I was called this evening by a very well-placed source who was irked by my last piece.
He thought I had been rather harsh on Celtic.
Now, dear reader, the following is what he shared with me.
At this stage, I have no way of verifying it.
However, he is in a position to know, and I have full confidence in his integrity.
He told me that SIX WEEKS ago, there was a “memorandum of understanding” between the bold Eddie and the Parkhead club.
If you look back to that period, it was around then that certain favoured journalists were being briefed from inside Celtic.
They were told that Eddie Howe was a nailed-on certainty to the next manager of the Hoops.
So what happened?
Well, tonight, my guy suggested that perhaps the said memorandum wasn’t as tight as it should have been.
If that is correct, then I can only imagine that Don Dermot’s mood will be approaching Krakatoa levels.
My source confirmed to me that the reports in the media about the issues around backroom staff were essentially correct.
One thing that seems to have been a point of dispute was the cost of buying out the contracts of the preferred backroom guys at Bournemouth.
He told me that it was Celtic’s position that the cost of this would come out of the already agreed budget for the re-build.
Mr Howe was not in agreement.
Now, I’m told that this memorandum of understanding thingy was meant to be inviolate subject to both sides doing their due diligence and being satisfied.
So this issue about who paid for the backroom staff contracts doesn’t look to fall within that agreed area.
Then my guy said that at the 11th hour, the ex-Bournemouth boss wanted a substantial uplift in the agreed re-build budget.
So all of this seems to have fallen apart on Wednesday evening.
Shambles FC.
It would be very useful to get Mr Howe’s take on all of this.
The thing is, the whole of Planet Football knows that Celtic are now utterly desperate for a manager.
Moreover, pre-season training is only weeks away.
Not a good place to be at all.
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What I will never understand is…
Why …given the timelines and the potential huge re-build that was required… ( players out and players in ) would you engage with someone who wasn’t prepared to commit until certain criteria had been achieved at his end…and would take months to achieve an answer ?
We were not remotely in a position to do that…so why did we go down that route?
And the fact that it was Howe is irrelevant.
To my simple mind…We should only have approached someone suitable…who was instantly AVAILABLE…or would quickly be available.
This, to me, is the single biggest issue…and I’d love to know why someone thought that this was the way to go.
Once again we have been left feeling angry and badly let down.
When will crap like this end…?
I’m not on here to defend this board, but to starve the club of funds is self defeating. Within a few weeks we will have a new Manager and a DOF in place and we already have a new CEO who has just got his feet under his desk and some supporters groups seem to want to handicap them before they even take over.
The past season has been in football terms a disaster, the Board have been asleep at the wheel for a few years now but to over react would play right into our enemies hands. My family have 3 season tickets and will be renewing them because we are Celtic supporters and support them through good times and bad.
If you’re unhappy with the board then attend games and let them know how unhappy you are with them but support the team on the park.
Personally without being disrespectful you need a reality check.I could list this board,led by Desmonds failings,but why bother we all know what a disaster they are.
Why don’t we leave the stock exchange,didn’t seem to do any harm to Sevco,only people who have shares would care.The people who matter may even take control of their club.
It is now clear Desmond is part of the problem.
It is either his business strategy being implemented or he cannot get his CEOs to do his bidding, maybe both.
This starts from the very top Dermot Desmond and the rest of the board wanting the season ticket money in before dropping the Eddie Howe shit show and waiting till the Friday evening to get the story out you’d think that it was a sevco like statement, the whole board need to get the hell out of celtic and let Dom Mckay bring in some decent men.
They should have had him signed months ago. If he didn’t sign anything the club should of moved on
Or maybe, after sitting down with his wife and doing their own due diligence, Howe, his wife, his backroom staff and their wives and children somehow didn’t quite fancy…1, The bullets and bombs in the post.
2,The death threats, 3, The verbal and physical assaults that go unpunished in a court of law….oh, and 4, The firebombing of your home while yourself, your wife and children are fast asleep.
Haud me back, eh?.
I’ll be honest, for once I feel a bit sympathy for the board. I think he’s shat it, pure and simple. Whether it be the demands for success, the size of the task, whatever. He’s decided a job where avoiding relegation and a wee cup run makes him a superstar is far better than the hassle of winning every single week. Wobbled and ran.
Silly old MOU doesn’t know his law well.
Re Celts for Change (from last piece). I’m not a member of any of these groups but seem to cover the ground:
The Celtic Trust has over 20k members and campaigns on behalf of small shareholders ie fan shareholders. https://twitter.com/TheCelticTrust/status/1398376160061530116 talks about relationship with club broken down so maybe looking to up the ante.
@Celtic_Shared has over 5k followers “We believe that Celtic supporters should have greater say in how our club is run
Celts for Change 2021 celtsforchange2021.com @ForCelts has about 2k followers “Our objective going forward is to disrupt the marketing and commercial side of the club as far and wide as we can during the present pandemic.”
The Association and Affiliation have been posted missing for months/years (high heid yins too fond of their comfy seats?) so they’re unlikely to play any positive role, which isn’t to say they won’t play a negative one to undermine any action for change.
These groups and various websites will still be a minority of fans/STHs but hopefully they can come together to try to co-ordinate action on behalf of the, surely, majority of fans that want to see meaningful change in the way Celtic is run.