Craig Levein has taken lulling opponents into a false sense of security to a new level in recent months. The only win they have had since March was against Championship Inverness in the Scottish Cup semi-final.
A draw against Hibs their only point from the last 21 available in the league. By any conceivable measure, they are in the worst form of any club in Scotland. After winning their opening five games, Levein was feted for his wisdom and general ability to restore “natural order”.
That must seem a lifetime ago to their supporters, who fancy themselves as the third force in the land, but have to contend with second in the capital and sixth overall. They remained top of the league until November, when the wheels came off, initially in the league, and then at Murrayfield, when a transformational performance from Ryan Christie set the scene for Saturday’s treble.
Over a 45 minute period, Celtic found their golden touch and Hearts realised their place in the food chain.
Despite this, the champions have work to do to win on Saturday. They have already lost to Hearts this season and lost heavily last term. The first half at Murrayfield, played without Christie, who will also miss Saturday’s final, was sobering, as we struggled to create a chance worthy of the name. Just as Aberdeen did in the Scottish Cup semi-final Hearts will turn the final into a physical battle. This is all they have in the locker. We need to be prepared.
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I’VEHADTOCHANGEMYMIND:
Yeah and it’s rank nonsense. Lol. Of course it is.
Klopp gets what Liverpool represents … you don’t have to be steeped in the history to understand it.
Anyone who takes the Celtic job will very quickly understand it and what it means and what it represents. It’s not a skill that should be on the “required” section of the application form.
Jobo 8.24pm
BBC1 tv coverage is 2pm-5.15pm on BBC1 Coatbrig channel :-)
If things had panned out differently and BR had made it clear that he was going at the end of the season how many of us would have even quoted Neil for the job? How many of us would have been happy if the board had made moves to appoint him after BR? The fact that he “stepped in” or “came to our “rescue” or “answered the call” makes no difference in my opinion. He was unemployed and due to the situation he found himself in with Hibernian was not particularly attractive to potential clubs. Celtic gave him a chance and a lifeline, not the other way around, surely?
ONENIGHTINLISBON:
There speaks common sense. Thank you.
James Forrest on 23rd May 2019 9:01 pm
OGLACH:
Listen, the “Lennon for Manager” campaign never sleeps, never shuts up, never slows down.
Now he “saved the season” … absolute guff, I’m sorry to say.
Why is it only the critics who have to sit down and shut up?
====
Fair point but imo those who would rather we appointed a new coach rather than retain Lenny as manager are in the majority here. Venting our ire on a particular subject on here may reduce the oul blood pressure but will not make a jot of difference to who gets the managers post. Just like me I get really bent out of shape over our insistence in buying a seemingly endless list of unproven projects in the vain hope we unearth another VVD or Big Vic.
OGLACH:
You make a good point. Thanks for that mate.
JAMES FORREST on 23RD MAY 2019 9:11 PM
I just don’t get the “we owe Lenny” mantra.
LARSSONSE7EN@6:41- you wish ?
James we debate here but we no power, do you really think Desmond gives a rat’s arse about what any of us say.
I am pretty sure that the decision on the new Manager has already been made and quite obviously can’t or won’t be released until after the Cup Final. We know your opinion, why you come on here and repeat it ad nauseum and find new ways to stick the knife in Lenny I’ll never know.
Seeing how wonderful Rodgers was as a support to The Griff,is it not a bit ironic that it was on his watch that he went off the rails,
I assume you re also an expert in Dental matters so I am awaiting your analysis in that area, well why not, you have tried everything else.
You just seem to be looking for any & every angle to put the boot into Lenny, I honestly find it abhorrent for a Celtic Supporter to be acting this way regardless of your initial motivation.
As much as I loathe the man, the professional infrastructure that BR has put in place has pushed us in the right direction. So long as whoever is put in place continues this I will be more happy. Unfortunately I don’t think NFL is suited to this, the game has moved on, we need to move with it. Incidentally slippy G is quite clearly not one of these progressive manager. A lot of the snakes success was down to Davies and Driscoll, that’s why it’s important whoever comes in has an equally as good backroom staff
What is the criteria for appointing the new Manager?
Will it be the best man available within our wage range/transfer budget ?
I would imagine so.
It wont be whoever gets the most likes on Facebook.
It wont be because someone typed on a website message board that Mr X is the man for the job or if its Mister Y I will eat my hat etc etc ad nauseum.
So relax boys.What will be will be
Its not real life,its only football
If only the board had half of the love we all have for Celtic all would be well…..
OnenightinLisbon
I disagree..
I dont want a board that lets their heart’s rule their heads
That would be a recipe for disaster
Why didn’t we appoint Moyes when, what’s commonly called ‘The Rat’, bolted? He wasn’t doing anything
IF it is Moyes then the announcer will be trying to drum up some noise to quell the groans
As someone else said hope they’ve kept the covers for the top deck
WHAT IS THE STARS
You can be a successful business without losing touch with your “customers”….
They have no heart, that’s the problem.
Yep. With a Board like we have, we will never win anything.
GO TELL THE SPARTIM
Unless we have a new manager with the same or similar Kudos to our previous one then the groans will be fairly evident I reckon. Both Lennon & Moyes will be up against it, both from our own support and the press…
Anyone reckon we might see 3 at the back on Saturday with Ajer, Jozo and Benkovic? Tierney and Forrest wide.
TJ
CORKCELT:
As I said, I am not “sticking the knife in” any more than those who promote his cause endlessly without pause, and without wanting the rest of us to have our say.
Why did I bring up Leigh Griffiths? Larssonseven did, and I was responding to his point. He said Lennon would be supportive of the player whilst Rodgers had not been. That is nonsense. Your point about Griffiths coming off the rails under Rodgers is very valid, and very on point. He had a manager who tried his level best to keep him straight, but who did not tolerate it when he fell below the required standards.
If those standards are reduced to meet the lifestyles of the players, we’re all going to have cause to worry. The last thing Griffiths needs is to be in an enviroment where going off the rails is not quite as frowned upon, and that was my point and I don’t care how people try to twist it.
Be disgusted as you will; my loyalty is to the club, not one person connected with it. I say again that if the Lennon for Manager campaign was not so vocal, and not a 24-hour, 7-days, we never close one I wouldn’t need to argue the case the way I do.
If you think I’m “putting the boot into Lennon” you’re quite wrong; I think it is right that we examine his suitability for the job from every possible avenue. The board has had more than two months to decide that he was the best man for the role. One of three things has happened here.
1) They decided on Lennon early, and the last two months of the “audition” has been a joke and the joke has been on all the rest of us. Why haven’t they announced it? Because they know it’s not going to fly with a lot of the fans but they want to present it as fait accompli after 3Treble is secure
or
2) They are genuinely torn and still have yet to decide. If that’s the case I don’t want them running the club any more than I want Lennon managing it becasue that’s farcical and they are incompetent. It means that they have doubts about him and are looking for reasons to ignore them … if they really are playing “wait and see what happens” they are irresponsible clowns gambling with next season.
or
3) They’ve been busily behind the scenes all this time, talking to other candidates.
Next week I expect to know, but I can tell you that people close to this blog have said Lawwell and the board are stuck at number 2 and have yet to decide this. If those people are right Lennon getting the gig will be the least of our problems, because we have morons in charge.
How will we set ourselves up to combat the Salt’n’Sauce hammer-throwers?
Even when playing well we’ve struggled to have a quick start, a creative spark and an appropriate physical threat. Levein defines negative in all forms and he knows his mob will be shown extraordinary leniency by swansong Craig…………
What are we going to do?
There’s a lot riding on this game.
In the end, you know what it comes down to?
My real argument has never been about Neil Lennon anyway. Hard as that will be for some to believe. I would be writing with the same anger if it was Moyes – I have written excoriating pieces on Moyes in the last two months – or Mackay or Keane or Larsson or any of the other “Celtic minded” candidates who have been touted from time to time on the basis that they “get it.”
Lennon just so happens to be the guy in the chair this time. And I disagreed with giving it to him last time as he was a rookie and it was an unpardonable act of folly which cost us a league title.
This is about the kind of board that thinks this will fly, that thinks they can get away with a third tier appointment because the man has an emotional attachment to the club and the fans. I’ve laid out the case against Lennon the Manager but the case is really a case against the board.
Because, Corkcelt, you are right; not one thing that I have written here or elsewhere has made a blind bit of difference or will make a blind bit of difference. There are people on our board who are perfectly capable of making a decision that is manifestly wrong and manifestly dangerous … whether that’s Lennon or any one of a dozen other unqualified candidates who’s names always seem to come up.
We have a CEO who got into a willy-waving contest with the best manager the club has had since Stein. Was it the reason Rodgers left? No, that’d be giving Rodgers more credit than he deserves, but the impression is impossible to shake that Lawwell is happy being the big cheese again and would gladly appoint a Lennon than go out and find a Martinez or a Benitez or another big character who’s very presence in the building, and name on a parking space, would remind him that he is, after all, just a backroom pen pusher.
And that is what really concerns me. The truth is, I’ve have taken an axe to any candidate who seemed like a cheap and easy option, something that could be sold to the fans on a shonky basis just so that Lawwell suffers no rival. And the writing is on the wall here.
Kris Commons said on Shortbread a few weeks ago,Rodgers done nothing for Leigh Griffiths.
It doesn’t matter who the manager is
I’m still gonna scream and scream..because i can
Peter Lawwell is the devil incarnate
James, If there is a relentless pro Lennon campaign it has passed me by and it certainly has passed CQN by.
I read the blog most days and at a rough estimate I reckon the posts are 2 to 1 against Lenny getting job.
In fairness most who express an opinion that Lenny is not the right man do it with a degree of sadness.
You however are a bit different and it is the way you go about it is what bothers me,
We are all Celtic fans here and we all want what’s best for the Club, Not that it matters much but my opinion is, I don’t think Lenny would be a disaster if appointed but I do feel we could do better, and I am in the camp that says no to Lennon with a heavy heart.
My beef with you is not that your against Lenny being Manager but it’s the way you are going about things and as I said earlier I think the decision has been made so all the guff is superfluous.
!!BADA BING!!:
Commons was the guy who was a half dozen goals shy of the 100 club and who Rodgers never even gave a minute on the park, right? I wonder why he could possibly be angry at him?
I listened to Rodgers on Griffiths a dozen times, speaking in public about the relationship he had with him. They had a couple of moments where their frustration with each other came across in public; remember Rodgers walking on to the pitch after one game, making a beeline for him and giving him a hug and a wee word in the ear, and a kiss on the side of the head?
Google Griffiths and Rodgers, see how many times the manager spoke up for him at press conferences, how many times he tried to set him straight, to think of the team, to think about his future either with Celtic or after football, their relationship was a father-son sort of one … no manager in Griffiths’ career did more for him or tried to do more for him.
It’s crazy to deny it. Brendan Rodgers treated us like dirt in the way he left … but I refuse not to acknowledge all the good things he did whilst he was here, and this was one of them. He tried his best with the player, he couldn’t have done more for him.
The manager we employ will be the best we can afford
And if we cant get him it will be the second best we can afford.
Oh and of course he must agree to be Peter Lawwells poodle..
CORKCELT:
I too have expressed my regret about Lennon the Manager not being up to par. I don’t know how many times I’ve done it. I wish I didn’t feel like this, and I’ve made that clear.
Some people choose to ignore it. Some people choose to ignore the number of times I’ve said that the word respect is not adequate to describe how I feel about Lennon the Man, and the courageous side of him, and the way he’s endured more nonsense than anyone in Scottish football ever has.
Google the number of articles I’ve written on that subject … or Hell, just take my word for it?
Or don’t. Because like I said, I am comfortable knowing where I stand.
WHAT IS THE STARS:
Read into my post on that subject however you like. I’ve been clear what I mean. I have praised Lawwell for his job performance in his own specific role. I will not blame him for Rodgers departure as others here have. I am the last person who believes he is “the devil incarnate.”
But he’s got a giant ego and that has hurt us at times, and it will continue to unless he gets it in check, and I do not believe that is an unreasonable position to take.
Wits……
Cock-a-poo?
Ok, why should we be giving Neil his due? In two days we are going for an historic treble. The manager and players should be focused on this. If any of the sniping and back biting going on should feed back to the players, it could undermine their confidence in themselves, in Neil’s tactics or his motivational power. Neil is the only manager we have to lead us on Saturday. Get behind him.
SILVER CITY 1888:
If internet criticism affected our players half this team would be hiding under the bed every week.
My namesake would have spent the better part of five years there and never would have won all those end of season awards this term.
” Lennon “
My cousins best pal just sent us a fax………………….
She’s married to the senior trouser-presser at Slaters………
Oh yes………..!
That’s ( Big) Mark an’ Peter Grant just left wi’ two brand new, fully-fitted 3 piecers in green gaberdine with matching ties, jaunty bunnets of the finest Donegal tweed and as a surprising addition silver-topped canes…………….
” There’sGonnaBeAShow CSC “
JAMES FORREST, I hope some others come on and defend you like I am about to do, feck them you have a point of view if they don’t like it let them scroll by .the way they tell you to do, keep posting james some people like you on cqn.hh,
James, So the fact a good Celtic man appears to have lost any hope of getting a job he craves makes you happy. Think even you could have phrased that a bit better,
CORKCELT;
If he’s not getting it that makes me happy.
If he ever believed he SHOULD get it then he was kidding himself on. Nothing he has done since leaving Celtic Park justifies, in any way, giving him a second shot at it.
And I never believed he should have got the first shot at it either.
James Forrest
Agree. Thanks Lenny for filling in but no way can he be considered. I understand he has been told.
Lawwell is the fly in the ointment. He clashed with Rodgers ,derailed signing targets and briefed against him. He would prefer Lenny as a puppet.
Lawwell was defending Delia to the end checking in with people ; Ronny was perfect for him did what he was told.
No way Lawwell wants a Rafa or any other demanding manager and he will try and influence DD or even derail the applicant. I think even Moyes will prove difficult to manage as he would have Celtics interests at heart rather than his own.
Interesting times ahead.
Lucky Cody,
how do you know all that?
Quality does cost money and that is why Desmond pays Lawell such a generous salary. However quite obviously Desmond is an extremely poor business man cos ol” Pedro is just pre-occupied with being the big potato and puts his own ego ahead of Celtic’s interests. Jesus wept.