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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GLASSTWOTHIRDSFULL @ 12:30
Errr, only around seven months after the (alleged) China offer and the McGinn fiasco. And ten months after the big cheese said he would let him speak to Arsenal (even though they hadn’t even requested to!). .
——
That seven months deduction would take us to August 2018, barely two months since the Gerrard appointment at Ibrox.
I have said before that when Gerrard arrived on the scene, Brendan would have told his people “find me a way out”. There was no way he was putting his reputation & CV on the line in a two-horse race in Scotland against a rookie whom he had recently coached – it was essential to negotiate a move as a current winner, and leave as a guaranteed winner mid-season – the title was not wrapped-up.
It was a smart move by King, aided & abetted by those with influence at Liverpool who knew both ‘actors’ very very well. Kenny Dalglish(spokesman) dressed it up as “Celtic will benefit from a bigger challenge from a stronger Rangers”
Gerrard has done exactly the same but with a different trigger. He seen standards dropping, with no money available & a new regime at Celtic threatening to challenge. He expressed his discomfort & made a few critical remarks about finance, then jumped at the first suitable offer….early season whilst a guaranteed winner.
Leicester & Villa were extremely opportune vacancies. Would BR & SG have looked quite so attractive at the end of an unsuccessful season, had the timings bern different?
Preston Pans Bhoy
Envious CSC
TONTINE
So true about keeping your body and mind going after retirement. I retrired 9 and half years ago. I took 6 months ‘off’ just to laze about and go on holidays. Then I took a job as kitchen porter/assistant in a nearby posh pub with rooms and restaurant. Am at work with at least 10 others from chefs to waiters so have lots of banter to supplement actual work.
Quality in January please!
Watching the game without sound . Canny stand listening to those two wallopers any longer .
blah blah blah
are scotland about to hibs it.
Scotland never do anything the easy way.
Great save from Gordon. For a superb reaction save keeper, his penalty save record is very poor, so that was a pleasant surprise.
of all the crazy FOOTBALL decisions made at celtic park last year, letting Craig Gordon walk away for want of an extra year on his contract was the most baffling.
cracker save first half, great penalty save now.
barring injury he will be playing for years yet.
SAINT STIVS
“of all the crazy FOOTBALL decisions made at celtic park last year, letting Craig Gordon walk away for want of an extra year on his contract was the most baffling.”
Saint, It comes from having a cheapskate bean counting accountant taking football based decisions.
Very strange.
I thought Craig Gordon would save that. And he did.
I was never confident about Craig saving penalties for us.
Did letting him go cost us the 10 ?
Turnbull on.
well done Alba
Big Craig saving a penalty?…. I don’t think he ever saved one with us.
A poor goalie
Fair old Celtica – Caledonia representation in the winning team tonight.
Only the play-offs but well done Scotland!
AndWeNearlySignedJohnMcGinnCSC
Craig Gordon saved a penalty against us in a very important Champions League Qualifier away from home. Fantastic Goalkeeper for us.
just in case anybody’s short of chillaxing suggestions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlqB13iJu2o
Gordon won his first silverware with Celtic after they defeated Dundee United 2–0 in the Scottish League Cup Final on 15 March 2015.[104] He kept a clean sheet in every round of the competition,[105] which included playing in the first Old Firm game for three years.[106] According to The Scotsman in March 2015, Gordon was attracting the attention of Chelsea.[107][108] He made his 50th Celtic appearance in a 2–1 league win at Dundee on 22 April 2015.[98] A day after shutting out Dundee in a 5–0 home win,[109] Celtic were declared league champions after an Aberdeen defeat at Dundee United on 2 May 2015.[110] It was his first league title as a player. Gordon played 52 times and kept 28 clean sheets in his first season at Celtic.[98][105] Gordon was voted Player of the Year by the Scottish Football Writers’ Association, and was selected in the PFA Scotland Premiership Team of the Year.
2015–16
For the 2015–16 season, Gordon was assigned the number 1 shirt to wear replacing the number 26 shirt he was handed when he had signed.[118] In July 2015, Gordon signed a new contract with Celtic until 2018.[119][120] His first match of season 2015–16 was the 2–0 UEFA Champions League second qualifying round first leg win at home to Stjarnan on 15 July 2015.[121] Celtic progressed 6–1 on aggregate.[122] The 1–0 win against Qarabağ, in the third qualifying round first leg at home, was his 30th clean sheet in 55 appearances for Celtic.[123] Celtic advanced 1–0 on aggregate.[124] Gordon also started the league campaign with consecutive clean sheets against Ross County and Partick Thistle.[125] However, Gordon’s form at this time was generally poorer than the previous season, in part due to Celtic struggling to find a settled defensive line-up following the departures of centre-halves Virgil van Dijk and Jason Denayer.[126][127]
2016–17
Gordon saved a penalty, in a 2–0 second leg defeat at Hapoel Be’er Sheva in the UEFA Champions League play-off round, with Celtic progressing to the group stage after a three-year absence 5–4 on aggregate.[128] He made his first ever appearance in the UEFA Champions League group stage, in a 3–3 home draw with Manchester City on 28 September 2016.[129][130]
Gordon won his second League Cup with the club without conceding a goal in the competition (just like in 2014–15), after Celtic beat Aberdeen 3–0 in the final, as the club won its 100 major trophy on 28 November 2016.[131] He kept a clean-sheet in a 1–0 home win against St Johnstone on 25 January 2017, a result which meant that Celtic equalled a 50-years-old club record 26 match unbeaten start to a domestic season (a record set by the Lisbon Lions in 1966–67).[132][133] Gordon shut-out his former club Hearts four days later, in a 4–0 home win, as Celtic broke the Lisbon Lions unbeaten record.[134][135]
Premier League club Chelsea made an approach for Gordon during the January 2017 transfer window,[136] which Celtic rejected. In March 2017, Gordon signed a contract with Celtic that is due to run until 2020.[137] Gordon again shut-out Hearts, in a 5–0 victory at Tynecastle on 2 April 2017, with the club officially clinching the Scottish Premiership title for the sixth successive season in record time with eight matches remaining. The team also broke a 100-years-old club record for an unbeaten start to a domestic season (36 matches in-a-row in 1916–17), with this win being their 37th domestic match unbeaten.[138]
Gordon was also in goal for Celtic in the 5–1 league win at Rangers on 29 April 2017, which was the club’s biggest victory at Ibrox since 1897 (4–0 in 1897).[139] On 21 May 2017, he kept a clean-sheet in a 2–0 home win over Hearts in the final league match of the season, a result which meant Celtic completed a full 38 match league season without losing a match, becoming first team to go an entire Scottish league season without a defeat since season 1898–99.[140] He also won the Scottish Cup, after he played in the 2–1 final win against Aberdeen on 27 May 2017, which saw the club complete the domestic treble and finish a full 47 match domestic season without losing a match.[141][142]
Celtic topped the list for the most shut-outs in the SPFL with 19 clean sheets and held the joint best record with Hibernian for goals conceded in the SPFL with 25.[143][144][142]
he is shite.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1459139447786807309
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FD_zT34XMAEnjCd?format=jpg&name=small
Prestonpanbhoy – Congratulations. Enjoy your retirement to the full. I’m closing in on mine and can’t wait.
the huns are in liquidation in all but name
Feb 14th 2.0 looms again
We should have a guess a date with profits to charity
365 days
10 bucks a day is £3650
1st place £500
2nd place £200
3rd place £100
£2850 to charity and we all get to laugh at them again
GREENPINTA @ 6:47
Craig Gordon
Did letting him go cost us the 10 ?
—–
I don’t believe, on its own, it did, and I would imagine neither do you. Your question,in some form, will have been considered by many with the Forster avenue closed off & the Barkas situation turning out to be almost unbelievable.
So many things that happened last season astounded us – not holding on to a keeper who had never let us down during our long success is a particularly baffling one.
Fat Charlie.
https://thecelticbhoys.com/2021/11/12/charlie-adam-surprising-celtic-admission/
Hickey?
https://thecelticstar.com/celtic-in-for-aaron-hickey-once-again/
Big Victor is Still Game !!!
https://thecelticbhoys.com/2021/11/12/wanyama-confirms-plans-celtic-admission/
While it would be foolish to say anything but Patterson played well, both the BBC and SKY are going overboard about him. The BBC are claiming that Clarke was full of praise for him, on SKY, omitting to mention that Clarke was reluctantly replying to the SKY commentator saying how well Patterson had played. They’re obviously trying to have him transferred to Villa for a huge fee……..
Koeman for Ibrox?
https://www.caughtoffside.com/2021/11/12/ronald-koeman-set-for-swift-return-to-management-as-rangers-consider-dutchman/
Fact
@Fact
· 6h
Being sarcastic on a regular basis can add up to 3 yrs to your life. Sarcasm is extremely healthy for the mind.
JHB
Do you think that Gerrard might have been unhappy at being misled about the teddie bears financial position?
All that talk from the experts of being debt free and then the bloodbath of the recent accounts?
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FD_sh4NXoBIYeVe?format=jpg&name=small
wtf he is thinking.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1459071712000196640
Koeman now.
Gattuso – last job Napoli
Lampard – Chelsea
Koeman – Barcelona
Last manager – Liverpool U18s
The transformation under Gerrard has been remarkable (that’s 5 minutes extra on my life)