This is a day full of surprises.
Our club is finally doing something it’s never done before; demonstrating unpredictability. Just when you think you know what our stance will be on the Ibrox club and the ticket situation, it pulls the rug from under us and threatens to challenge the governing body and hold Ibrox to account for its behaviour.
I am stunned by that, because it would shatter years of precedent, but I cannot say that I am in the least bit concerned about it. I am glad that we’ve finally made a bold move.
The second surprise of the day is not quite so welcome, and it was delivered by Brendan Rodgers himself. He “clarified” our club’s transfer policy today and what it means is that he has, in effect, put himself at the mercy of other people’s judgement, people who won’t be held in the least bit accountable if they fail and fail utterly in their duties and responsibilities.
I can only say to that he’s a braver man than me.
This is his career he’s left in their hands. Ange Postecoglou ran this stuff. He was in charge.. “I will work with the players I am given” is the very last thing that our fans wanted to hear out of the mouth of Brendan Rodgers, or anyone in his seat, even if this is what he signed up for.
And I say that very deliberately … even if this is what he signed up for. If you think you can hear thunder rumbling in the distance … yeah, you’re not imagining it. I hear it too.
Look, we can sugar coat this and try to ignore it and we can tell ourselves what I’ve been telling myself all along here; “the window isn’t closed yet, let’s wait to see what happens.” But nobody who heard that today can believe for a minute that this is a positive development and there’s no point in trying to dress it up as one. Our transfer success rate was transformed when we had a guy who was the final decision maker, who assembled this team in a co-ordinated manner … every piece was bought specifically to fit a certain role and to do a certain job.
If someone other than the manager is deciding who we sign and where and what our needs are, then that’s a dysfunctional situation, that’s a cause for concern, that’s someone making a subjective judgement and wielding power without responsibility and perhaps even running counter to what Brendan Rodgers thinks that Celtic needs.
The football operation should be governed by one man; the manager. It should exist to fit his needs. He should not have to run the club to facilitate someone else’s priorities.
We’ve been down this road and if we’re back in a place where the people who thought the answer to our problems was Neil Lennon and who made such a mess of the quest for ten in a row, have suddenly convinced themselves that they are, in fact, the geniuses they said all along then we’ve got a big problem.
I am seriously concerned to hear those words coming out of Brendan Rodgers’ mouth.
Even if he means it, even if he’s willing to tolerate what he found intolerable the last time around, it still means that people at Celtic Park haven’t gotten the lesson; this club is at its best when the football department bends to the manager’s will.
It’s when the manager has been bent to someone else’s that we’ve traditionally had problems here, and especially when all involved are well aware that if it all goes wrong the guy in the dugout will be the only one who carries the can.
All the way through this window so far, I’ve defended the process on the basis that the manager was in charge of it. Now we know he ism’t.
Yeah, now it’s time to be concerned.
Totally unexpected…and totally unacceptable. I can’t believe he took the job under this condition of contract. It doesn’t bode well for the future.
I knew this would happen. It’s all to do with Liewwell being back in the building. I know his lackeys will pretend that this isn’t the case but any Celtic fan without blinkers on can see he is once again pulling the strings. I never wanted him near our club but the closed shop of tories have shafted us once again.
Great manager as he is, BR is not a scout and I see nothing wrong with the manager approaching Recruitment to agree on specific positions and the type of player required. This doesn’t make it a big issue.
I think it’s a positive, we should have scouting and recruitment drive by the club rather than a manager who generally is only here 2 to 3 seasons of we’re lucky,, Ange definitely had a major say on the Japanese boys, but other than that mark lawwel a d his scouting network has been doing what it’s there to do
Interesting. The media presented the Celtic board as almost begging BR to take the job. Given such a negotiating position why accept this situation? I dont get it. Clearly this is intended to dampen speculation about big money transfers. I suspect the money is needed elsewhere or being held in reserve for such a scenario. In addition, the wage bill must be astronomical with the size of the spuad. .
I think you are overreacting. He was describing the scouting and recruitment process and said “I play a part in that”. He can’t possibly do it alone. Ange tapped into an underused market because he had goid knowledge if it. Brendan I obviously working with the scouting team who’s job is to identify players who meet a certain profile. It stands to reason that when the manager identifies a position he needs a player for, his first port of call is going to be the scouting team. Otherwise what’s the point of them being there?
Cue, with overwhelming gleefulness, a SMSM pile on accompanied by the stock in trade ‘ cracked Club Crest’.
If ever there was a more truly suicidal driven Board at Celtic Park since the days of the Kelly and White regimes then I must have been living in a parallel universe and missed it.
Is this Brendan just laying the groundwork for another ‘ Midnight Flitting’?
Has he realised that the son of Pistol Pete is the power under the Chairman’s throne. Surely not.
Why would any Manager willingly sign up to such an arrangement?
It’s not a rhetorical question. I’m asking for a friend, well several actually.
I know it’s never easy supporting Celtic but come on FFS.
At the peak of success, world record trebles, world record trophies, 56 in sight, the Sevconuts saddled with parodies of Professional Football Players and managed / coached (sic) by the equivalent of a Cockney barrow boy who ‘finks about fings ’ while looking deeply into the eyes of his charges and Celtic just doesn’t shoot itself in the foot, no it turns a flamethrower and immolates the rest of the body.
Mental.
Forgive me for saying so, but I think you’re overreacting a bit here.
Brendan is clearly on board with whatever the arrangement is, and one would think he wields a lot of influence inside Celtic Park regardless of org charts or titles. A big part of the conversation when hiring a manager at a club like Celtic – whether that’s Rodgers or anyone else – is how they plan on utilizing the existing players at the club who are on big wages and long terms deals. You can’t just rip up a 25-30 man squad every 2-3 years whenever a new manager comes in. The manager has to be expected to work with the bulk of the players already at the club and get the most out of them because the alternative is both wasteful and impractical. He’s been in the door for 2 months and 2 competitive matches, and most of the players he’ll be relying on this season will be those ‘provided to him’ when he showed up on day 1. That’s just the reality of the situation, and it’s up to Brendan to get the most out of those players.
The other thing to think about here is the quality of the scouting and recruitment team currently at Celtic. If you think about many of the biggest successes in the transfer market in recent years – Frimpong, Johnston, Jota, O’Reilly, and even back to guys like Ntcham, Dembele, Edouard, and VVD – these guys were very much brought in as ‘project’ signings and were not recommended by the manager. This is a group of people working at the club whose sole job it is to identify these players and bring them in. It’s all they do, and despite the occasional miss, they’re quite good at it. Every successful club the size of Celtic has a department that operates like this, and who has what power within the club regarding signings is at the end of the day completely irrelevant IMO as long as the signings are ultimately successful. Brendan, Peter, Mark, the scouting staff… they’re all working on the same team here, and they all want the club to be successful. As long as it’s a collaborative environment where success is being achieved and those involved are happy with their contributions, what difference does it make who has what authority on paper.
Eh?!
If that’s correct, then effectively: our manager has less control and influence
than his predecssor?
Yet, if BR was deliberately brought in to make progress in Europe.
you would think that he would need / want MORE control and influence
– to manage and change the mindsets of some in the Board Room?
Just doesn’t make sense.
And he’s normally extremely careful with what he says in public… 🙁
I told you so.
I think he’s saying that keeping tabs on who’s available is a full time and crucial role – led by Mark Lawell. He also says work on profile is something he plays a part in – I’m taking that to mean he is heavily involved in what our immediate needs are, like position/experience. Next part where he says he’ll coach what the club provides – I don’t think that means he’ll accept anyone, but rather is acknowledgement Club won’t always be successful in bringing in his first picks – but first part suggests anyone brought in has already been identified through a process he’s part of.
“It’s not always straightforward, it always takes time. But there’s a lot of work that goes on and ultimately, as I said, I will coach and develop the players I am provided with. I have a part in that……”
What are you reading into this?
Looks to me like they identify players together and he works with the ones he gets.
Do you think BR would be here if he didn’t have some control, he left last time because of restrictions. The modern day player has changed with sport science, I believe man city were the first to monitor and test body recovery and performance. And next to follow statisticians, and a lot of bloggers use this to rate players. It seems that the celtic recruitment team identify these players, BR’s job is to improve their thinking and natural ability, but he will know the players that he has been given, are statically good, and he just have to tweek them a little bit, and improve their teamwork
Do you think Ange picked every signing , maybe the Asian players or maybe just the Japanese bhoys , think the rest were identified by the scouting dept , Ange wouldn’t have known Jota or CCV if they had kicked him up the arse on Sauchiehall St .
A bit sensationalist to say the least calm down to a panic James.
Let’s hope it isn’t Lawell covered up with his son in place. Wish this guy was somewhere else.
telling you….
i said it before and say it again…lawwell is the biggest risk to celtic’s ambitions in ECL and even SPFL….pity he wasn’t in his car the night it went up…..he is an arrogant, self serving bastard….
Don’t believe we are at panic stages yet, but certainly growing concerns with an increasing injury list, and a few positions within the squad still haven’t been addressed yet and the season underway.
At present I’m seeing a squad formed in a 4231 formation.
Least favourite formation and one I don’t believe suits to many within our squad either.
We only have about 2 weeks to get a CL squad together and still far to much being up in a heap to be overly happy with the state of affairs within the squad.
Left wing is not far off an emergency position to be filled, and no word upon who is going to fill the void of the extra Scottish homegrown player required.
Playing kyogo is a massive risk to be taking on Sunday upon that surface, yet couldn’t use meada through the centre with only Forrest and hako available upon the left, and Rodgers doesn’t seem to rate hako at this stage.
5 missing from a match day squad of 20 is always a concern, even moreso with a trip to that scummy kip in a couple of weeks.
Still got the faith that it will all get resolved by the closure of the window, just starting to think Rodgers isn’t doing himself any favours at present either.
Oh come on James, there was nothing at all concerning in what Brendan said. You are now guilty of what you accused others of, finding discord where there isn’t any. Read what tgr manager actually said, not your interpretation
I’m sure there will be more than one man making the decisions on signings, all big clubs have a team of scouts and analysts, Brendan will be one of those men making the decisions, if he thinks a player can’t improve here I don’t think he’ll sanction the signing, there’s probably a lot of background work and due diligence involved too, he can’t be responsible for everything about a particular signing, but ultimately he will have the final say I’m sure.
Lawwell is back say no more!
Scary but you call it passing the buck. Backed him to the hilt, Lawelles win again.