I have not always practised what I preach.

I had moments in my own time when I said things publicly that maybe with a bit of hindsight I shouldn’t have. But I have been surprised this week at the way in which dirty linen has been washed in public at Celtic.

But Brendan Rodgers has clearly been irked at the manner in which this transfer window has played out.

I don’t think it does the club any good for that kind of discord to be laid bare. It gives ammunition to critics, it unsettles supporters and it never reflects well on the club as a whole to be seen to be playing out a dispute for the world to stand and watch.

To me, you keep that frustration behind closed doors and deal with it privately.

Maybe Brendan has. I am not privy to that. There is every chance he feels that he’s had his say face to face and has then decided this is the way to go, making his point through the channels of his media conferences.

I think from a distance we can all see that the situation over John McGinn will have tipped the scales this week. And I get that. I think we can all see that a boy who has a real connection to the club and who would have been an excellent long-term acquisition shouldn’t have been in the position to have his head turned by Aston Villa. I mean no disrespect to Villa - they are well run, have great facilities, an excellent manager and new owners who want to invest - but it could have been done at Celtic before that.

Again, it doesn’t reflect well on the club that a boy they wanted and who was affordable – and I think that is the key here – was allowed to slip through the net.

When I was at Celtic I was frustrated many times. Of course, it was an entirely different era and structure not just at the club but in football as whole.

But I wanted to bring in Pat Nevin, Stevie Clarke, Joe McLaughlin but was told quite clearly there just was not the money to do it.

This is a different situation. McGinn was a player that Celtic could have got. They were burned by the fact that Aston Villa stepped in so late in the game when it looked for most of the summer that Celtic were the only club who were in for him. So I understand where Brendan is coming from and I do think that it is one that could have been sorted earlier in the window.

But in the board’s defence, I think over the piece Brendan has been backed 100%. There is not another club in the country who would or could have paid £9m for Odsonne Edouard.

The transfer window has not finished yet. I still suspect that there will be more to come before it closes.

Maybe that is the point of coming out and laying bare his frustration as we enter into the last few weeks of the window being open.

But I think you run a real risk when you speak out so strongly like that of creating disharmony. There has been no indication of that in the two years that he has been at the club.

There will always be an element of frustration between a boardroom and a manager because as a coach you are always going to want more. You always want the best.

Brendan is right to point to the fact that he has brought significant finances into the club with two successful group stages of the Champions League and domestic success.

He is right to go and look to strengthen his squad. But I don’t think going about it publicly does anyone any favours. It creates an unnecessary discord that goes through the whole club. It is unsettling and it risks undermining what you want to do on the pitch. By all means pitch for the players you want and the money you want but for the sake of the club do it privately.