Brendan’s Biggest Betrayal

Stephen McGowan of the Daily Mail was one of the first people to break the Brendan Rodgers to Leicester story and today he provided some insight into Brendan Rodgers, his so-called love for Celtic and the manoeuvring behind the scenes in the past six months.

McGowan conceded Brendan had grown restless and could have been off sooner under different circumstances. The inability to land players was getting to him and clashing with the board constantly over how they were going to achieve Champions League qualification was a big issue.

Piccini and McGinn not coming in added fuel to the fire. Reasons that if Brendan Rodgers waited until the summer, the support could have understood his frustration but wished him well on his way.

The timing of the announcement and haste of his departure is very telling and shows up his Celtic rhetoric for everything it was – empty words.

Brendan Rodgers was fantastic for Celtic, he really brought us up to a level we have rarely seen of the domestic front but he did it posing as a ‘Celtic man’ and that’s what hurts this morning as we look into the future. Most of us fell for it, hook, line and sinker!

When Brendan came to the club I did not believe for a second he was a massive Celtic fan and was surprised to hear him conjure up the memory of Tommy Burns, and tell us stories about his childhood and what the club meant to him – I was sold! He had weaved a story even the most cynical of Celtic fans were happy to buy into.

There was no reason for him to evoke these sort of emotions from the fans if it wasn’t coming from the heart. We had to open up Celtic Park and let the crowd’s into meet him before he had said a word! Why? Because we believed he was a top manager and a marquee signing so when he gave us the Celtic patter it was icing on the cake.

His actions Monday and Tuesday of this week has left me in no doubt about how Rodgers honestly felt and he made fools of us all. As he sits smiling and waving to the Leicester fans, there is genuine anger from the Celtic support for someone we would have carried down to Leicester in the summer after all was said in done if that was his wish.

He saw his opportunity and didn’t give any one of us a second thought as he walked out the BACK door.

McGowan believes the Leicester interest has been there since the summer with Brendan quite aware of it. So there’s no doubt in my mind had they come calling in January with the club level on points with the Ibrox club, albeit with a game in hand, he would have cut and run.

Enjoy your money Brendan, there’s a massive difference between a Celtic manager and a Celtic legend but in your case, in the end, the difference was only around three months.