On five different occasions I told one of the two men who decide the fate of the Celtic manager that I thought it was time for a change. Memorably, on one occasion, I was told, “Get a grip of yourself”. I did not always get a response as, despite how I feel about Celtic, a manager’s fate is a private matter.
On none of those occasions did I write on CQN that the manager should be sacked. If I was an impartial observer, that would be different, but my objective is always to see Celtic flourish and I considered the effect a campaign to sack the manager would have on results, our league challenge and, in on one occasion, the man himself.
The impact of these campaigns falls disproportionately on that individual, often when they are at their most emotionally vulnerable. It hurts when those once close to you want you out, you look harder for motivation and as for focussing a dressing room!
Those who make the decisions are less emotionally vulnerable. They usually have years of experience shielding themselves from being buffered by adverse sentiment, if they didn’t, they would not be able to do the job. They alone know their options and they are never blind to the consequences of failure. They do not always get it right.
We cannot show our support for the players or the manager at games and they will not be meeting fans in the street; all sentiment is delivered by media, new and old. This is the only communication we have and I know the players consume what is written online this season. This sentiment is not to blame for bad results, but it will not help resolve the situation.
Celtic are low percentage bets to win the league and I want the players, manager and board to take whatever steps necessary to change this, it is not too late. Nothing would give me more pleasure than Neil Lennon bringing us 10-in-a-row, it would be the ultimate way to achieve an historic record. If he gets there, the rest of us will have a role in making it happen.
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Happy Wednesday and match day eve from a Louisville set to rise in temp to the giddy heights of 68 degrees.
4 day weekend is here as well. What’s not to like and celebrate?
Reasons to be Thankful you ask? Going for quadruple treble.
HH!
HH
Great leader – let’s get behind the boys.
Repost from last article, but still pertinent:
With scarves tied round wrists in the 70s, could we have imagined an era when eloquent football gangs would craft artwork banners and pen self-aggrandising press statements and then actually see the meeja print them!
Guess some wid say that’s that’s democracy-in-progress.
Unconvinced by, but sympathetic to, Neil – I guess he must still feel he has what’s needed to win this for us!
PS We should be using Broony like Klopp uses Milner, one of the best free-transfer players in the game’s history; deploy on a game-to-game as needed basis. Used sparingly, his legend will live on without being diminished by the demands of overplaying. HH
Saying a lot, but not really saying anything. Or is that just me ?
On a seperate note, has anyone ever recalled a more dislikable board member than Ian Bankier?
Everytime I hear this guy speak he reeks of arrogance & contempt to those who pay his salary.
Before you mention the Whites…..
If the huns do win the league, will the ones posting on here out themselves?
ERNIE LYNCH on 25TH NOVEMBER 2020 12:13 PM
I assume that like all “fan” blogs there will be some who are not “genuine” supporters.
Who cares if they do or don’t?
If you thought – after he repaired the damage of Brendan Rodgers’ leaving and delivered 9 in a row – that Neil Lennon had earned the right to have a crack at making it 10 in a row, then equally you accepted that he had earned the right to fail.
My memory isn’t what it used to be, but for the life of me I can’t recall a campaign during the summer demanding he be replaced ahead of the new season.
The question now is – with Celtic being (net) 5 points behind with 25 matches to play – whether that can be considered as Lenny having failed.
Pingback: Neil, the 10 and the rest of us Paul67 - Celtic FC News Aggregation
JERSEYBHOYS on 25TH NOVEMBER 2020 8:46 AM
The cock still at it
………..
L
YOU and your TWO Boy Friends are very welcome to attend the next HOOT…Now wouldnt that be something IF any of you dared to turn up ?
Paul 67 – can we remove this homophobic bully from the blog? Language like hun, bitch, now he is question ing my sexuality. My 2 daughters read this blog. Disgusting individual
‘Those who make the decisions are less emotionally vulnerable.’
###
Personality disorders come in all shapes and sizes.
BHOY FROM THE BOYNE
Jack McGinn, Kevin and Michael Kelly ,Chris White would be hard to beat
JERSEYBHOYS on 25TH NOVEMBER 2020 12:17 PM
Totally agree, I have said for weeks that this guy is just a keyboard bully. Should be some sanctions in place to at least warn him surely?
The way I see it, Neil needs performances and soon. The idea that tomorrow night is a free hit is for the birds. Lenny has to show that he can get this team organised.
Three or four good performances in all the competitions will alleviate the pressure. If however we go out tomorrow night and get beat by three or four while offering nothing then I’m afraid the call needs to be made.
I suspect it’s too late though I hope Neil proves me wrong, again.
THE BATTERED BUNNET on 25TH NOVEMBER 2020 12:16 PM
Not sure what the metrics for assessing failure are these days at CP.
On or off the pitch.
Could someone decipher what Paul has just written please
BHOY FROM THE BOYNE on 25TH NOVEMBER 2020 12:12 PM
On a seperate note, has anyone ever recalled a more dislikable board member than Ian Bankier?
Totally agree. The guy should have been sacked after his AGM parting shot “go away and behave yourselves”. No other PLC Chairperson would have said that to a group of shareholders and survived.
The GB can shove their banner,classless and embarrassing.
NL is a good guy, one of us who we have benefited from as a player and manager. And so too has NL benefited from Celtic in terms of personal and financial rewards. And he has put up with a lot of sectarian bull and threats to his life for choosing to play for his club. I feel sorry for him this week, met him twice briefly and he seems like a nice intelligent guy.
My frustration with NL on the performance of the team is a separate matter. I want NL to address the team weaknesses and my extension his own footballing management weaknesses. But I fear it will all come too much now. While it might be possible to reverse the teams domestic performance during December due to a reasonable fixture list, I feel that the manager situation has now past a tipping point and supporters are only doing Celtic and team self harm, just as Paul 67 seems to be suggesting.
Thought the statement from the GB was class
https://thecelticblog.com/2020/11/blogs/the-banner-outside-celtic-park-today-is-definitely-our-fans-and-its-message-is-serious/
Ernie Lynch
I suppose for me, given our size of club, is are we winning games that we expect to win, are we performing well and are we competing at a high level ? Also do we see year on year progress or are we seeing a sustained period of stagnation? Do we have the correct people in place to achieve that success?
Similarly off the field, are we maximising revenue streams and givng value to the paying fans? Or are we mismanaging to a level that has an impact on the field that results in poor recruitment and loss of revenues- for instance failing to qualify for the CL 3 years out of 4 or not being able to compete in lesser tournaments against inferior teams?
THE BATTERED BUNNET @ 12:16 PM,
Yes, that’s true. Never had an issue with Lenny but he was never the man to replace RB. The only surprise about the situation we now find ourselves in, is the speed in which we have declined.
“My memory isn’t what it used to be, but for the life of me I can’t recall a campaign during the summer demanding he be replaced ahead of the new season”.
Well again that’s true, Brendan Rodgers had just delivered a double treble and was on a high, such a campaign would have been ridiculous.
However we had a dog whistling campaign that summer from the CQN lead articles… Rodgers loosing the dressing room, Rodgers contriving to make Celtic look poor in a cup tie at The Jags, Rodgers working his ticket etc, etc, etc…
… I’m sure a smart fhellah like yourself noticed.
So what is worse, an underhand campaign to get rid of a successful manager or an upfront campaign to wave good bye to a failing one?
Hail Hail
I’m slightly confused, and conflicted, over the idea that Neil has ‘earned the right to fail’.
He has been a fantastic servant to Celtic and his place in our history is assured.
I cannot, however, meekly accept that from November to season end I will watch mediocre performances from us whilst our newest rivals win the league with ease.
We can see that all is not well. Neil and his piecemeal mgt team are failing in front of our eyes. Do we ignore this?
Not for me, I’m afraid.
St Tams- I agree with most of the statement, but the banner is a gift to the SMSM, and whether you want Neil to stay or go,at least treat him with the respect he deserves, and has earned. HH
CHAIRBHOY:
Somewhere there is a nail being whacked squarely on the nut mate.
Take a bow.
UNCLE JIMMY:
Maybe we should try that line of reasoning in every aspect of our day-to-day lives, eah?
“But darling, surely I earned my right to fail at this marriage …”
“Boss, look, surely I’ve earned my right to fail at this job …”
“Officer, surely I’ve earned the right to fail this breathalyser …”
See how well it works out.
TBB,
Owe you an apology, think I miss read your post, thought you were refering to a campaign to get rid of BR.
My thoughts still stand though.
As far as a campaign to get rid of NL in the summed goes, my feeling is that most who didn’t want Lenny to get a second tenure didn’t feel confident about the TIAR.
Yet no doubt he had converted a few, some thought he deserved a crack and others, including myself felt he had been backed by the Board so should have had enough to nake us competitive.
Hail Hail
The reason most fans want a change is precisely because we a have, through our own negligence, made ourselves low percentage bets for the league.
It’s bad enough ‘not getting it right’ by squandering huge advantages (they are 8 years old FFS), but it’s a crime to not recognise you’ve got it wrong and do something about it.
We want change because doing the same thing isn’t working and won’t work.
Changing the manager probably won’t work either, but it would increase our percentage bet at least some way.
This is a story of complacency and leadership failure. The guy you spoke needed to “get a grip”, but didn’t.
This is on him, not Lenny.
To make Lenny a pariah for some in our support is a diabolical failure in their duty of care.
Shame on them.
JAMES FORREST @ 12:42 PM,
Many thanks… as stated may have got my wires crossed but the points still stand…
Hail Hail
ST TAMS
Thought the statement from the GB was crass
——————
Fixed that for you.
Chairbhoy
Your staunch defence of all things Brendan is admirable.
Your historical revisionism, less so.
The idea that CQN brought Brendan down is, frankly risible; it really does not have this influence.
Your Brendan was planning to leave long before he did. That Chinese money was seriously interesting to him. In a way, Celtic did him a favour by forcing hin to stick to his contract, however dissatisfied he was with our slow lane, as he got a gig at Leicester through this delay. Less money, probably, but much more prestige and a chance to get a big club gig if he can manouevre his way out of Leicester at the right time.
I guess it won’t be long now till Man U invites Oli Gunnar to return to fishing in the fjords
SETTING FREE THE BEARS FOR RES. 12 & OSCAR KNOX:
Let’s play fair here …
He didn’t accuse CQN of “bringing Brendan down.” What he said was that there was an agenda of undermining Rodgers going on all through that summer.
Now I happen to know that’s true, and I happen to know that there was a lot going on behind the scenes where the clash of egos between Lawwell and Rodgers became untenable. It’s not a secret that the manager was agitating for certain things and used Chinese interest to leverage himself a wage rise the season before.
The thing is, I understand why Paul would have been tipped the wink about that stuff, and a campaign of revealing the manager, bit by bit, for the sleekit sod we all know he turned out to be would have been something those inside Parkhead considered …
I understand why it was done, even if I don’t agree that it should have been done.
But it was done lol … it was definitely done, and that’s the man’s point.
Repeating same mistakes week in week out. Learning nothing and we expect him to turn it round.
Sorry it’s beyond him.
A proper manager would analyse, learn , bring solutions which would quickly have an effect.
He learned nothing in the 3 games against Sevco when we were outplayed.
Even a run of good results including beating Ross County twice should be straightforward but ultimately it will be a collapse at Ibrox. He just doesn’t to the homework with his staff and learn from CL qualifiers to sevco games to SPFL dross.
He needs to go now.
Paul
You say that one five separate occasions you voiced your opinion to the people that matter that a manager should go but you never posted such on CQN
I understand that’s the right thing to do, keep the blog open to debate, don’t influence a big decision
However you did influence the demise of BR if my memory serves me you advocated his removal
I’m still wondering if you regret that?
Talking of Chinese money, there’s a disturbing thread on KDS about Celtic sponsors Dahua being involved in developing technology designed specifically to track Uighurs.
Which calls back to mind the rumour that John Reid was only ever on the Celtic Board because The Great Desmondo was moving into the cyber security business and wanted access to Reid’s contacts.
And by the way, CQN wasn’t the ONLY place it was BEING done … where do you think all those stories about China and trying to flog Dembele to Brighton and all that came from around that time?
That stuff came from inside Celtic Park … I remember the night of the AEK Athens game when a “Celtic director” briefed Chris McLaughlin on how pissed off the board were with Rodgers for what he’d said at the press conference the day before.
I had a meeting at Parkhead the following day and I was in the room two minutes before I knew that it was Peter Lawwell himself who spoke to McLaughlin.
It was constant all through that summer, drip drip drip drip drip … just a week or so before that night I wrote a piece on the documentary Sunderland Til I Die, and said as excellent as it was I would NEVER want to know that much about the internal workings of Celtic.
But in point of fact, most of us did know the basic outlines of what was happening behind the scenes, and we all knew there were problems … over the course of those three days – the pre-match conference, the night of the game, the following day – I learned enough to know Rodgers was never going to be around for nine in a row far less ten.
The board knew it for months before that, and yeah, they were preparing the fans for it little by little and painting Rodgers as the villain. He might have been able to spin it as well had he not acted like one.
We have billionaires on our board not by any means will these guys be stupid, the can call it when they think that someone or several people are not progressing the club, if these billionaires and the board as a group had progress of the first team the club and academy as a primary priority I doubt we would be in the position we are in.
However on a good year we turn over 100million with Champions league participation, without it we are about a 70-75 million pound turnover business, that is not a big company but if the priority is the first team and football then we should be competitive with the right recruitment of management and players domestically and in a European context.
The fact that we are not lies with the board , we need rid of many of them and refocus on what is the purpose of Celtic Football Club.