Statement from Dermot Desmond to Celtic Supporters

Because you talk utter * pish.

 

Desmond and the board need to realise that they are not 'owners' but merely 'temporary stewards' of our great club and institution.

His very, very carefully worded assassination of his good friend and employee is totally unprofessional as well as containing lies that are ambiguous enough to be legally sound.

If he already had MoN in place and the relationship broke down why was Rodgers able to resign rather than being sacked?
I'm guessing Rodgers got his fax machine working faster than Desmond's so he can avoid the NDA and 'clarify' a few points later?

Why also did the CEO or Chairman (the root cause of the issues) not make a or the statement?

You have to assume all of the points Desmond made in statement are based on information from Lawell and Nicholson
When was the last time Desmond talked to Rodgers?

So many questions - but no possible answers can justify Desmond's lack of professionalism and the deafening silence from the CEO and chairman.

 

Stephen McGowan

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.’






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.

 

We knew the cut of BRs jib before we brought him back. He just changed. Ain't our fault.

 

Well said.

In fact, any manager worth his salt would be livid with the way things have been going of late.

And that statement. Wow, just wow. After having been the absent leader with no communications forthcoming for months, he releases that? Is he 100% tone deaf? Does he really think that things will get better coming out with that?

There is no accountability, no humility, no accepting that the sheer mismanagement of the club is the reason for the situation both on the field and in the stands.
And that tells me things will only get worse before they can improve.

Bleak times.

 

Thought he went a bit easy on the Board and DD. The vast majority of fans want DD and his board gone and have done for years. I thought he could of emphasised that a bit more. Not sure how any manager can work with this board

 

So our board are perfect and it's all... checks notes... UEFA regulation, foreign tax, the media, the support and Brendan Rodgers fault.

 

Bleed green and white but

 

One part about the statement that sticks out to me is the part where he talks about Rodgers not being able to find one time they haven't backed him..

What about when the manager said the club won't sell Idah if they can't replace him and then they went ahead and sold Idah WITHOUT a replacement.. we then out of desperation signed an ex Rodgers player who had scored 1 league goal in the previous 2 seasons..

If that's classed as backing the manager in the boards eyes then I can't blame the manager for resigning.

 

He really thinks we're thick..

He is hoping to turn the whole narrative on Rodgers, resigned twice etc.. probably predicting a large chunk of the support didn't want him in the first place and would easily turn on Rodgers.

Whilst hiding behind the MON appointment, an appointment that sums up his antiquated thinking.

No talk of restructuring, even doubling down, -'well its worked well for the last 25yrs...'

Not to mention he was the one that brought Rodgers back, no mention that that was the wrong decision.

Again, we see nothing happens at out Club without his say so.. and nothing will change until he leaves or there's a mutiny in the boardroom.

 

That’s another ex player not allowed back now then

 

To some idiots in here, Rodgers is wrong because... well.. February 2018.

But everyone else is right because they aren't 'rats' like him. Even though, they're all saying the exact same thing.

 

That’s because some people live in a fantasy bubble


You’ve got * backing the the board at every turn

 

Meant to be binning Nicholson


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To be fair I assumed Rodgers 'Honda Civic' comments were a direct attack on @honda

 

Assuming Nicholson is going, how can Desmond blame Rodgers for everything?

 

This whole saga might be a turning point in the way the club is heading. Doubt it will be, but you never know. Seems like changes are happening and hopefully for the better.

 

Genuinely DD has * it.

He could have not made that statement and the board as a whole likely stood better chance of doing some jiggery pokery to turn eyes away from them and cast the Snake Rodgers narrative again.

This DD rogue statement just serves to ramp up pressure against the board and just seems bizarre he would make such a move. It really doesn't add up that someone in his position would see such a statement made and not have a small army of PR, Media, Legal teams all scanning it.

DD is playing a game that even Nolan couldn't even make sense of to create an Inception 2