The Celtic soap opera season continued through the weekend. We were taken to the school of St Mirren on Saturday, then watched incredulously as a central defender we knew little about but who Sky incorrectly reported had signed a pre-contract, was instead heading for Liverpool.
Vasilis Barkas was dropped after the 2-2 draw with Livingston, he would be forgiven for being grateful as Scott Bain was given the unenviable burden of coping with a level of defending unseen at Celtic in decades. For the good of the player as well as the team, Neil Lennon has to accept Shane Duffy does not have what it takes at this level. A midweek pantomime against Hamilton went unpunished, while St Mirren fully exploited his meanderings.
In early December, I was assured Neil Lennon had the full support of the dressing room. Speaking in the heat after Saturday’s defeat, he questioned the players’ attitude and behaviour. There was no containment of the problem, no deflection of pressure off the squad and onto his more capable shoulders. Whatever goodwill exists must be under strain.
It must be difficult to find the words for so many post-match failures but throwing players under the bus is not the received wisdom. You and I are left to ponder what direction our season will plunge towards next.
Deadline Day in the ‘January’ transfer window leaves us with little to get excited about. We can hope for a central defender to fill the gap left by Christopher Jullien and a right back to allow Kristofer Ajer to move back into the middle. We cannot, though, buy confidence.
505 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- ...
- 14
- »
Marseille have made an offer of a loan with a £4.5m option to buy for Celtic midfielder Olivier Ntcham. SKY
!!BADA BING!! on 1ST FEBRUARY 2021 2:06 PM
Celtic 40- either way, it’s not as difficult as folk making out,we are just amateur at it.
I don’t have any experience so `I wouldn’t know for sure but I’d imagine a negociation for millions of pounds with three heavily invested parties wouldn’t be easy
I dont agree with you, I dont think we’re amateur
Paul 67
“In early December, I was assured Neil Lennon had the full support of the dressing room”.
Yes and at the time your article backed the clever guys in the boardroom “that’s why they get paid the big bucks ” whilst sneering at pauper fans who had a far greater concept of our issues.
Sounds like the decision to keep the manager, was on the players being asked, do you support the manager?
What were you expecting them to say, no?
Did no one trust their eyes, what we were watching, results like being trounced of Sparta, missing 7 players from covid(didn’t seem to affect them much), yet one of our top excuses?
You backed this shambles Paul, you sold or tried to sell this nonsense to the support. Hope your happy with your role, this is no hindsight, myself and countless others were screaming for you to do the right thing, was so so obvious.
Now surely the guys “who get paid the big bucks”, had a contingency plan?
OLDTIM67
Could Lawwell’s LTPIP include bonuses based on transfer fees received (Dembele, Tierney) which could explain why he’s hanging about until the end of June. Maybe hoping for another bumper fee before then?
TIMGREEN on 1ST FEBRUARY 2021 1:57 PM
Cercle Brugge have sacked head coach Paul Clement.
***^^^^^^***^^
A wind-up surely? Spidey101’s favoured candidate who is 14 points clear in the Belgian League.
Ah, but we can but dream!
SOUTHSIDE on 1ST FEBRUARY 2021 2:14 PM
OLDTIM67
Could Lawwell’s LTPIP include bonuses based on transfer fees received (Dembele, Tierney) which could explain why he’s hanging about until the end of June. Maybe hoping for another bumper fee before then?
Yeah, & don’t forget the Frimpong sale, & the Ntcham deal, if that goes through as well.
Paul67
I’ve seen reports we’ve been tracking the Ben Davies for 18 months, why didn’t he sign the contract we offered?
He didn’t sign for us because he waited till the last minute as any good agent would do, he got a better offer well done Ben. This will happen again and again, regardless of who runs the club, if Celtic had decided to offer £2M the player would still have gone to a Liverpool or Leverkusen, if Dominic McKay was backed to the future, he’d still be working with the perameters set by the demographics and wealth.
That’s the football transfer market, a market in which our £600 per year has to be carefully spent.
Has the deluded one gave a press conference today
BOURNESOUPRECIPE:
Absolute guff, I’m sorry to say.
“He didn’t sign for us because he waited till the last minute as any good agent will do.”
I’m sorry, it’s nonsense. Other clubs somehow manage to tie up pre-contract deals before the last day. As these players not represented by “good agents” or is maybe that some clubs simply do what they have to and don’t piss about?
All some people on this site do is look for ways to give Lawwell and this board the benefit of the doubt. Blame agents. Blame greedy players. The truth is, Lawwell drags his feet because his judgement is better than anyone else at the club. In his own mind.
As someone said earlier, this is breaking the Enigma code. Clubs all across Europe are managing to get business done. We don’t face a set of challenges unique to us except one.
We’re the only club employing Peter Lawwell.
Davies £500.000 with add ons, dependent on first team appearances.
This ISN’T breaking the Enigma code.
God, I hate trying to type on this damned site. Half of what I write ends up a mess like that above.
Yeah £600+ per Season, we should be looking into Markets, which are more within our players
wages, price bracket. Lets be honest here, all footballers nowadays, are all Mercenaries, they
will go to the highest wage packet payers, which is a fact.
That’s why we will have to seriously look into our Research, & also our Scouting Set Up.
There is no point in buying, or loaning, mainly duds & fuds, or Clubs Surplus To Requirements
type of players, which is a total waste of money & also time.
RC:
Absolute chump change. We’ve just posted a “brilliant, remarkable, wonderous, great bit of business Peter” £10 million profit on a player and we nickle-and-dimed over this guy, and he’s only gone to Liverpool. Probably not that good a footballer then, eah?
Peter knows best though.
ST TAMS:
Yes, and it’s typically horrific. Here’s a highlight;
“Why would it be my intention to go? Peter’s decision has nothing to do with my position at all, or my coaches or any of the players. So I don’t understand the context of the question at all.”
My answer to why did Peter Lawwell get a £2.000.000, extra payment in 2019
My thoughts.
2019 was the year that BR left the club,so Celtic had to get another Manager in.So DD suggested NL as Manager and PL disagreed the usual arguements ensued and PL said I’ll have to leave,DD comes up with an offer that PL couldn’t refuse ie £2.000.000 Plus and PL said OK, that solved the problem at hand.
Another problem came up at the end of last year and DD suggested offering the job to NL again but PL said no chance and so he handed in his resignation immediately but DD says you have to remain in the job until the end of the season, PL agrees and said he was retiring at the seasons end.
So that is my thoughts on the Matter, They may be a mile of track, but that is what is happening on the blog all the time now.
Lennon on Johnjoe Kenny;
“I watched him when he was on loan at Schalke and playing in a struggling team.
Is that why you thought he’d fit straight in?
Celtic’s chief executive to get £2.3m Hogmanay bonus as a performance reward
By Martin Williams @MWilliamsHT
CELTIC chief executive Peter Lawwell is about to receive a bumper £2.3m Christmas bonus for his performance in running the club for the past two years.
The 59-year-old who succeeded Ian McLeod as chief executive 14 years ago, is due to receive the sum on New Year’s Eve.
It comes over and above his £1.17m annual salary package – which included £17,720 ‘benefits in kind’ – and entrenches him as the club’s biggest boardroom earner. The ‘long term performance plan’ bonus has accrued over two years since the scheme was brought in in 2017.
In the Celtic plc financial accounts for the year to June, 2018, Mr Lawwell’s plan bonus rose by £516,000 (58%) from £890,000 in the first year to £1.4m in the latest year.
The Long Term Performance Incentive Plan (LTPIP) rewards him for company and football performance, including when Celtic qualify for the lucrative group stages of the Champions League. Celtic made the group stages in both years, but failed to qualify this year.
According to the terms of the plan, payment can only be made if Mr Lawwell remained with Celtic on December 31, 2018, which is when he is due to receive his bonus.
The overall salary costs of Celtic’s board of directors has risen from £1.57m to £1.60m .
Club chairman Ian Bankier (above), 65, has seen his salary rise by 60% in a year from £50,000 to £80,000.
Financial director Christopher MacKay, 42, whose salary package rose from £234,467 to £246,206, is also due to get a further £100,000 by way of two years in another long term performance plan.
Non-executive director Sharon Brown, 48, who is chairman of the club’s audit committee, who arrived at the club halfway through the financial year to June, 2017 and received £14,126 remuneration is now receiving £30,360 for the full year.
The club plc’s full annual report which highlights a pre-tax profit of £17.3m – nearly double the previous year – states that its remuneration committee takes account of financial packages with other comparable companies and sectors, particularly large football clubs.
In explaining its boardroom rewards policy, Celtic plc secretary Michael Nicholson said: “The main objective of the company’s remuneration policy remains to attract, retain and motivate experienced and capable individuals who will make a significant contribution to the long term success of the group whilst, taking account of the marketplace.
“Specific corporate and personal objectives are used for executive directors and certain senior executives. A similar appraisal system is also applied to most regular employees throughout the group.”
Mr Nicholson added: “Given the importance of the chief executive to the consistent and successful performance of the company, the board determined that the chief executive shall participate in the LTPIP, the purpose of which is to link the performance of the chief executive to performance targets which have the objective of improving company performance, the football performance of Celtic FC and generating shareholder value.”
The Parkhead club’s also showed year-on-year increase in overall group revenue from £90.6m to a record £101.6m.
Meanwhile, the total wage bill, including player pay, rose by 13% in the year from £52.2m to £59.3m, having increased by 41 per cent the previous year.
Mr Lawwell in his review said the club object was to “invest everything we can into the football operation without putting the club at risk”.
Even though there was “disappointment” at not qualifying for the group stages of the Champions League this year, he said “we have the financial reserves to rely upon as we continue to look to the future with ambition and optimism”.
124 comments
Promoted Stories
scaniel 2:19. Cercle Bruges are second bottom of the Belgian League. Bruges are 14 points clear.
NL looking very happy and smily there, saying we were gazumped by Liverpool for Davies, he is not in the least bit bothered, and nice of him to add we are moving on.
Celts are here…
“Neil Lennon has no plans to follow CEO P. Lawwell out in the summer. “Why would it be my intention to go? Peter’s decision has nothing to do with my position at all, or my coaches or any of the players. So I don’t understand the context of the question at all.”
Great🙁
AKBW1888- correct, every player is basically a self employed businessman, each on different salaries, bonuses etc., as ive been saying, I wouldn’t buy anyone until those clowns are away from the Club, play the youngsters, what is Welsh thinking if we are trying to bring in a loan CB,when the team is in this state? No wonder a lot of the kids want out of here.HH
I am so down …. See my post yesterday I don’t really understand if it gets any worse what can be worse than this .
My fear looking forward we beat the rotten mob the next time we play then. When it means nothing … Or and much worse. The play a team who don’t care about the fans and take the kind of leathering we gave them often in the last decade .
Think I will just go to my bed till next August!
SQUIRE DANAHER on 1ST FEBRUARY 2021 2:09 PM
I think you being disingenuous here.
Im not at all. I think you are.
Aren’t you suggesting he should have been forced to negotiate a contract for a transfer in January instead of the ore contract he wanted to agree?
When Lennon says he doesn’t understand why his job is being questioned, I can see Blackadder with pencils and a handkerchief……he’s getting more embarrassing by the day.
I’ll say this for NL , he can put on some front! I would advise anyone with BP or heart problems not to watch his press conferences . Even if you know he’s in complete denial , it’ll still put you through the roof .
Behaved,
Oooops. Can’t tell my Brugge from my elbow. Is it the same guy that Spidey101 was promoting?
Bada
Did he say ” wibble” ?
Behaved????? BHEAVER! That’s better.
My guess on Lawwells payout was £2.2M —- MW may have seen it here and doubled checked —- then published.
The man who destroyed Celtic and leaves a mess in his wake in order to loot close to £20Mil from club.
Lennon clearly doesn’t give a monkeys now and is probably working his notice and told the club he wants to work on his garden like his future sparring buddy.
McKay will be lucky to last until Christmas if he doesn’t step into the vacuum. Small fee and SRU will release him as he not the top guy. Otherwise season tickets, CL quals, signings etc will be lead to next season been at a similar level to this. The change required is huge and needs to start now.
JAMES FORREST
My son has just sent me that.
The arrogance of the man.
MARKIEBHOY- the Kilmarnock manager got bagged for similar stats over last 24 games, we’re not Kilmarnock ffs…..any respect I had for Lennon has gone I’m afraid HH
I now have zero respect for Lennon the football manager, he has destroyed the football team and has no insight into how or why this has happened other than it wasnt him.
To think I changed my moniker on here during the ‘we are all Neil Lennon’ period .
Makes me feel kind of foolish now .
Bada
I totally agree.
In the last few weeks my feelings have gone from blind fury , to anger, to resignation and now
almost to laughter. I really thought he was just holding out for the cash but we seem to have a new narrative. Groucho Marx would have struggled to be funnier than that today.
It’s like he is existing in an alternative universe.
Glen D- Lennon is taking us for a ride now.
!!BADA BING!!
He has had tremendous support from the fans during his bad times . He is now treating us like shite .
NL showing his commitment to Celtic
MARKIEBHOY- I am what is classed as a ‘die hard’ ,been lucky enough to have had a season ticket for 35 years in a row,seriously thinking for the first time ever,of giving it up,this is not a team or a Club that I now recognise, or want to be a part of.I wish the league was called today,shut the place down until May,and open up with a proper management team in place, and a CEO who can put the right people there,to build the Club up from scratch, because with the amount of money accumulated in the last 6/7 years,we are an absolute mess,on and off the park.HH