."

READ MORE: Brendan Rodgers opens up on negative Celtic fan reaction

It was not what the Celtic supporters expected of their manager. It was a thickly veiled dig at the faithful as it possibly could be. It was as haphazard and scattergun as it gets. It was also very uncharacteristic of Rodgers. It wasn't particularly smart or wise. There are still sections of the Celtic support who believe that Rodgers does not have enough credit in the bank with them yet to be issuing such statements. Each Celtic fan to their own and all that.

What is evident is that whilst the 51-year-old might be getting increasingly frustrated at the fans that's nothing compared to how they feel at the perceived scattergun approach used by those at the top who are running the club. Rodgers may feel that scattergun criticism from the rank and file is harsh but it all feeds into each other. He is not exempt from flak here. Celtic have had a scattergun approach to form all season too. They have been the architects of their own downfall, having seen an eight-point lead at the top of the table all but whittle down to just two points.

Ironically it's not the matches against their rivals that have caused them the most grief. No, it's dropped points against St Johnstone, Hibs, Motherwell, Kilmarnock and Hearts that could well prove to be Celtic's undoing this season. The affairs of the first team are Rodgers' domain...always.

He's banged on about the need to bring in at least four quality players since last summer in various positions - goalkeeper, left-back, striker - none have arrived. Why is that? In fact, with the exceptions of Alistair Johnston and Luis Palma, it can be argued that Celtic have not brought in an oven-ready first-team starter for the best part of 18 months. Now That's What I Call Scattergun Approach Vol. 1888.

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The club -  for want of a better word - is being run incompetently. The Celtic fans are sick of it. They are sick of the board not delivering the top talent that the club requires to gain automatic entry into the newly revamped Champions League with a £60 million jackpot at stake.

There seems to be a constant theme of game playing - Russian Roulette - in particular whenever Peter Lawwell is at the wheel. The faithful believe he has form for it. The season that shall not be named, anyone? The failure to land John McGinn, anyone? This feeling of anxiety in Glasgow's east end has only intensified ever since his son Mark took over as head of recruitment. Meet the new boss, the same as the old boss.

Why did Rodgers come back in the first place then? Is history repeating itself? Why are the board sitting on a surplus of cash - (some £72 million) - not providing Rodgers with the funds to bring in the talent he desperately craves? Is he not putting forward a stronger case for said players to come in? Why are Celtic not putting all their wealth out on the pitch?

The lack of quality in Rodgers's team is starting to impact results as Celtic are not looking as assured as they should be in any game. If the modus operandi of any club is to keep their rivals at arm's length then don't be surprised when it gets its act together for one round and you stagger into a haymaker that leaves you sprawled on the canvas.

Celtic are sleepwalking and staggering into a haymaker this season.  They will kiss goodbye to the coveted Premiership title unless everybody at the club ups their game - Lawwell, Lawwell Jnr, Rodgers and the players included. So why did Rodgers come back to Celtic then? After all, it's his managerial reputation that is on the line here. Nobody else's. 

Celtic Way:

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Where is the ambition that Lawwell so proudly boasted of at the club AGM back in November when he said: "Celtic are committed to Scottish domination, a world-class football team and UCL progress albeit it’s a huge challenge. We feel that we are competing."

The Scottish domination is already under threat. There is no evidence to suggest that Celtic will ever provide their manager with a world-class football team that can progress in the Champions League. Are Celtic competing on the European stage? Was Rodgers made promises by the Celtic board that have not been kept after the glory years under Ange Postecoglou? Is the same history repeating itself that led to Rodgers leaving the first time around back in 2019?

The January transfer window shuts at 11:30 pm on February 1. At the time of writing Celtic have signed one player - Nicolas Kühn from Rapid Vienna for £3 million. That's nowhere near good enough for Rodgers or Celtic or the supporters for that matter. Of the 10 arrivals in the summer, none have improved the quality of the starting eleven. That's a huge indictment of the work of the recruitment department.

One wonders if Rodgers was attempting to say much more than he did with his scattergun outburst aimed at the supporters last weekend. Although I'm sure alienating sections of the fanbase was not high on his list of priorities. What is certain is that the mood music is not right at Celtic Park as everything surrounding the club at this moment in time is funereal despite winning six games in a row. Not for the first time this season there appears to be something rotten in the state of Denmark.

By uttering these words Rodgers sounded like a man who had lost his spark and mojo as the Celtic manager. Or a man who has simply had his fill of Lawwell. Have the actions of the Lawwells perhaps forced Rodgers to go down this route? Rodgers is entitled to so much better. By God, he's earned it.

As the manager said himself when he was unveiled: "Listen I've signed for three years, I guarantee I'll be here for three years unless I get emptied before that, as they say up here! That will be the plan and like I say then we can look at it from there."

The plan if there ever was one at Celtic appears to be scattergun at best. Whatever is happening now certainly wasn't the plan when Rodgers rocked back up to Paradise for a second spell back in June 2023.

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The major problem for Rodgers here is that if the board and Lawwell don't back their manager and Celtic don't bring in any new players before February 1, and the team continues to serve up more of the same sub-standard league performances that they did against Ross County at the weekend then the inevitable will happen.

The haymaker will duly arrive and Celtic will concede the Scottish Premiership title and all the money and prestige that goes along with it as a consequence. In those instances, the buck stops at the manager, not the chairman. Always. You couldn't make it up. Well, it is Celtic we are talking about, so you probably could. The biggest irony in all of this? If the unthinkable were to happen and Celtic blow the league this season?

Lawwell's scattergun will probably come out again only this time it will be trained on Rodgers and the trigger will be pulled to bullet him.