“Rodgers v Celtic’s board – the sequel”, Tom English labels Rodgers’ struggles like a movie sequel, but this one does not end like the prequel

Tom English likes a bit of bombast, and more often than not, its misplaced.

But, just like everybody else that recognises what’s going on at Celtic now, he has jumped on the current drama unfolding at Celtic.

As I said in my previous article today, the vultures in the media would be waiting to swoop in on this.

English has never been a lover of Celtic, which I’ve often pointed out.

But its hard to argue with a lot of what he had to say in his article today.

Then again, most SMSM journalists are going to present this as the crisis it is.

The kind of crisis they have always wanted to happen at Celtic Park.

They revel in all of this, none more so than English.

Everybody in the media world knows that Celtic’s biggest enemy has always lain within the club.

Most of us within Celtic fan media knew this day would come.

We spoke about it for long enough, we just never knew for sure how long it would take for it to manifest itself.

Since Peter Lawwell’s return in January of 2023, and Ange Postecoglou’s departure that same year, we’ve witnessed a steady descent to where we find ourselves today.

Have we hit rock bottom yet?

We’ve got some distance to go before we do, I feel.

I believe this is going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

There is no doubting Brendan Rodgers will leave the club once his contract expires.

He is clearly only at Celtic Park now for us, the fans.

Whether the board will fill the gaps in the squad between now and the end of the window remains to be seen.

But even if they pulled out all the stops and gave him everything he wanted, I’d say its unlikely he’d stay.

While I’m loathe to agree with English’s analogy about movie sequels, one thing is for sure, the relationship between Rodgers and the board is definitely “Terminado”.

Yet English couldn’t help himself in his article on last night, he took on the default angle of attack everybody has since this time last year.

He used Arne Engels, Adam Idah, and Auston Trusty as an avenue to attack the manager.

He went one further and included Paolo Bernardo in that mix.

Once again, he listed their costs:

On his watch, Arne Engels was signed for a reported £11m, Auston Trusty for a reported £6m and Paulo Bernardo a reported £3.5m.

All three failed to make the starting line-up against Kairat. Adam Idah cost a further reported £9m and it would be hard to argue Celtic got value there.

Should Rodgers’ team have played a whole lot better even allowing for the lack of new blood? Unquestionably.

This angle of attack is getting boring.

We’ve taken it apart time and time again on the podcast.

James did an extensive article on Adam Idah today over on The Celtic Blog.

He believes Idah’s career at Celtic is over, with the Irishman a victim of his price tag, and the incessant campaign from some of the fanbase to bring him down.

Well, it finally looks like they’ve succeeded, both in the stands and in the media.

English, I’m sure, will revel in that rather supporting his fellow Irishman.

This next statement from English shows how disconnected he is from reality when it comes to what’s happening at Celtic:

And now? That Champions League and the loot that goes with it is in more danger than it ought to be. That is not solely down to a lack of recruitment. If Celtic do not make it through to the league phase, there are questions for everybody at the club.

At one point of the night, the cameras panned to the stands and picked out some senior men at the club.

There was Michael Nicholson, the stoic chief executive. There, also, was Peter Lawwell, the chairman who is no longer pulling the strings at the club in the way he did for so many years.

There, too, were others high up in the hierarchy, non-executives feeling the heat of the Celtic fans.

Questions for everybody at the club??

Nope, there is only one group of people at Celtic that will need to answer questions.

Everybody knows not one of them will answer any questions anyway.

As for Michael Nicholson being stoic?

Well, the very definition of stoicism is a person who can endure pain or hardship without showing their feelings or complaining.

What hardship or pain has Michael Nicholson ever endured in his time at Celtic?

What has he ever had to complain about?

Other than what he had to pay for Arne Engles, Adam Idah, and Auston Trusty?

Which was all pretty much his own doing anyway.

As for his feelings?

Who knows what feelings he has, he doesn’t speak to anyone outside of the boardroom bubble.

And finally, the chairman who is no longer pulling the strings at the club in the way he did for so many years?

That statement shows how utterly disconnected from reality English is when it comes to Celtic.

The puppet master supreme is pulling strings all over the place.

That’s why we’ve descended into this shitshow since his return in January 2023.

Anybody who can’t see that, is totally blind.

While English might think this whole fiasco is a sequel to the one that ran from 2016 to 2019, this one sure as hell will not have a similar ending.

The board, and Peter Lawwell got away with one in 2019.

This time, they will not be so lucky.

The fanbase is turning now.

If this season descends into farce because of the level of their inaction, nobody is going to blame Brendan Rodgers.

It will fall squarely on their shoulders.

They have 10 days before the international break to pull this out of the fire.

Does anyone have faith in them to do that?

The clock is ticking.

For the masters of last minute.com, let’s see what rabbits they can pull out of the hat between now and then.

As an aside, expect a stream of garbage from English throughout this season.

He is going to love having his nose stuck in what’s unfolding.

As usual, I’m sure he’ll make a twat of himself along the way.

It was ever thus.