A disaster scenario must have several components extant before they finally come into alignment.
I’m now fully convened that the inchoate insurrection on the Celtic Way after the Ross County match last week undoubtedly incensed Don Dermot.
At the time, I explored the possibility that these scenes may have stopped the Irishman from making a decision on the manager.
You can read it here.
This is just another element of this perfect storm that’s currently engulfing the Parkhead club.
That such pitiable performance art would derail a crucial corporate decision is in itself challenging to comprehend.
However, after several conversations yesterday, and one in particular, that is the conclusion that I cannot escape from.
Anyone who watched Nail Lennon’s post-match response in the San Siro last night will know what this is a managerial tenure that should be put beyond use.
There are no damn lies in the statistics regarding Celtic’s defensive frailties.
Indeed, the men from Perth should travel to Glasgow on Sunday with some hope.
It was pointed out to me yesterday that the last time that Dermot Desmond’s senior people looked under the hood at the internal workings of Celtic was in the summer of 2016.
After the defeat in the Scottish Cup semi-final to Sevco the official party from Ibrox somewhat overdid the Unsurpassed Dignity.
It is never a good idea to piss off a billionaire.
Celtic’s omnipotent CEO was temporarily side-lined, and Desmond hired an EPL grade manager.
That ushered in an era of unparalleled domestic dominance.
I’m told that in recent weeks that same officer corps from the Desmond empire has once more been examining what is going on internally at Celtic.
Interestingly they have uncovered many of the same problems.
Of course, it would not take a work experience detective to identify the common dominator in both 2016 and 2020.
The best-placed source that I spoke with yesterday, a person very close to Mr Desmond’s thinking, assured me that “there will be changes” apropos the situation at Celtic.
I reminded him that as with the Brexit negotiations in London there was dangerously little time before the cliff edge was a thing of the past.
After that, of course, is the sensation of an irreversible plummeting.
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This might be the day the dream died.
The decision was made…….Keep the manager who knows how to win 5 league titles
He lost the first season when a win at Inverness would have clinched it.
He won the first one when dead Rangers went into administration (though he was already 8 points ahead).
He won the next two when the new Rangers weren’t in the league.
He won the fourth when Rodgers had done all the donkey work.
He won the fifth when Sevco were team building on tax payers money (some mitigation for Neil Lennon).
Now he is just messing it all up.
Time to go I am afraid but I still love him.
Despite Covid 19 restrictions being relaxed, the Celtic defence insists on social distancing. Across the city our poor neighbours’ defence remains as tight as a bull’s arse in a frost.
Let me get this straight, you think DD should have sacked Lennon and bowed down to the mob? What happens when Hearts win the Scottish cup? Will DD sell his shares because a MOB stood outside Celtic park and demanded THEIR club back?
We’d be f##ked without PL.
Hi Phil love your blog and may I wish you and your family a peaceful and happy Christmas.
As the world and his mother know at this stage, Celltic have been on a downward spiral for a number of months. If anything the defence is becoming more shanbolic with each passing game. Laxalt the on loan full back is the only defender meriting a pass mark this season to date.
Can someone please tell me why our defensive formations have all been a total disaster this season and continue game after game—the definsive frailties were evident months ago but nothing has changed!!
John Kennedy is the defensive “coach” surely in all the weeks gone by ,all the days at Lennoxtown training, that there should have been some formation put in place at this stage at the training ground to rectify this and avoid us being publically humiliated every time we take the field.
NL & JK get paid big bucks and this is simply not good enough. Celtic have no divine right to win every game,we all know that, but for gods sake at least get the basics right or else admit your failings then do the decent thing–resign and give someone who can a chance.
Tonight, it should be statement o’clock,
late on a Friday night,
but in the East End this time! 🙁
Fans’ protests aside: would NL still be in post today IF 60,000 paying punters had been able to voice their opinions at each and every home game this season…?
Still can’t get my head around us being in this position.
The problem is he can’t resign. Getting sacked looks bad on your CV. Running away when the going gets tough looks terrible. He’s hanging on in the hope these players turn it around. He’s not got a chance in hell of that happening.
He admitted himself just a few days ago that he can’t seem to figure out what’s gone wrong, as nothing has changed, “It’s the same system we’ve had for four years”.
I’m not an Einstein level thinker by anybody’s imagination, but after four years of doing the same even i could work out a system that would expose a teams weaknesses and disrupt it’s flow.
Let’s face some facts here. Neil inherited the easiest job in the world. He took charge of a winning team with zero competition, He changed nothing and sat back and basked in the glory.
Now, when things need changing he simply has no ideas of his own. Either that or zero man management skills.
In fact, It’s now looking as though every time he tries to fix it, he simply makes it worse.
Fergus McCann would never have tolerated this. Had lawell been in charge in the 90s, Jansen would never have been appointed as apparently you need to understand the club…..
In any walk of business life, it is unheard of for a CEO to be in position for more than a handful of years. It’s clear now that Peter Lawwell, whilst no doubt performing well in some areas, has overseen a period since 2012 that with the exception of the Brendan Rodgers years has been one of decline in the playing department to such an extent that we now see what the first hint of a challenge from elsewhere has done to Celtics first team squad. All of Celtics problems have been manufactured by those in power at parkhead, from the seldom seen Mr Desmond, to Peter Lawwell and his innefectual board to the coaching staff and players themselves. The failure of Celtic to cement their place as Scotland’s premier club despite being handed a free run over the past 8 years is now coming home to roost. That is why emotions are running high amongst supporters who can see this charade for what it is. You said some time ago Phil, Celtic could stop Celtic from being dominant for years to come. How true those words are now.
I wonder if the defence is really that poorer than last season or if the lack of a very good keeper is exposing weakness that was always there. Perhaps also the lack of same keeper is breeding a lack of confidence in the outfield players. At any rate Lawwell should be in touch with Southampton and offering them any amount of cash to secure the man currently warming the subs bench
He DIDN’T WANT to come back.
What incenses me is…What the hell do they do at Lennoxtown every day…?
Obviously passing the ball around ad nauseum is high up the list of priorities….and we don’t always do that particularly well…But… Is tackling barred from the training regime ?
At least two of their goals last night could have been avoided if some courage had been shown…As it was …we witnessed pitiful ,embarrassing attempts to put in a tackle…and its unacceptable.
We also have too many players who are lightweight…and get knocked off the ball far too easily.
These observations aren’t rocket science…they’re basic requirements in the game.
I will say however…we have played worse than we did last night…and won games.
But it wouldn’t be Celtic…if we didn’t shoot ourselves in the foot…AGAIN…!!
Something has to change…drastically…and soon.
I await with interest.
I think training at CP goes something like this Terence:
10a.m. NL- ” Right lads, let’s get a good Hard shift in this morning”.
10.15a.m. NL-” Dead on, lads. Well done. See y’all the Morra. Mind now, no hitting the boozer before mid-day, or ill be giving you a couple of days off as punishment “.
Meanwhile, ould Scrooge up in the boardroom, is counting his money, and over in Barbados, DD is scratching his erchie, whilst sinking a large cognac.
Seriously though, the whole professional outfit under BR was dismantled in short order. There is NO coaching. The players are totally unfit, and look as if they don’t give a damn. Shame on them for that.
On the outside, instead of being part of a unified, broad based, anti-board group of Tims, the bastard Casuals go their own selfish way, and make things worse. Thanks for that, ya morons.
Nae wonder our alcohol consumption has increased since August.
Hail Hail.
NFL’s jaiket is on it’s way to the floor, the shoogly peg having fallen off last night. He remains deluded about how good the team he sends out is and continues to play those who aren’t good enough, fit enough or interested enough. The entire management team’s position is now surely untenable. HH
A Winter’s Trial
I watched the San Siro shitshow and felt genuinely distraught that the agonies of Neil Lennon and his aimless crew have been prolonged by more dithering at the top. I also watched Sevco, on the ploughed turf of Ibrox (that bounce game against Hibs had its intended effect), nullify a technically better team by dedicated coordinated effort, and then sadly thought the current Celtic ‘team’ would struggle against either.
Many fans will have felt that same sense of disappointment and frustration, particularly where obvious footballing talent has not been marshalled to clinch on-field success or where so many square pegs have been banged into round holes, that the hammer has disintegrated.
Every day that goes by with silence from ‘the board’ is a season ticket unrenewed and a stumble towards a coming storm in January. ‘Something is rotten in the state of Denmark’ does not come close to summing up the current team meltdown under NL and on PL’s watch.
It’s certainly way past ‘decision o’clock,’ and clearly the rot goes a lot further than the dugout. Act now Dermot Desmond, or start planning for a sudden ‘exit, pursued by a bear!’
Time is most certainly a big factor on this,let’s hope he acts decisively before the transfer window opens and just maybe we can save this season.
Slainte Phil 🍻 thanks for a reliable update here where we can be sure it’s factual.
Dermot can do one. He can’t be bothered with celtic, sends his son to the AGM because he can’t be bothered. Celtic is just a wee cash cow that gives him some credibility with his business mates.
He should sell up and get to.
PL should be removed at the same time as lennon as I wouldn’t trust him to get another manager in.
You said it was Dermot who got Brenda in. So PL has been responsible for Mowbray, Roony, Lennon twice and wee Gordon.
So in 5 appointments he’s got it right once.
He’s an accountant for f#ck sake.