That late winner by Matt O’Riley was the start of a great weekend for Celtic, as later, main challengers St Mirren could only manage a draw at Kilmarnock. The fact that this result is better than Celtic managed there in the League Cup is no comfort to the Paisley side’s title aspirations.
St Mirren are Celtic’s only real challengers this season, as the chasing pack slipped ever-further back. Saints are home to Newco next weekend, and if fortune goes our way, the visitors will get a new manager bounce, allowing Celtic to extend their lead at the top again. The top two meet at Celtic Park on 1 November in a game that will go a long way to deciding the title.
As alluded to above, yesterday the world’s most hilarious football club sacked manager Mick Beale after just 10 months in charge. The Beale episode is a morality tale worth exploring. A youth coach at Liverpool, Steve Gerrard took him to Ibrox in 2018. Gerrard, never considered an intellectual, won the league three years later, with Beale’s reputation in Glasgow soaring as a consequence – he was “the brains” behind the operation, apparently.
In 2021 the pair moved to Aston Villa, where they put the Midlands club through 11 months of poor results and were sacked. Beale spent 7 months out of work before being appointed manager at QPR. This is where it gets interesting.
QPR opened the season on fire, were top of the table, with Beale looking like a Premier League manager designate. The opportunity to manage in the topflight came sooner than expected, as struggling Wolves asked him to take over, but Beale rejected them. As the nights drew in, so did QPR’s season. They lost four games in five and Beale’s abilities were being laid bare.
At the same time, Giovanni van Bronckhorst was struggling at Ibrox. Just months after taking Newco to the Europa League Final, he had them in the Champions League group stage, but the demands of competing at that level exhausted his squad. They were losing heavily in Europe while slipping behind Celtic domestically.
With discontent at van Bronckhorst growing, Beale played his card, visiting Ibrox for a home game against Aberdeen. I listened to Radio Scotland that afternoon and his presence there took prominence. Newco fans wanted him, and his attendance was seen as a sign he was willing to come. van Bronckhorst was a dead man walking.
Fair play to Beale, with some sharp elbows, he got himself a multi-million-pound contract, money Newco can ill-afford but will still have to honour. He is the last type of person you would want associated with your club, but just about perfect for a rival.
Let’s talk strategy. Clubs have immediate demands: win the next game. and for some, win the league. Then they have long-term objectives: improve so we have a better chance of winning in future. Fans of all clubs overwhelmingly make immediate demands. Even when clubs know their short-term actions harm long-term objectives, fan demands can be so overwhelming they become irresistible.
That is horrible, destructive, but very common in football. Newco had an unbelievably good manager in van Bronckhorst. He took them to a Europa League Final, eliminated Ange Postecoglou’s Celtic on the way to winning the Scottish Cup, then took the club into the Champions League group stage for the first time.
Newco were not ready for it. How do you deal with losing 1-7 to Liverpool and still get your players full of confidence and pumped up for the weekend? These were questions they didn’t have answers for, because none of them had the necessary experience. Even clever Newco fans I know rationalised to themselves how van Bronckhorst’s football was bad, and change was necessary to prevent inevitable decline.
How ridiculous does that sound now? van Bronckhorst had earned the right to go through a bad patch and would have emerged a stronger manager with a better team. Instead, the Newco board succumbed to fan pressure – which remember, at all clubs is overwhelmingly focused on immediate satisfaction. Tempted by the fruit of another, they sacked the most successful manager they are every likely to have and appointed a great self-promoter.
I spoke to Peter Lawwell often during season 2020-21. It was clear from around October that Celtic were unlikely to win the league and that change was inevitable. Lawwell had to balance the immediate pressure of winning a very important league, with what was best for our future.
Everyone (including me) was telling the CEO the same thing: change had to happen and the sooner the better. Celtic took soundings. Without going into detail, midway through that season, no one worthy of the job would touch us with a barge pole. Neil Lennon had won five out of five domestic trophies and after his first elimination from a cup competition, a mob wanted him sacked. In those circumstances, only a loser wanting the pay cheque would come.
At the start of this season I gave Newco a 33% chance of winning the league. Celtic signed talented players in their early 20s, Newco signed players typically five years older, at their peak – and most of them physically taller and stronger. Again, they had a short-term strategy: win now and think nothing of the long-term.
It failed, but 33% still feels right for what we knew in the summer. Their alternative, to build a sustainable and successful team, would have had a lower chance of winning the title this season, but at least they would not have burned all that money on players who will do well to finish second.
Signings like Celtic’s, full of young talent that will improve, gives you a platform for the future and a chance of eventually competing at a higher level. Now, Newco are under Uefa supervision for overspending, making the strategy which won the league in 2021 no longer available. They are penniless and have a reputation for being forced to sack managers during their first rough patch.
They have yet to face the truth about where they are as a club. At board level, the backroom and technical staff, recruitment, sport science, commercials (oh the commercials!), football management and player squad, they are a million miles short of Celtic’s standard. We have departmental heads with more experience, business and football acumen than anyone at Ibrox, from the CEO down.
Every new season they will start with a puncher’s chance of winning the league. That is all they have: ‘Buy our tickets, we might get lucky!’ It will remain this way until some very ballsy CEO faces the immediate-gratification junkies and says “No!” I see no sign of this happening. Sisyphus FC are stuck in a fruitless struggle for another generation, at least!
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It’s going to. Be Murty isn’t it
TURKEYBHOY @1.05
Could not agree more, absolutely spot on.
They say it is wrong to gloat and that is bad, guess I’m just bad !!!!!
On Steve Davis, another Norn Iron bigot, perfect match
KINGLuBO
celtic40me on 2nd October 2023 1:08 pm
AN DÚN on 2ND OCTOBER 2023 12:41 PM
We’re told constantly these days that we should be judged by our performance in Europe.
The Huns sacked a manager who had got them through to a major european final 6 months after he did it
How do we square those two things?
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We should be judged by Europe but for me, that assumes you’re doing the business domestically.
If we’re doing well in europe, I’d like to think were doing well in Scotland.
When GVB was sacked, he’d overseen the worst group stage in CL history.
Ultimately it was his domestic record that sacked him. Only the Thistle boss gets a third season in Glasgow not having won the league*.
* Unless a global pandemic curtails the season
Of the list of possible replacees, I’da thought Robinson could make a decent fist of the squad they have; mainly big lumps with a couple of creative waifs. Also if Musky bails, Graham Arnold of Socceroos – at 60 yrs – may see thems as a last chance for him to get a big club gig. He’s a bit like Angel-lite in his man management style.
No matter who, none of the names will be giving BR any sleepless nights.
Under Brendan, we’ve done very well in this weirdly injury affected period we’ve had.
Let’s hope to bloody Lazio’s nose tomorrow.
HOT SMOKED on 2ND OCTOBER 2023 1:21 PM
BOURNESOUPRECIPE on 2ND OCTOBER 2023 12:53 PM
Much as I liked Brendan`s celebration, it was the undestandably emotional ` F… Off. F… Off. No way man .` from the Motherwell supporter which struck me as showing just how much of an emotional experience the `game` of football is.
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If ye want to see emotion in football, look at the wee hun in the orange and blue to the left of their goal walloping his scarf repeatedly off the advertising hoardings when Aberdeen score to make it 2-0.
Rewound it about 5 times as it was that funny. 😳😂😂😂
He never even goat a mumph neevur!
:))))))
Here’s the link to watch it again…
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/av/football/66979323
😂😂😂👍
Great article Paul.
IMHO – goes as deep as it should, but preferably no deeper, into things Sevco.
As a local rival possessing an immutable sense of superiority …. there is always decent chuckle value in these events.
Agree with others too though. They are simply no longer a performance reference point for me when assessing my club.
An Dun
“The issue really is, should we be using them as a benchmark?”
———————————–
I think you just did the reverse version of this in stating your argument on why GVB should have been sacked.
You pointed out that Since Fergus’s time, we have not allowed a manager to be involved in more than 2 lost leagues, thereby using us as a benchmark for what Sevco should have done.
It’s interesting to look at Fergus’s managers actual careers
Lou Macari- he inherited him from the previous regime. He committed no money to the playing squad as he had undertaken a huge (ultimately successful) gamble to give us a playing arena that brought in cash. Lou was sacked but didn’t really fail with us- he was given no chance to succeed
Tommy Burns- We were, uniquely, fined for tapping Tommy away from Kilmarnock, such was the aggression shown to Fergus and Celtic by the authorities in this land. Tommy actually was given 3 seasons
1994/5- we finished 4th- 18 points behind the oul Rangers- an exact replication of Lou Macari’s previous season.
95/96- A near thing- we finished in 2nd place within 4 points of them.
96/97- another close run thing- despite purse strings being loosened, adding Di Canio & Cadete to our squad we still finished 2nd 5 points behind. Was Fergus right to sack Tommy Burns because of 3 failures? Looking back we remember this front line as one of our best but, at the time, I recall a lot of criticism that we were playing pretty football that was powderpuff and without enough steel.
97/98- Maybe vindicated in that view as we skittered our way to a win by 2 points over a faltering Rangers, despite having sold the proven talents of Di Canio, PVH & Cadete, replacing them only with the project Henrik Larsson (16 goals) alongside the hit and miss single figure contributions of Harold Brattbakk or super-sub Tommy Johnson, but we had added steel through Marc Reiper, Paul Lambert and Craig Burley (10 goals). Vindicated or not- Wim walked- never to have a success in management afterwards, just as he had not much before. Fergus always said he would have sacked Wim if he hadn’t walked but that might be the words of a man thwarted by an equally thrawn Dutchman.
98/99- Fergus’s last manager was Jo Venglos, who failed to win the league after a bad start- 3 wins immediately followed by a 7 game period of 5 draws and 2 defeats in Sept/Oct. It was too much to claw back and we finished 2nd- 6 points adrift.
In retrospect, Fergus managed a lot right at CP but never quite got the management team right
I agree that we have a winnable game against Lazio but it should surprise no-one to find that we are not favourites.
You can get 2/1 against for Celtic to win on Wednesday, where Lazio’s best odds are 7/5. The draw is best priced at just over 5/2.
Neil Lennon did the double over them 4 seasons back.
If Brendan loses both games does that make him a poorer manager than Neil??
Melvin Udall you omitted the new favorite for Sevco job French youth cosch Hugh Jarsole!
Punchers chance is correct though.
And, IMHO, they still have that.
Ange went 3-0-3 in first six league games before going a quite magnificent 26-6-0 over the final 32 to give us 93 points and the league.
95 points is the benchmark I set in in my head at the start of each season.
38 games x 2.5 points per game.
If some other team can beat that and win the title, fair play to them.
After 7 games and, by our own manager’s admission, not a great performance level we’ve done 2.7 PPG.
Sevco have managed 1.7 PPG.
Extrapolated to a full season we’d outscore them by 38 points.
That is never going to happen.
Flip side though is the form they need to hit to achieve 2.5 PPG over the season.
83 points from 31 games.
(for example 26-5-0 or 27-2-3)
Just under 2.7 PPG !
Absolutely NOT impossible.
But unlikely.
Punchline from all of this?
If Celtic take care of business regardless of other factors?
We have an excellent chance of winning the league.
Celts set to face the Romans in the gloaming, still in third gear and seven points clear of any semblance of a domestic rival. A marvellous evening encounter under the disco lights with full blast Zadoc.
The front loaded league fixture list hasn’t thwarted us, and with victories now at Pitoddrie, Ibrokes, Livingston, and Fir Park these random computer generated combinations have been tried time and time again, next it’s one home game, before we head along the motorway, twice to Edinburgh.
BR has had to rely on AP’s fulcrum, as none of the summer signings have quickly established themselves, after injury decimated any hopes of smooth transition. With the heart of the defence ripped apart, the metronome of CCV and Starfelt leaves a gaping hole where no one could have foreseen a recurring injury after surgery for the best Parkhead stopper. No time to judge Nawrocki and Gus Lagerbielke has been patchy at best, at least he looks the part. Liam Scales weighs in , continuing to confound the cynics and it’ll him or the Swede or Nat Phillips.
The midfield has been re-signed en masse, but the cavalry haven’t arrived to create new dimensions on how Celtic gather points in the much maligned league competition. Kwon was quickly withdrawn, and doesn’t make the squad Odin Holm and David Turnbull struggle, and Reo Hatate remains the main man. Maybe Luis Palma will be first new bhoy to trap from a massive Celtic squad, that will no doubt see more signings in January.
Lucky, lucky Celtic managers
Ive got a VERY good feeling that Celtic will get a VERY good result on Wednesday night v Lazio.
I may be biased ?
My BETS are on, with Celtic scoring a few Goals.
LOL
HH
Caught a couple of mins of sky sports news this morning.
Asking for Orcs to send in names of who they want as boss.
1st name “Conte”.
Deluded
Back to basics – hubris on the part of players, club, manager and maybe even fans is the most potent threat to our title. If players keep focus on the next training session, the next game and no more than that we win.
If the manager and backroom staff do the same but with added focus on forward planning for transfers and improving player development then we continue to win.
Only Celtic will stop Celtic domestically, one off cup games aside.
Hubris killed oldco and has kept newco from building firm foundations. They should and could have spent a fraction of what they did in getting up to the top flight. They could send should have bought the best of the rest Scottish players and recruited a competent if unspectacular manager instead of a succession of diddies bummed up as thr next Pep Guardiola! But no, pander to the superiority complex of the blue pound instead. There’s not much sign if intelligent life at Ibrox.
I would love to see Aberdeen or Hibs or both get their act together and put it up to the zombies more consistently and indeed make life a bit tougher for us too. This us their time if they could seize the initiative.
LEFTCLICKTIC on 2ND OCTOBER 2023 2:42 PM
Caught a couple of mins of sky sports news this morning.
Asking for Orcs to send in names of who they want as boss.
1st name “Conte”.
Deluded
——————-
I heard that too but I thought I’d missed the first word and they’d said ‘Any Conte will do’
Some conte is what they’ll get.
And every conte will continue to laugh at the whole shower of contes.
If this is too close to the bone moderators, please do the necessary.
Certainly whoever follows Mick will be facing an Augean task…
I love when they go live to ibrox and interview any poor bear wandering about.
and what do you think should happen next ………….
well if ye canny win ye need to go, and what we need is a scottish manager, someone who understands the game up here, someone who gets that scottish fitba is dfferenet from other fitba, an at.
and who do you think that should be then ………..
ah dont know dis ah.
I’m glad to see that there are still some other posters on here who can see we aren’t playing too well at the moment. This article sounds like propaganda. 7 points isn’t a big lead and can disappear easily. If we had cuffed Motherwell on Saturday I could get it but we didn’t. Wednesday let’s us play against a team from a relatively superior league and I hope we can get a result. That’s where we need to look to see how we are progressed. By all means keep the abuse coming. At least I knew who Sysiphus was.
Steve Davis or Potter?
It doesn’t matter they’ll still need snookers!!
Markie
I saw you moaning on Saturday when you thought we were going to drop a point. Then disappearing. That’s your prerogative.
Good to see your cheery self back on here.
It’s a very different task and a different kinda game. Trying to break down 2 banks of 5 vs what we will face on Wednesday.
Like you I hope we can step up and have a special Celtic night. We are due a break or two in the big league.
AN DÚN on 2ND OCTOBER 2023 1:50 PM
I was talking about GVBs sacking.
If we leverage our financial advantage in domestic football as well as we have then the assumption should be that Sevco not winning the league isn’t a sackable offence. A single figure points defecit is probably about right. Winning a cup is much better than par, especially if it includes beating us on the way.
GVB had shown that he was capable of beating us.
In Europe we know how difficult it is to find a manager capable of getting through to a European final. They had one and the entitled Huns hounded him out because he was 9 points behind after we’d won 14 games and lost one after 15 games
Something else to remember is that their new signings went there because Beale is a tactical genius (no laughing, that’s what was said). Now they have to take direction from Rae and Davis. Blood and thunder, sweat and snotters. Can see a few niggling injuries being exaggerated over the coming weeks while agents scramble to find an escape route to anywhere.
I think we will win the league by 20+ points.
Neither do I think we are playing badly. I didnt see much wrong with Motherwell game, they defended well and they are in the tp half of the leage and gathering much praise for their disciplined performances.
Some moaned the fixtures were deliverately giving us hard games away from home, so now that we go to Aberdeen, snake mountain, a carpet pitch and now motherell , people complain we dont play brilliantly silky dominated high goalscoring football, i mean seriously what do they want.
We have only dropped 2 point, home to saint JOhnstone, I watched the game back days later, whisper it, Celtic could have won by 5. But didnt take the chances in a strangely misfiring way.
Its coming together, we might get cuffed at home by Lazio, but I hope Brendan has more prgmatisc this time around.
And we are due to cuff someone, Killie on saturday would be fine by me.
AN DÚN on 2ND OCTOBER 2023 1:50 PM
We were a point off our best starts in about thirty years when he was sacked
9 points doesn’t tell the whole story.
a number of the hun players are at hamilton racing up in a hospitality box
i would have thought some additional training would have been a better way to spend their day today
😄
Hamilton races in a box.
If we leverage our financial advantage in domestic football as well as we have then the assumption should be that Sevco not winning the league isn’t a sackable offence.
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That’s for them to decide really.
The point still stands though that no Celtic/Rangers/TheRangers manager ( slippy’s covid exception aside) has been given the opportunity to lose 3 league titles on the bounce in over a generation.
Are you sure they’re not in a horse box? Donkeys the lot of them!
Them Sevco supporters have short memories, Mick Beale was the main man in Gerrads coaching staff ,they pleaded with there board to appoint Beale ,who couldn’t cut it at QPR ,so hell mend them ,I reckon Muscat a stick on for the next Sevco Manager.
Are you sure they’re not in a horse box? Donkeys the lot of them!
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😄😄
🫏🫏
AN DÚN on 2ND OCTOBER 2023 3:34 PM
Do you think they were right to give in to the lunatics and sack gvb for beale
Long shot – but are there any Dundee based Tims on here that know of a supporters bus going to the game on Wednesday that has a couple of spare seats? I fancy a night off from driving (or a night on the drink to put it another way!) and I reckon it would be quite an eye opener for my eldest to experience a supporters bus.
QB
MARKIEBHOY
7 points isn’t a big lead and can disappear easily
A 7 point lead after 7 rounds of games is massive.
HAMILTON 4.40 Race Today…
” SHINE ON BRENDAN” is one of the runners.
I wonder if any of the Huns at Hamilton today will DARE back THAT Horse in front of their team mates ?
HH
celtic40me on 2nd October 2023 4:06 pm
AN DÚN on 2ND OCTOBER 2023 3:34 PM
Do you think they were right to give in to the lunatics and sack gvb for beale
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No, not for Beale.
Beale was clearly high risk. To appoint a rookie then to strip away the football department to give him sole control, just compounded the bad decision.
On GVB getting sacked, I don’t think he can have too many complaints.
I backed a ” LUCKY 15″ Bet on the first Four Races at Hamilton this morning and got good EARLY Prices.
THREE Winners outta Four selections…..A nice tidy Profit made.
HH