Now is the winter of our disconnect.
The fall in Celtic’s fortunes since that heroic match against Bayern Munich last February has been truly Shakespearean.
After that, the loss of form has, if not off a cliff face, been on a discernible downwards gradient.
The Parkhead club did clinch the title but failed to win the treble on the last day of the season.
Then came Kairat Almaty, Honda Civicgate and Terminado 2.0.
The angry goodbye from the club’s de facto owner added to the bizarre nature of Brendan’s…err…“resignation”.
His message to the shareholding serfs read out by the Prince of Shares was too contrived for a treason finale on Netflix.
This is not what Fergus McCann envisioned when he toppled the old board in 1994.
It is difficult to see a good outcome for Succession FC this season.
When a football club, any club, is on a bad run of games and, for Celtic, this is definitely that, then the guy in the dugout is held responsible.
The question is this:
How did he get there?
Who appointed him?
Was it the dozing football doctor?
If so, then who authorised HIS choice?
All this week, sources have been reaching out to me about trouble at Lennoxtown.
It painted a picture of disharmony to put it mildly.
There was one persistent rumour, from two excellent sources, about the new manager’s low opinion of one highly respected member of the coaching staff.
I’m told that this was greeted with angry incredulity by senior players in the squad.
One buddy who analyses Celtic games sent me this not long after the match ended at Hampden.
“The players clearly took control on the pitch and failed miserably. It’s a total mess from top to bottom
“The manager needs to convince the players, ‘this is how we climb the mountain. ‘ So far, he’s failed. The players clearly believe they have agency to play how they like. They failed. Where’s the adult?”
Ultimately, this shambles is on the titular CEO and the board.
However, there is no secret about who really wields the power at Celtic.
Moreover, it is difficult to disagree with David Low’s observation.
To compound this, if it weren’t enough, is the club’s current stance against the folk at ACSOM and other respected fan media outlets.
The league title must be in serious jeopardy now.
Of course, one should never waste an impending disaster.
Sadly, that last sentence might be seen as a challenge for those currently tasked with leading Celtic.
Discover more from Phil Mac Giolla Bháin
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
I have, looked at this Celtic team,and there are others that keep saying we have the best players, that is there opinion yet i have never seen any more than 3 players in any one game prove it ,our defence is coming far to far up the park only for McGregor mince and tatties and engles ,they do not drive forward take players on, yet face our own goal with pass back play , yet our defence then has to run back all the time, due to these mugs in the midfield who in turn don’t help out yet you see our forwards media and yang in our box defending our defence yet nothing is done about this midfield a would take the 3 out in any game they have the worse passing and shooting record going , never there for a header,so no good to our team
I remember a Tom Boyd interview a few years ago discussing the players early relationship with new manager Wim Jansen.
Celtic had lost their first two league games of season 1997-98 and there was a mini player revolt as they thought Jansen’s tactics and system were to blame.
There followed a team and manager meeting where Jansen took on board the feelings of the players and changed his methods accordingly.
The rest, as they say, is history.
Perhaps Nancy should learn from history and ditch his dreadful 3-5-2 system, particularly because he does not have the right players to effectively play it, as the last three results have proved.
Finally, Martin O’Neill should have been left in place until after these three games.
Team with poor defensive set up have a manager, who knows nothing about defensive tactics, appointed by an incompetent board; whose decision making have stopped a three point Premiership lead from happening; lost a Europa League play off place; and now capitulation in a league cup final to a ninth place team. Increasingly, it looks as though some neroic fiddling is taking place correlating with Lawell’s return to a position of influence. No doubt this is at Desmond’s behest as Junior isn’t up to the job on a solo or supported basis. I hope they are all visited shortly by the ghosts of christmas past and future to remind them Celtic FC are not a decorative bauble for their family tree.
After a period to gather my thoughts, you know Phil, I actually feel sorry for Wilfried Nancy. If he was the man they wanted, the board should have at least left it until January. They put him in there with no players of his own, no transfer window and at a pivotal point in the season.
Who honestly thought that was a good idea? Regardless of the manager’s capabilities, the timing is atrocious. It helps absolutely nobody including Wilfried Nancy.
Plenty have had a lot of good things to say about this guy, including Alistair Johnson. He has been hung out to dry by the board. Regardless of who is in the dugout we should be winning games like this today. The buck doesn’t stop at his door.
Then you have mistakes made by Schmeichel, Ralston, Trusty & Scales who could not defend properly. In addition, I’ll throw in Hatate, McGregor & Engels missed passes and their doubling up on Tournetki & providing him with no support. Ianhanacho played well until his recurring injury to be replaced by … aye Kenny. So disappointing again. On their input today MON would not have made a difference.
Every season ticket holder and everyone on wait list must ask themselves if celtic or their seat comes first
DD banking it’s the second one
Excellent comment, been saying the same since I gave up my season ticket in protest at our board and their mis-management, some years ago.
A fair assessment of things in my humble opinion. I have been mulling things over since the final whistle today and here is the conclusions I came to.
If we start with the manager, you could say that he has shown a lot of bottle in coming in and trying to implement his trusted system/style from the get go. But, after the defeats to hearts and Roma, attempting to carry it on into the cup final was extremely risky.
Moving on to the players. Many commentators in the game, and Celtic fans themselves, have been questioning their ability. A lot of fans feel that the team badly needs strengthening.
This raises questions on recruitment. Many feel that it has not been good. So there are questions there regarding who is responsible for recruitment, and who is responsible for appointing them.
Which ultimately brings us to the board. Or should that be Dermot Desmond as he seems to call the shots at Celtic, even though he is not the owner.
I take no comfort in coming to the realisation that there are many things wrong at my beloved club which I have supported for the best part of 60 years now.
I hope that the rot can be reversed but like you, I believe in the view that the fish rots from the head Phil. HH ☘️☘️☘️
As bizarre as that suggestion is by Manus it makes total sense.
The board has helped the new club far more than Celtic.
What a shower.
i believe the board, realised that therangers were never going to be in a position to improve enough to challenge us, so have steadily weakened us to keep their beloved old firm’ tag going as they believe that is the only thing that makes us unique
Hear Hear
For the life of me I just can’t see how any thinking person could deny the “managed decline” that he have witnessed as an act of self-harm; and yet, I detect that there are those who would argue otherwise!
Spot on. Peter lawwell has done this numerous times. In his opinion-world celtic need a strong rangers. Make sure the so called old firm brand is intacted apparently this brings in bigger sponsorship deals. It really is time for him to go. There’s no room for his ego
It is complete, total and utter nonsense to think that we need a strong Rangers/Sevco to obtain good sponsorship deals! Even a cursory glance at the evidence proves the opposite to be the case.
When Strachan came in he won three titles in a row. The following season Celtic landed, what was at the time, the biggest sponsorship deal in Scottish sporting history.
Ironically we lost the title that season and the following two, to the financially doped team from Ibrox. The sponsorship deal was NOT renewed!
We didn’t get another decent deal while Sevco were in the lower divisions.
Fast forward to 2016, and the end of the ‘journey’. Sevco have been our whipping boys since the day and hour they appeared in the top flight. Once again, a cursory comparison of the respective trophy hauls shows how strong the Ibrox club is. FIVE times I think it is now, since August 2016 Celtic have broken the Scottish record for sporting sponsorship deals!! What IS likely to have a negative bearing on our sponsorship, is persistent failure to qualify for the CL. Sponsors want to be at the top table!!
I’ve also heard it said, that a weak Ibrox club will effect season ticket sales! A glance at the waiting list for tickets puts that one to bed! Celtic fans will NEVER tire of watching them beat any team from Ibrox!!