Dermot Desmond’s statement has probably overshadowed Brendan Rodgers leaving Celtic in such an abrupt manner.
As soon as Celtic announced Rodgers’ exit on Monday evening, the drama didn’t stop, from Martin O’Neill’s return, alongside Hoops hero Shaun Maloney, to Desmond’s scathing attack on the departed coach.
The Celtic fans don’t hear much from their majority shareholder, but he made sure, from his perspective, he didn’t miss here because he threw some serious punches at Rodgers.
There are sections of the Celtic Park fanbase who aren’t happy with Desmond, but Simon Jordan sees it all in a different light.
Simon Jordan joins Dermot Desmond in scathing attack on Brendan Rodgers after Celtic exit
Jordan was the owner of Crystal Palace for a decade, including helping the London club earn promotion to the Premier League, so he has had his fair share of dealings with managers.
Speaking to talkSPORT, Jordan explained that Desmond’s statement made him ‘laugh’ because he was delighted, for once, to see someone at the top have a go at a manager, who he thinks, ‘say what they want, when they want, and how they want.’
Whilst Celtic fans are siding with Rodgers on this one, Jordan has joined Desmond by throwing verbal punches at the now-departed coach.
“I was very interested to read Dermot Desmond’s statement; it actually made me laugh when I first read it,” said Jordan.
“I thought ‘shapo, Dermot. Well done.’ Because, too many times, these managers, including Steve Bruce (in the talkSPORT studios), say what they want, when they want, and how they want. And there is no recourse. There is always this, ‘I will wear this hat.’
“Always this idea that people aren’t getting what they want. They haven’t been given the support. The popular narrative is played out because the manager gets the voice, and the owners don’t.
“Well done to Dermot. He must have been particularly irritated to have taken that step, because he hasn’t missed, has he?!
“It’s only character assassination if it doesn’t happen to be fair and true. I had said, about a week ago, after Brendan had come out talking about ‘Honda Civics’, and that sort of nonsense. If I were in Dermot’s shoes, I would have given him a smack, metaphorically. And here’s the smack.
“He isn’t going to allow Brendan to see the narrative, in amongst the fans, that ‘I am not happy with the obvious performance of the team.’
“But also not happy with the lack of qualification, which was, by the way, entirely on Brendan and his team. Whether they were given more support or not is incidental. They had a good enough team to beat that pub side.”
Celtic ‘deserve better’ from Rodgers
This was Rodgers’ second spell as manager, where he picked up four trophies, and left the building with 11 in total and a Celtic legend.
But Jordan continued his criticism of Rodgers by claiming that Celtic ‘deserve better’ after bringing him back to Scotland.
“Brendan has been deflecting for some time now, and Brendan is doing what Brendan does,” added Jordan.
“Making it about Brendan, and making it about an opportunity for him. He is a very good manager; nobody doubts that.
“But he was given an opportunity to go back to Celtic, and I think they deserve better.”
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