What in God’s name is going on at Celtic Park?
At other clubs, their plans are far in advance for the next campaign. Players are being tied up on pre-contract agreements. Progress is being made.
At Parkhead there’s nothing but the sound of silence, dead silence.
All around us, football clubs are showing us what decisive action and planning for the future looks like.
What the Hell are we doing?
Chelsea today sacked Frank Lampard, putting this dithering and delaying over Lennon in its proper context.
Lampard is one of the most respected footballers ever to play for the London club. He is a genuine icon over there, the kind of person they name stands after. Their club is run by serious people though and they didn’t hesitate for one minute.
What does Chelsea look like from the outside?
A club which “rushes to judgement”?
That’s one of the nonsensical phrases our board is hiding behind. We don’t “rush to judgement.”
As I’ve said before, by the logic of this board Noah was rushing to judgement when he started building the ark before the rain came. Nobody is accusing Chelsea of moving too fast … what they’ve done is understood and the club is respected because it took action.
I am appalled by the stasis our club has fallen into.
Who is kidding themselves on that this all makes sense, that this pitiful behaviour has some logic behind it? The so-called January review … what exactly is up for debate? Four games this month, no wins.
Extenuating circumstances? When are there not?
If a crisp packet blew into the goal in a game we lost there are people who would find a reason to call it the turning point of the match and absolve Lennon from any of the blame.
The club leaves him hanging. It leaves us all hanging. In the meantime, what?
If something is going on behind the scenes they’ve kept it very quiet, and in the meantime the external impression is that we’re sinking without a trace.
There are things which the manager is responsible for and there are things for which no blame can be attached to him. Celtic is a shambles. He denies that, but not a single outsider thinks we’re anything else.
Rumours swirl around us because there’s no real news and in the meantime people inside the walls brief the press that doing nothing is their preferred option.
We are such an amateurish, absolute, mess right now that I wouldn’t be even slightly surprised if they backed Lennon and said that as far as they are concerned he’s here for the long term.
I would not be in the slightest bit surprised if they doubled-down on doing damn all.
In the meantime, other clubs are busily preparing not only for the rest of the season but for the next one. We face losing key players – we all know we will – and if there’s work being done to replace them there’s no sign of it.
Our so-called leadership is a joke.
For weeks, I clung to one thought; we’ve fallen behind, but it’s only for this season.
But you watch as other clubs continue to do their work, steadily improving on what they have whilst we face uncertainty and regression, and I wonder if it is just one season.
I wonder if we should start preparing for a time as also-rans, because my faith in this board right now is at zero.
This is about more than a disconnect.
With every day that passes the job for the next managaer gets bigger, and when they can’t even do the simple stuff – like firing the failed manager we have right now – why should we believe that they can hire the right guy and support him?
By the end of this week we should know the position of the manager, but some of Lawwell’s puppets have already told us what to expect and so I won’t be shocked in the slightest if they do confirm that he’s staying until the end of the season.
I suspect many people will be shocked though, and that will influence their decision about whether or not to renew their season tickets. As yet, no organised supporter organisation is calling for a boycott and I know that two of them won’t support it anyway … but an organised campaign for one is an absolute certainty if we continue down this road.