GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - MAY 17: Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers is seen beside the trophy during the William Hill Premiership match between Celtic FC and St Mirren FC at Celtic Park on May 17, 2025 in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
“Organisations win championships. Not players, not coaches.” — Jerry Krause.
That line might be the single most arrogant thing ever uttered in the history of professional sport.
It was said by Jerry Krause, the former General Manager of the Chicago Bulls, the man who helped build the team around Michael Jordan but then, in his hunger for credit, pulled it apart piece by piece. Krause believed the Bulls dynasty wasn’t the product of Jordan or Pippen or Phil Jackson or even the culture of brilliance they had collectively created—he believed it was all down to him and the guys upstairs. He believed in his own myth, and in doing so he killed a legend.
The Bulls won six titles in eight years. Two three-in-a-rows. They were the greatest team on the planet, and instead of letting them go on and try for more, Krause and his backroom mates decided it was time to prove a point: that they could build another dynasty. That they could win without the stars and the egos and the man in the dugout who didn’t bow to the suits.
The result? Nothing. Not a single championship since. Not one.
The great Chicago Bulls, architects of the most iconic era in basketball history, have not touched the summit again.
Keep that fact in your back pocket. Because that is the ghost that haunts Celtic Football Club right now.
You only need to squint a little to see the parallels. Brendan Rodgers, whether you like him or not, is our Phil Jackson. He is the guy with the trophies. The guy who wins. He is also a man not easily managed, not easily silenced, not easily bowed. He wants to do things his way. That’s what top-level managers do. And instead of embracing that and building a legacy with him at the centre of it, we have a boardroom full of suits who seem to believe they know better.
Krause’s line—”organisations win championships”—is the same sort of tripe you hear in football now all the time. “The structure is more important than the man.” “No one is bigger than the club.” “We don’t need a superstar manager—we need a system.”
If you regularly read the Celtic sites there are one or two where they’ve been trotting out those lines for years now, and all that’s happened in that time is that it’s disproved the myth. The board tried to dictate strategy to Rodgers once and he walked. Ange, they never bothered to try because he used his leverage – knowing they needed a yes from him – to get a guarantee he could do it his way.
When Rodgers returned they tried to stick him with a group of project players. He ignored them all. He depended on Ange’s team and still won a double. These guys are the Real Deal, the proof that the man in the dugout is the man who works miracles.
This idea about “strategy” and about “the system” is not just corporate speak; it’s the self-serving bullshit the pen-pushers and accountants indulge in to try to convince people of their own importance and to claim the credit for the work of other, better, men. It’s designed to convince fans that ambition isn’t necessary, that genius is a nuisance, that winning is just the product of spreadsheets and middle management doing their job.
But football doesn’t work like that. Never has. Never will.
Celtic’s current success is down to Brendan Rodgers.
That’s just a fact. Let’s talk about where we were when he walked back through the doors in the summer of 2023. The club had just lost Ange Postecoglou, a title-winning, treble-winning manager who brought swagger, authority, and vision. He left behind a strong team—but a team that was about to be raided.
The sale of Jota, one of our most dynamic players, brought in big money. And then the transfer window began. What followed was one of the worst recruitment efforts in living memory. It was scattergun. It was bargain bin. It was, as I said at the time, not a football plan—it was a hedge fund strategy. Buy low, sell high. Sign projects. Sign potential. Avoid paying for the finished article at all costs.
And Rodgers, who returned with promises of “backing” and ambition ringing in his ears, quickly realised that he wasn’t being given the tools to do the job properly. He had inherited a squad designed for a different style of football, full of players who’d already peaked under Ange, and the “reinforcements” were development players not ready for the demands of Celtic Park.
And yet … and yet, he still delivered a league and cup double. He still held it together. He still navigated the storm, steered the ship, and got us safely home. It wasn’t always pretty. There were moments when the wheels looked like they might come off. But he kept the team going. He won big games. He adapted. He managed.
There’s a skill in that. There’s a real managerial quality in doing more with less, and if anything, that season reminded people that Rodgers is not just a smooth talker or a training ground obsessive—he’s a winner.
Then came last season. 2024–25. And we saw the beginnings of a Rodgers team in the true sense. Some of his own signings now embedded. A squad beginning to understand what he wanted. We made progress in Europe—not massive, not earth-shattering, but forward movement all the same. We won another title. He found a shape, a balance. And crucially, he re-established control of the dressing room.
Now we find ourselves in the summer of 2025. And the vibes coming out of Celtic Park are… off. The transfer market is open. There are noises about money being spent. But the same patterns are emerging again. We’re chasing “value.” We’re watching as our rivals strengthen. We’re hearing the same lines about prudence, about sustainability, about how we have to be careful.
But careful of what? The only real danger to Celtic lies where it always has; inside Celtic Park. Our worst enemies are in our own house, and the problem is not that these are bad men. They are just incredibly foolish men, delusional even, and have started to believe that they are the club, that Celtic is them, and that they alone should be charting every part of its forward plan.
The arrogance of it is breathtaking.
And the question that’s beginning to loom ever larger is this: is Brendan Rodgers being backed? Is the board genuinely trying to keep him? Or are they planning not just for life after him but for a time when they, like Krause, can bring in someone who’ll do it the way the suits want it done; someone who will work to their plan, and thus justify their belief that it’s their own brilliance that has filled the trophy room these past ten years.
Because here’s the thing—Rodgers isn’t going to be here forever. If the board won’t give him the resources to take the next step—if they think someone else can come in and keep the conveyor belt running—then they’ll get their wish. But the question is: what comes after that?
You can replace a manager. But can you replace what he built? If you bring in some guy whose value lies in the fact that he’s an order taker and is willing to work to the backroom blueprint then that’s setting this whole club down a path that might not just end in defeat but disaster. Total disaster.
But before that, Rodgers can go out a winner and make these people look supremely foolish in the aftermath.
When Phil Jackson was told that he was not getting a new deal and that his stars were going to be allowed to go too at the end of their coming campaign, he gathered his stars around him and told then news. They designed a new playbook for that all-or-nothing season; they called it The Last Dance.
Look at that Chicago Bulls team. They had the best player in the world in Jordan. But they also had a core. Pippen. Rodman. Kerr. Guys who knew each other inside out. Guys who had been through battles together. Guys who understood what was required. They had chemistry. Identity. Belief.
Celtic, right now, still has a version of that.
Callum McGregor. The captain. The glue. The calm centre around which everything turns. Reo Hatate. Maybe our most technically gifted player. A player with vision and fire. Cameron Carter-Vickers. A rock at the back. A leader. A wall. Alistair Johnston. Mr. Consistent. Iron will. Tenacity. Dependability. Daizen Maeda. Chaos on legs. Intensity. A tactical weapon and a physical force. A genius. Adam Idah. The kind of striker who offers you variety, muscle, and seems at his best on the big occasion.
That’s the group Rodgers has to gather around him. That’s the core.
That’s his Last Dance squad.
Because that’s what this feels like. The last dance. The final charge. Maybe for him. Maybe for some of them. We know Maeda won’t be here forever—he’s a near-certainty to leave in one of the next two windows. Others may follow. This is the end of something, whether we admit it or not.
If Rodgers is here it could be a new beginning. If he’s not then it might be the end of this era, and the start of a new one. One I suspect would be short, but not short enough, and it would be painful to endure it knowing it wasn’t how things had to be.
Rodgers needs to squeeze every last drop out of this group. He needs to focus on his generals—the ones who know what it’s about. The ones who won’t hide. The ones who can carry the rest. If he isn’t getting to shape the next team he has to turn to the people who have run the race with him these past two seasons. He needs trust. He needs those players to lead. To dominate. To drag others up.
And if this is the end, then they must make it a proper ending. Go out fighting. Go out swinging. Win big. Leave on a high. Leave the suits with no place to hide if all starts to unravel when the big personalities in this team are gone, along with its leader.
Because if they think they can let Rodgers walk and simply carry on with someone cheaper, someone more compliant, someone who’ll smile and accept whatever the committee gives him—well, they might just find themselves facing their own version of the post-Jordan Bulls era.
They might find out, the hard way, that the organisations don’t win championships. The managers and the players do.
There’s no trophy for balance sheets. No silverware for fiscal responsibility. No open-top buses for scouting spreadsheets and as I’ve said here time and again, Lawwell will never get his statue in the carpark no matter what he and others hope for.
Football is about the football people. It’s about belief. And when you have a group who believe in each other, who have done it before and can do it again, you don’t dismantle that. You don’t undermine it. You don’t take it for granted.
You build on it. You strengthen it. You back it. And the thing is, if you do that then you can continue to believe that you are the greatest thing since sliced bread if you want to. As long as the success comes and a handful of people are willing to credit you as the mastermind of it, only a lunatic would place that at risk betting that their own judgement trumps that of the people who really did do it.
And if you do that then you’d better be prepared to face the consequences.
Celtic, right now, have something special. Not perfect. Not complete. But special. A manager with pedigree. A squad with character. A spine of winners.
The alternative, which some believe we’re headed for, is the slow decline. The post-Rodgers malaise. The “we know best” attitude from a boardroom that still doesn’t seem to understand what makes this club tick.
That way lies Chicago. That way lies the ghost of Jerry Krause. That way lies a dark place we might not find our way out of quickly or without a lot of pain.
So remember the quote. Remember the arrogance.
And remember what happened next.
The problem is, there appears to be no way of getting rid of these self serving and self appointed parasites who run the club as a business and for their own benefit.
I would love to see some practical suggestions as to how we could change this situation.
Unfortunately, I can’t see us progressing to any meaningful degree until Lawwell and Desmond have both popped their clogs.
Tony b , there’s only one practical solution but that’s never going to happen, boycott STs,nah no chance, boycott merchandise nah that’s not going to happen, boycott food and drink outlets at Celtic park nah that’s not going to happen,ie we’re stuffed and stuck with this board until our mentality changes but I can’t see that happening.so come in sevco give these cnuts on our board a challenge,though I’d much rather Europe gave us a challenge,but under liewell and desmond I wait with baited breath.
The Sporting game was a confidence booster for me and a reminder that we do have a good core group. It might all be the boards fault but it could also be that Rodgers simply doesn’t want to stay. Ultimately, there should be a little bit of clashing between money men and football men but a bit of 2-way respect and an understanding from Rodgers that the perfect set up will never exist and from the board that creating a successful on field team is the most important thing should be enough.
Some of the links to supposed bids we’ve made and had rejected could mean we’re trying to spend money (I know we’ve heard it before) Muntaneau, Balikwisha, Milosavljevic. If these are genuine targets, I wish we would get on with it or move on, we seem to take an age to sign a player.
Bratt,sporting game was a friendly, would you like us to play sporting in a Euro qualifier,nah no me also.
Well said James, but I have said on here before that I doubt if anyone at Celtic Park reads your blog or takes any notice of it. I do hope though that at least one of them reads this article, takes notice and it it gives them all food for thought.
I don’t know about nobody at Celtic Park reading this blog. Did Peter Lawwell not demand that an article be taken down not that long ago? I think JF knows they are read and makes his point often to let them know the expectations and demands of the support.
“bring in someone who’ll do it the way the suits want it done; someone who will work to their plan”
Enter Shaun Maloney.
Lawwell did demand that JF take an article down. Shame he didn’t have the spine to ignore him.
Couldn’t have said it any better James and agree 100% with everything you’ve outlined. Once Rodgers is satisfied that Celtic is being run as a business first and football club second, he’s off. And possibly already has. But who will the Board actually listen to? What events will catalyse any change of sentiment regards backing the manager? The team?
Lubo the board will only listen to empty seats and no take up of season tickets,and that will never happen because the board know that Celtic fans are even more gullible and loyal than sevco fans ,so in a nutshell we’re stuck with this board through our own stupidity.
Spot on.tjis board are a joke.they need removed hh
At least it looks like we are in for a main striker whoever it might be. Hopefully not a replacement for Maeda.
Probably at least one winger and a left back to come as well HH
I agree there needs to be a mechanism for change at board level – Lawwell has stank the place out for the best part of 20 years, and it was a complete insult and raised middle finger to the majority of the support when he slithered into the Chairman’s seat
The board have used Brendan and his achievements to reinforce their belief that they are the organisation behind Celtic’s success story of recent history.
They’re playing with fire now if they’re undermining him because he won’t extend his contract beyond this season.
If sevco up their game the board could be about to find out that recent successes (as a poster profoundly said on this forum) was in spite of the board, not because of them.
If that turns out to be the case then they’ll need to appoint a manager of a similar calibre to Brendan if they want to maintain that belief that they are the masters of the combined financial and on field success during their custody of this wonderful football club.
Celtic have just sent out emails saying the game tomorrow is ppv, even if you already have a subscription. A friendly. Against Newcastle. I’m sure they previously said all preseason games would be available on celtictv, I suppose strictly they are but it’s shady. It’s gone from being a game fans were protesting having to pay on top of their ST’s for to them making it some blockbuster worthy of ppv, not even free to existing subscribers, it’s just fleece the fans at every opportunity.
Obvious that ticket sales are down so the Board are hoping to recover their losses by offering ppv.
Originally this was billed as free to existing CelticTV Subscribers.
I’ll just watch the highlights programme after the game.
Ain’t gettin another penny out of me.
Once more these greedy money grabbing bastards on the board are taking the the piss, because of the blind loyalty and stupidity of the Celtic supporters, myself included but we must take some serious action to get rid of this greedy shower of charlatans,but I fear the Celtic fans won’t take action,what you sow , shall you reap,cmon Celtic fans start real protest action and boycott all the merch and all the food and drink at the match,show these bloodsucking bastards we mean business before it’s too late.
Your Analysis is spot on
……
The next Celtic manager
Step forward Mr Paul Tisdale
Is Tisdale actually alive and working at Parkhead Mr Magog…
At least we hear Lord Lucan Nicholson once a year…
But this fella seems to be Lord Lucan, Lucan, Lucan !
Mr Magoo actually ! – Bloody predictive text !!!
Feel embarrassed reading how negative you are. God only help you when the time comes that we aren’t champions. You will probably like that so you say you were right all along. You are as bad as all the msm with negativity at the forefront of your content.
Anthony champions of what exactly? The SPFL probably the most Mickey mouse league outside of Ireland,no one and I repeat no one outside of Scotland gives a flying fuck how many times we are champions in the SPFL we could win the next 20 in a row,and no one outside parochial wee jockland gives a fuck,we need to achieve in Europe to be be noticed again and make Celtic a name to be proud of, outwith us Celtic fans.
Ps can’t wait for the new season, come what may…
James I have now come to expect how negative your blogs are about Celtics board.
Who gives a flying fuck about Chicago Bulls?
Everything you are predicting is all conjecture, guesswork, and fear of what might happen.
I am an older supporter and I am enjoying the most successful period in Celtics history.
Younger fans do not know what an unsuccessful team looks like.
Have faith.
HH
Here we go, 5 in a row
“Who gives a flying fuck about the Chicago Bulls?”
Indeed. But James seemingly has an obligation to pad out articles by paraphrasing a Wikipedia article about something tangentially related.
Terry should our board not trying and make a name for Celtic outside wee parochial Scotland,it’s fucking embarrassing, we’ll probably win the SPFL for the next 40 years but who outside Scotland cares,is the SPFL Mickey mouse league all you care about.?
I am also an older fan and no doubt the be all and end all is the trophies in the cabinet but since 2012 the new club have just had a free ride to do what they want and never been held to account and our board have just remained silent. The banning of fans from ibrox,players and staff getting assaulted,Scott Brown getting abuse,covid breaches, the var shambles from the first day and also the sky sports timing of games giving that mob every advantage. All we are asking is for Nicholson to speak up on these issues. We sit still at our peril because if we were playing that mob today I would not be confident of beating them given the way we were overrun the last three games. Hope we have learned from that the team start playing the fast moving football that we want to see. Sorry for the rant but just my opinion .c/Mon the hoops.
I agree with a lot you are saying but consider what the new club and their fans think when it is obvious we are Scotland’s most successful club.
HH
They (Sevco fans) HATE it Terry !
I know – Because where I stay I can taunt them about it without having to worry about getting knifed for being truthful…
I love taunting the fuckers – It’s utterly beautiful indeed so it is with Celtic owing EVERY record going in Scottish Football !!!
But Anthony and Terry, surely the board would love to hear you say that Celtic TV subscribers complaining about being asked to pay an additional match fee to watch a friendly match are just being negative.
That would suit their narrative of they know what’s best and everyone should just kiss their feet and cough up.
I can just imagine the board meeting and someone saying, “but they’ve already paid for this match with their subscription.” Another board member replies “exactly, we already have their money so we can’t lose if anyone decides not to pay the extra, it’s just tough if they have to miss the game”. Vote carried!
Yes I agree. I am a Celtic TV subscriber and thought the game was free but I will still pay for pfv as I want to see the game.
I have to admit I am not a season ticket holder and don’t buy any merchandise as this is a rip off with three tops at least every year.
It’s a conundrum. You want the club to have 20 first team players at champs league level within the Scottish league but expect the club to use magic money beans to pay for them. If you can’t afford to buy something or would prefer to spend the money on something else then crack on. I’ve been a super happy Celtic fan these last 25 years….try feeling the same and stop moaning your chops off coz you have to pay for something, it’s your choice
Yes guys, it is our own personal choice whether we choose to keep our season tickets, remain on the home ticket scheme or re-subscribe to Celtic TV etc etc.
I think the main point is that when you have a season ticket and there are purportedly 10,000 or more on the waiting list, then are you going to give up your season ticket, just to make a point about our board?
I very much doubt it, as you are just a number !
Everyone is entitled to an opinion about our club and the way it is ran, regardless of whether you are positive or not!
The amount of tit for tat on here at times, is quite childish, but that’s only my humble opinion.
We should all be delighted with our sustained success, especially those of us that have seen the dreadful years. None of us, that seen “Ranjurs” cheat their way through those years will ever forget it and it certainly makes me hugely appreciative of what we now see!
However, just because we are in the SPL ( and governed by buffoons) we shouldn’t ever allow our aims to be lowered by a complacent or blasé board.
Keep domestic dominance but always aim for greater progress in Europe !
That’s all we ask !
We have an elite manager ( I know that will annoy plenty on here) who has the ability to keep on improving our team and club!!!
Whether he stays, none of us really know !
Nevertheless, we should always ask questions of our board, in order to sustain success and keep, succeeding !
Only my thoughts folks ! HH
Fine post that Gerry !
Cheers Clach!
Only my opinion, my friend, and as I always say, I respect the wide range of views we regularly read on here!
For me, it’s always important that word is used…respect !
We all want the best for our club !
Well said.
I totally give up with all these board happy clappers who are happy just to be ahead of sevco,we will probably rule the SPFL forever now because all that 49ers pish will not save the Huns ,but by god how shite is the SPFL,we lord it over everyone,we got a lucky break in the CL because of the new set up ,but fuckin hell how bad are Scottish teams in Europe,hearts,Hibs, Aberdeen, always fucked out in the first qualifiers, sevco get lucky,us apart from last season get humiliated in Europe,and there you have it the Mickey mouse SPFL that we rule ,but its shite ,and liewell and the board are happy for us to be shite in Europe as long as we don’t go too far ahead of sevco,the big old firm bigot fest old firm ,pocket money for the Celtic board.
Head back to ibrox