Batten down the hatches, tie up the horses there’s a storm a blowin out there.

The devastating news this morning, that Brendan Rodgers has agreed to return to the riches of the EPL and take up the helm with Leicester City is unsurprising. The timing of the move however is. A day before a vital away clash with Hearts and as Celtic reach out tantalisingly with touching distance of 8 in a row is simply as dreadful as it is inconsiderate, even disrespectful on the part of the manager. But therein lies the crux of it all.

As the late Aretha Franklin stated ‘R.E.S.P.E.C.T find out what it means to me’. Aye well Brendan did find out. So have we.

Transfer windows came and went where 1st 2nd and 3rd targets were missed out on. This left the manager in a position where the development of what he had at his disposal had led to a domestic dominance the likes of which we’ve never seen before, but his own ambition to transfer that to a European stage that would have put him up there with Jock Stein and Martin O’Neill in Celtic’s history was going to take genuine investment.

The board weren’t able or willing to supply the required backing to achieve this. Not only was that not forthcoming from the Celtic board but it would seem the communication regarding this was also not exactly clear. There comes a time where you feel like a mushroom, kept in the dark and fed something unpleasant.

We as fans have to put up with that from this board, but when that disrespect permeates from the boardroom to the manager and staff there comes a time when he’ll have admiring glances from elsewhere and he’ll ask for the divorce papers to be signed. That time has come.

Let’s be honest he’s hung on around 6/8 months longer than most of us were expecting given his demeanour and body language since the summer transfer window closed. However when it’s got to late February you’d kind of hope he’d see it through to May. You can only think the working relationship has broken down so much it’s become irretrievable.

How else can you explain the timing? How else do you explain not only taking his ball but taking his pal’s with him?

Games a bogey? Let’s pray it’s not.

I’m disappointed in Brendan at the moment but it’s mixed with admiration for his work, the domestic dominance, the development of the players and the pride I had for the way until now he had conducted himself as a Celtic manager.

With time to reflect and the reasoning behind the timing no doubt to follow perhaps I’ll only remember the good times, and all good times do indeed come to an end, but you can delay the inevitable.

Would Leicester not wait until May? In no danger of any relegation and Europe looking beyond them I’m sure this could have been negotiated. I’d have hoped Brendan would have insisted. But if they improve their league position by 4 places that is worth an extra £10 million.

Likewise drop by 4 places and they lose £10million so that is a £20 million swing right there. Thats why they aren’t prepared to wait.

I’ll look back fondly no doubt but my mid-morning Espresso has a sour taste to it today.

So over to you Lenny. The King is dead. Long Live the King.

As Aretha said ‘I’ll say a little prayer for you’

Niall J