It is perhaps ironic that over the past two days I have been delving into “The Phoney Victory” by Peter Hitchens.
In his book about the 1939-45 conflict, he attacks the cherished mythology that the British “won the war”.
Moreover, they did so for the finest of motives and were jolly sporting throughout.
I suspect that it is not the sort of work that would go down well with the Ibrox klanbase.
However, they’re more into attempting to ban books rather than reading them.
Indeed, that could even be their Downfall…
Celtic left Ibrox today with no points from the match, but they’re still champions.
However, that is the second league defeat at Ibrox this season.
It is worth remembering that the Admirable Warburton and Poor Pedro could not manage a single league victory against Celtic.
The former did prevail over Ronny Deila’s disjointed side at Hampden in April 2016 in a Scottish Cup semi-final.
It was that defeat and especially the dignified magnanimity of the official Sevco party that spurred this man into taking action.
Today Celtic went about their business with all the urgency of a pre-season friendly and Neil Lennon didn’t hold back in his post-match comments.
No doubt he also made his ire evident to his players in the dressing room, but I hope he spared Jonny Hayes from that assessment.
The Dubliner, as they say, put in a shift down the left flank, but I can’t think of anyone else who got pass marks for effort.
Of course, the role of the caretaker manager can be a particularly thankless one.
For one thing, the temporary incumbent cannot make any motivational intervention apropos the long term prospects of a player.
When a manager is first appointed at a football club there is usually a fund of goodwill towards him from the fans and, indeed, the folks in the board room.
It seems particularly unfair that the man who has genuinely suffered for his service to Celtic should have such a level of opprobrium aimed at him from some of his own supporters.
Consequently, I would not be surprised if those advising Neil are telling him to makes plans after the cup final that don’t involve Celtic.
That then leaves it to the power brokers at the richest club in Scotland to step up.
A time of writing the people in the Celtic boardroom are cash rich and time poor to come up with a new appointment.
For the avoidance of doubt, that can often lead to costly mistakes.
One school of thought is that the coming week might be the opportune point to announce a new manager.
However, the contrary view is that could further undermine the authority of Neil Lennon in the last two remaining fixtures.
The final league match against Hearts is truly meaningless, but once more the 25th May is a date with history for a football club what has made rather a lot of it.
Today Celtic lost a skirmish against a foe that had already surrendered some weeks ago.
It now remains to be seen if it is the shape of conflicts to come.
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We’ve been going backwards for 18 mths, in terms of performance & squad management, which started clearly under Brendan Rodgers; Lennon is left to cajole us knackered over the line. The wage bill is frightening and we are left with a squad that needs a reboot, nobody is sacred, the market dictates that.
I know Neil Lennon left us before for reasons personal to him, the landscape has not changed and he is a road travelled before, hence the reason I hope we go someone new and fresh in approach and ideal.
I have watched Celtic become almost hypnotised by ball retention, so much so our wingers now seem more concerned with passing the ball back instead of taking players on. It dinks between the back four and Broony whilst the other team put on the slippers and take a pew. We were a joke on Sunday and a bad one at that and whilst some say it was a dead rubber, I just think it’s another step nearer Sleveryco.
Rodgers fight with the Board last summer should have been where succession planning began.
Although we, as fans, were taken aback by Rodgers departure, I am pretty sure that the Board would have seen it coming. Phil’s article of 28th February makes this clear. The accrual in the last accounts of over £3 million for impaired contracts suggests that they were thinking of sacking him. Probably at the end of the season.
Rodgers left taking most of the backroom staff with him leaving the club ‘he loves’ in a precarious position. A particularly heinous act from a despicable narcissist. He easily outmanoeuvred the Board.
Given the situation, Lennon had thankless task. Damien Duff had just joined Celtic as a junior coach! He has done a remarkable job in managing the disaster he was left with.
However, his tactical naivety was evident yesterday when he set out a midfield 3 against a midfield 4. And did not have the ability to change it. The team selection was woeful.
As much as I admire and respect Neil, he is not the man to take the club forward. The club needs a big name, bigger than Rodgers, who can rebuild a denuded backroom staff, re-energise the excellent players we do have and clear out the dead wood Rodgers accumulated.
This week would be a good time to announce that Lennon will be leaving, so he can have a celebratory goodbye next weekend and provide the lift the players need before the Cup Final.
Without this, I fear, the old anxieties will groan out at every missed pass, affecting the players and repeat ad nauseum.
It’s a strange one.,
A Celtic win wouldn’t have meant much to us… a loss however gives Sevco their ‘false hopes’.
Against any other team no Celtic supporter would be bothered by a resounding defeat…
… but this is the ‘pretendygers’ .. they want to truly believe they are the same club in name AND football prowess.
Celtic have handed them that extra glimmer of hope today. The bragging rights. Their ‘marker’….
We know it all means nothing but it just means we have to put up with them and their media frothing at the mouth until August about ‘55’ and ‘title challenges’.
My only real gripe is that if the picked team were not motivated or scared to go into challenges for fear of injury…. then why not just have played a reserve team from the start?
They might have shown more heart!
A loss would be far easier to accept!
The Huns would have a less meaningful win to ooze over!
It would have shown the zero respect!
No… Celtic do it the ‘half-baked’ way.
It will be all forgotten and cancelled out if / when we lift a Scottish Cup to mark a historic triple treble..
It should however be a warning to Celtic PLC.
Making excuses like a dead rubber shows how little respect the players have for the fans. They should have gone out and shown how they can play, as fans paid good money to attend. Perhaps a more fitting excuse was they lay down to the new club to make the fan base think there will be a challenge next season. Hammering the new club again would have turned fans away and the money making machine would slow down.
You can bet they won’t play so poorly in the next two games, so why this one. They were playing the fans biggest rivals ( not the clubs, as both boardrooms are in cahoots ) yet didn’t have a shot on target until the 80th minute.
I think the success over the past 8 years the first 3 of course set in motion by Neil Lennon who built a squad from the shambles that was Mowbray has ultimately led to a sense of Entitlement within the Celtic fanbase.
The amount of delusional thinking among some is reminiscent of the Klan during the Murray era at Mordor.
Success can breed it’s own issues and I think the last few weeks have highlighted that perfectly as Neil Lennon steered a side left dejected and confused by the untimely exit of former Manager/Demigod Rodgers to another Title.
Lennys had one hand tied behind his back in these few weeks.
This is not his team.
Not his style of approach
Not his chosen backroom staff.
He’s lost one game that shouldn’t matter v them and won the one that actually did matter.
Those constantly sniping at him need to take a long good look at themselves at not only what he built and achieved as a new Manager at Celtic previously but also what problems he gave both Celtic and Sevco previously with a side built on empty ginger bottles under Putrid Petrie at Hibs.
I am now of a mind he might just tell Lawwell to poke it if it continues.
Then where are we at?
David Moyes…please god no Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
There is not a single sentence in that post I can disagree with. Very well put. Celtic fans can be the most twisted, hard to please, bastarts on the planet. And I KNOW THAT for an absolute fact because I’m one of them. We’re starting to feel ENTITLED. And that’s a disaster waiting to happen.
Personally I wouldn’t have gven this Mob they call the Rangers any respect and would have played a youth team but we didn’t so why was an obviously unfit Tom Rogic played in a Midfield where lots of effort would be demanded. The Huns can Enjoy their day we will enjoy the season. But just another 6 penalties from Golden Boot contender Tav and we would have been in trouble. Make no mistake He Will win it next season. The result never bothered me as we had won the League but by God the efforts of lots of the Celtic Players did . Is Lenny the Man for the Job that’s not my call and personally I love the Man. But Stevie G won’t be getting Bombs and Bullets through the Post does Lenny even want to go back to that.
Given all the bullshit and bluster from the Deidco courtesy of the “newspapers” in the week leading up to this match, does this mean we’re already 3 points behind them at the start of next season…? 😀
Neil Lennon summed it up well enough in his post match interview; rangers were the better team on the day and they deserved the three points.
I’m hoping their win today hurt Dermot Desmond as much as it hurt me, their famine song, billy boys and mockery of the surviving Lisbon lions repertoire should inspire the board to ensure there’s no repeat next season.
I REALLY wish that all these Monday Morning football managers would give us the benefit of their vast experience and tell us who should be the next manager and why. God knows, the tension is killing me.
that’s not our job, it’s Peter Lawwell’s. Any good company or club retains a succession list of suitable candidates who fit the bill. That’s why he gets paid so well. From my point of view, and I’ve been consistent on it since Lenny came back, is that it was great he was there when we needed him. But I don’t believe he is what we need to move forward and get better (both in style of play AND results). That doesn’t mean I don’t like Lenny and appreciate what he has done for us. If he ends up being given job I will be behind him but I think we need better to list ourselves to a higher plateau.
I wouldn’t give pass marks to any one of those players today, they couldn’t pass,couldn’t tackle,couldn’t retain possession, couldn’t attack and worse of all couldn’t defend. If this is what the board expect us to accept for next season then we are beat before we start. How on earth can you not get motivated after their guard of honour insult is beyond me. Their holidays are still 2 weeks away.
Much as I love Lenny and all he’s done in the service of our great club it was evident first time round he had taken as far as he could and he’s not the man to see us through nine and ten in a row and beyond. I’m ambivalent about today’s result – at least, I’m trying to be as I think it is quite possibly just what Celtic needed if we are to continue making a glorious, untainted, history.
He took us further than Rodgers with 40% less Budget,Zero Managerial experience and a squad who couldn’t win a League.
Last 16 of the Champions League with a squad of freebies,potential and cheap imports.
Just think what he might achieve with a decent squad core , cash for quality and the foundations already in place.
Be careful what you wish for another Mowbray or Brady might just appear.
Bang on!! Again!! You’re getting good at this.
Today’s shocker might be beneficial: to shake out any complacency before the Cup Final.
My view before today’s game was that Celtic’s main priority ahead of the cup final should be to avoid injuries, in a dead tie against a trophyless club to whom victory would mean far more than it would to their league champion rivals.
Going by the performances on show today, a majority of the players shared that view.
Will be interesting to see whether key personnel are rested in the league game against Hearts.
So why wasn’t a full second 11 just played from the start ?
The game truly meant nothing and that was evidenced by the effort put in. It was fully to be expected. Oftentimes, a match that requires 100% physical and emotional invest will be decided by which team can fulfill both these parts. If both do, then the better squad will prevail.
It was obvious that Sevco, due to their own situation, were going to give it. It was equally obvious that Celtic players weren’t because of their particular situation (game being meaningless in standings). So result was entirely predictable.
However, what it does do is raise questions; having made decision to actually contest this meaningless game, then how come Lenny couldn’t get them up for it? Were the tactics right for the players available. Is anyone still in doubt that this squad is mismatched for the style being asked to play.
The only lesson from today is that the problems that have appeared from time to time, from even last season, haven’t been addressed. Is it the manager & style or is it a lack of players to play for that manager and style. The club better figure out which it is and address it pronto. The gap hasn’t been closed completely by Sevco but it is now anorexicly thin. But a good offseason can fix that, if they know what to do.
The team today looked riddled with fear so hopefully any new acquisitions will have the bottle to play at ipox and be coached by a more worthy manager. HH