Where Now for Celtic? Supporters have their say on the way forward

Thought it worthwhile sharing this conversation on Celtic Noise with you this morning as it captures the various moods and opinions on the way forward for Celtic after the frustrations of the better team losing at Ibrox yesterday. Nevertheless Celtic are 19 points behind theRangers this morning and need to win the three games in hand plus look for couple of favours elsewhere. Unlikely in the extreme but not impossible and it’s certainly not position that Celtic should be in.  Have a read…

REBUILDING FOR NEXT SEASON…

“Starts now. New manager, new CEO, new faces on the board, sell players who want away, begin signing replacements and start to give more youngsters a chance (Henderson, Connell, Welsh the obvious ones). Build the team around McGregor, Soro & Turnbull in midfield.
Kennedy interim manager until permanent replacement appointed, then Kennedy goes as well and takes his pal with the laptop with him.

“In real life heads will remain in the sand, lethargy in decision making will continue and the arrogant ‘we know best’ attitude will prevail.” Gary67

“This season is over for us already (unless there is a points deduction for going into administration). We must now build a side for the future. Introduce these youngsters (add in Dembele and Okoflex too) and prepare for the next couple of seasons. Get rid of players who don’t want to be here next season in this window. And make sure we have tried and trusted systems and players before we start next season’s European qualifiers.

“Our next managerial appointment has to be done correctly in a professoonal manner (i.e. actually opening the CVs/applications and conducting thorough interviews beforehand). They must be able to bring in their trusted backroom staff. I’ve read a lot of derogatory comments about how Gerrard is just the front and it is really his coaches that are the brains behind their tactics – well I’d say that is clever management in that he is using the strengths of his backup team to get the best out of fairly limited players.

“I have always believed we have the nucleus of a very good side here but we need to play them to give them a chance. And start spending our money more wisely (seriously why we overlooked such a prolific goalscorer as Ivan Toney and spent that money on Ajeti who never even got on the pitch today is unbelievable). Stop buying so many utility players and start buying specialists in their positions.” Bridie Bhoy

“Get a new manager in now and allow him this window and the summer to rebuild properly for next season. There’s no point in delaying what needs to be done.” Shadow2

“Until we have a re-think right at the top of the club we are going to see more of the same. Hibs recently appointed 4 new board members, doesn’t matter why, but that will freshen things up and that’s what Celtic need. Peter Lawwell has now outstayed his welcome. As a CEO and de facto director of football he has given all he’s got. Time for Celtic to bring in a new leader for the club and a new structure but we need to start at the top. The Celtic boardroom is stale, tired, out of ideas and out of touch. That’s where the rot started and its seeping through the club.” Winning Captains

“We keep hearing that a club with our finances cannot compete with lower English Premier League/top Championship clubs when it comes to paying wages for playing staff, and yet the same people decide it is right to have the highest paid CEO in British football! That doesn’t make sense. Our top earning players are on less than 10% the wage the top players in England yet Lawwell gets more than his English counterparts.” Bridiebhoy

“Bang on BB. We should open up a petition to get Lawwells bonuses rebuked.” AllyBhoy

“This is well overdue WC for sure. Then we can hopefully take on the corrupt Refs in Scotland?” CelticRose

“This sounds like a wake. We’re not dead yet. We’ll come back from this because that lot are flaming useless. As for Kennedy gettin the interim managers job. I would be more inclined to change all the keycodes about the club and not tell him and leave him at the gate.” Deadner

“Dead and buried, Deadner and the sooner you come to terms with it the better you will be.
We have a coach who is probably ok for Scottish Football, but we are looking for better, we are looking for better players, better board members, better coaches who can take us further in Europe than we have been lately, I have a feeling we will lose a few this month, but apart from Eddy the rest are replaceable, so it’s upwards and onwards Deadner and hope the next manager can improve us dramatically.” green sprig

“Lawwell will continue to bleed us dry until either he’s sacked our the fans force a change, don’t give them your money until we see real change.” Vinny

“That’s a reason some may take but another reason may be, are we as fans content to pay £500 to watch a stream, I think i would have serious doubts next season no matter who they sign, I would not pay two seasons to watch Messi on a videos stream, once is enough, but twice, I doubt it.” boab1916

“Include Dermot Desmond and his lapdog Ian Bankier in that Vinny. It is obvious to me now, that Desmond will keep Lawwell in place for as long as possible. When his usefulness is up, Desmond will replace him with a younger model, promising everything we as fans want. But behind the scenes it will be business as Dermot wants. That’s why the pressure should be heaped on Desmond. He only has the same number of bones in his backside as you and I. Eventually one will crack.” POD

“We got beat but it wasn’t a catastrophe. We played some great football and without McGregor’s heroics we would have won. The best team lost but we’re seeing green shoots for the future. Soro is undeniably a class wee guy. Turnbull has given us a new dimension. We’ve got wee Mikey chomping at the bit. We’re seeing progress and whether it’s too late time will tell. We have a squad that can and will tear others apart. We will come good again. We are Celtic and we’re Quadruple Treble Champions. We’ll come good. Believe.” Steviebhoy2

“Green sprig, I agree with you about the manager and coaches. It’s a bit like owning one of the best most state of the art buses in the world and hiring a man to drive it who is barely capable of riding a bicycle. That being said, I still think we’ll win the ten. They are rubbish and they’ll fold eventually. If they drop five points then the rest is in our hands. I’m not worried…… Yet!” The Deadner

“I admire your optimism Deadner but think that mountain is to big for us to climb with the current set up. John no.

“I’m a coach myself John and I always have a belief in my teams. I’ve been critical earlier in the season about team body language and performances. Then Lennon was forced to play Turnbull and Soro (what we were all crying out for) and the performances change. Everyone was saying we had turned a corner, but I had one eye on the game today to see if we would bottle it like the last time. What I ask any team I coach, is to give everything for the duration you’re on the pitch. Now I know we have still room for improvement, but we destroyed them today and they’ve gone backwards. I have one question. Do you think they’ll go the whole season without dropping points? I don’t.” The Deadner

“I agree we were by far the better team but as a coach yourself you surely can not have been happy with the way we dropped our intensity in the second half and became so reckless in our decision making. We should never have found ourselves in a position to be looking for favours from other teams, and don’t think they will be willing to offer us any and throw in the help from the Mibs and no I can’t see them dropping points to allow us back into the title race. Can see a big upheaval in our own club which will make it more likely we still have more points to drop yet.” John no

I’ve coached as well TD but I can say for the players it’s a wee bit disheartening knowing that you’re relying on the other side dropping points to catch the other team. And the longer it goes without that happening the worse it gets. If they get a couple of bad results in the next few games fair enough but if not I think heads will droop pro players or not.” BarrowfieldBhoy

“A total lack of confidence will appear and team spirit out the window will set in if now already.” John no

“When you are a coach then man management comes in to play. You’ve got to know who needs an arm around them and those who need to be told to buckle up. Not rocket science, Stein Shankly and Busby had it, and look what they achieved in the game.”AllyBhoy

“Kennedy should be one of the first out the door. He’s obviously Peter’s love child, it’s the only explanation why he’s been promoted up through the ranks.” Glasbhoy81

“Spot on Winning Captains. As things stand a rebuilding won’t and can’t be done all the time Peter Lawwell is having a say. In the space of 20 odd league games we have seen a swing of 30 odd points as things stand in their favour, throw in another European and league Cup embarrassment and it doesn’t make for good reading. Yet the same personnel have mainly been involved and a good case for we should have been stronger not weeker since the restart. So the question still remains WHY?

“WHY has it taken Lenny so long to get this team playing? Over 4 months? Showed quite clearly how much better we are compared to them, so WHY are we so far behind at the start of January? Someone has to be held accountable for such a dip in standards and it goes far deeper than Lenny imo.

“You’re right WC about rot and we have the most rotten bar steward calling the shots in Peter Lawwell. A rebuilding of a team would usually mean getting in a manager with his own backroom staff and set about replacing the players that want out and off-loading the players a manager don’t deem good enough to fit into his plans and bring in the players he believes will be a success at the club. Sounds easy enough and most clubs operate that way so WHY can’t we?

“Easy cause we have an interfering CEO in PL who seems to want to run the whole show on his terms only. How can we possibly rebuild a team with Peter Lawwell pulling the strings? What manager is going to work under Peter Lawwell?

“Without a good manager and backroom staff in place how can we attract the type of players needed if Peter Lawwell has to have the final say? If we are serious about wanting to rebuild then Peter Lawwell has to go ASAP.

“So how can we get rid of Peter Lawwell when he is calling the shots? How can we expect a change when Dermot Desmond seems unprepared to get off his backside and do anything about it? Well Dermot Desmond just sell up and take them other auld gits with you. Change is desperately needed for the good of our club long term and as supporters we need to take some form of action if we want to enforce change.

“It’s OK to protest and demonstrate but with feelings running so high it is hard to see how these won’t turn violent and putting our support in a bad light which would be totally unfair to all the supporters who have been so loyal throughout the good and bad times. I would like to think our support could stay united in trying to enforce the removal of Peter Lawwell from his post within the club.

I think the Celtic Trust may be able to do something maybe an on line petition asking for the removal of Peter Lawwell. I know I would have no problem putting my name on it as I strongly believe he has just sold our club down the river. We need him out as he has caused us too much heartache to ever be forgiven.” John no

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