When Neil Lennon took a calculated risk in his post-match comments following Wednesday’s Champions League exit to Ferencvaros and called out those he felt lacked commitment to Celtic, he started a guessing game as to who he meant.
Olivier Ntcham and Kristoffer Ajer’s agents appear to have conveniently been on hand to make known their requests for valuations have been made public and two of the malcontents or agitateur’s were known.
I’m far too cynical at times I’m more than aware of that, but when Neil Lennon locks his players in a dressing room for so long that he misses the TV post-match interview obligations and Peter Lawwell sits in the stand with his head in his hands for nearly long as after the final whistle, I’m not convinced both don’t grab five minutes with each other to discuss how on earth a £30million gap in the finances is covered.
All the while deflecting attention away from one’s tactical aberration and the other’s impending selling of the family silver to appease his majority shareholders, due to his own history repeating hesitancy in giving the manager the tools he needed to pick up £30million of Champions league prize money that should be low hanging fruit to a team with a semblance of a recruitment policy and a budget the size of Celtic’s.
Financial hits in times of trouble is after all better left to rank and file support buying season tickets and merchandise, sitting in the Ryan Christie modelled retro tracksuits watching pay per view TV for a £600 plus 9-month subscription -not for the real lifeblood of the club the shareholders. Anyone expecting November dividend deferrals to be announced at this year’s AGM is likely to be disappointed.
As such a couple of fall guys need to be in place and preferably ones whose transfer fees will reach the magic figure of £30million and whose agents don’t mind being part of a charade. One who has wanted away since his pal headed to Lyon and Brendan Rodgers stopped whispering sweet nothings in his ear, and another who changed agent to maximise the opportunities created by his previous representative’s big mouth telling all and sundry his big blonde Norwegian client was under no circumstances signing a new contract.
Within a few hours another can be spun as a positive story, with his agent coming out publicly and claiming Champions League football is not a requirement, the Europa League is a fine tournament and his lad fancies a wee crack at 10-in-a-row before he heads climbs the magic money tree of the English Premier league.
Celtic have been trying to tie down Odsonne Edouard to a new contract since when? February? Not even a new contract really, more a one-year extension to see French Eddy through to Ten-in-a-Row, while protecting a two-year gap to an expiry of a contract and maximise Celtic’s transfer fee entitlement next summer.
Except whatever has been put in front of Eddy hasn’t been signed. His representatives appear little concerned about their clients depreciating transfer value as it means more money in their pocket when next summer’s suitor has a lesser transfer fee to pay to Celtic and therefore more money to offer said client and Mr 15% to take up the riches on offer next year.
Even Celtic’s offer of 10% of the transfer fee has so far been refused. Mainly you’d assume because it comes with a gentleman’s agreement attached and I’m not certain that’s how Mr Lawwell is viewed out there. Now we’re being told the talks will be back on. Perhaps they will be. Possibly.
If Lennon had to choose two players to leave at the moment from four possibilities, you’d be hard pushed to assume that Ajer and Ntcham wouldn’t win a game of Lennon top trumps with Edouard and Ryan Christie as the alternatives. Lennon get his golden Bhoy to stay and Lawwell gets to exit the Champions League and not have to face the wrath of a support for selling a prized asset who has no intention of going anywhere in any case until he decides the move is the right fit for him. Happy days.
Meanwhile Ntcham, Ajer and their representatives are both happy to be the fall guys as they just want out of Dodge. One because he’s sick of playing second fiddle to a player who hasn’t quite reached the heights since last Christmas and another who has been told he’s a blend of Paulo Maldini and Ivan Drago and believes the sycophantic nonsense he’s being fed.
So, Lennon with an opportunity to deflect from a position of having to explain how he felt Celtic played so well on Wednesday but just couldn’t score – and he was the guy who didn’t pick a striker..oops! – gets an opportunity to divert from his oversight and blame some players for having a wee eye on the exit door and not concentrating on closing players down when defending corner kicks.
Then in a series of press interviews where he becomes incrementally angrier rather than it subsiding, as he goes through Celtic TV where he’s melancholic but measured to BBC Scotland where he progresses to edgy and agitated and to the written press where the shape up or ship out and bugging me for 6 months (not just tonight folks) quotes come out.
All a little unnatural and convenient for my liking.
Yet despite all this we now look like we could come out of this better. Ajer and Ntcham have no long-term future at Celtic in any case, they’ll cover the Champions League losses and should it make room for Shane Duffy on top of the recent signing of David Turnbull we’ll be better off financially and have two players as committed as you’ll get to playing for Celtic this season.
Where however it does become a bit of a gamble is whether Lennon has damaged his authority in the changing room with his oddly timed outburst and whether in two weeks’ time Edouard is offered a chance to replace Moussa Dembele at Lyon and fancies following in his pal’s footsteps. Still I guess we can cross that bridge when we get to it.
Any chance next year instead of cloak and dagger and smoke and mirrors can we just get our house in order in time for European qualifiers? It’s getting harder and harder to sell players and have a decent football team. Odd that.
Niall J
