This Wednesday, Tom English from the BBC chimed in on the situation over at Ibrox, with some amusing commentary about Motherwell midfielder Lennon Miller. English’s suggestion that the Ibrox club “push out the boat” to sign Miller—along with his notion that they should be snapping up the best young players in Scottish football to build a future powerhouse—is, frankly, laughable.
Originally, I thought his comments were off base, but the more I reflect, the more I realise just how flawed this entire premise is. Nearly every aspect of English’s analysis is ludicrous.
First off, Lennon Miller is well beyond the Ibrox club’s financial reach.
Some in the BBC studio even claimed he’s out of Celtic’s price range because we wouldn’t shell out the supposed £4 million price tag. But let’s put that into perspective: Scott Brown’s transfer all those years ago cost us a similar sum—back when £4 million carried a lot more weight than it does today. If Miller is genuinely a Scottish star of the future, Celtic could and likely would find that fee reasonable and affordable.
It’s as if it hasn’t dawned on English that the Ibrox club simply cannot afford this.
They’re not about to drop millions on a young Scottish midfielder, no matter his potential. And English’s notion that they should be scouring the country for top talent is unrealistic on multiple fronts. First, there are a lot of young players in the Scottish leagues who wouldn’t even consider signing for the club from Ibrox. Second, the costs involved in acquiring more than a few would be prohibitive, making the strategy impractical.
There was a brief window when this kind of approach might have worked for them—around the time the new club formed in 2012. Had they focused on gathering Scotland’s best academy prospects, those willing to sign on, they might have pieced together a decent Scottish-based squad. Coupled with a few standouts from their own youth development, they might have forged a respectable team to challenge us once all of them were in their prime.
But the opportunity for a grassroots rebuild passed them by ages ago.
It likely vanished the day Ally McCoist started assembling a squad of second-tier players for the lowest league in the land. And it was well and truly dead by the time they offered contracts to players like Kevin Kyle and Francisco Sandaza.
The final nail in the coffin came when, through McCoist, the club made the baffling decision to spend lavishly on five-star hotels and luxury travel arrangements.
Why? Because, in their minds, “that’s what Rangers did”—despite the fact they were no longer representing Rangers. It was a symbolic adherence to a legacy they couldn’t afford to copy, one that had financially ruined the original Ibrox club, and yet they pressed on regardless.
From the moment they climbed out of the shallow grave of Rangers, the club at Ibrox had several potential strategies to build sustainably. They chose none of them. Now, it’s far too late to start. Even if they could somehow recruit Scotland’s best young talents, it wouldn’t be enough to reverse the dire financial situation they’ve plunged into—cutting costs brutally while scrambling to find a winning formula amidst chaos.
I understand that English and others in the media are desperate for a miracle solution, a quick fix that erases the past decade of mistakes and establishes a solid foundation. But that simply isn’t going to happen. The Ibrox club has lost control of its destiny. Instead, it’s Celtic calling the shots. As I said before, we determine their quality of life now.
I remember back when we signed Scott Brown.
The Ibrox club was heavily favoured to sign him at the time, and figures like Derek Johnstone were publicly banging the drum, vowing to quit if Brown didn’t end up in Govan.
At a Celtic supporters meeting, Peter Lawwell told those present, in plain terms, “If it comes to an auction, we will win because we have more money, and we want him.” That’s exactly how it played out. And if the scenario repeats with Lennon Miller, the outcome will be no different—one side has the cash, and the other side doesn’t.
It’s always entertaining when the media attempts to give the Ibrox club advice, but as usual, it’s misguided and ultimately unfeasible. In this case, English’s suggestion is not only impossible but, crucially, about a decade too late.
I haven’t seen enough of him to know how good he is, but he’s been made captain at Motherwell and at 18 maybe he’s already at the right place for his development. The risk is losing him to an English club. I think he’ll stay where he is until the summer at least.
Funnily enough I knew halfway through the first sentence of the article that it was written by Tom English, so predictable is his prose and content.
On the subject of Lennon Miller we need to start casting our net closer to home and not be so snobbish about players in our league. There has been numerous examples in recent seasons of Scottish players being signed by clubs in England and Abroad to run horses through the notion they aren’t good enough for us. Compare to signings such as Odin, Nawrocki, Lagerbielke, Iwata and many more who have abjectly failed. Our club has always had a strong core of Scottish and British/ Irish players and we have lost our way on that a little bit in recent seasons. Time to amend it.
Totally agree James. I believe, their dev/reserve team had won the league in 2012 beating a good Celtic squad. That team with a few first team players would have walked league two at a fraction of the cost but Super went and brought in has-beans like John Daly whose wages were probably 10-15 times higher than a reserve player. They missed a golden opportunity and are now paying for it.
The huns are more likely to get Yaxley Lennon than Lennon Miller.
He would fit right in with their mind set and world view.
Only problem is he got 18 months jail this week.
Spot on – if it comes to an auction, vs the other side, for this lad we will easily win.
The bigger concern for me is that we will do exactly what we did with McGinn, Idah et al and think we can hardball Motherwell and probably offer them £1m as that’s what this Celtic board will think is “reasonable” given he’s only 18yrs old and (currently) only played 38 senior games etc etc. Motherwell will hold out for their valuation and in the meantime either a mid table EPL team (Brentford, Fulham, West Ham….) or a decent top end Championship side (Sunderland, Leeds, Sheffield Utd…) come in and immediately offer Motherwell’s valuation, which will be chicken feed to them, and then blow us out of the water by offering a signing on fee and wages which are stratospheric levels above anything we can pay.
IF we want this lad we need to go in hard and quick in January and buy him and then offer to loan him back to Motherwell for the rest of the season. We can then integrate him properly in the summer but we’ll have got him before the bigger fish start circling..
Lmfao@english.
They could never afford any transfer fee and with a name like lennon, I don’t think the bhoy would ever go there .
The bhoys father would never let him sign for that shower of shit
Clemente for all his faults was faced with moving players out for ANY fee, mostly for nothing to decrease the wage bill. They didn’t take as much off as they would have liked according to the accounts.
They are in no position to purchase any new players before they get SB cash in the door so nothing new in Jan unless they can get a cheap loan deal but they have 2 already.
Clemente will be lucky to see Jan window at Ibrox. The stadium will be half full if nothing changes.
Lennon good player and needs another season at ‘Well imo.
Tam English is a waste of space.
DR reporting Celtic tv presenters smiled/laughed when they read out the huns score the other night there…. AND !!! Playing to the DR paying crowd.