NOT since the meddlesome ways of Robert Kelly in the fifties and early sixties has a Parkhead board member had a say in putting together a Celtic line-up.
The tyrannical former chairman used to regularly change the team chosen by manager Jimmy McGrory and pinned to a noticeboard in the stadium every Thursday afternoon.
Kelly would scrutinise the formation, alter it to his own satisfaction and hand it back to McGrory the following day. Nice man that he was, the club’s legendary goalscorer would accept the amendments without a murmur.
It was Kelly who ordered the players to play an attacking game in Hungary back in 1964 with the team just 90 minutes away from appearing in the European Cup-Winners’ Cup Final.
The Hoops were leading MTK Budapest 3-0 from the first leg at Parkhead and any reasonable individual would have thought it sensible to shut up shop and protect their hard-earned advantage.
Not Robert Kelly.
KELLY’S KINGDOM…the Celtic chairman accepts the applause from the fans after his knighthood in January 1969.
I was honoured to co-author the autobiographies of two club icons, Tommy Gemmell and John ‘Yogi’ Hughes, and they echoed the sentiments of their team-mates of the time when they said it was crazy to play on the front foot in the world famous Nep Stadium.
The club supremo insisted they play in “the Celtic way” – and Gemmell, Hughes and Co were thrashed 4-0 by a Hungarian team who could not believe the naivety of their opponents.
Thankfully, the interfering manner of Kelly was closed down rather abruptly when Jock Stein succeeded McGrory as manager in March 1965.
And that put a merciful end to any individual in the boardroom attempting to tell the manager who to choose and how to play.
As my good friend Chic Charnley insists about the well-dressed guys in suits: “They wouldn’t know a ball from a banana.”
I cite the case of Kelly and his board from the bygone days merely to illustrate a time when the Celtic support really would have had just cause to clamour for their wholesale sackings.
NO MORE MEDDLING…the legendary Jock Stein and Robert Kelly after the groundbreaking managerial appointment in March 1965.
I can’t help noticing Peter Lawwell is still a target for a section of fans who are clearly in a state of high anxiety over the lack of signings this summer.
By his own admission, the Celtic chairman and former chief executive has absolutely no say in transfers in or out of the club. That is no longer his remit.
These misguided and misinformed supporters might as well call for the ball boys to be handed their P45s. They have as much to do with signings as Lawwell.
Just to be absolutely clear; one of Lawwell’s responsibilities as a non-executve chairman is to appoint the manager and then it’s down to that individual to get on with the running of the playing squad.
Before I am labelled a board apologist, let me say I would dearly love to see some more quality players being brought in.
It’s fairly obvious where the team urgently requires strengthening. Adam Idah needs support and has failed to convince as a replacement for Kyogo Furuhashi who left in January.
Johnny Kenny and Shin Yamada are not ready to act as back-ups. After four competitive games, none has scored a goal.
James Forrest put in a marvellous shift against Kairat Almaty last night and came the closest to scoring when the keeper denied him with a breathtaking swoop to his left to push his low drive onto the post.
THE LAST POST…a disappointed James Forrest after striking the Kairat woodwork.
However, at 34, his days of pulling on boots are numbered. I hope he plays on until he realises it’s time to call it quits, but, as they say in witty football circles, his future is behind him.
Kieran Tierney lasted until the 77th minute before being replaced by Auston Trusty. That was probably at least 17 minutes longer than envisaged by his manager before the match.
Those positions are three priority targets for Celtic. No argument.
There are no magic wands in this game. Players cannot be magicked into a club. There is a lengthy process that has to be endured before a signature is put on forms.
There are several components to be satisfied – the wanted man himself, agents, advisers, lawyers plus the financial demands of the selling club have to be met.
Yes, we are impatient. That’s the nature of the beast. The fans, of course, have every right to voice their opinion although it might be prudent to attempt to live in harmony while trying to sort out problems.
CLAP HANDS…the calm before the storm for Brendan Rodgers.
It could be a lot worse. I was twelve years old when I was among the 51,000 crowd who watched Celtic obliterate MTK Budapest on a memorable April evening in the east end of Glasgow.
With the innocence of youth, I believed my team would be playing in a European Final in Brussels the following month.
An intrusive chairman helped to scupper those dreams. Thankfully, six of the players who were on the receiving end in Budapest had better fortune in Lisbon three years later.
The aforementioned Gemmell, Billy McNeill, John Clark, Bobby Murdoch, Jimmy Johnstone and Stevie Chalmers were in Big Jock’s team that conquered Europe.
Without the assistance of Robert Kelly.
There was only one man allowed to pick the team back then and that situation has not altered to this very day.
The line-up and how they are ordered to play is the sole responsibility of the manager.
ALEX GORDON
