Steven Gerrard has been a stunning success at Sevco.
No, seriously.
Immediately before he was appointed in April 2018 the Sevco High Command had to address an uncomfortable truth.
It was that their customer base was revolting.
Celtic were routinely battering them and the Ibrox klanbase were at breaking point.
So much so that a season ticket renewal shortfall was predicted by a Senior member of the Sevco High Command.
That chap, unlike the Convict Chairman, has a background in building up legitimate businesses.
Consequently, he had a track record in spotting changes in the market.
Quite simply he could predict what his customers would do next.
He state that continued heavy defeats would lead to supporters drifting away unless something dramatic was done.
Moreover, he stated to the Convict Chairman that his family business would not cover any cash shortfall in the Sevco finances.
Mr King brushed away his concerns and said that he would deal with the problem.
Mr Gerrard was the solution.
The glib and shameless chairman also hoped that, apart from galvanising the fans to renew their season tickets that the Gerrard brand would bring in fresh foreign investment.
Mr King also hoped that their new manager would be able to access the best of the Liverpool academy on loan from mate’s rates.
In the end, though any of this was all very short term if Celtic continued to plough on to Ten In A Row.
In terms of being a lucky general, it looked as if things had fallen for Mr Gerrard when his old boss decided to leave in the night last year.
Rodger’s decision to pack his bags for Leicester City rocked both the club and the support base.
After all, he had claimed on the Hampden turf in 2017 that he “had been born into Celtic”.
Cometh the hour…
My views on the matter were clear at the time.
I didn’t want Neil to be a caretaker just until that summer.
Now Neil Francis Lennon, a vastly more experienced manager than young Stevie G, is showing him how it is done.
If my information is correct then Gerrard made rudimentary mistakes in Dubai and dismissed the warnings of his backroom staff.
His final word in the initial presser was “let’s go!”
Well, he might be saying that to the face in the mirror soon!
Certainly, the Sevco High Command will be hoping that the independently wealthy ex-player will Do Walking Away on a voluntary basis.
My information is that his new contract has a severance clause that makes his enforced departure effectively unaffordable.
Of course, there would also be the matter of paying off the rest of his management team as well.
Like everything else since the Off License Putsch of March 2015 the Gerrard appointment in 2018 was a solution to a pressing problem that was rooted in the shaky finances of Sevco.
By this time next week, this season could be completely over for Mr Gerrard’s charges.
Defeat to Braga and Hearts will see to that for sure.
Then he will experience the Ibrox version of the “hostile environment”.
Gerrard was simply a decent guy who stumbled onto the set of the wrong movie.
Indeed, he should have known that from the start…
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Lennon’s only in the job, basically because he has nowhere else to go! Where would he go? Would you be as keen on him Phil if you were dished up Europa league football season after season? Maybe not? He threw away CL football this season, as I’ve previously stated. He’s “In It To Win It” this season doesn’t wash either. He’s above his station when it comes to European football. Where’s his pedigree? A losers medal in Seville? We remember Inter Milan, round of sixteen, five minutes into the game and it was all over thanks to Efe. “Are You Fit To Play Efe?” “Yes Boss.” “Okay You’re In”. Taking toffee off of a kid for the Italians. Don’t mention Morton because it Could come back to haunt us – sooner than expected. Used to think he was dragging a ball and chain behind him in his playing days. In boxing terms – he’s a Pug. Obviously someone’s got to fancy him. He’s got a budget ten times any other team in Scotland and he was jammy to win the League Cup. One each in Copanhagen and I’ll bet he’s not be “In It To Win It” anymore.
Champions League Football? I don’t think so!
Agreed, Lennon blew CL footy this season.
Was very pleased Lennon got the job on an interim basis, as that was a no-brainer and secured 8IAR, (even if the football was absolutely dire.)
Was not best pleased he got the job on a permanent basis though. Despite this, Lennon ‘should’ deliver 10IAR, anyway, with the resources at his disposal.
But, I suppose the $64K question is;
“If Celtic had NOT been in a position of going for 10IAR, would the Celtic fans have welcomed Lennon’s return – on a permanent basis?”
[I think not.]
Guy delivers treble treble with a team and tactics not his own, sticks with that formula till it starts to bleed, stamps a new system in and we go 12 clear and 20 goals difference, brings us top of Europa League with one dead rubber defeat and still not satisfied.
Why would he go anywhere else?
He’s far surpassed anything we’ve had in Europe since his last stint, RD and BR couldn’t lace his boots.
As a player he gave his all and I only remember one game in Europe where he was played deep defensive against Barca and they played round him which in all honesty shows respect that Barca fiddled with their formation to do so.
Wtf you want?
I’m with you Bandito. He has a better record than BR in Europe. At this stage going for 9 and 10IAR, you couldn’t have a better guy in control
Exactly Bandito the guy leaving Lenny without a name is obviously a closet hun and a member of the Klan .
Sectioning?
Neil Lennon and Gordon Strachan took less fancied Celtic sides further in Europe than Brendan Rodgers has ever been as a Manager in 5 attempts.
They also achieve this with 40% less spending at a Celtic.
Rodgers is the most overrated Manager we have ever had at Celtic.
He dominated a Domestic League that had no viable challenger and the minute one appeared he left us in the lurch and headed back down south for money.
We were outspending our closest challengers by 5 times the amount and most of the League by 10.
Neil Lennon took Celtic to the last 16 of the Champions League with a back 4 of Lustig Ambrose Wilson and Matthews during a period where his and his family’s lives were under threat of violence.
Get back tae yer XBox’s.
GBNL
Double STANDARDS from the sevco club crying their eyes out about the BBC allowing Michael Stewart back into their studios again without him having to apolgise.to the The Fat Controller.or sevco . This from the club who have still not come forward with the names for the fiasco of the translation scenario on Sky . Let’s see admin 2 kick in and get them points deducted and see them explode big time and watch for excuses rolling in and who they blame this time.
They sure don’t do irony on the blue side. I see Ibrox Noise, always good for a laugh, have an article dissecting Man City’s breaking of UEFA FFP rules which may lead to Stevie G at long last getting his league medal as City are stripped of a title where Liverpool finished runners up.
Of course no concerns about their own club playing fast and loose with the FFP rules as once again they are heading for yet another huge trading loss to add to the massive losses since 2012.
Joseph I posted on wee Coco site previously and ripped the piss right out of him and rest of the people commenting . The rest of the tea-cosy and beanie hat wearers over there eventually sussed me out but I got a good run at them for about 2 to 3 months taking the piss out of him and others . One of my articles I had put the phrase in Opinions Are Like Arseholes Everybody Has One . He used it as a headline for his next article he posted . I was taking the piss out if him and making a fool if him and he did not even know . To the point when I was posting some articles heavy duty pointing things out at his club and he agreed It was so funny he has since had to tighten up who comments on his site . I have posted recently regarding his article about Man City and the stripping of titles to compare and highlight it with his own clubs shenanigans but needless to say it did not go anywhere . I did ask him to have the bottle to post my comment but he obviously bottled it. Poor wee Coco .
The daily radar recently published the scathing stat that Ryan Kent has had zero assists since joining sevco.
Morelos has been complaining in Dubai of very poor service. He had a go at Kent who fancies himself a hard man scouser (although he’s a lightweight) so it got physical.
They want to bury the hatchet…… in each other’s head.
Kent blames Morelos for being pulled off in games.
Hi Brian…
Just wondered if you’d care to re-visit your final line…:0)
Hail hail
Here is a good auld laugh for you guys . Wee Coco at ibrox noise has put it out there 9 in row doesn’t matter it’s all about stopping 10 in a row . So all their eggs are in one basket and it’s the Europa league because when they win that it’s straight into the Champions league draw and that big pot of gold . This will attract a better quality of player to sevco when they are in the Champions league so says wee Coco. So all will be done stopping 10 next season never mind 9 just now . Ah wee Coco he does come out with some classic Comedy Gold.
Hope Stevie G has a hard hat at the ready because losing to Braga, very likely, and Hearts, less likely, will bring the roof down on him.
Sure there’s been an improvement but with Kingco granting him his transfer wishes finishing best of the rest is hardly something to shout about, nor is outdoing the efforts of the breadman and Pedro.
Braga look a class outfit but they leak goals as the defence plays an extremely high line, which at the weekend again cost them a goal. However going forward they are a different proposition and its hard to envisage them not scoring in the tie.
Hearts on the other hand would prefer to get league points on the board rather than continue a Scottish cup run and may reflect this in their team selection.
Two reverses in the coming week ends the season for Gerrards charges before February is out.
That won’t be well received by the blue side fans.
Even worse if a quadruple treble is being rubbed in their faces.
The coming week could well be a watershed moment for the Ibrox club and their friends in the Scottish media!
I see the Klan are already on the lookout for players this summer through freebies starting with a 19 year old at West Brom . This is the future for sevco or should that be Skinto FC . Don’t be surprised if and when they hit the admin button that we find out nothing has been paid as yet for Clarke Kent .
They have no intention of paying Elite and Hummel a penny, they have no intention of paying Ashley a penny, they have no intention of paying Close Bros. A penny.
It was all about stopping nine in a row at any cost including going bust. They were enticed out onto the thinnest limb and have failed.
They are a busted flush bluff on the pitch and busted in the boardroom. The smart guys will get out sharpish. As soon as King walked I would have walked.
Celtic will have to vouch for them again and insist it’s the same Rangers with same history blah blah blah…. Celtic directors don’t get paid to sponsor every new rangers and recover the corpse from the grave.
PL and DD are the Burke & Hare of Scottish football.
In what way? Burke and Hare murdered they’re victims they weren’t grave robbers. The buyers of the corpses knew this too. Are you suggesting that DD and PL murdered Rangers and sold them back?
Got to be a movie in there.
Gerrard was a silver rattle to bring the greetin kids back from staying away. The kids are now tired of their useless silver rattle.
If they’re not sitting properly in their expensive seats then they’re not buying replica kits, they’re not waging bets and they’re not buying tv packages either.
Jabba needs something new to promote and sell. Gerrard is past his sell by date. A dud twice over.
There’s large risk on a board’s reputation to retaining a twice failure for a third term of failure, arguably, Board members need sacked after two years of zero silver. The Gerrard backers need sacked from the Board.
Gerrard didn’t get who he wanted in the January window from Dubai.
It will be interesting to hear what we Shug with the broken snib has to say about the who has the advantage tonight when he speaks on radio snyde. Also wee Quark from Deep Space 9 aka Alex Rae it should be interesting to see how he talks sevco out of this . These 2 muppets had sevco winning the league a few weeks back when Celtic held a 5 point lead over sevco . This is when statement was made from wee broken snib Keevins that sevco had the advantage be cause they had a game in hand . It was pointed out to Keevins if sevco win the game in hand that Celtic would still be 2 points clear of them wee Shug said aye but it’s still advantage sevco . Oh dear . Oh and another thing their bloggers last night put the run of bad results down to the fans not being allowed to wait for it Sing The Billy Boys. Apparently singing the Billy Boys encourages their players to play better . That’s what was doing the rounds last night on their blogs when they went into MELTDOWN mode.
I agree with Strachan, Jabba and his distracting stories in the radar are to blame.
It’s jabba who is affecting them with his media dark arts. All the Morelos stories, etc….
Cheers Jabba! A hoops man through and through!
Wish all this conjecture would wait until their out of contention in league, Cup and Europe. Let us all remember without Fraser we would have been tanked in league Cup final. Sure the Tim’s are flying just noe even with some obvious defense deficions, but counting chickens before their hatched is not something Neil does. 🏴🇮🇪
Mr gerrard showed a weakness from the very first meeting with mr j bell esq if gerrard had anything about him he should have quite simply said to him , see you , get your bags packed and get out of here and don’t ever step foot back in Ibrox you ignorant nobody .
I have said this before but I genuinely believe that some higher power on the planet Gooliekicker or somewhere has had a look at that photo of Mr Deeds goes Mental that keeps popping up here and has decided enough.is enough. How else could you explain Sevco’s last two results and others if it isn’t that they are being taken to the brink of madness only to be pulled back time and time again. Someone is having a laugh with them.
Also may I apologize to Mr Lennon for my loss of faith in him as demonstrated in earlier posts although it is conditional on him playing three in midfield and two up when next we meet Sevco.
Bad choice Cyan. I believe he was one of the abused at CBC.
He was but it had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with my post.
This is off topic but here goes. Man City have been kicked out of Europe for not sticking to UEFA’s FFP rules. ANY team playing in Europe is nominated by their home association. Is there an obligation on the part of member associations to apply these rules internally? Because if this is the case, and Man City fail in their appeal, the logical conclusion to draw is that the English FA were derelict in their duty in this regard and could, maybe should, also face some kind of punishment or sanctions.
To me the parallels with Sevco and the SFA are striking. Sevco have never managed to break even in any season since the first, when the initial share float kept them in the black. This will be the Seventh successive year they will have posted a loss.
My worry is that if Sevco come under scrutiny by UEFA, and home associations ARE held in some way responsible, could sanctions against them go as far as banning all teams from that COUNTRY from European competition? Now while it’s very unlikely that UEFA would ban England, i don’t think they would even blink at banning Scotland.
Member clubs have to sign a declaration regarding their solvency which is lodged with governing body. This, therefore, absolves the governing body from responsibility as this is purely down to the club. After all, the governing body doesn’t have the resources nor the ability to check each club’s finances.
How many people or man hours does it take to look at the published accounts of four clubs. And let’s face it they seem to be doing fuck-all else!!
Why would any other Scottish club(s) be banned for something “Rangers” did?
Think back to the Heysel. ALL English clubs were banned for what, five years, or something like that.
That was before English football wielded the financial clout they do today. But a country was banned for the actions of a small minority of fans.
Bad choice Cyan. I believe he was one of the abused at CBC.
Get real, Cyan’s comment had nothing to do with that aspect.
In hindsight probably but hopefully you are aware that It was aimed at Gerrard’s observations on his players apparent new found ability than anything to do with our own issues at Celtic.
I find the whole subject matter repulsive for the record.
I’m in agreement with Phil that these matters should be dealt with in a productive,positive and sensitive matter rather than played out in public to satisfy the whims of a few thousands deranged/depraved fuckwits online
100% with you there. I spent ten years working with some of the most damaged young people in Scotland. It probably made me more touchy than most on the matter.
Fuck! Just realised as I was posting that comment that “touchy” probably wasn’t a clever word to use either.
The above won’t make sense to anyone because the comment it referred to hasn’t appeared.
I’ve not heard rumours of what happened in Dubai, but can assume the players less than impressed at the bus tyre marks they’re accumulating. I said when he took the job it was a high risk game for him- lots of things preventing success and a perception that failure is unthinkable. He was daft to take the job and I think he’s beginning to see that. Would have been wiser to follow Lampard’s lead and stay in England at a slightly lower league with hope of a move.
If looks could kill? It seems that Jimmy Bell did not like the sight of an RC on the premises.
Stevie loves a wee bit of the ol’ karaoke. It wont be long until his new choice of song will be a New Christie Minstrels number… I already think his sevco career has reached the final verse. Better get yourself down to your nearest Kwik Fit branch pronto, Mr Gerrard!!
Just in case anybody didn’t quite get the reference, here goes…
https://youtu.be/5vLhcg_FU9g
Enjoy!!
This isn’t the end, it’s not even the middle. This is just beginning.
I’ve said on this brilliant Wikipedia site that Phil has created, that the brand war between Gerrard’s representatives and Sevco’s Command Post will be an almighty bloodbath. I feel abit sorry for him, definitely in the wrong movie and “everyone knows someone” but my sources are pretty decent and he is largely a decent guy, headstrong, an ego (but when you’ve spent 20 years at a club in the epl golden goose years hard not too expect one). and he absolutely hates losing BUT he is very aware, he’s not fully backed on or off the pitch.
The pressure is only being turned up a notch. it will simmer back down by beating Celtic at least once between now and the end. They will swap their rage to frustration and then replay the hope card. However.
Scouser Sevie v Sevco & Jabba will be hhhUUGGEE as Stevie says. – Danny Murphy puff pieces are just the beginning, and in true Glasgow style- he was getting his in first. I expect them too see off Hearts and get scalped by Braga.
I said it before, – if he is told he won’t get he £££ to play with in the summer, I fully expect him to be sitting in a BT studio, lauding over Liverpool’s Title win and expressing double negatives with Gary L. He’s not daft, drop ANY points between, the start of 20/21 and 20/21 shutdown and it will be curtains.
even with CL 2nd spots, it will be too much…..The Scouser Sevie, is PR savy and he KNOWS he does not want to be holding the bomb if 10IAR goes off….. the stenography core, have recently, targeted Morelos, it will be only be a matter of time before the order is too attack the Rookie!
I read the comments he made to Danny Murphy when he threatened his players with reduced days off that watching the next training session it was like “watching Brazil”
So there we have it, Slippy now has another cup in his locker to go with the close season cup and winter break cup, he now has the training session trophy added to the vast collection.
I also see Gannon and Co are starting to see chinks in the armour, along with missing chevrons on strips this Sunday the MSSM are questioning SG.
Now we have a scenario that was so unlikely during the winter break, Armageddon, a loss on Wednesday piles pressure on Ibrokes to at least have a chance in the next round against a team who turned them over so convincingly last time out.
The banter years are still here and long may it last.
Alan Brazil?