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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Didn’t see that Philbhoy. Still reeling from Paul67’s view that he’s here for the rest of the season.
The players look like they need some ‘dead cat’ bounce at the very least and the coach:team relationship feels toxic now in too many places.
Looks like DD’s deadline is summer and to hell with what others want. It’s the summer.
Can we afford to wait vis a vis ECL qualification?
HH
Huns hit 5th….
Dons hit a 2nd…..
The squeeze is on.
HH
ERATIC on 23RD JANUARY 2021 4:44 PM
RTB 4.29
It was Stan.
Love Stan but don’t think the poor lad is the sharpest tool in the box !
You can say that again . He was touting Roy Keane as manager the other day!
Great player though ,was Stan .
BIG WAVY
I think we need change now.
Get the new man in now and he’s got a good shout at assessing and coaching the existing squad before the next window.
We do have good players, they just need to be properly coached and tactically aware.
Simples!
BIG WAVY
CL qualification? Only of interest to the teams finishing 1st and 2nd . Might not apply to us the way things are going .
BIG WAVY- how you doing fella?
Happy birthday HamiltonTim.
Enjoy your night.
Just a 28 goal deficit to make up. Three 9-0 victories in our games in hand and we’ll be close.
Bada….
Beyond bored…..
HH
GDT 4.49
Roy Keane ! Think we would have more success with Roy Rogers……..and he died in 1998 ☘️😂
23rd January and 23 points behind the imperious Glasgow The Rangers. Also 28 goals behind on goal difference. And Lenny is doing US a favour by staying?
OF COURSE HE IS. And anyone that says different is a stone cold HUN I tell you!
Also, reading between the cryptic lines of Peter’s, sorry Paul’s blog from yesterday I think I’ve broken the code re Lenny’s successor. It’s this man, Heimir Guðjónsson, up and coming manager of Valur Reykjavik.
At just 51 this guy not only played international football (6 caps for Iceland!), he has won numerous titles in both his native land and the Faroes. As recently as 2016.
This gut fits Peter’s, sorry Paul’s, ideal profile perfectly. Do yourself a solid and get down the bookies right now and bet the farm on him coming in.
You think there was excitement and a big crowd when Rodgers was unveiled? Just wait till you see this guy’s unveiling. Will be like the National Mall at Trump’s inauguaration.
You heard it here first!
Were not gonna win this league by much are we…
ERATIC on 23RD JANUARY 2021 5:01 PM
Roy Rogers ? My late Da took me to see him when he came to Glasgow in the 50’s . Came on to the stage on his horse trigger .
Which , incidentally is what Willie Nelson calls his guitar.
Mineofuselessinformation CSC
Big W- tough times, everywhere you look.
Bada,
True that…the Celtic season of course has created a perfect storm.
Like the pandemic, I’m hoping this year proves to be a blip before we come racing back to life.
And, done right, I think we will.
HH
“Anybody who reckons we deliberately threw the League would need their heads examined”
—————
Wow, Forget the ” Moonlandings” . Contemplating the above on a Celtic blog is a conspiracy theory too far, even for me.
HH.
Lambert?
“Rangers didn’t deserve to be relegated”
“Old Firm”
No moral high ground for this arse.
Yep, and Stan did 7 years with us so can’t blame him for wanting to move onto a different challenge even if he did go in a bit of a huff :O) He still signed a new contract.
Ist of all I’d like to wish Chris, or Hamiltontim as he’s known on the Blog a very Happy 50th birthday,and long may they continue.
Secondly i’d like to pass a comment regarding what I said on the blog yesterday,I was only kidding on stating we should try and get the Livi Manager to take over the roll as Celtic Manager.the comment was me trying to make a joke of the mess wer’e in at this moment in time.
There’s something happened behind the scene that none of us have a clue about what went wrong, MY own opinion is there has been something happened between the Manager and the players that hasn’t been divulged by neither players or Manager, in my mind the players aren’t playing for the manager now.
Finally.What is the solution to fix the problem, If we want to change things at the top of the house,you can’t do that without hurting the club,you all seem to think Celtic have a club within a club,the high heedyins is one club, and the support is the other club.
The only remedy is to get rid of the people at the top of the tree is stop buying season tickets, for as long as it takes to get the shareprice down to around 25p to 30p a share,it would take a couple of seasons maybe,but the money grabbing share holders will start selling their shares so as they don’t lose out on what they paid for them. I don’t know what DD paid for his shares,but I would imagine he wouldn’t like the share price to drop too much as he’d lose a vast ammount of brass, and I’d imagine he’d rather sell his shares than lose a lot of money.
I have shares in Celtic and wouldn’t sell them, even if they went down to Zero pence per share. but that’s because I love Celtic,and shall never sell my shares. I’d rather donate them to some charity that has links to Celtic. I think there is some guys on here who are involved in that kind of thing,Maybe the Celtic Trust or similar.
I’ll have too call it a day as I’m struggling to make sense now.
May the Road Rise with you.
Anger is an Energy.
Celtics potential is Astronimical.
IGOTPOTENTIALCSC.
“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.”
Paul is giving us a strong hint of the environment that our next manager will come from , in the above statement.
Does anyone have any suggestions of what leagues we may be scouting and what managers may fit the bill ?
Dan Petrescu entered my mind .
TT
Old Tim 67
Good to see you posting D. As ever, much sense spoken. Take care of yourself, and stay safe.
HH
TINYTIM on 23RD JANUARY 2021 5:40 PM
Petrescu signed on at a Turkish team last week
TinyTim on 23rd January 2021 5:40 pm
———
Scotland, maybe England if we are looking for someone more exotic
Atlanta coach schooling AC Milan
I would take Stan Petrov over Paul Lambert as a man and as a player every day of the week.Think Paul Lambert forgets that he spent most of the last year of his lucrative contract doing his coaching badges in Germany
Tiny Tim
To me Ralf Ragnick with manager of his choice
Would mean change and handover of D.o.F role
Would mean change and handover of C.e.O role.
Covid however strains our choice.
PL staying and a new manager(petrescu) coming in with no definition of duties will only lead to same error imo
HH
PHILBHOY on 23RD JANUARY 2021 4:32 PM
ROCK TREE BHOY
When did Lambert say that?
This week?
____________________________
Yesterday by all accounts, all over the tabloids.
Oldtim
Keep the spirits up.great to see you posting
HH
TinyTim on 23rd January 2021 5:40 pm
“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.”
————————-
Also, maybe try and interpret the statement above into plain English.
over-performed in a different environment – means what? a minnow/underdog that has done better than expected.
who is technically razor sharp – means what? I don’t really know what this means when applied to a manager/coach. Is he meaning someone that is a modern coach (i.e. knows how to work the VCR)?
can bring knowledge of a value market – means what? Has experience of the non big 5 leagues
…..and the goat another penalty???
wurld rekord?
St J take the lead against Hibs
Watching the St J TV stream.
Very dour but still funny.
They’ve just read out a 40th birthday message to a St J fan in USA, they are having a debate if its too early across there to crack open a can :O)
great firework display at cheltenham town
💣💣💣💥💥💥
OLDTIM67 on 23RD JANUARY 2021 5:33 PM
”I was only kidding on stating we should try and get the Livi Manager to take over the roll as Celtic Manager.”
####
I’m glad to hear it.
I was beginning to entertain concerns about your sanity.
St J take the lead against Hibs
Watching the St J TV stream.
Very dour but still funny.
—
had cash on murphy first scorer
and misses 2 sitters from 7 yards rite in front of goal
ragin
Paul lambert was my fav for a while.
And if he has called out somebody,good on him I say
Remember yir auld arse
GREENPINATA on 23RD JANUARY 2021 5:19 PM
“Anybody who reckons we deliberately threw the League would need their heads examined”
—————
Wow, Forget the ” Moonlandings” . Contemplating the above on a Celtic blog is a conspiracy theory too far, even for me.
####
Ditto any suggestion that The Great Desmondo was desperate to win the 10 and did everything in his power to make sure it happened.
Still, look on the bright side, a financially stable huns, no longer in imminent danger of economic collapse, means a strong Old Firm. And we all know who wanted a strong Old Firm, don’t we? So not all bad.
Ching Ching.
Personally, I’m thrilled to read that the people responsible for the current plan are planning to re-plan *in the future*. Sounds guaranteed to succeed. I’m sure Gavin Strachan’s head must be spinning given we was the future of Celtic back in the mists of time some 4 months ago when the current plan was guaranteed to deliver “the ten”.
Did the Christmas review of the current shambles highlight a required overhaul? If so, why wait till the end of the season? What advantage will that bring us? After all, if a new manager has been identified, he *must* already be signed – why not announce now then? It happens with players signed on Bosman deals all the time! If an overhaul is needed, there is *nothing* to lose by kicking it off now. And nothing to lose by announcing Neil’s successor, or even announcing Neil’s impending departure. Of course, there’s another way of looking at this.
A cynic might come to the conclusion that this is in fact a shameless lie told by Paul67 to help the current board prop up season ticket sales. Let’s face it, it’s not an unheard of strategy – and in the absence of actual planning (and with no idea, or willingness to rectify the current shambles) the only way of selling tickets is the promise of something so special that they *must* keep it secret in the interim. It’s also the cheapest way of getting people on board. Deal with the aftermath after the proles have thrown more good money after bad. I don’t know if Pau67 believes it to be true or if he’s being played, but I’m sure of one thing – that it’s a lie.
CQN has been compliant PR machine selling pro-board tripe (and screeds of advertising off the back of it too) for a while, but this really marks a new low. What next Paul? Celtic planning a casino maybe? Or a training pitch on top of the long planned hotel? Maybe you could run with a story about Celtic trying to sign Ronaldo? Honestly, it’s *that* transparent. Oh wait, scratch Ronaldo, we’ve got an article on Rafa Benitez potentially signing. Reads like the pound shop version of ‘Ronaldo to Rangers’.
I realise that Celtic in the midst of a crisis does nothing for any of our tempers, but it’s a poor show when an article looks so designed to take advantage of the people it ultimately serves – Celtic fans.
CQN: Real news, not lazy journalism. Oh aye sure.
/p