The question I was asked this morning got me thinking. “Could the former SPL Chief Executive Roger Mitchell be the man to replace Peter Lawwell when the current CEO decides to call time on his 17 years stint running Celtic?” Daft as it sounds it might be something that is indeed on his mind and the former SPL CEO – a self confessed Celtic supporter – might see the role as Lawwell’s replacement as his ideal gig.
Mitchell, who these days lives in Italy, can be credited with labelling the current Celtic strategy under Peter Lawwell as one of ‘Managed Decline’ – he first said this on the Graham Spiers Press Box podcast earlier this month. You can listen to this Podcast below.
Here’s the link via twitter if you prefer…
Here was @RPMComo on my Press Box podcast a few weeks ago on the “managed decline” of Celtic.
You can sign up to my 8 Scottish football podcasts per month – debates and interviews – here: https://t.co/nAnQeqBCvupic.twitter.com/gJKzoD25s2
— Graham Spiers (@GrahamSpiers) December 7, 2020
Niall J has written about this ‘Managed Decline’ strategy from the Celtic PLC Board on The Celtic Star, read the article via the link below. Video Celts have also covered this in recent days.
READ THIS…Celtic’s Managed Decline and the Men Responsible
“The truth of it is Celtic have been in a managed decline for some time and it has been something many following Celtic have been warning of for just as long. The warnings were not heeded,” Niall J notes.
“The benchmarking Celtic have used has been at a local level, when had we gauged at a European level, Celtic would have been judged far earlier and more critically. We all play a complicit role in that but that managed decline and the responsibility for it lies with Celtic’s Chief Executive and a board who are unwilling or unable to challenge him.” That article is well worth a read if you missed it first time round. And so is this next one.
READ IT HERE…‘Dispassionate’ Forbes Writer on ‘Disruption’ and the Celtic Board: “About as disruptive as a sleeping dog”
.Writing as a guest writer on Celts Are Here Forbes Magazine journalist Mike Meehall Wood pin-points the need for a fresh approach at Celtic and questions the wisdom in having the same old board lead by the 17 years in-post CEO doing the same old things and all the old Bhoys patting each other on the back once a year at the Celtic PLC AGM. It’s certainly green but there is a staleness about the way Celtic is being run. An outstanding article that really should be read and hared widely among the Celtic support.
ICYMI – wrote a thing for @HereCelts about the Celtic board and where we might do things better.
Nobody’s told me to stick to rugby yet so it must be good. https://t.co/lEBcUX1DuS
— Mike Meehall Wood (@MikeMeehallWood) December 16, 2020
Roger Mitchell has very active on his Twitter account over the past few months as Celtic have gone through a form slump that reminds supporters of the dark days in the early 1990s and after the absolute hilarity of watching St Mirren knock theRangers out of the League Cup last night, Mitchell turned his guns on the Celtic support saying that laughing at our rivals – whose fans were bragging about their team being better than the Brendan Rodgers Invincible Celtic side – saying that this is exactly the reason why the current Celtic Board are allowed to act as they do and in doing so are holding Celtic back.
“Catching up on Rangers last night. And I see the bragging rights brigade out again, @RPMComo stated. “And this is why Celtic are where they are. The fans get absolutely what they deserve. I’ll spell it out. Anyone who defines themselves versus the mediocre guy next door will never improve.
Catching up on rangers last night. And I see the bragging rights brigade out again. And this is why Celtic are where they are. The fans get absolutely what they deserve. I’ll spell it out. Anyone who defines themselves versus the mediocre guy next door will never improve. 1/n
— RP Mitchell (@RPMComo) December 17, 2020
“Being happy to beat them and laugh at them is exactly the complacency that delivered the current woeful position of our club. And recently “oh Rog, you were right, you called it etc”. Really? Well there you go again. Happy THEY won’t win a trophy. A diddy trophy at that
“The Board know this and that’s why they are hunkering down doing NOTHING. Coz they know you well. Very well. They know how fickle you are. They know that a Cup win and an OF performance Jan2 will make all the issues disappear. The “fans” will be happy again and off their back.
3/n the Board know this and that’s why they are hunkering down doing NOTHING. Coz they know you well. Very well. They know how fickle you are. They know that a Cup win and an OF performance Jan2 will make all the issues disappear. The “fans” will be happy again and off their back
— RP Mitchell (@RPMComo) December 17, 2020
“None of the issues at Celtic have improved since last night. The deep structural weaknesses and managed decline. So why the glee?
“They are massively improving their profile and respect. They could easily progress further in Europe. They are on the upswing. We aren’t. Laughing at them last night is bragging-rights Mickey Mouse loserville stuff. THAT WILL PROLONG THE BOARD’S DISMISSAL OF YOUR WHINGEING.”
5/5 They are massively improving their profile and respect. They could easily progress further in Europe. They are on the upswing. We aren’t. Laughing at them last night is bragging-rights Mickey Mouse loserville stuff. THAT WILL PROLONG THE BOARD’S DISMISSAL OF YOUR WHINGEING
— RP Mitchell (@RPMComo) December 17, 2020
Harry Potter and the Failure to Understand Football Rivalry https://t.co/AMxP5xWls3
— CzD (@RodneyFarmer) December 17, 2020
“Harry Potter and the Failure to Understand Football Rivalry,” was one of the many responses to Mitchell’s latest observations about what is going on at Celtic. Yet in many ways he is correct – if you look at Celtic’s record in European football in recent years, particularly the hugely costly failures to get past very modest sides in the Champions League qualifiers – then you really do have to conclude that change at Celtic is needed.
But Mitchell is wrong to suggest that Celtic Fans don’t get this despite it being true that we have all bought into this Ten-in-a-Row obsession – back in the 1970s it was only really the title after nine that Celtic were going for and the rivalry thing only really started when the old Rangers were trying to match Athen beat Celtic’s record.
The fact is that last night burst theRanger bubble and that can only be good for Celtic, and the Celtic Historian and author David Potter explains why here…
The psychological momentum is beginning to tip in our direction, the ball is now in Celtic’s court
It’s a marketing stunt cashing in on the rivalry in Glasgow but both sets of supporters want to win the League and there’s all sorts of other targets involved here. The discredited (due to liquidation” Going for 55 – all the more important to theRangers fans because it is so discredited.
Mitchell though does have a point. Celtic need to improve in Europe and have a business model that allows this to happen. That’s not going to happen under the stale structure we have at the moment.
As as former CEO at the old SPL maybe he sees himself as the man to give Celtic the old Shake and Vac to put the Freshness Back? He’d certainly back himself to succeed.
