I have no idea what Peter Lawwell’s final destination was yesterday when he flew from Glasgow to London Heathrow.
My information is that he was on the GLA-LHR yesterday morning at 0655, which is the first flight out.
I’m told that the early bird Monday flights to Heathrow from Glasgow are always packed.
Consequently, it is doubtful that this was a last min trip booked after the Sevco game.
After landing at LHR the Celtic CEO went through to connections.
Therefore, he was almost certainly connecting to an international flight.
There are several important conclaves at UEFA this week so it might be that.
Of course, many Celtic supporters will hope that he was on a shopping trip for a new manager.
So who will be the next Celtic manager?
The current betting favourite is Rafa Benitez.
However, I’m told that the likeable Spaniard is about to be offered a new contract with his current employers.
Moreover, someone who is currently on, oh let’ say, a package worth £5.9m and is about to be offered a £7.5m for his services over the lifetime of a new contract is probably out with the price range of the Parkhead club.
That said someone is putting money on Benitez becoming the new Hoops gaffer.
After the match on Sunday, many Celtic supporters were quite clear that they did not want the job to be offered to the current caretaker.
Yesterday, as Mr Lawwell was in transit to somewhere, I spoke with a trusted source very close to Lenny.
What I took away from that conversation is that, as it currently stands, the prospect of taking over on a permanent basis might not so appealing to the Armagh man.
I was told that it is one thing to get Celtic over the line in the league and try for the Treble Treble at Hampden on the 25th.
However, my source told me that the task of overhauling the current squad in the summer was a daunting one.
Whatever way you cut this the folk who take the decision at Celtic are in for an expensive summer.
There are players in the squad who will need to be paid off and major recruitment will be necessary.
My own tuppence worth is that next season is not a time for experimentation in either the dugout or on the field of play.
This campaign saw Celtic have a few false takeoffs and it could have been a very bumpy landing if they had not prevailed at Pittodrie before travelling to Ibrox.
Quite frankly too many of Celtic’s high fliers look burned out at the moment.
Consequently, accusations of Lack of Moral Fibre at Ibrox on Sunday is highly unfair.
Rather it is a case of just too many missions over enemy territory.
In every area of the pitch, there is a need for first-team starters who are currently not at the club.
Failure to address that could see the Parkhead side crash and burn in a potentially historic season.
Unlike the clubs at the bottom of the EPL, in Glasgow, there is no parachute for failure.
Next season Celtic have the money to be up at the front of the plane and not stuck back in economy class with the rest of the SPFL.
It is an undeniable fact that the Hoops have enough fuel in the tank to engage the afterburners and get up into the Jetstream very quickly next season.
Parsimony at this stage could prove to be very costly and I’m sure Mr Lawwell knows that.
However, he isn’t the guy drawing up the flight plan.
If Mr Desmond wants more days like this then Celtic’s cash in the bank will have to be used to recruit experienced personnel.
We need yaya Toure singing for us get Brendan Rodgers to get a deal done that’s wots missing in the middle park attack strong attacking playmaker who takes no shite from nocu,::::t mr Desmond can you please help him sign HH
give 100% only one was trying Celtic do this all the time when a big game is coming up thay give only enough the rangers game is big but the league is ours now thay don’t try when a say European games are due thay don’t give it ther all thay want to keep good that’s I watch! The cup final is history thay don’t want to get in and about it Harts will win maybe draw it’s a cert the 25th the game to give your all let sevco 2o12 bum there guns Thayer the Brass neck club Bumper club don’t like all this shite about the manager its Lennon the now some don’t think so some do there’s one thing we all moan about the weather to hot pissing rain just about everything so the Celtic manager is no Difference love our team HH
I cannot see us spending the amount of money that Newcastle are prepared to author Rafa Benitez. Phil’s sources are usually well informed and Neil Lennon has not looked to me like a man that wants the job full-time – however a massive thank you to Lenny for stepping in at a time when most of us were somewhat shell shocked and furious at Brendan’s departure- and Neil is a true Celtic supporter! Returning to sources, I stated on this web site, and another, last August / September that Peter Lawwell had told my source that David Moyes will be the next Celtic manager. He had even been in and had a look around when Celtic were away on pre – season warm up and everybody involved liked what they saw. This was at the time Celtic found out about Brendan’s China plans. Phil covers it fairly well here https://philmacgiollabhain.ie/2019/02/28/brendan-and-the-summer-of-disconnect/#more-13099 (February archive should the link not work). In all honesty and I genuinely do not care whether you believe me or not I still want Stevie Clarke and certainly not David, nothing against the man personally just his recent record. I know SC said that he wished to return to England but I am still hoping this was merely a deflection tactic, more likely cognitive dissonance on my part. So it is a concern to me to see David Moyes continue to shorten in odds over the last six or so weeks. This is where the informed money appears to be going. Chris Hughton through no choice of his own has just appeared on the scene and is a manager who often impressed me, particularly his manner. Jose Mourinho, SERIOUSLY!? GTF. Picture this, next season 1 – 0 up to St.Mirren or Hamilton or Berwick after two minutes and he will park the bus. He doesn’t develop players any more, he buys and not the players within our price range. One thing (probably too early) that concerns me about nine/ten in a row is remembering back to when we stopped them getting ten and that was the nerves displayed by both Celtic and Rangers, those last couple of games were hell to watch – at least until Harold scored. So definitely no changing manager in January or February the sooner we get nine wrapped up the better. Whoever gets the job he’s our manager and I wish him all the best even if it is the cantankerous one. Sorry about the length, really could not give a feck about the spelling mistakes.
That the same Stevie Clarke that nearly imploded after one game of verbals from the Ibrox Hordes stating he felt like chucking it and heading back to London?
He wouldn’t last 3 months at Celtic with the abuse they would be giving him.
Lenny is the only man strong enough to take whatever they throw at him.
That’s a proven fact btw.
I think Moyes has been at just about every home game since BR left. And I’ve personally seen him taking notes. I have heard he is well thought of in the boardroom, and I have to say the very idea that he could take over alarms me. He’s a ‘Has Been’ who never actually was. Fuck me, I’d rather have the Blessed Cardigan. They play the same mind numbingly boring football but at least Wattie was successful. WHOEVER they get in they MUST get it right, and he MUST be ready to start the day after the Cup Final. We can’t have a third successive window fuck up. If it’s going to be Lenny, tell HIM, the FANS and the PLAYERS, NOW and let’s get behind him. I also think Clarke would be a brilliant appointment but he’s already stated that, for family reasons, Killie will be his last club job in Scotland. I want someone who has a knowledge of the Scottish game, but also someone who has played or managed in Europe and knows what’s required there.
Martin O’Neill is my pick!
Phil; as usual you are spot on, especially with the comment that they need help in all areas of the pitch. And the help has to be of the “step right in” variety, not the typical apprentice to be turned into a tradesman type we normally see brought in. It starts with an experienced manager who can take the pieces available and immediately craft a plan of how to use them, plus some additions, and hit the ground running. It also requires a good striker, creative midfielder and a right back. There also needs to be some cover brought in for left back and CH.
But I wouldn’t panic as yet over the squad because we do have some returning players tro provide some added depth and spark; Liam Henderson, Lewis Morgan and Marjan Shved. Plus we will also get some players returning from injury, particularly Ryan Christie. I don;t think it is a coincidence that our biggest struggle periods were when he was out with injury. He is a very gifted creative player who seems to make everything flow better.
Here is the question that I have been mulling over for a while though; Are recent problems with the manager and style he wants played (wrong players to play it) or is the problem that we have a disjointed group of players that aren’t complimentary to any particular style? I don’t claim to have the answer to this quandary, but I do know that Lawwell and club better do because there is very little margin for error right now if we want to get 9 in a row (or more)!
Keep Neil Lennon in place until January possibly bring in Mjalby and review the situation in January by this point Europe should be more or less out of the way.
RWB Castagne Atalanta £8-10m
LWB Meling Rosenborg £3-4m
CB McKenna Aberdeen £3-5m
CB Benkovic Leicester Loan
LWF/RWF Lestienne S.Liège £3m
CFW Finbogasson Ausburg £8-10m
Punt Ntcham Sinclair and Eboue
Going back to the Ronny Deila era (and possibly before then too), celtic were playing in a stadium with the upper stands closed, which would mean a sizeable loss of revenue. I believe DD had made some sort of financial contribution to herald in the Rodgers era. He will have recouped his outlay – possibly as much as tenfold. He has also financed the arrival of Robbie Keane a few seasons prior to Deila’s appointment, so I’m guessing he’s a shrewd enough operator to know that in order to give us a better chance at getting the magic ten, he has to loosen the purse strings. If he sanctions the use of the monies banked from our previous European endeavours, his own outlay is potentially lessened. That said – imagine his previous personal cash injections were to the tune of £10 million over the course of a season, if we use the entire CL cash already banked, we can get some decent quality into the player pool and have enough to finance the top-quality manager that will be needed to secure the ten. That cash injection from Dermot this close season will multiply itself many times over in the space of 2 seasons, having secured the holy grail of ten-in-a-row. I think DD fully understands the concept of “speculate to accumulate”, and he will put a further cash injection in.
There seems to be a modern misconception that Attendance is a barometer of how well a Club is doing.
You should perhaps go and look at the Average Attendance under Jock Stein in the greatest era in our history.
In the 1966-67 Season we won the Quintuple as you know and the Average Attendance was under 32,000.
Celtic Park had a Capacity of 80,000 at that time.
It’s become part of the bragging rights in the modern era whereas the performance of the team was all the bragging right you needed in the Era of Stein.
http://www.fitbastats.com/celtic/club_records_league_attendance.php
Sorry but that’s total tosh! You’re clearly looking at the crowd figures published by the board at that time. EVERYONE knew then that the gate figures given were nonsense. I attended games back then when the fans were so tightly packed you quite literally could not take your hands out of your pockets. You’d look at the “OFFICIAL ATTENDANCE” in the newspaper the following morning and see absurd figures like 25 or 30 thousand. Almost everyone paid cash at the turnstile. Season tickets were like gold dust. ONE family ripped the club off appallingly. I even once witnessed a member of that family paying for his weekly shopping with a Celtic Chequebook. Attendance IS, and ALWAYS HAS been a good barometer of how well a team is playing. When the dead club won their second treble in three years in the late seventies they went from playing in front of packed houses to playing in front of crowds of 8,000 during games the following season because their football was shite. BFDJ will confirm that!
They may well have adjusted the figures in order to make a few quid but I think you would notice if there were 50,000 missing from a Stadium that held 80,000
What you say you witnessed is irrelevant.
This nonsense about the upper tier being closed is tabloid tosh!!
A section of the LL upper was closed (approx capacity of 1800).
Yes our crowds were down but let’s tell the truth here
Point taken. That said, you agree that there was an element of disinterest?
The point I was trying to make was that Celtic have that money in the bank – do we use it, or leave it in the account, gathering interest, waiting for whatever rainy day Pistol Pete the Meteorologist deems is the right time?
I’d look at it as a great opportunity for any incoming manager to build a fresh team ready for Europe around a promising core – Jamesy, Christie, KT, Bain, Mcgregor… that’s nearly half your starters.
Offload the hangers – on (and their wages) and. bring in some serious, serious talent.
I’m sure Broony wants to be around for 10, but is he up to it? If not firing on all cylinders from the off in the CL qualifiers he needs to take a step back to a bench/backup role and with some sort of mentor and coaching post in development.
I’d offload Kennedy and Duff as well. They may have a role to okay but can’t see them featuring highly if a big name was to come in.
Another though – snd more ‘radical’ – would be to sell Rogic and even Edouard. Rogic is fragile and every appearance for Australia costs him and Celtic months out injured. Although risky as he is our only striker while Leigh Griffiths is still an uncertainty… Edouard just doesn’t seem to be ‘clicking’ fully up front. Could 20+ million£ (Estimate) for the pair be wisely reinvested by a new manager before it ends up in the giant biscuit tin?
It’s going to have to be sorted fast so
Let’s hope PL does have another BR up his sleeve…
First CL qualifiers in around 6 weeks I believe.
Celtic need a dynamic manager with a track record of improving young players. A lot of players have went backwards in recent months
To write Broony off on the back of the game last Saturday is absurd beyond belief. Cast your mind back to last month. TO A GAME THAT ACTUALLY MATTERED! Broony single handedly destroyed the very fabric of their team. And he can do it for YEARS to come. When it MATTERS!!
Broony IS the Capo di Tutti Capi. The Captain of All Captains. The Boss of All Bosses.
Can’t see Desmond and co splashing out, no matter how much the fans want investment it will be the same old patch up job with a couple of 4mil buys, the sale of ntcham, Rogic or even Tierney if they thought they could get away with it to offset any outgoing cash. I hope I’m wrong but past experience says I’m not
I think history will be kind to Lennon: he has actually performed a great service to prevent a major wobble after Rodgers ‘done a runner’.
But, first and foremost, for Lennon’s own safety and well-being he could probably do without the Celtic job on a permanent basis. Sunday’s nonsense might have helped him make that decision.
But, can’t get away from the fact that this team couldn’t raise its game either for the emotionally charged Killie game or for Sunday’s game.
Lennon must take some responsibility, but it looks like this team has peaked.
Whoever is in charge next season, it seems that a clear out is required – and a new, quality manager could possibly coach those remaining players to perform to a higher standard.
For me though, it’s thanks very much Lennon for helping out in our hour of need – and not forgetting the fact he actually kicked off 8IAR.
Just hope to God Lawwell doesn’t go cheap…