Eddie Howe was generous about Celtic when asked during the press conference announcing him as Newcastle manager. In his view, he was unable to take on the task of managing such a club without his regular backroom staff, whom he was unable to convince to move to Glasgow. This was the reason he gave Celtic when rejecting them in May, although I was sceptical then.
Compare that to our own Ange Postecoglou, who accepted the job with nothing more than a list of names detailing those he would work with at Celtic. He knew none of them. The contrast could hardly be starker.
Six months later it is easy to forget what shape the club was in when Ange arrived. A threadbare squad, minus the want-aways, a new CEO in his first job in football with zero on-the-ground experience of European football. Eddie Howe didn’t have the self-belief that Ange has, but Eddie was right to doubt the job could be done with anything less than the A Team.
Newcastle may have all the money the sovereign investment fund of Saudi Arabia can put their hands on, but spending it effectively in January, tempting transformative players into a club marooned at the bottom of the table, will take more than a jab in the arm before bundling them onto a plane bound for Newcastle.
No bad blood with Eddie, he made the right decision, right for him, right for Celtic, although maybe not right for Newcastle, who failed to lift themselves off the foot of the table last night because of a late equaliser from our old pal Teemu Pukki.
I know what you are thinking. Hibs bounced Newco out of the League Cup a week ago, can they repeat the result in the league at Easter Road tonight? Before a win over 10-man St Johnstone on Saturday, that Hampden result was the only time they avoided defeat in six outings. They are a poor team, dare we expect anything……..?
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How No or Howe NO! por cierto
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How(e) long does it take to get your preferred coaching staff to confirm their intentions. Too long it seems
Let’s hope Hibs don’t hibs it tonight. Too much to hope for??
I expect a Hibs loss, so once again we are in a must win tomorrow night
ConeyBhoy regardless of Hibs result tonight we have a ‘must win’ game tomorrow.
I’ve no ill will towards Howe. The shambles that unfurled before us last May was completely the fault of our own board.
weejoe
true
“I know what you are thinking. Hibs bounced Newco out of the League Cup a week ago, can they repeat the result in the league at Easter Road tonight?”
——————
Errrrrrr – no! Got zero interest in”newco” as it happens.
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A Celtic manager doesn’t need his own backroom staff when things are going well.
I really don’t get this witch hunt of Eddie Howe or using it as an example of some board-level genius they now should be lauded for.
Howe, as shown, would have been a coup. After Lennon, bringing a very credible backroom team with him, was a great prospect. He was symbolic of what many of us wanted – the return of an EPL-level professionalism we lost when Rodgers departed. It didn’t happen and we turned quickly to plan B in Ange and he came on his lonesome to hire a football team without a Head of Recruitment and then a CEO.
He’s done well in some respects but we’ve still departed 2 competitions and languish 4 points behind der hun. He needs to get to January for the next stage to be judged. He needs to win the title.
Howe will now be judged by the basket case of the EPL. A Newcastle team I’ve seen up close and personal in the last 2 seasons and who are dreadful. I CGAF if he makes it or not. I still think he would have been a great sign of modernising by our club who still seem awfully slow in putting in place a structure Eddie would have had covered with his team.
We remain too conservative in what we do, our modernisation as a club still seems anchored to being a point ahead of der hun and further away from european respectability.
HH
Paul67
Celtic exonerated, outwith everyone at Celtic’s control.
What other club would wait an entire summer for their first choice manager’s ‘backroom team’ to say no ?
Then ‘part company’ with the new dynamic CEO ‘for personal reasons’ ?
Blah Blah Blah CSC
too conservative or too Conservative
What happened to the Strachan review
Unlike the league , the league cup doesn’t carry a £30m CL bonus and a desperately (for Sevco) needed lifeline, therefore I am expecting the officials to play a much more prominent part in tonight’s game . If I was a cynic , I might think that even the timing of games (with them playing first on Sunday and this midweek) was designed to put a little more pressure on us .
Any kind of win tomorrow v Hearts , is a must.
Beaton drafted in for Easter Rd tonight, Madden placed in Parkhead tomorrow night.
Bsr
I posted yesterday that they had deployed their too team.
too = top
We can but hope but at the end of the day it will come down to us and our performance, we can’t rely on others.
GENE
Hibs Beaton before they start.
Howe would have been a good fit to replace Rodgers. We took a very different route and hence the job in 2021 became completely different to the one he would have had in 2019 and I don’t think he was nearly as good a fit at that point.
Aren’t Doidge & Boyle suspended tonight for Hibs after their red cards at the weekend?
Paul 67,
Remember we play Hibs on the 19th, we will find out then if they are a “poor team”
As for a mananager wanting his own men, that is natural. Ange will be acutely aware that the buck stops with him. Nobody else will share collective responsibility and i think Ange would benefit from a hand picked confidant.
I have no quarrel with Eddie Howe, we had the ability to give him an ultimatum in a timely manner. We didn’t and it turned into a saga.
HH.
I don’t have high expectations of Hibs beating Sevco either but it is a possibility.
Sevco have improved in recent weeks and I have less confidence in their vulnerability now than I had then.
However Hibs have decent players in Macey, McGinn, Porteous, Doig, Newell, Allan, Boyle and Nisbet, who, on their day can damage teams. Boyle, in particular, has hte speed, control and diving ability to score and win pens and free kicks in dangerous areas Of all the Hibs talents, I’d rate Boyle and McGinn as the best of them.
I expect a Sevco win tonight but I would not be surprised by a draw or a fluky defeat for the Ibrox team.
From this distance Ange appears to be quite happy to operate as a lone wolf. Kennedy, McManus, and The Laptop, also appear to be quite content to remain in the background. Ange is a 56 year old bloke after all, so perhaps has not been brought up in his football world to have a constant team behind him.
Sir Furious, during his Man Utd reign, had seven different assistants. It may be the case that Ange wants to give it a full season here before making long term plans, both for himself and his family. Who knows ?
I’m not anticipating the home team at Easter Road accumulating any points tonight, but it would be rather spiffing if they did. As Jacob Rees-Mogg might say.
Jimbo and Little Miss
Doidge is out tonight but Boyle is available again
8 Superbru participants still to pick for the midweek games (BGFC and wee BGFC, Gscbhoy, Knoxy, Mahe, Tirconnel. The Lurkin Tim and Call Me Gerry
SFTB
Cheers,
Boyle is the one who can hurt them most so good to see he is available.
BIG WAVY @ 12:38
I agree on your Ange comments – we must wait & see. I can’t fathom those describing him as “superb”. Stein was superb, O’Neil was superb, Rodgers was superb. Strachan, Lennon, Big Billy, Davie Hay, Wim & Ronny were all successful to one degree, or, another. Ange is in the Dr Joe category for me, at the moment, a thoroughly decent guy who has brought a ‘diamond’ with him – Dr Joe, Lubo & Ange, Kyogo.
” The proof of the pudding……etc” – we haven’t finished the starter yet!
We tried to get Eddie Howe – it didn’t work out and no one outside of Celtic Park & EH knows the real story…..why does it always have to be the boards’ fault? Another case of agendas clouding the truth?
GENE on 1ST DECEMBER 2021 12:57 PM
What happened to the Strachan review?
GENE, agree wholeheartedly and ……….. what about the review from last January? Don’t remember hearing or reading anything about that either!
SFTB, you ARE a tease so you are. “Boyle, in particular, has the speed, control and diving ability to score and win pens and free kicks in dangerous areas “. Win pens and free kicks in dangerous areas, with Bellshill’s Fineest Loyalist reffing the game?
Tom Rogic and Nir Bitton both available tomorrow.
Bournesouprecipe
Excellent news.
Team ra morra
Hart
Juranovic
Welsh
CCV
Bolingoli
Turnbull
Rogic
McGregor
Forrest
Kyogo
Jota
HH
BIGWAVY
Aye, like your team, but, wouldn’t b surprised to see McCarthy replace Turnbull and Tom and Calum the 2 mids going forward, por cierto
POR CIERTO on 1ST DECEMBER 2021 2:04 PM
BIGWAVY
“Aye, like your team, but, wouldn’t b surprised to see McCarthy replace Turnbull and Tom and Calum the 2 mids going forward, por cierto”
Might even be Big Nir, lots of options now for the midfield, por cierto
Emerald Bee
Well Spotted!
Statistically, Sevco are long overdue to have a penalty awarded against them.
Masonically, however, we will wait a bit longer.
Big Wavy
I’d like to see Juranovic in his favoured right-back position. Tony deserves a wee rest as he has put in a lot of hard graft in the last few weeks. (Although I don’t think he’d thank you for it)