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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this is really good, interesting, someones history , looking at their own story intertwined with their grandas supporting celtic.
not todays supporter wallowing in self pity about how everyone at celtic let them down by not getting a ten for a flag for their weans bedroom wall.
Conversation
McGoo1888
@McGoo1888
Right think ahv pinged it now…my Grandpa oan the left…oan their way tae see Celtic…if ye could colourise this ah will be eternally gratefull
https://twitter.com/McGoo1888/status/1353071236708933638/photo/1
PITYMEVIN
👍
avert your eyes now, those who dis me posting a shared history,
like sunlight peaking through the curtains,,,,,,,,,,,,, step away.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EscUfwoU4AA-8r7?format=jpg&name=900×900
Pitymevin rest of post dinnae really interest me,the only bit i seen to reply to was the DD bit.
I am interested in what we do now?
-to recover as much of this season as poss.
-use that as a continuation of growth at start of next season
Celtic goes on.
HH
AN, it’s only the football department they are looking at.
The business side is doing ok.
Keep up the good work
right night.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1352660628935159808
scullybhoy
I posted on here a little while back, that if Neil Lennon was going to remain at Celtic for this season it was his job to try and get the players playing as well as they can, in effect to help manage the handover to the next manager, maintain their value if they are leaving and get the best out of those that are likely to. Ntcham, Christie and Eddie come into that category, Kris Ajer too, and he really is making a big effort for Celtic regardless of the circumstances we find ourselves in. I also posted the other day it was more likely that Soro and Turnbull would attract attention than Oliver and Ryan because they were making a positive impact, at this point in time, with the latter more likely to find himself in the Championship. He has the skill set to play in the EPL but along with many others he is suffering from the malaise that has set in at Parkhead, from the top down, a malaise we all need somehow to break out from. Every player is now playing for their future, at Celtic or elsewhere, they, like Kris Ajer, need to focus on that. Jack Hendry certainly is. To his credit.
There were a couple of quotes I put on last night.
History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.
P
incredible scenes up in the sky tonight
you can see the space station charging along
though reports that benitez is in it and they are heading for G40 are unfounded
Spidey101
Some range of Data there😊. Now if only there was a weighting we could attach assocIated with getting such a coach here during a pandemic…..not easy then there will be all the success/failure debate
:-)
HH
Thank God Hibs are out of the Betfred as that should put him out of the running at Celtic. But his interview with BBC journalist just like Lennon’s (and I’m no fan of BBC) shows what’s wrong with modern football – it’s driven by money and hence consumerism but the consumers are totally kept in the dark about the product. I think the journalist was making a fair point that he was asking the kind of questions Hibs fans would be asking but Ross was having none of it, just as NL was having none of it and the Board don’t see it as necessary to talk to the supporters.
I think there has to be a recogniton that fans are not ignorant just because they get emotional at times. Many have a good understanding of the game, maybe as good an understanding as anyone else so they also need to be treated with respect. If you don’t answer their questions then you lose your consumers.
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/breaking-rafa-benitez-appointed-celtic-23374588.amp
PITYMEVIN on 23RD JANUARY 2021 11:43 PM
AN, it’s only the football department they are looking at.
The business side is doing ok.
Keep up the good work
===========================
The football club is the business.one Celtic.
There is a split identity in govan haver a lot with that patter.ie business is seperate from club? You implying that of Celtic.
Easy work this correcting lark…if thats what the keep up good work comment was for :-)
HH
Squire.
Seen this on twitter.laughed out loud
https://twitter.com/hughquinn31/status/1352977685220384768?s=19
HH
SETTING FREE THE BEARS….
I’m really sorry for your loss. You and your family are in my thoughts. I realise that nothing I say will lessen the pain and grief you’ll be feeling, but I hope seeing even those if us with the deepest disagreements unite in condolence will be a crumb of comfort.
To live in the hearts of those we love is never to die.
/p
Going by *leaked letters it appears rafa is to man identified to take us forward
Always wary of leaked letters… Usually leaked for a reason (to push others dithering who may well be contemplating his services too)
So I will wait and see… Swapping £12m a season to come to the exciting world of Scottish Premiership football.. Hmm
If it does happen then on paper it’s a good appointment…
It will be being sold as no a last throw of dice for 10 but a rebuild with intent for 21/22 season.
Having supported my club all my life.. I have seen dark decades of football… However it has really contributed to me really appreciating the last 20.
This season is gone…
Alot of contributing factors led to what has been a very disappointing season but it has been 1 season…. A blip in the last 20 in a very strange year to say the least.
We don’t get to sing the songs of ten…
But we DID win 9 for the second time…
We DID win a QUADRUPLE treble… An UNBELIEVABLE achievement.
We didn’t cripple or burden our club financially in these catastrophic times to do so.
We really do need to step back and look at what we DID achieve as a club and support.. It’s been nothing short of incredible.
We also need to appreciate those who helped bring the success we have experienced over this time…
We really really do.
That includes the likes of Scott Brown and OUR Neil Lennon…
Nobody can beat those two for the failure of this season more than they will do themselves.
The love they have for Thier club OUR club should never ever be questioned… Ever
Neil in particular has, given up more than any man should to represent a football club OUR football club… HIS football club
We as individuals will never experience in our lives what he has…
We understand the hatred from those towards him… We understand WHY they HATE him so much and WHY our society have ALLOWED it to happen
But we have never walked in his shoes a feared the personal safety or the safety of the loved ones he experiences every moment he wakes up….
No safety even on a football pitch (attacked trackside)
No safety at home (bullets posted through door)
No safety standing in a pantomime queue with your wife and young child.
Neil will leave his position… But he should be treated with nothing but respect from a support that HE loves and respects.
You only need to look online to supposed impartial football sites who have been probably created as a vehicle to start much of the discontent side by side with the much of the media towards our club.. Especially through our own support made easy by the disappointment of 10.
But I for one won’t ever throw OUR Neil to those wolves… They have wanted his blood for decades..
They will wait decades again.
But the discontent generated towards our club outside is not for the blood of our Neil…. He is simply the face of all that they HATE…
It’s our club that they really want….
They want the half empty stadium…
They want us to believe those in charge care not for our club… A club those in charge of have supported… A club those in charge who have BROUGHT the success that they have considering where our club was pre Fergus mccann.
We are not just a football club… We are so much more than that as WE all know… But sometimes from time to time forget.
They want to put us ‘in our place’
This is Thier biggest opportunity… In the face of disappointment of not achieving 10….
But remember
We don’t get extra money for 10….
Those outwith Scotland don’t really care about a wee Scottish team winning 10
It is simply ANOTHER championship
We can’t change yesterday…. But we can look after the future….
Our future is under serious threat being influenced by those who despise our club.. Who despise you and yours.
We must come together… As one…. As Celtic
A belated Hoopy Half’ton Happy Birthday to HamiltonTim…canny believe am younger than u C…;-))
H.H.
SFTB
Sorry for your loss T
I’ll add Colm to my prayers 🙏
Good morning cqn from a lightly snow covered Garngad
The Rafa letter is fake, check out the phone number on top right of letter.
1872 are last 4 digits and the email addy is a piss take as well I believe.
D :)
Anyone seen the 10 min clip going about of “Don Patricio – Patrick O’Connell” born in Dublin 1887.
By all accounts some character.
Played for Belfast Celtic, Captained Man Utd, then won numerous honours in spain with various clubs as manager, Santander, Oviedo, Real Betis, Barcelona, Real Betis, Sevilla, Racing Santander again.
He managed Betis to their first ever league title, and during the Spanish civil war he took Barca to south America on tour…
An interesting wee watch on “ya tube”
I am sure I remember hearing about this fella a few years ago but the old memory isn’t that great.
Sorry if someone has already posted about this.
D :)
Paolo Antony,
Good words.
But I think we should be looking also all of the club as to why this season is so bad?
Celtic supporters pay for this club, are this club. Yet to all intents and purposes are treated as consumers and more than that, as ones who aren’t kept well informed, just expected to pony up and answer the call for more money, when needed.
A call to circle the wagons is all very good if everyone inside the circle has the same purpose.
This is not aimed at you but is something to bear in mind; if you lie down with dogs you get up with fleas.
Also, we don’t get extra money for the 10, but there is extra money in charging your own supporters extra to see a new club (NOT a Newco) masquerading as a dead club.
My friends in Celtic,
Many of us have seen the ” leaked” letter doing the rounds on social media ‘re Rafa Benitez.
Obsessed huns having a wind up ?
But seriously why not.
Rafa went to China for circa a 2 year stint, same as BR. Both were never relocating indefinitely.
Rafa went to a 9 year old club with no serious history. He went for the adventure, the challenge and of course the lucrative renumeration.
China despite its best efforts is not a serious football player. They still rank a lowly 76th position in world football. ( Scotland are in 48th place )
Dalian Pro were not and are not a big footballing name.
We can offer a challenge, greatness, European football, the most passionate fans in the land, fantastic stadium, potentially fantastic training facilities, 1hr from London and our location containing some of the most breathtaking scenery on our doorstep.
If we lose 15k ST’s it equates to circa £9 M GBP.
If we lose more than that, then the maths is relatively simple.
So I say again, why not ?
We should never underestimate ourselves.
HH.
Benitez? Never in a million years. Even talking about it is giving the huns a laugh.
DAVID66 on 24TH JANUARY 2021 8:10 AM
Thanks for the heads up, sounds like a fascinating guy. Will check it out.
DAVID66 on 24TH JANUARY 2021 8:10 AM
I saw that yesterday. Wow.
How have I never heard of this legend, and to think he was buried in a paupers grave in London.
Great that he has now been recognised accordingly.
HH.
GREENPINATA on 24TH JANUARY 2021 8:56 AM
Agreed. I think Rafa’s stock is still pretty high and could probably land a decent job in England, Spain or Italy but I don’t think there’s any harm in asking the question.
Why not, a manager of the stature of Benitez. ?
If we set the bar low, we will get low.
Guys I would love Rafa.
I just dont think it will happen.
That’s the calibre of manager I would be going after if I were the CEO.
D :)
The Jack Ross interview with BBC Sport Scotland ,Kenny McIntyre another hun employed down Pacific Quay way,sucks up to the Huns everyday ,but Michael Stewart was having none of him when Defending Jim Traynor,talk about Celtic having a clear out ,that place is full of Huns ,even that Kaye Adams was making snyde remarks about Lennon,I still try to figure out what they actually do and get well paid to,usual thing likely Huns looking after Huns .
Timbhoy2
BRITISH Broadcasting Corporation.
The clue is in the name!
🤷🏼♂️🙏
The huns are in heaven
“We want him to stay for as long as possible because we feel he is still the right man for the job.” Leigh Griffiths talking of Neil Lennon.
Huh ! Yet another professional footballer who, in spite of working with lennon on an almost daily business,shows that he does not know as much as many CQNers.
SFTB
Thanks for the informative reply last night and sorry to hear about your loss. Sounds like he was a fine fella.
HOT SMOKED on 24TH JANUARY 2021 9:40 AM
He must have difficulty working out the points gap between us and Sevco, have forgotten about the humiliation in Europe and the League Cup and his own lack of professionalism this season, aye right Griff…..
Re Rafa … Yes please would he consider it I think he might .
The problem here is wages now he is not a poor man I think. But he has a market value. From what we are led to believe approx £5 million for EPL or top euro team .
I can’t think for a minute. We can or would be willing to match that plus I think he would want some kind of decent budget over a couple of windows .
Plus a backroom team etc. For me it’s great to dream we could dream of a guy like that but let’s be realistic the money involved. Makes it a no ….. Now had we invested our huge income over the last 10 years better maybe this would have been in reach in an effort to become a champions League regular !
If Benitez comes to fruition (and I can just see him working with Lawwell) it’ll be wonderful. However, until he is officially paraded I consider the Spaniard about as realistic as me nailing Euromillions, or someone appearing at the Salmond enquiry and providing truthful and straightforward evidence. It’s the Ross/Kennedy/Neil market for us in my view. We shall see.
Yeah he would sell a few season tickets…
https://videocelts.com/2021/01/blogs/latest-news/the-substance-behind-the-mirrors-benitez-to-celtic-story/