WHO WAS IN ON THIS? WHO WAS AT THE MEETING?
The top page of three contains the initials of those who were present, and from those we can infer that, from the boardroom, Peter Lawwell and Michael Nicholson were there.
From the coaching team, Damien Duff was there, and so too was John Kennedy. Neil Lennon was there, of course. Lee Congerton was present.
There are another two sets of initials on the document, and here we’d be into guesswork. LSL is not someone who’s name I immediately recognise; he could be one of Congerton’s staff or one of our many club scouts. I’m also not familiar with TMCK.
As it’s a First Team Recruitment meeting you would assume that no reserve staff would have been at it, and it doesn’t look as if any were. DD could mean Dermot Desmond, but I don’t believe he would have been in attendance for something so prosaic.
Congerton’s attendance at this meeting is understandable in one sense, although most inside Celtic Park must have been well aware that he had at least one foot out the door. As you’ll see in a moment, his departure has actually damaged us somewhat, and in a way that should leave the staff at Celtic absolutely furious with him and Brendan Rodgers.
We know Lennon was being kept in the loop about all this, but the presence of he and his coaches is indicative of a decision that was made well in advance of the cup final even if nobody was prepared to go out on the limb and admit that.
Our club has been in a dreadful state of flux this past six months, and Congerton is part of the reason why. I am deeply suspicious about his role in all this, as I will now explain.