Martin O’Neill described it as ‘Life in the Slow Lane’ – Dermot Desmond’s Celtic Legacy

Nigh on a decade ago seen the club plunge to a real low-point when we exited the Scottish cup semi final on spot kicks to four year old championship club the Rangers, in the same season we lost out at the same stage of the lScottish League cup to Ross County.

Granted, we won the title, but also missed out on the Champions League group stage, and bombed badly in the Europa League. It was clearly evident we had gone stale under the guidance of Ronny Delia, not helped by uninspiring recruits such as Colin Kazim Richards, Stefan Scepovic and Carlton Cole.

These are examples of the Celtic signings at that time despite making a fortune in the transfer market the previous few years thanks to the sales of Victor Wanyama, Virgil Van Djik and Fraser Forster. One can only wonder how far Ronny could have taken us had he been given the resources to build a much more efficient side.

To Dermot Desmond’s credit, he shook things up that summer following the dismissal of Ronny, and splashed the cash out to lure elite former Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers to Celtic Park, a move that produced dividends on and off the pitch as the Irishman guided us to an unprecedented era of success, whilst also participating in the lucrative Champions League group stages. Note that word ‘participating’ because participating in Europe is the level that Desmond aspires to, as his son Ross informed us at the 2025 Celtic AGM, reading a prepared statement written by his old man.

When Brendan abandoned us, or walked away because he was not being back in the transfer market to allow us to compete – not just participate in elite level European football,  Dermot turned to former trusted lieutenant Neil Lennon, and Lenny helped the side to yet another treble, leading to him being reinstated on a full time basis, in the showers at Hampden.

Something that was a big mistake. We needed a fresh input, not an easy option in hiring a familiar face. According to Peter Lawwell he never looked at the folder with the CV of managers who had applied for the job.

To be fair to Lenny, he would win yet another treble to land what is an unprecedented quadruple treble, but the signs were there that the team was in steady decline, and so it came to prove as we suffered the pain of a rare campaign deprived of silverware, in what is now widely known as the infamous Covid campaign.

Yet again we were in the doldrums, devoid of Champions League football for a few seasons on the spin, and our future as far as success was concerned, looked very bleak indeed. Something that could have been spared if Desmond hadn’t sanctioned the return of Neil Lennon after the 2019 Scottish Cup Final win over Hearts.

Once again Dermot had to act, and after being led up the garden path by Eddie Howe, he hired Ange Postecoglou in desperation more than anything else. It’s fair to say that most Celtic supporters had never heard of Ange although he was welcomed with open arms by the supporters from day one. And by the time he’d left, he had reestablished our place as the top side in the country, and achieved so by playing some of the most attractive football seen at Paradise in half a century.

When Ange departed, Desmond was quick off the mark again to appoint former manager Brendan Rodgers, and once again things looked rosy with four honours being won in two seasons, with big improvement in the Champions League also being achieved thanks to the experience and guile of the Irishman in the dugout.

Rodgers was given assurances that this time the club would back him in Europe and that happened with the arrival of Arne Engels, Adam Idah, Auston Trusty and Nicolas Kuhn. But Brendan’s old enemies led by Peter Lawwell and aided by his favourite blogger, those players were all undermined to discredit Rodgers, who had delivered the best Champions League campaign in a decade.

Lawwell’s gripe was presumably to do with Mark Lawwell’s £25m spending spree in the summer window just as Brendan came back, delivered a bunch of players that Rodgers simply didn’t rate. That ladies and gentleman is where the Jota money went. Mark Lawwell was the best man to lead Celtic’s recruitment, that was decided after employing head-hunters to search the market nationally and internationally to deliver the best possible, outstanding candidate. Or just give it to Lawwell’s laddie.

Engels they told us was a waste of £11m yet just over a month ago Celtic rejected £25m for him from Nottingham Forest.

So Dermot  Desmond didn’t learn from past mistakes, and failed to back Brendan with the tools he desperately craved to take the club further forward in Europe. The billionaire seemed to have given Rodgers these assurances to get him back but the devious and vindicate powers behind the scenes at Celtic set about undermining and removing Rodgers petty much from the word go.

Brendan like the supporters grew tired and angry, and decided to quit due to his frustrations, the wrath from Desmond via the official Celtic site was extraordinary.  The trauma we’ve endured the last few months would ultimately have been spared had Desmond learned his lessons and shown some ambition by keeping his word and backing Brendan who had earlier in the year put out a side that gave Bayern Munich their toughest game of last season according to their English striker Harry Kane.

Currently we have Martin O’Neill in temporary charge of a side seriously devoid of any genuine quality, and the new manager whoever he may be, has a huge task on his hands to rebuild the side. Martin is in his second spell stepping aside for then replacing Wilfried Nancy in just over 30 days.

The big question is for the next Celtic manager, will he get that backing from Desmond? If he has learned anything from past mistakes, then he will back him to the hilt, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. The Billionaire Irishman has overseen plenty of success at the club, but he’s also largely culpable for our many woes.

Had he strengthened us at a time when we were on top, then we would never be in this position of uncertainty and heading for a for what Martin O’Neill himself two decades ago called ‘the slow lane’. An elite level manager will do his homework, he’ll speak to Brendan Rodgers, maybe Ange Postecoglou. He’ll get told great things about the size of the club, the brilliant support, the amazing atmosphere at Celtic Park but when he’s asked if he’ll get the backing being promised….