There are people around Celtic, in positions of authority at the club, who think that we—the bloggers—owe the club something. Whether they call it loyalty, obedience, subservience, or any other term, it amounts to the same thing. They think we have a responsibility to them: to shut up and simply back whatever the club does.
They couldn’t be more wrong.
I look across the city for an example of what we might have become, and I don’t like it. Celtic fans stood up for this club back in the early 90s, when it needed us most. We fought for this club against its custodians, against its board, people who had served it with distinction but who were no longer able to take it forward.
We did what other clubs’ fans were either unwilling or unable to do. We rallied, we organised, we campaigned—and ultimately, we saved Celtic and ensured it was put into the right hands. The hands of a man who had a plan, who articulated that plan and laid it out clearly so we knew what we were doing was right.
We don’t owe Celtic anything. Celtic owes us.
The transfer window hasn’t been open very long, and the financial year doesn’t end until tomorrow. But already, there are a lot of Celtic fans concerned about the direction of travel. They’re looking at what appears to be a summer of “project” signings and underwhelming business, while all the major chatter revolves around whether we’ll get more than £15 million for Nicolas Kühn.
There’s a lot at stake right now. There’s a lot up for grabs. We don’t know what the future holds for certain key players. We don’t even know if the manager is sticking around. These are real reasons to be concerned. Last season, we took giant strides forward in Europe. What the fans were hoping for, what we needed above all else, was a sign that we were going to keep moving in that direction.
So far, we’ve seen nothing of the sort.
That doesn’t mean things won’t change. It doesn’t mean this is the course we’re staying on. But if we do continue down this path, we will lose our top manager—and we won’t be replacing him with another top manager. And the signings that seem so underwhelming today? They’ll become the first-team players of our future, with all the consequences that brings.
At many clubs, this might be a time for patience.
Celtic fans, however, are not patient, not any longer, and with good reason. We’ve seen this movie before. We’ve lived through pointless windows too many times. January was a disgrace. The sale of Kyogo without having a replacement lined up was an act of incomprehensible folly. I don’t care that we tried to get one. We failed. That’s the only metric that matters. Success or failure.
And this isn’t a one-off. It’s part of a pattern that goes back years. Certain people have been at the club far too long. They’ve exhausted the patience and the trust of the fans.
These are the facts of the case, and they are undisputed.
They don’t trust Lawwell. They don’t trust Nicholson.
Nobody believes these people are capable of taking us to the next level. They see Mark Lawwell as Exhibit A of the bad judgement of people at Celtic Park and they fear the worst.
And yes, this board has its defenders. They have their little cheering fan-clubs. That’s never mattered to me. There are some people who wouldn’t see the truth if it slapped them in the face and punched them in the eye.
They believe these people are geniuses.
There’s plenty of evidence to the contrary. But let’s say, for the sake of argument, that they are geniuses. Let’s say these aren’t failures of substance, but failures of communication. Well, that’s still a failure. If people like me simply “don’t understand,” then that’s a failure to explain. A failure to bring us along. A failure to show us—clearly—why, by any accepted metric, you are succeeding.
That this club is terrible at communication is a stone-cold fact. That it treats the fans with contempt is another.
But as we’ve discussed previously, it doesn’t matter whether these problems are real or whether they exist only in the minds of supporters. That’s what we call a perception problem.
And how many times do we need to say it?
Perception is reality.
And the only way to change perception is to aggressively demonstrate that things are not as they seem—or to do things differently. The perception that Celtic drags its feet, that Celtic spends reluctantly, that this club is more focused on posting profits than strengthening the squad exists because we’ve been given no evidence to the contrary.
Postecoglou funded both of his opening transfer windows through player sales. Rodgers has funded his last two windows the same way. And one of those was a complete waste of time because the board picked the players—and the manager wouldn’t, and couldn’t, use them.
Celtic managers don’t get backed the way they should.
They don’t get a clear transfer budget to start with. Because if they did, then sales would only increase that pot. Instead, we’ve had years—years—of underwhelming business.
The board got the benefit of the doubt last summer because of a few late moves. I said at the time that last summer’s window was a scandal. It left too many gaps in the team. It left problems unresolved. This whole thing the board does—leaving deals to the final day—is stupidity wrapped in arrogance.
Our Champions League qualifiers come before the window closes. We had better be ready for those. No excuses. No delays. And right now, the club doesn’t inspire confidence in a lot of people. Not even a little. Because we’ve seen this all before. I can see we’re busy. I can see we’re hard at work. I am partly encouraged by it. But we need to see a better class of player coming.
That’s why people are jumpy; it’s about the quality—or perceived lack of quality—of the signings so far. That’s why they’re nervous. They feel nervous because so often, the worst is what we’ve ended up with.
I wrote the other day about Johnny Kenny and asked whether turning down a £300,000 bid meant we were keeping him around. Apparently not. Now we’re told if someone offers £1 million, he’s gone.
So, what are we doing? Does anyone have a clue? Remember, this is a player we brought on in the cup final to try and salvage the domestic Treble. And now we’re back to flogging him for whatever we can get.
So, to the people inside Celtic who look at fan media and think we’re just a bunch of ingrates who complain for the sake of it—no. That’s not what this is. We want the strongest possible Celtic. And those people have never delivered that.
So if some fans sceptical about this window, if the early signs are making folks anxious, it’s because you’ve never given us a reason to feel any different. We’re judging them on their track record—their past deeds, their past failures.
If they want to be judged differently, then they have to do better. Give fans a reason to believe and we will. If they give us a reason to praise them then believe me, we’ll be happy to do it. Otherwise, they better brace themselves for a long, long summer of this.
I think it just a wee bit early in the transfer window to be casting aspersions and to be sewing the seeds of doubt about what we are intending to do. I know the reasons for those thoughts, past experience is the warning that prompts it, but still, at least give it another week or two and see what develops before the knee jerk reactions set in.
On another note, did anyone watch our Bhoy Rod at Glastonbury yesterday evening, what an ambassador for the Club he is, he was awesome. No matter what his politics are, and he doesn’t give a fk what anyone of us thinks about that, and rightly so, he is what he is, but his love for Celtic shines like a beacon, he is a Celtic man through to and through, and I for one was very proud that he is one of us. The emerald green suit was a nice touch and on removing the jacket Celtic was emblazoned on the back his shirt. Add to that his backing troupe of beauties all wearing the hoops while he sung ‘Sailing’ for his finale was just a great spectacle.
Rod, well done buddy, you have the platform, and you are are selflessly promoting Celtic to the World.
Lawell and Nicholson are greedy cunts, nothing more.
Just the fact that Mark Lowell was the head of talent recruitment says it all.
12 new signings and last season only Yang was present from them all.
This season, despite being declared one of the best run clubs (using abacus metrics only) we’ve signed Doohuns and Tierney for free and £1.2M Nygren signing. But we’ve got £100M in the bank or whatever they tell us (and where’s the rest?)
June 30th we’ll pay a kings ransome to a king we don’t recognise for the millions our board fleeced from us, and refused to spend on squad upgrades.
Stupid old farts wearing 1980s Danny De Vito suits making big wages from our money. At best the team goes sideways, but in reality we’ve gone backwards. Can’t even sort out the managers contract … there is no harmony between board and managers, and board and players, no relationships between the board and fans. Fuck them, I’ll not spend a fuckin penny til that boards gone
I truly believe this transfer window is a clear sign that BR isn’t staying beyond this season, maybe it is early in.thw window, but wouldn’t the board want to make a statement about the intentions of the club and the direction they intend on taking the team this season. I suppose we shall have to “wait and see” but I honestly believe this is going to be a disaster of a window. I hope I am proved very wrong!.HH
Lawell has been at Celtic during the clubs most successful period in history, is this just a coincidence?
I did lose some respect for him when he brought his son into the club which was a disaster.
Don’t really know anything about what Nicholson does, he seems like a bit of a yes man.
Celtic will make a big signing but only when they sell a big player probably Khun.
It’s possible it could be Maeda that they sell, or fkin both knowing how those on the board operate!
I think players taking more and longer breaks in summer and the odd added tournament doesn’t help.
We lose a lot of youngsters too, virtually free to clubs in England and abroad. Youngster don’t see a clear path to our first team, who can blame them.?
We always need to see who is a high chance of moving out before we act, not sure how that compares with other teams.
I broadly agree with some of the Bhoys comments above. I’m sure BR must have a buying budget given to him by the board at the beginning of summer. I believe Kuhn and Maeda will be sold this summer. So there is 30 million in the pot. Free scoring striker required, that should bust our spending limit. I can’t help but feel the board look over the Clyde at the rolling shambles and limit our ambitions based on their frees from Dundee and Bournemouth. After another Brazilian reject today. Our target has to be the play-off and making sure of UCL this season, anything less and heads must roll from our board. BR contract or succession planning for new manager has to be given to the support. We should be planning for 26/27, the season’s plan should be cast in stone already.
All good points well made but given past history of the previous 20 years of PL being in charge the following must be considered to be happening—
– The Board will not sanction any spending until a player / s are sold and these funds will be made available for the purchase of any new incoming players
– In addition the Board will not sanction any spending until the ECL Qualifying Round has been successfully completed and a % of the incoming funds from the CL funds will be made available for the purchase of new players.
– The board, in a game of brinkmanship they very much enjoy playing, will not sanction any purchases of new posters as the manager has not committed to a new contract. ( and they know he’s had enough and is off as soon as his contract finishes.
– The Board refuses to make available any funds for transfers until the manager signs a new contract
– The Manager is refusing to sign a new contract until he sees the required investment in playing squad to heighten the quality of the team.
– Both the manager and the Board know how this will end.
– The Board have their next Yes man to come in as “Head Coach” already in place to take over from the current manager.
Twas ever thus!! ???
This board have got a taste for cheap but valuable imports through Ange.
It’s like they want to run their own little money-ball side-hustle while ring fencing BR’s budget.
If he’s agreed to this he’s not staying- because they’re dictating places within his squad and will expect minutes on the park to get these guys in the shop window.
IMO it was happening under Lennon and 2020 went flat because he was benching all the newcomers, sticking to tried and tested.
Data analysis will become massive and old school managers will adapt or retire sadly.
Seems like a case of no all no nothing premature comments playing follow your leader. The space-heads may live in a galaxy not so far away but you don’t have to speak like them. The transfer market’s just started and there’s so much expectant privilege on view already
Another project signing announced who’ll have zero impact this season but who chips away at the transfer and wage budget. I’ll keep repeating it because it’s true – nothing will change at Celtic until the PLC board does.
£150 plus million turnover = Project players = Projectile Vomit !
James,
Completely agree with everything you’ve highlighted in you article.
Every transfer window there is a fear and trepidation and that the board will be dragging their heels…again.
Surely the Adam Idah transfer fee highlights that.
Peter Lawwell needs replaced as does Michael Nicholson.
I really dont believe Mr Lawwell when he states that he has no input into tranfers.
Another thought……. where is Paul Tisdale in all of this ?
The problem at Celtic is Peter Lawell, we momentarily brought in some decent players after Lawell allegedly left, however this was after Lawell & Lennon blew the 10 iar.
Ange joined and we didn’t look back, now it’s back to same old penny pinching Peter.
Ange announced his departure soon after Lawells return, Then we get boring boring Brendan (yes man) back.
I see a team in decline once again.
So back to the fans, support the team but tell Lawell where to go.