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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Belter of a goal from North Macedonia. On course for the playoffs.
Just hearing Bertie Auld has died. Shocked.
Yes Tom just seen that RIP Bertie
Oh dear !!!
Who to believe?
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no way
Bertie Auld RIP 🙏 💔
May God bless Bertie and look after him.
RIP wee mhan.
D :)
TOM MCLAUGHLIN
That is sad news, indeed. It was reported on here recently that he had been ill. Bertie was an irrepressible character, with tremendous courage, and a phenomenal amount of skill. I remember a game against Milan at Celtic Park where the Italian defenders stood off him every time he got the ball, according him maximum respect.
Celtic Legend Bertie Auld RIP
If reports are true then a sad day indeed.
dreadful news. RIP Bertie. Prayers for his family are being said.
RIP Bertie
Rest in Peace Bertie Auld.
God bless your Celticness.
So many memories
For those who loved and cared for Bertie .
Prayers offered at this sad time.
Rest in peace
HH
Many on here will have heard this story, some directly from Bertie’s own lips.
He was recounting a verbal exchange he had with referee Tiny Wharton, a well known mason with Dallas like proclivities.
Bertie: “Mr. Wharton, if I called you a bar steward, would you send me off?”
Tiny: “Of course. That would be verbal abuse of a match official.”
Bertie: “But if I just thought you were a bastard, would you send me off?”
Tiny: “Of course not. You can’t be penalized for thinking something.”
Bertie: “O.K. then. I think you’re a bastard!”
R.I.P Bertie Auld
Always had time to spend with the fans,a sad loss.
Sad news about Bertie. What a player and what a man. Total leader, legend and larger than life character.
INIQUITOUSIV
I was a wee boy when he signed for Celtic the second time. First saw him at Hampden v Queen’s Park in Glasgow Cup. I was at front of North Enclosure and Bertie was playing right in front of me. I thought he was absolute class as I had never seen anyone play like that in my few years watching Celtic.
I got to know him years later when he owned his pub in Hamilton and hosted our CSC parties twice when we won the League and Cup double in our centenary year.
An absolute gentleman and a great Celt.
Bertie Auld truly was a great Celt.
R.I.P. Bertie Celtic legend, maryhill man, great joker and great man .
TOM MCLAUGHLIN
Hi Tom, where was the pub, and what was it’s name? I seem to remember one night in a haze of bacardi and purple hearts, going into a pub with an aproned Bertie behind the bar. But I thought it was south of Hamilton, Stonehouse maybe? Or north of Blackwood/Kirkmuirhill?
The word “legend” is bandied about a lot but in Bertie Auld we have lost a true one. RIP Bertie, God bless and thanks for the memories.
BBC reporting Scotland, not a word about Bertie.
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RIP Bertie ,, his pub was the Buccaneer in Hamilton
HMV
BBC
“A lot of people won’t have a clue what Michael Beale does on the training pitch, but what he does is really quite special.”
Was this EVER mention when Gerrard was being fawened over by the MSSM ?
RIP Bertie,
Such sad news, thank you for the wonderful memories.
HH
Dan
Very sad , you were my favourite Celt.
R.I.P Bertie Auld
Totally distraught R.I.P Bertie Auld
RIP Bertie. A hard fighting man. And a great football player.
Met Bertie out and about a couple of months back. He gave generously of his time and was still sharp, funny and engaging even though he was fighting through the fog of dementia.
It’s hard to believe a man as large as him has stopped talking and joking far less stopped altogether
He will live forever in the memories of many
Bertie’s skill and toughness was essential to the Lions. I watched the Feyenoord game last year for the first time since 1970. To my mind Bertie was one of the few to do himself justice that day.
He never got the credit he deserved as a player but he was never doubted as a giant of a human being
He will be sorely sorely missed
Nearly everyone has a bertie story,
Mines,
now and again, especially if playing somewhere in glasgow I would go straight to the game and not go home for the bus.
Not being a drinker at the time, I would often go into Bairds, to “read the walls”, get a coke, just watch in awe at bertie and willie young serving a packed out bar, often serving another of the lions, or some other ex’s.
A few times Bertie would say “and for you son ?”
Coke please Mr Auld. I was playing this morning and working tomorrow
och you can call me bertie, we are all the same here.
Few weeks later same routine. Then the next time the same.
Then a change in tact , sees me coming , a coke for the wee man.
A coke for the wee barra, A coke for the legend.
Then the punchline ………………. “hes stil underaged ”
I must have been 24 by then.
https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/resources/images/9265888/?type=responsive-gallery
My friends in Celtic,
Change is inevitable. How we attend football will change. It would be prudent to plan now and our custodians should be aligned to this.
Let’s use the AGM to highlight our woeful transport situation attending Celtic Park.
Currenly in GCC’S plans are moves to curtail vehicles and parking in the cities boundaries.
However there is a new metro service and new bus corridors being considered. Our custodians must make noise that Celtic Park will be in the equation.
HH.
Awful news about Bertie passing away. As brilliant off the pitch as he was on it.
There is good footage on YouTube of John Hartson along with some of Charlie and the Bhoys at Bertie’s home having a sing song with him.
Thank you Bertie for entertaining us so much .
Very sad news..RIP Bertie…A true legend…
Such sad news about Bertie. Few ex players will experience such warmth from their support as he did.
My thoughts are with his family and friends
A Real Celtic Legend
May you Rest In Eternal Peace Bertie
🙏🙏🙏💚💚💚
RIP Bertie.
Bertie was the beating heart and embodiment of our club.
Very sad news.