BUDAPEST, HUNGARY - MARCH 12: Robbie Keane, Head Coach of Ferencvarosi TC, inspects the pitch prior to the UEFA Europa League 2025/26 Round of 16 First Leg match between Ferencvarosi TC and SC Braga at Ferencvaros Stadion on March 12, 2026 in Budapest, Hungary. (Photo by David Balogh - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
I do not know who it was, in Ireland or elsewhere, who thought it was wise to brief the media that Robbie Keane might yet end up Celtic manager, but it was a pretty dumb thing to do, even by the usual standards of this board.
The decision to appoint Martin O’Neill put the pin back in the grenade. So why is somebody now throwing the grenade around again in a threatening manner, to no obvious benefit?
Are these people stupid or what?
Let’s be honest about what this feels like.
It feels like someone behind the scenes spitting at the idea that supporters forced a decision. It feels like someone trying to look tough, trying to say that the fans did not win anything, trying to create the impression that Keane has not really been rejected, only postponed.
But it is an empty bluff.
Robbie Keane will never be manager of Celtic.
That ship has not sailed; it has been sunk, shelled, torpedoed again for good measure and left at the bottom of the ocean.
Everyone inside Celtic knows that.
The same fans who opposed it today will oppose it tomorrow. The same moral objections will remain. The same backlash will erupt. The same arguments will be made, only louder, because next time the support would know the club had been warned and had chosen to proceed anyway.
What makes this even more ridiculous is the assumption behind it.
Imagine someone at Celtic telling the media this as if it is possible.
As if fan opposition will just vanish. As if people will forget. As if the club owes Robbie Keane some future chance at the job no matter the circumstances, no matter his standing, no matter who else is available, no matter what the support thinks.
What kind of club would that make us?
Are we now supposed to believe Celtic are keeping the seat warm for him?
That O’Neill is some holding pattern until the temperature drops and the support becomes pliable again?
That Keane is the chosen one and time will somehow make everything acceptable?
That is fantasy.
The only thing that prevented this briefing from opening another battlefield is that almost nobody in the fan base takes the prospect remotely seriously. Perhaps those on the board should sit and think about that for a minute.
Even when they attempt to flex a little muscle, nobody flinches, because everyone knows it is a joke.
This board is a joke.
Whoever leaked that story is a joke.
Celtic fans have seen it all with these people.
The club is run by men who seem incapable of strategic thought.
The idea that they can plan anything long term is hilarious. Stuff like this does not make them look firm or clever or in control. It makes them look ridiculous, because everyone knows they will not go through with it.
On top of that, O’Neill will be here for at least a year.
By the time he leaves, I would expect a couple of board members to have gone as well. Nicholson certainly cannot last much longer. He is a busted flush, and once again that is something everyone else knows perfectly well.
Desmond will still be around, of course.
But I would imagine the next chief executive will be far less inclined to simply defer to him, especially when doing so risks setting fire to the club.
Desmond has clearly lost the plot. Whatever judgement he used to have has gone.
He is not just making mistakes now. He is making enormous mistakes, and this was nearly the biggest of the lot.
Celtic fans intervened to make sure this one was not going to cost the club the next year, and perhaps longer.
I suspect there were people inside Celtic Park who were simply not prepared to stand in front of the live rounds over this appointment. They knew what was coming. They knew the scale of it. They knew that if Robbie Keane walked through the door, the fallout would not be contained.
So the idea is dead.
Nothing will resurrect it.
The club would look pathetic if it went back to Keane one or two years from now, as if the supporters had just needed time to calm down. The club would look weak, spiteful and arrogant all at once. It would look like a board more interested in proving a point than appointing the best manager for Celtic.
Then there is Keane himself.
Keane is an arrogant sod. That much is known.
The guy thinks he is something, and even the best-case scenario here is one in which he has been completely blanked the moment O’Neill decided he wanted it. Second choice if he is lucky. Maybe third, depending on how much stock you put in the Craig Bellamy talk.
Maybe he is prepared to sit for that. Maybe he does not feel put out or humiliated. But what does it say for him if he is prepared to hang around waiting for another call from Celtic Park?
This whole thing is too dumb for words.
Someone at Celtic has tried to pretend to be tough. Someone has tried to deny that the fans had a role in the decision. Someone has tried to suggest that Keane remains part of the long-term thinking, as if that makes the club look strong rather than absurd.
But nobody believes it.
All it has done is make the board sound ridiculous and Keane sound desperate for the job.
To what end?
O’Neill is the manager. Keane remains out of work. Desmond has been forced into retreat. The support knows what happened, the club knows what happened, and everyone pretending otherwise is only embarrassing themselves.
Celtic fans can take this one with a pinch of salt. Those on the board can tell themselves they have set the record straight and that nobody thinks they backed down.
Except everyone does.
And they have to know it.
When they announce O’Neill, they would be smart not to pour further petrol on the flames.
The club has a chance to lower the temperature, move forward and give the manager the backing he needs. It should take that chance instead of trying to win imaginary battles with supporters who already forced it away from the worst decision it could have made.
Nobody benefits from this nonsense.
Especially them.
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I always thought MON’s appointment was about deflection and buying time for the board so they can saunter off to the World Cup. Later there could be a change in his circumstances which would make it impossible to continue and we are back to square one.
Could MON handle a full season when he is expected to win every game as opposed to riding in to save the situation with no expectations. At one point people were on his case as a buffer for the board and he managed to turn it around.
Will he actually sign anyone? Will he be going to The World Cup?
For my money getting rid of Engels will not make up for the disaster of Maeda going and if truth be told the latter might only have come good in the last few games to win himself a transfer. which seemingly MON promised him. The guy would be irreplaceable for any board never mind Celtic’s.
The reason DD has released this titbit is to reinforce his intended duping of the dissenters that they have forced him
Into not appointing RK at this juncture.
By not realising they’ve just been patsies to a sham presentation that RK had a cat in hell’s chance of getting the Celtic job, they will continue to purchase season tickets and merchandise and feed their money into DD’s bottomless pit of a pocket.
If anyone thinks otherwise, then please remind us of when anyone but DD has influenced DD’s decisions in any way.
Part of that denial is pretending that Bellamy was also a candidate.
As I said before I’d have taken him IF IF IF he’d have say bought Celtic a treble that’d have overridden everything else for me because it was good for the most important thing of the lot – CELTIC…
But clearly his appointment became untenable and Celtic supporters are of course their ‘customer base’
I think that the board will see the anti Keane brigade as zealouts and will probably exact ‘revenge’ of sorts down the line…
What that will be – Who fuckin knows – But they’re certainly capable for sure !
Sorry Clach but DD has already exacted his revenge.
He has put in place his succession plan for SM to take over from MON in 2027.
The only way he could pull this off without being accused of making a lazy decision, was to throw in the red herring of Keane for the ping-pong ball throwers to get into a rage about.
DD has played an absolute blinder and he knows it.
While im not sad that Keane hasn’t been appointed, would it have been different if he had never managed in the genocide causing country??
If he had one worked in Hungary, would he have been welcome?
I dont like thst he worked where he did but moreover is the fact that he hasn’t tht experience to .manage our club
Then again I wouldn’t have said no to askou
Good point BigStevie, perhaps the furore over RK’s stint in Israel has deflected from the football side of his suitability for the job.
I’m not going to comment on the suitability of one manager over another apart from I didn’t want Keane. What I would like to say is; does anyone think the worst thing that happened to fan’s was the change from rocking up to paradise or wherever else when you could, to having to have a season ticket. The ST has killed the atmosphere, by stifling choice, and it’s given the club boards the opportunity to hold something over the fans, as when you’ve paid your money they’ve got you. Picture the scenario if Keane or Miller or even McInnes were hired as manager of Celtic and you’ve just spent a fortune on a season ticket. There are some people who would support the choice because they think the board know it all. There are even more who would be incandescent with rage and so they should be. Celtic fans more than most know we have to fight for everything and we should never forget that. Neither should those who have power inside our club.
Totally agree about ST’s, the horse has bolted but it would’ve been better if all clubs were limited to say, 60% capacity going to ST’s and the rest to general sale. Never happening now though.
I totally agree with this. I had a ST when you didnt need one. In the 80s, by memory, the capacity officially was 82,000. You could pay at the gate for every game including against the Ibrox mob. Now CP is generally reserved for the more affluent who can afford a ST. Basically they are booking a seat but many dont turn up for every game.
This is the main reason why the modern fan cant create an atmosphere and rely on a couple of hundred ultras to be their choreographer.
I haven’t had an ST for decades.
Aye you down my post, some kad
Dan, I read your post earlier and was responding but got called to deal with other matters. Imagine my surprise to return and find your post had been removed. Have you received any reason for this, or was it just because your comments were disliked? I hope that is not the case because that would be the worst kind of censorship
Odd that, as I am sure I posted earlier also and it was either never posted, was taken down or some sort of glitch (it wasn’t a wholly supportive post – not my first criticism but first that appears to have got lost so maybe a tech glitch)
Thanks broomy008, no reason given for post being taken down, i hate wars in all areas of the world, Russia Ukraine, Israel Gaza, USA/isreal and Iran. Saudi, human rights and bombing of Yemen. But Mr Forrest obviously does not support free speech or dare anyone disagree with his Superior knowledge. He’ be a hack in s heartbeat but can’ t get a job ha ha. And nobody can criticise Super Brendan going go to such a country.
Mine has gone as well…I’ll accept a ” technical glitch” if that’s the reason…But if Pravda is in operation…I’d like to be told…Over to you James.
I’ll repeat my post taken down, Keane gets pillaged by Forrest and some Celtic fans for managing an Isreali football squad to support his family. He had no politics involved, he did not lanuch any strikes, he was a football man in a war torn environment. The USA were thought to have deliberately bombed a school killing 179 Children in Iran not long ago and when America play the star spangled banner CCV trusty will have their hands on heart. So do we sack them?? Super Brenden went to saudi for a pot of cash where human rights violations are horreendous especially to women and ghe bomb Yemen with weapons bought partly from the uk, but hey Brendan is superman to james who can do or say no wrong. Keane was not so bad with his past employment and I wonder if MON is selected over being a director of football due to Keane turning it down due to writers like James spreading hatred and shit