Celtic’s third consecutive qualifying stage exit from the Champions League has understandably seen an outpouring of anger and frustration.
Fingers are now being pointed at the manager – now facing genuine job security issues for the first time in his second spell at the club – at long serving CEO Peter Lawwell and the board for presiding over a footballing side of the business that appears not to have learned lessons from previous failures, at the players now criticised by the manager for not being focussed on the club and having an eye on alternative employment and the club itself is now facing the ridicule that comes with such repeated errors damaging our reputation as a capable European team.
At the moment it looks like everything is unravelling and its evident change is needed. Celtic cannot continue in this vein, be it from a reputational position as a football club or financially as a club budgeting for Champions League group stage football every three seasons and having now having failed by reaching that nadir.
Changes clearly need to take place and those alterations need to occur by way of a post mortem when it comes to Champions League qualifying performances.
From a domestic perspective until a shaky start to this season we have been entirely dominant so let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater. What we are looking to achieve surely is a way to plan ahead so we are competitive by the time European qualifiers come around. And by European football we are talking of the elite level.
It’s only a few short months since Celtic qualified from a tough Europa League group with two games to spare, taking the home and away scalp of Lazio en route. It’s probably just that progression that made Wednesday night’s defeat to Ferencvaros so hard to take. Celtic had looked like we could make inroads, that Group Stage qualification for the Champions League was not only possible but that we could even compete when we reached there, or at the very least avoid Rodgers-esque humiliation.
As such we’ve been close to where we need to be, yet repeatedly at this stage of the season we are falling short. This is something of an Achilles heel for Celtic over several seasons and not something exclusive to the current incumbents at a coaching level. It is clearly an organisational issue.
In any organisation that begins with consultation and feedback from every level of those involved at the club from the, players, coaching staff, analysts, scouts up to management and board members. In many organisations the public consultation of the ‘customers’ is also involved (no laughing at the back).
From there the remit should be wide ranging not just on the playing side where it is far too simplistic to state the apparent failures appear to occur. Everything from how we maximise income, the media we utilise, internal and external communication, sponsors and contracts, the entire infrastructure feeds into what Celtic eventually do on the pitch. At every stage we need to be as good as we can be, as streamlined, adaptable and forward thinking as possible to give the football operation everything it needs to be successful.
At present a malaise has set in and it is certainly not exclusive to the changing room.
The organisation as a whole need to reach a consensus on what we are doing well and focus our attention on where things are breaking down and why it leads to the same results at this stage every season.
To us the supporters this may seem obvious – timely recruitment and preparedness of the players are two that immediately spring to mind – to those working within the structure day in day out it’s easy to not see the wood for the trees. It can be difficult to take time and step back and look at a whole organisation when you are involved day to day, fighting fires and simply carrying out the day jobs in a fast-paced football season where the games on the park and challenges off it come thick and fast.
In many organisations such problems are solved following consultation by ways of audits or third-party involvement coming in with a remit to find the pressure points and blockages and offer solutions to ease them.
Other areas of business utilise peer reviews where other organisations in a similar field come in and look at structures in comparison to likeminded organisations and advise where the organisation is doing well and where it can improve. While no-one is asking any other Scottish club to come in and advise Celtic, is there anything wrong in looking at successful European sides from other countries for some advice. Ajax, Sevilla, or Lyon for example.
Do departments have enough autonomy over their direction, planning and utilising their budget without having to put every decision through a CEO?
Do some departments have too much autonomy and does evidence show more checks and balances are needed? It need not be a blame game if everyone accepts that one particular area of such high achievable profit and in turn ability to attract the best of employees on and off the field is being missed out on year after year when some attention to practices behind the scenes may solve the issue.
One thing is certain here. Celtic are floundering as a top end European club. By that I don’t mean qualifying for quarter finals and semi-finals of the Champions’ league. There has to be however an acceptance that going out year after year to football clubs with less of a budget at the qualifying stage is unacceptable, this for a business who not so long ago said a third year without Champions League football would have a damaging and detrimental effect financially on our football club.
That has now happened and we have the spectre of further Covid-19 disruption to factor in. As such it is something an owner of any organisation and their shareholders should be demanding answers for the failings and seeking assurances that the necessary reforms will be implemented.
What we can’t do now is turn back the clock. We can however examine that past and plan to learn from mistakes and seek a well-planned alternative approach. There is little time to do that within our organisation. You can’t turn round an oil tanker in a couple of hours it takes time and planning.
There will be a line in the sand come May 2021. The frenzy of Ten-in-a-Row will have passed, whatever way it concludes. It will be an opportunity of a reset of some description at Celtic and it’s an opportunity we simply cannot afford to miss. Something is wrong when a club of Celtic’s budget can dominate their domestic environs entirely yet when they meet competition from countries beyond our borders we struggle compete consistently, even against those on a quarter of our budget.
Once is forgivable, twice should flag up some inward contemplation, three times in a row and it should not even be a consideration to do the same things and expect a different outcome. The time at that stage for any decision maker to remain comfortable in their employment and not have their practices audited has passed, they should be examined by someone of an independent nature.
Celtic as an organisation is now at that stage. Our business model has been built on at the bare minimum to qualify for the Champions’ League group stages at least one very three seasons. That hasn’t happened. The business mode as such has failed and requires re-assessing. Starting with the input of the majority shareholders, down to the performance of the CEO, to the football operations department, manager, coaching staff and players.
It’s more than likely gone beyond mere introspection now. Celtic have been unable to find a way to stop history repeating European failures every season, external help is clearly required. We are missing out on a viable and substantial amount of available income every year and having to sell the family silver to ensure dividend returns and balance the books.
This will be the third successive year we have to sell valuable assets (and we will) to make up for the loss of income from European football. It is simply not a sustainable business model and those who have implemented it now need to seek a fresh set of eyes to examine why those failures continue to happen.
The calls for heads to roll at a managerial level is a knee jerk reaction, what we require is a sensible examination of the club from top to bottom. What we need is a strategy in place and a business model to support the football operation.
If Neil Lennon produces the same results with all the timely and necessary support in place then we know its inadequacy at a coaching level that’s entirely to blame. Do it now and the organisation as a whole gets a get out of jail free card and will simply go back to the same old routine and back to history repeating. Celtic simply cannot afford to allow that to happen.
Niall J
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