Brendan Rodgers resigned in February 2019, a day before a crucial league game at Tynecastle and four days before a Scottish Cup quarterfinal at Easter Road. Celtic had around 24 hours’ notice that he could be moving, that was crucial in planning how to cope with two visits to Edinburgh that could have seen us out of a cup for the first time in almost three years and facing a crisis in the league.
I know there are a lot of raw memories from last season, but Neil Lennon stepped up big time then, and in the months that followed Rodgers’ departure, taking the next available five domestic trophies.
Neil wanted the job permanently, Celtic only wanted him on an interim basis, so they agreed that he would take the job until the end of the season on condition he was considered for the permanent role.
I spoke to ‘sources close to Celtic’ when those events were unfolding. It is fair to say that in late February 2019, few at Celtic expected Neil Lennon to get the gig come the end of the season. Having appointed footballing and commercial success in Rodgers, they hoped to be able to snag an equally qualified candidate.
What became evident over the three months that followed, is that Rodgers was an exception to the rule – he came because he was an actual Celtic fan, he moved on because he was also a football man, and that’s what 99% of the games’ heroes do, folks. There would be no box office manager this time.
Appetite for another over-achieving young European, like Ronny, was low. The spectre of the most intense person to walk the earth (from Cork) lurked, as ever. There were candidates who took small English clubs for a brief moment into the sun that is the Premier League, but none had managed a club of our size, with our challenges and expectation to win.
Unlike the deliberations in 2016, when Rodgers was appointed, no one felt hopeful at the direction of travel the recruitment process was going. No one at Celtic would ever say, “We ended up with Neil”, but it’s how I viewed it.
Despite how Eddie Howe is viewed in the rear view mirror, 99% of us were delighted at the prospect of him taking over in the summer, I wrote, “the best English manager in the game” at the time. When we return to the market after Howe’s rejection, it was roulette time. There was no indication Ange Postecoglou would be more successful than Ronny Deila or Neil Lennon, but as in February 2019, a second ‘Rodgers-type’ appointment was not going to happen.
Five months in, I cannot believe how well Ange has done. We are on a path I have faith in, recruiting talented players who excite and are within our budget. The crucial difference between Ange and Pedro Caixinha, who before coming to Glasgow took his club to the CONCACAF Champions League Final, is hard to spot.
They were both roulette wheel appointments, sometimes the ball lands on your number, more often it doesn’t. On the positive side, you get to spin the wheel, maybe there’s a Pep 2008 waiting for you, but that transition from Rodgers to Lennon, seven consecutive trophies to five consecutive trophies, was one for the ages. Replacing an entire management team midseason is a business interruption even an Ulster medical testing lab cannot whitewash.
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Saint Stivs on 14th November 2021 12:51 pm
I had forgotten this , Rue Bobby Sands is the address of Kappa and present inside the Villa kit. , how ironic.
…………………………………………………………………………………………
BOBBY SANDS, BOBBY SANDS name is Everwhere.
God Bless the Legend.
oops I did it again.
EVERYWHERE.
Will you Stand……………………
Anyone else notice that when things go bad for der hun that historical alleged failures from us which divide our support appear without fail?
DAVID66 on 13TH NOVEMBER 2021 7:29 AM
Up early as me and the bhoy are off clay pigeon shooting. Never done it before so I am looking forward to it.
*************************
Hope you’re well mate, Just can’t get my head round a couple of guys blasting pigeons wi a shotgun on Royston Road. 🤔😂😂😂
IRISH Men will set the McGhee.
Hard
Core
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them…
Sir hunner of pence,cheating and corruption memories.we will never forget
The shiting out of the corrupt symbol in Scotland of a corrupt union.its final act of self harm,the 9 minutes.14/6/12.
Her majesties RC ended the corruption of the symbol of the corrupt union,little wonder the amount of expenditure on the revenue expertise declines as the rich stash away offshore.
At the going down of the hun.
We will not be redacted,revised or edited.
It happened
And is a factual example of how a corrupt symbol of the corrupt union in Scotland,runs like an acid river through all levels of Society in Scotland.not being malicious there.
For huns for the rest of time there identity defined(ecated) .
Beauty is Sir Hunner of Pence sourced/originated their ending.tax avoiding cheat.
Anything after 14.6.12 is open corruption
Look at the cost to society -,liquidation,-the ongoing courts malicious- ‘geordies cut’and the fantasy that whatever is operating out of ibrox accounts since 2013- they owe what exactly? Who is deferred payment to ? Wonder how long will it before confetti wars.
Handy little chatel to the union
HH
AN TEARMANN on 14TH NOVEMBER 2021 1:32 PM
The huns only came unstuck when UK wide institutions got involved (City of London Police, Halifax Bank, HMRC).
Without that involvement things would have been very different.
Shrewd observation
https://twitter.com/secrettory12/status/1459790801333108739?t=e1LjmAopHv02JuAtfn6TMw&s=19
HH
What a cross….Ralston doing well but he’s got the quality to make a lot of goals from the right
Most professional football clubs carry out negotiations in private.
In other news, I see bbc reporting positive talks were held with GVB and that other managers are also holding discussions.
Many could conclude they are desperate for positive spin and are keen to control the post stevie g narrative
Tony’s Club and his agent will be well pleased he has been called into the squad, that’s put a few thousand onto any transfer fee in the future, and is a great bargaining tool for his next contract in 2024! :)) por cierto.
TAL – Dont knock it till you have tried it :)
It was all good fun 7 of us went down to a farm in Moscow near Darvel….I know.
1st time doing it and would do it again.
D :)
ERNIE LYNCH on 14TH NOVEMBER 2021 2:07 PM
AN TEARMANN on 14TH NOVEMBER 2021 1:32 PM
The huns only came unstuck when UK wide institutions got involved (City of London Police, Halifax Bank, HMRC).
Without that involvement things would have been very different.
=====================
We will differ here Ernie.it happened.
No part of governance come out of it at all well
Her majesties RCs were in the know with Sir Hunners dos since 1999 for eg.they were in know a little earlier
The banking side of it known since then too.
Bit niave to think a good set of unionists sorted it after mismanaged by bad unionist when it was the timing of event and the corruption was enabled by entitled attitude of individual unionists with clubs or banks to run.
Its the same symbol of union hunning debt
What ever way Ernie
They are a corrupt symbol of the union in Scotland
and through its civil(law) and banking system it is all berthed in union corruption.
Good to see a light being shone on Boris corruption
by all.
https://twitter.com/GoodLawProject/status/1459797249173696513?t=2XV1t9xcCZIDB-LihuYNAw&s=19
HH
Guyfawkes- Thanks for letting us know about the Spoon cafe a social enterprise in the Merchant city.
Myself and Mrs David66 will certainly be paying a visit and spend some cash with a worthwhile cause.
On a personal note I run a Social Enterprise in the North of the City and we won the prestigious SURF award for Scotland in 2012 after being formed in 2010. An award that myself and our parent company are very proud of, we have went from 10 employees to 90 today.
Again we will certainly be paying a visit to Spoon cafe. Social enterprises have a big part to play in our communities.
HH
D :)
SAINT STIVS on 14TH NOVEMBER 2021 12:51 PM
I had forgotten this , Rue Bobby Sands is the address of Kappa and present inside the Villa kit. , how ironic.
———
Saint Stivs – I also see that Castore are being touted at Villa to take over from Kappa. Now has Mr Slippy invested in Castore and if so is he making deals on their behalf when moving around clubs….surely there is some legal issue here if correct.
D :)
MARTIM1980 on 14TH NOVEMBER 2021 1:06 PM
Anyone else notice that when things go bad for der hun that historical alleged failures from us which divide our support appear without fail?
Not without accident.
Its intentional.
Let’s not mention an identity split in 2 and ongoing corruption since an unlicensed club managed to put the ba in the hedge.
Ah well we have the rest of time for that.
-Hoping all Celts come back injury free
-Looking forward to semi v st johnstone
-Tony gets into national squad
-agm coming up
– Asian windae open
-jan window to come
Plenty Celtic goin on
HH
To Tony Ralston:
(He’s one of our own)
“Be not afraid to leave the past behind
There is new light and new life
There are new worlds waiting”
some amount of guff on shortie just now with Tom WestBrit and Banjo Miller.
GVH brings a football philosophy that matches Rangers Identity (whit ugly and bitter, twisted and illigitemate)
Opertunity to bring his own trusted staff as its all been cleared out, (who are they)
Sgee will possible come back in for some of the best players.
blah blah shite shitey blah.
Lulu on TV shouting “we arra peepel” & Billy Connolly extolling the virtues of the OO bands in his latest book – wit chance huv we goat?
Juranovic playing well in Croatia’s critical all or nothing qualifier with Russia. 0-0 after 68 minutes, which suits the Russkies. The match, played in torrential rain, has deteriorated into farcical conditions underfoot.
The football philosophy that matches Rangers Identity is of course ‘win at all costs and under any circumstances” – it’s an anagram of ‘Aye Ready’.
bloody log in does my head in.
at least shortie are highlighting they need £7.5m to keep the lights on.
Lulu on her “who do you think you are” found out her granny was disowned by her orange grand master brigton maw, she doesnt really understand we arra people.
i think billy is being a bit sardonic, making it irrwverant.
Jura subbed for attacking player with 15 to go. But at least he does not look injured.
Russia score own goal due to underfoot conditions. Croats going mental.
Croatia through. Juranovic bound for Qatar. Manager weeping after release of enormous tension.
Russia would be a very tough playoff opponent, but I guess there are no easy ones.
Took another look at the Croatia goal. As the cross comes in, one of the Croats shoves a Russian in the back. No VAR, and the Croats get away with it. Lucky boys, although they were the vastly superior team throughout.
stupid me for some daft reason assumed the WC Playoffs would be a home and away affair for the 12 temas with 6 going through. Which I was hopeful if Scotland was seeded they had a fair chance of qualification ……..
Howeva *who used to say that ?)
Howeva
IT IS ONLY 3 QUALIFICATION PLACES.
————
10 runners up, plus 2 qualified from previous Nations tournament.
Split into 3 groups of 4. 2 seeded , 2 not (i dont know if that means you get a home game if seeded)
there will be 2 one off ties, effectively a semi final.
2 teams progress to the final, again dont know if you get a home game or not.
3 group winners progress to the final.
does that make sense ?
The Marksman – Liam Neeson versus the cartel: watchable sunday hokum
HOW THE PLAYOFFS WORK
The 10 runners-up from the groups are joined by the best two UEFA Nations League group winners not to have finished in the top two of their qualifying group.
We now know that Austria and whoever misses out on the top two from Group E between Czech Republic and Wales will qualify via the Nations League.
The playoffs, to be played in March 2022, will be seeded by qualifying points, with the two UEFA Nations League teams unseeded. The draw takes place on Friday, Nov. 26.
Seeded teams will be drawn at home against unseeded teams, to play one-legged semifinals.
SEEDED:
UNSEEDED: Austria
POT TBC: Czech Republic, Russia, Scotland, Wales
The finals will see the winners of SF1 play SF2, SF3 vs. SF4 and SF5 vs. SF6. There will be a draw to determine the home team in each final path.
SAINT STIVS
What business do you have making sense on this site?😊
that did make me laugh bud, ha.
got a sore heid trying to work out what they were talking about.
The other play off contenders will be Portugal or Serbia, Spain or Sweden, Italy or Switzerland, Finland or Ukraine, Netherlands, or Norway or Turkey, Poland, and North Macedonia or Romania.
Will GVH be a deferred wage?
HH
Billy Connolly was in a film, or one of those, “Just Another Saturday” length BBC docu/play thingys, I can’t remember the name of it, anyway BC was part of a team of robbers robbing a safe from a bank in Glasgow I think, and to ‘blow’ the safe would’ve attracted attention as the underground bank had a street up above it with a very big sivver (sighver) drain opening directly above the safe, so BC started throwing a BC type of expletive littered tantrum….
“WE’RE F*CKED!!”….”AWE F*CK NAWE!!”….”WHO THE F*CK PUT A SIVVER ABOVE A SAFE FFS!!!”…etc etc??
Then BC’s face lit up,….”OH F*CKKKK YESSSS!!!”…”YA F*CKEN DANCERRR!!!”….as the OO floot bawn could be heard in the distance making their way towards the the sivver.
So, BC said, “When these b*stards (pointing upwards) reach the sivver, blow that b*stard (pointing to the safe).”
As the OO floot bawn got nearer, and louder, BC started dancing in a circle banging an imaginary big drum, and shouting, “GOD BLESS KING BILLY!!!”….BC started roaring with laughter as played humming “the sash” as he continued to play the imaginary big drum as the OO floot bawn crossed the sivver, BC shouting,
“AH F*CKEN LOVE YEEZ,…..YA ORANGE B*STARDS, HAHAHAHA,…..YA F*CKEN BEAUTY!!!”
That’s all I remember of the BC thingy, as I was flicking through the channels, and stumbled on this, it was a rerr terr.
hh ✌
SAINT STIVS on 14TH NOVEMBER 2021 4:17 PM
Whoever thought that one up had only one objective…..money💰💶💴💵💷
SAINT STIVS
Also, teams finishing in play-off spot in a 6-nation group have their points against the bottom team discarded for the purposes of seeding.
Scotland beat Moldova twice, so their current points total is reduced to 14. We could do with taking something from the Danes.