In a parallel universe, Ross County still won at Celtic Park in the League Cup.
However, there was no trouble outside, and in that part of the fitba multiverse, the Celtic manager has already left by mutual consent.
It is just another component of this perfect storm in Paradise that those who demonstrated to have Neil Lennon removed have probably prevented his immediate departure.
Anyone who is a qualified Desmond watcher will know that he doesn’t like to be perceived as weak.
He certainly doesn’t take kindly to hurlers on the ditch.
Now, I’m speculating here, but the own goal fraternity outside of Celtic Park on Sunday night might not be strategic thinkers.
Although that’s just a guess…
It remains to be seen if this enforced hiatus will prove to be significant at the end of this unravelling season.
My conversation with a well-placed source (who finally took my call today) suggested that the performance art outside Celtic Park had impacted on the timescale if not the decision.
Consequently, I do not believe that the current Celtic manager will be in the job for much longer.
However, Neil Lennon is a good man, and he deserves some respect.
Addendum.
This statement from Celtic’s illustrious CEO is, quite frankly, worse than useless.
It is yet another example of the Parkhead club’s work experience PR operation.
“…we now need strength in adversity.”
Oh dear.
It is quite an achievement, but the chaps in the boardroom just made things worse.
Chapeau…
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Thank you Anthony for reminding us of that part of the CP financial situation that is a matter of cold fact.
For the rest I remain unconvinced. Celtic supporters riot??? Damn few of them were wearing colours. Many seemed to be enjoying the situation. Some evidently had experience of violent confrontation.
Whose idea was it to NOT keep services of Foster – yes at a price? Financial skimping.
Whose idea was it to go give away the services of Craig Gordon – by the way are you watching some of his saves? Financial open heart benevolence to the poor. There is something schizoid going on at CP but it ain’t Neil Lennon.
Things don’t add up. Previous comments do. Coaches are not NL’s men. Signings are not coordinated with the manager.
God Bless you Neil Lennon. You’ve probably signed a contract which forbids you to publish the current shenanigans but I’d contribute to the crowd funding of your legal case if you do. HH Lewis
There’s nothing there I’d disagree with.
Particularly you’re points on the “riot”. I had noticed myself the similarities to other protests by people not of…..how should I put it…..not of our persuasion!
However, you need to remember Lewis, we’re paranoid!
It’s clear now that the plc model of ownership is not appropriate for our football club. You have referred to the German model, where every club is at least 51% owned by fans, and the Barcelona type membership model. Germany has the best attended league in Europe and their clubs’ performance over the years have not been too shabby.
I can’t grasp at all why Celtic are clinging to the old firm circus. It’s like claiming we need them as rivals to be relevant. If we don’t win the league this season, Celtic’s role in the 5WA, and their dismissal of the Res12 guys, will all come under intense scrutiny by their own fans. See how the MSM spins that.
I hope it leads to a few reforms at CP in the long run, but I hae ma doubts.
The 5WA and the dismissal of Res 12 have been under intense scrutiny by the fans since their inceptions.
The board however does not give a fiddler’s fuck about the scrutiny of the fans.
No one that has represented the artificial statelet, in any meaningful way, will be given a position of trust at Celtic FC ever again.
An absurd statement to make. Bordering on bigoted,
I think its completely wrong to tar all those who stood outside Celtic Park with the same brush.
They are merely responding to this clusterfxxk (to borrow a phrase) unravelling before them and I for one stand fully behind their right to demonstrate. I’m surprised that some seem to be agreeing that they are responsible for DD decision to keep NL in place. DD and the Board alone are responsible for that. They’ve never made an emotional call in their tenure at Celtic and I don’t see why they would now. This is what it is and should be called as such, Ivory Tower arrogance. I do not believe for one second the spin the club is putting on it. Its disingenuous.
I do not condone the throwing of anything at anyone or blame Neil Lennon. He took a job his heart and mind couldn’t refuse and as always I believe he’s one of the few who try his best for Celtic and in my view should be beyond “abuse” .That does not mean I don’t think he should have left the Club weeks ago. THE BOARD should honour his contract and let him go.
Celtic board absolutely kidding themselves if they think they can take the high ground due to a few idiots onSunday night. Bottom line is it’s a business with customers. If the business wants a 50% reduction in customers then they are going the correct way about it. The man with deep pockets and short arms will get the message when claims go in for refunds on season tickets.
Oh & PL is the highest paid person running a Scottish PLC that has a revenue Below 100ml. Oh sorry, forgot, earns more than the CEO of most uk PLCs that turn over billions
Dear oh dear Peter, you have just lit the blue touch paper with those ill advised and preposterous comments contained within that pathetic statement. You and the board will be held responsible for the failure to deliver 10. Now is the time to replace Neil, we know it, you know it and i’m sure deep down Neil knows it. Those terrible scenes at Parkhead on Sunday would never have happened if you and the board had taken action sooner. Please for the sake of the club do it now.
As everyone suggested only celtic could stop the winning and allow weakness to permeate. That has happened due to a long term legacy of greedy money hungry lazy members on our board that have not appreciated the actual pain and desire for Rangers, let’s not pretend anymore… If they weren’t why would we care, would love if Hibs or St Mirren won the league. Away to have a sleep.
This isn’t Dermot Desmond’s club, this isn’t Peter Lawwell’s club – this is OUR club !
The only thing these bastards care about is money.
Time to get organised bhoys – stop buying season tickets, merchandise etc and starve them out of our club.
We did it with the last lot, let’s do it with this shower.
Sorry to burst your bubble but it’s NOT your club. You are a supporter of a football team that is entirely owned by DD.
Until you or a consortium of fans use real cash and buy the shares from DD he will do as he likes with his toy.
You can scream and scream until you are sick, he doesn’t give a sook about you, or any other fan. As long as the books show a healthy profit and his shares are making him money, that’s all he cares about.
The only team in Scotland that is owned by the fans is Hearts and until other teams follow their blueprint you and all the rest will have to suck it up and watch from the sidelines as DD decides what he wants.
Who do you support CELTIC or Neil Lennon?. That’s the EASY Question
Lawwell should have left the scene years ago after the Res 12 debacle.
I wonder if someone will ever put him on the spot and ask him in what way did Celtic benefit from not pursuing Res 12.
The answer is intriguing. Perhaps Auldheid coukd enlighten the rest of you?
Agreed: that 6 paragraph statement from PL is reminiscent of a Dave King missive,
(without the concomitant, big words).
A lengthy statement which says nothing – and which further denigrates the office of the CEO at CFC. There is no clear, unambiguous support for NL – and no mention of any personnel change(s) either.
Publicly, NL is being left dangling yet again.
Shameful behaviour from DD, PL and the other Board members.
Do they actually have a plan…? 🙁
If anyone believes that the events after the match have had any effect then Desmond and Lawwell productions have thousands of Season Tickets for next season that they’d desperately like to speak to you about.
Perish the thought that the delay to put us all out of our misery is due to the incompetents being clueless as to what to do next.
Lawwell probably thinks Succession Planning is arranging to pick up his next bonus.
It is probably in Celtic’s best interests to lose both remaining games to Milan and Lille and hope to deny Rangers an automatic CL place. That is what it has come to. Lennon sacked by Bolton and Hibs, a legacy of players who were unfit according to Delia – what did Desmond expect? I am surprized people are surprized. It does show the work that Duff and Maloney did last year in postponing the inevitable. There is little point in appointing Strachan or similar. You may see Scott Brown taking charge until the end of the season if SPL results do not improve. If Lennon does win 10iar he should change his name to Lazarus.
There must be something going on behind the scenes affecting this season’s performance.
Here’s a summary of Celtic’s SPFL performance last season, compared to all since 99/00 (based on points, goals for and goals against per game, given only 30 games were played):-
Points per game: 2.67. Bettered only twice in 20 years. By MoN in 01/02 (2.71) and BR in 16/17 (2.79) .
Goals for per game: 2.97. Best in 20 years.
Goals against per game: 0.63. Bettered only 5 times in 20 years. By MoN in 01/02 (0.47), NL in 10/11 (0.58), NL in 11/12 (0.55), RD in 14/15 (0.45), BR/NL in 18/19 (0.53).
Whatever the final outcome to this situation is, I wish Neil Lennon all the best. Those stats will be incredibly difficult to replicate.
The CEO has assured us they want the best for the business, he said that was also the reason for not pursuing Res 12, challenging honest mistakes etc… I fear the CEO thinks the defunct Old Firm is whats best for the “business”. I fear since 2012 we have been complicit in propping them up. I can see 10 IAR being sacrificed to get Sevco back on its feet by stopping us and getting CL money because the money men think that’s best for the “business”. I fear Lenny is being sacrificed as well. Say what you like about performances this year, truth is we have been underperforming for some time by not building on success and gambling spending against qualification to CL, that was long before Lenny came back and the common denominator in all of this is a CEO who is one of the best paid in the UK bearing in mind the EPL riches. Lawell should be out that door before Lenny. The fans may all disagree on some of this but we all want whats best for the Club first, the business will be taken care of by success on the field first.
You don’t really believe that they were going to mutually consent the Manager but for a late protest do you? Really? I thought you believed in holding power to account?
Would you have a timescale for the exit of NFL and knowledge of a suitable replacement?
HH
All of our focus should fall on Lawwell and Desmond. They must be brought to account. Our club can no longer be left at their mercy. This won’t be resolved simply by replacing Lennon.
So we’ve all to bow to Desmond’s ego.
I agree that Lennon deserves respect and I don’t condone the violence at all; but the manager, board and players need to feel the pain being felt by the fans on account of their absolutely embarassing performances. I can accept defeat as long as players give their all, but when was the last time we saw that? No fans in the stadium is no excuse for the mediocrity we’ve witnessed all season. Lennon should do the honorable thing and walk away, he shouldn’t need anyone to tell him that his team’s a shambles and is going backwards. Enough’s enough, something has to change to get this team to turn up and play.
Yeah, Dermot & Peter telling the little people to get back in their box; the same people paying £1k per annum to watch dross whether on the pitch or via a stuttering stream. Sunday night’s shenanigans went too far but they can’t get in to a stadium to be heard. A perfect storm developing.
The board should have stepped in and put him out his misery after the huns or ferencvaros games. They have just prolonged the agony for us all. A lot of the players are not coming out of this with any credit either. Too many overpaid mercenaries not giving a toss about the 10. This season has really never got going and at this moment in time I have been well and truly sickened by everything. I hope all concerned know they have let our great club down. They embarrassed the hoops springs to mind. HH
Respect works both ways, Lennon has been shown nothing but respect from the supporters in his 20 year at Celtic, but in return hes shown absolutely no respect in recent weeks with performance after performance nose diving, he should have realised he couldn’t turn this around and walked away, allowing the chance and time for somebody else tae try save the shitshow he’d created, has he put money over his support for the club, yes, and its cost us our chance to create history, if people we’re dismayed and shocked at the supporters reaction on Sunday evening outside Celtic Park, then they best get prepared for what’s heading the way of this board, it will be 1994 and some all over again….
9 in a row and on the verge of a quadruple treble is not failure.
Lennon has been an essential part of that success, not recognising this actually plays into the Huns narrative of the 9 in a row doesn’t count, or you never actually won the league last season.
Backing an employee from abuse from external influences while performing his duties is actually an admirable trait in any business.
If I remember correctly there was a chance for fans to purchase further shares when Martin was in charge, they didn’t, one man came up with cash to ensure it wasn’t an embarrassment.
Off topic the rte documentary on the famine is compulsive viewing, and gives great insight into the Irish struggle against the Brits, hope we have a strong comrade in Biden with us now.
Hail Hail stay safe, it’s not over yet.