The first question I was asked this morning by a solicitor and non-football fan was, “How much is Brendan Rodgers worth?” I said, “He’s probably earned around £30m over the last 15 years”. “So he has enough to sue, if anything Dermot Desmond said is wrong”, came back. You and I both know, he’s not going to sue. It’s all true. It is also high time Celtic took a direct approach to communicating with the supporters.
Who of us would have guessed that Brendan Rodgers, Brendan Rodgers, the man of legendary impeccable character, would have his “conduct and communication” called into question? How shocked was I to read that Brendan’s assertion about the club were “simply untrue”! Untruths come easier to some than others.
Two players in particular are pertinent to the assertion that Brendan had “full knowledge, approval, and endorsement” of players bought and sold; Kyogo and Nicolas Kuhn. “Sell them” is not what should have been said when offers came in for either player. Brendan has favourites in the squad. Others, not so much.
The first thing Martin O’Neill is likely to do when he meets the squad is put an arm around Reo Hatate, Daizen Maeda, and put a call into Cameron Carter-Vickers. Where there are favourites, there are outsiders. Celtic have looked and played like a team divided for most of this year.
This absolute mess was predictable and predicted. On his return as manager in June 2023, I wrote, “Brendan will find a united dressing room, backroom and supporter base. We should all try hard to keep things this way, self-indulgent schisms do nothing for Celtic.” Two years later Dermot Desmond wrote that Brendan’s words and actions were “divisive, misleading, and self-serving”.
Predicted: “Self-indulgent schisms” and we got “divisive… self-serving”. I called it.
The wee-man toxicity that left the club in 2019 was welcomed back to my utter astonishment. Pardon my, “Welcome to Celtic, Brendan” on the day, it was with the best intentions but not entirely sincere.
Martin O’Neill was brought in with a remit to unite the dressing room. A team divided cannot win. Players need to know they are respected. The Honda Civic stuff was not a material comment, merely a public manifestation of what had been the reality at Lennoxtown for a long time.
Celtic has been set back years as a consequence of the decision to appoint Brendan in 2023. I hope the board recognise this, reflect how it came about and on their role in the mess. If you welcome the fox into the hen house, you cannot complain when he eats the hens.
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Eh……
It’s Wednesday eve. Did I miss last night yesterday?
F5, F5, F5, F5, F5
I don’t wish to get embroiled in all the “who killed who” (Monty Python) chitter chatter, so here’s an alternative discussion topic…
In the current situation, would anyone be happy to pay £100 for Celtic to win the SPL this season? Would you?
I looked on the Paddy Power website at the odds to win the SPL and found that it currently shows the following:
Celtic 8/13
Hearts 6/4
rangers 10/1
I’m no expert on betting, but if my understanding is correct, a £100 punt split £80 on Hearts and £20 on rangers would yield a profit of £120 if Hearts are champions and £200 of the unthinkable happens, which would slightly soften the blow in each scenario. If Celtic recover and prevail you’d be £100 down, but with the situation as it is now that would probably be worth the loss!
Aye right Paul.Put that brown tongue away.Nobody likes seeing it.
Let’s get behind the team and Management team.
But DD chose him Paul, and he’ll choose the next one, will he? por cierto
Still flabbergasted.
I agree he had to go. So do Nicholson and Lawwell, even on the strength of your logic. Their decision has set Celtic back years you tell us. No reflection, no lessons learned, just plain old accountability.
I had low expectations of today’s article.
These have been exceeded!
Wow
Shocker
DD raging at Billionaire Trump outbullshitting him.
That statement the result.
Billionaire meglomaniacs,let loose with their own platform,and crayons.Wit they like.
The fabric of the club is frayed somewhat, but at least action has been taken to prevent it from unravelling completely, which was a clear possibility.
Putting MON in is a shrewd way of taking the heat off the board in the short term, but there’s a reckoning to be had come what may.
The blame for Celtic’s last two league defeats lies with the Celtic Collective and Brendan Rodgers.
Celtic brought in 11 new players in the summer. If you were one of those players, how would you feel about the supporters throwing tangerines and tennis balls on to the pitch at the start of a game as a protest at the board not bringing in decent players during the summer?
How would you feel about a manager constantly telling the world his team lacked class?
I have a feeling you are correct Paul. DD is not daft. He knows full well the consequences of any untruths in his statement.
Good riddance to bad rubbish.
Roll on the era.
Hail Hail.
P67- you might need that lawyer again, if its ‘ all true’
Will Nicholson fall on his sword? por cierto
Where’s Nicholson?
Afternoon all.
It’s probably just me but this chaos reminds me of a television show I’m watching at the moment ‘The Traitors’
Who are the ‘Traitors’ and who are the ‘Faithful’ in this ongoing debacle?
Think Paul is gonna be in ’tis but a flesh wound’ mode soon
Mon will get a reality check when he finds out tomorrow that Kenny is in instead of Larsson!!
Good strong decisive statement from DD, with a set of baws being firmly booted on the way out.
Revenge is a dish best served cold, and it’s been 6 years in the planning.
Glenowen,
Really?.You were shocked? Wait till Burnley,Celtic40Me come on.In saying that,has anyone ever seen both in the same room together?
It’s no surprise he lost the dressing room.
We are all made of stars ⭐️
He Won’t Sue, So It’s True” Fallacy
This is a logical absurdity. The opening gambit is a classic rhetorical trap: “If he doesn’t sue for libel, everything we said must be true.
This ignores the reality of libel law. For a public figure like Rodgers to win, he must prove not just that the statements were false, but that they were made with “actual malice” – knowledge of their falsity or reckless disregard for the truth. It’s a long, incredibly expensive, and reputationally damaging process that almost no football manager would ever undertake. His silence is a sign of strategic intelligence, not an admission of guilt.
he author claims Kyogo and Kuhn were players Rodgers wanted to sell, and that this proves he didn’t endorse the squad. This is presented as fact without a shred of evidence.
This is pure speculation designed to support the “divisive” narrative.
Even if it were true, a manager having preferences is not a crime; it’s his job. Martin O’Neill having “favourites” like Sutton, Hartson, and Lennon was the foundation of his success. The attempt to frame this as a unique character flaw in Rodgers is transparently biased.
Focusing on a manager’s flippant analogy to avoid discussing the substantive issue: the board’s philosophy. Is transparent.
This is the first narrative, doing damage control. It avoids the real, evidence-based arguments (the money, the specific transfer targets, the punts, the leak to the sun by Lawell) and instead launches a character attack, hoping that by making Rodgers the villain, the board’s own failings will be forgotten.
This would be a serious error of judgement.
I don’t usually repost my own nonsense, but it has some relevance to the article and I can’t be bothered writing it again.
THE BLOGGER FORMERLY KNOWN AS GM on 28TH OCTOBER 2025 8:21 AM
Unfortunately we’re witnessing a mob in full flow.
If they had an ounce of objectivity they would know you really can’t run around telling lies about people in public.
The UK is seen as the libel capital of the world due to its plaintiff-friendly laws (I think the defendant must prove their statements are true, rather than the plaintiff having to prove they are false). This leads folk from around the world to bring cases to the UK.
I have to say I was pretty shocked by the frankness of Desmond’s statement. He is clearly absolutely fuming.
However, it was very clear and concise and it should be very easy for Rodgers to bring a case if it has no basis in fact.
I suspect he won’t because he knows it’s true.
How can you set a club back for years when it’s already decades behind the game?
Good luck Brendan. Thanks for all the trophies. Go and get yourself a dynamic club with ambition.
You’ve surpassed yourself this time Paul. You do know DD doesn’t read CQN. Indeed he won’t read or watch any Celtic fan site because he has no respect or time for any of us. None of the board do.
They collectively show that as they hide behind each other whilst asking us for more money whilst the club underachieves almost every season in Europe. We become a smaller club in real terms every season.
DD has not held back and I am sure a great deal of what he says is true but if anybody including you Paul, thinks this is all at the door of BR you’re a fool. Ignorant of the facts.
Look at the squad. Look at it. No striker of any quality. None. But we have 4 on the books.
No right winger other than poor Jamesie in his ageing years.
Players that should have been moved on as well.
The next man will be a novice so the board can control everything even more and we will return to project after project delivering mediocrity on Europe. That’s what you have said you want Paul.
Gie us peace
Paul 67
Did you write this or your mate Lawwell?We will never have a club when he has anything to do with it in any capacity.
Well the host is having his moment of glory. Talk about fiddling whilst Rome burns.
The assertion that “he won’t sue” is yet another in a long line of reckless gambles endorsed by idiots who always think they’ll have the last word. I would not put Fergus’ famous “one thin dime” on their being right. That statement leaves us legally exposed to a tremendous degree. Because of course that’s an official club communication, not Desmond’s personal website.
Which means that the legal burden of proof falls on the club, not on the mustachioed Wizard of Oz.
I agree that there’s been an act of enormous harm to Celtic done here. It’s just not the one some people think
Does anyone know if there will be a press conference today to preview tomorrow’s game?
TML,
Players are not 5 year olds,upset,and can’t play because some big bad fans threw some balls onto the pitch.Do you honestly think the players don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes.Calmac,the captain,who spoke out,is not furious no better additions were brought in to help the team,you know,in case of injuries,in case we needed a RW,or a CF.
BR never said the team were not good enough.We needed better.Do you think they are good enough,or do we need better?Or was BR telling lies.Players know this goes on,why they don’t play every week.Someone is better.
Players are not drama queens,like you appear to be.
The truth will out.
Eventually.
In dribs and drabs.
But not in court.
A guy worth €10 million will not win a legal battle in the UK against a guy worth €2 billion.
Regardless of the strength of his case.
I’ll be interested in hearing what Brendan has to say and how he says it … if and when he chooses to speak
(he is well within his rights to keep silent)
As a said last night, IMHO this is a sad end to a fine body of work.
I believe, without evidence, that Brendan is about done in top flight management.
I suspect there is a possibility he might get an SOS from a relegation threatened EPL team looking for a bounce.
The Arabian peninsula might also be a destination.
Hey ho.
Goodbye Brendan Rodgers.
Neil Lennon has been standing in that shower since Sunday , he’s been in there so long that his skin’s gone all wrinkly . Somebody please go and break last night’s news to him.
“Two players in particular are pertinent to the assertion that Brendan had “full knowledge, approval, and endorsement” of players bought and sold; Kyogo and Nicolas Kuhn. “Sell them” is not what should have been said when offers came in for either player.”
Zat right, P67??
I dont remember BR saying he didn’t endorse those player departures.
Kyogo and Kuhns’ faces had been tripping them for months and were not giving 100% in all games.
What was BR supposed to do? Shackle them – and their petted lips – to a squad which despite their departures nearly bested Munich?
Brendan probably learned a lot from the ‘blocking Boyata move’ bunfight back in the day.
It made sense to sell both Furuhashi and Kuhn especially given their current lacklustre endeavours.
What was bonkers was reaping the cash and failing to replace either or both in a decent time frame.
Anyway, it’s just Celtic; a branch of the corporatised entertainment industry.
There’s better things in life to give yersel high blood pressure over. HH
Farewell Sweet Prince – our most successful manager since Jock Stein
The Sleeveen
He doesn’t just support the board; he identifies with it. To question the wisdom of Dermot Desmond is not merely a difference of opinion; it is a personal affront, a sign of a feeble mind unable to grasp the cold, hard realities of modern football.
He sits now, perhaps in a wine bar or scrolling through a curated social media feed, a smirk of condescension playing on his lips. He reads the outrage of the fans, the pleas for ambition, and he feels a warm glow of superiority. He sees not passion, but hysteria. Not a demand for glory, but an entitled mob.
He is a man who mistakes cynicism for intelligence. His mantra is “sustainability,” a word he wields like a cudgel to beat down any dream larger than his own imagination. To him, the £90 million in the bank isn’t a symbol of stifled ambition; it is a trophy, proof of a model that works. He looks at a balance sheet and sees a poem.
He will speak to you with a weary, patronising air, as if explaining a simple truth to a child. “My dear fellow, you simply don’t understand. We can’t just go spending that money. Look at the structure. Look at the model.” He talks of “the Celtic model” with the reverence of a theologian, a perfect, untouchable system that must be protected from the grubby hands of those who actually want to win things beyond the Scottish Premiership.
He treats those who are anti-board with absolute, unvarnished contempt. They are the “diddy mob,” the “green brigade of bloggers,” the emotional, the unwashed, the great unwashed who cannot see the grand design. They are, in his eyes, shit on his shoes—an unpleasant, irritating residue to be scraped off and dismissed. Their crime is not disloyalty, but a failure to appreciate the genius of the corporate strategy. They want to win the Champions League; he wants to win the end-of-year financial report.
His arrogance is not born of success, but of proximity to power. He has never built anything, never taken a risk, never felt the thrill of a truly audacious goal. But by aligning himself completely with the men in the boardroom, he borrows their authority. He is a courtier in a castle of his own imagination, and he despises the peasants at the gate for their loud, messy, and inconvenient dreams.
He is, in the end, a small man, comforted by a small ambition, and utterly bewildered by those who demand anything more. He is the Sleeveen. And he thinks he’s the smartest man in the room.
Bang on the money there Mr Forrest.( I sound like a knee bending Hun there ).
By the way,your article this morning was outstanding.
Susan Whelan new CEO
Has anyone ever seen TURKEYBHOY and TURKEYBHOY in the same room?