You can train to be a football player for years, hone your skills and work on your fitness, but there are situations you can never prepare for until you are in the spotlight. Yesterday Mark Wilson had to field questions about his team-mates’ performance and his manager’s position, after another abject performance which drew criticisms from Neil Lennon towards the players.
Mark gave a textbook response to the BBC, “I don’t like slagging my team-mates off but we have to do better.
“Football is a result-driven game but we don’t want that [Neil Lennon sacked]. We are firmly behind the manager and we love working with him and the coaching staff.”
We should be in no doubt that harsh words are being spoken in the dressing room and team spirit must be awful, but the outside world need to see stoic unity.
Read issue 3 of CQN Magazine free online here or buy a print version at Magcloud.
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Time to go Lenny, great Celtic man that you are we can blame no one else but you for the abject Celtic team we see on the pitch. Individually and collectively this squad should be doing much better. So the coaching, man management and motivation has been lost from the team, not the ability.
Sorry to say this but it’s true, we are hopeless and even if the Huns were somehow to go into administration and become Newco Huns FC with a 25 point penalty imposed they would probably still win the league the way we are playing.
Hail Hail,
RobinBhoy
timbhoy2
I don´t think he´s lost the dressing room.
I do believe players are letting him and themselves down.
The board already let Lenny down with no cash in the summer.
It´s a vicious circle, but our Lenny is not to blame.
Not by me, anyway…
James Forrest is Lennon says:
30 October, 2011 at 16:54
Have you alink to Brogan Rogan’s post?
no martin oneil had his time at celtic and i thank him for that,for god sake get the scottish bhoys that have played for celtic to manage celtic ,then we will see a different celtic ,so celtic do it now.we cant keep going on like this for much longer. things are getting that bad for me personaly that like yesterday game i have no intention of going along on thursday night. im just scunnered
Pablo68
I will take responsibility for some things, but not your gibberish ;-))
!!Bada Bing!! says:
30 October, 2011 at 17:15
Neil Lennon was persuaded to stay at Celtic during BTM’s tenure by being told he (NL) had Great Expectations.
It shouldn’t have been any great surprise when he got the job.
The entire episode seemed squalid to me at the time.
PINTAGUINESS IF AN ARAB BILLIONARE TOOK OVER AT CELTIC AND GAVE LENNON MILLIONS WE WOULD STILL STRUGGLE ,THATS HOW BAD A COACH NOT AS A PLAYER HE IS .
I don’t know about anyone else but I am enjoying the Spurs v QPR game. A lot of good football being played, unlike yesterday’s dross at Celtic Park.
Lenny got his number one target centre half in in the summer, he signed Adam Mathews and others. This entirely his team. We cannot blame the board for the teams performances. Even allowing for injuries we have to doing better than St Johnstone FFS!
The management team must shoulder the blame entirely. This is the worst Celtic team since Lou Macari was the boss!
Hail Hail!
RobinBhoy
Evening all,
If i were Neil & the coaching staff i’d be banning alcohol until the points deficit is brought down to 6 points.
This would include the game in hand & the game against them in December. Fitness levels of our team dont
seem up to standard in my opinion. Maybe a dry spell for the players would give them their mojo back.
I know thats what got PLG the sack, but something needs to change and soon.
T5BB,
I am encouraged by your latest comments but what about “pre-pack” and such stuff, which seem to offer them a way out?
there you are parkheadcumsalford, fabulous goal
I believe this post deserves to be read again:
Snake Plissken says:
30 October, 2011 at 12:33
I’ve been off the blog since yesterday for two reasons – I had a party to host and was cooking for it AND I just couldn’t face the inevitable
fall out. I am sick of this feeling and sick and tired of watching what we saw yesterday and watching the filth win with a rookie manager who is playing with someone else’s team is something I cannot palate. Whatever happens to them will happen. We cannot affect it and it looks like they will get a minimal punishment – if that happens i am doing something else with my weekends as the game is 100% bent in Scotland – a protection racket by any other name.
Leaving them aside we should be focusing more on OUR problems.
We have an inexperienced manager and a team not performing as they can.
We have a board who will not borrow money to put a stronger team on the park so this is life in the slow lane.
We also have a major question over the custodians of the club in this sense – what is the plan for the next few years?
I hope this offers some analysis. A way forward is not something I can see unfortunately.
Neil Lennon
Neil Lennon is in fact a shadow of the man he was earlier this year, he appears to have lost the drive and determination he had. Now there can be a number of factors involved in this – none more than the animal who attacked him getting off with a slap on the wrist. Aside from that his players are not giving performances that they once did – you cannot have a side who perform brilliantly one minute and they appallingly for more matches than they play well without something not being right. Celtic have better players than any side in the league and those players have proved they are more than a match for those Rangers players who are lauded as so good – yet they are playing like strangers and hoping one or two players pull us through.
Something has gone on between Commons and Lenny – it seems obvious based on the twitter nonsense, Neil’s comments after the Hearts game and the fact that Hooper and Commons can swan off to Spain for a holiday when we were facing the animals in the league two weeks later shows either a lack of respect for the manager or a manager making very poor decisions to allow two of his better players to go on a jolly. There is also the fitness issue with both players. If Hooper is saying I am fine to play but turning out performances like that then who is the boss? Now before anyone comes on and tells me I don’t know what I’m talking about just remember the tweets were real and then backtracked on by the player and the manager made comments showing his displeasure with Commons at Tynecastle. I did not dream this up, there is a relationship problem there for those who wish to look properly for it but it is a relationship problem which is bad for the team as Commons was the catalyst for our great run of form earlier this year – 13 goals from midfield in half a season – astounding. Lenny also had a go at him for missing the penalty against St Johnstone (perhaps not in a direct way but the “I’m sick of us missing penalties” thing resonates as the manager is having a go in public at players). Neil Lennon also said I hoped the transfer window would close as some players had had their heads turned. All of this when you put it together suggests division in the camp. I could be completely wrong but I think there are a number of players not playing for this manager or playing when it suits them (like the other night). You can bet your boots that all of the following are with Lenny – Forster, Wilson, Mulgrew, Mathews, K.Wilson, Ledley, Forrest and possibly Hooper as he always gets to play. The others I am not sure about and that is not enough for a team to be together.
As for Neil’s game plan and tactics here is how Celtic usually play:
4-4-2
Forster
A Right back who bombs on
A left back who bombs on or tries to minus Izzy
2 centre halves who play like strangers and who he chops and changes far too often even without injury
Midfield of Forrest who is expected to do everything – now teams are doubling up on him at every chance
Kayal who has not kicked a ball this season
Ki Who scores the odd great goal but who hides and disappears in too many matches when the big boys put the boot in
Ledley who gives perhaps the most consistent performances – quiet but effective.
Hooper – not playing well but never dropped
Stokes – who is playing better that Hooper
Subs – Any number of defenders plus Paddy McCourt who gets to come on to turn a game when we are not winning – the last throw of the dice. And then there is Samaras who gets a similar treatment occasionally.
Too many of those players know they are first picks every week unless you are a defender – that is not good as it can create apathy. That might be the problem but I doubt it.
That simply isn’t good enough. Celtic play against 4-5-1 every game and have to face up to teams filled with journeymen who kick us off the park. You need to be strong enough to take this away from the other teams and our team is playing lightweight stuff as our ball winner Kayal is not winning the ball. With 5 in there against 4 our team get outnumbered and without control in there we have no way of dominating on many occasions. If our midfield are crowded out they lose the ball too often and then minus the tackling the opposition have a run in on goal with our fullback up the other end and two centre halves left carrying the can – this is evident in most games. This is not good for us and Neil must take the blame for this. He hardly ever goes 5 across the middle in hard away matches and he doesn’t seem to want to. Minus Commons we have no balance on the left hand side. Ledley is better in the middle with Kayal and Brown’s drive and energy is gone from the right. Now I accept some of this is down to injury but some of it isn’t. Either way the balance of the side is affected badly.
The front two are lauded as our best combination but are they really? Why is Stokes never tried with Samaras? Every other combination is so why not that one? Why is Hooper un-dropable? He certainly is playing like a man who could be dropped. what about Stokes and Bangura? Samaras and Tony Watt? Lenny has a blind spot with Hooper. If Samaras had played as badly as Hooper in the last few weeks what would people say? Exactly. Not only does the manager have a blind spot, it appears the fans may have also. Neil has now publicly blamed the Strikers for yesterday – again this is unwise. Neil is now washing his linen in public and we know that is not a good thing.
So Neil Lennon is continuing to make the same mistakes over and over and this is affecting preformances – pick you best 11 and go with it barring injury – that was when there was consistency, you changed it at Ibrox last year and we didn’t win, you did it at Inverness and we blew the title and you’ve done it in almost every match this season (injuries aside). The one thing the Fat quiz show captain knows is consistency of selection gives consistency of performance. No he has lost ratface that might start to change but he still has another 4 key players there and who play every week. Effective but not pretty but it works and until Celtic get that type of performance, garbage like yesterday will be the norm. That is Neil Lennon’s fault whether he got all the players he wanted in the summer or not.
With Neil Lennon there is too much emotion and many posters are blinded to his flaws as a manager or to calls for him to leave or be sacked. NONE of us want to see Neil Lennon sacked but sadly if you haven’t got it, you need to leave for your own good – mutual consent, leaving because you’ve had enough of the bigots – fine but don’t drag this out if the players won’t play the way you want or for you or whatever. You cannot get the best out of them anymore? Step aside Neil. We’ll understand especially if it is for your family. Living with a panic button in your house is something I don’t ever wish to countenance but it must be a strain. I don’t want to see you end up like Mowbray or Barnes – you don’t deserve that.
If you can’t do this anymore Neil, don’t wait until you suffer some dreadful result and get “sacked in the morning”.
I don’t believe you can turn around this season. The evidence of my own eyes tells me the title is gone. You might in fact should win the league cup and you could win the Scottish cup too but the title is slipping away by the week and it is the grind of the league that is important because that is what we watch most.
There is no point in saying wait until January – that’s two months away and what will the difference be then?
Think about it Neil before it is taken out of your hands because they’ll sack you to hide behind their failures.
The squad
Firstly it is too big and filled with players leftover from old regimes who Celtic cannot shift. Neil must go to some of these guys and ask them to play – sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t. Zaluszka, Loovens, Rogne all come into this category – Loovens especially should be sold in January if anyone is stupid enough to want him – one good game in 20 is not a Celtic player.
Secondly, until we get rid of all the deadwood, we’ll see this repeated over and over – players picking up wages for doing nothing and turning out occasionally for whoever the manager is. When Martin ONeill came in he gutted the place of players who were useless but he got things out of players he inherited consistently and made them better players or more consistent players than they had been. Rafael, Berkovic, Burchill, Riseth, Gould and Viduka ALL gone within a year whether they liked it or not. I would reserve judgement of Gould as he was a decent keeper for us. He had to keep Tebilly but eventually he was booted out as well.
Well look at the players out of contract come June:
Zaluszka
Majstorovic
Loovens
Brown
McCourt
And possibly M.Wilson, McGinn and Cha also out of contract.
And of course Forster goes back to Newcastle.
Celtic have EIGHT, yes, EIGHT players out on loan – Hooiveld, Rasmussen, Murphy, Juarez, McGinn, ODea, J.Thompson and Richie Towell. Again this is too much and all because we cannot sell these guys or they are previous managerial mistakes.
This leaves Celtic with the following issues:
No Goalkeeper at the club other than Dominic Cervi who wasn’t much to watch in the Summer. Celtic will require at least one keeper.
One RB – Mathews
Centre halves – K.Wilson, ODea back from a loan, Hooiveld back from a loan, Thompson back from a loan, Rogne and Charlie Mulgrew
ONE Left back – Izzaguirre
Midfielders – Kayal, Ki, Ledley, Forrest, Commons, Wanyama, Juarez back from a loan
Strikers – Hooper, Stokes, Samaras, Murphy back from a loan, Bangura, Rasmussen back from a loan
22 players plus youth team and of the 22, 6 of them are unfancied by the manager based on the loans and another 2 were not signed by him but get a game when it suits. So really Neil has 14 of his own players left come June and another 2 who are getting a game but are leftovers from Mowbray or Lawwell or whoever signed them and Bangura who some believe was not signed by Neil Lennon.
Now that my friends is one HUGE mess and if you think about the money going to all the players who will be loaned out again or allowed to move on either in January or in June you get an idea of the problem that Neil Lennon faces or if he has a replacement the same thing will start all over again.
Think back to the 90′s. For years managers would be sacked and then a whole turnaround of squad took place usually to balance books or pay debt – many good players were sold on and inferior ones brought in – Coyne and Creaney spring to mind with (insert bad player here) in to replace them. The only managers who actually got Celtic playing as a team other than Billy McNeill were Tommy Burns and Wim Jansen. Tommy had help. Great help from Davie Hay who knows a player when he sees one and Tommy did no bad with a few signings – Yogi Hughes and Jackie McNamara weren’t too shabby. Wim Jansen was an experienced man who knew different markets and brought in Larsson. He put Stubbs and Rieper together, he got Mahe in as a consistent left back and Murdo’s influence brought in Jackson, Burley and other players came to the fore. That my friends is management. He got the best out of Annoni – Laudrup never kicked a ball again in games against them when Annoni marked him and laudrup for the first time in Scotland faced an opponent who simply said your fun ends here son, I’ll actually mark you as opposed to stand and watch you. Donnelly and McNamara were huge that season for Celtic and then there was the great Phil ODonnell. McNamara and ODonnell are real Celtic men. Lambert, Burley and Donnelly didn’t grow up as Celtic fans but became legends, Jackson was very unlucky with his illness but still scored that vital second at Pittodrie that year and of course we had Tommy Boyd who had been there and done it all and seen the filth cheat their way to cups they couldn’t afford. A team that had many good Celtic men in it and many other Scots who knew the significance of that season and of Celtic as a club and what needed to be done. Gould and Stubbs quickly became important players as did Henrik. These guys cared and it showed.
How many of the current Celtic team would get into either Tommy Burns’ or Wim Jansen’s teams? Very few. Never mind Martin ONeill, he had winners and Celtic men in the team and we all know how much they loved winning. This current team do not have one player as good as Paul Lambert never mind Larsson or even Jackie McNamara. That is staggering. Even in the bad times we had Paul McStay, Collins, Boyd and Packie Bonner. Now we have Charlie Mulgrew and Mark Wilson. That is where we are my friends.
The squad is a mess and it looks like a long time before that conundrum is solved regardless of who the manager is.
The Custodians
we all know the score here – downsizing, spend little or nothing, Lawwell is the unnamed director of football who runs everything at the club at one man’s behest who never appears at the club’s AGMs etc etc.
We know this and anyone who defends ANY of their policies needs to now reassess. You cannot get bums on seats with a failing team. it is not solely down to economics that is the excuse, it is down to people being unwilling to pay to watch dross week in and week out. People are more and more disgruntled with the team, with the lack of investment and with the lack of a forward plan visible to all is really why the numbers are dropping. Yes a recession plays a big part for some people but not all of the empty seats are down to a recession. Face up to it and then you’ll see where this board are dragging Celtic.
Real questions should be asked of this board:
1. Why was the utmost not done in the summer to provide Neil Lennon with – a goalkeeper who is not a loan and who is dependable (Forster had a good game yesterday – he was the only one and I am in no way his biggest fan), an experienced centre half who inspires confidence and calmness in defence and a big strong target man striker to give Celtic something different than they currently have?
No more excuses Lawwell, no more we cannot compete with the EPL when you do your shopping across the globe and not from there in the hope of finding a gem and selling him on. You saw us fall short this year and you gave Neil Lennon 2 bosmans, a loan keeper, a Kenyan Kid and a player the manager allegedly never even saw play. If all of that is true you should be hounded out of Celtic park and never allowed to darken our door again.
2. What is your plan for Celtic for the next five years?
These are things I believe should be asked and addressed. It is no good going summer to summer switching player and manager after player and manager in the hope you win. That is not helpful and it gives no indication of what we can look forward to. Stop being reactive and start being more proactive.
Being reactive has done all of the following:
Lost us 3 leagues and probably a 4th as well
Given a financial shot in the arm to our only rivals keeping them alive when they tried to kill us in the 90′s.
Stopped managers getting players they wanted because you thought Rangers were going down – Strachan can complain most here in my opinion in the Summer 08 and January 09 when he was putting them to the sword.
Caused us maximum embarrassment and pain when it was all so unnecessary.
This is why we are angry and still you let it happen. Do you want to destroy all of your fan base? Are you really that short sighted? That is how it appears to me anyway.
The fans
The best and only good thing about the club right now sadly. It is becoming harder and harder to watch this train wreck year after year and I don’t enjoy watching Celtic at the moment because of disappointment. I am sick of being disappointed so my message is:
Management, players, board – this is not good enough for Celtic and some of you need to move on with your careers elsewhere or give us something fresh and dynamic with passion or you are going to lose more than just a few games.
share
Charlie Mulgrew got booked last week for sliding past the corner flag after scoring what turned out to be the winner….don’t know how many points he gets but the general rule is that 6 bookings means a suspension.
Naismith goes in studs showing with an appalling tackle and gets nothing.
Charlie Mulgrew is now one step closer to a suspension for nothing while Naismith’s record remains as it was before the game started yesterday. As Charlie has already been sent off this season if/when he gets enough points to get a ban then he will probably get more than a one game ban.
Where is the justice?
Parkheadcumsalford says:
30 October, 2011 at 17:25
Same here. A remarkable contrast to yesterday’s sorry fare.
Nice goal there from Bale.
Ernie,
The fish were all floating on the top by the time they were finished. I was not sure if they were dead or hallucinating on mushrooms but I paid my dues and then left. I told you it was like CQN.
I have been bitten by everything these last few weeks
Fanatic,
Wife being Thai reminds me how much she loves me with my nightly foot massage. Thais have a thing about feet.
TBB,
Your tenacity and propensity to spoon feed deserves a mention in the queens new years honours list. Maybe a knighthood as their will soon be one going cheap.
HH
Parkheadcumsalford
Prepack is just Newco behind the unsecured creditors’ back. What is likely is a Newco. Whether it is pre-packed or incorporated subsequent to liquidation is detail. The status of the company, and its lack of membership of the SFA and SPL will be the same regardless.
TBB
Parkheadcumsalford says:
30 October, 2011 at 17:29
A prepack involves selling the assets of a company to a new company.
You can’t sell or ssign a league registration.
Awe Naw
ha! Did you get my note on the previous thread this morning btw?
Fantastic stuff from Spurs. Great goal from Bale
Lurgan 53:
http://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/?p=6822&cpage=1#comment-1164276
One of the best summations of the argument I’ve read anywhere.
I particularly like the story at the end.
Spurs build up play has been superb at times. A combination of individual skill and good passing and moving. 21 attempts at goal too.
Gordon_J
How are you keeping?
Are you back up in Weegieland?
SwanseaBhoy
TBB
Yup but I was being watched like a hawk.
Sorry I forgot to respond.
HH
Swanseabhoy,
Yes, I’m home and on the road to recovery, thanks.
RobinBhoy
How could you possibly know that Kelvin Wilson ( I presume you mean) was NL’s first and only choice of CB?
Given that he was a Bosman, I’m not at all sure, that is true .
We have seven or eight CB’s at Celtic, none have escaped criticism, if NL thought he’d crack on with the CB’s he had at his disposal then he’s getting everything he deserved in terms of result.
I credit him more savvy than that, and think he was refused proper new money for at least one Centre Back, stretching back to the failure to sign Ramis from La Liga.
In any case – why would it be time for him to go, when the people in power do not have a single clue with whom, or how to replace him with better?
I cannot believe what I witnessed yesterday and on too many occasions this season. In too many games middle to front we are terrible and I do not see it changing any time soon, unfortunately.
Yesterday for me though ended on a high, I spent the evening in the company of MWD, Vhman, Stephen Black, TTTT, Sannabhoy, Estadio and his mate…oh and Hoopy. I certainly did not let the lack lustre performance spoil my day totally…
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
Awe_Naw_No_Annoni_Oan_Anaw_Noo says:
30 October, 2011 at 17:31
My Missus is Scottish, she wanted me to have one of those fish footbath things, but they looked like piranha’s to me ;-)
James Forrest is Lennon says:
30 October, 2011 at 17:34
James missed that post yesterday thanks for posting the link
Br\o/gan R\o/gan Trevin\o/ and H\o/gan says:
29 October, 2011 at 12:11
Great reading very well put,
now gonny chuck it balanced arguments are no good in Scottish Football
Youve been warned.
James Forrest is Lennon says:
30 October, 2011 at 17:34
Thanks for that.
What a piece of writing! Fabulous.
And can I echo your sentiments re Brogan Rogan and TBB attending meetings?
You might consider something something yourself.
53
Thank god he was prevented from signing Bullard and Campbell. Both would have been terrible signings as they proved at the clubs they went to.
……………………………
pintaguinness says:
30 October, 2011 at 15:29
Neil knows what is needed and what was needed but was not supported by the Board. His requirement has always been experienced british players ( as Paul Lamber has done) but he has been provided with players to sell not win. His early movement for Campbell and Bullard are testament to that. His transfer requirement was hijacked. I still dont know who signed Bangurra as Neil was in Portygal at the tiime
Unless MON returns we have no viable alternatives other than to support him with the tools he needs
Targets for us should include
Carragher and Danny Wilson
When the huns go belly up and the financial fallout from it is fully appreciated we will be on CQN reminiscing about Championship manager Peter Lawell and he will like Gordon Strachan be reappraised through time in a positive light. As some good guy might say “we better get used to it’
HH
James Forrest.
Something something?
Something similar.
53
Aidy the Tim 17.31
You make a very good point. What has changed?
We have have had a succession of posters on here telling us about SFA reform, even claiming credit on a personal level for it.
Fleming replaced Dallas. We were assured by commentators such as Phil Mac Giolla Bhain ( when he did his white wash article on the bigots of the SFA being let off the hook) that the new (Fleming/Regan brush would sweep clean) Had it been the case, the huns would have had to have played most of the game yesterday with ten men.
Tottenham are a good footballing side.Still a little inconsistent but improving this season.
They played about 6 or 7 passes across backline but then moved it forward quickly through the middle when space opened.
Compare our crossfield and backwards play ending with the high hopeful hoof.
Possession stats are irrelevant if not done with purpose.
aldersyde avenue says:
30 October, 2011 at 17:45
THE Danny Wilson?
the one that wrote Marys Prayer?
No Chance thats too Catholic sounding and will be in Breach of the new Sectarian Legislation
TBB & Ernie Lynch,
Thanks for the information. Here’s hoping they go to the wall.