Monday mornings can often be difficult at work.
Especially after a tough weekend…
So spare a thought then for those poor souls in the Stenography Corps who have to front up today.
They had been obediently gushing for months about the “Gerrard revolution”.
As regular readers will know I said that it would all be wonderful at Sevco until football matches had to be played.
Yesterday the spin hit the reality wall.
In the post-match presser, Brendan Rodgers exuded class and practised poise.
No surprise there.
He also put the Moussa Dembélé saga to bed by stating that the player had crossed a line with him last Friday and that there was no way back.
The Stock Exchange has been informed today that €22m is the fee for the player.
I understand that Lyon picked up the tab for the attendant costs of the transfer, mainly fees for agents etc.
Moreover, I’m told that there is a substantial sell-on clause for the player as well.
It would be an understatement to say that the summer transfer window was unsatisfactory from Brendan Rodgers’ point of view.
It’s normal for Celtic to carry out a review of the dealings once the deadline has passed.
Mr Desmond usually dials into those meetings.
What I learned yesterday is that he plans to attend the next one in person!
Perhaps someone has some explaining to do and it isn’t the man from Antrim…
A repeat of the summer shambles cannot be allowed to take place next January.
If the CEO is given a player to sign and it is within the budget then it should be a simple paperwork exercise and not an opportunity for him to grandstand.
Across the Clyde, I understand that the Serious Professional is less than happy at being thrown under the bus apropos the klanzone spat with Glasgow City Council.
Yes, his name is on that letter, but he had no hand act or part in the social media campaign against Ms Aitken and her colleagues.
My understanding is that the decision to personally go after those councillors was taken at a much higher Level.
Yesterday, I asked a source close to this story about the iconic Albion car park.
The reason for my question was that I had thought that the basket of assets could have used that world heritage site for the proposed klanzone on match days.
He told me that it was not on for two reasons:
- Fire regulations apropos the Club Deck.
- Close Brothers might well consider that to be a “change of use”.
This row is just another example of Mr King picking a fight for no good reason other than to augment the victim narrative to the Ibrox klanbase.
Meanwhile, General Ashley is putting on pressure apropos the new retail deal.
Oh, and he really would like his legal fees paid that are due to him from the last Sevco capitulation!
Moreover, I’m sure those nice folks at Hummel would have been delighted to see so many counterfeited orange Sevco tops in the away section at Celtic Park yesterday.
Mr Gerrard has delivered Europa League revenues, but as was pointed out to me yesterday they are spending it as quickly as it comes in the door.
Gareth McAuley is another addition to an already bloated wage bill.
Would the 38-year-old have tipped the balance of the match yesterday?
Quite…
For the avoidance of doubt dear reader, unlike many in the Stenography Corps, I was in flying form while writing this piece.
It’s a fine day in Donegal and I hope you have a good one.
