MONday Evening – Coming Down

Rather than an intro, I think this cartoon sums up this week so far

We recorded a Podcast on Sunday night and in it we discussed the various fractures between The Board, Brendan, Players, Fans and contemplated how it was all surely coming towards an Endgame, possibly dependent on how the next few fixtures against Falkirk and Rangers in the League Cup would play out.

As usual, we were wrong.
We were 6 days out.

It would only take 24 hours for us all to know exactly what we would endure.

I hadnt been checking my phone and actually heard the news via the car radio 11pm news bulletin. “Brendan Rodgers has resigned as Manager of Glasgow Celtic” announced the Presenter and even my wife who cares not 1 jot for fitbaw, exclaimed “Oh!” at the surprise. It was a surprise as it had only been a few hours since the same radio channel had been airing coverage of Rodgers talking about the Hearts defeat and the actions he needed to take to close the 8 point gap in the League.

I got home and settled down to catch up on the details.

• I learned that MON and Shaun Maloney had been put in Interim Charge.
• I learned that most of the Backroom Staff, most significantly John Kennedy,  had departed with the Manager.
• I learned that Dermot Desmond had seemingly lost 4 balls at Sandy Lane Golf course, stubbed his toe walking off the 18th Tee and decided that via a public statement, that some fucker was getting it….he just didn’t realise that fucker would be Celtics reputation rather than his intended target of Brendan Rodgers.

Celtic fans like me, sat there wondering, In the words of Karl Wallinger of the band World Party and their magnificent “Is it Like Today”…..just  ‘How did it come to this?’

BTW You may notice that around the 3:26 mark there’s a cry of “BANG!” which seems rather apt!

So…How did it come to this?

We all knew that Brendan and The Board had fallen out. When we say Board, that seems more likely just Brendan and Dermot. Does anyone truly believe Nicholson and the rest have any control, insight, foresight, voice or vision. The two “strong” personalities that had came back together only a few years ago in such a public love-in had now reached breaking point.

The only question was who would blink first and when?
The answer would seemingly be Brendan and Monday afternoon.

This is a based on Martin O’Neill’s statement of “I got a call Monday ( and in typical wily Martin speak “Late afternoon or early evening I’m not too sure“)  to say Brendan had resigned and I had 10 minutes to decide if I wanted to help out as Interim Manager“. This would suggest Brendan just decided enough was enough and handed in his notice but that then led to the first conspiracy claim of the night…Brendan only walked so he didn’t need to sign an NDA.

£2m in lost wages for the rest of this season seems a lot to give up, even for a man of Brendan’s means, and while it has an air of validity about it there are a few aspects that raise a doubtful eyebrow.

Since he came back, Brendan has repeatedly stated he was here for 3 years, at least…”unless bagged” he had even joked. It seemed if anything he had firmly painted himself into a corner of Not Walking Away. Talk of getting the Team back on track also hadn’t hinted at any shock exit but admittedly, Brendan could have just been keeping his card extremely close to his chest.

Another aspect is that he jumped before he was pushed.

You may recall back at the recent Fans outcry of ‘Sack the Board’ where at a Press Conference Brendan mentioned that it usually resulted in the Manager getting sacked before anyone from the padded seats and heated driveways got exited.  Did Brendan get the impression the Spanish Archer was on its way and decided to get out first?
Possibly, but again, would he walk away from £2m in lost wages? Would £2m be a willing sacrifice to avoid having  the sack noted down on his CV? Perhaps but surely Football clubs are used to such things these days and any hiring clubs are more interested in all the accumulated trophies rather than dark exits?

Was it even just a Pride thing…”Im not getting sacked by Them!..I’d sooner walk!”.

Fans could only wonder.

So fans were left to face up to the fact that Brendan had resigned and in respect to the real reasons why, it might have been a case of We would never know. These things happen in Football and usually while Rumours abound, the facts often remain held back and everyone just moves on after some half truths and whispers on the grapevine.

That could have been acceptable, but not here.
Not with this Celtic set up.
The resignation was just the start of a very unusual story unfolding.

The first strange aspect was that the news that Brendan has resigned wasn’t actually released via the office of Mike Nicholson, the Celtic CEO. It was communicated via Chris Mackay, the Chief Finance Officer. Really?…Should a Finance guy be telling us we had lost a Football Manager and that we had just hired a 73 year old who hadnt managed in 6 years and our re-aligned Pathway Co-Ordinator in to steady the ship..6 days before a Cup Semi Final?
What was going on? Was Oor Mike at the pictures watching the new Bruce Springsteen movie and had his phone off per chance?

This all seemed a bit strange thought Celtic fans but then… it just went absolutely mental!

In this case, that was thanks to Dermot Desmond’s releasing a statement via the official Celtic website and cue more Conspiracy theories.

The statement itself has been covered well by Ralph in Wednesdays Diary.

Most folk will be aware its basically a case of Dermot saying “Anything our AI statements can fuck up then I can fuck up even more”. You may remember the recent Celtic Board statement that got lambasted for its awfulness and being so out of touch and inhumane that it was assumed they used Chap-GPTim to write it. Well the shame from that Statement had nothing on this awful attempt from Dermot.

In the Statement he basically tries to lay every accusation at Brendan’s door. From fucking about with Contract Extensions to Fucking up Player recruitment to Fucking up PR Comms to fucking up the Celtic Family relationships, Brendan was the bad guy. The Board, especially Nicholson and Dermot were the goodies, with only the well being and prosperity of the Club at Heart. It was Pravda +1 material.

The statement only helped lead onto the next Conspiracy Theory….fans were already asking why didn’t the CEO release the exit statement and now asked why is a Minority Shareholding NED releasing hatchet-GTF jobs on a Manager who brought so much silverware to the club though the Clubs official channel.

Is it a case that Nicholson is also heading into a Taxi on London Road. Could the suggestions of both a new Chairman and new CEO be true…(in classic comedy Timing…Celtic would actually announce an AGM for Nov 21th the next day!)

Celtic fans were both angry and confused. A combination that they had been for a while but for quite different reasons. Fans were raging at Dermot’s attack, especially such a very public attack which was laden with claims that just didn’t ring true. Fans quickly  reviewed and immediately picked it apart especially in light of recent Fans & Board meetings were no Fan representatives left impressed by the claims, excuses and performances of Nicholson and McKay who were in attendance.

The next big question is just how will Brendan respond, if at all?

Are there Libel issues to examine in Dermot’s statement. Can Brendan provide proof that Dermot’s “facts” are in fact bollocks? Time will tell. Will we see a Constructive Dismissal claim going in anytime soon? The lawyers may need to get involved but shares in Popcorn could be a wise investment for anyone with 80-100m in the bank put away for a rainy day. Trust me, its pishing it doon oot there!

Interestingly it does seem to be that it was the way in which Brendan Rodgers left and that terrible Dermot Statement afterwards that has caused more fan annoyance than the actual fact that Brendan is no longer running the Team. The Performances under Rodgers peaked at Munich and its been a long slow death ever since. The Rodgers trophy winning legacy may remain intact but in truth, it was a story coming to an end at some point in the near future regardless.

With a Squad crippled with sales, injuries and Board incompetence,  all eyes turned on the Manager to work some of his magic. Sadly he was all out of tricks when no new players were able to lift the Team and any decent Players remaining had regressed to the point were some had become so bad it was hard to recognise them.

Rodgers simply ran out of time and options.

In truth he didnt help himself any at times with his formation stubbornness and selections. Tactics seemed a bad word bar “Just go 4-3-3 regardless!” and it  seemed it was all hope and no strategy.  Folk stared confused at team sheets and couldn’t understand  the logic behind Rodgers thought process. Players would come in, do okay but then just be discarded. Others would be retained despite being terrible or be played out of position while players hired for that actual position sat on the bench or up in the Stand. Fans were also saddened at the rejection of players such as Shin when it was clear the players constantly being selected just werent cutting it and the squad needed freshening up by whatever means were available.

Then came the Honda Civic vs Ferrari claim.

Rodgers, a man who is normally very savvy with the Media, made a terrible car analogy that just made him look like an arrogant dick. All he had to do was state the customary bland “We will learn and move on” but he loudly slandered his players (and decent Honda Civics everywhere) and it was clear to all that the pressure was getting to him. Defeat against Dundee away with no sense of any fight was bad but then the Hearts 2nd half capitulation came and it went from bad to worse.

The end was nigh and while many questioned his ability,  a lot of fans had already given up hope that he could turn this current shambles around.

24 hours later, that question was moot ( not mute like Mike Nicholson)

So we now have Martin O’Neill and Shaun Maloney in charge. Both claim its purely interim. Hmm…time will tell. Ever since Shaun Maloney returned there have been suspicions he was there as a safety net for this very scenario. In fact Conspiracy Theory 3 is Aiden McGeady already lined up to take the Pathway role vacated by Maloney. Celtic say they are compiling a list of Candidates. Ange, McKenna at Ipswich, Robbie Keane, Craig Bellamy are all mentioned…the recent podcast joke about solving 2 problems by Celtic hiring Derek McInnes suddenly has some merit!

The dynamic between MON and Maloney or is it really Maloney and MON will be one to observe. Is MON really just there for Motivating a despondent squad while Maloney delivers a modern Tactical approach or will MON actually be looking around for a Bobo and a Mjallby to go out there and batter folk all over the pitch while allowing silky players to actually create some chances. Good luck with that considering how lightweight we currently are at present.

We are left to deal in the here and now. Its Falkirk and then the Huns. Interesting games ahead for sure.

If anyone is wondering why no Podcast covering this, well that’s simple…

• Ralph is in a dark room shaking, convinced his recent rebirth of the ETims Diary has caused this!
• Karen NotSoHappyCelticLass is convinced that actually she is the Jinx after recent Celtic Women, Celtic Men and Scotland Women disasters!
• Monty C Burns is too busy saying 100 Rosaries for Brendan while also checking the classifieds for CEO application forms
• Hector is staring at the available Squad and wondering just how do they players fit into a Martin O’Neill side…he’s been 60 hours so far an no joy!

Que Sera and all that…and we haven’t even touched on the Celtic Fans Collective and possible Anti Board demonstrations tonight and moving forward.

A final best of luck and thanks to Brendan , John Kennedy and all the backroom staf who departed and a best of luck to Martin and Shaun now in the hot seats.

Does anyone remember the good old days when it was just all about celebrating….tsk!