Celtic Diary Thursday May 10: Rodgers -Pending Severance Deal

The Diary has got one or two things right recently, threatening its credibility, so it was refreshing and re assuring that we -note when I’m wrong it’s “we”- got the Roy Keane /Martin O’Neill story wrong.

Although had Keane not been so bloody minded about refusing to committ until after the Euros, or Desmond so anxious to get out of Glasgow before it started raining again, who knows ? ( Not fucking you-Ed )

Lets face it, Desmond was never going to let Lawwell pick anything else again. We hear that Dernot sent Peter to the shops for twenty bensons, and when Peter said what will I get you if theres no Bensons, Dermot said just get me anything, and Peter brought him back a meat pie.

So, as you can imagine, Dermot wanted this done pretty quick. with him leading the negotiations.

Anyhoo, apart from the little matter of sorting out his severance pay with Liverpool, then Brendan Rodgers will be the next manager of Celtic.

If he isn’t, we’ll think of someone else by Monday.

There’s even a positive, if not exactly groundbreaking, revelation in the Record.

Kind of goes without saying, as neither Strachan, Lennon or Deila were on big bucks, and you’d expect the club to better O’Neills wage-if not his share bonuses-fifteen years later.

Anyhow, according to writer Keith Jackson, who knows how the minds of billionaires work,

…. an offer was tabled yesterday which, if accepted, would even dwarf the deal Desmond sanctioned when Martin O’Neill was taking home more than £1m a year during his time in charge.

On top of the bumper basic salary, it’s understood Rodgers would stand to bank a further fortune in bonus cash should he keep Celtic on track for a historic 10 titles in a row and also achieve Champions League qualification.  

Ah, wait. no mention of a warchest. Presumably a word that doesn’t get through the filter when discussing Celtic.

Desmond also spoke  about the process; 

“We’ve talked to a lot of managers, all very good. ( And Malky Mackay )

“We’re excited about the candidates that we have and, hopefully, in the next four or five days we’ll be able to make an announcement. We’d like to think Celtic is a very big club and it needs a great manager to manage such a great club. ( Or Malky Mackay )

“We’re looking forward to the next manager building us up to Champions League contenders. It must be the right man.” ( Not Malky Mackay, then )

Desmond confirmed “in excess of six” candidates had been interviewed and when asked whether Rodgers was one of those, he replied: “I can’t tell a lie. ”  

“He’s a great manager. He has proved it at Liverpool and he’s a worthy candidate for Celtic, as all the other candidates are.

“We’re excited about the managers we’ve interviewed and then discussed.” ( Except Malky Mackay )  

Sounds to me like Desmond is bored now, and wants it all sorted. Therefore , it’s only logical to assume he has sorted it.

So, is it too soon to welcome Brendan Rodgers to Celtic ?

Nah.

Though I have to say I don’t think the club will alter their buy low sell high policy, if early indications are anything to go by. We hear that Rodgers may well make Joe Allan his fiorst signing, so that if Scott allan does leave, there’ll be no need to waste money on buying him his own shirt.

Peter will be  pleased.

Keep an eye on developments at Inverness. There’s reports of a fallout between John Hughes and Kenny Cameron, the chairman, which may mean he’s available to be number two, which will no doubt annoy Paul Lambert, who appears to have his eye on the job as well.

I’ve no idea who will take up that role, but this time, lets allow the manager to pick his own crew.

So, Rodgers, is he the man for the job ?

Well, he’s served his time at lesser clubs, such as Chelsea, Swansea and Liverpool, so he might be ready for it.

He’s got a way with the press, having dealt with the hacks in England who can be pretty voracious at times, and he’s handled egos and troublemakers along the way.

The reality is we couldn’t do much better, given our own standing in world football, and perhaps we have done better than we hoped. Rodgers is well respected, can certainly coach a team, and more importantly, has an affection for the club he didn’t get from a subbuteo box.

Even more important to older fans like me, he is Celtic minded. The sale of his parents house, where he donated the money to charity, proves he has a moral conscience, and it proves he thinks a wee bit like the rest of us do.

We could have landed ourselves a gem.

In other news, John Collins says he might well work with Ronny Deila again in the future.

Yes, I’m sure the almost telepathic teamwork would be appreciated elsewhere;

We didn’t catch Ronnys reply, but I’m certain one of the words was ” off ” .

Elsewhere, Dave King made his latest move to get the bears onside when “rangers” issued this statement…

“The Rangers Football Club Limited has today served notice on Rangers Retail Limited terminating the IP Licence and Rights Agreement with that company with immediate effect.

“The club now needs to speak to its commercial partners to agree the next steps flowing from the termination and will make no further comment on this matter whilst discussions are ongoing.

“The club will endeavour to communicate further with its supporters and customers for Rangers Kit and other Rangers products as soon as it is in a position to do so.”

Ashley responded with a little bit of humour, presumably because he knows this shouldn’t be taken seriously..

Over on the Sports Direct website, there was a new look to one of the pages…

Further afield, another club was making a atatement, though this time its one to be applauded;

FC Barcelona expresses, in the most absolute terms, its total and complete disagreement with the announcement prohibiting the display of Estelada flags at the final of the Copa del Rey, to be played this Sunday night. The ban was announced on Wednesday by the Spanish government’s representative in theCommunity of Madrid.

FC Barcelona considers the decision to be an attack on the freedom of expression, the fundamental right of each and every individual to express their ideas and opinions freely and without censorship, a right which is recognised in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

FC Barcelona has always defended, and will continue to defend, the freedom of expression of all its members and fans, who have always displayed a high level of civility and respect.

FC Barcelona calls for the use of common sense and responsibility and demands the government representative’s cooperation in creating the good atmosphere a match such as the Copa del Rey final deserves. FC Barcelona also implores the representative to respect the honour of the institutions involved in this final and to avoid causing any uncomfortable situations.  

That, Mr Lawwell, is how to do a statement. It’s also how to recognise your support as supporters, and how to win their respect. 

There will be a full article on Rsolution 12, the Offshore game and the reactions of some toward it, and the non reaction of others a wee bit later, hopefully today, if not certainly tomorrow.

I’ve been looking at twitter and , well, I’ve not been surprised by some of the stuff I’ve found, and am working on putting it into some sort of readable form . Its quite absorbing, and worth taking time over.

But for now, here’s a little bit of a taster…

Indeed, Tom, how much evidence is needed when something comes along threatening the very integrity of a sport ?

As I say, I’ve much , much more on this subject, and will be putting it together shortly.

English , of course , has commented on the Offshore Game report. Sort of.

Worth reading what others see as flaws, but not worth him commenting on the piece.

I’ve come up with a few more questions, based on what I’ve seen as a shift in tactic from opponents of the Article That Must Not Be Mentioned, as they shift to attacking the man and not the ball.

They’ve failed to convince us that the article is nonsense, now they are questioning its motives, and the motives of those they say-and only they say-are behind it.

I’ll go into detail later, but this morning I’ve had some bad news-a friend of mine has taken his own life- and it might not be the best time to focus.

As far as I can see, everything is going to plan with the Res 12 guys and the club, which actually might explain the panic from what Turnbull Hutton once told me was “the dark side ” .

Desmond Dekker and the Dekkers share the prize for yesterdays caption competition, remarking that Bankier and Lord Livingston were turning their back on the Green Brigade again, whilst today…