A nice night and a fact
The Hoops collected all three points as many would have expected , and we have a few big takeaways from the game and the press conference afterwards.
First of all Scott Bain started between the sticks . I have been banging this drum for quite a while and am personally delighted . Another title stepped a little bit close when that decision was made as far as Im concerned .
And with keeper not really being a position to chop and change , allied with his heroics in the last game the gaffer seen the light . Brendan admitted that the jersey is Scott’s to lose as he will be getting a run in the team now , and I certainly cant see him dropping to the bench again for the rest of this campaign .
We might just have see the end of Craig Gordon as a first choice pick in his chosen position .
A changing of the guard is always news , but keeper is a big one .
Brendan has taken steps. Good !
Next the result was great , the opposition not soo much but that old cliche you can only beat whats in front of you rings very true. The fact Oliver Burke started , and did well , in the centre forward role for the second time in succession suggests that he might become the anchor there , with Odsonne and Timothy rotating around him .
“ His job is to create goals and score goals “ said the gaffer post game , also praising his power and touch .
Again Brendan seems to have been tinkering ,, and certainly any opposition manager facing us has a new angle to figure out with his defence .
Two easy wins in two is nice for all the new boys . A nice block of fixtures is just what the doctor ordered and can only help .
Brendan though finally admitted something many of us knew for a while .
After the game in his press conference the boss used very specific phrases and wording when asked about the potential new Ukrainian winger the club are heavily linked with .
“ The Club might be doing something “ “ Its something the Club have been looking at “
“ We dont need another winger “ “ Hes one for the future , out on loan then back in the summer”
Firstly the question of who buys each of the players is not completely answered ,, but now we know for a cast iron fact “ the Club “ buy some players and the manager gets them .
I think we all know who “ the Club “ is .
The list published yesterday by our fellow poster The Gombeen Man showed what happens when we go down this route ,, and Im sure you would agree it was grim reading at times .
That the decisions that lead to signing most of the names on that list seemingly have not changed are extremely worrying .
This trend does not show any sign of ending and I think we can safely say will not end while Peter has the chequebook .
Those who defend the man better seek a different department to champion , as that list shows.
The battle of the Stevies and for the runner up spot took another twist with Rangers new star signings risked at the very first chance against their rivals for all intensive purposes. I thought it was foolish , especially on that pitch , and they failed to ignite their side to glory .
What was particularly pleasing for the little kid in me was the fact that the future Gers player who scored the winner got an earful from the lesser Stevie for celebrating too much !!!
Now in those circumstances the brain takes over and he shouldnt be blamed for celebrating . Im sure his new dressing room will be all smiles and forget totally about it .
However the Klan arent exactly known for their forgiving side ,, he better hit the ground running or else,,,
Lennys Hibs sank to their fifth consecutive defeat , and lets face it he probably wont be there beyond the summer after highly questioning himself and the job last year . Its a pity as I honestly thought they were a great match at one stage . Seems they arent made for each other .
The dons continued their fine form with an away win that puts them level on points with der Hun ,,, and you just know Derek wants to get his own back .
Probably the biggest shock of the day though was the Jam Tarts falling at home to Dundee who lift themselves off the foot of the table with a win . Well done and must have bust many a coupon , although if helps get Levein out of top flight football Im all for it .
All in all it was a lovely wee night to be a bhoy watching the Sphell !!! Not actually too often I say that !
Why not write your own point of views on whats happening at our club and see if everyone agrees. Tomorrows article could be all yours !
sentinelcelts@gmail
Hi there Mahe.
It was a satisfying, and a bitterly cold one, especially when we factor in happenings in Ayrshire.
Yes the press conference did shed some light on our transfer activity.
I still say that Peter Lawwell does not seek out players to sign – this may also be true in some cases with Brendan.
We have a scouting organisation, spreading the net far and wide. The manager cannot pop out to all points of the compass on two/three occasions to observe a player. It is different if the player plies his trade in UK.
The most recent signing/interest have been from Eastern Europe, Ukraine & Slovakia and the US market. These players would have been identified by the scouts and watched extensively. Brendan is someone who tells you that his job is split into two parts – developing players and coaching the squad. He has not the time, nor probably the inclination to be constantly travelling the world looking at prospects.
Why have an expensive and wide-ranging scouting staff, if you don’t use them? There is now no value for us in the home (UK) market.
The Celtic model depends on finding young players, developing them and moving them on at a profit, whilst developing our own talent. Other clubs like Ajax, Porto, Benfica and most Belgian and Scandinavian clubs do likewise.
Now to the crunch. Recently asked about bringing in so-called ‘marquee signings”, Brendan answered “Celtic don’t work that way”. He would have known that when he took the job, however I’m sure that he was also promised real money to secure certain of his targets. Eduard (£9m) Ntcham (4.5) and loan acquisitions – Roberts, Musonda, Benkovic, Burke & Weah fall into that category.
Boyata could have been sold for £9m in the summer, however Brendan insisted he stayed and that substantial sum has been foregone.
Brendan is now dropping hints, left, right and centre, to the media, regarding the recruitment model. A media that will waste no time in using anything to produce a negative spin on Celtic – why is he doing it? Please get this sorted out ‘in house.
Let’s just put things into perspective – our success over the past 33 months has been built on a majority of players from Ronny’s squad. Last night Ewan Henderson came in and acquited himself well – it would now be no surprise to see a match-day squad containing at least six (30%) academy players, e.g. Tierney, Ralston, McGregor, Forrest, Johnston and Henderson – there are a couple of others ‘bubbling under’.
I would hate to see an acrimonious split at Celtic, however I concede that there is a perceived disconnect between Brendan and the CEO.
Morning All,
Given that it’s likely we will lose our most two experienced central defenders. Given that Tierney faces a serious injury. Given that Lustig is approaching the end of his career at Celtic.
Celtic PLC are talking to a winger who might be one for the future. A player that a Double Trebles winning coach doesn’t know much about?
It’s refreshing that we have seen a little bit of honesty in the last couple of days. Perhaps the result at Ibrox and our lack of options due to our Director of Football’s obsession with the control over recruitment, will prove to be a blessing in disguise?
Hopefully the supporters that have slept all the way through the waste of the Lawwell years might begin to wake up.
For too long we have been dismissed with half truths and deception. Let’s hope Brendan continues to shed some light on the dysfunction at Celtic Park before he goes.
HH
So we are thinking about signing a Ukranian footballer and the manager says he doesn’t know much about him, if we do sign him he will prob be sent out on loan cos we have wheans of wingers, it’s hardly a ringing endorsement of the recruitment operation. Brendan knows fine well what message he’s sending out with these comments, he’s making it clear that he’s not in control of transfers, if only they would buy him what he wants seems to be the message, I would wager that if the boy were a defender Brendan would be delighted and would have said so.
Not to worry, the Pedro groupies will see it their way and Brendan will get the blame, same as it ever was.
TET,
It probably means that Pedro has done a deal with Forrest?
Till Later,
HH
TGM
It hopefully will come out in the wash, but given the control our CEO has over the media when it concerns him we may not and some go on about thon other secret society.
Good morning TGM.
I think we are well covered in defence until the end of the season. Brendan sees no point in bringing in new centre-backs now and I presume work is being done to replace Boyata and Benkovic in June. We have looked at a couple of right-backs, but it appears we are priced-out in both cases.
Bayo and this new guy from Ukraine are very much for the future. It is right that we look forward whilst ensuring that we keep our eye the ball this season.
In my original post this morning I have given my opinion on recent events and will not bore everyone by repeating – suffice to say “there is more than one way to skin a cat”.
I have not came accross any “sleeping supporters” and apart from some on social media, I detect no general feeling of “dysfunction” at Celtic Park.
I agree that some clarification of the recruitment process might be useful, however because of the enormous and growing influence of agents, most clubs like to keep modus operandi private.
“The waste of the Lawwell years” – that is a statement that holds no water.
Over the last fifteen years, domestically we have enjoyed the most successful football period in our history and have become the most financially successful club ever in the Scottish game.
TET,
As you pointed out previously the Scottish media are curiously quiet on PL.
I read a few comments about Steve Clarke for next season. He’s certainly ticks a few boxes but I don’t know if he’d be able to work with Pedro.
Coaches have egos and there is room for only one super ego at Celtic.
Our collection of baubles over the last few seasons has been exaggerated by the demise of ‘Rangers’.
Anyone who looks at the distribution of Titles over the last 50 years will see that outside the ‘Old Firm’,there have only been 3 occasions when it was won by other clubs.
We have a credible, decent manager and we’ll lose him due to the fear of shining a light on the internal operations of the PLC.
HH
It will be quite a record for Pedro if each of our recent managers (who have not been fired- Ronny (who in effect was fired) and Mowbray) walk away from the club and into unemployment: O’Neill, Strachan, Lennon and Rodgers (if he does go).
In each instance their final season was one of frustration at the lack of progress in the transfer market.
We keep making the same mistake: build a head of steam, make real progress and then stall and go backwards.
I don’t understand what our executives’ approach.
Hi again.
“Our collection of baubles over the last few seasons has been exaggerated by the demise of ‘Rangers’.”
That sentence could have been copied and pasted straight from Follow Follow after having been composed by Level 5.
If Celtic are to be defined only in terms of the disgraceful goings-on at Ibrox, then it is a sad sad day for the Celtic family and the thousands that follow us worldwide.
Gold,
I hope you are well.
Over the last 50 years there have only been two clubs vying for the League in Scotland.
Our main competitor Rangers, were allowed to cheat and after the failure of the Bank of Scotland…died.
Since that event Scottish football hasn’t changed and we now have a Zombie version in the top league aided by referees and a blind eye turned to whatever source their money is coming from.
The silverware we have won over the last few years has to be seen in the context of the demise of Rangers. This isn’t too undermine the players and coaches but our only competitor had left the scene.
We are in a dog fight to win this title. This situation is primarily down to poor transfer windows, which was put into focus by the capitulation at Ibrox.
If we win the league the qualifiers for the CL are on top of us.
Do you think it is reasonable planning to defer the restructuring of our defence until June?
Surely this would simply repeat the mistakes of previous seasons…With the probable complication of the loss of Brendan Rodgers.
HH
Gold,
The reality is Rangers died. We hoovered up the leagues. Brendan took it to an unprecedented level.
The PLC are the ones that define themselves as part of the Old Firm.
It’s about time that we became open to criticism from outside.
We have benefitted on the pitch due to the death of Rangers. Despite that we ‘blue’CL qualification two years in a row and lost a semi final to Sevco.
Panic set in. Brendan Rodgers was appointed and qualified for the CL twice.
As usual the best players were sold. The same recruitment model was followed and Rodgers looks like leaving.
Meanwhile Res12 is binned and Pedro continues to massage his ego.
HH
Gold,
“Over the last fifteen years, domestically we have enjoyed the most successful football period in our history and have become the most financially successful club ever in the Scottish game.”
“If Celtic are to be defined only in terms of the disgraceful goings-on at Ibrox, then it is a sad sad day for the Celtic family and the thousands that follow us worldwide.”
A couple of points on both of the above quotes from your posts today.
On the first post: do you forget where we were at the end of Deila’s tenure? We had made a loss in one of his two years and the other year were only saved by the sale of VVD. We had been reduced from a last 16 CL team, to a team competing in the CL and being knocked out in the groups, to a team unable to qualify for the CL (knocked out by the mighty Malmo and Maribor) and who finished bottom of the Europa League group in RD’s final year. We were beaten by Sevco at the first time of asking. Our turnover was half of what it is today. Our stadium was half empty. This is all so easily and quickly forgotten.
Now, ask yourself, were we well run then? And has the way the club operates changed since BR arrived (I suggest it hasn’t)? If not, then is it not reasonable to suggest that our success both on an off the park in the last 3 years lies with BR and just as quickly as he turned things around, it could all as quickly go into reverse if he leaves?
On the second post: our directors made the decision to tie our standards to that of Sevco and many fans have adopted this position, too. Did Celtic, safe in the knowledge of winning the league (when each of Sevco, Hearts and Hibs were absent and before Steve Clark’s time), attempt to or show some ambition re the Europa League? After all, Salzburg, Ajax and Anderlecht have all progressed deep into the completion in recent times.
The answer is no. As detailed above, the team became much poorer; we in effect downsized, waiting for our competitor’s return.
Such is certain of our fans’ anchoring their expectations to Sevco that when people complain of our executives approach, the retort is “at least we are solvent and not in danger of liquidation”. That response is common and only comes about because of Oldco’s liquidation. Most football fans when gauging their executives’ and directors’ performance do not gauge the club’s solvency, rather the performance of the team and procurement department. Our fans make reference to solvency purely because of Oldco’s demise and Sevco’s current approach; the bar for Celtic directors is set that low in some people’s eyes.
Transfers.
There are still more questions than answers. One part of the puzzle was categorically (for me) answered last night. The manager is not the be all and end all of recruitment matters. We now know that decisions are made without him. But by whom?
“I think that THEY will look to get the deal done on him and he will probably be out on loan.” (My emphasis).
Who are They? Certainly PL no doubt about that. Other members of the board? DD? Bankier?
Or, Lee Congerton the chief scout? Surely not! As I understand it BR was not happy with the influence John Park had in recruitment so requested LC to come to the club. Has he switched allegiances from BR to the Board? An act of betrayal? Just speculation of course.
Even the word ‘probably’ in the quote above suggests BR is not even in the loop regards the plans for the player.
It does not make for good reading.
The thing is, how much did Brendan understand about all this modus operandi when he signed on the dotted line for us? As far as I know Barca use a ‘committee’ to decide on signings. Likewise Liverpool, so BR would be familiar with it there. The manager is only one voice. And maybe not a very weighty one at that!
Lets say there is room for both. A manager to get a select few to build his squad. The PLs of this world gets 40% of the budget to speculate. Using his family and friends. Occasionally it might work but mostly we ‘Stockpile’ . PL can worry about the wage budget resultant concerns.
Might something like that have been acceptable to BR?
We shall probably never know until our managers retire and explain in their Biographies, providing they can get round any confidentiality agreements.
Hi TGB.
You make a number of salient points.
Over the past fifty years the league title has been almost exclusively shared between two clubs.The same might be said of the leagues in Germany, Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium and many other countries around the world.
However during that fifty years the Ibrox club has now been seen to have been cheating in at least ten of those years. So, in my opinion, it does no good to undermine our achievements when the consequences of their wrongdoing ‘kicks in’. In effect we are being punished twice.
The riches of the elite put European success out of our reach – so if we don’t enjoy our domestic success, then we may as well close the doors.
We are being pushed in this title race simply because we have only picked up three points out of a possible twenty-one in seven away games. If the team who went undefeated for sixty-nine games and who won the league for the two previous seasons had turned up, we would be out of sight now.
We have lost Roberts, Dembele, Armstrong and Griffiths, through no fault of our own – that’s probably around forty goals a season – we are recovering from this, and are still top of the table with one part of a triple-treble in the bag.
Brendan says that it would be useless to bring in another two centre-backs, when Boyata and Benkovic are in situ – quite frankly they would not get a game.
Finally on Brendan and Peter Lawwell – there is tension in every organisation between operational management and the executive – they don’t always see eye to eye – that doesn’t mean that top people leave because they can’t always get there on way. PL has been CEO for sixteen successful years, I think he knows how Celtic works – Brendan has been with us less than three – he knows how the team works.
Hi JTT.
Many good points and yes still more questions than answers.
The system, whatever it is, seems to be working. There will always be ‘sticking point’s- let,’s hope they can be overcome.
I want Brendan and Peter to stay – there must be room for both.
Hiya Gold,
I agree with much of your analysis and Jim’s below too.
There’s always a bigger picture and it’s not always as transparent as we’d like it to be.
My feeling is that Brendan was given latitude initially but for some reason that has stopped in recruitment. I wouldn’t like to speculate why.
I looked at Alex Ferguson’s transfers while at Man Utd a while ago and there are a number of failures there too.
It isn’t easy.
The two new guys have given us a lift and if we can lift our away form then we should be okay…
There was talk of a bid for Forrest and Sinclair’s form is patchy so maybe a look at the wings is coming.
As Rebus stated yesterday an analysis of a comparable club(s)and their approach might be of use.
The thing with all our egos is that it resists change often to our detriment.
One of my mottos is,
‘What we resist persists.’
HH & I’ll check in later.
Scott Bain.
I’m very pleased Scott is to get a run of games. I like his style with the ball at his feet and he is brave. He has not done too bad in the cup games either. This is not to say I have gone off Craig in any way. They have different strengths and weaknesses. I know it is now a cliché but Craig is a great shot stopper. I will always admire him for how he fought his way back into the game after a career threatening injury. Even if he was to retire tomorrow he could be satisfied that he had a wonderful career. For the sake of our squad building I hope he stays for another couple of years as back up to Scott.
I often feel sorry for deVries. He got off to a bad start and never really recovered. It happens. Whoever our new recruits are, whoever recruited them, wherever they come from, I always wish them well. Wish them to succeed. It’s a terrific feeling to see our latest additions getting off to such a brilliant start. Can only help their confidence, I hope they go on to have a very successful half season with us, so that years later they can look back and relate to people “That was the happiest 6 months of my career”.
Bring on Bayo for more of the same!
So, it looks like my rant yesterday has a firm basis after BR’s press conference comments. He knows little about Shved, the Ukrainian. The point that I was trying to make was that the football department is being used to “finance” the Financials. However, we all know that it should be the other way round. So, we now know that there are two recruitment strategies operating within the club…one driven by the needs of the team(as determined by BR), and the other based upon financial projects(driven by PL). Occasionally, the two come together and mesh, as we have seen with Wanyama, Foster, VVD and Ki. More often, they conflict with examples such as Josh Thompson, Milan Misun, and Mizuno. It looks like the first strategy is being implemented via loans, whereas the second needs purchases to operate.
Since we cannot be absolutely sure on who advocated the signing of particular players, it is difficult to analyse how successful, from a financial perspective, the PL strategy has been. What is clear to me, at least, is that it detracts from the capacity of the manager to bring in the quality that he needs.
On the positive side, it was interesting to watch young Henderson grow into the game last night. Initially, he looked out of his depth, and then he tackled back and disrupted an attack. From that point, his confidence grew and he set up Weah’s goal. On the other hand, Weah came onto to the park brimming with confidence and gave us all a feeling that something was going to happen.
Did you see the first things that BR did when he came onto the park at the end? He went over to Henderson and started to explain some things to him about his performance. He did the same with Weah. There is a great coach for you.
At the end of the window, I shall give you my view on his future at Celtic, but as it stands, it looks like he will leave at season end. Things could change.
Rebus
Gold
I’ve responded on previous blog.
I meant to add re. Scott Bain, Any player who stands up to that odious Neil McCann and tells him where to shove it, is OK by me.
Cheers TGM.
Can’t disagree with most of your points.
Re: wingers. Hayes will go, Morgan will go on loan, Arzani has a serious injury and I don’t think Sinclair will get a new contract – so for next year that leaves only Forrest & Johnston….that is not millions of wingers.
Maybe knows that Sinclair will be moved on and doesn’t like it…..
?Thanks, appreciate it.
I’d swap a million wingers for a new right back and centre half oh Celtic. Hh
jimthetim53,
Agreed. BR’s comments about the Ukrainian winger, Arzani and desire for only quality signings and not stockpiling, suggests he doesn’t have a lot of input on certain transfers.
It may also explain our peculiar transfer record recently. Of course, BR could have signed off on some of these players as well. However, given his lack of desire to use certain players, it’s reasonable to suggest that a few were foisted on him (Mulumbu, Gamboa, Hendry, Compper etc).
BR has revolutionised our team, maybe we need a similar overhaul with the recruitment department?
Rebus et al,
So in essence this proposed ‘transfer’ is a business transaction?
The buying and selling of footballing assets is primarily motivated by the objective of making money.
Making money for what?
Despite the concerns over the defence, the retention of the league and hopefully CL qualifiers we are negotiating to purchase a winger?
The only positive is that any pretence that Pedro isn’t in control of recruitment is now put to bed.
I wonder what Brendan asked for going into this and the last window?
Didn’t Brendan say that he had a fantastic working relationship with the board just recently? por cierto.
Only in dealing with the financials re any player, apart from that, he has no other input. A club the size of Celtic with the turnover they have would be committing financial suicide to allow a non-football person to identify and sign players por cierto.
JTT.
Bain deserves equal billing now. When you have two top keepers, it makes sense to let them play as much as possible.
It’s still a Gordon for me, on balance, but using Scott would not be the bane of my life.
Por Cietro,
Have you had the time to look at our list of transfers in going back to Gordon Strachan?
Quite clearly there is a disconnect between what our coach wants and what he gets.
Thankfully this is now out in the open and we know that our current coach is very much in the dark about our proposed signing of a player.
This is despite obvious deficiencies in other parts of the first team, particularly the defence.
If that’s the case, so be it. But as a supporter and a shareholder I’d like to have confidence that there is some level of communication and coordination at the club.
Additionally this lack of clarity and transparency leaves me feeling uncomfortable about how things are done at the executive level.
HH
Por Cierto, on the face of it you are correct. A non football person making these decisions. But I would imagine a man like Peter Lawwell will have many ‘football minded people’ contacts, even friends. People who could tip him the wink at some ‘prospects/projects’.
I always remember Sir Peter Parker, chairman of British Rail from 1976- 1983 boasting that he couldn’t drive a train!
HA HA!! Good one.
Gombeen,
In my opinion the Ukrainian signing, if it still happens, is a purely financial decision aimed at the books and not the playing squad. For it to work, Shved will have to play to boost his value and here is where you will see the true impact of the two transfer strategies. Pressure will be put on the Manager to select Shved when he may prefer to play Forrest/Johnson/Arzani or not play a wide player at all on the right. That is part of the fallout of this duality. The other is that it uses up funds that could be spent more wisely on other parts of the team. Perhaps that is why we see loans rather than purchases to service areas of need.
I am not saying that deals like this are all bad if they are balanced with the needs of the team. Also, if the profit is re-invested in the team, then it is evidence of medium term planning. The key issue is BALANCE. If these types of deals are being used solely to make the bottom line look better then that is an issue.
Rebus
Gombeen and Por Cietro,
Strachan had the highest percentages of purchased players out of all managers going back to the MON era. Seventy percent of his acquisitions were purchases……strange when his era was supposed to be a period of financial adjustment to get costs back in line.
Rebus
TGM,,
The lack of clarity and transparency. Probably the biggest gripe of mine. We are told Peter went on Csc buses and was a normal fan at one stage.
For all I know he sitting there in an office absolutey convinced in his heart that he’s doing the best for that club and my path is wrong.
So they won’t clarify a path or where exactly we are heading , what our thinking is.
And they won’t respond to blog posts or a recorded letter. Basically there’s a wall.
To not respond to a letter from a shareholder /fan is at best unprofessional and unbecoming of one working in a promenent position at that great club.
Although I think I’m a very balanced person in the main, especially since my wee angel arrived , I’m not actually sure whether I would shake his hand if offered , or hold thoul tongue in check.
I feel taken advantage of .
And the money you mention ” making money for what” well all we can do is guess but I would love to know the top three guesses here’s mine
1,, if we don’t make Europe books still hit 100 million hence big bonuses all round
2,,, having mega cash reserves when you sell up will mean you make big big bucks
3,,,getting ready for superleague/restructuring of leagues
3 is my dream of course. I doubt it though.
Hail Hail
A few years ago the club made a decision to follow the same kinda path that the majority of non brit clubs have embarked on, the coach coaches, in itself it’s the right way to go financially, especially for a PLC, managers~coaches come and go and very few clubs can afford to have wholesale changes to the playing staff, most managers~coaches have their own ideas and would always prefer to bring in their own choice of players, the decision was made during Lenny’s tenure.
” You sold all my best players and brought in shite “
Yep Gold. There was the usual talk linking Forrest with Liverpool. I put that down to Level 5 trying to unsettle the player…Who knows.
This type of conjecture will flourish when it appears that one hand doesn’t know what the other is doing.
HH
Hi again TET.
If that’s true about Lenny, then his decision-making is flawed. He leaves Celtic to manage total sh*** at Bolton, and then comes back to manage total sh**** at Hibs……no way!
Lenny went after our CL campaign, when his stock was high, to chase the big money – don’t hold it against him – but that’s a fact.
prove it.
Hi Gold,
Lenny went after the CL campaign where we finished bottom of the group with 3 points. He also left to unemployment which is a circuitous and unorthodox method of chasing the big money.
Both O’Neill and Strachan also left to unemployment. Bit of a theme here.
PL could play a bit. Decent Centre Forward in his day :)) por cierto.
Gold , lenny seen the writing on the wall and put his career in front of Glasgow Celtic.
The expectations increase while the quality decreases. That’s Peters M.O.
Get you in , couple your players to feel comfortable, , you start to love it,, and the projects arrive while better players go.
You have a choice to AC ept while stating quiet due to NDA .
Or walk on principle.
Neil chose the latter. Bolton was a bad decision and he will probably admit that.
Seems he has hit a brick wall at Hibs and will walk I expect.
As for money he took a pay cut to join his beloved team,, he doesn’t need nor would he chase bigger money. If that were true then he wouldn’t be at Hibs.
Hail Hail
Still a “normal” fan 🙂 por cierto.
This is a Business first and foremost, not what I want, but it has been since the late 1800’s. Everything to do with Celtic, is a bottom line decision from players to pies por cierto.
:))))) por cierto
hi bhoys, in my opinion the ukranian lad, like lots of other signings are for the epl to have a look at further down the line, and then if they make a big impact its money in the bank for the plc, sadly or maybe not depending on your viewpoint, maybe im getting too old in the tooth, but I remember when celtic were feared in European circles, and did not rely on loan deals, ah well at least we are top of the league and sevco are shit hh.
Gold
Lenny left because after we beat Barca the club never backed him, that is a fact.
Lenny didn’t have a job to go to when he left, Bolton happened long after he was gone from Celtic, hardly chasing the big bucks was it.
The decision was made way above Lenny BTW.
I have no problem with what you say most of the time, but sometimes you just open your mouth and let your stomach rumble 😉
TET, listen to this rumble :)) Lenny left as Celtic wouldn’t give him the rise he asked for. At that time Super Ally was making a fortune across the city and Lenny felt he wasn’t being properly looked after por cierto.
Hi RS
Yes it was the previous season – sorry everyone. However it was still large on his CV.
MON, WGS, RD, Neil and now BR enjoyed the best managerial success of their careers at Celtic. You seem to be saying that the Celtic job is a poisoned chalice…sorry I can’t give any credence to that.
We have enough people in this bitter little country queuing up to denegrate our club and those who work for it and support it – why would a “supporter” also do this?
Hi Mahe.
Why is everyone and their dog right on everything and Peter Lawwell wrong on everything?
The guy’s overall record is incredible – he has designed a business model for Celtic for good times and not so good times – he will stick to this model because it works and there is no other credible model.
PC
That could have been a factor as well, but primarily he left because they sold his best players and brought in shite, his words.
The club were at it’s highest ever level exposure wise after we beat Barca, so what did the club do, downsize, why, why the ef did we do that, back the manager and who knows what could have transpired.