When Celtic signed a lad named Kühn last January, I was immediately transported back to my undergraduate years.
It was the first time I had heard this surname since I opened a copy of this seminal work in the JB Morrell Library on the York University campus.
Kuhn’s 1962 work introduced your humble correspondent to the concept of a paradigm shift.
After this, I was never able to read of any scientific discovery without first considering his analysis.
The young German was deservedly awarded Player Of The Match.
Moreover, all of Europe was watching as he tormented his old club.
When the final whistle sounded at Celtic Park on Tuesday, it seemed more than just an invaluable victory against a tough opponent.
I sensed a paradigm shift.
This wasn’t the bus parking heroics that defeated Barcelona in 2012.
Rather, it was a confident, expansive performance from Celtic that had the team currently second in the Bundesliga bereft of any ideas in the last ten minutes of the game.
This was another epoch from the regular misery of European nights in the Lawwellball era.
Bean counter myopia often saw Celtic entering the Champions League qualifiers with a hastily assembled scratch team.
Consequently, opponents with a fraction of the budget often prevailed.
Yesterday, a source close to the Celtic boardroom reminded me of this event in 2021.
At the time, I thought it was a bit out of the ordinary, and if a report had been produced, it had passed me by.
I was informed that the Barrowfield Project and the appointment of this chap had, to some extent, originated with the findings of that three-month consultancy.
When Rangers died in 2012, there was a genuinely held feeling in the Parkhead leadership that rivals across the city were vital to the Celtic business model.
Regular readers will be aware of what Mr Lawwell said to me in the foyer of the Hyatt Hotel in Philadelphia that summer as Hoops fans were dancing on the grave of EBT FC.
The victory over the Bundesliga side announced that Celtic are not out of place in that sort of company.
Moreover, it doesn’t need to be joined at the hip to the delinquent franchise at Ibrox.
Because of the impact of UEFA’s new FSR ordinances, for the first time since the late 1980s, a club called Rangers is being forced to live within their means.
It’s worth remembering that the brethren at Hampden looked the other way as financial malfeasance on an industrial scale and, ahem, imperfectly registered players scammed the rest of Scottish football.
Now, the good guys in Paradise have gallant allies in Europe.
In the financial sustainability paradigm, Sevco are Simply The Second Best on Planet Fitba.
That reality is forcing a paradigm shift in the worldview of the Ibrox klanbase, which is wonderful to watch.
Later on today, Sevco will play a match in the country that gave us the word hubris.
It all seems too beautifully contrived for a novel.
I think it’s simply a realisation through two decades of being dominated by their rivals that they aren’t simply the best nor are they superior in any way.
Basically their da is full of it and no amount of delusion is going to change that.
Reality can be an awfy vengeful mistress when you’ve mistreated her.
Tavernier will be gone in January.
Sterling does not look to happy either.
I noticed with interest that the press are questioning TavPen’s current value to the team. Predictable, at least in my opinion, and it would appear that the final purges of high earners has been launched.
I have read that book 🙂
I think that automatically qualifying for the group stage is a huge factor. That removes the uncertainty which must help with budgeting for the season ahead as well as with attracting a higher quality player to the club.
It’ll be interesting to see if the current spending continues next season, when qualifiers have to be navigated.
The need for a paradigm shift at Celtic was as much out of necessity as anything. The alternative was merely to resign yourself to mediocrity and consequential European oblivion, more revolutionary than evolutionary.
A paradigm shift is always revolutionary.
Read the book…
Pardon my ignorance Phil.Ive not read the book. What is a paradigm shift ?
Thank you so much for your wonderful site, did you notice that the FA announced yesterday that if Man City are found guilty in the current investigation, they will be held to account and will have to PAY the other clubs for loss of funds. If only we had a FA which did its job properly. Also in my opinion Cal Mac was absolutely superb.
Sir, you are spot on, regarding Lawwell.
Gross insult to pigeons.
Poor peepil, must be a traumatic struggle adapting from believing you’re a peacock to finding out you’re a pigeon.
And a tribute pigeon into the bargain. Dummy doos.
Sweet.