And so it’s Lenny. Let’s put some easy to apply context onto the decision, Jose Mourinho and Rafa Benitez were not about to pitch up in the east end of Glasgow, those names were placed in the pubic domain by those in the betting markets. Jose is pondering his next move, with a number of oil wells pumping away at his disposal. Should Rafa leave Newcastle, he has a mind-blowing deal on the table from a Chinese club, and that’s before he is on the market. There was not a candidate of Brendan’s calibre.
Salzburg manager, Marco Rose, ticked lots of boxes. Salzburg were scintillating against Celtic this season, but the whole of Europe knows about Rose, who will join ‘some German team’ in the summer.
We could have had David Wagner, two great seasons with Huddersfield before it all collapsed, but never having managed a club bigger than Huddersfield (or any other club), the risks were evident. How would he cope with the scrutiny and pressure to win every game, when he has not actually won anything? Before he joined Schalke, he was a possibility, but not a clear favourite.
We could have thrown the field open and gone for a Ronny Delia-type candidate, someone who has outperformed – and won things, in another European league. There is a time for this kind of appointment, but is that now?
This month saw new names on the market, like Chris Hughton. Hughton did for Brighton what Wagner did at Huddersfield. He was a worthy candidate but there were red flags among the green. Hughton spent £77m at Brighton this season (selling £12m of talent), but it was careless. £17m went to Alkmaar for Alireza Jahanbakhsh, but the player was given 90 minutes only four times. This is the kind of shabby recruitment that values Oliver Burke at £15m. It is as wrong for Celtic as it was for Brighton.
The major consideration, and why Neil got the job, is that Celtic have a major rebuilding exercise to undertake. They need to replace Lustig (whether he remains as backup or not), Boyata, Benkovic and Mousse Dembele. Despite the mainstays of central mid being under contract, this area of the team needs at least one significant recruit.
Not only do they need to spend money this summer, but they need a high success rate from the new arrivals. Signing the likes of Burke, Toljan and the legendary Compper would jeopardise the most precious of properties in football – a place in history.
Whatever you think of Brendan Rodgers, Celtic know very well the commercial impact a manager of his calibre brought to the club, but that level was not open this time. We could have repeated the Ronny Deila experiment from Europe, or picked up someone recently out of a job in England, but not at this time.
Everyone at Celtic knows that for the next 100 years, fans will look back at this period and ask one of two questions: What was it like to live through +10-in-a-row? Or, How did they not get 10-in-a-row?
We need to spend, what for Celtic, is a lot of money, perhaps more than ever. It needs to be spent well, with a lot more hits than misses. If we break our transfer record again this season, the player(s) needs to an outstanding success.
Whatever Neil’s strengths and flaws, one comment from Peter Lawwell immediately after the Cup Final gave insight into what the club seen in the manager, “he has a great eye for a player”. This appointment was not about stepping up when required, being a real Celtic man, or winning the league and Scottish Cup. This was about spending a lot of money to make sure we get nine and then 10-in-a-row.
Celtic believe Neil Lennon can spend your money effectively. That is why he is here. Buckle up.
252 Comments- Pages:
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corkcelt
Good shout! Was watching the highlights earlier, the header from Michael Lustig through to Odsonne was reminiscent of Big Billy himself. Caesar (the fans’ nickname not the players) is often best remembered for the the great goals he scored, Dunfermline 1965, Vojvodina 1967, Rangers 1969, but the fact is he headed the ball like that day in, day out, week in week out. Could head out wide left, wide right, or as Lustig did, straight ahead. And one of the best finishes in a Cup Final from Eduarde.
Wee Bobby,
Naw. Personally – its Scoddland, Hun Blazers, Hun Refs, Hun meeja, an impoverished league humped by huns till it’s unattractive to either players, managers, sponsors or much anything else…..and then there’s Neil – who already has had to put up with all of the above. I agree with the erudite posters who feel we probably wouldn’t have got anyone else – but I know we should have at least looked. My fear is they’ll destroy Neil.
HH.
Meanwhile, somewhere in cyberville……the…….. angrycelts.org………… Whatsappp group
are ANGRY and EMPHATIC!!!!!! FACT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I see Mr Lawwell gets his bus pass today. Well he got himself an early present on Saturday anyway.
See Johnjames is back, trying to backtrack from his Moyes got the job bit. Accusing Lenny of being pished, taking on Celtic supporters, jings he mourns about folk not offering donations, no wonder
WBC – I think the ‘furore’ was delayed shock from Br clearing off.
Why people so obsessed with net spend? If we have a big net spend that means we have failed to sell players for profit. If we have failed to sell players for profit that suggests the players have not preformed will enough ergo Celtic have not been good.
We have signed up and coming young players for years and we have benefit from that. we have promoted from within and benefit from that. Long may both continue. vvd, victor, Kt, dembele etc is what come from our recruitment.
We need a rightback, centreback and forward as priority. Lennon will likely sign a midfielder if a few of them go i.e. mulumbu, rogic, ntcham. I hope all signing show the same determination ajer, Kt and brown, lustig show. That would be good to see.
Next season we will engage team much higher up the pitch and the 1000 square passes per game will not be acceptable any longer. The more our forward players have the ball the more likely we are to score, simple.
Some may not like a more direct style, i am happy that we will see it mixed up a bit. We were to easy to players against last season and the season before. It felt that we were obsessed with holding the ball above all else, barca and man city can afford the players to do that, we cant.
HH
Burnley78 2 points
1 My main complaint is the lack of a recruitment process.
I see from your reply to One night in Lisbon as well as myself you appear to think answering a concern / question with repitition on a theme is sufficient I tend to disagree.
2 I remember the booing of Fergus thought it was a disgrace and have never booed any Celtic man, never even booed the Kelly’s just walked out. (Just to be clear).
finally caught up on the whole cup final tonight.
celtic were the better team from start to finish,
a cancelling out first half, spaces gaurded.
when home on saturday reading back on cqn i thought we had be outfought and pummeled.
usual shite,
we won, we deserved to win, we were the better team. we had the positive stats.
We’ll be less playable under lennie too. The SPFL took a 2 seasons to find out how to play against BR’s team and have been choking the life out of the team since helped by ‘injuries’ too.
A great read about Liverpool and their football analysts.
I would love to know how involved we are on this front.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/22/magazine/soccer-data-liverpool.html
P.S. I should probably change my blog name now
Evening all,
Heard a wee rumour today that we have signed Paddy for £4.9m with sell on clauses. Unsure of the source, but I know he’s desperate to return. Don’t shoot the messenger, but I pray it’s accurate. HH
On a lighter note, my girlfriend said to me “there is nothing wrong with having a small penis”. I just wish she didn’t have one. HH
Ta da!!
WEEFRATHETIM on 27TH MAY 2019 10:59 PM
We can’t sign him until June 1st
So we HAVE NOT SIGNED HIM
67ECW
Burnley78
Our board didn’t consider anyone else, so what’s point of making any suggestions on alternatives ?
My own view, would have been worth talking to Stevie Clarke, as an option, with Lenny ?
No point though – the board was not looking or considering any alternatives to Neil
A bigger question, will the board give Neil the full backing both he and us fans want ?
Oh – like your new Gin, where can we buy ?
???????????
WeefratheTim
Was just about to hit the sack,great to see you posting.
Hope this finds you in good spirits my friend,till we meet again Y.N.W.A.
Good night all and thank you for being here.
Iam NeilFrancisLennonCSC
Leftie
How the devil are you. Sooo looking forward to meeting up again at the corner. How’s the wee mhan, well I hope. HH
SB @ 9.59
Your analysis stinks — reverse logic of the worst kind.
If we invest in the squad — aka a net spend — then we improve the product on the pitch.
That should be our target not a growing surplus in the bank.
The focus of the club should be an improving product on the park.
Developing players, scouting players, improving players — what happens next is then down to them.
If they leave for bigger wages than we think they are worth or we can afford then so be it.
The main thing should be the performance on the park.
If we have to sell players to survive then the business model is wrong.
If we sell players to hoard cash in the bank then you have to ask why?
We are not a cash cow.
67ECW
Good point just what I heard. Cheers buddy. HH
WeefratheTim
The Bhoy is great,watched the game in Santa Ponza on Sat.
That’s him 9 now bud
Whaow, the last time I saw him he was a toddler, and that seemed like earlier this year.
You probably know about my health issues and my absence from CP. Hopefully over them now P. Our mutual friend Swindon CSC will keep you updated on my condition. Still call every week. I am well on the way to a full recovery after 8 months of hell. Smiling now kiddo and looking forward to the new season. Keep well “P” and we’ll meet soon. YNWA HH
Burnley78- good work on the PL stats. As a CEO he’s done an incredible job. Looking for faults comes from a deep sense of entitlement which ironically stems from what Peter has given us over the years.
Watched the celtictv pitch side video on YouTube. It’s great to see The players’ reactions From this angle. Urgency to get on with the game when we scored the first, professional time wasting to regroup after the second. Joys in the expressions and actions of Hayes, Ayer, Brown, Eddie and Lustig Lenny onnthe ground at final whistle. This is a team that is together who understand and behave like a team. This culture starts from the very top in every successful organization.
Typing on an iPhone on CQN is nearly impossible
WEEFRATHETIM on 27TH MAY 2019 11:02 PM
On a lighter note, my girlfriend said to me “there is nothing wrong with having a small penis”. I just wish she didn’t have one. HH
=========================
You’re a very naughty man :-))
Me and Wee BGFC chuckling away here :-)))))))))
HH
BGFC & Wee BGFC
TONYROME on 27TH MAY 2019 8:36 PM
………WEE BGFC also from ages ago stop posting a link to that song my old ticker can’t take it.
——————————————–
………….. :-))))))))))))))))
HH – Wee BGFC (ma Da likes it too)
So here we are again, once more brought together,
In this room of the lost, in this hall of mirrors,
Where nothing we see’s really like what it is,
What are we doing in a place like this?
We are now in the Lennon Era Part 2. The Rodgers era is now well behind us.
For good or for ill, this is where we are.
I spent years on the political scene, and one of the things I learned from good teachers is that when you’re in a debate you fight as hard as you can. You fight for the side you believe to be right. You fight for the causes you believe in and you do not stop until the fight is done.
And when the fight is done? When the debate is over? If you’ve won, you celebrate and you try to be magninimous in victory, as even a defeated opponent can teach you a thing or two. And if you lose? You have two choices there; you can sulk and be an obstacle to things getting done, or you can congratulate the winner and try to find something constructive in the result.
Neil Lennon is the manager. He has the job. He was not the best candidate but it is his. He did not have to earn it, because it had already been promised to him and the opportunity came to him by chance. Neil Lennon is our Harry Truman … a man in a position he never expected, with decisions to make which are momentous and will define his career and the legacies of many people.
The ones who made that choice are the ones who will have to accept the inevitable scrutiny and perhaps even the consequences if they got it wrong. What I feel about it does not come into in any way at this point, because it makes no difference. I can go away and sulk or I can find something constructive to do.
And the best thing I can do is wish that man well in this job and support him in it as best I can; it is his. It does not matter how it came to him, he has it and all the responsibility that goes with it. I have concerns, but it’s the job of all of us to help him overcome whatever limitations he has and whatever obstacles are put in his way, and I will tell you now the biggest one will be the one that was there last time.
Burnley78’s post on Lawwell was excellent accurate, and those who support Lawwell wholeheartedly will take from it the first part but not the second; I am ready to acknowledge the record and his successes within certain areas where he has a remit. But Burnley78 also talked about decisions at the strategic level where his record is nowhere near as good and this decision, in many ways, is part of that because it is not the decision that moves us forward in a modern way.
That is not the manager’s fault. I have to think the board knows the man it hired and what those limitations are. I can only conclude that they have made this decision in full possession of the facts and they know the likely road the manager will take us down … and they have put winning two titles in the place of prominence and are willing to overlook the major strategic implications of doing so.
In some ways, it’s not terribly different to what King will do across the city.
I hope – as I said in the article yesterday – that they get away with it, but they cannot escape, and should not escape, scrutiny for having done this. Paul67 has stuck his own neck out on the block today, and I can only assume that he’s been told that this is the reality of the situation or he wouldn’t have written that.
Yet he has already been undercut by Lawwell himself who says that the rebuild is not as momentous as some people think. And you know what? I agree with him on that, but in those areas of the team where strengthening is necessary it is first team footballers, our own and not someone else’s, which we are going to have to buy, and that will cost a lot of money.
If Paul67 is correct, then Neil Lennon will be given the money he needs, and which the previous manager did not get, by the way, and we’ll leave that subject for another day … but how likely does anyone reckon that is? For the first time in our recent history – Paul67 says our whole history – we’re about to push the boat out further than it’s ever been,
Haha. Why do I feel so skeptical?
But it will either happen or it won’t. I’ll tell you this much; if Neil Lennon doesn’t get backing and starts to flounder those who doubted his appointment in the first place will know that the board didn’t deliver for him, and the doubts about the appointment itself will only add to their anger.
Those who supported Neil Lennon wholehertedly from the start and with whom I’ve butted heads for three solid months, they too will know who to blame. If their icon is hung out to dry, their own anger will probably eclipse that of the rest of us.
If anyone on the board thinks they’ve got away with a cheap and easy option here … guess again. I said I never believed this option would be cheap; in many ways they won’t find a more expensive one. It’s going to cost them one way or another.
Neil Francis Lennon, make us proud. From this moment forward we’ve got your back against all-comers, including those in our own house. The moment is yours. Grab it and don’t let it go.
JAMES FORREST
Great post James and I agree with most of it.. i feel that most on here will not remember the appointment of Big Jock. The manager from Dunfermline and Hibs??? That worked out not too bad. Just saying. I think Neil will do just fine anyhoo, how ye doing buddy? ????. HH
Well said James !Neil must now create a team as he sees it for good or ill and the board must provide the 4/5 first teamers we require and we must put aside our differences and support. Meanwhile goodnight to all.
WEEFRATHETIM:
Gutted that I didn’t fully embrace and enjoy 3Treble day.
But you know what? I will make up for it on 4Treble day :)
JAMES FORREST
Hopefully we’ll enjoy a pint together when that happens. ???HH
CELTIC MAC on 27TH MAY 2019 9:20 PM
Thank you and Spot on Sir HH ????
WEEFRATHETIM:
HH brother :)
BIG GEORGES FAN CLUB. Cheers buddy. I heard about a nun that got into a taxi and when on their way, the driver kept staring at her in the mirror. The nun asked the driver, why are you staring at me in the mirror. He replied, i always wondered what it would be like to kiss a nun. The nun replied, as long as you are a catholic and single, you can have your wish. The driver enters the rear and the nun is soon on top of him and almost sucking his tongue out. When finished the driver continues on the journey. After a few minutes the driver says, I have a confession to make, I am Jewish and I am a married man. The nun replies, no problem, my name’s Kevin and I’m going to a fancy dress party. HH
The Scotsman has ranked the 25 most fouled players in the SPFL and you have to go down to no.17 to find your first Celt, James Forrest who drew 51 fouls over the season, Scott Brown is in 19th position.
Aberdeen have the top 2 – Graeme Shinnie with 97 fouls on his person and Lewis Ferguson with 90.
Sevco have 4 players represented- Kent is at no. 4 with 65 fouls won, Kamara at no.12, Morelos at no. 18 and Goldson in 22nd position.
Not sure how accurate they have been as Danny Mullen of St. Mirren appears at no.3 with 75 fouls won and again at no. 23 with only 47 fouls. He is a busy boy obviously.
According to another Stats site, Celtic were top of the Fair Play league for the SPFL with 370 fouls committed and 457 against, 45 Yellow Cards and 3 Reds. We were, by far, the team with the lowest number of Yellows. Our red card count is fairly average- only St. Johnstone had fewer but Hearts and Hamilton had 5 Reds, Killie had 6 and Sevco had 9 (though a fair few were rescinded when they appealed to the Freemason Panel).
On Fouls committed we rank lowest with Sevco as 3rd lowest. On Fouls suffered, we ranked 7th of the 12 teams. Hearts (who ranked 1st for most fouls committed) were awarded most free kicks with 540, Aberdeen got 525, Sevco were equal 3rd, alongside Killie, with 493 and St. Johnstone and St. Mirren were awarded more fouls than we were. Hamilton Accies were awarded as many free kicks as we were- 457 and only well, Dundee, His and Livi were awarded fewer.
It’s hard to make clear sense of all of this but it seems we give away very few fouls and, consequently get few yellows and reds but we do not seem to get as many fouls given to us as our dominance would suggest.
Hearts and Aberdeen are the ones who receive and produce a lot of fouls in their games, both for and against. They create “blood and snotters” types of games
Sevco are the 5th lowest fouling team but are 3rd equal in fouls awarded to them.
There is also a column showing how many times teams are flagged offside-
Livi are, by far the worst offenders and Aberdeen are flagged the fewest times. We are the 4th lowest in flags. Sevco are the 3rd highest- suggesting that Morelos and Defoe are both lazy basses.
Aff to ma sleep to count Masonic linesmen
JAMES FORREST.
Indeed James. It will be worth waiting on. HH Bro. ??
I wrote something earlier tonight, for tomorrow, and doing my re-read a sentence jumped out at me; it kind of put in perspective how far we’ve actually come.
The last meaningful game we lost in Scottish football was the Scottish Cup semi final of 2016.
That one kind of blew me away when I thought about.
Off to bed on that note :)