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Peter Lawwell, Brendan Rodgers and Michael Nicholson<\/p>\nThe club accused UEFA, the media and even Brendan Rodgers but Michael Gannon believes only the board is at fault<\/p>\n
13:21, 07 Sep 2025Updated 19:36, 07 Sep 2025<\/p>\n
Peter Lawwell, Brendan Rodgers and Michael Nicholson<\/p>\n
It used to be known as Statement O\u2019Clock during some of the wackier of the Rangers<\/a> banter years.<\/p>\n The then Ibrox chiefs would stick out some bonkers release late on Friday nights that would have fans choking on their carry-outs.<\/p>\n Now it\u2019s Celtic<\/a>\u2019s turn to hit the send button during the witching hours.<\/p>\n Saturday evening\u2019s 1000-word AI-inspired<\/a> opus was a cracker.<\/p>\n Under-siege Parkhead bosses gave it the green light during Casualty on BBC 1 \u2013 which seemed pretty apt given the response was like one of those chaotic episodes of the long running drama<\/a> where a helicopter crashes into an old folk\u2019s home or something.<\/p>\n The entire thing felt more like a scene from Blackadder Goes Forth though, with Stephen Fry\u2019s General Sir Anthony Cecil Hogmanay Melchett pacing in his office, preparing the latest suicide mission.<\/p>\n \u2018Take this down, Darling\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n Yeah, Celtic fans wanted answers but this wasn\u2019t it. They wanted clarity of the club\u2019s ambitions but it wasn\u2019t that either.<\/p>\n It was more like one of Baldrick\u2019s cunning plans, involving a pair of Y-fronts on the head and a couple of pencils up the nose.<\/p>\n It could have been all so straight forward. A cosy chat with Michael Nicholson and the club media, admitting mistakes were made in the window but it was all with Celtic\u2019s best interests at heart and they\u2019d make sure to be more prepared to take on the mighty Kairat and co next time.<\/p>\n Hands up and let\u2019s all be friends again.<\/p>\n It probably wouldn\u2019t have washed \u2013 but it wouldn\u2019t have launched a jerry can of petrol into an already smouldering bin fire.<\/p>\n Going on the offensive has only offended and further angered an already fuming support.<\/p>\n And all of this was on top of a reported \u2018club insider\u2019 pointing the finger at Brendan Rodgers<\/a> for the window shambles and accusing the boss of \u2018engineering an exit\u2019.<\/p>\n Quite why Rodgers would need to engineer anything is a mystery. He\u2019s got nine months left on his contract and then he\u2019s gone. If the club think he\u2019s at the madam they can pay him up at any time.<\/p>\n Rodgers is way beyond needing to play any tricks in public.<\/p>\n But that was Saturday morning. It\u2019s the nighttime public address that\u2019s left everyone in a state of shock.<\/p>\n Gerald Ratner would have thought twice about this one. Even the not-so subtle Rangers jibe was cheap and irrelevant.<\/p>\n There was almost too much to break down in this avalanche of excuses and contradictions.<\/p>\n Chucking the big bad boys at UEFA<\/a> into the mix was bold, saying the big wigs have Celtic\u2019s hands tied over financial stability regulations.<\/p>\n At no point in the past has this ever been mentioned, so it does seem strange to lob it in now, and plenty of smart folk have already took an mallet to the notion.<\/p>\n Weirdly, the rules apply to every single club in Europe and plenty of them seem to be able to sign players.<\/p>\n It does seem unlikely Celtic are anywhere close to the limit anyway. It wasn\u2019t a worry when a \u00a38m striker was slipping through their fingers on deadline day. It wasn\u2019t a problem when going for a \u00a35m player in July and then signing him for, erm, \u00a35m in August.<\/p>\n It doesn\u2019t seem an issue when player wages are stuck at 2001 levels yet executive salaries have shot through the roof. Strange.<\/p>\n Of it could be guff. Who knows?<\/p>\n Some of the other stuff didn\u2019t add up either. Selling clubs or targeted players want to wait to the end of the window to make more money, apparently.<\/p>\n So why would Celtic wait if they knew it would cost them more? Tis a mystery.<\/p>\n It\u2019s also the media\u2019s fault, of course. The big bad mainstream media who have \u2018commoditised\u2019 the transfer window.<\/p>\n Now that was a funny one. A club who would flog the soggy t-bag out of your mug, who punt players for fortunes every summer and expect fans to stump up for tickets, strips and everything else accusing others of trying to make a buck.<\/p>\n But it\u2019s the mainstream media punting misinformation about signings that has inflamed the fans, apparently.<\/p>\n![\"Denmark's](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1_Denmark-v-Scotland-FIFA-World-Cup-2026-Qualifier.jpg\")
Celtic failed to sign Denmark star Kasper Dolberg(Image: SNS Group)<\/p>\n