Hubris is a damnable affliction.
The Greeks warned of it via the medium of theatre.
Therefore, it was fitting that the hubris of Celtic was played out in a city that is currently hosting the largest dramatic festival on the planet this month.
I doubt there are few productions at the Edinburgh Festival that would tell this ancient truth as well as what was witnessed at Tynecastle on Saturday.
It is the sort of fixture that John McGinn would have relished and the physicality would not have caused him to hesitate or retreat.
Of course, Tynecastle is always a hostile environment for Celtic.
On Friday a Celtic insider laid out a fascinating scenario for me.
He told me that the new deal with Dafabet was beyond anything that the Parkhead club had ever been able to attract.
His view, not mine, was that it was such a victory that it might have re-awakened the self-belief of someone who really should have no input into the football department.
If you will, the hubris of the Heated Driveway had been in remission since the end days of the Ronny Deila debacle.
Once Brendan was in the building it was clear who was in full charge of football matters.
Then Celtic struck sponsorship gold this summer and old demons were perhaps re-awakened.
£70m over seven years is a remarkable coup for the business side of the champions.
Ironically it was precisely the on-field dominance that was delivered by Brendan Rodgers that had put the club in such a strong negotiating position with Dafabet.
However, my Parkhead insider opined that the Dafabet deal was such a personal victory for the Chief Executive that it had reignited his ambitions to, once more, be the untitled director of football.
An interesting theory.
What is not theoretical is that Celtic will play a match in Athens tomorrow with a minimum of €40m at stake.
That Rodgers will have to navigate this tie with a makeshift defence is not his fault.
He wanted players in during the close season.
Moreover, additions who were available and within the budget.
That clearly didn’t happen and the fault is not with the Irishman.
If a Greek tragedy unfolds tomorrow night in Athens then I would not be surprised if they raise a glass to Peter in the Blue Room.
Dermot has a decision to make.
I’ll say it again – Lawell OUT!
It’s really important that Celtic fans discuss all the recent “issues” openly. I like reading the posts from fans offering opinions and different perspectives – positive and negative. None of the constant cheerleading and head-burying that fans of other clubs/companies might indulge in. The Celtic fans care and want the club to continue to be successful. However, now is the time to get behind Brendan and the bhoys on the pitch. We have a great team of players and I believe that they are capable of seeing off AEK. Hail Hail!
Yeah, an easy decision to make……Lawell OUT!
Whilst I would have taken McGinn without hesitation some of our fans need to get a grip.
We don’t have millions wasting away in the bank which some fans and the media claim.
The last audited accounts showed turnover around £96m, all very well.
However expenditure was around £90m, leaving a net profit of approx £6m.
So the vast majority of the money earned is reinvested in the club, principally on players wages.
Things like Rogic and Tierney’s new contracts.
There’s a lot of mischief making going on in the Scottish media at the moment, they smell blood and will take every opportunity to besmirch our name whilst turning their backs on whats going on at Ibrox with King’s antics.
Make no mistake failure to secure Europa Group Stage qualification will have alarm bells ringing plus still no sign of Rangers merchandising, yet not a mention in the media. How so?
No share issue, again not worthy of anyone asking why?
Been mulling this over and am perplexed. I can see merit to both sides of this argument (PL and BR) and can also see blame for both. What I find puzzling is who is actually responsible for making some of these deals at the club?
For example, does anyone really know who made the decision to chose to sign Commper, Sviatchenko, Allan or Benyu? Or any of our other strange signings the last few years? Seems to me that the responsibility isn’t laid out clearly because no one can then be tagged with the blame if it goes pear shaped.
The one thing I do know is that the center half position has been needing help since VVD left us 3 years ago and yet here we are still trying to find a pairing to shore up the middle. There is obviously something wrong with the philosophy of the club with regard to proactively dealing with positional trouble spots. But since these latest problems predate the arrival of BR, I can only attribute the blame to Lawwell. But at this point, I am past caring who gets the blame I JUST WANT THIS FIXED!
Lawwell has to go , his niche is finance , not football . im sure if Brendan was questioning Peters’ ability to raise funds , he’d be chased out of the office .
Keep at em , Phil
Big bad Boards fault again, eh. Off course no one else at Celtic Park does anything wrong, therefore it must have be the Board that caused the lose at Tynecastle. Need to make your mind up Phil, previously Brendan fully in control, now it’s big bad PL and the Board. No one comes out of this smelling of roses, that includes both BR & PL
Once again the thug attacking Lennon gets paraded out, yet no mention of the Celtic fans robbing concession stands and throwing coins at the ball boys. ( same game) One lunatic ( fueled by beer ) is bad enough, and was dealt with by Hearts. But when there are many it’s swept under the carpet.Typical of the victim’s attitude of Celtic fans where they can do no wrong.
Sorry.
The defeat had nothing to do with whether we signed McGinn or not.
BR decided to “rest” his players at the start of the season in a tricky away fixture.
Hayes – not good enough and doesn’t deliver the penetration or goal threat of Forrest,simply not good enough for the Celtic 1st XI
Eboue – Is not Ntcham, he doesn’t have the creativity, drive or final ball.
Ajer – should have started game and Hendry replace Lustig or on the bench .
Rogic should have started and been taken off later.
Rodgers decided to rest his players for the CL which is the right call. This is one league match and will not be indicative of the season’s results.
Too many knee-jerk complaints.
Talking of jerks, Boyata can get to f***, whenever he likes.
excellent post
Completely agree
Hayes has spent most of his career at Aberdeen deployed on the left wing.
Brendan continues to play Sinclair out there regardless of form and drops Forrest resulting in Hayes playing out of position?
The obvious solution surely should have been to drop golden bollocks on the left and deploy Hayes out there whilst playing in form Forrest from the start?
Brendan has also deployed Hendry on his weaker side of the two CB’s and in both occasions he’s looked less than comfortable?
Obvious solution is to play Jozo in his usual slot on the left of the two and play Hendry on his natural side surely?
Or is that being too pedantic (and obvious)?
Strange decisions by Brendan.
Why not play Lustig as a makeshift central defender “he has played there before” and bring in Anthony Ralston at right back after all he gave Neymar such a uncomfortable night he would not shake Ralston’s hand at the finish.
This is if the SCROOGE board and Lawell we have at Celtic still won’t spend some money on central defenders.Personally I would put Lawell out to pasture I remember a few years ago he made a statement that we needed rangers to survive as we were losing £10 million a year without the worst thing that ever happened to Scottish football.
I would like to have seen us set up with 3 at the back with Lustig the right CB and KT on the left of Jozo with Forrest or Gamboa deployed as RWB and Hayes as the LWB for me this would have gave us extra cover in defence as it effectively becomes a 5 man defence when both WBs retreat but also retains the threat and overlap when in attack as the WBs push up on the break?
Hendry is not ready for this level yet and especially deployed on the wrong side of the Central pairing.
He looked far better last night when Lustig went off and he was moved back across to the right.
How Brendan keeps making this error is a genuine concern.
Gamboa had a decent World Cup and came back and played well when he got the chance ,him and Forrest combined well when playing on the right together.
Lustig s too slow now to play at RB for me he’s getting done too easily by quick wide men.
Brendan paired Hendry and Simunovic as this the the partnership that will be in place in Athens. A sensible approach. Eboue started to give Ntcham a rest as he had a little niggle from last weekend.
If we don’t give our young back up players some game time, they will never improve.
This is a club that spent one million pounds on Marvin Compper. I’m surprised they haven’t offered to swap
Deadly Boyata for some magic beans.
Don’t forget Jack Hendry and Scott Bain.Ill be honest I wouldn’t be giving Brendan too much money to spend
You are writing these players off?
Did you previously write off McGregor and Forrest?
Magic beans for Boyata ? – Deal !
all clubs make bad signings, it is part and parcel of football unfortunately.
for every Henrik Larsson you sign you will get 200 Wayne Biggins !!
Celtic fans will never get the side we want whilst we have bean counters and men with Financial Interests calling the shots at the Club.
The only way for us to ever get what we want and frankly what we deserve is for all of us to unite and take control of the Club sorry PLC .
With an estimated fan base of around 9 million this could be achieved by giving as little as £20 each for this to happen.
This would create a Club capable of spending the tens of millions needed to compete in the Champions League.
Build a side capable of competing in Europe then the Domestic side takes care of itself.
Or do we simply keep having the same old debates over and over again year after year window after window?
Seriously it needs all your consideration folks if not for us then for those who come after us.
Celtic has the potential to be so much more than it currently is we have the numbers all we need is the will to go with it and a small contribution from each and every one of us.
2 packets of fags… think about it.
What a load of rubbish.
i agree
Is it?
Then expect more of the same year in year out.
Ps stop moaning about it when it does.
And who would sit on the board?
Would it be people who have the necessary talent and experience (like, for example, a bean counter)
Coincidentally, these bean counters currently on the board are also fans.
Fans don’t clear almost £1m every year in salary and Bonus for doing a job for the Club they claim to love do they?
No businessmen do.
Lawwell is a businessman first and foremost.
Someone whose opinion in financial matters I respect and trust, says that £70 million is fantasy. Is it?
I am sorry Phil but you are contradicting yourself again.
Let me lay it out for you…
IF Brendan had “full control” of all footballing matters at our club then John McGinn would have already signed for us and he would have got either one or two centre halves would he have not?
If Brendan says I want him and then he does not eventually get him then that is clearly telling me that somebody else is making the calls on our recruitment.
BTW all footballing matters is also the players wages etc etc so please don’t reply with something like ” PL would have went in low on fee and wages at first” because if Brendan had the full say on footballing transfers in and out he would be in control of fee’s and wages as well.
cheers, F
If Brendan says he wants Leo Messi and doesn’t eventually get him, does that mean he’s not in full control of football matters?
The Football Manager and scouting team’s remit is to identify players who will benefit and bring quality to the squad – or have the potential to do so – it is then over to the money people to get the deal done financially. There has to be a line at which point any deal becomes too rich.
That doesn’t mean to say the CEO has not failed the manager this window. Personally, I think the window has been a failure thus far, but it is not evidence of Brendan Rodgers not being in full control of “football matters”. Evidence of that would be players being brought in that were not part of his wishlist.
Are you being serious here? The moment I read Leo Messi I really should have stopped reading. However I didn’t and I carried on to see if there were any more “stoaters” in there !!
OK, This is my understanding of “any” football manager being in control of all football matters….(AKA Alex Ferguson style)..oh and I will be the “manager”
A player is identified, lets even say John McGinn (Thru a third party I would set up a meeting with John with or without his agent..a nice dinner date in a posh restaurant…
Hi John, How are you? blah blah blah
Right John, I see you eventually as Scott Browns successor in a season or two. My midfield is strong as you will know. I normally play a 3 in the middle and Ntcham has nailed down the place along with Brown. If you will get plenty of game time but there will be a chance to nail down a place, like I give all players.
Lets talk cash John, You are on £2.5k at Hibs but you are in a strong position as your contract is near the end so what are you looking for from Celtic?
John “£23k”
Fuck right off John. I will not offer a player that sort of money who will not slot right into the team upon arrival. We can maybe do something in relation to a signing on fee that will obviously bump it up but I cant give you that John….
You can come back to us John….
Now IMO PL cannot have this type of conversation and if it does not come from the manager then he DOES NOT HAVE FULL CONTROL OVER TRANSFER BUSINESS.
Cheers F
“Footballing matters”, in the context of a club, is used to distinguish the football itself from business and financial matters. Wages are a financial matter, not a footballing matter.
Also, buying a football player isn’t like buying toothpaste. The toothpaste has no say where it goes, neither does the supermarket. In football, however, the toothpaste has the final say, the toothpaste’s agent has a voice, and so does the supermarket, and even other supermarkets buying and selling other toothpaste. In that world, the majority of players whom a manager says “I want”, he doesn’t get. And that goes double at a club like Celtic, who are trying to compete for a calibre of player that might otherwise end up at clubs offering them three or four times as much – in a much more prestigious league.
It seems clear to me that no-one has “made a call” on John McGinn’s recruitment, and decided to buy someone else instead. They dithered, and got gazumped by another club, simple as that.
It’s a cock-up, not an overrule.
Brendan and the recruitment department identify targets . Once those names land on Lawwells desk , its out of brendans hands
so Brendan does not have full control over all football recruitment at Celtic !!
CHEERS
Semantics. He has full control over approving signing targets and approving anyone leaving I would imagine.
He does not negotiate with agents, create employment contracts, nor does he transfer the money into the players bank accounts but this was not what Phil was meaning imo by football matters. These are employment / HR+Payroll matters and we have departments for that…
Why don’t you go lay out why your club and anything attached to it are above the law in this country sevconian boy.
Hardly……..
owendolan ):
I for one am awed that Celtic can and do attract such attention from sponsors and the deals we have are astronomical but playing a team game, from board to field, has to be Dermots remit.
He is of course the main driver, and to take the analogy of driver further he has to clarify who does what in terms of the “Celtic vehicle”
It’s not unusual for back seat drivers to interfere with the navigation. As we all know an assertive approach with a delicate hand that’s respectful to all parties needs to be implemented before we allow the car to crash.
BR has gained legendary status and must be allowed to run all footballing matters and PL need a to remain as far away from the navigation as possible and be reminded that he’s just a cog.
I hope our illustrious owner keeps both in positions they both feel valued.
If not and I had a choice then PL has to go.
I think it has less to do with hubris, and more to do with Peter Lawwell’s perceived omnipotence. Yes, I do understand that he has to control the purse strings, and has to remind Brendan that the likes of Mbappe, Messi, etc are quite clearly beyond the budget. However, I also believe that Brendan understands this fully, and has identified players that might stretch the budget without actually breaking it. It should be at this point that both men sit down to discuss their reasons why they can/cannot afford identified targets, see if some sort of middle ground can be reached, and move forward accordingly. To my mind, it seems that Brendan is telling Peter that he wants/needs player X, and Peter is taking it upon himself to decide whether or not to finance a deal without discussions with the manager. They both have to immediately change the way they are approaching the transfer market, since Brendan has identified at least two targets that we missed out on. Peter probably thinks that it was enough to splurge £9 million on Eddy, and “that’s yer lot for this windae, Brendan.”. We can assure him it’s not.
We have the best manager in the country, the healthiest bank balance in the league and a team with the addition of the right personnel who can achieve another treble, what we don’t need is Lawwell with his grubby mitts on the bank book thinking he knows best. Celtic supporters are paying through the nose for STs, strips and Euro jaunts and expect their club to be able to match their opponents but that isn’t happening. In all probability Lawwell is the factor holding back the ambition of Rodgers and Celtic and sponsorship could dry up if the fans start to lose interest – and they will if the club doesn’t live up to the fans’ aspirations. Time to make changes methinks. HH
The picture above demonstrates Scottish justice. This lunatic attacking Lennon got off, case not proven! What shocks me is that many Celtic fans still call for independence! This is what happens now! Imagine how much worse it would be with Independence! Scotland in in the dark ages for things like this. It is still the most bogoted country on earth!
As for John McGinn, he is history. He had a chance to join us and chose Aston Villa! Let it be. That isn’t Celtic’s problem.
Amazing, this attack actually happened under the Union, like Brexit. This is the Union reality.
So you would rather be ruled by English Tory bigots from the top of the class system then, Joe? Behave yourself. And McGinn was desperate to come to CP, but Lawwell tried to low-ball it and failed. With him in the team on Saturday (I was there to see it) we would have given Hearts their dinner. Wake up and smell the bullshit.
Trying to link one nutter fueled by beer to independence? What’s the colour of the sky in your world? Oh wait that would be green right?
I dont think that claim is correct.
The guy got 8 months for Breach of the Peace.
The Edinburgh public prosecutor did not convince an Edinburgh Jury that it was aggravated by religious prejudice and the ancient Scots verdict of Not proven was returned for that charge by the jury.
Im no expert but I really dont think the SNP or Scottish Government do the publlc prosecutors work or pick Edinburgh jury members. Im pretty sure they leave that to public prosecutors and courts themselves to deal with and its those folk that decide the outcome.
He was found guilty of breach of the peace etc, please state facts. How you can equate that to having an influence on Celtic fans voting for independence is beyond me. Not proven related to a religiously aggravated crime. Tiresome conspiracy theories about our legal system are very misguided. Oh and by the way it was a jury that delivered both outcomes.
It’s beyond daft to place the country’s future, hell, your OWN future, in jeopardy by being paranoid about the unseen hun hand of power. There are far too many decent non-hun protestants/non-catholics to allow that rubbish to flourish any more that it has. This is not England, where xenophobia and racism seems much more prevalent. In all honesty I’m more worried about what the treatment of catholics will be like in the UK post-Brexit! The rise of the far right EDL UKIP et al is alarming. The Nazis scapegoated Jews, gays, & the handicapped/infirm in much the same way Muslims are scapegoated in Britain today. It could be argued that the natural progression of this bigotry will reach all foreigners, including the Irish.
An independent Scotland strips away one of the most important icons of deluded hun supremacy…the butcher’s apron.
hear hear
Joe, your argument does not make any sense. You said: “This is what happens now!” but you propose that we should keep it that way? Sorry, but do you expect Celtic supporters to be in cahoots with the unionist/loyalist pack who dominate most of Scotland’s “British” political parties?
For the sake of accuracy, the fan you mention was jailed for 18 months and given a 5-year banning order. It was the jury that deleted the part of the charge relating to “aggravated by religious prejudice”. Personally, I have not heard Neil Lennon state his adherence to or preference for any religion; he’s a football manager. The offender was heard to use the term “Fenian B——“; could you prove in court that using the term “Fenian” is religious prejudice? It displays ignorance of Irish history that’s for sure, but “aggravated by historical inaccuracy” is no crime.
Joe: Possibly the acquittal of Ben Stokes who was caught behaving violently on CCTV and yet the evidence still failed to return a guilty verdict, in an English court-room today, will put some perspective on how difficult it can be to secure charges for unlawful behaviour. I presume you’re ok with legislative bills being scrutinised and passed by an unelected monarch, whose privileged position to ‘reign over us’ is based on feudal blood ties and religious leanings, rather than have a country freed from such archaic and nonsensical constitutional bias.
It absolutely definitely cannot be the fault of anyone on the Celtic board… https://theclumpany.wordpress.com/2018/08/11/what-the-hell-is-going-on-at-celtic/
https://theclumpany.wordpress.com/2018/08/11/strangling-the-goose-that-lays-the-golden-eggs/