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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Funny old world
6 trophies out of 6 in the two seasons after we didn’t sign him yet it’s still seen as a disaster of epic proportions
Like everyone else I’d have liked to have seen him at Celtic park, but you do wonder if the real significance of him not signing to our success has been overplayed in the rush to justify a particular narrative. The £40m move never materialized and he seems to have found his level at Villa who look like they’re in a relegation battle this season.
Meanwhile, penalties aside, Ivan Toney has one goal in 11 games in the EPL
John McGinn this is
Like I said, I’d have liked to have him at Celtic. He seems like a good guy
i think johns next move will be a top 6 team elite in epl.
he is at that level.
There’s a pretty strong argument that Villa only got into the prem because of Grealish and stayed there because of him
They were well out of the running for promotion while he was injured, once he came back they put together a run that got them up
Now he’s gone they look a very ordinary team. A lot of that is down to the players they bought with the money from his sake not settling, and injuries and loss of form, but they do look like the team they were without Grealish in the championship
SAINT STIVS on 13TH NOVEMBER 2021 9:26 PM
I would honestly like to see him doing well, but I think that’s a bit of a stretch. The top 4 teams are full of the best these days, and the next level down aren’t far off it.
CELTIC40ME on 13TH NOVEMBER 2021 9:34 PM
——
Villa have a very average squad. Gerrard will need to consolidate quickly and then spend big. Everton have spent £500/600m and got nowhere after appointing Ancelotti and Benitez. There really are no guarantees. Gerrard is being hailed as the messiah but its delusional nonsense, He’s more than likely to flop. Rodgers has done well with LCFC but he is a far superior manager than Gerrard. Gerrard is a bad start away from being unemployed by March.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/56298826
“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.”
Listen to that nonsense. Quite special to the extent it delivered 1 trophy in 9 and horsed out by Malmo. Honestly!
SAINT STIVS on 13TH NOVEMBER 2021 9:26 PM
i think johns next move will be a top 6 team elite in epl.
he is at that level.
——–
The feeling in Johns camp is that his big move needs to happen next summer or its probably not going to happen.
CELTIC40ME @ 9:23 PM,
You say it best, when you say nothing at all…
BR “that’s private”
https://fb.watch/9fSIy4nM-w/
Hail Hail
It is a funny old world.
Celtic accounts run to June.
In June 2018 we had a turnover of more than 100,000,000.00 and over 40,000,000.00 in the bank.
We would not pay 4m for a player we desperately needed, the manager desperately wanted and who desperately wanted to come.
Hail Hail
SPIKEYBHOY? Anybody heard of this name.
SB posts on a Celtic supporters site.
SB called Rangers fans “Huns” and a Scottish Tory MP grassed him in.
SB also let it slip his mind that as he’s an MP, he forgot to declare his expenses, his name is O’Hara.
Maybe sumdy on here might know who he is?
AGP (@AgentP22) Tweeted:
Looks like it’s not only Douglas Ross who broke the rules by forgetting to declare his finances in the Westminster Register of Interests…
https://t.co/BGMz1LTWME https://twitter.com/AgentP22/status/1459494970713325570?s=20
Hah! 😉
Exactly !!!
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FEFNIcDXwAYK0G_?format=jpg&name=small
CHAIRBHOY on 13TH NOVEMBER 2021 9:58 PM
It didn’t take long :))
Would you say that a team who went on to win two trebles in the next 2 seasons were desperately in need of him?
It’s slightly rich of Rodgers to be talking about ceilings in Europe, you could just as easily say it’s his problem not Celtics. He hasn’t done better than the last 32 in the Europa League with Liverpool and Leicester with far bigger budgets. They’re struggling badly this season again, 5 points from 4 games 3rd behind Legia Warsaw.
He’s never taken a team beyond the last 32 in the Europa League
CHAIRBHOY @ 9:58
We would not pay 4m for a player we desperately needed, the manager desperately wanted and who desperately wanted to come.
—–
You set the context and ask a very important question, because John McGinn would have been a great signing for Celtic.
On the face of it there appears to be no plausible answers, unless of course there was no conspiracy, no ducking & diving, or, prevarication from Celtic and no playing funny bu***rs by Hibs.
Supposing John was promised guaranteed first-team football at £X×2 salary at Villa, as opposed to being an important member of the first-team squad at £X salary at Celtic? Throw in the EPL as opposed to the SPFL & I think the guy was made an offer he couldn’t refuse – as simple as that, and everything else was just noise. People with differing agendas selected which particular frequency in that noise suited them, filtered it out, and ran with it.
We did well without John Mcginn and he did well without us
Hardly 2008 levels of of damage
DAVID17 on 13TH NOVEMBER 2021 9:42 PM
I don’t know much about Villa this season but I’d imagine they’d have too much when everyone’s fit and settled to stay up. 4th from bottom shouldn’t be too hard and we’ve seen the leeway he gets because of his name so he’ll get a pass until next season I reckon
It will be interesting to see how JMcG progresses under him. He should become a much better player, it’ll be a good test of Gerrard’s management skills
CELTIC40ME @ 10:26 PM,
Yes, we did desperately need him, the team that does not keep on improving stagnates and goes backwards.
As a defensive midfield, BR wasn’t over impressed with Bitton, Scott was passed his best and needed to be replaced and Callum has been a makeshift defensive midfielder so long we’ve forgotten it’s not his best position(s).
So yes, we did desperately need him, you may have forgotten our 2018 campaign but it was certainly at least a level below what happened before.
As far as BR and Europe goes you can certainly say it seems to be his achiles heel to a certain extent. But it’s relative, he’s always hit above his weight domestically.
However that interview was in August 2018, we had done well in the UCL qualifiers under Brendan but struggled in the group stages.
We’d come up against Barcelona, Man City, Borussia Monchengladbach – then PSG, Bayern Munich and Anderlecht.
The only team we managed to beat was Anderlecht.
In that transfer window BR had asked for four players, a right back, a centre half, a centre midfield and a striker.
He got Odsonne.
So rare as it is, it was a ligit and honest question with a ligit and honest answer – to suggest that the third place finish in the UCL we had achieved could be our ceiling, especially as the manager wasn’t getting the players he stated he needed.
But he said all they could do was ttheir very very best with the resources that they had. That was the resources the football team had. Obviously with the PLC siting on 40 million we could have done a lot better.
BTW: I know there are those on CQN who struggle with that body language thing so let me translate that clip…
Chris McL: Are your ambitions been matched by those tasked with bringing in the players you need?
BR: I wouldn’t answer that Chris, that’s something that’s private.
Translation:
Chris McL: Are your ambitions been matched by those tasked with bringing in the players you need?
BR: No!!
Hail Hail
A well deserved call up to the Scotland squad for Anthony Ralston. This comes nothing after his new contract announcement.
His progress under Ange is nothing short if amazing.
I’m delighted for the bhoy, and to think he could’ve been on the scrapheap.
HH.
Mad predictive text strikes again. And I’m stone cold sober..
Thread pulled on FF detailing a racially motivated attack on a mother with two year old girl whom had picked a toy at the shrine to Walter Smith and carried it away with her. The “Rangers” supporter apparently attacked the child and ripped the toy from her arms.
Some posters saying they were uncomfortable with the actions of the monster slaughtered for being too racially sensitive and the two year old needed to be taught a lesson.
JHB @ 10:37 PM,
To be frank the John McGinn non-transfer has been done to death on CQN, like the BR, stuff.
I only jump in when some gallus Bhoy chances his arm regurgitating the discredited Lawwellisms.
Hibs wanted three million for John McGinn and Peter Lawwell wouldn’t pay it.
Brendan Rodgers just said pay the money (he is a 30 million pound player now), Lenny (then Hibs manager) had expected him to go to Celtic.
Celtic’s strategy had actually been presented in a CQN lead, Hibs either caves and takes the 2 million Celtic offered or we save money by waiting until January and getting John on a pre-contract.
Hail Hail
GREENPINATA @ 11:08 PM,
Great news, well done Anthony, well deserved, he should get a start.
Hail Hail
CHAIRBHOY on 13TH NOVEMBER 2021 11:06 PM
I’m not sure how to say this in a different way, but how much more can Celtic win than the treble? I know we got a bit spoilt winning everything in sight but winning everything in sight, twice, doesnt really suggest a team in desperate need of John McGinn.
Rodgers is a manager for domestic competition, and a very good one. An outstanding one for Celtic. But not Europe, the results over a decent period say everything. There’s no sign of change this season.
Not signing McGinn didn’t cost us progress in Europe
JHB on 13TH NOVEMBER 2021 10:37 PM
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
As I recall, Paul 67 produced an article on here with a headline, I can’t remember exact wording, round about the time of the John McGinn window, were it was outlined that Celtic’s recruitment plan for JM, was to not play into Hibs hands and pay over the odds to Hibs, as Celtic would get JM for free in the next January window, and the arrogant tone of that blog, almost caused a nuclear disaster on the pages of this blog.
hh ✌
CHAIRBHOY on 13TH NOVEMBER 2021 11:29 PM
JHB @ 10:37 PM,
To be frank the John McGinn non-transfer has been done to death on CQN, like the BR, stuff.
You are a one
SIONNAIGH on 13TH NOVEMBER 2021 11:15 PM
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Deary me !!!
hh ✌
Petec ✌ 💚
Hibs,or rather their Masonic chairman,doubled the asking price for Mc Ginn to 4 million,not 3 million..At the time not another bid received by Hibs.You do not go to an auction and bid against yourself.At the time most Celtic fans were of the opinion,tell Petrie to fek off.You can try and change the history to suit your agenda,but the truth is out there.
The same Petrie let Mc Ginn go down to Villa without a fee being mentioned,then accepted Villas offer of less than 3 million.
No football manager who wants to progress and enhance his reputation would ever be explicit and/or directly critical regarding private negotiations with owners, CEOs or board members.
It would be all over the media and other clubs would shy away from ever employing a blabbermouth – pariah comes to mind.
Brendan Rodgers was not squeezed, or, forced, out of Celtic Park. Brendan chose his departure date carefully based on what was best for his career and kon intelligence brought to him by his agent & advisors of possible openings in the managerial marketplace. It was all inevitable even if Celtic had offered to empty their bank account for him.
He probably left three-months earlier than originally ‘pencilled-in’ because it completely suited him and his entourage. The Celtic project died when the Leicester one appeared. Gerrard’s move is almost a carbon-copy.
Just to add – the closer nature of this season’s title-race is why Lampard won’t come right now – such upheaval then to be possibly accused of undoing all of Gerrards good work & be labelled a failure within six months. Which EPL, or, Championship club would be knocking on his door after that?
CELTIC40ME @ 11:34 PM,
Not signing McGinn, along with a right back and a centre half did cost us Europe in my opinion.
Remember the amount of players we had at the World Cup that summer?
Fast decisive action on the transfer plan would have made a huge difference to our European qualifying preparations.
Still!?
Why are we even having this debate?
We had it at the time – fair dos.
But the just good enough strategy has been shown to be an appalling failure. It left us as a shadow of our former selves in the summer loosing the ten in a row and a huge rebuild needed.
Your argument in my opinion had little cred then, though many had come under the austerity spell so that’s understandable.
What’s not understandable is still defending it and making excuses when we have crashed and burned so tragically.
You’ve were here last season, I saw you:)))
Hail Hail
CELTIC40ME
The problem is with Rodgers, Lenny and Ange we don’t have players who can defend especially the midfield.
If some people ‘know’ what goes on in the boardrooms of football clubs and what comes out of the mouth of managers & CEOs – then they must be employing Glenn Mulclaire and a good section of the now defunct News Of The World News Desk.
How different would life have been if we’d signed McGinn?
You could argue that we would have been more likely to win the ten if he’d been here, but I don’t think any single player could have made enough of a difference last season. And who knows what would have happened in the previous two years.
You could argue that not signing him hastened the departure of Brendan Rodgers, but for how much longer would he have stayed and what more would we have won if he did? A treble in the full season after he left and a good showing in the Europa ending in the usual exit at the first knockout stage is pretty much par for Rodgers. He might have stayed for last season but it’s pretty doubtful the signing or not of McGinn would have had a big bearing on that.
What time can’t argue is that it made any difference to the trophies we won in the next two years
There also some good evidence that it wouldnt have improved our chances in Europe
I’m repeating myself now. I think. I forget sometimes :)
JOE ORDINARY on 13TH NOVEMBER 2021 11:38 PM
————————————————–
Not content with one thread being pulled they started another. General consensus was the lynching was just deserves for a Romani mother and child that had taken a toy from the shrine. The fact that the little girl looked about two years of age mattered not a jot. That thread pulled too.
CHAIRBHOY on 13TH NOVEMBER 2021 11:51 PM
CELTIC40ME @ 11:34 PM,
“Not signing McGinn, along with a right back and a centre half did cost us Europe in my opinion.”
How do you square that with record at Leicester?
He signed the right back for Leicester he wanted at Celtic and they still went out at the last 32
He signed Tielemans at Leicester for over 30m, an excellent central midfielder who’s going to end up at a top European club in the summer and they still went out at the last 32
It doesnt matter who he signs or who’s in his team, he can’t get beyond the last 32 of the Europa League.
This season looks like it’s more of the same
CELTIC40ME @ 11:59 PM,
Thats the point, it’s not a single player, it’s dozens of players in important positions over the piece.
Not getting a right back, not getting the centre half, not getting McGinn, selling Dembele, not getting Toney, letting Lustig, Jonny Hayes, Craig Gordon go.
The hundreds of prospects we didn’t need, ask yourself that, why were we spending money on players we weren’t playing and wouldn’t spend on John McGinn.
Dom and Ange did better in a couple of months than Lawwell has done in years.
Players the quality of John McGinn make a difference, replacing him with Mulumbu just doesn’t cut it. As always with PL too little too late.
Apart from his salary and bonus.
And remember, we had just sold one of our best midfield players, Stuart Armstrong went to Southampton for seven million. He needed to be replaced pronto.
Hail Hail
David17, just read that boak induced article about beale. They love tae trot out how he was AM at São Paulo but fail tae mention he only spent 6 months there then went crawling back tae Melwood and was given the under 23 coaching position.
Like slippy and the glorified nipper he was on his way out before the “genius” that was clarence once more hawked the family silver tae bring them up the road so that he could get his gene tunney that bader sloped him for back.
So the question is why did he leave Brazil where he had a good lifestyle, lived in a high class area where he was even offered a maid for depressing merseyside.
Revisionism 101 at play there.
CELTIC40ME @ 12:14 PM,
As someone pointed out t’uther day you are very good at asking questions and insisting on answers but less so when it comes to answering.
I’ve got no idea what Leicester City are doing or what that has to do with our discussion.
On Timothy Castagne, we were after him later in the December, we could have got him for 8m but PL screwed up the deal, he is now a 30 million pound right back, sound familiar.
So let me ask you a question…
It’s June 2018
You’ve just sold one of your key midfield men to the EPL
Hibs want to sell John McGinn as he’s in the last year of his contract.
John McGinn wants to come to Celtic
The Celtic manager wants to buy John McGinn
He’s worth five million and you can get him for three.
Why wouldn’t you buy John McGinn?
Hail Hail