Reports today suggest that we might be on the cusp of doing something very stupid; waiting until the English Championship has been fully decided, play-offs and all, because then, and only then, will we know whether Eddie Howe and his backroom team are unaffordable.
I think most of us would agree that what’s unaffordable is the luxury of time to waste.
There are less than 60 days until pre-season training and the Champions League draw. Every single minute we are not already busy takes us, step by step, closer to disaster.
The idea that, as a club, we should hold off until the end of May before we even know if we’ll get Howe is surely too terrifying a prospect for us to entertain. For all we see dysfunction looking at Celtic right now, most of us probably believe that the superficial view is at odds with reality; surely, there has to be something going on behind the scenes?
Surely real progress has to be being made?
But if these reports are even in the ballpark of being correct, we’ve thrown all our eggs into one basket even though there’s a chance that Howe isn’t going to come. Let’s not forget that we have been here before, with players. Until a contract is signed, until its formal and legal and irrevocable then there’s a lot that can still go wrong.
Other clubs coming in for him is only one area of danger, and there are others and this situation already feels like one we’ve been in for an age of the earth. It’s approaching the end of the two-month mark, and at some point season ticket forms have to go out.
It is unthinkable that they can ask fans to buy those tickets without a clear picture of how the club is going to look.
It is unthinkable that they would have the arrogance or the contempt to think that fans would simply trust them to get this right.
This club lost that presumption when its directors held its impromptu board meeting at Hampden on 25 May 2019 and decided there and then to offer the job to Lennon.
The fans won’t settle for empty words and promises on the never-never.
We need to see where this is going.
Waiting around for Howe at this point is lunacy.
Get him to commit or move on, and do it quickly, because time is running out.