Record Sport looks behind the day that send shockwaves throughout Scottish football and the 12 months of fallout

First there was the bombshell news. Then there was the nuke landing.

October 27, 2025. A date that will live in Celtic infamy.

Twelve months on, Parkhead is still feeling the shockwaves from Brendan Rodgers’ dramatic departure. Celtic remain in recovery mode.

What a day it was a year ago. The jungle drums had been beating all afternoon.

Messages started to drop that Rodgers had been sacked. It had been the same the previous Monday though, the day after his infamous Honda Civic line in the wake of losing at Dundee. This time his side had been thumped at Tynecastle by pace-setters Hearts and there were noises something was brewing.

It had been for months. Rodgers’ frustration over signings had grown over the summer. Talk of him getting a new contract had cooled and the writing was well and truly on the wall after a newspaper briefing suggested the Irishman was working his ticket.

With results on the pitch reflecting the mood off it, a divorce looked in the post. But no one thought it would be so spectacular. On the Monday evening Rodgers quit. Then Dermot Desmond unleashed.

His statement that night was so dripping with vitriol that it had to be checked to ensure it wasn’t some AI-constructed hoax. Rodgers had been publicly flogged, so much so newspapers had lawyers check they wouldn't get dragged in to court if it sparked a defamation case.

Accusing the manager of creating the toxic atmosphere around the club and putting bullseyes on the backs of directors, Desmond said: ”What has failed recently was not due to our structure or model, but to one individual's desire for self-preservation at the expense of others.”

It was jaw-on-the-floor stuff.

In the 12 months since, Rodgers has kept his own counsel. He’s not said a word about it in public, while remains fairly philosophical about it all in private. Billionaires like Desmond don’t like being told what to do.

He’s not had to say much though. Celtic managed to cling on to their crown with club legend Martin O’Neill delivering an incredible double and steering the side to the top of the Premiership again this term.

But to many Rodgers has been vindicated. Celtic’s problems in the transfer windows have remained long after his departure. So much for one man being the issue.

Inside Parkhead, there’s still a feeling Rodgers manoeuvred his departure.

Insiders point to the fact he was slippery when it came to formal contract extension talks and then walked away without a payout as a sure sign the eventual lucrative move to Saudi Arabia was long in the pipeline.

Sometimes two things can be correct at the same time. Rodgers did grow exasperated by what he felt was a lack of ambition to take the club to the next level, the time taken over transfers, and the targets missed due to wage caps.

It’s also likely he saw a potential escape route and took it. Rodgers’s departure sent Celtic into survival mode – and not a lot has changed 12 months on.

There was the Wilfried Nancy experiment that lasted 33 days, head of football operations Paul Tisdale didn’t survive the January clear out, while O’Neill steadied the ship and agreed to at least another year, despite turning 75 next March.

The Northern Irishman has made one of the best starts to a league campaign in 20 years with nine wins out of 10. Rodgers only had 17 points from nine games when he left.

But the Champions League exit to LASK, the league and Premier Sport Cup defeats to Rangers and three Europa League losses on the bounce suggest lessons have not been learned.

There’s still no replacement for Tisdale or some kind of director of football, there’s no official head of recruitment and a permanent chairman had yet to be appointed to replace Peter Lawwell.

Celtic signed four loan players on deadline day with another on a one-year deal.

Parkhead is like the television show Grand Designs when the rebuild hasn’t started and the family are living on site in a a caravan.

Meanwhile, Rodgers has a Middle East mansion, lording it up in a Saudi Pro League title race with Al Qadsiah, just four points off the top and soon to be squaring up with fellow ex-Celt Ange Postecoglou’s Al Nassr in a few weeks.

Former Hoops keeper Scott Bain – who was speaking at the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup draw – said: “I'm really not surprised he’s doing so well out there. I know Celtic fans have a split opinion on him regarding the way he left the first time and potentially the second time.

"But he's a top, top-level manager.

“You've seen Celtic as a football club when he came in, the standards he brought, the players he attracted, the way he played.

“Even the second time around, taking Bayern to the very last kick of the ball for a place in the Champions League.”

Bain was part of both Rodgers’ reigns and he admitted he was blown away by the boss from day one.

He said: “Tactically, I just thought he was excellent.

“I remember my my first start at Ibrox. He came to me in the morning and told me I was starting.

“We went to the meeting room and he had on the board what happens if they score first, what happens if we score first, and what happens if we get a man sent off.

“Practically everything he had on that board happened. I was just thinking, ‘this man is a genius!’

“So I’m not surprised he’s doing well out there. And he’s got John Kennedy there as well, who is a phenomenal coach.”

Desmond’s character assassination arguably made a martyr of the former manager but regardless of the fallout, Falkirk no.1 Bain insisted his old gaffer’s legacy should be intact.

He said: “We don't ever really appreciate things – especially in this country – until we're further down the line.

“I think people in another 10 years will appreciate that spell of unknown success that he brought in and started.

“You even see the team now still has some of the identity of certain things that he brought to the club.

“I think people will appreciate that spell more as time passes.”

Rodgers’s legacy might change over the years, but 12 months on from his exit, his shadow still looms large over Celtic Park.