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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Glasstwothirdsfull
To the English clubs you mention you could add Brentford and Reading.
GLASSTWOTHIRDSFULL on 22ND JANUARY 2021 2:10 PM
Norwich can go to Europe and appoint a high quality coach.
He came from Dortmund reserves, his previous job to that was coaching in the fourth tier of the German leagues.
CQN would go up in flames if we appointed someone similar
NOTTHEBUS on 22ND JANUARY 2021 12:51 PM
A doze of much needed realism Paul
The clamber to sack Neil is deafening, the suggestions on what’s next are no where to be seen.CELTIC40ME on 22ND JANUARY 2021 12:48 PM
100% spot-on analysis of the situation
If the overhaul that’s being called for is needed then it would be stupidity of the highest order to rush to appoint the wrong manager now.
Don’t compound our errors.
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Cracking parody .
Well done, you had me going there.
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JAMES FORREST on 22ND JANUARY 2021 2:04 PM
Spot on.
Today’s article is worse that P67’s December piece that told us all that Neil had to remain in place to oversee the January transfer window.
We’re all being insulted by this garbage.
God help Celtic – is there no-one with vision who can act swiftly?
Hi Ghuys, Salve salve ;- Oh there certainly will be a complete overhaul but not in the way you think, I refer you to my post yesterday at 4 :17 PM., you are welcome. <<)
Greenwells
Ut avertam oculos meos ad intendum.
Its got be red herring article
Half of Norwich’s last 6 managers have been Scottish
I don’t think we should be following their example
This approach suggests that perhaps DD is readying for a sale of his shareholding. This would explain the do nothing now re board and management. There is no other reasonable explanation other that actively aspiring to do harm to the club
HH
Slabhoy
there you have it, they don’t have a Scooby , kick the can further down the road and hope for the best , a complete and utter shambles.
Oh Eddie….it was good while it lasted, ya handsome beast ?
Got any mates you know, who might fancy a wee ‘sleeping European giant’ challenge?
HH
P67 — you are not even hiding it anymore.
Everything comes from PL and you just print it.
The sewer not the sewage.
The part missing is our efforts to improve the squad this month.
We are not even trying anymore — can we fall any lower?
CQN – Churnalist Quick News
P67 — if you write it then the opposite must be true.
The only question on this is — do you actually believe it or do you knowingly pass on PL propaganda?
The January window deals were floated on here Benkovic and Roberts they did not get a good reception so were ditched, all just my opinions though.
BARRYBHOY on 22ND JANUARY 2021 1:51 PM
Saying Celtic would preclude any manager that is out of work just now is madness. Brendan Rodgers was out of work when we got him. There are lots of brilliant managers not working just now that would massively improve Celtic if we had to show the ambition to go for them. Admittedly a lot of them might not want to come but why would we automatically rule out the likes of Lucien Favre, Ralph Rangnick, Eddie Howe, Ernesto Valverde, Thomas Tuchel, Leonardo Jardim, Marco Silva etc.
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Absolutely – 100% agree. It is a completely and utterly nonsensical position to adopt.
If true – reeks of blinkered stupidity.
HH
BGFC
So the spin is,nobody wants the Celtic job,out of all the unemployed managers and coaches out there,absolute pish.And our No 1 target…’he was always our No 1 target…’ is still at Hibs or Preston? Ask yourself, why is the Celtic job,never open for applications?
Some real revisionist nonsense.. Ronny D…. Ffs… A man way way way out of his depth… A man whose fav player was a total imposter… Johanson…. No wonder players revolted….. A man who had to be begged by Collins to play Tierney….. A man who thought cifti was a player!… Jeezo
MADMITCH on 22ND JANUARY 2021 2:30 PM
The part missing is our efforts to improve the squad this month.
We are not even trying anymore — can we fall any lower?
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Yep, we can remove Champions League football 2021/22 from the proposition for the new incoming manager.
how the hell was this allowed to happen this season of all seasons , we are a laughing stock , will somebody pick up all cards lying on the floor.
Spot the difference:
Groucho Marx – “…What is also clear is that Celtic are not happy to appoint any manager who is prepared to come to the club right now…”
Celtic Board – “…I wouldn’t want to belong to a club that would have me as a member…”
HH
BGFC
And the January Review, is there is no January Review? Just pish drip fed to compliant blogs,and McGowan at the Mail,I wonder how the ‘full transparency ‘ of Beaton’s cheating at Ibrox last year is coming on? More shite for the malcontents…
oh and by the way has that imposter of a centre back returned to where he came from.
CELTIC40ME
The same way most of us reacted in May19
When Neil Lennon was appointed
The first rule of the January Review is: You do not talk about the January Review.
The second rule of the January Review is: You do not talk about the January Review.
Notthebus – Me.
D :)
Vinniethedog @ 2.37
I think you’re being more than a bit unfair on Ronny. He gave Tierney his chance and gave Calmac his first extended run in the first team. Both of them have acknowledged that. Johansen was our player of the season in his first season (ahead of Van Dyk). Yes, Cifti was a mistake, but Armstrong wasn’t. Other Celtic managers have bought numerous players as bad as the Turk.
Bada Bing:
I just stopped and re-read your comment twice as it has struck a chord
“Ask yourself, why is the Celtic job never open for applications”
The only logical answer is that the board and CEO prefer a hand picked compliant manager to proven high achievers who will rock the boat in their pursuit of excellence.
There are currently three unemployed Italian managers, probably just below the elite level – Allegri, Ranieri, Sarri – are we to believe none of these will even talk to Celtic FC ? Or that a manager who was relegated with Bournemouth FC (stadium capacity 11,000) would dismiss us out of hand ?
Mutually consent NL, throw the process open, take the time as the season is gone anyway and select the best man. But they wont, for the precise reasons you correctly implied.
TJ
Custodians of the club my arse
We’re a busted flush, I fold
PAUL67 said
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.
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Sell Lennoxtown, close academy, under 18’s and sack the coaches, close upper stands.
For a start.
If that isn’t the plan where is the money comimg from to do anything else?
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’.
– I don’t believe that and I have my doubts as to whether the author does either. If it were true he wouldn’t have been so quick to throw the players under the bus in post match comments to deflect from his own failings. Celtic have had an awful season but CQNs has been worse.
TJ- exactly that,bring on the next puppet
I read the article again, so we are downsizing from Neil Lennon? They better keep the seat covers,that are there just now.
!!BADA BING!! on 22ND JANUARY 2021 2:40 PM
And the January Review, is there is no January Review? Just pish drip fed to compliant blogs,and McGowan at the Mail,I wonder how the ‘full transparency ‘ of Beaton’s cheating at Ibrox last year is coming on? More shite for the malcontents…
This from Bada is bang on, the support are being treated with contempt.
Peter didn’t like the reaction to his apology so isn’t going to give a January review, he’s just leaking it to people he chooses to. Is that correct?
I know we are in the main,an older clientele on this site, for those of you on Twitter, try reading the comments on there, below Paul!’s article, they are almost exclusively scathing and for those who think J.F is a bit strong in his criticism, you will realise, that compared to many others, James is rather mild in his criticism.
Hibs and Aberdeen will finish above us this season
JNP- a very large % of ST Holders I know, are finished
Succession? That’s a laugh.
We have “succeeded” in doing nothing but plummeting from pre-eminence to risible ignominy and allowed our only serious challenge to lap us.There is no Plan B even though it has been needed for at least 6 months. When the GASL left Sevco he said that just one title loss for Celtic would see all the wheels come off. How depressingly prophetic.