Yesterday Celtic did their public business in an appropriate manner
The club statement ticked all of the necessary boxes.
You can read it here.
However, anyone taken in by this saccharine stuff really needs to learn how the world works.
Behind the scenes, I’m told several senior people in the Parkhead command structure are less than Zenlike about the Aussie icon.
My information is that this partly stems from a conversation several weeks ago regarding an upgrade to the analysis suite at Lennoxtown was discussed.
This would have cost the club around £300k, and Postecoglou was told it would be done.
After that discussion, the senior people at Celtic were convinced they had a manager for the long haul.
Not so…
The first red flag was probably on the day that the Hoops were presented with the SPFL trophy after that Aberdeen match.
I understand that Postecoglou’s agent didn’t want to discuss his client’s contractual situation.
It is now vital that Celtic get the next move spot on.
I’m told that Enzo Maresca made an impressive presentation and has a powerful advocate from within the existing football department.
Whoever the new person is, there is unanimity that a decision MUST be made this week if at all possible.
Unsurprisingly this turn of events has them dancing across the city.
Emerging from a trophyless season and forced to bring in free agents, suddenly, their prospects suddenly look brighter.
It is difficult to overstate the disruption that Postecoglou’s departure will cause to Celtic’s plans.
Anyone of the Parkhead persuasion who doesn’t see that is in denial.
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He did a great job for two seasons but turned out he was also a good BullShxxter. Maybe we dodged a bullet, The last few games against our only competitor in Scotland have not been comfortable and our football had become a bit predictable. I think maybe Michael Beale will be surprised to have a different opponent in the dug out next season.
Big Ange told us he was here to build something, he lied. For anyone to blame the board for this mini crisis is bizarre.
Always worried we had too many eggs in one basket.
Lessons for us again.
Disappointed he has left as I enjoyed his representation of us and thought he would enjoy competing in Europe with us.
Not really sure what Spurs saw in him. Leeds or Southampton recovery yes, good level.
Oh well….
I don’t think Ange is a keep-you-up kind of manager. I think his style needs to be with a team that’s at least competitive relative to the level of the league. He might take a mid-table team to the top end, or make a relatively dominant team destroy lesser opponents.
I think Spurs is the perfect challenge for him. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if he’d been approached informally / sounded-out via back channels for other vaccines.
He’s gone for the one that made way too much sense for him to turn down. Unfortunately for us, it came along now.
So, he got his head down, secured a treble, then made his move.
Class act, for me. I wish him well.
*vacancies
Good grief
Apologies
Jon Dahl Tomasson, is the man for me. Just because of that smirk.
We like him already.
look on the bright side, they have Mick Beale!
If anyone in Celtic‘s management was surprised that he was leaving then they have been collecting their salary under false pretenses.
The only surprise was it was a big team with European ambitions that came calling and not a championship team with premier league ambitions.
Any idea how much will change hands to compensate for the rolling 12 months contract?
Perhaps we are going in for the practice of ‘perpetual chaos’ similar to that which Neil Young and Mark E. Smith utilised on their bands to keep the music fresh…..
Phil I live just outside the Greater Vancouver Area British Columbia Canada.I have been following you since the Huns went Tits up in 2012.Glorious days.Then came the Banter Years.I think I found you by Accident,and have been Ever since.You have always kept me personally up to date with whats happening in the State of Scottish Football.(good /bad)..I just want to take the time to thank you for all your Scoops.All your digging all your Inside Info where ever you get it…To me you are always a Breath of fresh air Against the Anti Celtic /Anti Catholic struggle against a Scottish Media whose Sole Purpose is Anyone but Celtic….I thankk you Phil for all the Joy you have given me on the other side of the pond .A 71 yr (but young at heart Scotsman).Hail Hail.
I could have written that word for word, I literally could not put that any better myself, thanks John. Thanks Phil.
I can see another repeat of the Eddie Howe debacle, The Celtic Board should be prepared for these kind of things but they never learn and We are always left scrambling to find a replacement and most times not a good one, Deila and Lennon after Rodgers left being prime examples, not optimistic about them appointing the next man to be in charge of Celtic if they are going down the Maresca route
Everytime Celtic have Sevco where they want them some kind of development or “own goal” occurs, Bookies now have the teams pretty even for next years title race, time will tell but no wonder there is glee across the city.
An opportunity to make money from the bookies
True enough, but shit happens, really. No one to be reasonably angry at.
So, the new manager will have a state of the art analysis suite at his disposal? All the better. Ridiculous that there wasn’t one before.
As I’ve said on previous chats, if a club is genuinely blindsided by a manager departing, that’s on them. It’s a relative banality that a Head of Recruitment should be constantly prepared for.
Especially given that, according to your earlier reports, they had offered him a contract extension earlier in the season and he hadn’t accepted it?
Fair enough; his prerogative, entirely. But, if that’s the case, be prepared. Or don’t, and see what happens. But when it does, it’s your fault.
Right now, I see no reason why the club won’t make a strong, coherent appointment. Muscat sounds the best in that regard, but Maresca fits the bill well enough.
The only thing causing me any alarm is the nature of this narrative being leaked to the likes of yourself. If anyone is briefing against Ange for doing what literally anyone would have done, then it suggests a deflection tactic.
But, I’m staying optimistic for now.
Its pretty clear to me that if you haven’t grown up in Scotland and supported the team or Scottish football, then you have no buy-in to the club or culture.
The new normal is for Celtic managers, or Newco for that matter, to stay a short time and only see Celtic as a short term stepping stone.
We should not be surprised when players also show that mercenary outlook.
If there’s disruption, it’s of Celtic’s making. They should be prepared for stuff like this. Unless you’re one of the massive clubs in the big four leagues (and even then…) you’ll always have more tempting, cash rich sides after your manager if they’re doing well.
That’s what a DOF is for, so that when a coach leaves, the whole operation doesn’t get ripped out along with them. There should be succession in place, or at the very least, a shortlist of available candidates. It seems like nothing has been learned from the Eddie Howe nonsense.
That’s where Martin O’Neill could do a great job . As Director of Football for a few years , and he could work on who his successor could be as well .
Build a system around his philosophy annd experience , and have someone like Graham Potter in for two or three years , as we all know being a success in Europe will have the top EPL clubs sniffing around again .
Champions league monies will pay for this and more .
Director of football would be a good idea. I’d put Gordon Strachan in the position or even John Kennedy.
Or the Neil Lennon escaped. Lawwells own words were. He never interviewed anyone else for the job.
Last season we won the League and it was largely overshadowed by Sevco being in a Euro Final.
This season we won an amazing Treble by playing amazing football, and before the hangovers have cleared, the Awesome Aussie has stabbed us in the back, the front, and the neck, and then applied a swift boot to the haw-maws as we lie on the ground.
I used to think the most important person at a club was the manager; I’m now persuaded it’s the person(s) who picks the manager.
I’m hoping the new guy is picked on the basis of his achievements, and not on his ability to tell us how good he is.
Whoever we appoint, we can’t allow ourselves to be taken in by anyone pulling on our heartstrings. It’s not personal, it’s strictly business. If we don’t know that now, we never will.
Lot’s of smoke getting blown up his backside , yesterday Charlie Nicholas claimed he was the best modern day manager since Stein , bunkum as Jimmy Sanderson would say. Third behind Martin and Rodgers and for every Kyogo and CCV there’s an Iwata and an Oh . He delivered plenty of soundbites , chest pumps and promises that ended up empty the second some silicon enhanced tart from West Walthamstow flashed her frillies at him. He may have won a treble but he lost his integrity
Completely agree Phil. Can’t understand why Ange would drop the possibility of European football for this. Hugely disappointing but good luck to him. Let’s get a new face in, strengthen the team and prepare for another successful season, Hail Hail
EPL is a huge challenge that offers life changing money
Our Pheonix has endured and arose from much worse though some coincidence that Lawell returns and good Folk again exit.
I agree. If not dealt with early and positively this could rupture Celtic.