Celtic's head coach Brendan Rodgers attends a press conference on the eve of the UEFA Champions League Knockout round play-off second Leg match against Bayern Munich on February 17, 2025 in in Munich. (Photo by Tobias Schwarz / AFP) (Photo by TOBIAS SCHWARZ/AFP via Getty Images)
Brendan Rodgers has confirmed that he held a summer meeting with Dermot Desmond but has no update on his future.
The Irishman is in the third and final year of his contract with very little comment from either side on what the future holds.
A player in the final year of his contract can be a risky business, it is less common with managers but Celtic are now in that situation.
At most clubs negotiations would be between manager and CEO but at Celtic it appears that the big decisions fall to the club’s biggest shareholder.
Asked if he had held the expected meeting with Dermot Desmond Rodgers told The Sun:
Yes, we spoke with all the guys.
I had a meal and a chat around a number of things. So, yes, I had a nice meet. We touched base on it but it primarily is just a chat around things.
Like I’ve said, it’s still a long, long way out but my focus is really just now getting the team ready and making us really competitive and exciting for this coming season.
But a year’s a long, long way out.
The future of the manager is going to be a constant issue as the season develops, it isn’t something that can be sidelined or parked.
Rodgers has gone on record saying that he is 150% then 200% certain to be at Celtic through the 25/26 season but what happens beyond that remains open to speculation.
Given what he’s said it doesn’t sound too positive, deflection almost. Personally I hope he stays and signs up for a few years but there’s no real indication of that.
I’d have to add that he often says things in a way that makes it very difficult to really know what he means. Que sera!
If he goes we are deffo not gonna get an improvement, at best an equal but prob not even that.
As a club we should be looking to nail him down long term purely from a continuity side.
If the players know he’s staying, it must make a difference, just as the reverse may also apply.
As for them upstairs, how the hell could they not want to keep BR in the job?
I feel a shower running already.
Would never advocate for us to go down the road of spending just because we can but ffs, PL and his tittie suckers really take the biscuit, as long as there is an accountant..yes, an accountant, cos thats all he is, pulling the strings, the club will never get out of this groundhog day cycle it is in.
If people are getting the feeling that the mgr ain’t staying its because he’s being hamstrung yet again by the board, I’m pretty sure if BR was offered a 20-30m budget every season if needed, and not based on player trading, he’d be here for a while, he wants to see progress in Europe like the rest of us….fuck knows what PL wants to see other than a heathy bamk balance.
The concept of Rodgers being Celtic manager is a long long way off what is actually produced on the park. Looks the part and talks a good game.
How people can look at the football we have to bear and worry about him extending his contract, I have no idea?
Similarly, the absence of Hatate, who’s nothing more than a liability with his consistent wayward passing, is being touted as an excuse for losing the cup final. I despair.
Someone stated if we lose MacGregor to injury we are finished…I’ll leave it at that.
Charlie…you are entitled to your opinions …and I respect that…HOWEVER… to describe Hatate as a liability is something that needs challenging….What are your reasons for giving him such a heavy crit…??.
Would be pleased to know your thoughts…Thanks.
He hates calmac, hates br, hates ghost, hates reo. In short he is a hun sussed long ago ey charlie lad
Looks like you have been Out-Hunned, Charlie!
He’d want to learn to coach his team
To pass forward, watching Sat match, I said to my Son, if I have to watch this ( I won’t say it) from Celtic all this pass back and forth to the centre half, left full, right full, up to a midfield, then back to the centre half, I won’t be going to
Watch Celtic Matches, I fell asleep watch that rubbish on Sat, point taken it wasn’t the full 1st team, but can you see any better going forward, is it any different from last year.
This scenario is arguably more concerning than the usual summer transfer frustration with our delayed player signings?
You wouldn’t want to let your best player get to this point – so why let BR get to this point?
And IF the Board was looking at buying a couple of decent (pricey) players, their first question could reasonably be:
is BR staying on after this season?
I think he should just go , surely any half decent manager with our resources should win the poor SPFL, didn’t Ronnie Delia do that,I think we should look to east European managers who are always looking at something different as opposed to our tippy tappy pass back football,and the naysayers will say look we’ve won out of 14 titles but with sevco out but even when they come back we still won the 13 ,I think if Brendan goes that will be fair enough and I hope does because in reality with our wealth compared to sevco we should win the league at a canter ,but that is if liewell allows it,we should be so far ahead of sevco that last season’s results against them would have a manager sacked,so let’s hope our transfer window will be done and dusted with players in who can start immediately and hit the ground running in time for our CL qualifier,ha ha ,some hope.
Must make Sevco a shoe in wi their 140m eh?
He’s off. Probably fancies one last shot in the EPL. Cue Lennon 3.0.
He has probably told Mr Desmond to fund decent signings or he is leaving. The challenge for Celtic is European football. That is where the revenue is collected. If we fail to invest, we will only continue to win in a second-rate league at best. We will be out of Europe very quickly.
A pure guess but Dermot’s probably asked him to stay, he’s said he might if he’s given significant backing to make progress in Europe, Dermot’s went off to chat to ‘Calm Doon’, the Trappist monk nicholson and co. And it’s stalled there for now. We have a few more weeks of the transfer window. Perhaps the answer will lie there – if he’s staying, we’ll get the players we need. If he’s going, we’ll get a raft of projects that he’ll refuse to play. There is also no logic in ignoring Euro progression. It’s lucrative, it puts our players in the shop window, it makes the club more attractive to future players, the fan base is happier, the manager and players are far more excited. Logically, I can’t see any reason we shouldn’t be doing this…..but we are run by accountants
Rolling contract protects both sides in this situation !