A Kew Heavins exclusive: Celtic fans love to hate Brendan Rodgers and that’s just the way it is…

Our man reckons the Irishman was never welcome back at Celtic Park because he’s a spoofer

All winning ever does is paper over the cracks, and that’s all Brendan Rodgers is doing at Celtic.

Once a spoofer, always a spoofer I say.

And believe me, an old codger like me recognises one a mile off.

In fact, in order to know a spoofer, you must first be a spoofer, and if you don’t understand what I mean by that, then you don’t know what I am.

Eighty seven years in this game, and you learn a few things.

I’ve been getting away with pretending to be a journalist for an eternity.

If I can do that, then I can spot a spoofer in space without a telescope.

I saw through Rodgers when he first arrived at Celtic, I always said that while he might win everything, his spoofing ways would show that he had a sell by date.

Rodgers’ particular sell by date expired in late February of 2019.

Of course, you know that when an expiry date expires, then no amount of resuscitating can bring the product in question back to life.

Except, of course, in the case of the club that plays out of Ibrox, but that’s a story for another day.

The twelfth of never, perhaps.

So, when Brendan Rodgers’ expiry date expired, so too did the love Celtic fans had for him.

It has never returned.

They felt like the jilted lover from the other half of what appeared to be a wonderful relationship.

And when a lover is jilted in a relationship, any second attempt at that relationship has no basis of trust.

In reality, most Celtic fans hate Brendan Rodgers, and that’s just the way it is.

They tolerate him because he wins, papering over over the cracks, as I alluded to earlier.

I did not hide my excitement at the thoughts of Rodgers losing to Atalanta by a margin that stretched to double figures.

The fact that he didn’t, and was smarmy and smug about ramming it down our throats, with his “was that pragmatic enough for you?” remark, shows just why he’s disliked as much as he is.

I must admit, this old codger’s body felt the odd tingle every time Borussia Dortmund slammed a goal past his hapless charges on the 1st of October.

As I sipped on nice dram of Glenmorangie 18 year old, it made me feel all warm inside.

My last article on this subject predicted Rodgers might actually quit after that humiliation.

I thought to myself, “only a matter of time before this spoofer is found out once again.”

Following Celtic’s seven goal dismembering at the hands of Borussia Dortmund, I had a caller on the radio who was representative of the supporter element with long memories and short tempers.

He made the obligatory reference to the manager having once left Celtic for Leicester City to begin with, and then suggested that if Brendan couldn’t tailor his tactics to suit different occasions then Celtic should “Change him.”

Change him…..

Oh, but I wished and thought Atalanta might just do that.

As for the “Change him” comment, that is the real face of Celtic supporters and their attitude towards the Rodgers, the ultimate spoofer.

The general tone of the complaints made against him was to the effect that supporters wouldn’t take lessons on affection for the club from someone who had once left Celtic in mid-season to take up another job elsewhere.

Celtic fans might not believe it, but I’m on their side.

I’m always pointing out the cold, hard facts.

Rodgers is a spoofer, and that’s a fact.

He traded “immortality for mediocrity” in February 2019.

It wasn’t me that came up with that slogan, it was the Celtic fans.

And funnily enough, that particular inference for Rodgers has become immortal.

Now Rodgers thinks he can raise immortality from the dead, and replace mediocrity with it once again

There is only one institution in Glasgow that has succeeded in the Lazarus effect, and I helped make it so.

Along with every other journalist in Scotland.

Rodgers burnt his bridges in February 2019, and no amount of Voodoo magic will change that fact now.

Swapping jobs and moving to a bigger company on higher wages as you and I might know it.

When Rodgers returned to Celtic in the aftermath of Ange Postecoglou swapping jobs and moving to a bigger company for higher wages he was initially subjected to hostile behaviour.

And rightly so.

Rodgers can spoof his way through most press conferences.

He can make all the comments he likes that drip with sarcasm, it doesn’t change what he is.

The Celtic fans will never forgive him for what he did in 2019.

In fact, I doubt even winning the Champions League would afford him a reprieve.

Well, I suppose there’s about as much chance of that happening, as there is of a reprieve, but you catch my meaning.

There was a form of post-traumatic stress disorder after Dortmund, getting out of jail with a belated goal to win against Ross County and blowing a two-goal lead to draw with Aberdeen at home last weekend.

In the second half of that game, the Rodgers mask fell off, and Jimmy Thelin showed what a spoofer Rodgers is.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure it out.

It took Jimmy Thelin a mere 45 minutes to figure him out.

But me, I’ve known all along.

I know that the Celtic fans hate Rodgers for what he did in 2019.

They’ll never forgive him for it.

All the spoofing in the world won’t change that.

Winning only papers over the cracks.

Stop winning, and the whole dirty rotten structure will crumble and collapse like a house of cards.

Somebody once said that, didn’t they?

Who could that have been?

Oh yes, the man who is waiting in the wings to return to Ibrox.

He has a score to settle, and a house of cards to bring down.

When that happens, I wonder which EPL club will rescue the spoofer this time around?

Remember, you heard it here first.

I rarely get my predictions wrong.

Eighty seven years in this game, and you learn a thing or two.

Spoofers beware….