The following was shared with me today by a very well placed Celtic source.
Firstly, what was signed off between Brendan Rodgers and the Parkhead club is bound by strict confidentiality.
Therefore, I am not claiming to have the full picture.
So what follows is what I have pieced together.
If it is inaccurate then I’m sure that Mr Rodgers can issue a correction and I will publish it with an apology.
What I am told that have happened last summer is, just after the capture of Odsonne Édouard senior people at Celtic came into some valuable information.
They were told by a third party (I know the identity of the person) that the Double Treble winning manager was in talks with a Chinese club.
Indeed the information given to them was that the putative talks between Rodgers and the Far East outfit had started the previous April.
I’m told that this news came as a huge shock to the Celtic hierarchy.
In a hastily arranged sit-down, my source said that the manager admitted that this was essentially true.
Celtic then made a deal with Rodgers about getting the team safely through the group stages of the Champions League.
The Chinese move subsequently fell through, but trust had been broken.
Leicester City had recently sounded out Rodgers about joining them next summer.
I’m told that happened around 10 days ago.
When they reached out the Celtic manager said he was ready to go immediately!
Moreover, if Rodgers had been entirely successful then he would have amputated the top three layers of the football management structure at Celtic at a crucial point of the season.
My information is that Damien Duff, in particular, put Rodgers straight about where he saw his future and it wasn’t at Leicester!
A Celtic source said to me this afternoon “Rodgers played all of us” and I could hear the regret in his voice.
Obviously, Mr Rodgers will have his own perspective on these alleged events.
I’m also told that people at the Parkhead club are now concerned that some of the young stars in the academy could be lured away to work with Brendan Rodgers in England.
There are certainly exciting young talents at Lennoxtown and they would be coveted by any EPL club
Armstrong Okoflex and Karamoko Dembélé were the names mentioned to me that the Parkhead club is keen to retain.
I fear that this story still has some distance to run.
Rodgers did a suberb job at Parkhead and that should not be forgotten in all the hoo hah. The manager left we move on. Celtic are in good hands.
I can now exclusively reveal the transcript of a telephone conversation I had with BR the other night….
BR: ” Hi Terence…As you know …I’ve had an offer from Leicester….and I don’t know what to do…So do I base my decision on my heart…or my bank balance ? ”
Me : ” You’ve obviously forgotten Brendan….You don’t have a heart.”
BR: “Cheers mate…that’s what I needed to hear….I’ll phone them right now…and accept…Thanks again.”
We’ve all been spelling his name wrong – it’s Rodger$.
As a potential positive from all this, I wonder if this will hasten a recovery for Leigh Griffiths?
It’s a pity there isn’t a transfer window for managers, just like there is for players
This is bizarre. I heard this elsewhere too but reckoned it to be too incredible to be true. What would motivate Rogers to move to China? Surely it had to be purely financial. Is this simply a desire for more money?
If NL had not been available, we’d have been totally screwed.
Or Davie Moyes,who is most definitely not a CFC🍀 fans favourite for the job.
Read similar on Twitter this aft,yes Phil,the more layers of this onion peeled apart the more We All see that BRs best act was exactly that,’an act’
Betrayal on a massive scale.
Despicable,lowdown treachery from someone that We thought was one of Our Own is really hitting home,and to think I was saying he’d done the right thing!
In his own selfish way he will still be able to justify this to himself.
And the more it unravels the more I’m tending to agree with the Green Brigades banner @Tynecastle last night.
The Twitter article also mentions him trying to entice Moassa Dembele to go with him to the cash laiden Chinese Super league.
Traitor isn’t strong enough.
Thanks for the info Phil
HH🍀
Well done Phil, I didn’t know the Chinese deal went back as far as April. The outline of the story I was aware of since the beginning of September and that Moussa going to China with him and “another” was part of the deal, with a 10 million bonus for taking these two. Moussa’s falling out with BR I don’t think had much of anything to do with Lyon but more to do with China originally. Also I was told that BR send “an envoy” to Lennoxtown yesterday (27th) to wish the Celtic players well for the rest of the season, he was told in no uncertain terms where to go and what to do with his message. Those nice words from Broonie and Lenny post match were for media consumption, the sentiment amongst the players is apparently far removed from that. Keep up the good work, their is more to this chapter and I hope you find time to get back to the book. As the song almost says
“You picked a fine time to leave us BRENDAN”
Or “You picked a fine time to leave us ya HEEL!”
I heard this story, amongst many others. Because there are so many versions of what has happened, I simply believe none of them. Who cares? Even if he done the shady, his work brought us so much joy. If we don’t have the stature or the staff to keep hold of our talent then that is our issue, not his. I’d prefer to focus on what we have and what we are working towards, any distraction from 10 in a row is a win for our rivals.
Focus on the 10, then create something to dominate Scottish football forever.