If you can withhold pressure from the baying mob after poor football results, you are built from strong stuff. Looking in from the outside, it is easy to understand why sacking a manager should never be done on the back of one poor run of form, least of all a manager’s first poor run of form. This holds true, even if you expect to go through a painful period of results before the outcome becomes inevitable.
When you replace a manager you need to worry about what comes next. When some Celtic fans demonstrated to remove Neil Lennon from his job, at that stage, he had won five out of five domestic trophies available to him and topped a Europa League group. The world and his dog suspected Neil was no longer right for the job, but trigger-happy clubs do not attract quality managers who have options.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst led a team to the Europa League final and won a Scottish Cup. He compounded this felony by qualifying for the Champions League group stage. The demands of which took its toll on a squad which he had squeezed the last breath of quality from.
Within six months of that wafer-thin loss in Seville, his board capitulated to the demands of the mob and sacked him. I was delighted.
While Gio was under pressure, Michael Beale was top of the English Championship with QPR and a prospective ‘Premier League manager’ in the making. With his stock never higher, he strode into Ibrox like the Pope, well, maybe that’s not a great analogy, but basically, when he was flavour of the month and van Bronckhorst was suffering, he made his affinities known to club and fans alike.
Beale loaded the gun which fired van Bronckhorst. His QPR were soon in freefall, with the London club happy to let him leave and Newco desperate to quell the baying mob, the deed took place under cover of an international break.
High earners were emptied from the squad without transfer fees, a bevvy of new recruits were bought for around £13m (according to Beale) and none of them are up to the task of dislodging Celtic. An aside, John Park is chief scout there, the man who went to Holland and brought Virgil van Dijk to Celtic Park and Sam Lammers to Ibrox. Bizarre, really.
The league is not over. Newco have two months of benign domestic fixtures ahead; all winnable, with a decent chance of being top of the table in November. The best thing they can do is take their medicine from Sunday and let the manager get on with it. They will fail hilariously.
Football clubs suffer most damage, not at the hand of opponents, but from fans who have achieved nothing in the game and who rely on a win to bolster their fragile self-esteem. If you figure out how to overcome this, Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it.
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Happy birthday Tom!
HH!
2nd?
Nowhere 😔
Beale was QPR manager for 22 games – his record won 9 drawn 5 lost 8
Hardly sterling stats – looks like wolves dodged a bullet if you believe the press.
At least I read the article 🤭
Self esteem- i blame David-Sir Hunner of Pence
What other club are explaining their identity for the rest of time?
They cheated and selfharmed,everything occurring to them is sourced by their own nefarious masonic hand.You died brother
Haha …..oops
HH
Yet another article on the New Company
Ergo same club….
Mmmm
oldfirmruscsc
Happy 70th Birthday to Tom McLaughlin 🍾🍀🎂
Happy birthday Tom hope you have a fantastic day. Quite interesting you think 70 is a milestone. Wait for your 77th which I hit last week. Efram Zimbalist Jnr CSC. HH
Feliz wotsits Tom
Celtic Mac
He also mentioned the reason for us hanging on to Neil even though it was as clear as day he should go. Not buying that.
https://youtube.com/shorts/2AAnvejehFw?si=Bid2jEoeFGWuaYHh
“When some Celtic fans demonstrated to remove Neil Lennon from his job, at that stage, he had won five out of five domestic trophies available to him”
———————–
I make it ten out of eighteen, one of which was practically in the bag.
Anyway, who cares about Celtic when there’s “newco” to talk about. Maybe we could get a live updates page of them selecting their lunch options?
gene
Yes, well, we can guess as to why that may be the case.
I’m all for loyalty, but if you look back to the latter day Neil Lennon you will see he had no relationship at all with John Kennedy. He had, in my euphemism at the time “lost focus”
That said had Neil left earlier we would never had Dubai
And you can guess the rest…
MICHAEL BEALE IS HAVING AVOCADO ON TOAST FOR LUNCH
I don’t need a CL winners medal around my neck to see that Beale is useless.
I hope he stays to inflict as much damage on them as possible but he’ll most likely be away in a matter of weeks.
SAINT STIVS on 5TH SEPTEMBER 2023 12:32 PM
MICHAEL BEALE IS HAVING AVOCADO ON TOAST FOR LUNCH
Very appropriate given that we had his team on toast on Sunday .
From one youngster to another, Happy Birthday Tom & all the best for your next decade. 🎂🎂🎂
g b n f l.
bravest man at ibrox on sunday
Lots of valid points today Paul. A win on Sunday for rangers would have “papered over the cracks” of a squad that is weaker than last season. They are not awful as some like to say, but some of their much celebrated players like Lundstrum, are now bench warmers more often than not. We know the press do the job of the Ibrox PR machine on a daily basis in telling us what they are doing to do, but it is important to remember that finishing second in Scotland is not particularly difficult unless you are totally incompetent.
Your comments about GVB are spot on though. To replace him with a man that had only 20 matches under his belt as Number one was beyond all comprehension.
The win on Sunday gives BR and many of our squad some time to build and settle in at CP. It has turned some anger into calm but only temporarily. The CL is an unforgiving platform and as we will still have injuries to the same key players come September 19th it potentially makes for a very hard night. Realistically there would appear to be some new signings that have a much better chance of making any impact this season than next – if at all. We have a huge squad and so BR will need to put all his managerial and coaching skills to the test between now and January.
The difference is that we have a very high standard of manager. We have opted to pay a very high wage to BR and in doing so you give yourself a better chance. Other clubs and countries have gone down this route and it often works.
It’s been a good week for Celtic and we must always enjoy winning at Ibrox but we must always be careful in getting carried away by performances. Scott Bain came in at the last minute against rangers at Ibrox a few season ago and did very well in a win for us. He wasn’t the answer long term and that should be remembered.
Tom – Happy Birthday.
D :)
AN DÚN
Thems media very much want him gone. I’m with you, long may his shambolic reign continue.
They haven’t the cash to ditch him and attract a top name.
When is Hatate back? Updates on others? Hopefully the next two weeks see us find the kind of display from first half as one thing in our locker. Be nice to have a change of clothes in there as well.
Same day as my dearly departd dad and he would have been 88 today.
D :)
There’s a cost of living crisis ongoing, many are really struggling to pay the bills,Celtic are always patting themselves on the back for the charity work,it’s about time they gave something back to the Season Ticket holders,who keep the club alive,record breaking income last season, and probably this season too,really out of touch with reality
Not much to say on this article; huns are entitled, check; Beale’s team is struggling a bit but not holed below decks; great point.
Pleased for Rose Reilly (Word Cup winner who told the SFA to FO!!). Same home town as me; remember her coming to Mass when visiting her mammy – all fur coat and deep tan!! She would then go for a kick about up the Standalane blaise pitch with the young kids. Top woman
Happy hooooooopy birthday Tom.HH
Paul 67,
.strange article at this time.
I detected a wee dig at some of our support in recent times.
There is a time to hold and a time to act. It’s getting the balance right.
Regards the legend that is NFL. He had to go, but he never appointed himself.
I wager you know much more that me, but I know enough.
Everyone has a shelf life. Everyone.
HH.
Not sure my sides could take a return of the prodigal hun.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/66711007
I would like to see an article regarding our transfer window.
While every signing is a gamble to some extent, people in our Board briefed their press poodles that we were going to spend big to make an impact on Europe.
That clearly did not happen and infact we’ve been estimated to have made roughly £11M from the window.
We had already informed the city that we performed above expectations. We already have about £30M in the bank at the turn of the year.
I loved Sunday as much as the next fan but we were a Don Robertson decision, and we all know how random that can be, from going behind.
If we had lost on Sunday I think the mood music regarding our transfer activity would be significantly different.
We cannot hope to progress, or even make any sort of impact in Europe, without serious investment in the team.
RIP Johnny Thomson
In our goal your spirit stands………..
Hail Hail
An aside, John Park is chief scout there, the man who went to Holland and brought Virgil van Dijk to Celtic Park and Sam Lammers to Ibrox. Bizarre, really.
Maybe not so bizarre if John Park is Celtic’s Secret Fenian Double Agent! 😂👍🍀
TB&F. 🙂🍀
JUSTSHATERED re: different mood on a loss
Of course the mood would be different. This victory bought us time to get new team members up and running and bedded in. We now go into two weeks of drills in a position of strength. This desire to write everyone off before we have even seen them in a shirt or system at any length is getting old.
AIPPLE on 5TH SEPTEMBER 2023 1:11 PM
I’m not writing anyone off as I haven’t seen them.
I had never heard of Jota before he turned up. The same goes for Carter Vickers yet we spent a combined total of £12M to secure both of these guys.
I didn’t think Wanyama was a good player when I first saw him so my judgement isn’t very good.
Of course you’re right Sunday has bought us time and we will hopefully get some of the squad back after the break.
While the new guys may make an impact I think the odds are against them being the difference on Celtic progressing in the CL. Indeed I think it puts undue pressure on young players. I think our squad is stronger than any other team in ghe league but the step up in Europe is large and I’m not sure we’re equipped for that yet.
My friends in Celtic,
Brendan Rodgers is the best fit manager we could have acquired. Only my opinion but nevertheless.
We are not far away from a very good young squad.
I don’t get too worked up about relevant finances of teams, especially CL teams. It is outwith our control.
I am more concernedabout our good organisation, tactics and luck. In one off games anything can happen.
Kilmarnock put us out of the league Cup. In my opinion they deserved their victory.
But let’s compare relative finances for a second. Their record signing is £340 k wheras ours is circa £ 13.6 m
That 40 times the record transfer fee of Kilmarnock.
We will never withess such disparity in the CL.
Sometimes finance is a convenient distraction. It’s not only about the money there are other factors.
HH.
Bada be careful or you will have the board lovers on here after you.
Sacktheboardcsc
D :)
Well we can hardly blame Celtic supporters for being frustrated.
The world and his dog suspected Neil was no longer right for the job, but trigger-happy clubs do not attract quality managers who have options…..
The Celtic support did not want Lenny reappointed as Manager, it was always a mistake.
After the Bolingoli clanger to cement that with the Dubai fiasco, then look at how Lenny’s signings were performing
Arguably the only decent one was Frimpong and as the Board had decided to sell him in January, early in the campaign, they had obviously written the season off….
Hail Hail
Hasn’t taken the begrudgers long to start their moaning again. Shame.
My favourite bit of the Morelos article:
“Every time I wore this jersey, I did it with pride and gratitude,” he stated. “During this time, I not only grew as a player but also as a person.
Think we all saw that.
Grew into a fat, moaning, horrible pr&^K.