Today is Bunnet Day, and I’m in a mood to look back and wonder how things could have been different.
Since the tumultuous summer of 2012, I have often wondered how Celtic would have approached matters if Fergus McCann was still at the helm.
It is worth remembering that the Bunnet took on the SFA when he suspected that they had delayed the registration of Jorge Cadete.
As it turned out, he was correct, and it cost the late Jim Farry his job.
It would be beyond naive to suggest that the ONE TIME Celtic called for a forensic investigation on the goings-on at Hampden the Parkhead club struck actionable gold.
Therefore, consider how Fergus McCann would have reacted to the revelation that scores of Rangers players had been…ahem… “imperfectly registered” for an entire decade!
Sandy Bryson conjured up that wonderful euphemism of the side letter scam in the Nimmo Smith probe carried out for the SPL.
It is worth noting that Mr B was the next in line to give evidence after Farry.
However, the SFA head honcho has so completely collapsed in the witness box that there was no point in defending the action.
The Bunnet won.
I note that it was written at the time in a Hampden memo that Mr Bryson was “very nervous about giving evidence”.
McCann would not have sat on his hands as the forensic facts of the EBT cheating decade became apparent.
If you hurt the Bunnet’s business, then he came after you.
Celtic was his business.
There is no doubt that once he had ousted the old board, he set about laying the solid foundations for financial sustainability.
This tweet captures it rather well:
For the avoidance of doubt, the behaviour of Celtic’s current Untitled Director of Football was the polar opposite of the McCann approach.
The chaps at Hampden should be clubbing together to deliver a substantial retirement pressie up the heated driveway.
Indeed, he should also be the toast of the Blue Room.
I’m sure he is.
His belief in the Old Firm brand was a powerful factor in preserving the Ibrox franchise in 2012.
It is also World Book Day, dear reader.
This morning Fear an Phoist delivered this.
I had ordered it for a single chapter by Neal Ascherson.
Of course, the Ibrox franchise has been strongly associated with Empire Loyalism for over a century.
So, in 2012 that’s two dead lives that they have an emotional connection with.
A sepia-toned nostalgia about the British Empire gives the culturally left behind at Ibrox a tragically misplaced sense of self-worth.
Reading is the only known cure for what they have.
However, I rather suspect that they do not have the problem in creating room in their abode for regular consignments of books.
That’s just a guess…
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I didn’t always agree with the way the Bunnet handled things…and I have correspondence between us to prove it.
But when it came to Farry …he will always have my gratitude and undying respect.
When you think how our Club has turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to all things Rangers (IL ) and Sevco…the word shameful doesn’t come close.
In a one liner recently Phil you alluded to Arfield ” not being at his own Birthday party “…and this is one further example of how our Club rolls over and says nothing…about something that is sinister and unacceptable.
But the truth of the matter is…The Media in Scotland have no interest in shining lights into dark corners when it comes to Sevco…but will fall over themselves to dish the dirt on Celtic.
Well…you sow what you reap is a well known phrase…and it suits us down to the ground.
We get what we deserve.
Our Board is filled with cowardly, money grabbing parasites…and they need to be removed.
If the Bunnet had still been around in 2012 there would have been NO Res 12. It wouldn’t have been required.
In fact I strongly suspect there would not have been the lengthy period of cheating. His keen sense of smell would have detected the stench of wrongdoing long before it ran it’s course.
Any news on the CANZUK Trade thingamy boab Phil.
Perhaps something old can come out of the demise of Empire after all ?
Here’s hoping for all our sakes on these shores.
Phil,
I totally agree with everything you have said about the De Facto Director Of Football and that his decision making has been a complete disaster, He is getting out at the right time as I don’t think that he would be able to cope with the pressure from Supporters for next season when We are facing possibly the biggest “Rebuild” in Celtic’s history.
I believe that maintaining “The Old Firm” brand was Lawwell’s ultimate goal and he has been highly successful with this due to his mismanagement of the club for the past few years, The damage that he will leave behind when he retires from the CEO role will be felt for years, I do not see us winning the league next season as the new DOF and Manager have not yet been appointed and not looking likely until the new CEO starts in July which will not give us enough time for a new management team to carry out a complete overhaul and rebuild the side for next season.
Bleak times ahead!
Statue and stand named after him please, the main man celtic to the core ☘️
Brilliantly brilliantly written Phil.
And right on the money.
The Blessed Bunnet must be sick, sad and furious at what has been allowed to happen this season.
Don’t kid yourself. Fergus was 100% in support of Rangers 2.0 and utterly condemned the SPFL for forcing them to start in the lowest tier in a Radio Scotland interview a couple of years ago. He trotted out the “Scottish football needs a strong Rangers” trope. Why wouldn’t he? As you say, he was opposed to anything he perceived to damage Celtic, and he believed Rangers demise did that.
Peter Loyal is Mo Johnston without a fitba strip on.
No one could deny the beneficial influence of McCann on Celtic. His major mistake was the situation with Jansen and what he could have achieved. Celtic were very unfortunate that year against Liverpool in the UEFA cup, and I would have liked to have seen what he could have done over a few seasons. Especially given the resources his successor enjoyed. .
Phil the Bunnet has already being quoted it was a bad move putting Sevco to start again in the lower legues.He was talking from a purely business sense