When Celtic start to lose goodwill of the fans they're in trouble ...they have to get it back by being honest and sincere. The fans put millions into the club and the board can never forget that

Dempsey says crisis isn't irretrievable but board must win trust

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Dempsey doesn't want to see eroded. While also expressing sympathy for the manager after he was briefed against by someone inside the club who was party to a story that Rodgers was trying to “engineer” his own exit from Celtic Park.

BY HUGH KEEVINS

BRIAN DEMPSEY still gets stopped by Celtic fans who tell him they were there on the night, three decades ago, when he stood outside the ground's front door and uttered the words that sealed the takeover of the club.

“The game is over. The rebels have won.”

But the former director, who brought Fergus McCann to Scotland to save Celtic from closure in 1994, never forgets the part that Dermot Desmond - now the club's principal shareholder - played in the creation of history.

“I have to be honest and say my original thought was that Dermot might be an opportunist,” he told me.

“But I was wrong.

“The deal to remove the two families, the Kellys and the Whites, who controlled the club could have been done without Dermot but it couldn't have been completed properly without his input of cash.

“He consummated the arrangement. That is why I look on with sadness and in disbelief at what is happening now between Celtic and the supporters of the club.