It was Tom Petty who said “the waiting is the hardest part” and he knew exactly what he was talking about. For football fans there are two things which are almost unbearable as you wait for them; triumph and the moment that puts you out of your misery.
Waiting for triumph can be as simple as counting down the clock in a match you are winning. It can be as complex as counting games left in as season and wondering at which point you can finally be confirmed champions. That calculation is always changing.
But it’s waiting for the pain to be over which can be the worst. Nothing is more soul sapping than seeing a manager who is actively doing your club damage hanging on in there, waiting for his pay-off, waiting for the board to do the coldest calculation there is and finally accepting that its less harmful to give it to him than to keep him in post.
We went through it with Lennon, and other managers before him. What had to be done was clear. We knew it, and the man in the dugout knew it too.
But managers are stubborn, and even arrogant and although deep down they know the game is up they never want to publicly acknowledge that. It’s not all about money; nobody wants to walk away from something that there might be a chance of salvaging.
So the waiting continues. It may well be that the board has already made its mind up, but what today proves is that he’ll have to be pushed because he refuses to jump on his own, and when a manager feels that way it doesn’t matter what his motivation is.
In these circumstances, fans can shout as loud as they like, but the board only moves when it feels that the situation can no longer be put off another minute longer. The added complication is that if a manager already appears to have cost his team a title tilt that sacking him immediately might not necessarily do any good … and a board might want to wait so that it has the freshest range of options for when it has to pull the trigger.
We were in a similarly poor position in Lennon’s final months; a lot of us told ourselves that sacking him immediately might offer us a shot at winning the title after all. In fact, it would probably not have made the slightest difference, although we’ll never know for sure.
Did the board make the right decision to hang onto Lennon?
No, I don’t believe that they did, but they made the right one not to appoint a successor mid-campaign with everything still in the wind.
In hindsight, the squad needed to be rebuilt by someone who came into it with fresh eyes and a new perspective, and so the really cold-blooded decision – to delay the appointment and effectively write-off the campaign – was taken when Lennon was denied funds in January. Those funds were needed for the next guy … and that’s the choice Ibrox has now.
Their fans want action, of course they do … we would if it was us, and we did. But there are no good choices here, only a selection of bad ones and the trick is to pick the least worst option. Is that something their supporters will live with?
My guess would be no. Which is why their board will probably rush this and get it wrong. The waiting might be over soon … but that just sets up the next disaster.
The Title is never over until the math says.
Maths. It’s Maths.
It’s gonnae cost the huns a shit load of money to get rid of Giofanny and his entourage; money that they don’t have.
Given that they have already been flagged up by EUFA re a Going Concern Warning, this will not end well for them.
Rock and hard place methinks.
Re the zombies and “it” being over: the corpulent soprano has begun expectorating in anticipation of the inevitable denouement.
If the board had just acted quicker, i.e. when it was obvious it wasn’t going to happen under Lenny, i.e. feckin’ NOVEMBER…I think that squad would have pulled together under a new coach they didn’t hate and actually won us the ten against a Sevco side which flattered to deceive as far as I’m concerned. The hyperbole all round about that team was ridiculous, even I can admit the hun had much better sides in the past…you know, when they were actually Rangers I mean…
I think Sevco will leave Henke’s best pal in situ until the end of the season barring any further embarrassing calamities that might enrage the fuming bears even more They can’t afford to sack him and his staff right now, a new manager now would want money to spend in January and they obviously have spent the Euro run and transfer kitty paying back loans to directors/Mike Ashley/etc. so they’ll need to wait until it’s time to flog next year’s season tickets to unveil a new coach and maximise that hoovering up of gullibilly cash to allow them to buy Nouble or Miovski or any other non-Celtic player here that might do them harm in the league – tale as old as time….well, sicne the late 1800s anyway…
* since, not sicne…hunnery is a sicne-ss…
btw am I the only one getting the background colour and text colour inverted in the comments section of here and at VideoCelts?
Nope, I quite like it. Plus the Green & White lettering are neat.
All a matter of personal taste I suppose.
As long as it’s legible I’m OK with it.
Sorry James, but it’s all about money, the ibrox club will put Gio on gardening leave same as Ally, hoping he gets another job without paying the rest of his wages, the guy is to good for that scum.
Ffs seppington and sfathen…etc..etc, went from a fitba point tae interior decoratin in one comment there ! We’ll be discussin curtains next. (just kiddin). One thing ye can stick yer house on tho, if they do appoint a new manager, nae doubt we can expect the same superhype and anointing as the last 2 or 3. It’ll be like John Cleese in the LOB ‘ I say he’s the messiah and I should know, because I’ve followed a few’ !! Right on John.
It’ll be Gerrard I am fairly sure of of it. Beale would be an idiot to take the job so early in the season. Plus I think he has better options avaliable to him. But you never know. He was at Ibrox last week on their invitation so I suppose that could have been a message to Gio (dead man walking).
Gerrard’s an idiot, Ange would show him up for what he is. Beale is a different kettle of fish altogether. He’s doing a good job at QPR. I think he could do well up here. But would he really want to come back? Stranger things have happened. Nobody would have thought Brendan Rodgers would come to Celtic. Yet, he did.
Neil Lennon’s time may have been up but I’ll never forgive those arseholes for downing tools. I hope Encham, Edouard, Christie Ajer never win another thing in hopefully short career’s