When the January review was in full flow and we were all being somewhat impatient awaiting the outcome, only two men in any key position came out of it with a favourable report. Those two men were John Kennedy and Gavin Strachan.
As we’ve seen so far – and we have no reason to even believe it has been concluded – the cull has been severe even if it was not swift.
Peter Lawwell with the ultimate responsibility, presiding as he has over a managed decline and in turn a leg up to an underwhelming rival, has paid for a drop in standards and has retired from his role. Neil Lennon followed suit as it seems two defeats to Ross County is something no Celtic manager can have on his CV and expect even a well-earned legendary status to protect him from such unacceptable results.
Club Captain Scott Brown has also followed the two men he was closest to at the club by heading for the exit, although he will wait for the season’s end and a new challenge in the Granite City, and then this week came the news the Head of Football operations also fell on his sword, or was pushed onto the blade, as the silent and nigh on invisible Nick Hammond resigned from his position.
Head of Football Operations, Nick Hammond, has resigned from his position at the Club to pursue new opportunities.
All the best for the future, Nick 🍀
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) March 31, 2021
Whatever was in the contents of the January review it clearly indicates whoever carried it out came to the conclusion that those heading their relevant departments and responsibilities, this season at least, had fallen well short of expected standards. Whether they have left of their own volition or been afforded the option to save face all have or will have left Celtic by the end of June.
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By then a new man in CEO Dominic McKay, a chap with an evidenced strong communications background, will come into post, you’d imagine then, though it may be further down the list of priorities for now, that the PR side of the business may well come under a great deal of scrutiny also.
We now hope and believe Celtic are addressing structure and strategy as they plan ahead and position Celtic as a European facing club rather than the parochial localised approach of recent years. This will be particularly important with big changes ahead for Champion’s League football in 2024 and the extended riches on offer to whichever side finishes top of the tree and can sustain their position over a period of time. The income streams could double what previous qualifications have harvested and as a club who last heard the champions league music play in December 2017, it may take more than a summer recess to ensure the club are positioned perfectly to take advantage.
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With such huge change when it comes to departmental heads, you can also assume those who replace them or in new posts created will also bring with them their own men and women who they feel will improve performance. Yet in the midst of such swingeing change a level of continuity is also essential and despite call for a contradictory plan of action, both John Kennedy and Gavin Strachan appear to have passed muster.
John Kennedy is a strange one, as we have witnessed in his short period as interim manager, he is able to not only put a team on the park but also improve on what we encountered prior to it. As such you’d assume a level of ambition would mean he’d consider alternative employment away from Celtic in a manager or head coaches’ role and with it dispel any notions that he may not be up to the job. Do just that and John Kennedy could easily be a future Celtic manager, avoid that option and there are probably too many imponderables to risk such an appointment.
That said it appears Kennedy wishes to remain at the club and I for one am more than willing to embrace that, particularly now and at the very least as a short-term bridge of continuity and understanding of the peculiar demands of Scottish football for the new boss coming in. Kennedy is a Celtic man and although that term is met at times with derision, for now as a club we point out is like no other, someone to teach Eddie Howe or any new man oblivious to the strange ways of Scottish weather, pitches, media and football governance, could be invaluable.
It should also be pointed out whether it is former players such as Kieran Tierney, former coaches like Damien Duff or ex-managers like Brendan Rodgers it appears Kennedy is no slouch when it comes to coaching and constantly modernising his approach, as such he’s no history teacher or Scottish football Sherpa, he’s also a valuable enough asset as a coach in his own right.
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And then there is Gavin Strachan. Again, a derided figure who appears to be pilloried for his use of a company tablet and perhaps a level of guilt by association for a frustrating and disappointing season. Yet in a review that so far has taken no prisoners not only has Strachan, like Kennedy, come through the process, it appears he will also be part of the new manager’s backroom staff.
As such it strikes me that not only does Strachan stand up to scrutiny as a coach, but he’s also enough of a reputation in the game that the incoming manager appears comfortable having him around to aid his honeymoon period, and if that man is Eddie Howe, we know he has high standards. I also don’t buy into the guilt by association as he’s not been around for long and as such deserves time in the role, but also the laptop or tablet on the sidelines bothers me not one bit.
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In the day and age of immediate analytics and information conveyed and relayed to the coaching staff in real time, does it not make sense to have someone making sense of heart rates and dropping levels and if so, how else bar someone running up and down the steps of the main stand with bits of paper from a control room in the Gods are we supposed to have that information relayed to the manager to aid his in game decision making?
Strachan strikes me a tad geeky; I’ll give you that but in the modern ways of the football world, particularly over the last ten years where technology has modernised the game so much, guys with the sort of approach Strachan appears to bring surely play their part.
For any new man coming in there are two main things he’ll need to get up to speed with straight off the bat, the unique culture and history of Celtic alongside the peculiarities of this strange old footballing environment we operate in and a knowledge of what the players have and haven’t produced so far and what they may be capable or incapable of bringing to the party.
As such, even if it turns out to be a short-term bridge between two regimes rather than a permanent fixture, it is not a myth that continuity is an important part of any organisation, a culture can be learned but it also needs taught. When it comes to the club and to the players both John Kennedy and Gavin Strachan can to be part of the progression, and if they’ve survived the cull, they must have something tangible to offer.
Niall J
