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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watching the city cup game , like the look of the 19 year old cheltenham goalie (on loan from WBA) 6ft 7 ins and the build to go with it , looks like a young FF and we have an excuse for a goalie in Barkas.
Is it right to call the blog host a liar ?
Dear dear
PLCism is the problem here
i work for a PLC and all the staff have been told by the CEO and his cronies not to expect a pay rise this year
which is probably fair enough given the current situation
but do you think they will be getting pay rises and bonuses?
you better believe it
as i have always said
CEOs only look after their own remuneration
everything else is window dressing
so PL is doing what any other CEO will do and that is make sure his trough is full
its that we need to change
3 Bluenoses on Premier Sports, Dodds and its not Billy ,Emma Dodds does work for the Bluenoses over at Ibrox, McCoist and Creggan all Bluenoses,not one representative from Hibernian or ST Johnstone ,tells it all,and him that’s commenting along with Michael Stewart ,Jambo man)I’ll bet he is another Bluenoses,who gives them these positions ,and who is the Sports guy ,talk about being impartial,as for Jack Ross to Celtic forget it his team is 2/0 down to St Johnstone.
ERNIE LYNCH…
Ditto any suggestion that The Great Desmondo was desperate to win the 10 and did everything in his power to make sure it happened.
Agreed – Desmond did what he appears to enjoy doing the most – very little. In fact we should be up in arms about the story surrounding Brendan Rogers to Celtic. Desmond only shook off his torpor when he felt personally insulted by the Rangers directors? The flip side being that beforehand he was happy to continue on the cheap.
It appears that Celtic isn’t even a vehicle for his ego. The only vehicle for that is himself. And that’s a big problem for us making progress and doing ourselves justice. It also suggests that he’s/the board are capable
of identifying talent at managerial level but more often than not choose to ignore best practice/planning.
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.
I’m not at all sure that there was a plan to give the huns the league – I think that’s one conspiracy too far. But I *am* sure that Dermot Desmond couldn’t care less about Celtic’s achievement. The lie perpetrated by the media that he’s the ‘Celtic owner’ gives him the bragging rights he wants and that he doesn’t feel compelled to do anything beyond that. He doesn’t stand to make a return on his cash if he were to make us incredibly successful, so instead he doesn’t really plan. To Desmond, Celtic are a trophy. A little like the car collector that buys a Bugatti Chiron and keeps in in a heated garage, only switching on to rev it up at parties and little else. It’ll hold its value, it doesn’t need a lot done to it beyond maintenance and he has no intention of driving it like it’s meant to be driven.
It’s a hugely depressing conclusion, but it seems to me to be an accurate one.
/p
ADI_DASSLER NOT FOR 2ND BEST…
Is it right to call the blog host a liar ?
Is it right to characterise my point out of context and without the qualification I made (in case you missed, or misunderstood) “I don’t know if Pau67 believes it to be true or if he’s being played” – so, the lie accusation is level beyond Paul67… aka the Celtic board. My direct issue is that Paul67 is repeating a lie.
Dear dear
I’ll live with your disapproval.
However, quite why you’d want to cast opprobrium on a comment that wasn’t meant for you is beyond me. You are not the gatekeeper to Paul67’s honour.
/p
Hibs actually reminding me of us…. Missing great chances getting done at corner!!!!….. An incredible stat… We’ve lost the same amount of goals as the huns from open play!!!
P8DDY on 23RD JANUARY 2021 6:46 PM
My suggestion is you emsil P67 & ask for a response. Its manners for me.
HH
ADI_DASSLER NOT FOR 2ND BEST on 23RD JANUARY 2021 6:34 PM
Is it right to call the blog host a liar ?
Dear dear
Adi
It is not suprising you ask the question.
Sure dont you know they are entitled to.
HH
& a personal response unless he gives you permission to host it.
Man City lose a goal to long throw.
Cheltenham 1
Man City 0
Anyway..off to watch some TV.
Cant be bothered with some of the stuff on here.
Take care everyone.
Hot Smpked
“SFTB
Are you taking a sabbatical?”
No- Just a 4 day eye infectoon which reduces computer screen work.
On your Dr. Mercola query- he’s a quack peddling homeopathy, osteopathy, unresearched diet supplements and medical equipment.
“Mercola operates Mercola.com, which he has described as the most popular alternative-health website on the internet Aside from the main site, it also hosts various blog subsites, like Healthy Pets and Peak Fitness. Traffic counting from Quantcast shows the site receives about 1.9 million novel visitors per month, each returning almost ten times each month; the number of views are roughly equal to those received by the National Institutes of Health. The site and his company, Mercola LLC, brought in roughly $7 million in 2010 through the sale of a variety of alternative medicine treatments and dietary supplements. The site promotes a number of disproven health ideas, including the notion that homeopathy can treat autism, and that vaccinations have hidden detriments to human health. An article in BusinessWeek criticized his website as using aggressive direct-marketing tactics, writing:=
Mercola gives the lie to the notion that holistic practitioners tend to be so absorbed in treating patients that they aren’t effective businesspeople. While Mercola on his site seeks to identify with this image by distinguishing himself from “all the greed-motivated hype out there in health-care land”, he is a master promoter, using every trick of traditional and Internet direct marketing to grow his business … He is selling health-care products and services, and is calling upon an unfortunate tradition made famous by the old-time snake oil salesmen of the 1800s.
“In 2020, Mercola was one of the partners in a website called “Stop Covid Cold” offering advice to the public on preventing and treating Covid-19 with alternative remedies. The website includes links to Mercola’s online store and puts a strong emphasis on vitamin D supplements, despite a lack of scientific evidence pointing to the effectiveness of such a treatment.
Mercola claimed that inhaling 0.5-3% hydrogen peroxide solution using a nebulizer could prevent or cure COVID-19. A tweet from Mercola advertising this method was removed from Twitter on April 15, 2020, for violating the platform rules, but he continued to make these claims on other platforms, including during a speech at a major conference of anti-vaccination activists in October.
Despite Mercola being identified as a major amplifier of COVID-19 misinformation, his business received a federal loan of $335,000 from the Paycheck Protection Program in 2020
Phyllis Entis, a microbiologist and food safety expert, highlighted Mercola.com as an example of websites “likely to mislead consumers by offering one-sided, incomplete, inaccurate, or misleading information.”[
In 2016, Mercola agreed to pay up to $5.3 million restitution after federal regulators complained that he made false claims about tanning beds that he sold.”
and some think Hibs centre back RP is what we need , no chance
I do wonder just how many of these “wantaways” would still be hell bent on leaving if they were being coached and tutored by someone they respected? I mean how many players would not have wanted to be part of a history-making 10IAR outfit irrespective of their long term ambitions? Something stinks, and it has done for an unacceptably long time.
RC on 23rd January 2021 6:57 pm
and some think Hibs centre back RP is what we need , no chance
———
Has he also not had 2 serious knee injuries, and only 21
we now might be able to get jack ross in as manager even quicker than PL had hoped
yeeeeeeeaaaahhhh
🤦🏻♂️
THE_HUDDLE
injuries apart , not any better than J Hendry first time around.
The idea that there is a desire to throw the ten is quite easily disproved.
If you want to ensure there is no 10, don’t win the first 9
Simples!
There were plenty prediccitng we would never be allowed to get 9iar, so they’ve just had a Trumpian re-do in replacing 9 with 10.
Once we worked ourselves up to the point of fervour we had over achieving the 10, there was always gonna be a huge backlash over the failure to seal the deal. DD will get over this failure much more quickly than the reast of us but, in recompense, he assuredly did not get as much pkeasure out of the previous 9 years that you and I did.
DD can influence a lot but he was not responsible for Sevco gaining 69 points in 25 games or ahome goal difference of 38 for and 1 against.
Sevco won this league as much as we helped them by not pressurising them for any sustained period. Our players, managers and Board will pay a high price for this failure but we will all live and move on to next year’s challenge.
I don’t expect I will ever see a chance for ten again.
ADI_DASSLER NOT FOR 2ND BEST…
My suggestion is you emsil P67 & ask for a response. Its manners for me.
Firstly, if you ever find yourself in the position of posting something you regard to be contentious, then you know what to do. Secondly, thanks for the advice, but I’ll conduct myself how *I* see fit.
Again, you are not the gatekeeper for Paul67’s honour but you’re *still* taking personal offence and offering advice where none is sought or required. You conduct yourself in the manner *you* see fit and I’ll do likewise. If I ever feel the need to be patronised, I’ll make sure and contact you first, until then, regard your advice as somewhat unwelcome and utterly ignored.
For the purposes of clarity however, once again, I didn’t call Paul67 a liar. Read my post again, ALL OF IT, in context.
I accept in advance your apology for the false accusation.
/p
http://image.wikifoundry.com/image/3/268841449601a174c2014cef25b24e8d/GW487H600/
My 87 year old Uncle Colm, he last of my father’s siblings died earlier today in Letterkenny Hospital of covid. He was living as a hermit in Manchester when we “kidnapped” him back to Gweedore and his family over 30 years ago. He did not thank us for the intervention and wanted to be left alone for lots of complicated reasons but gradually, therough the support of my cousins, his heart melted and he fell back in love with his birthplace. I spoke to him two years ago and he was never more communicative and happy.
I got the news about my uncle just before I heard the other sad news about another Gweedore Covid death. The great Celtic supporting Maire Rua has passed- a former Glasgow clippie- she never lost her love of Celtic and she poved them at a time where results demanded a lot of loving.
I will remember the life lessons from both of these people for a long time.
They can now RIP
SETTING FREE THE BEARS FOR RES. 12 & OSCAR KNOX…
I don’t expect I will ever see a chance for ten again.
It’s hard to see us being in this position again, which is why this seems like such a disaster.
Then again, if you’d asked either of us 15 years ago if we thought there would be a chance at 9 in a row I’ll wager we’d have been entirely sceptical. So who knows what the future holds – especially given Rangers do seem to have plunged a lot of money into winning the league. Will one champs league campaign be enough to allay or reverse the ‘going concern’ issues with them?
The biggest impediment to our own success ultimately has been us. Will that change in the future? Lets put it this way – I hope we deal with our own issues.
/p
Happy Birthday Hamilton Tim
Only 50???? :-)
SETTING FREE THE BEARS FOR RES. 12 & OSCAR KNOX…
Arrrgh!! I missed bolding your comment! Hopefully as it’s a one liner the biggest issue will be my criminal misuse of the written word. ;)
/p
SFTB- sad news,my mother, a Quinn,was from Glenties.
SFTB
Heartfelt sympathy to all the Family
May Colm Rest In Peace
And May Perpetual Light Shine Upon him 🙏
SFTB
R.I.p Uncle Colm and Maire Rua.
SFTB
Sincere condolences on Colm’s passing.
I remember Maire Rua from a BBC documentary about Celtic’s Centenary Year broadcast on Hogmanay 1988.
For me winning 2 x 9 in my lifetime was everything. I was one of those who never believed it would be allowed to happen. When we did it I never believed 10 would be allowed to happen. In all those years I never once chanted HWGTIAR at the games, felt I personally would have jinxed it by doing so.
Keep well, my friend
WG
JOBO BALDIE and MM…..are they both gone if so ….why???
I presume the name of Jack Dross has been scratched from the list of potentials…
Hibs were pathetic…
So Jack Hendry is swapping the East End for the Oostende….
Good move and fair play to him. Not got many fans on here, though he has a few, and I always thought he had enough of the basics to do well at a good level, who would improve as a player with decent coaching, ie not John Kennedy throwing a few balls at him to be headed back. Not that kind of coaching. So can only wish him well in Belgium in the near future, and more than likely in Steve Clarke’s Euro squad, another coach who will get the best out of him. Probably be worth a fair bit more in a year or two but if the CQN byline is correct it will still be music to Big Pete’s ears, £1.75 mill in Euro money……
Ding Ding…….Ringa Ding Ding Ding
LUCKY CODY on 23RD JANUARY 2021 5:55 PM
To be fair, Milan had a lot of players missing with Covid. Bookies had Atalanta favorites prior to kick-off.
SFTB
Condolences.
SFTB – Condolences on the loss of your uncle.
May Colm rest in piece. Thoughts and prayers with you and the family at this sad time.
On a side note my Auntie Sheila was from Gweedore The Mcginley’s.
Charlie has been here for a good few years now.
D :)
SFTB/winning gemmell
Condolences to all re your Uncle Colm. May he rest in peace.
And WG did Maire Rua not also feature on a more recent BBC Alba documentary series Bus Ghlaschu…..
The Donegal to Glasgow bus, a bona fide road well travelled by many over the years?
Great little series, and in which Pat Bonner comes across very well indeed.
RIP Maire
Seems a bid in for Christie, Burnley were after him in the summer