While you, me, the manager and captain can agree we need to strengthen in January, the mood in the camp will not be entirely positive until several frustrated players move on. There is a lot of work to do here, especially in central defence.
Nat Phillips is not getting much love these days. This is unfortunate, as his has only been a small piece of a dysfunctional few weeks and he is by no means the reason we are floundering. Still, form was never good enough to see his stay in Glasgow extended. He is one of several central defenders who must be moping around Lennoxtown at the moment. Yuki Kobayashi surely has his agent busy looking for a return ticket to Japan – can you imagine the mood in the Japanese camp with so a few frustrated comrades?
The situation with Gustaf Lagerbielke and Maik Nawrocki is less straightforward. Gus earned a full international cap for Sweden this autumn and had his day in the sun six days ago. His five Celtic starts saw the loss of only two goals. Four of those games were away from home and one was at Ibrox. The 23-year-old must be wondering what’s going on.
Maik (22) was Celtic’s most expensive summer signing at €5m. He has made a total three appearances in a Celtic shirt, all in August, and has not been seen since returning from injury. I know his old club Legia Warsaw are on the lookout for a central defender next month and Maik might be wondering what he’s doing in Glasgow.
The need to clear out the dressing room, free up wages and (most importantly) create an atmosphere of positivity is clear, but I don’t like when we churn through promising talent without providing proper development opportunities. Regrets, we have a few.
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TINYTIM on 19TH DECEMBER 2023 2:13 PM
StMirren on the 2nd of Jan is also a very difficult fixture .
================
I agree.
Unfortunately our lack of form and the ever increasing sense ( and promotion in the MSM) of dysfunction and disharmony with us will give all of our opponents a confidence that would have been lacking before so that every fixture at the minute is a difficult one.
Maybe , if you’re an optimist, it means teams will open up against us a little more and give us more room to play in. We’re far better if we have that.
Make no mistake though, everyone in Scottish football – teams , fans , MSM , the MIB and VAR – smell our blood in the water.
How we react from here is massively important.
I don’t think we’ve done ourselves any irrecoverable damage as yet but we certainly could in the next 3/4 games.
Steady the ship and (cough!) win our next 4 games and this last month or so may become an irrelevance.
IMO, there are two significant elements at play here:
1. BR’s demeanour has not looked good since he came back. He altered Ange’s winning formula for no good reason other than his own arrogance. Kyogo scored for fun in Ange’s set up but now looks totally lost & previously, no matter who was out injured, whoever came in, fitted in with Ange’s high pressing, high tempo, attacking, tactics. BR’s boring tactics are exactly how he had us playing just before he left first time around & teams had largely caught on to them, just as now.
2. We have been missing the injured Hatate, Abada & Maeda but we have not replaced the quality of Mooy & Jota & seemingly brought in too many substandard players nowhere near good enough to wear the jersey which is down to Lawwell & son. Lawwell senior was largely to blame for Lennon’s disastrous reign second time around & it’s looking like Rodgers’ second is heading in the same direction thanks largely in part to Lawell & son this time around as well.
The strategy of buying in prospects, developing them & selling on for huge profit is all well & good when you bring in the right players but Lawwell & Co have obviously got the balance badly wrong – & it’s not the first time they’ve done so. That, coupled with bringing a manager back, whose tactics haven’t moved with the times has brought us to this point.
Board members seem content to take their fat pay cheques & bonuses rather than invest properly in the team, so unfortunately we fans have to suffer the consequences of their actions.
if we know that the ‘ development’ players we purchase are not first team ready before they come to Glasgow would it not be sensible and prudent to arrange the deal and leave them with their team to get regular game time and appraise their development other than bring them over and have them wither away at Lennoxtown and watch their price tag fall of the side of a cliff.
I see Santa Lawwell has engaged all of his favourite little helpers to deflect, spin and stretch credulity beyond breaking point. In this case his favourite Killearn hun Jackson who I had the displeasure of playing against as a boy when he was strutting his stuff for… Rangers Amateurs no less.
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/peter-lawwell-faces-dangerous-celtic-31701057
Keep going Pedro, some mugs will still roll up to purchase. 👍
https://youtu.be/tSA5C8mQcLQ?si=pxL0obUDK5c8CXKr
Very apt right now 😂😂😂
I hope you all have a very merry Christmas and a happy new year 🎅🤶🎁⛄🌲✨🍻
Rodger’s body language and monotone speech are a clear indication that he is not committed.
Team selection, substitutions and his “tactics” suggest that his time as an “elite” manager are
well and truly over.
We need to get shot of him ASAP.
Blacksox
Exactly my view. The fact Rodgers has been poor and semi-detached shouldn’t deflect attention from the – recurring – 💩 show brought to us by Lawwell Inc. Both things can be true at the same time.
Maybe Celtic KNEW about my Birthday via my purchasing Celtic TV PPV when ever its available ?
Although, I dont remember giving Celtic PPV my EXACT D.O.B…..Maybe I did ?
HH
ALL involved at Celtic FC need to get their act together ASAP
They are ALL paid vast amounts.
HH
Happy Birthday big James,may all your horses come in,
Take it easy and will cross your path soon
:-)
Hail Hail
I’m no fan of Peter Lawwell but its shortsighted to simply blame the Lawwell’s.
Wasn’t Ange Postacoglu identified by PL/Mark Lawwell and didn’t PL headhunt Dom McKay as his replacement from Scottish Rugby as part of a wider plan to restructure the club – only to be binned 6 weeks into the job by DD presumably?
Surely, the responsibility lies with the Desmond’s who chose Rodgers to replace Postacoglu.
What makes Dermot Desmond qualified to hand pick the manager of Celtic Football Club without evidence of any reboust recruitment process befitting of a modern day football club like Celtic?
Lawwell is clearly briefing against the manager. Not to save his own skin but that of his 2 sons.
He has previous for this and this will get messy if results in the run up to break are poor.
There will be civil war at Celtic 10x worse than Everton. Lawwell is toxic with helping Sevco back, 5WA, silence on cheating, lying to fans about RES12. To compound it all he has appointed his insurance agent son/city tea bhoy to Head of Recruitment. Michelle Mone could put together a better CV. Then you have his other son running around as a third party PR Guru whilst we have our own in house operation. He is already £17M to the good but its easy money —- the naive fans who he is fleecing.
Lawwell knows what is coming and his little helpers cant save him.
Even if we scrape by until the break Mark Lawwell needs sacked . Blowing £20M of the clubs money he cannot be trusted to do the same.
I can imagine Lawwell snr has been tasked to offload players by DD to build a transfer budget. I don’t believe Celtic will go anywhere near the cash in bank.
This is what happens when one man has to much power and CEO who has no edge. A nice guy….a yes man thats MN.
Goalkeeper apart…we have better and more experienced players than any other team in this poxy league.
It’s ALL down to the players if we win this league or not
LUCKY CODY on 19TH DECEMBER 2023 3:31 PM
If Desmond wants us to win the league we will
Lawwell only does his masters bidding
If Desmond wants a £40m player at £5m a year he’ll get him….and Lawwell can’t stop him
Why doesn’t Desmond stop Lawwell appointing his family to the club….he must be happy with what’s happening.
If I was in Lawwells shoes I’d do the same if I was getting away with it. Don’t look at Lawwell, look at Desmond
31003,
Did DD want Lawwell’s to burn £20M on 2nd rate projects.
He has tasked him to get the clubs money back — max 5-7 mil incoming which will be our budget.
Mark Lawwell will be a casualty as he has failed miserably.
CLUNKS on 19TH DECEMBER 2023 1:48 PM
IMO brendan is not the same brendan we had the first time. His time at Leicester has jaded him. After his first couple of games he was no where near as charming and assured in his press conferences and after match interviews. Also he no longer has chris davies behind him to strategise and analyse, which is a huge loss
*Pretty much how I saw it a day or so ago, his demeanor alone proves all is NOT well in the State Of Kerrydale and I now reckon he regrets coming back.
In his last season with us we were pretty turgid, as he wisnae happy then, and around November our results included ties at Livi and Fir Park as well as a loss at Easter Road, meanwhile down at Filbert Street Claud Puel’s coat looked to be on a shoogly peg and it looked as if he would be replaced at the end of the year, unknown tae us by the soon tae be labelled “Fraudgers” who was on his way there, that is until the former managed wins at Stamford Bridge and home tae Man City before slipping up at home tae Cardiff and away tae the Toffees on New Years day, this continued with losses at home tae Southampton, away tae bitter rivals Wolves a credible draw at Annfield and another loss at home tae Manure.
Meanwhile after the home loss tae the Hibbees we “surprisingly” turned things around including impressive wins up at the pen, bigot dome, perth and kilmasonic, then after a home win against Motherwell our soon tae depart manager vociferously let loose over a disputed late goal in a 4-1 home victory at Parkheid the day after the Foxes capitulated at home tae lowly Crystal Palace, the next we see of our “I’m here for the 10” manager is in the directors box at filbert street with that big cheesy smile waving tae his “new” faithful.
He worked his ticket back then, withdrew it when he realised his dream move tae the EPL was off when it was only on hold, and then bailed out on us prior tae a midweek League game at swinecastle and cup one at Easter Road.
It was reported that when he left there was unprecedented joy in paradise as he had NEVER stopped greetin over the collapse of his move tae China where he was allegedly takin our star striker with him.
Lenny was quickly given the job on a temporary basis with the provision that should he obtain the title he would be in running for the position full time, fortunately or unfortunately, whichever way you look at it, he gained for us an unprecedented treble and so DD interfered again, just like he did with WGS on Tommy Burns Thursday when half his furniture was at his home down south and the other half in a removal van in his driveway, when the board had determined that we give him a bonus, thank him for his great work, and move on.
Oh, and it should be noted that those 2 difficult venues we had to face in that week after the fraud ran away it was John Kennedy with the admirable assistance of Broonie that carried us though there and that comes straight fae the mouth of Lenny who refused any and all accolades for them.
Agree on Desmond but Lawwell has damaged the club on so many levels. Greed has got the better of him.
Lawwell was never a CEO —- he was a beancounter.
When Ange signed up, there was a new vibrancy about Celtic. Recently installed, young executives were taking their lead from him and providing him enthusiastically with what he needed to do his job. Lo and behold he won the league quite comfortably that year despite the rebuild.
Forward wind to today, and once more the specter of Peter Lawwell presides over the club. There’s no more singings of the quality (think cost) of Jota or CCV. Why this managed decline? Brendan Rodgers, an elite manager he maybe, but a manager capable of getting a performance out of an army of projects? That’s neither his ability nor a feature of his CV.
In a masterstroke Lawwell currently has the Green Brigade banned, who would be the voice of supporter dissent. If you disagree with the idea of dissent, look at the comments under the Buckie Thistle X post today. It’s rather revealing…
It’s currently an amateur and unprofessional mess. Both on and off the field. We are currently the laughing stock of Scottish football, the frequent digs aided and abetted by a gleeful hun media.
Sort it ASAP. Should the Huns win the league, it’s curtains for any further idea of them imploding. Perhaps that the strategy anyway…
BHOY FROM THE BOYNE on 19TH DECEMBER 2023 3:21 PM
I’m no fan of Peter Lawwell but its shortsighted to simply blame the Lawwell’s. Wasn’t Ange Postecoglou identified by PL/Mark Lawwell and didn’t PL headhunt Dom McKay as his replacement from Scottish Rugby as part of a wider plan to restructure the club – only to be binned 6 weeks into the job by DD presumably?
Surely, the responsibility lies with the Desmond’s who chose Rodgers to replace Postecoglou.
What makes Dermot Desmond qualified to hand pick the manager of Celtic Football Club without evidence of any robust recruitment process befitting of a modern day football club like Celtic?
“Correct also for all you Peter Lawwell haters as is said above he only does his masters bidding and was only retained by DD in a nonexecutive role due to his position on a UEFA Board investigating the financial irregularities in the game which have now determined that clubs like sevco can no longer fiddle their way throughout it.
Plus lets NOT forget that 2 year ago his home in Thorntonhall was subject to a fire attack after three cars were set alight resulting in him, his family including a baby having to flee their home for safety, the reason allegedly being as he widnae let some unsavoury characters represent some of our up and comin young talent.
Oh and all you that don’t like him and that’s your prerogative just try and restrain yersell as you are only doing huns bidding which they are lappin up, specially that wee buffalo bill effer, who shouldnae even be on here, sewin discord, while GOOD TIMS have been kicked off.
Brendan has the look of someone regretting not sticking to his guns and having his year sabbatical in the sun.
Good afternoon CQN.
Where to begin?
Am generally neutral about recruitment.
Hard thing to get right.
If you buy prospects cheap and they don’t perform you’re accused of lowballing.
If you pay decent money for prospects and they don’t perform you’re accused of waste.
Conceptually, I don’t mind carrying a few if outcomes are delivered. Just the cost of doing business.
But, Paul67, your observations about Maik and Gustaf shocked me.
Two guys – playing the same position – signed less than five months ago !
…may be traded?
Hmm. Not good.
LUCKY CODY on 19TH DECEMBER 2023 3:49 PM
If it happened, Desmond sanctioned it
Don’t take your eye off the balll…if you were in Desmond’s shoes, would you let someone run your company (investment) without watching what they were doing with it……whatever Lawwell does…is sanctioned by Desmond
Oh and all you that don’t like him and that’s your prerogative just try and restrain yersell as you are only doing huns bidding which they are lappin up, specially that wee buffalo bill effer, who shouldnae even be on here, sewin discord, while GOOD TIMS have been kicked off.
Gonnae gies a better hint than that. Could you just name him.
Have to go SAMMY WILSON is speaking in COMMONS.
BTB
The recruimtnet was a strange one
We sold starfelt and then got unlucky with injuries
And this tainted the rest of our recruitment
It’s annoying cos it was just one extra layer at a time when we could all see what positions we needed to recruit for
Should have been easy enough to add in the need for an extra centre half or 2
And continue to recruit the people we needed
And the projects too
I wonder what the atmosphere is like on the training ground right now?
Are the players aware that the fan base is raging? Do they even care, in between their Christmas shopping trips to Cruise?
Do the board care about the plight of the working man and woman, so heavily invested emotionally and financially the Club? All the while enjoying their succulent Christmas lunches?
Does Lawwell preside over congratulatory conversations about the balance sheet, brandy in hand, making sly digs about a naive fan base?
CLUNKS on 19TH DECEMBER 2023 1:48 PM
IMO brendan is not the same brendan we had the first time
His time aat leicester has jaded him
After his first couple of games he was no where near as charming and assured in his press conferences and after match interviews
Also he no longer has chris davies behind him to strategise and analyse, which is a huge loss
———-
I don’t know if his time at Leicester has jaded him, but many of us commented that his demeanour did not look like the old Brendan.
I put this down to inheriting a transfer window of non epic proportions.
HH.
Cheers Clunks.
At the time I didn’t find the recruitment of Maik and Gustaf strange at all.
Both had decent profiles.
Young, decent game time in decent enough leagues, nibbling at national squads.
Plus, a common refrain last season was Cam-Carl carrying the CB load on their own and more quality needed.
It’s this subsequent reveal from Paul67 (which could just be talk) I find strange.
One of them surplus? Fine
But both?
And against what benchmark? Scales AND Welsh?
Respectfully, IMHO, one of Scales or Welsh should be 4 of 4 in the first team squad’s CB group.
Otherwise hard to argue with justifiable claims of regression.
PS – ironic that the absence of Starfelt now being posted as an aggravating factor.
Guy took dogs abuse on here regularly.
Sime shite being imagined
not ftom me BTB, I really liked him as a defender
Like every other football club there will be good players and average players,and that’s what’s our club is experiencing now ,
PETERLATCHFORDSBELLY
We know that there was no love lost between the pair & PL’s interference, first time around, played a large part in BR wanting away at the very first opportunity.
My worry is that if, as was apparently the case, BR got an undertaking from DD, before coming back, that he would have no interference from PL, then the scene was already set for BR’s doom. IMO, PL is a control freak & treats the club as his own private fiefdom but he’s brought in profits for DD so gets away with it.
In any case, for the life of me, I cannot figure out how anyone thought it was a good idea to bring BR back.
I hate being pessimistic & hope I’m wrong but I can’t see the current problems being resolved any time soon
All the talk about players being moved on in January & new ones brought in seems to me to be wishful thinking – what player is going to leave & forego his big wage for lesser pay – look at McCarthy who has hung on there just for his salary with no chance of gametime.
Anyway, it’s a fans lot to constantly live in hope of good times – so fingers crossed. 🙄
Cooper bagged at Forest.
HH
oh ship, when paul67 talks about ‘frustrated players’ it’s never a good sign for us. however unsettled times can be well dampened by a few good results
Let’s start a rebuild by getting rid of the rot at the top.
Liewwells first get rid of both, then replace then other board members, whilst replacing with fresh, vibrant more youthful board members all done free of charge and for the love of Celtic.
No salaries and no bonuses.
Stop the rot from spreading down.
NO LIARS AND CHEATS NEED APPLY LIKE THE LIEWWELLS
D. :)