We all needed to get Tuesday night out of our system, but we must also put the result behind us and not allow it to bleed into the rest of the campaign. Every game is important in the coming weeks, even the home cup-tie against Dunfermline, which in different circumstances would be viewed as an opportunity to exercise the squad.
Dunfermline, presumably AIK Stockholm, Hearts, AIK and Newco await. We cannot afford to wallow in permanent introspective. We need to get our act together and get on with it.
Five days ago, I was feeling good about the start to the season. We had scored 12 goals in two league games, last season we scored seven in seven. For all Neil made mistakes on Tuesday, he is not plotting behind our backs. The manager, players and board will feel this as much as we do. If things go against us in the coming weeks, you will know how alone we are.
Time to circle the wagons.
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Go Tell- Woodman went to Swansea or similar last week
Like all other Celtic supporters, I was gutted / wide awake all night into wed morning after That result, we all know major blunders were made, but as a regular – (not uber!) – supporter, the pain from the defeat on Tuesday night is definitely equalled by viewing the amount of so called Celtic supporters lining up on here to gleefully kick lumps out of all and sundry at Celtic park. I’ve got to assume that not all of them are Celtic fans cause if they are, we are in bigger trouble than we thought. Some of them have got to be Glory Hunters surely? Anyway, as Kevin used to say – aff oot.
AIK score
1-0 to AIK – goal down CalMac’s side 😱
Let’s state facts first…before I get onto lawell.
Brendan was a rat..it is clear he was plotting to leave from at the latest last summer.
He then tried to take all our football structure at a crucial time of the season without one thought for us.
He cost us millions on boysta Gordon and jozo. If we had signed mcginn Christie would have been punted by rodgerz…lucky escape..though I would have both of them.
Lee congerton was a Diddy..oh for John park.
Now what this says is ..no manager EVER be given total control and hire and fire his own staff.
Now onto lawell..this was known a year ago..and what did he do in this year..
nOTHING.
That is why he should be sacked…see Harry Brady on Celtic underground.
This is the culmination of lies and distortions be for 10 years. Can’t spend on January…have to wait till summer..no onE will join us until after we have CL football my. No spending…rinse and repeat…what about having more than a one year view especially with 50illion in the bank…like buy decent enough replacements for people who are to be sold 1 year in advance of sale.
I am scunneref.
Finally love Neil BUT Tuesdays lineup and tactics and bloody everything were criminal.
If he can’t learn ….
Where is neganon be when you need him
Sorry bloody phone corrections
And appearing at the next board meeting is…….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TssmEdbW-WA
Aurorab… probably away
Aurorab…
Where can I see dividends as not a shareholder ?
Genuine question
HH
Anyone know ?
Still upset ..try to spread the true faith in Ireland and England and these totally self imposed f**” ups come along and set us back…
In other transfer news Celtic sign Call of Duty egamer on a 1 year contract.
Can he play left back or in goals?
The fact that some people on here are willing to call it as they see it regarding the present state of affairs surrounding our club does not make us “bedwetters, Mineshafters” or “glory hunters” . If any Celtic supporter seriously thinks our club is in safe hands and that we have the best manager in place then we are seriously in trouble. Having a love or a passion for somebody or something means that sometimes you have to call it like it is. It’s pathetic that others would see that as “hunnish”, wake up before it’s too late.
Onenightinlisbon- correct.
!!BADA BING!! on 15TH AUGUST 2019 7:36 PM
Fed up with the backbiting and the garbage about waiting until one bad result happens and they all come out. Celtic are in severe danger of not realising the dream of most us, ten in a row. How much do you think that Lawwell actually cares about that?
Calling it like it is is not a hunnish thing to do, sitting back and doing nothing whilst your club is poorly run most certainly is.
I think all the games between now and up to Newco at Ibrox will determine whether Lennon stays. His entire team selection, in-game substitutions, and overall tactics were appalling and I do feel that his performance in this Cluj defeat is a sackable offense. It was totally inexcusable. Also, we need to see how the players respond between now and Rangers because he needs to regain some respect from the squad, so let’s see how they respond. Lawell is cleary guilty of lot, but he is not the main target of blame here and that’s not a defence of the man. Lawell dosesn’t pick the team and tactics on match-days so sadly Lennon and his management team are take the lions share of the blame for this exit. There is also an international break after Rangers match, so that does give the board the chance to evaluate things if we lose to them. I just hope we can bolster the full back positions and get a bit more back-up in midfield, qualify for the Europa Groups and then move on from this and put it down to a temporary dose of the vapoirs.
From CelticGossip
I see lawells favourite blogger is playing the everyone is against us card. That nonsense does not work anymore. Celtic fans are not sheep to be led by a corporate sheperd. We will support the team with all our might but won’t be silent if the board are failing. HH
ESPIRITODECELT
Don’t mention losing to Sevco. A hunnish thing to do………………
AIK 1-1 ,86 Minutes
TIMALOY29
It rests on Neil Lennon’s shoulders but he was appointed by the board. No other coaches were considered. If he fails the board will shoulder the blame.
===============================================
And the board will resign, shout at each other, give themselves a pay rise, blame Lennon, blame somebody else or circle the wagons?
Or do f*** all?
I know what my money is on.
Some things never change.
LAWELL OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Faithful through and through 😉
It is amazing hoe one defeat can shatter all the confidence & feel good factors of the last 3 years,
There was not a collective melt down last Tuesday. The bulk of the team played well & gave it everything, Scored 3 goals & created plenty of others, even at 3 all Griff had a great chance to be the hero, not sure if his plan was to round keeper or what bit any flick either side of keeper and it was in.
3 things cost us the tie, For me Lenny was the main culprit, set the team up wrong , make the wrong substitutions & throwing Bayo on a few minutes after Griff was mind blowing I was wondering who the hell apart from Bain was going to get the ball into the box. Their 4th goal was irrelevant, we didn’t have a coherent team on the pitch at that stage. Brooney just had a very poor game as did Bain & that was it.
I still have confidence in the team, my belief in Lenny has taken a bit of a battering OK but we have a good squad, and I believe we will come good in the next few days.
Lenny is a real Celtic man and he will be hurting as much as anyone of us, I can’t wait for the fitbaw to start again, the only salve for our wounds is a winning Celtic Team playing Football The Glasgow Celtic Way, Saturday in itself won’t heal us but it is still a game we have to win but the next run of games will either kill or cure us.
Sorry if posted already not been on here all day.
Four Celtic men paint an extremely worrying picture about the way our club is being run
By EDITOR 15 August, 2019
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FOUR articles by four Celtic men have appeared either last night or this morning and if you take the time to read them, then consider the collective insight that they provide then you really should be concerned about the way Celtic is currently being run.
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Who are these four? There’s an ex-player, who unlike some defends Celtic continually in the media both in Scotland and on a Uk wide basis.
Then there’s that rare bread, a Celtic man in the mainstream media, a journalist who worked at Celtic in his early days as a scribe and is regarded as having an informed view of what is happening on the inside at Celtic Park. When he suggests we are interested in a player, there’s usually something in the story.
Next there’s a Celtic podcaster and long established blogger who is part of the original group of Celtic fans media – from the first wave when the internet really kicked off – who actually interviewed Chief Executive Peter Lawwell on his podcast last summer, the last time he spoke to the fans directly through The Celtic fans media. In the controversy last summer involving Lawwell and Rodgers this blogger was very much seen to have been in the CEO’s camp.
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And then there’s the author and film maker who is perhaps the biggest anti-establishment rebel among this group and has shown remarkable courage over the years in shining a light on the wider corruption within the Scottish game and their roots – that stuff is for another day. He talks about Celtic from the heart.
THE CELTIC LEGEND
So where will we start? Let’s kick off with what Chris Sutton has being saying in his newspaper column today. The former Celtic striker points out the six mistakes that Celtic made against Cluj on Tuesday night that saw Neil Lennon’s side exit the Champions League – see HERE.
Playing Callum McGregor at left back was a HUGE mistake and was one that John Kennedy, who saw what happened from the touchline at Ibrox on 29 December when Rodgers made the same error, should NOT have allowed to have happened again. More on John Kennedy to come.
Sutton points out that Celtic have spent £12million this summer on three defenders – Hatem Abd Elhamed, Bolingoli and Christopher Jullien – yet only one played. He asks why? He didn’t say though that of the three, the one who played was Lennon’s signing. The other two? Recommended to Lawwell by Shaun Maloney – in the case of the Belgian and a John Kennedy contact recommended the central defender from Toulouse.
Sutton also highlights the weakness in the goalkeeping position and urges Celtic to now look towards bringing Fraser Forster back to the club. Last week there was a chance to bring Victor Wanyama in on loan but these two former Celts, used to Premier League wages, are unlikely to be paid the going rate by Celtic, despite what they could bring to the team.
Sutton points the figure at his mate Neil Lennon, who he has defended robustly these past six months. He also highlights the poor showing from captain Scott Brown. What he doesn’t do in enough details is consider WHY this all happened. Others do though.
Let’s move onto The Celtic man in the media…
stephen.mcgowan
@mcgowan_stephen
Celtic’s Champions League exit was an accident waiting to happen.https://mol.im/a/7358201 via @MailSport
Celtic’s Champions League exit to was an accident waiting to happen
When it came to Celtic’s transfer strategy people used to know where they stood. Scouting chief John Park oversaw a scouting department charged with finding ’em cheap and selling ’em big.
dailymail.co.uk
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08:41 – 15 Aug 2019
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THE CELTIC MAN IN THE MEDIA
Stephen MacGowan writes about football at the Scottish Daily Mail and is widely regarded among our support as having a decent record on what he reports about Celtic. He is seen as having as having a better relationship with Celtic Chief Executive Peter Lawwell than the hacks on the red tops and has plenty of other contacts inside the club, from his time working there.
His Comment article today is titled “Strategy? What strategy? Celtic’s Champions League exit was an accident waiting to happen after poor recruitment under Brendan Rodgers and Peter Lawwell – the Europa League is now their level,” and he is devastatingly accurate in his analysis. You can read MacGowan’s article in full HERE.
The Daily Mail man early on in his piece mentions John Park, and the role that he played in bringing in players such as Ki Sung Yeung, Victor Wanyama, Virgil van Dijk, Fraser Forster and Moussa Dembele while recognising that there were less successful recruits from the pre-Brendan Rodgers strategy – MacGowan mentions Mo Bangura, Lassad, Miku and Amido Balde as examples of flop signings.
“One out, one in the wings was the way it went and Celtic still fancied their chances of reaching the Champions League. Once or twice they even made the last 16.
Lee Congerton
“Brendan Rodgers didn’t get much wrong as Parkhead boss. But a decision to dispense with John Park and replace him with Lee Congerton instead was a strategic disaster,” MacGowan wrote.
On 31 December Peter Lawwell received over £2million in a bonus payment on the back of the job that Rodgers had done in transforming the club in his first season from the wreckage left over from Ronny Deila – a guy who came to Glasgow for an interview for the Assistant Manager’s job and was given the top job by Lawwell. Steve Clarke was knocked back for the top-job at the same time.
With that money banked, Lawwell knew that he’d be losing Rodgers and that would mean there would be no place for Lee Congerton (more on him to come). And when Rodgers left in February, rather than get Congerton out the door, Lawwell sat tight and waited on Rodgers coming back for his man (in May), thus paying some compensation. Celtic lost three months when there was NO RECRUITMENT planning happening at all.
“Within an hour of Rodgers going Peter Lawwell should have been on the phone to John Park with one hand while handing Congerton his severance cheque with the other.
“Instead Congerton remained a Parkhead employee until Leicester finally paid the money to release him on May 11. By then three months of valuable rebuilding time had been wasted chasing up the recommendations of a head of recruitment who had no intention of hanging around,” MacGowan stated.
Eventually Lawwell did bring someone in, Nicky Hammond the former West Brom Chief Scout (who recommended the £15million purchase of Oil Burke from RB Leipzig) arrived on a short term summer job and found a complete and utter shambles left by the useless Congerton. The summer’s almost over, Celtic are out of the Champions League and it would be harsh to judge what kind of job Hammond has done since arriving at the start of July.
THE FILM MAKER AND BLOGGER
Paul Larkin has written a thought-provoking opinion piece this morning on his own site – http://www.thefrontofthebus.com after watching what he describes as the most “surreal game I’ve seen at Celtic Park since the Partizan Belgrade game 30 years ago.” A reference point I made on The Celtic Star while writing on the supporter’s bus, sitting in the bus park behind the Jock Stein stand on Tuesday night – see HERE. You’ll notice that, like MacGowan the ‘Accident waiting to happen” was also referenced.
Paul Larkin hit the nail on the head here.
“What worries me most is a performance like this has been coming. Bolingoli has failed to convince so far and Julien looked like he had a sack of tatties on his back on Saturday at Fir Park. It’s very early but it’s clear the manager, who didn’t sign either, doesn’t trust either. Add in that Scott Bain has been wobbling for months now, you have to wonder what exactly is the recruitment process at Celtic. Bolingoli was recommended by Shaun Maloney whereas Julien was recommended to John Kennedy. Anyone within the club will tell you that, since Brendan Rodgers left, Kennedy’s power and say has increased immensely.”
On Neil Lennon role in all of this Larkin added:
“What of the manager? I made no bones about it at the time that whilst I love the guy, I did not want him back. The timing of his announcement was amateur hour and designed to eek out the news at a time when most of us were ordering another treble.”
And on the CEO Peter Lawwell:
“As for the top of the club, I’ve pretty much said all I need to throughout the years. The debate around Peter Lawwell has become more entrenched than the Brexit debate and the only thing that seems consistent around it for me is whenever I criticise him on Twitter, accounts appear slagging me personally and it gets ridiculous.”
That certainly does seem to be the way of things when you dare to criticise Lawwell.
“Despite winning the last nine trophies, I think the club has been adrift since at least the time Brendan Rodgers walked out (Something that, to this day, the fans blame him entirely for and, whilst he’s not blameless, I’m positive fans will realise there is a lot more to that story in due course) and there is, as usual, no long-term plan. Our scouting network is an absolute shambles, our temporary director of football has made little positive impact and we have gone back to the pre-Rodgers days of non-football men having a huge say on who we sign.”
THE PODCASTER AND BLOGGER
Harry Brady was the Podcaster that Peter Lawwell went to to speak directly to the supporters after the Double Treble season. It’s actually worthwhile going back and listening to that, see above.
Last summer Harry found himself in hot water on social media after suggesting that Celtic should sack Brendan Rodgers. He explained at the time that he was joking with that reply to a tweet but the damage was done for many. He talks about this again in his latest article on Celtic Underground, published last night – see HERE.
It would be fair to say, in an uncontroversial way, that Harry favoured Lawwell rather than Rodgers in whatever argument was raging behind the scenes at Celtic last summer, and it is also fair to assume that during that summer he was as close as anyone in the support to The Celtic CEO.
Just accept those points then read Harry’s article from last night, which is titled You Reap what you Sow. He opens by giving his take on last summer and that’s a good starting point for what was to follow.
He gives an insight into the Lawwell v Rodgers dispute and gives examples of how decisions were taken that cost Celtic huge sums of money though rejecting big money bids for Boyata, Simunovic and Gordon.
He talks about the two men agreeing on how to work together before the inevitable departure, you might think this is satisfactory or a foolish way to run a club. You decide. But it is clear that there was one area where Celtic were suffering and that was in the player recruitment department.
“One of the key people in Brendan’s team and a key appointment when he took over Celtic was Lee Congerton as Head of Recruitment. Celtic’s previous scouting strategy was put to one side when Lee was brought in,” Harry wrote.
“By last summer however, the doubts that had been raised at the time of Congerton’s appointment due to his track record was now evident in some of the poor signings that had been made. Moreover, the quality of his scouting information was poor. One of the key aspects of the head of recruitment is not just to identify potential signings, but to identify potential signings that are affordable and within the budget of the club.
“As part of their dossier presented to the recruitment team, the scouting reports should identify the details of the current contract, including existing wage, any buy-out clauses, or any other special clauses in the contract. They should also accurately reflect the players expected salary at any new club and what fee would secure his sale. Congerton wasn’t capable of doing any of this,” The Celtic Underground man added.
“We knew Lee Congerton would follow Brendan Rogers out of the door. We could have tried to pay off his contract at that point, but instead we waited for the inevitable knock on the door from Leicester and the request for him to accompany Brendan.
“But this didn’t happen until the summer, by which point transfer dealings were already ongoing. This meant that for 12 months we had a head of recruitment that we did not trust and we knew would be leaving with the manager. Our scouting strategy was therefore non-existent, with him either identifying inappropriate targets or no targets at all. We approached this Champions League campaign with key players leaving and no scouted replacements.”
John Park
Perhaps it is worth adding one final point to this story. A few weekends ago Niall J wrote an article titled ‘Lawwell simply can’t let go’ – Why Celtic don’t have a Director of Football like John Park, on The Celtic Star arguing out that John Park should be brought back to Celtic as Director of Football but that this wasn’t going to happen because Peter Lawwell, an Accountant by profession, would be unwilling to give up his iron fist control of the football department.
Another Celtic blogger, not mentioned in this article, was so impressed by Niall’s article that he sent it on to John Park. He responded by saying it was a remarkably accurate assessment of the situation.
When you read all of this you really wonder what the hell is happening at our club. You start to see why the crazy team selection happened the other night and why we dumped ourselves out of Europe and you have to question the way Peter Lawwell is running Celtic.
Is it time for change?
If you would like to express your thoughts on how Celtic is currently being run then please email editor@thecelticstar.co.uk and we will be happy to publish your thoughts, regardless of which side of the debate you are at. You can also join in the conversation on The Celtic Noise forum where these subjects are being discussed. Signing up is quick and easy and all Celtic Supporters are welcome.
AIK through
ONENIGHTINLISBON
Sorry, but Lennon’s performance has brought this pressure on himself. The end of my post is hopeful in that if Lennon can get some quality full backs in and stabilise the back 4 then I feel we will get a result at Necwo Land, but these next few games are now critical for Lennon’s second tenure at Celtic not because of the Cluj result, but because of his extraordinarily appalling contribution to our defeat. However, stabilise the back 4 and I do think Lennon can get throught this.
Corkcelt – agree with what you say but there was a complete failure to manage a challenge we’ve seen many times before – it was a gamechanger
bada
If only my research included things outside of the Timternet.
Henrick
By most reasonable business standards, the Board has been failing for years. They lost maybe 40 million quid, by (to be charitable), not being aware of what was going on around them.
That 40 million quid does not show up on the P&L because it didn’t come to our account, but that doesnt make it any less ours, or the theft of it any less real. It was no less of a theft than if the zombies had stormed Celtic Park ripped up the pitch and stole all the seats.
But, our Board has said and done next to nothing about that. Why? I can only think that either they were in on it (at some point… they say it is often not the crime, but the coverup that gets you), or they are trying to sweep evidence of their gross incompetence under the rug.
So, why get so upset over this game? We lost to a better team…. it happens. On paper, we should beat them (given the respective values of the squads)… but games aren’t won on paper. And we know (because this aint the first time) that while we tend to match up against British teams (hence, a creditable draw with Man City), we dont match up as well against more technical continental teams)….
but, we lost a game (and the money that goes with it, I get that … but we have lost lots of money before… and will continue to do so )….
so, why, after 7 years of relative silence on the cheating, are we now getting so upset about some incompetence?
I know which I think is genuinely worth getting upset about. And if you deal with the cheating, I think the competency issue will likely improve.
Utility player
Dons 1 down.
There’s a surprise.
dry yir eys greetin faces, wouldbt want you torn moaners in my team, collapse at first challenge and limp aff.
boo hoo.
something else to be proud off.
————–
The Shamrock Magazine ☘️
@TheShamrock1888
9h9 hours ago
Great to see Celtic welcome Gil Heron’s grandchildren to Glasgow this week.
Gil met his future wife Margaret in Scotland while at Celtic and she moved to the States to marry him. Is Margaret in this photo with Gil and his teammates?
@Melissa_Heron, @HeronChe, @MarionC67365685
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ECAMPCAWwAA12EU.jpg:large
ROCK TREE BHOY im with anyone who can improve my team, whom ive supported for 50 years, the current celtic board don’t come close,.hope you are well.hh.
Sarajevo and Nomme Kalju fall at first hurdle. Morelos scores for Newco.
Imagine please –
You are at the next bored meeting
You have been a board member for a while
You love Celtic
You commit many hours to it
You are aware it’s a helluva responsibility
You have seen the trends of late
You are very pleased with recent performances of the club
You are not an outspoken member of the bored
You take your role seriously, a privilege even, but always contribute in a slow, considered manner
You get the chance to blame lennie for the clujup
What do you do ?
Blame or say nothing?
CORKCELT-it’s not just one defeat though is it?Its Groundhog Day
We’ve all got used to defeats over the years.. indeed It’s how we reacted in adversity that defined us.
This was not just another defeat, this was virtually negligence on so many fronts.
Yep….didnt think so..
ESPIRITODECELT on 15TH AUGUST 2019 7:53 PM
My reply was tongue in cheek but one that some on this blog was actually level at you.
I totally agree with your statement.
MIKE IN TORONTO on 15TH AUGUST 2019 7:58 PM
By most reasonable business standards, the Board has been failing for years.
Interested to know what standards you are using to judge the performance of the business
http://www.hesgoal.com/news/51391/Aberdeen_vs_Rijeka.html
If anyone wants to see how bad McKenna and Co are….HT 0-2