An interesting suggestion from Keith Jackson writing in Daily Record ahead of the Celtic PLC AGM on Friday 21 November regarding Celtic legend Martin O’Neill’s possible next role at Celtic Park..
He reckons that Celtic could benefit from appointing current interim manager Martin O’Neill to the Celtic Board and that would go some way to satisfy the demand for boardroom changes that are being demanded by the Celtic support via the Celtic Fans Collective and many other smaller shareholders.
Here’s the argument that Jackson puts forward and for a hack we seldom see eye-to-eye with, this will perhaps be a rather popular plan if Dermot Desmond is thinking along similar lines.
Martin O’Neill to join the Celtic Board? Does that placate people?
“People are demanding change at board level. If Martin O’Neill was to take on some sort of role up the stairs as part of the board, does that placate people? I think it would,” Jackson argues on Daily Record’s Hotline Live.
“I think right now there’s an absolute loving for Martin O’Neill amongst the Celtic fans, and understandably so.
“If you were clever about things, if you managed to move people around a little bit and said that Martin was part of the board, then I think right away there’d be real friction at anybody sitting inside the board if Martin O’Neill was part of that board.
“That might not be strategically the worst thing for Celtic. And I wonder if there might be conversations to that end that have to take place this week.
“Because when they announce that Martin O’Neill’s stepping down and they’ve got a new manager, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if there was a secondary part of that announcement – ‘and here’s what Martin’s going to do now’ – which is basically putting a big sort of bomb bunker round the rest of the boardroom for the time being.”
It seems certain that Wilfried Nancy will arrive at Celtic this week
It seems almost certain, barring last minute hitches – and given it’s Celtic were talking about, nothing should be taken for granted – that Wilfried Nancy will be appointed this week as Celtic’s new head coach and it also is being reported that he has agreed to ‘buy into’ the current recruitment model at the club. We’ll hear more about that from the Frenchman himself when he’s unveiled.
However this will mean that Martin O’Neill’s short stint back in the dugout will come to an end following a debrief on the squad and the work done on St Mirren. O’Neill may also be talking to Nancy about roles for Maloney and Fotheringham.
Then what for Martin. Back to London drink his expensive coffee and chew the fat on talkSport seems likely but Jackson’s idea of bringing Martin onto the board – which incredibly has no actual football people in there – seems like a sensible solution. Hopefully Dermot Desmond is thinking along similar lines.
Celtic Fans Collective
This amid protests from the Celtic Fans Collective aimed currently at non executive directors – and so far Brian Wilson and Tom Allison have been the Collective’s targets with more to follow this week.
Appointing Martin O’Neill to the board would mean that there would be a football man in there when the board meets and that could be invaluable to Nancy as he looks to hit the ground running with an injury ravaged squad. At the weekend Colby Donovan became the latest first team player to be struck down with injury and there are still games remaining for the rest to get through.
Martin O’Neill has shown he still has so much to offer Celtic
Bringing Martin O’Neill onto the Celtic Board would be popular across the Celtic family and while it would not make all the current discontent go away at least we’d know that someone who knows the game properly is in there influencing decision making.
And as a self-preservation tactic for the Celtic Board, it’s not the worst idea.
Martin O’Neill has shown he still has so much to offer Celtic. This is an idea way for the club to utilise that effectively and it certainly will be a popular move, even amongst the boards biggest critics.
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Popular?, changing what exactly?. Would be yet another token gesture from a board that’s expert in them, deflect, deflect, deflect.
Haven’t the board already got there footballing go to man, at present in Paul Tisdale?
Recruitment seems like a massive issue at present, and little to no signs, of the Recruitment process worked properly whatsoever, between Rodgers, Tisdale, and Nicholson over the summer?
That won’t be in operation come January, and certainly won’t be the case next summer for definite.
So without a strong working relationship in that area, then little chance of it working sufficient for ourselves imo?
Would however like to potentially see a set budget, for a Recruitment process, that possibly isn’t determined by player sales imo?
Say for instance, that a 30M budget was allowed to the Recruitment team. Then does it really matter at what the returns are upon the player trading model in place?
As a club, we are always going to turn around a certain amount of players, come each summer period.
Of course that is going to impact upon the stability factor within a squad, that’s a requirement for ourselves for European football.
As a club, we are no more than a potential development club, upon the European stage, and only developing players for the player trading model in existence.
We haven’t had the ability yet, to develop players from the ground up, which has to start improving, especially with a third of our European squad, having to be made up of homegrown quota requirements.
Possibly have to return to the bigger squads nowadays, with the increasing footballing calendar in operation, causing more injuries, which we are currently experiencing?
Even Donovan and Osmand have already fell victim to the likes, even when both were originally thought of outside of our original European squad?
Still a question for our medical and sports science team, to answer to, as to why such a case exists at present?
So as much as I admire MoN within our club, he still would be out of touch with the modern way of the background involved within a footballing department imo?
Changes are already happening within the overall structure of the footballing department, that possibly won’t be felt until next season imo.
The ongoing issue is if they are going to be successful or not?
Only time will reveal the answers.