Rodgers’ Celtic revenge will be to raid us for our best players. Calmac will be the first…
Eric Knott 
(Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
Brendan Rodgers always struck me as a guy who could be sleekit when he needed to be.
There’s just something about the former Celtic boss that tells you he has a sly, almost devious side to him.
He keeps it well hidden, he always has.
But you could always see when he was asked questions at Celtic that the cogs and wheels in his brain turned over while he thought of his answers.
Rodgers was always subtle when he wanted to get a major point across.
Never blatant, but delivering the necessary message every time he needed to.
A certain kind of smile, a wink, and a nod.
He was a master in the art of communication while saying little to nothing in the process.
The recent photo that emerged of him in Saudi Arabia with a tactics board?
That was pure, sleekit Rodgers, in his pomp.
He has held his fire when it comes to what happened at Celtic.
But he is beginning to take subtle potshots now.
They are designed to ridicule without saying very much at all.
They are aimed at the very top, and that tactics board hit home.
It had the exact desired effect Rodgers wanted it to have.
Now that he has limitless funds available to him at Al-Qadsiah, Rodgers will gain his revenge on the Celtic board by hitting them in their weakest spot.
Nobody knows better than Rodgers how quickly the Celtic board will jump at the opportunity to sell a top asset when big bucks are flashed in their faces.
In fact, if anything, he has been the ultimate victim of that behaviour.
Throughout both of his tenures.
Imagine how he feels now?
Knowing that he has access to limitless funds at his club, and that what would be considered a piecemeal amount to his new employers, would prise away some of Celtic’s top assets?
Not that there are many of those remaining at our club after the asset stripping that has gone on over the last 3 years or so.
That’s part of the reason we find ourselves where we are now.
But there are rumours in the media today that Rodgers is readying a bid to lure Callum McGregor to his new club.
There is no doubt Rodgers trusted McGregor hugely at Celtic.
He always saw him as a true leader at the club, and treated him with the respect that came with that.
Rodgers is now effectively like the Genie of the lamp.
He can offer Callum McGregor riches beyond his wildest dreams even though he is in the twilight of his career.
He has already done so for John Kennedy.
Rodgers can ensure McGregor is pretty much set up for life.
What an amazing feeling of power that must be to have?
The former Celtic gaffer will come in with an offer our money hungry board will be unable to resist.
He will offer a contract to Callum McGregor he will be unable to resist.
And in doing so, he knows he will effectively be ripping the heart out of Celtic by luring our on field leader away.
He will say it isn’t personal, that it’s just business.
And if it was any other club, it would just be that.
But underneath it all, it will be personal.
It will always be personal after what Dermot Desmond did.
Rodgers could then place bids for Reo Hatate and Daizen Maeda, and once again, the board will be unable to resist.
Big bids for our players are their kryptonite.
Rodgers knows this better than anyone.
And I have no doubt now that he has this power in his hands, he will be very tempted to exact his revenge on Celtic in that way.
He won’t endear himself to the fanbase by doing it, but I doubt Rodgers cares.
The egotist in him will just want to get one over Desmond.
Especially after the way he was treated when he resigned.
Desmond, on the other hand, will probably do his utmost to ensure any bids from Rodgers are blocked.
Even though, legally, Desmond has no right to do so as principal shareholder.
But even if he tries to do that, Rodgers still has the upper hand.
Imagine he tells Callum McGregor he has a 3 year £10 million a year contract ready for him, and that the only thing standing in his way is Desmond’s refusal to let him go?
That is McGregor and his family financially secure for life.
Human nature dictates that McGregor would be banging down Michael Nicholson’s door and putting in a transfer request.
All McGregor would have to do is cite the board’s mantra; “If a player doesn’t want to be here, we won’t keep him here against his will”.
That excuse has been trotted out time out of number over the years when it comes to big outgoing transfers at Celtic.
If you think that they could stand in McGregor’s way, especially after the service he has given to Celtic throughout his life, I’d suggest you think again.
The reality is that if Brendan Rodgers really does want Callum McGregor at Al-Qadsiah, he has the power to make it happen.
How he must love that fact.
Once Rodgers has secured McGregor, he can then go after any other Celtic player he wants.
Because the signing of Callum McGregor will have paved the way for that.
Take Daizen Maeda, for example.
He already has a beef with the board for blocking his exit last summer.
If Rodgers was to do the same with him, Maeda just has to point to McGregor’s exit and how that came about, and then how he was treated in the summer window.
If you think Rodgers isn’t, or hasn’t, been calculating all of these permutations in his head, then you really don’t know the kind of operator Rodgers is.
He has been, and he’s doing it gleefully, I’d imagine.
Now, I might be totally wide of the mark here, none of this may come to pass.
But that does not take away from the fact that Brendan Rodgers has the power to make all of the things I’ve suggested happen.
Because he does.
And he knows it.
I sincerely doubt that it hasn’t crossed his mind.
It crossed his mind when he went to Leicester, because we all know he wanted McGregor back then.
The difference now is that there’s no restriction on what he can spend if he wants to make it happen.
He didn’t have that luxury at Leicester.
Nor would he have had the luxury of offering the level of life changing money he can at Al-Qadsiah.
Brendan Rodgers has said nothing about Celtic since he left the club.
He will continue to say nothing, because actions speak louder than words.
I would suggest you watch his actions from here on out.
They could prove very interesting indeed…
Key Takeaways
- Brendan Rodgers possesses a sly, subtle communication style, evident in his recent tactics board photo.
- He’s poised to leverage his resources at Al-Qadsiah to undermine Celtic, targeting their top players like Callum McGregor.
- Rodgers’s potential bid for McGregor could pressure Celtic’s board due to their history of selling assets for profit.
- Desmond may attempt to block transfers, but financial incentives could lead McGregor to push for a move.
- If successful, Rodgers could target other Celtic players, capitalising on his newfound spending power at Al-Qadsiah.
If we get top dollar for them,what’s the problem?
They haven’t played to a high level for a long time.
Biggest issue is the board wouldn’t reinvest the cash.
However that will bring more pressure to the boards door and take everyone a step closer to change.
Eric, for goodness sake, how is Rodgers being ‘sleekit’ when what he’s doing is something the entire Celtic support should be doing by roundly mocking this incompetent stubborn fool in our dugout?
If anything I’d say Brendan should be applauded for this near perfect response to the absolutely unhinged maniacal statement the despot Desmond aimed at Brendan, only for it to blow up in the damned fool’s face.
I grant you that Brendan Rodgers is a very clever man, perhaps even to the point of being sly, but you’d have to be at least a little sly before you ever got into bed with those shyster chiselling parasites who have taken Celtic FC to the point of total destruction, and they may well yet through their stubborn grasping stupidity.
You should be thankful that Brendan Rodgers has made this clear dig at the men destroying the club he no doubt loves and if the support have any sense they’ll all have one of Nancy’s ridiculous tactics boards on them on the terraces on Sunday.
Why you’re angry at Brendan Rodgers here is simply inexplicable for in the end it could be his actions rather than the terribly weak Collective’s that finally sees these parasites forced out our club and an otherwise smart man like yourself should be only too well aware of that.
Exactly Fergus, he’s playing them at their own game, and deservedly so.
Don’t think there’s many supporters who wouldn’t cheer him on, sticking it to the charlatans at our club. But tbh, for months or longer I’ve been trying to say to people, if we feel like this, ‘how do you think the players feel seeing their ambition trashed’. To think the asset stripping wouldn’t effect the morale of the players is naive. They have basically rewarded McGregors loyalty and service to Celtic, with a boot in the haw maws, and I wouldn’t blame him or any other player for leaving. Also, as someone states above, this is exactly the kind of pressure we need on our despot and his minions.
People have very short memories. LIke the players on the injured list who seem to become better players when they are not playing, Rodgers has become a better manager after absconding as soon as McInnes (and not for the first time} took him to the cleaners. Rodgers was an ordinary manager, never elite. A few of the managers, including the above named, in the SPFL, would have been as successful as Rodgers in the so-called “Mickey Mouse” league had they been managing Celtic. Even McGlynn,
the Falkirk manager would have been as successful as O Neil had he been appointed after the “sleekit yin” left.
At the end of the day, irrespective of whether or not he
got players in during the last window, he should have beat
Almighty Karatate, or whatever they are called, at his leisure. He won`t worry too much I suppose but he will
end up getting the bullet again sooner rather than later.
Maybe the reason he is keeping quiet about Desmond`s
accusations is because he hasn`t legally got a leg to stand on. I don`t know much about the law but true spoken or written statements are neither slanderous nor libellous.
I don`t waste much of my time dwelling on whether or not Desmond is a good guy but I would think someone
of his standing would have had his legal advisor having
a quick look at his statement before issuing it. If not, he
shouldn`t be in charge of an-ice cream van never mind an enforcer for Celtic.
I would have thought that Rodgers with his never-ending
wealth now would be looking at Lamborghinis or Ferraris
rather than Linwood made Hillman Inps, although I hear that the Japanese make cracking electric tandems.
If McGregor does chase the Saudi blood money, any respect I ever had for him will evaporate.
“Sleekit”great scottish word Eric,for someone you wouldn’t trust as far as you could throw.Given that the Saudi market is a bit of an extremely well paid elephants graveyard,BR could very well tempt a few of our players away.