I have no doubt this morning’s press reports on Celtic’s plans for the months ahead are correct. We are told the club “is planning an overhaul of their football operations in the summer that would see significant changes to their set-up.” There is a great deal you can surmise from that statement.
“Overhaul… of football operations”, “significant changes”, leaves zero doubt Neil Lennon will be moving on and suggests wider changes are likely. It is also safe to assume Neil is on-board with this and has agreed to remain in charge until the end of the season, or a suitable replacement arrives.
Neil would not go through this torture were it not out of a sense of responsibility towards the players, several of whom he personally convinced to stay for this ‘important season’. Malicious talk of holding out for a payoff is well wide of the mark.
What is also clear is that Celtic are not happy to appoint any manager who is prepared to come to the club right now. This precludes those out of work, or those who are not prepared to ‘Do a Brendan’ and leave their current project with trophies still to be won and lost.
The new industry is not always as helpful. Last night reports that betting was suspended on Eddie Howe getting the job received plenty of clicks. Eddie has his eyes on a different target and will almost certainly pick up an English Premiership job this year. He is as likely to come to Celtic as another fantasy appointment, Mauricio Pochettino, was, before choosing Paris when he could have made his home in Glasgow. If only it was that easy.
If we take the ‘Get real’ suggestions off the table, I know the photo fit you are working with. Someone who has over-performed in a different environment, who is technically razor sharp and can bring knowledge of a value market.
They will have a successful track record, one that is short enough that they have not already moved up the food chain, but one longer than Ronny Deila’s mercurial rise at Stromsgodset. We now know that the skills required to achieve one season of spectacular success is Norway does not automatically equip a manager for what on paper looks an easier task. The Goldilocks candidate, enough of a spectacular record, but not too much that they have already got their move.
The quick fix if Neil leaves is John Kennedy as interim or someone, like Ronny, who cannot believe he’s been offered the Celtic job. Or let Neil complete the season and attempt to add the Scottish Cup and leave his second term trophy report reading 6 out of 8. I am not recommending either option, it’s too complicated to sit on the outside and suggest a fix with any conviction – not matter how convinced this is an easy one, it’s not.
If Neil remains until the end of the season it will not be because he needs the money, or because he deserves the respect of a Celtic hero (although he does), it is because the business of succession has to be settled. My preference would be to spend these months doing reconnaissance; better to do it right than to do it early, but the galleries have loved a blood letting since the Colosseum, we know how it works.
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RC
Loan agreements will differ from one to another. The loan signing of Shane has not turned out well that’s for sure. Neil’s habit of picking players out of position when we have others is not helping e.g ( Ajer for Ralston and Bitton for Welsh)
Corkcelt
Do we stamp our feet & scream & scream & scream or do we discuss coherently about what went wrong & what needs to be done to ensure this Season is just a blip & not a long term game changer.
——
I think much of the frustration on here comes from the total lack of confidence in the Board to do the latter. There is virtually no evidence from their actions over the last decade to suggest they have the ability or willingness to do so.
Bankier’s smug complacency at the most recent AGM, just as our chances of 10 were leaking away, epitomises this for me.
HH jg
Gene, I love Lenny but my honest opinion is he won’t be leading us into next Season,
Whether he sees out this Season or not is in the lap of the Gods.
However some of the vitriol aimed at Lenny & some of the players has been bang out of order.
I have little doubt that we do have a few Huns on here stirring the pot but there are plenty of our own who have made some disgraceful posts.
Corkcelt
I agree some of the comments have been out of order.
Jamesgang,
Board Members like Bankier will always be around.
I have absolutely no time for them but they won’t stop me from enjoying my football & supporting my Club.
Right ghuys, I’m escaping my lockdown prison for an hour’s exercise, laters.
CC @ 2.04
Are you enjoying your football now?
Have you been enjoying your football this season?
What makes football enjoyable?
Are we doing that now?
Corkcelt
Me too!
Keep your distance!😷😉
Corkcelt
You’ll just be back in time to watch the vale on ifollow
!!BADA BING!! on 23RD JANUARY 2021 1:23 PM
Aye he’s a club legend don’t you know?
hope he’s not leading us into next month
Madmitch
You only know enjoyment if you’ve experienced disappointment and pain – and there’s been plenty of that this season.
Reading back… The Great Reset ffs.
For any of the qanon brainwashed try reading this instead:
https://medium.com/curiouserinstitute/a-game-designers-analysis-of-qanon-580972548be5
The curious tale of Jack Hendry — did the magic £60K figure come into play in his transfer?
We offered top dollar for him and then we offered somemore — strange that.
We paid top dollar and still it was a long and convuluted transfer.
Strange that.
Well no matter the elements in the buying process I wish him well.
Would probably preferred to have him in the team but hey ho.
Finally SD loan — did we pay a £2mill loan fee on top of meeting his £45K pw wages?
Surely not but some comments suggest that.
Pitymevin @ 12:35 pm
` I think the frustration stems from the opportunity to be light years ahead`.
A good point.
Jamesgang
Thanks for the reply. I`ll do my best to stay safe but to keep being groovy I`d need to achieve that status first.
Corkcelt ! 1:39 pm
So pleasant to see such a measured post after much of the angry stuff that has been posted over the last few days.
I thought this summed it up neatly:
`The reality is these things happen in football, things can just go wrong and in this season everything possible has just gone wrong, it has been the season from Hell`
Some, I am sure, will point out that PL is paid enough to ensure things don`t go wrong but some of this season`s events were beyond the influence of anyone at the Club.
SFTB
Are you taking a sabbatical?
TBB
Same question to you.
Onil
He is a club legend – but of course that’s looking back which you don’t do.
Benitez won’t go back to Newcastle while Ashely’s there.
The Real Madrid job will be available very soon and Rafa is very highly regarded in Spain.
FT @ 2.12
Thanks for posting — qanon was a secret service group project that got out of hand.
A bit like ISIS — a study to find out how mental Al Quieda was that took a life of its own.
Onil
Sorry your blog name suggests you do in fact look back.
Article should have been retitled Surrender at Celtic.
It’s sums up the shambles of a club we have become. Unless there is a complete overhaul Board, CEO, Manager then not renewing my tickets. I know plenty of others in the same vein of thinking.
This is worse than the old regime and it will be tougher to effect change. The only language Desmond understands is money —- just don’t give it too them.
They are driving the fans away from the club and can take the fences down now.
GENE on 23RD JANUARY 2021 2:13 PM
It’s a matter of opinion – legend status.
Frankterry
I only rea a wee bit but that looks like an interesting article ( unless I am reading things that aren`t there !).
This summed up the bit I did read:
`These were normal people and their assumptions were normal and logical and completely wrong.`
Hot Smoked at 2:13
I’d have to respectfully disagree that this is about circumstances beyond our control.
We have fallen a great height in a short space if time.
Posters on here have been predicting this. For those tasked with running the club to be caught short is inexcusable
Gross negligence.
We’re not talking about a 3 or 4 point swing.
We’re 20 points behind ffs!!!
There are barely any positives to speak of
Tactics
PR
Signings
Groundskeeping
Fitness
Youth development
We are a basket case.
To suggest this is beyond our control only enables further incompetence
qanon and the like — bored people love conspiracy theories.
Life as they experience is very boring and they think they are missing something.
Conspiracy theories offer them an opportunity to be leaders on those topics.
5 titles as captain. 5 titles as manager.Definitely Legend stats in any capacity to any fair minded critic.
So P67 has written an article on here today with the following headline
“CELTIC FAIRY-TALE OF CAESAR AND THE 31st CROWN”
—
“Caesar”?
Fk sake man
even P67 cant be arsed any more
The longer NL stays,the more damage he’s doing to his legacy IMO
CLINK\O/ 4X3 on 23RD JANUARY 2021 2:27 PM
Still a matter of opinion.
UNCLE JIMMY on 23RD JANUARY 2021 2:23 PM
I am not completely in disagreement but I feel the astonishing stage we are at now is at least partially to do with the the rolling snowball effect.
Thanks for your response and I would like to continue but I have to go .
Cheerio for now.
Huddle
Does Paul write those side articles as well?
Also, I think many use ` Caesar` intentionally as they think it is more appropriate for our great captain than ` Cesar`.
Definitely off now :-))
ONIL
I did say to any fair minded critic.
I’m sure we can forget Howe or Benitez ,Newcastle Howe is favourite with Benitez second favourite,It’s beginning to look like Kennedy and McManus till the end of the season,As much as they maybe not every Celtic Supporters Pick, but we will see .
CLINK\O/ 4X3 on 23RD JANUARY 2021 2:42 PM
You did.
HOT SMOKED on 23RD JANUARY 2021 2:20 PM/Mad Mitch
Thanks, yeah, it’s quite a long article but worth taking the time to read. I particularly found the psychological reasons why we are much more willing to accept new ideas if we believe we thought of them ourselves as opposed to someone telling us (which often has the opposite effect of making us more entrenched in our views) interesting.
It does seem like the internet (plus anti-intellectualism/breakdown in community leading to people being isolated and more likely to engage online as opposed to with their neighbours) has played a big part in the spread of this stuff. So for example, in the past the fake moon landings guff never bothered me as it is one of the few conspiracy theories which isn’t at it’s heart a fascist trope. However, the fake moon landings are now a gateway to the dangerous nonsense you get on qanon. The point being that if you think the moon landing were faked then you have common ground with the more damaging theories – Clinton running a paedophile ring in a pizza shop etc etc – and so are easy to recruit.
I think Rafa will be on his way to Newcastle.
Neil and the players should be treated with respect, for Neil it’s time to go and some of the players and please buy players for the position they play.
Would be good to see PL and Hammond go but that would be a stretch.
Will know how the club has done by ST sales but just now we are in a fight for second place.
CORKCELT on 23RD JANUARY 2021 1:39 PM
Do we stamp our feet & scream & scream & scream or do we discuss coherently about what went wrong & what needs to be done to ensure this Season is just a blip & not a long term game changer.
———————————————————————————————-
There’s been a lot of coherent discussion on this and other sites for some time but the problem is we don’t matter. Does the manager, the coaches, the board ever answer questions? No! There have been so many questions posted on here but no one on the inside will answer them, all we get is platitudes or an admission (as from NL recently) that they don’t know either. Supporters not only invest a lot of money they also invest a lot of their emotional energy in Celtic. I think the lack of a transparent insider response leads to the kind of bilious comments you are now seeing on here regularly. Unfortunately, but it’s not what people prefer.
TIMHORTON on 23RD JANUARY 2021 2:49 PM
I think Hammond might go….he’ll be the fall-guy for the recruitment. Maybe justifiably so – I don’t really know what goes on behind the scenes regarding transfers.
one thing i thought of
If the league is called will that clown Gardiner from Inverness try for null
and void as he did last season
Nah didnae think so