“The trouble with fiction is that it makes too much sense. Reality never makes sense.”
Aldous Huxley.
Anyone who had put this Celtic season in a novel would have it immediately ripped out by any moderately competent book editor.
When the final whistle sounded yesterday, I had seen it before.
Indeed, I fully expected it.
The goal by the men from Perth was entirely expected, and the Celtic equaliser was, to say the least, unintended.
This season appears to be the same wake-up call over and over.
If the onfield failure is on a continuous loop, then so are the thoughts of the manager.
Neil Lennon’s post-match reflections are now a grisly spectacle.
His constant defenestration of the players in his squad isn’t a good look.
I suppose there is some basic job security if no one else currently wants the gig.
The world and her significant other know that a change of almost the entire management team is required.
Only the excellent Stevie Woods should survive the coming purge.
However, if the CEO remains in situ, then this shambolic saga will just be getting a new chapter rather than a denouement.
It is undeniable that the startling decline of Celtic has happened on Mr Lawwell’s watch.
However, that is not the prime reason why Pedro’s tenure at Parkhead should be swiftly ended.
The events of 2012 presented an opportunity to usher in a new era of fairness and transparency in Scottish football.
Had Financial fair Play (FFP) been part of the Sevco deal then the current situation would not exist.
My settled view is that during those tumultuous summer months, Mr Lawwell never lost sight of the crucial importance of the Old Firm.
Now we are finally there.
Moreover, if the club formed in 2012 wins the SPFL this season, then it will have done so with a team that they cannot afford.
The Covid situation means that HMRC are being lenient with clubs and we know from the RIFC accounts that Ibrox club are in the hole to Hector for many millions.
However, that is only the part of the story as directors have thrown cash into the money pit to keep the show on the road.
Essentially Mr Gerrard has a squad that the club cannot afford.
Neil Lennon played in a Celtic side that up against a financially doped club at Ibrox.
So, we are here again, and the Celtic CEO has a part in that.
Indeed, the long struggle of the Resolution 12 lads all comes back to his door.
Moreover, it is an open secret in the football manager village that the situation at Parkhead is unusual.
Essentially the club operates with an untitled and unqualified director of football.
This is a crucial pathogen in this disastrous scenario that has unfolded this season.
There are other factors, the absence of Celtic fans seriously weakens the Hoops on the field.
Whereas Ibrox without their klanbase is a real help to the Sevco players.
For the avoidance of doubt, I fully understand them on that point.
It will be down to Celtic historians, of which there are several excellent ones, to carry out a full autopsy of how Ten In A Row was not achieved.
All we have at the moment is the first rough draft.
Back in 1994, I was part of an unruly ensemble that waited for the Bunnet and his wingman Brian Dempsey to come out and announce the result.
The latter got his 15 minutes of Celtic fame when he told us that the rebels had won.
We had.
These days such a prospect is mere message board fantasy.
Until now, Mr Desmond’s assessment of his CEO is that he is good for the bottom line.
He only broke with that view when he was personally abused at Hampden in April 2016.
An EPL level manager then guided the Scottish champions to an unparalleled era of domestic domination.
Of course, you know how it ended.
I stated at the start of this historic season that then the only thing that would stop Celtic is Celtic and so it has proved to be.
If my information is correct, then the relationship between the CEO and the main shareholder has effectively broken down.
Consequently, I’m sure that root and branch change will come at Celtic.
However, it will almost certainly be too late to save the dream of the Ten.
Now that is something that will not be washed away with a quip about Rory Bremner.
I think it is fair to say that I do not much care for Mr Lawwell’s brave new world.
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Oh my days. Some amount of knowledge based on knowing nothing. Peter does not scout or recommend players, he authorises their signing based on a business case put forward by the scouting dept and coaches. Using shved as an example is plain daft, u think PL watched Ukrainian footy and thought oh that lads right up our street for a couple of million. Mistakes have been made, they have a very settled team, not had any major issues with injuries or suspensions, although lack depth. Could be that the stars are just aligned for them. But To be so negative after winning 11 trophies on the trot and all that enjoyment has brought us in frankly bonkers. Just read a post on the Celtic blog eulogising Rodgers, he was amazing for us, left under a cloud but now Lennon is getting it, great result tonight keep the faith and the 10 will still happen
How many times do you need to be told? The 5 way agreement and res 12 mean nothing to them. They know that bigotry drives the bottom line and as long as there is a Sevco, the balance sheet will be in the black. Celtic were the only team to see a drop in gate money when Sevco went down, this alone should make you see money is the driving force. The Celtic board don’t give a sook for the fans, as long as they are buying season tickets. They know full well if some refuse to buy then there is a queue waiting to take their place so a boycott won’t work.
The Celtic board are worried that if Celtic get the 10 in a row then Sevco fans will walk and the income stream is done.
Celtic and Sevco have had the benefit of dodgy officials for years and when you lose a game or two it hurts. Look back at the records and see how self centered Celtic fans are. Then look to see if the board care.
Everyone knew Lennon was not the man and he was the cheap option but it’s achieved the result they needed, continue rivalry that brings in the mulla.
Mr Desmond has done nothing for celtic apart take the glory, lawwell is the man who goes does the deals, lawwell is the man who has made millions for celtic, what has Desmond done apart from the appointment of Rodgers he turns up at cup final and whenever the golf is on at St Andrews.
It was obvious that Rangers were going to come back strong this season in an effort to stop 10 IAR. Reading the KDS forum there is an awful air of entitlement. We have had an amazing run but what fans are overlooking is that this year is the first year since 2011 that Rangers have a strong squad and starting 11. Also Rangers were not in the SPL from 2012-16, by their own misdemeanours. So the question has to be asked just how good was our 9 IAR. Where does it stand in terms of sporting merit.
2010-11 Rangers won the league in Neil’s first season. 2019-20 they were galloping strong until a collapse in form post Christmas. We got comprehensively outplayed in the League Cup Final but won thanks to the brilliance of Fraser Forster.
So the events of this season and how it has unfolded were to an extent foreseeable. The board should have thanked Neil for his services last summer and brought in another top level manager. I can appreciate that sounds harsh considering Neil won everything he could domestically since coming back. But when you dug deep you could see those trophy wins were covering a multitude of issues.
There has been issues regarding recruitment at Celtic since 2016. These have not been adequately addressed.
People talk about the new Rangers engaging in financial doping. Well it’s unlikely they were ever going to be able to challenge any other way. Indeed winning the league and getting champions league finances may well set them on the road to being self sufficient financially or getting by by selling one marquee name every summer Ala Celtic.
I smell sh*te.
Hail Hail
Hope Donegal is fairing well Phil, Have a safe and healthy holiday, for yourself and not forgetting family.
To be honest I always intended this to be my last season. I’ve followed Celtic since 1962. The first time I saw them was in a Scottish Cup semi against St Mirren at Ibrox (neutral ground). They were beaten 3-1 –despite the best efforts of the Celtic fans who rained bottles onto to the pitch in the hope (I can only assume) of getting the match abandoned. It wasn’t to be.
But I wasn’t deterred. Once you’ve seen those green and white hoops, you are hooked (teaching granny to suck eggs here). I missed Lisbon. I listened to the game on the ‘wireless’ while I was a deckhand on an old J&J Denholm iron ore carrier called the ‘Clarkavon’ (top speed about eight knots). We were off the west coast of Africa, somewhere, having picked up a cargo of iron ore from a place (name escapes me) that resembled some wind and sand blasted planet out of science fiction. As luck would have it, I won the ship’s raffle that day, a bottle of Canadian Club whisky. Needless to say, it didn’t last long on that most wonderful of nights.
I unfortunately made it to Milan. But in football, as in life, you have to take the good with the bad. And in the years between 1962 and now, there have been good times and bad times. But here I’m referring exclusively to events occurring on the football pitch. And ask yourself, would you really want to win every game? As the Utilitarian philosophers would have it, the joy of constantly winning would gradually diminish to vanishing point.
And in the years between 1962 and now, I have never been under any illusion as to what the term ‘Old Firm’ really means, and I mean ‘really ‘ means. It’s a business model pure and simple, and it suits both parties to a ‘T’ . And hey, I could actually live with that—-up to a point. And that point came with the Resolution 12 disgrace. And that is a disgrace. That my club would casually disregard me, as a shareholder, by refusing to challenge a blatant case of cheating that could, and I emphasise ‘could’ have cost us millions in lost revenue by foregoing an opportunity to take part in European football.
That’s why I decided to call it a day. Not because of defeats on the park, but because of being held in contempt by the people who run my club. And if I ever had cause to have second thoughts , the current events would have banished them.
I actually don’t think Neil Lennon is the problem. Maybe if he actually got to ‘be’ the manager, we wouldn’t be in this predicament. But the same board that holds me and my fellow supporters in contempt also holds him in contempt, and won’t allow him to ‘be’ the manager. Which is probably why they won’t get a decent replacement.
But in this, my last season as a practicing Celtic fan, I have not given up hope for the Ten. And my reasons for optimism are: on paper we have the best players in the league, if we can translate that on to the park and put ‘pressure’ on our rivals, we may just see they don’t have the mental strength required of champions.
PL – obviously – must have taken on Jim Traynor to do the Celtic PR.
Jeezo…! 🙁
The league is over and Lennon/Kennedy etc. with it. At this stage they could only replace Lennon with somebody like Strachan anyway. If Lennon does not stabilize the situation we may get there but I fail to see how anyone could rectify it. I have no doubt that DD is already putting out feelers on who may be the best man for the job. What must be concerning him even more is the effect on the financial resale value of the playing staff. For example, Edouard now looks like the player he was when he first came on loan…….Not a good look as you say.
We started the season with, by far and away, the best squad in the country by miles. There was not one player in our rival’s team who would make our first eleven. We then added in the region of £15 million worth of new players, as well as loan signings.
The goalkeeper, Barkas, was recommended by Stevie Woods.
The only people to blame for the clusterfuck at Celtic, are Neil Lennon and the coaching staff, I can’t name one player who has improved under his watch, but could name a dozen who have regressed.
Trying to blame anyone else is pushing a personal agenda.
the dream of 10 is not yet over however to achieve it Mr Desmond will have to take controll pay over the top for a quality manager and get 3 or 4 real quality loans from EPL ,this will cost millions but it is our only hope. due to the incompantsies of the manager background staff no tactics and players who think that they are bigger than Celtic.
Celtic are also running at a loss during this crisis. Not to the extent of withholding tax money, but burning through reserves and taking loans.
You want the truth come here!
That’s made my day to know that the relationship between PL and DD has broken down.
Let’s hope it leads to a brighter Celtic future for All The Celtic Family🍀
Thanks Phil at long last, We’ve hope at least🇮🇪
With regards to the debt owed to HMRC, I’m aware HMRC are being sympathetic to businesses in this diffi times and giving them time to pay off money they owe.
Here’s my problem with the situation at Ibrox, The accounts to June 2020 show they owe around £9 million.
Am I correct in saying the tax year begins on 5th April? are we to believe that their £9 million bill was run up in about 12 weeks, which by my calculations would mean an annual tax bill of around £36 – 40 million,surely this cannot be correct.
If this is the case surely Sevco must have had outstanding social taxes from the previous year?
This in turn begs the question were the SFA informed of any monies owed to HMRC from the last year and did they take this into account when signing off the eight year old’s application to take part in European competition for the season 20-21.
In short. there appears there could be a repeat of the collusion that took place on 2011 when they were awarded a place in the Champions League at the expense to Celtic.
Maybe you could run this past the Rugger guy to see if my suspicions are justified!!
Sevco don’t make a profit so they can’t
Owe tax as company . The arrears must be paye tax they have taken off players and staff and not handed over to hector at the end of each month vat is every quarter.
Colin,
I’m not suggesting they made a profit, my point is a large proportion of the money they owe in social taxes was a debt they owed to Hector prior to the SFA approving their participation in the following seasons Europa League competition.
As you point out it’s Pay As You Earn, they are duty bound to pay the money deducted from their staffs earnings to HMRC.
As they decided not to pay the money to HMRC surely they are in breach of uefa rules and therefore should not have been approved to participate in Europe?
A large portion of taxes they showed as owing in the accounts will be VAT which was allowed to be deferred between 20 March and 30 June and will not need to be paid until 31 March 2021 at the earliest.
The only income stream of any note Sevco have had since the March lockdown is the season ticket money. If, as reported, they have sold. 32,000 ST’s VAT would only come to around £2.7m, assuming an average ticket cost of £500.
Let’s be seriously generous and say they sold 50,000 @ £600. The VAT due on that would still only be £5m.
That still leaves in the region of £4m most of which must be social taxes.
Now we come to the meat of it.
Was this money owed BEFORE the award of the European license? Did Sevco receive a demand for this money from HMRC? If so when?
Was it BEFORE they were awarded a license to play in Europe? When was the deferred payment plan agreed with HMRC?
Now, IF they did indeed receive a demand for overdue taxes BEFORE the awarding of the license, but did NOT agree the payment plan until AFTER they were awarded the license, then technically on the date that the license was awarded they were in breach of the rules governing the granting of the license, and therefore no license should have been issued.
IF this IS the case then the SFA are at best, of gross negligence. At worst collusion with a member club to give them preferential treatment by facilitating the breaking of UEFA’s.
Of course it is just possible that whoever filled out the application on behalf of the eight-year-old institution, lied through his teeth. Obviously NOT what one would expect from a representative of this bastion of sporting integrity!!
Please insert “guilty” between “are” and “at best”, and “rules” after “UEFA’s”. Both in the second last paragraph. Just to turn it into English!!
Why blame the monkey when it’s evident that the fault lies with the organ grinder.
Desmond in his mind is always right,and as is always the case he thinks that he dosnt need advice.
Why are we reading crap nobody wants the managers position.
Desmond needs to go,as he is even worse than Sevco directors (throwing money down a black hole)if he thinks that his decisions won’t cause millions in revenue to Celtic.
It would seem rather convenient for DD if he has fallen out with PL.
PL could take the blame, get punted with a payoff – and a signed NDA of course!
BUT, it was under DD’s watch that a CEO was left in position for 17 years.
DD is responsible for enabling the dysfunctional CEO/Director of Football situation to evolve – and which must now be a real hindrance to attracting a decent, new manager.
DD has enabled an obedient Board to exist – and he has enabled the growing disconnect with the support.
Up until now, all DD has cared about is PL delivering acceptable financials.
That’s it.
DD should do walking away after NL and PL.
But, he probably won’t… 🙁