If Peter Lawwell is in Turkey on a jolly, then I have to wonder why in God’s name he’s travelling to the other side of the world to network and hob-nob and glow with pride at being in the proximity of the sheiks of a repressive petro-state when we need a manager. If he’s over there to make someone an offer then as far as I’m concerned he should stay there.
The idea that we might be about to offer the keys to our club to a guy with virtually no managerial experience at all should be reverberating through our fan-base like the shockwave of a powerful explosion. Maresca’s 14 game reign of error at Parma does not remotely qualify him for the position at Celtic Park and that we would be replacing an outstanding, elite level coach with such a man is almost beyond comprehension.
It’s as if all the progress of the last two years has been set aside so that we can again flirt with mediocrity. No wonder there are people in our support who are quite ready to believe that Lawwell is in some way responsible for the departure of Ange Postecoglou; it is ideas like this which don’t so much spark distrust as they do outright loathing for the man.
Every manager that we have appointed to this club in his tenure – bar one, and that one is still the one that scares us most – had more experience, by far, than this guy. Tony Mowbray had won the English Championship; not an easy thing to do by any means. Ronny was a title winner in his native Norway, and had taken his side from obscurity to that lofty perch.
Rodgers, Strachan and Howe – the one who got away – were outstanding coaches, with long careers behind them and which made them exceptional candidates. The reason so many fans were enthused by Postecoglou is that he had a whole series of accomplishments in the sport behind him; titles, managing his national team, competing on two continents.
Not one of these men was underqualified for the job in anything like the manner that this guy is. 14 games in management is not that many more than The Mooch across the street at Ibrox, and he was actually in a management job when they went and got him.
There is nothing in Maresca’s history which suggests that he will be able to do this, that he will be able to handle it, there is no tactical philosophy that we can discuss to assess his credentials for it. He has no history to speak of, no way to properly draw the least conclusions about whether or not he can command a dressing room. There is zero prospect of him uniting the fan-base, most of whom will look at the big picture here and recognise exactly what this is.
I said that history gives these guys some benefit of the doubt. But of course that history also includes at least one retrograde appointment which took this club backwards and yet it was not the second coming of Lennon that I was referring to earlier when I said there’s one part of the history that scares me. I’m talking, of course, about Lennon’s first hiring, when he had less experience than Maresca does right now, a decision which still shocks me to this day.
Lennon is probably the luckiest manager in the history of this club. He should never have been near the job even once and he’s had it twice. Outside of Celtic Park he has three sackings and the most significant club of that three was Hibs, right here in the SPFL. Football chairman of every shade and stripe refuse to touch this guy. Our board “saw” something no-one else does.
And that suggests that they are perfectly capable of making this appalling decision and bringing this guy to Celtic. They are perfectly capable of playing into every negative stereotype about them that we hold. I’ve long said that the way we do things inside the club is shit; it reeks of cronyism and nepotism that even the White’s and Kelly’s would never have dared.
And now we have this City Group “link” and all the bullshit that surrounds that. If he’s over there to play at being a jet-setter and try to look good in their showy circle then he’s got no business pretending that Celtic is his first priority. If he’s over there on business then it’s a sign that we continue to be governed by people who have been there too long and are now incapable of seeing the limits of their own thinking. This is the moment this drama risks becoming a crisis.
Lawwell is quite happy with mediocrity as long as it doesn’t cost much and he benefits from it.
I have no idea what the fuck Desmond’s motivation is, but if he trusts the Lawwells then his judgement is seriously in question.
Absolutely nothin would surprise me about lawwell or Desmond. If he makes this guy our manager, we’ll be right back tae square one imo. IF it is the case, there’s obviously some lucrative benefit, cheap option goin on and we’ll know why he wanted tae keep kennedy & strachan. The fact that man c and their manager are apparently willin tae let this guy go without the slightest fight and tae a Scottish club, speaks fkn volumes.
Totally agree James
Maresca has not the managerial experience to manage a club like ours.
It would be a massive gamble and one that could again see protests outside Parkhead
in just a few games….
HH
The comparison I would make is with Kilmarnock’s calamitous appointment of ‘former Napoli, Juventus, Italy and Chelsea assistant manager’ Angelo Alessio to replace Steve Clarke. It was presented as a major coup at the time, but their collapse and eventual relegation can be traced to that point. You can be the best coach around but you may have no skills in handling people and explaining to players why they aren’t getting a game or are being jettisoned. A manager needs all of that, particularly at a major institution like Celtic and media handling skills are a bonus too, and we’ve been spoiled recently with Ange and Brendan before him…. And so have our players.
That said, I very much doubt Lawwell will get much access to Manchester City’s coaching staff while there. This is surely a jolly in his UEFA capacity. Given his role in creating the FSR, I’m not convinced he’d be very welcome among the Citeh party anyway……
I detest Lawwell and all his apologists out there. He should never have been brought back the club. He was responsible for the Lennon shitshow and he still struts around in his know all arrogant way. If this Maresca thing is true we the fans should be very worried. Don’t go there Celtic but I know the powers that be don’t givea toss what we think. Also surely Nicholson should be dealing with any appointment not Lawwell.
I don’t have strong feelings on Maresca just yet. I think a lot will depend on what other moves the board make to support him.
A couple things jump out at me: at Manchester City he and Pep have a huge support staff that is lead by a DoF. If he’s hired at Celtic, he will need similar support to be successful because the club will have to backfill all the people that Ange took with him to Spurs and Maresca won’t be able to poach people from Manchester City. If Celtic committ to hiring a competent DoF and Maresca is simply a head coach, I think this could absolutely work.
Last thought: a lot of the comments on how unqualified this guy is are accurate, but his thin CV is hardly unprecedented for a club the size of Celtic. Prior to becoming Barcelona’s manager, Pep Guardiola’s experience consisted of ONE season managing Barcelona’s B team and no experience whatsoever as a first team manager anywhere. I’m not suggesting Maresca will be as successful as Pep was at Barcelona, but if the guy is talented he needs a genuine opportunity to show it. And I don’t count Parma as a failure – that club was an absolute mess and has been languishing in Serie B since he left. Parma is the Italian equivalent of Everton but with 10% of the budget.
Would like to think that you are looking into something that isn’t in our agenda whatsoever James.
Enzo is not a name that fills me with any form of excitement.
OK, he might well have been working under the best manager of the modern era who totally transformed football, but a Pep he certainly isn’t.
Ange was a fantastic manager for us also who transformed the club also.
So with class Enzo in much of the same bracket as John Kennedy, and Haven’t heard any calls for Kennedy to be given the job, even when you could make a stronger case for Kennedy over Enzo imo.
Next week should become a bit clearer as to who could be in the running, so hopefully Enzo isn’t as way to risky for my liking, yet said the same regarding Ange.
Still hoping for a manager who can take us to the next level in European competition, so some sort of pedigree and experience within those terms has to be seen as vital for ourselves imo.
No point in claiming to be a big club, if we are going to stick with low mentality and ambition I would say
Knutson is the right man for the job ,he done brilliant job at BoDo with minimal funds small squad but like Ange he has an eye for a player and his attacking minded teams were great to watch
Maresca is a rookie and any advantage we have over the huns, and that is quite a considerable one, will be severely damaged if we go for this guy. No experience and being thrown in at the deep end is a recipe for disaster. Please no.
Mibbes right, mibbes wrong, but I seem to have you having the same misgivings when Ange was appointed/annointed.
Who knows what comes next? At the very best, it’s fingers/heart/Holy Saviour crossed.
Ride the ride, James……a wee bit bumpy sometimes, but at least it gives you a rush
I agree..
Do we never learn…
First question is why is PL involved in this. Its not his role.
PL has no role in the football side of things.
Why have we aligned ourselves to this city group?
Something does not smell right here.
Coukd he be playing lip service to the city group. Look we interview him, not good enough.
Will Marech tell the press tonight its all about winning. Going on holiday to glasgow on monday.
If PL signs him, he should be hounded out the park.
If they give this guy the job ,God help us,a retrograde step,they got lucky with Ange so did the fans n we all forgot how grossly incompetent they are. Lawell should be nowhere near Celtic he is poison ,you can see his hand all over this
I wish Lawwell would just get tae F**k!!!
The man has held us back as a club for years with HIS horrendous signings.
Leaving it til the last day to bring in a bus load of players either on loan or players that couldn’t get a deal else where. When weeks before we were playing in European qualifiers and crying out for a couple of players and he would do nothing and keep the wallet closed.
I was raging like everybody else at Rodgers time of leaving but from what we’ve heard he probably had enough of Lawwells shit.
Just when we started looking like we were starting to think like a big club Pistol Pete reappears and things look like they’re going back to when he was ceo. Don’t be kidded he has no real say as chairman. His ego wouldn’t allow him to sit back and watch
Would any of us take Maresca before Rodgers? Then you must be insane. Cutting off your nose to spite your face doesnt even youch it.
I think this is a bit strong and unfair to be honest, Mikel Arteta was an assistant at Man City and had 0 games as a manager and he just guided arsenal to 2nd in the league so they must learn something under Pep. This guy wouldn’t be my 1st choice, Knutsen at Bodo Glimt would be my 1st choice but I wouldn’t decide on 14 games whether he should be manager or not
Worrying times. Will the board make a good choice? I think Knutsen might be a good bet cos let’s face it whoever they choose it is a gamble. Postecoglou was a gamble that paid off. In times like these I always look on the positives. For example the tribute act has Michael Beale as manager and Sky Sports have sacked Andy Walker.
I fully agree with everything you say. I can’t see any logic in offering this guy the job. There is nothing in his CV that would remotely qualify him for the Celtic mananger’s job. His one shot at being a manager with Parma in Serie B was a disaster and ended after 3 months. I’m not saying he isn’t a good coach but that doesn’t make you a manager. You need to be able command respect in a dressing room, man manage players and deal with the media.
If the rationale for appointing him is that he will have learned from Pep Guardiola then the exact same could be said about John Kennedy. He learned under both Brendan and Ange but no one would consider him for the manager’s role so why would we feel any different about Maresca. Every other option on the short list is a better option than Maresca. My first choice would be Knutsen but I would also be happy with the likes of Potter, Marsche or even Rodgers round 2 if it meant getting a proper manager in.
Just been told that they have offered him the job. Fucks sake……
Why are you not calling Parma fc a new club James. Maybe you should call it The Parma.
Most of your readers will not know the difference between The Parma and Parma. I’m sure you can educate them. If you can’t your obsessed with The Famous Glasgow Rangers.