When the players arrived at Lennoxtown for training yesterday morning, Brendan Rodgers had no intention of allowing Moussa Dembele to leave the club. Such was the player’s behaviour over the following two hours, the manager’s view changed to “Get him out of here.”
Yet again, the days ahead of an important game were clouded by distraction, but this time it took the form of insubordination against the manager. Brendan’s view changed from not wanting to be left with only two strikers, to insisting the player was shipped out of the club.
One photographer, there for the press conference ahead of tomorrow’s game, told the manager, “I’ve been doing this for 30 years and never seen behaviour like that.”
You and I have seen many come and go over the years, so losing one is nothing new. Receiving £20m also breaks a barrier in what we can ask for our players in the future, but the manner which this came about is a source of regret. Moussa is a great player, one who delivered for us when it mattered most. His goals and swagger were a joy to watch. Now, the memory of his achievements have been violated by his behaviour. Having a go at the manager on Twitter, where he talked about being lied to (utter rubbish) and ‘Liked’ a comment from Chris Sutton saying he was targeting Brendan, all while playing to “Bhoys and Ghirls” is deplorable. I’ll get over it and applaud politely when you do the Paradise Windfall 15 years from now, but we’re not buying it, Moussa.
Lots to say on the transfer window, but I’ll pick up on it more next week. We have a game tomorrow against an outfit who think they can win the league. This is a day for Brendan and Scott Brown, Dedryck, Kieran, Callum, Tom and the others to do what they do so often against Newco. It’s a day for you and me to lift the team and paint Glasgow green and white.
Last month was traumatic, but it was also cathartic. We are a united club with a bit of an edge right now. Do your thing, Celtic. Spank this lot one more time.
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Moussa being a bawbag should not hide the fact that Celtic’s Recruitment Department (identifying and closing out deals) is a shambles. I’ll await the spin next week……..
Well done to Clacton Community FC on their No Pasaran away strip commemorating the 80th anniversary of the Spanish civil war. The strip is inspired by the flag of the Spanish Republic and has the 3 pointed star of the International brigades.To date they have sold over 2,500 replica kits. Vivalaquintabrigadacsc
TURKEYBHOY
What’s a THCHWTECS ?
Should I have one, do I need one ?
GORDON64
Clapton mate, not Clacton.
Pretty sure the latters strip won’t go down too well here :-)
I see the messiah at Villa is making absolutely feck all of a difference.
Shaem.
After all he loved the Hoops.
So he did
Enjoy the dosh son.
GORDON64
At the risk of pedantry,it’s Clapton,not Clacton. Article about it on R4 the other night.
Have to say,want one!
Big Cup/ David
I saw Exiled Tim on the new site.
http://Www.sentinelcelts.com
Hopefully, he will return to posting here as well.
Cheers Mike
D. :)
BMCUW will try that.hh.
MIT: Good luck with that sentinelcelts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBZUz4C6kqk
BCW Cheers. ‘We are the Clapton’. No Pasaran. Hh
As for the Broonie red card, I can see it happening. As it stands I had £1.62 left in my online betting account and searched for that bet. Becoming quickly bored in looking through the hundreds of mad bets I just plumped for both teams to be awarded a penalty. 60-1 your money. I rashly went all in, fearless fool that I am.
Evening all… apologies for the (very) late replies to my early morning post..
Hot Smoked @ 7:14 am,
”Chairbhoy
I usually like the style of your posts but I wa less keen on this bit: your posts
” No matter, what people say and how they wish to spin it, this summer’s UCL qualification campaign and the transfer window has been a self inflicted wound of gigantic proportions.”
`No matter what people say.` Are you sure?
Their view is `spin.` . Are you sure?
`Self-inflicted ` and ` Gigantic`wounds? Are you sure.
If I toolkmy time and did a little bit of research, I could posit an opposite argument with some conviction. As I not inclined to do so, I will hope SFTB does it instead !”
Well forgive what looks like hyperbole I started that post late last night, got waylaid and finished it this morning. So it was written while half asleep, then half awake and like the vast majority of comments I post, it was done in haste and it wasn’t edited.
Yet, are you sure? Yes I am sure, having read Paul67’s blog for some 13 + years and having read most of his lead articles – now I guess Paul must produce some 300 + articles per annum so ball park I would have read circa 4000 of his articles.
Now if I’ve averaged a fairly modest 125 comments per blog that would be circa 500,000 comments read, though double that would be nearer the mark I think.
So in speaking for myself and only myself, yes I’m certain, when there is an agenda either pro or anti some elements in Celtic, Scottish Football or Politics and when that agenda is being spun by individuals or a collective I can spot it.
Now there are many examples of articles and comments I could point to but we needn’t get bogged down on divisions and finger pointing. But when we went out of the UCL the article that followed was this – “Recruitment at the heart of the inquest”, for me this suggested that BR’s recruitment was flawed rather than the obvious cause of the first team problems – Brendan wasn’t backed. How do you see it? You pays your money, you make your choice
Why is it self inflicted?
We had the skillsets, resources and money to identify; players that needed brought in, players that needed let go, players that were likely to go, players that could possibly go. So a clear and defined strategy should have been agreed and a plan enacted and contingencies put in place to ensure the objectives were met.
We categorically failed to do this, not only this but the Manager seemed to have constructed a plan that he wanted enacted tout de suite (pardon my French). The Celtic executives seem to have been working to a quite different agenda and the right hand didn’t know, or didn’t care, what the left hand was doing… that by anyone’s understanding is a recipe for disaster.
Gigantic proportions?
Well, let’s look at the fall-out, see if you agree…
By failing to prepare early in the window we left the squad vulnerable in certain positions during our UCL qualifiers – this had an impact on our qualification and in monetary terms a windfall of £30 Million.
It severely disrupted our season’s preparation and squad morale leading to unprecedented un-professionalism and rancour.
We have spent a decade building a platform at Celtic where very talented young foreign players can look at Celtic as being a good stepping stone to a great and prosperous career with a smooth transition to the next level such as Wanyama and Van Djck. The example now is of transfer screw ups like Boyata and Dembele.
We failed to manage the squad, Brendan had moved on 20 or so players he felt didn’t have a future at Celtic, he wanted to retain his core first team and strengthen with a few quality players in the necessary positions, John McGinn being a case in point. We were in this position due to two years of good squad management. We are now in the position where we have brought in loanees and short term fixes which is an elastoplast. Apart from upfront, unlike defence, upfront we have no elastoplasts just a gapping wound. We are heading for a Deliaesque squad.
The trust between Brendan and the Board has gone, the trust between the Support and the Board has fractured, the relationship between the Manager and the players and the supporters has been greatly weakened.
Now when you compare that to where we should have been if we spent our time and money in strengthening our back to back UCL qualifications our seven in a row Championships and double treble – building from strength, creating momentum.
We’ve hit a brick wall. The whole thing has descended into an unholy mess…
Now, if that wasn’t bad enough, what we also have to look at are the lots of things that Brendan would have like to have done if he hadn’t been distracted by the nonsense… like Scott Allan’s future or Ryan Christie’s future etc etc, all that stuff still needs to be done. Every major game we’ve had this season, we’ve gone into with a cloud over us caused by transfer issues… this weekends game is no exception.
Dbhoy @ 7:33 am
.
“The welfare/recruitment etc of the Team should always take precedence when possible.”
This is absolutely key, are we building a football team or a nice shareholding for a portfolio… we need to decide.
The fact of the matter is, having better footballers and playing in the UCL has equalled profits from competitions and profits from player sales, parsimony in team building has led to on the field failure and losses… it’s a no brainer for me.
lucky cody @ 7:34 am,
”Objective article. Miss the outcomes
– £ 51M CL failure
– broken relationship between manager and CEO
– weakened team
The football dept has been shafted by the CEO. The fittest celtic squad of recent times prepared in a special program ( which SG has brought to RFC).
Brendan needed help and support from the CEO. Lawwell has screwed Brendan, fans and shareholders.
We don’t need incompetence or whatever it is. Brendan walks unless Lawwell goes.”
I have tried to remain objective and in many ways I am. I’ve got no axe to grind. This mess was created by a structural/organizational issue at the heart of Celtic PLC. It may seem like trivialising the situation but for me it is far from it. These issues that are fundamental to the way the Club is run can have serious and damaging consequences, when they surfaced, rather than being dealt with in a coherent and professional manner – there was entrenchment that took us out of the frying pan straight into the fire. That’s why I described the behaviour as puerile ineptitude.
It is a very sad state of affairs and although I wasn’t specific on the short term and medium term damage this transfer window debacle has caused. In my response to Hot Smoked it highlighted some of the impact on the team and Club finances but it’s the fix that’s important now.
Hail Hail
JAMES FORREST on 1ST SEPTEMBER 2018 6:01 PM
Superb piece of writing. Sums him up perfectly.
A very long shot but an Irish Tim who has traveled over to the game has been let down for a ticket, if anyone has a spare if they post here I’ll try to sort out a connection.
How would we feel if PL came out and said we ballsed up in this window (he’d never say he)
We might away with it in the SPHell but Europa League will be a bigger challenge now
We know why our underachieving players can get a move is because their agents managed to get them a contract that they didn’t deserve but will not let them go for he haw
Good for players and agents but not for our team
Ask our best managers in the old days because they made the money when the players had no power
CHAIRBHOY
Maybe if you stop telling the truth,others will stop telling lies.
I’vehadto
That’s not my baby. But, seems to plough a different field from CQN, so hopefully the two can co-exist and help each other.
THIRD LANARK V CELTIC 1950 MATCH POSTPONED
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800x600q90/21/v2b8.jpg
St stivs
I’ve still got them badges kid
Mike in Toronto and or BMCUWP
I went to http://www.sentinelcelts.com/ but there is no link to register?
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
Chairbhoy
Fair analysis but how does 33 first team squad players all on big wages and making them unlikely to get matched elsewhere. Brendan when he arrived said he wanted a squad of 25.
This window not only lost 2 important players but ended up with a bloated squad, 10 of which are unlikely to figure. That’s not good squad management
Is Steven Fletcher available? Surely he can win a title on his own..?.
Who would win the fight sentinel Celts or CQN (senile Celts :-)
I will stick with what I know
I wonder how Steven Gerrards Sevco will be protrayed in the media if they remain in the bottom 6 after tomorrow :-)
The gap might just be widening
my team for tomorrow, fallon young and gemmel, clark mcneil and kennedy, johnstone divers Gallagher lennox and hughes. hunskelpers.com.
LENNYBHOY
If you scroll all the way down,it allows you to post.
Then enter your details,bob’s yer uncle.
“Last month was traumatic, but it was also cathartic. We are a united club with a bit of an edge right now. Do your thing, Celtic. Spank this lot one more time.”
United?
What’s uniting us?
Being called criminal racists
Banning supporters for nothing
Colluding with cheating and corruption
Blocking res12
Giving our details illegally to the cops
Trying to stop season book holders passing their book to friends and family
Screwing up transfers
Declaring love for the hun(and Paul bless telling the bbc how much he missed them)
Amassing approaching 70m in the bank with no idea what to do with it
Maybe the super lights and sound
Lying to us about stadium safety certificates
Not supporting Rodgers
Ronny
Humiliation agains the new Huns in a cup semi final
Is that what unites us Paul?
Bollocks. We are utterly divided.
GFTB
It isn’t a fight,nor is it even an alternative. It is complementary to this and other sites.
Bobby’s shoes.
You cannot reason with such an opinion.
His post goes against everything we stand for.
100% unceltic.
i miss this guy
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800x600q90/30/4qw9.jpg
BLANTYRETIM IS PRAYING FOR THE KNOX FAMILY on 1ST SEPTEMBER 2018 7:21 PM
St stivs
I’ve still got them badges kid
———
ta, will come collect sometime, be in touch
LENNYBHOY on 1ST SEPTEMBER 2018 7:22 PM
Mike in Toronto and or BMCUWP
I went to http://www.sentinelcelts.com/ but there is no link to register?
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
========================================================================
I asked them about that yesterday, and here’s their reply:
Hello Eddie and thanks for your interest. As far as I can tell there is no log in required or registration.
At the end of the article or to the left of it it will say comments and to comment you need only click that,,leave your name and message. There’s no need to fill out your email address or company box. There might be some teething problems but please bear with us. We would encourage you to use your cqn name and most do.
Thanks again
Sentinelcelts
NEGANON
Nae offence,but no chance we will have c£70m in the bank.
We have been daft enough to pay tax on it rather than spend it on improving our squad.
Some f…..g accountant,that…
I sincerely hope the guys we have on the field tomorrow , get stuck right in , we have no room for passengers or cowards tomorrow . A victory and we put them back in their box . But it will be tough , the scouser has bought big guys , set pieces will be a problem , as will there boot merchants and collum. Not sure about you bhoys , but I am delighted we have bought a guy to help broonie . One other thing ,please don’t be afraid to have a shot , this trying to walk the ball into the net doesn,t do .
Bobby 7.36pm
Was only jesting …. took me about a month to get logged on here :-)
CQN is my only fix am not allowed to log on elsewhere (which isn’t a bad thing :-)
Mañana we must win our personal battles and let our quality shine through
Jimtim, bang on, they are going to try a hertz on us.
We need to be up for a fight, then have that composure in front of goal
COYBIG
D. :)
don’t worry jimtim, Charlie Gallagher will be fissing balls over to the buzzbomb, and big yogi will be running amok.ktf.