Suit yourself Brendan Michael Gannon
Rodgers was dressed up for successful exit weeks ago
HELL hath no fury like a woman scorned? No chance. No lass on Satan’s home patch could summon up the levels of rage exploding from large swathes of the Celtic support this week.
Blimey, it’s fair to say BRexit hasn’t gone down well with Parkhead punters.
There are jilted lovers who have taken garden shears to wandering husbands’ suits who are thinking Hoops fans need to take a step back and chew a chill pill.
Funny enough, it’s a suit that’s part of the reason for the volcanic response to Brendan Rodgers walking out on their side at the business end of the season.
Eagle-eyed punters will have clocked something off about the now former Celtic manager walking around Leicester’s pitch on Tuesday afternoon while the ink dried on the three-year contract that signalled the end of the love affair with Parkhead.
The suit. Rodgers – always immaculate at Celts – was striding around the King Power Stadium wearing a resplendent royal blue three-piece number.
Hang on a wee minute. The Northern Irishman is not the kind of guy to swing by Slaters to pick up some new clobber for an interview.
This is a guy who gets the best of gear made to order. Perhaps he just happened to have one in Leicester’s colours.
But then again, if you believe that you probably swallowed the whole Rangers fan in the Clyde Tunnel story.
It’s the kind of detail that would have Columbo asking one more question but it just put the tin lid on the whole departure for Hoops fans.
Rodgers might have made a midnight flit but it was weeks in the planning.
That kind of kick in the teeth is why punters have gone full psycho-ex on the man who was the love of their life.
The guy who whispered sweet nothings in their ear for two-and-a-half years then dropped them like a stone at the first fluttering of eyelashes that came his way.
The stronger the affection, the more anger when it goes south. When the trust is gone, suddenly they are questioning every utterance over recent
years. The blinkers come off and even that trip to the garage becomes a festering doubt over where he actually went.
Yet Celtic fans need to take a deep breath and get a grip. The pain is understandable but it needs to be reeled in.
Calling Rodgers a fraud at Tynecastle was harsh. He may have slapped on the Celticminded stuff with a trowel but on the pitch Rodgers was anything but a fake.
If he hadn’t gone in two-footed with the fan stuff it might have been different. If it had been Joos van Dutchman in the dugout these last three seasons there would have been resentment at the timing of the exit but nothing like the fury seen this week.
The video of the halfwits in a pub twisting the disgusting old Nacho Novo song for Rodgers about hoping he dies in his sleep from an IRA bullet is so far beyond the pale, the pale can’t be seen without the Hubble Telescope.
The provo karaoke at Tynecastle was bad enough but that lot took it to a new level. They all need to calm down.
Rodgers might have done a bunk at a bad time but his achievements should stand the test of time. Seven trophies out of seven, two more in the offing.
If he’d gone at Christmas – like was probably the plan – there would have been petted lips but less blind rage.
But when it boils down to it Rodgers is just a guy in a job who liked the look of another job.
Celtic fans feel used but have to realise this was a business partnership not a romantic relationship. By going way overboard with the backlash they are only conceding the moral high ground and getting distracted from the things that really matter. Managers and players come and go but clubs always remain.
It’s about the badge rather than the fancy suit.
Celtic fans have to get a grip. The pain is understandable but needs to be reeled in