‘One of the maddest things…’ Andy Halliday admits shock at Dermot Desmond speaking out

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Whether Celtic fans like it or not, Dermot Desmond stamped his authority like never before on Monday night.

Brendan Rodgers’ abrupt Celtic exit and Martin O’Neill’s return to the dugout were enough of a surprise. But then Desmond took it to another level.

Supporters of any club will have to go a long way to read a statement, from an owner or a high-profile figure, that is so scathing towards their manager, especially one as successful as Rodgers.

It’s still a talking point, and it will continue to be a talking point in the coming weeks and months, you suspect.

• READ MORE: Neil Warnock lays into Dermot Desmond attack on Brendan Rodgers as Celtic recruitment was a ‘disgrace’

Andy Halliday on Dermot Desmond’s scathing statement about Brendan Rodgers

The Open Goal panel discussed the chaos at Celtic, including Andy Halliday stating that Desmond’s statement was ‘one of the maddest things I have seen in football.’

The Motherwell midfielder admitted that he ‘couldn’t believe it’, and even suggested that some people have told him how they ‘loved’ what Celtic’s majority shareholder had to say.

“Dermot Desmond’s statement is one of the maddest things I have seen in football,” said Halliday. “How often do you hear from Dermot Desmond, anyway?

“So, to come out with that bolder statement. That longer statement. Whether people want to say it’s factual or not. Evidence. He actually came out with scenarios in that he basically went against the club. I couldn’t believe it.

“Everybody wants answers, don’t they? You two (Paul Slane and Si Ferry), and I have seen loads of people saying it. That they loved Dermot Desmond coming out and saying it.”

The unpopular Celtic view on Desmond’s statement

It seems as though the majority of the Celtic Park fanbase are against Desmond here, and they are taking sides with Rodgers.

But boyhood fan and former youth player Paul Slane has taken a different approach that probably won’t prove to be popular.

“The only voice we were hearing from Celtic was Brendan Rodgers,” said Slane. “We were only getting his side from it. It seemed like he wasn’t getting backed or wasn’t getting players in.

“So, it’s actually good to hear from people running the club going, ‘we have actually brought it to Brendan Rodgers,’ and said, ‘that’s not true what you are saying to the press.’

“It was great to hear from that side, and more owners need to do that.

“We go back to the transfer window. It wasn’t good enough. But we need to understand why? Were there players being offered to Brendan Rodgers? Was he being hard? Who was running recruitment? These questions still need to be asked.

“By the sounds of it. It wasn’t down to the board going, ‘we aren’t signing players for you’, because they have signed players. I don’t know. It has been a mess. A total mess from the summer.”