Desmond’s statement is an absolute embarrassment to Celtic Football Club

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The Celtic Star

·28 de outubro de 2025

Desmond’s statement is an absolute embarrassment to Celtic Football Club

Dermot Desmond’s statement is an absolute embarrassment to Celtic Football Club…

Dermot Desmond (L) and Chief Executive of Celtic Peter Lawwell look on prior to the UEFA Europa League Round of 32 first leg match between Celtic FC and FC Internazionale Milano at Celtic Park Stadium on February 19, 2015. (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)

When I went to bed around 9pm last night with my alarm set for 4.30am, little did I know I would be waking in those early hours to countless WhatsApps discussing one of the most explosive announcements and follow up statements I can remember in all my years as a Celtic fan.

Vídeos OneFootball

Coincidentally the last thing I actually read before going to bed was a rumour about Brendan Rodgers agreeing a one year extension with the promises of oodles of cash to spend come January.

I laughed at it’s absurdity but upon waking up to the news that Martin O’Neill was back at the helm at Celtic Park, this no longer seemed the most ridiculous thing I had read in the past 12 hours.

A dejected Celtic manager Martin O’Neill after the UEFA Cup Final match between Celtic and FC Porto held on May 21, 2003 at the Estadio Olimpico in Seville, Spain. FC Porto won the match and trophy 3-2 after extra-time. (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)

Amazingly however the latter one turned out to be true. Still half asleep I lay there reading through my messages feeling like each person who had sent me them was all in on a great big wind up whilst having a laugh at my expense.

O’Neill returning to Celtic. In 2025? Surely not. But it’s true. Brendan Rodgers has resigned and has been replaced by a Martin O’Neill and Shaun Maloney combination. Once I got my head around that I then clicked onto the statement everyone was discussing regarding Dermot Desmond and I genuinely couldn’t believe what I was reading.

Wigan Athletic manager Shaun Maloney looks on during the Sky Bet League One match between Wigan Athletic and Northampton Town at DW Stadium on August 12, 2023 in Wigan. (Photo by Pete Norton/Getty Images)

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Honestly, once I had finished reading it I had to go back to the start and read it again as my only thought was there is absolutely no way our largest shareholder has written this and had the audacity to publish it on the official Celtic website. But he did. I was astonished.

Realising I would be late for work I put the phone down and proceeded to get ready. In the shower and on my drive to work this was all I could think about. I couldn’t believe that Dermot Desmond, who let’s all remember does NOT own Celtic and is only a shareholder, albeit the largest one, used the club’s official lines of communication to personally attack Brendan Rodgers.

Brendan Rodgers of Celtic Crvena zvezda v Celtic, UEFA Europa League, Football, Rajko Mitic Stadium, Belgrade, Serbia – 24 September 2025 Belgrade Rajko Mitic Stadium Serbia Photo Nikola Krstic Shutterstock

It was nothing short of an absolute and complete character assassination. He has branded him a liar, a man who put his reputation’s preservation over all else. Someone who has been divisive, misleading and self serving. Someone who has fueled a toxic atmosphere and instigated hostility towards the board. These are incredible accusations and I’m sure Brendan will be absolutely seething, and rightly so.

All I could think about on my way to work was how this all felt like something you would see appearing out of Ibrox, not Celtic Park. We have been laughing at our rivals ever since 2012, ‘the banter years’ that never seemed to end. Maybe we got jealous of all the attention and wanted to add some drama to surround our own club.

Alfred Dunhill Links Championship 2024 Dermot Desmond on the 18th tee during the final round of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship 2024 on the Old Course at St. Andrews Golf CLub, Fife, . 06/10/2024. Picture Fran Caffrey / Golffile.ie

So much for aiming to be the best in the world in everything we do. This was more like something you would see emanating from your local GAA club where rival factions within the club air their grievances regarding their dissatisfaction at how the club is being run. A huge PLC club like Celtic should never be issuing unhinged statements like this. Surely any future manager now will tread carefully before taking the job, worried that if things go pear shaped Desmond will be ready to ruin their reputation?

If we delve deeper into what Desmond had to say within that statement,it doesn’t take us long to realise that he is, in my view, nothing more than an egomaniac, something he’s implying Rodgers is. He states near the start that Michael Nicholson and himself were KEEN to offer Rodgers a contract, not that they DID offer him one.

Brendan Rodgers, Manager of Celtic, applauds his team during the UEFA Europa League 2025/26 League Phase MD3 match between Celtic FC and SK Sturm Graz at Celtic Park on October 23, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

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Rodgers himself spoke about this meeting at the time, the day before Flag Day at Celtic Park. Brendan also said at that media conference which was attended by The Celtic Star, that he wouldn’t be a maintenance manager and would only agree to stay if the board’s ambitions matches his own. The summer transfer window proved it didn’t so why would he sign a new contract?

We move on then to the bit that you can not doubt is a lie, or perhaps a clever twist of words. Every player signed and sold was done with Brendan’s full knowledge, approval and endorsement. Come on now, there is no way this is true. We have seen it with our own eyes. Players like Inamura, Shin and JSP have arrived at Celtic and been unwanted by Rodgers almost straight away.

Shin Yamada & Hayato Inamura of Celtic step off the team bus at Celtic Park. Celtic v Livingston, Scottish Premiership, Celtic Park, 23 August 2025. Stuart Wallace IMAGO/Shutterstock

No manager in world football asks for players then makes them outcasts right away. Why would they? It makes zero sense. We know these players weren’t wanted by Rodgers, like many more before them including players the last time our manager was at the club during his first stint.

He then talks about what has failed recently was not due to our structure or model, but all Rodgers fault. Here we are again with Desmond and the board doubling down on the falsity that those who run the club never make mistakes and everything they do is just world class. Absolute garbage.

Then we get the even more ludicrous statement that every pound generated by the club is reinvested towards those goals and the continuous improvement of Celtic Football Club. We just have to look at the money being hoarded away in the bank to see that’s not true.

The final slap in the face comes at the end of the statement where Desmond claims Celtic is greater than any one person. How ironic coming from this narcissist.

Dermot Desmond and Peter Lawwell. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

In my view, Dermot Desmond has embarrassed the club with last night’s statement. It was full of malice and spite. He should never have been allowed to use the official club website to air his personal grievances against Brendan Rodgers. This is yet another sign that those who run our club aren’t fit for purpose.