ANATOMY OF A WAR OF WORDS

Brendan Rodgers spoke about Ian Cathro’s dismissal, sparking a bitter war of words between the clubs on Saturday...

RODGERS ON FRIDAY

‘I look at the recruitment. There was a coach who wanted to play a brand of football. That was set against players coming in who weren’t of that profile. With all due respect, Kyle Lafferty isn’t that, Christophe Berra isn’t that. I look in there and it always seemed a wee bit confused. You get so-called experts there to guide you ... you are getting messages from everywhere. The one example we all saw was at Aberdeen. You know, Christ Almighty, the game is hard enough...’

DALY ON SATURDAY

‘I thought Brendan’s comments were absolutely disgusting. Disgraceful. I’ve followed Brendan’s career down south when he was at Liverpool and not once did I hear him make a comment about the structures at Man United, Chelsea or Man City. But all of a sudden he comes to Celtic and thinks it’s acceptable. At the minute our club is very easy to pick on and kick. Questioning Ian’s authority? That shows me he doesn’t know Ian very well.’

RODGERS ON SATURDAY

‘He (Daly) hasn’t become a manager yet, so wait until he becomes a manager and then he will know the rules of the game. I said what I had to say — my feelings on a fellow manager losing his job. It’s okay, there’s no drama. I don’t think I mentioned individual players. I was talking about the manager. My focus was on the game, my empathy was for Hearts. It’s a good club, I’m sure they will get a solution and look to push on.’