As Celtic flounder, Brendan Rodgers finds a new role where he certainly won’t have to beg for the players he needs…
Eric Knott 
(Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
Former Celtic boss, Brendan Rodgers, has just landed a new managerial role as manager of Saudi side, Al-Qadsiah.
I think there was always an air of inevitability when it came to Saudi Arabia becoming an eventual destination for Rodgers.
It suits his Gucci belt lifestyle, and it perfectly suits his ego.
In reality, I have no doubt that Rodgers is now laughing at what he sees unfolding at Celtic.
He claims he’s a Celtic supporter, and I’ve no doubt he is, but I certainly wouldn’t hold it against him for laughing at the situation the Celtic hierarchy finds themselves in.
After, we all support Celtic the club, we do not support the Celtic board.
So I certainly wouldn’t hold it against Rodgers for having a laugh at what he sees unfolding now.
Unfortunately for us ordinary fans, who are not in a position to command millions in oil money salaries, we cannot laugh at what’s happening to our club.
We can only despair as we see no end in sight to the shambles that Celtic has become.
For Rodgers, though, there must be a certain element of satisfaction in what he now sees from afar at his former club.
He must now feel vindicated for taking the decision to resign at the back end of last October.
In fact, his lack of a reaction to Dermot Desmond’s unhinged character assassination of him, now looks like a genius move.
In Rodgers’ own mind, he must have thought: ‘Let him have his petty potshot, and then everybody can watch it unravel after.’
Sometimes silence speaks volumes, and in Rodgers’ case, it most certainly has.
I have no doubt Rodgers knew it would all unravel after he left.
He’s a smart man, and like him or not, he’s a lot smarter than the people he’s left behind at Celtic.
By saying nothing, he is the one who retains all of his credibility in this.
Dermot Desmond, on the other hand, looks exactly like what he is, a despot with a penchant for unhinged rantings.
Who has been duped by the Frank Abignale of the footballing world, Paul Tisdale.
As I said in last night’s Trinity Tims podcast, Tisdale will go down as one of the biggest conmen in Celtic’s history.
Years from now, people will look back on this era and say: ‘Do you remember the time that guy Tisdale duped Dermot Desmond and blagged his way to the top at Celtic?’
I have no doubt that Brendan Rodgers saw right through Tisdale from day one, though.
I’m sure it was a big part of the reason he walked away from this shitshow when he did.
You see, it takes a real football man to spot a pretend football man.
Whatever you want to say about Rodgers, he IS a real football man.
His record at Celtic, and Leicester, speaks for itself.
Compare and contrast HIS record to that of Tisdale’s.
There is no comparison.
There’s no doubting it didn’t take Rodgers very long to see through the ‘football doctor’.
What is astounding is the fact that Dermot Desmond did not.
I mean, think about it, anybody who gives themselves a moniker like that cannot be taken seriously.
What even is a ‘football doctor’?
Well, this football doctor has performed life changing surgery on Celtic, and it certainly hasn’t been a success!
As for Rodgers, he is the one who has come out of all of this looking smarter.
He is laughing all the way to the bank now, as I’m sure his salary at Al-Qadsiah is astronomical.
I was also delighted to hear that he is taking John Kennedy with him too.
This will not doubt ensure a big payday for Kennedy.
If there’s anybody who deserves that, its John Kennedy.
He devoted his entire adult life to Celtic, and the way he was treated in the end by the club was an abomination.
A short statement thanking him his service, and that was it.
I was half expecting Desmond to character assassinate him too for showing loyalty to Rodgers.
He’s got his just rewards now anyway.
More power to the man is all I say.
One thing Rodgers can be sure of at Al-Qadsiah is that he won’t have to beg for players like he did at Celtic.
He’ll be able to build his team exactly the way he wants to.
There are rumours already that Rodgers is looking to attract Mo Salah to Saudi Arabia, and that won’t be too hard with the finance he’ll have available to him.
The club is owned by Saudi Aramco, the national oil company.
So finance is not going to be an issue here.
Love him or loathe him, Rodgers has landed on his feet with this role.
It will set him up for life financially.
And if we’re being honest, this was more about the money than the football.
Which does, to a degree, show us the kind of character Rodgers is.
Like I said at the outset, there was an air of inevitability about this move.
Somehow, we always saw Rodgers ending up where he has ended up.
The difference between him and the great pretender, Steven Gerrard, is that Rodgers will probably make it work in the Saudi Pro-League.
I guess he has to.
Because if he doesn’t, just like Gerrard, he won’t be taken seriously if he ever has aspirations of managing in the UK again.
He’ll just have to make do with being set up for life financially.
I feel for him, I really do.
Who knows?
Maybe some day he’ll tell us the real story behind what happened at Celtic?
But to be fair, I think most of us have figured it out already.
Rodgers had the inside track on it.
I have no doubt he had it figured out long ago.
I’d wish him the best of luck, but somehow I get the feeling he won’t need it.
People like Rodgers always land on their feet.
And he has just done exactly that.
Key Takeaways
- Brendan Rodgers has taken a managerial role at Al-Qadsiah in Saudi Arabia, a move seen as inevitable given his lifestyle and ambition.
- He appears to be enjoying the chaos at Celtic and feels vindicated for leaving, particularly in light of their current struggles.
- Rodgers’ silence during an unhinged critique from Dermot Desmond solidified his credibility, making Desmond look foolish instead.
- Rodgers is now well-positioned financially and can build his team without the constraints he faced at Celtic.
- His connection to John Kennedy ensures a fairer outcome for Kennedy, who deserves recognition after years of loyalty.
Was always about the money and the Gucci lifestyle. The football under him this season was dire and has all the hallmarks of a man working his ticket. Despite the mess we’re in now with this clown Nancy in charge, I don’t miss Rodgers on bit.
Seems to be a fair amount of praise here for Rodgers? I personally won’t miss him at all, in fact one of the boards greatest failings was to entertain him a second time, and to believe his bullshit. Could be the reason he has jot replied regarding the Desmond statement, is because it was all true. Even the players had lost all faith in him, as our standard of play showed. We may well seem to be in a dark place at the moment, but the new guy needs time to settle in, and get some players in, and some out.
Well best of luck to him . He was forever asking the board for players to replace those who had left . In the boards infinite wisdom they procrastinated and ended up paying over the odds for poor replacements. Brendan jumped ship cause he had people working against him and he could see the writing on the wall and he knew he couldn’t sort it out.
Rogers did very little wrong here, and I doubt very much he’ll be laughing, more knowingly shaking his head I’d imagine.
As for the comment above about his football being dire, I think after seeing the same from the next two managers, lays the blame firmly at the feet of a weak willed group of poor quality players. People need to remove the rose tinted glasses, the football under O’Neil was mostly dire, scraping results against mostly vastly inferior opposition. O’Neil did what he does best, motivated the players, and rather than impose tactics or a system pointed out the supposed gap between them and their opponents, and told them to go out and play. The football was mostly just as dire as under Rogers, but mostly inferior opposition and a decent dollop of luck saved the day. Martin would have lost all of the past 3 games against better opposition, just as Nancy did, and as Rogers probably would have.
The problem is the players, unable to adapt to basic football tactics/formations, first repeatedly under various formations Rogers tried, now with Nancy. The difference with Martin was there were no tactics, just an order to go out and beat inferior opposition, and with their confidence bolstered they mostly did just that, with some dire football and a large dollop of luck, against mostly poor teams.