THE THREE OPTIONS FACING BRENDAN RODGERS AFTER CELTIC BOARD BACK-STABBING
- BY LIAM CARRIGAN
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
I wrote earlier today about the cowardly, shameful, utterly disgraceful collusion between senior executives at Celtic and The S*n newspaper to try and throw our manager Brendan Rodgers, under the proverbial bus.
But the biggest question of all is: what happens next?
Where does this leave Brendan Rodgers, where does it leave Celtic, and where does it leave our fans?
Brendan Rodgers Hatchet Job in The S*n Draws Near Universal Condemnation
I said earlier today that the article in question wasn’t just an act of pettiness and cowardice, it was also one of stupidity.
For the Celtic Board to think that fan anger would subside with one hit-piece from a hack at Scotland’s most detested newspaper was a level of incompetence that, were they working for a PR company, every one of them would be getting sacked on Monday.
I knew all of you, the Celtic support, the people who make our club the global force for good that it is, wouldn’t be taken in by this agenda-driven drivel. My faith in you all was not misplaced.
Indeed, today’s article seems to have had the opposite of its intended effect.
We can disagree about whether we think Brendan Rodgers is, indeed, an elite level manager. We can disagree about the tactics he employs, his stubborn refusal to change them, and his questionable squad selections.
However, after today, I think almost all of us are united in saying “our manager does not deserve this.” He is not the primary cause of all the unrest, the chaos and the in-fighting “tearing Celtic apart.”
That responsibility lies at the feet of Dermot Desmond, a man who rules over Celtic with all the subtleness of Emperor Palpatine, despite owning less than 35% of the club.
His stooges on the Celtic Board, (Lawwell, Nicholson, etc) either too afraid, or too comfortable in their current cushy positions of false power, are also to blame.
It is the duty of board members to speak up when they see a company headed in the wrong direction.
It is their duty to speak up when they see an institution that has stood proudly for nearly 140 years being derailed by the arrogance and ego of one man.
Rodgers certainly isn’t blameless, but all of the people listed above should be hounded out of Celtic Park long before he is.
So, from a fan perspective, this changes nothing. Protests will continue. The anti-board chants will continue, and moves behind the scenes to bring about real change through a united front amongst all our major fan groups will continue to gather pace.
Indeed, with this stunt today, I think the Board might have pushed a few fence-sitters, who were otherwise indifferent to the need for revolutionary change, to go full “Che Guevarra” as it were and join the thousands already demanding regime change at Celtic.
From Rodgers own perspective, I think there are three ways this could pan out, and at the moment, I really don’t know which one it will be.
Option one, is he walks into Celtic Park on Monday morning, smacks the board around the head with a copy of today’s S*n (metaphorically speaking), tells the Celtic Board to f**k off and quits on the spot.
I wouldn’t blame him if he did, and I would sincerely wish him well for the future.
Option two is perhaps the most likely, but also potentially the most damaging to Celtic this season. Rodgers stays, until the board decide to remove him.
Knowing his departure is inevitable, whether its at the end of the season or sooner, Rodgers himself stops holding back, speaks his mind in press conferences and lets it be known publicly just how much of an utter sh*t show Celtic is at the moment, and who exactly is responsible.
Egos like Dermott Desmond’s are too big to allow such slights to continue unabated, and Rodgers would probably be removed within weeks if this happened.
Option three is perhaps the one I am dreading the most.
Rodgers says nothing, carries on as if all is well, and says he “has the full support of the board, no further comment”.
At that point Rodgers would probably lose the backing of many supporters, myself included. Because from that moment, he is no longer a victim of the board’s malevolent ignorance, he becomes a willing enabler of it.
I hope that doesn’t happen, and I hope those truly responsible for “tearing Celtic apart from within” face the long overdue public judgement that awaits them.