The barnstorming Celtic drama was used as an example in a debate over Manchester United, Chelsea and more.
Roy Keane admits a Celtic statement from Dermot Desmond on Brendan Rodgers took him aback -as Gary Neville offered a response on manager and boardroom squabbles.
The Man Utd heroes alongside Liverpool favourite Jamie Carragher, Lionesses legend Jill Scott and Arsenal legend Ian Wright were chewing over big English football talking points on the Overlap, after the Old Trafford side binned Ruben Amorim as head coach. It comes off the back of Enzo Maresca leaving his role at Chelsea under a similar cloud of reported disagreements with those upstairs at Stamford Bridge.
Keane, who featured for Celtic at the end of his career, noted similar happening at the Hoops this season when Rodgers resigned as boss. That sparked a stunning tirade from major shareholder Desmond and he was keen to bring it up as the topic was debated as a growing trend within the game Carragher kicked off the conversation with: “You know, them clashes, and that's where I go back to sort of Amorim and Maresca. Now, I was critical of both managers because I don't like people in public arguing with each other. I think football clubs, like your family, we all have problems, but you keep it in house.
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Roy Keane on Celtic statement by Dermot Desmond
“That's my thing about Wilcox (director of football at Manchester United) and Amorim. I hope he didn't sack him because they had an argument. I hope they sacked him on the back of the results. I was critical of Maresca coming out and all the cryptic comments. I don't like that, but if you're a sporting director and you want to top manager, talking all those big beast managers that we've had in the past and we've had in the last few years, there's going to be friction.”
Keane had his say with a Celtic example, insisting: “Well, the last few months, if you look at Celtic. Look at Brendan leaving Celtic. Now when managers are leaving, the clubs are making statements about managers. My goodness. So that’s the issue.”
Neville insisted with his comeback that it is sometimes the managers who are difficult to deal with. He responded with: “But Roy, managers are not easy to deal with, by the way. So I'm stepping into an owner's perspective now, and sporting director. If you accept when you go in and question a manager as a sporting director or an owner, they're going to be upset because they don't think you have a clue about what you're talking about. So managers, in my opinion, get incredibly paranoid. They think everybody's against them and they become quite insecure. Even the big ones.”
Dermot Desmond statement on Brendan Rodgers
Desmond claimed on Rodgers: “When we brought Brendan back to Celtic two years ago, it was done with complete trust and belief in his ability to lead the club into a new era of sustained success. Unfortunately, his conduct and communication in recent months have not reflected that trust. In June, both Michael Nicholson and I expressed to Brendan that we were keen to offer him a contract extension, to reaffirm the club’s full backing and long-term commitment to him. He said he would need to think about it and revert. Yet in subsequent press conferences, Brendan implied that the club had made no commitment to offer him a contract. That was simply untrue.
“We met with Brendan regularly, including in December last year and at the start of the summer, with regular dialogue in between, to discuss and agree our collective strategy, priorities, and approach. Every player signed and every player sold during his tenure was done so with Brendan’s full knowledge, approval, and endorsement. Any insinuation otherwise is absolutely false. His later public statements about transfers and club operations came entirely out of the blue. At no point prior to those remarks had he raised any such concerns with me, Michael, or any member of the Board or executive team. In reality, he was given final say over all football matters and was consistently backed in the recruitment process — including record investment in players he personally identified and approved.
“When his comments were made publicly, I sought to address them directly. Brendan and I met for over three hours at his home in Scotland to discuss the issue. Despite ample opportunity, he was unable to identify a single instance where the club had obstructed or failed to support him. The facts did not match his public narrative. Regrettably, his words and actions since then have been divisive, misleading, and self-serving. They have contributed to a toxic atmosphere around the club and fuelled hostility towards members of the executive team and the Board. Some of the abuse directed at them, and at their families, has been entirely unwarranted and unacceptable.
“Every member of the Board and executive team is deeply passionate about Celtic and acts at all times with professionalism, integrity, and a shared desire for success. What has failed recently was not due to our structure or model, but to one individual’s desire for self-preservation at the expense of others. Celtic’s structure — where the manager oversees football, the Chief Executive manages operations, and the Board provides oversight — has served the club with great success for more than two decades. We all share the same ambition: to ensure Celtic’s continued success domestically and to achieve further progress in Europe. Every pound generated by the club is reinvested towards those goals and the continuous improvement of Celtic Football Club. Celtic is greater than any one person. Our focus now is on restoring harmony, strengthening the squad, and continuing to build a club worthy of its values, traditions, and supporters.”
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