The relationship between Celtic and Brendan Rodgers was done and dusted. That much was clear before a tense meeting with senior club figures on Monday ended in the manager’s resignation and a blistering statement from the controlling shareholder Dermot Desmond.
The board of directors felt the manager failed to get enough from the squad at his disposal, his public statements painting a target on their backs. Rodgers felt their failure to sign quality footballers in the summer transfer window painted a bigger target on his. In any fall-out between a board and an employee, there is only one winner.
Eight points behind Hearts, the season lurching into crisis, someone, somewhere, had to pay the price for a dysfunctional summer of player trading.
Head of Football Operations and scouting Paul Tisdale, the dressing room doctor, has found a way to escape the scalpel.
Chairman Peter Lawwell, Chief Executive Michael Nicholson and Finance Director Chris McKay are still there.
Thus far the only heads to roll are those of the first team manager, his assistant John Kennedy and his coaches.
From the Chief Executive of a football club the statement from controlling shareholder Dermot Desmond would have been eviscerating. From a non executive director with a 34% stake in the club it was extraordinary.
Branding the actions of Rodgers ‘divisive, misleading, and self-serving’ felt like a savage attempt to sink the 52-year-old’s career beneath the waterline.
Diverting responsibility for the team’s collapse away from the boardroom Desmond claimed that: ‘what has failed recently was not due to our structure or model, but to one individual’s desire for self-preservation at the expense of others."
In doing so there was an implication that selling Kyogo Furuhashi and Nicholas Kuhn and banking the cash without signing adequate replacements was not the issue. Signing two left wingers of yet-to-be-determined quality while failing to sign any wingers for the right side was less important than individuals looking after number one. The actual problem, it turns out, was Rodgers turning supporters against a blameless hierarchy through his public insubordination.
A fanbase devoid of critical faculties might buy that. While the evidence they surveyed with their own eyes told supporters that the relationship between Brendan Rodgers and Celtic had run its course and that change was necessary, many will also feel that the poor performances could not be laid exclusively at the manager’s door.
The coach who takes public nibbles at his own board of directors and brands his own team a ‘Honda Civic’ plays a dangerous game. Yet, as Celtic’s most recent public statements have shown, an absence of humility or self awareness in public statements is not unique to Brendan Rodgers.
Regardless of who is telling the truth over contract discussions or transfer gripes the torching of Rodgers and his reputation offers no admission of perceived structural failings within the club. No acceptance that the failure to strengthen the team and build on the European progress of last season might have played some part in the manager’s public frustration over ‘transfers and club operations.’
Read more:
- Dermot Desmond tears into Brendan Rodgers in emotional Celtic open letter
- Stephen McGowan: Celtic are spending like a club in the throes of buyer’s remorse
The notion that fans might have stayed compliant and supine if the manager had kept his mouth shut fails under scrutiny. The idea that they might not have noticed the club spending deadline day scrambling around for a free transfer striker when they had £77million swilling around in the bank doesn’t stack up. Even if Rodgers had kept his thoughts to himself the toxicity in the stands would still have been there when the team went backwards.
Ironically, the suggestion of a lack of professionalism in the public statements of Rodgers risks the same accusation coming back with interest. Airing the club’s dirty linen on the club website has turned the manager’s departure into an undignified point-scoring circus. Rodgers has yet to return fire and if or when he does his response – be it verbal or legal – will be equally explosive.
In defence of the board Desmond states accurately that the club structure ‘has served the club with great success for more than two decades.’
In the first 107 years of Celtic’s existence, the club won 35 league titles. In the last 30 years, since the Irish billionaire came on board, they’ve won 20, adding 13 Scottish Cups and the same number of League Cups.
If domestic success is all Celtic aspire to it’s an impressive haul. If finishing one point ahead of Rangers – or Hearts – is the goal then they’ve got things bang on.
After stretching Bayern Munich in the Allianz Arena in a Champions League play-off, Rodgers aspired to more. He spoke of pushing on and making Celtic a presence in UEFA competitions. Instead of moving forward they sold key players, failed to replace them before the Champions League play-off against Kairat Almaty and hit reverse gear.
Rodgers can’t escape the contention that Celtic should have won that tie anyway. It’s difficult to remember the last time they won a big game under his tenure, performances have been poor given the cost of the squad and, if he kept the club dangling over the issue of a new contract – as Desmond asserts - that explains the reluctance to repeat the £25million spend of last summer.
In an eye raising line, however, the statement also claims that “Every pound generated by the club is reinvested towards…. the continuous improvement of Celtic Football Club.”
In February 2024 the club held £67.3million in the bank and, after a disappointing transfer window, acknowledged that the board recognised ‘the inherent inefficiencies of holding excess cash, and, in conjunction with other cash commitments, the importance of investing in strengthening the team to deliver football success."
While they spent big on Arne Engels, Auston Trusty and Adam Idah, the three spent more time than they should have warming the substitute’s bench. And, like a club nursing a bad case of buyer’s remorse, the portcullis came down once more.
In the recent accounts the cash at bank was £77million and the concerns of the wider fanbase over governance and the way the club trades players have yet to be addressed head on.
Peace talks with the Celtic Fan Collective were promised before the Europa League game against Braga – no coincidence you suspect – but have yet to delivered a tangible outcome.
While Hearts utilise the data of Jamestown Analytics to embrace the future of football recruitment and colonise the summit of the SPFL Premiership Celtic have chosen to turn back the clock.
The return of Martin O’Neill with Shaun Maloney was announced hours after the legendary manager went on to Jim White’s show on TalkSport and tipped Hearts to win the league. The onus is now on Desmond and his executives to go out and land a permanent coach capable of proving his interim appointment wrong.
Share