The Offical Glasgow Celtic thread

[michaelg]

Celtic play at 7.30 pm on Sunday. Now call me paranoid but when have we seen a 7.30 game on a Sunday before and why is it we are seeing it now? We know Rangers are in action so have to play Sunday, it's almost like as if the SFA don't want Celtic applying pressure on Rangers by reducing the gap before Rangers play. Seems like the SFA have gone out of their way to facilitate Rangers playing before Celtic.

5 Rangers players broke Covid protocols last weekend.

When Bolingoli went off to Spain, Celtic had to postpone their next two games.

When Aberdeen players broke Covid protocols they too had to postpone games.

So why do Rangers get a pass at this? It's not the first time either, Jones and Edmundson also broke protocols earlier in the season.

You never did reply last time when I noted how Celtic had proportionately won more titles in their existence than Rangers who were established 15 years earlier.  If there was widespread help from the SFA, surely that would not be the case.
Also, what was the case last year when Rangers were the team in pursuit?  Were there not occasions too then where Celtic played before Rangers did?  Don't follow it as cloesly as you obviously, but I'd be surprised if the same thing did not happen in reverse.

[Angelo]

Celtic play at 7.30 pm on Sunday. Now call me paranoid but when have we seen a 7.30 game on a Sunday before and why is it we are seeing it now? We know Rangers are in action so have to play Sunday, it's almost like as if the SFA don't want Celtic applying pressure on Rangers by reducing the gap before Rangers play. Seems like the SFA have gone out of their way to facilitate Rangers playing before Celtic.

5 Rangers players broke Covid protocols last weekend.

When Bolingoli went off to Spain, Celtic had to postpone their next two games.

When Aberdeen players broke Covid protocols they too had to postpone games.

So why do Rangers get a pass at this? It's not the first time either, Jones and Edmundson also broke protocols earlier in the season.

You never did reply last time when I noted how Celtic had proportionately won more titles in their existence than Rangers who were established 15 years earlier.  If there was widespread help from the SFA, surely that would not be the case.
Also, what was the case last year when Rangers were the team in pursuit?  Were there not occasions too then where Celtic played before Rangers did?  Don't follow it as cloesly as you obviously, but I'd be surprised if the same thing did not happen in reverse.

I never replied because it was ridiculous point.

The fact that referees have ignored two blatant red cards at 0-0 in recent Rangers games which they won 1-0 says it all, retrospective bans handed out in the aftermath but they don't mask the fact that those decisions influenced matches.

[Angelo]

Celtic play at 7.30 pm on Sunday. Now call me paranoid but when have we seen a 7.30 game on a Sunday before and why is it we are seeing it now? We know Rangers are in action so have to play Sunday, it's almost like as if the SFA don't want Celtic applying pressure on Rangers by reducing the gap before Rangers play. Seems like the SFA have gone out of their way to facilitate Rangers playing before Celtic.

5 Rangers players broke Covid protocols last weekend.

When Bolingoli went off to Spain, Celtic had to postpone their next two games.

When Aberdeen players broke Covid protocols they too had to postpone games.

So why do Rangers get a pass at this? It's not the first time either, Jones and Edmundson also broke protocols earlier in the season.

Applying pressure? Its 15 points, a goal difference of 19... Rangers would need to lose some games, haven't lost yet.

The season is over for Celtic, only another liquidated Rangers would allow Celtic have a free run at it again

Why?

The huns have a history of bottling things under Gerrard when the pressure is on. One bad results can change the complexion of things.

Celtic still have it in their grasp to make a 6 point gain in their two remaining games against Rangers.

It's highly unlikely Celtic can turn around things but it looks like the SFA will do all they can as per usual to assist Rangers.

[JimStynes]

Celtic play at 7.30 pm on Sunday. Now call me paranoid but when have we seen a 7.30 game on a Sunday before and why is it we are seeing it now? We know Rangers are in action so have to play Sunday, it's almost like as if the SFA don't want Celtic applying pressure on Rangers by reducing the gap before Rangers play. Seems like the SFA have gone out of their way to facilitate Rangers playing before Celtic.

5 Rangers players broke Covid protocols last weekend.

When Bolingoli went off to Spain, Celtic had to postpone their next two games.

When Aberdeen players broke Covid protocols they too had to postpone games.

So why do Rangers get a pass at this? It's not the first time either, Jones and Edmundson also broke protocols earlier in the season.

Applying pressure? Its 15 points, a goal difference of 19... Rangers would need to lose some games, haven't lost yet.

The season is over for Celtic, only another liquidated Rangers would allow Celtic have a free run at it again

Why?

The huns have a history of bottling things under Gerrard when the pressure is on. One bad results can change the complexion of things.

Celtic still have it in their grasp to make a 6 point gain in their two remaining games against Rangers.

It's highly unlikely Celtic can turn around things but it looks like the SFA will do all they can as per usual to assist Rangers.

I would be very surprised if Celtic beat Rangers twice in those games. Rangers are not going to lose 5 out of 9 games. For all the bottling they under Gerrard they've done pretty well in Europe as well. The 10iar is gone.

[general_lee]

Realistically who are Rangers going to bottle it against? The closest they came to losing was against Celtic and they still won. I'd say Rangers could lose three on the trot and Celtic would probably lose four

[Angelo]

Celtic play at 7.30 pm on Sunday. Now call me paranoid but when have we seen a 7.30 game on a Sunday before and why is it we are seeing it now? We know Rangers are in action so have to play Sunday, it's almost like as if the SFA don't want Celtic applying pressure on Rangers by reducing the gap before Rangers play. Seems like the SFA have gone out of their way to facilitate Rangers playing before Celtic.

5 Rangers players broke Covid protocols last weekend.

When Bolingoli went off to Spain, Celtic had to postpone their next two games.

When Aberdeen players broke Covid protocols they too had to postpone games.

So why do Rangers get a pass at this? It's not the first time either, Jones and Edmundson also broke protocols earlier in the season.

Applying pressure? Its 15 points, a goal difference of 19... Rangers would need to lose some games, haven't lost yet.

The season is over for Celtic, only another liquidated Rangers would allow Celtic have a free run at it again

Why?

The huns have a history of bottling things under Gerrard when the pressure is on. One bad results can change the complexion of things.

Celtic still have it in their grasp to make a 6 point gain in their two remaining games against Rangers.

It's highly unlikely Celtic can turn around things but it looks like the SFA will do all they can as per usual to assist Rangers.

I would be very surprised if Celtic beat Rangers twice in those games. Rangers are not going to lose 5 out of 9 games. For all the bottling they under Gerrard they've done pretty well in Europe as well. The 10iar is gone.

2 of them are against Celtic. I think they are fairly average, we have much better players than them and if Edouard is in form we should beat them.

They've done ok in Europe. A lot better than Celtic but are they going to beat a United, Milan, Roma or Ajax? I don't think so.

They have distractions in Europe and the bottom line is they haven't had pressure this season. Celtic have handed them every gift they could.

If you look at their form after Christmas last year - they imploded.

The 10 SPL games after they beat Celtic -

St Mirren W
Hearts L
Ross County W
Aberdeen D
Hibs W
Kilmarnock L
Livingston W
St Johnstone D
Hamilton L
Ross Coutny W

13 points dropped in 10 games against the rest of the SPL. 1.3 points dropped per game on average. So if you apply that to the form to the run of games outside of Celtic then that's 7 games losing 1.3 points = 9.1 points plus the 6 pointers against Celtic means it certainly is possible.

Highly unlikely but possible. I'd like for Celtic to at least keep them honest from here until the end of the season, at least apply the pressure, they'll need a few favours to do that but it could start with one bad result.

My point is that the SFA are doing all in their power to assist Rangers here - making Celtic play after them, not postponing their games after breaches of Covid protocol by their players (as they did with Celtic and Aberdeen), dodgy refereeing decisions.

[Angelo]

Realistically who are Rangers going to bottle it against? The closest they came to losing was against Celtic and they still won. I'd say Rangers could lose three on the trot and Celtic would probably lose four

The same teams they bottled it against last season. The issue is that they had not had an ounce of pressure on them this season. Celtic have finally got a run of wins, finally caught up with their games in hands. One bad result for Rangers will raise doubts and questions, their league form has been patchy.

5 of their last 10 league games were wins by a solitary goal, 2 of those were against 10 men, 2 others of those they should have been down to 10 themselves but weren't. Their form hasn't been great of late, it's a sign they are tightening up. I do think there is the potential for a collapse with them, absolutely - whether it's enough of a collapse or whether Celtic will take advantage in the first place is a different matter.

However all I am doing is pointing out the way the SFA are assisting them. When have we ever had a 7.30pm Sunday kickoff before? I don't think you need to be a rocket scientist to figure out that the only reason that Celtic play at that time is to stop them from putting pressure on Rangers.

[JimStynes]

You keep talking about Rangers last season. This is a different year and another year under a good manager and coaches. It's not unheard of for a team to improve and get better as years go by. You have to give Rangers and Gerrard credit. Even if Rangers have a semi collapse and lose a few games they have still been the best team this year by an absolute mile.

[Angelo]

You keep talking about Rangers last season. This is a different year and another year under a good manager and coaches. It's not unheard of for a team to improve and get better as years go by. You have to give Rangers and Gerrard credit. Even if Rangers have a semi collapse and lose a few games they have still been the best team this year by an absolute mile.

It's the same manager and more or less the same group of players. Only Roofe and Balogun are the ones who have played a fair number of games are new additions this season, the rest have been fringe players.

They collapsed against St Mirren to end the rot in the League Cup. They have a track record of cracking when the pressure mounts. I've posted up the collapse last season but they also did the same the season before that too.

In 18/19 they beat Celtic at Christmas and then went on to drop 12 points over the next 10 games.

You're beginning to sound like a Rangers fan here. Maybe we should just concede the title here now and hand Rangers the trophy?

[sid waddell]

Could be a Bill Gates/Soros/5G conspiracy that Celtic won't win the league? 

[dublin7]

You keep talking about Rangers last season. This is a different year and another year under a good manager and coaches. It's not unheard of for a team to improve and get better as years go by. You have to give Rangers and Gerrard credit. Even if Rangers have a semi collapse and lose a few games they have still been the best team this year by an absolute mile.

Rangers are at a disadvantage this week compared to Celtic. They are both playing on Sunday, but Rangers played in Belgium last night, were as Celtic played Wed night, so Celtic get an extra days rest/training to prepare for their game

[Angelo]

You keep talking about Rangers last season. This is a different year and another year under a good manager and coaches. It's not unheard of for a team to improve and get better as years go by. You have to give Rangers and Gerrard credit. Even if Rangers have a semi collapse and lose a few games they have still been the best team this year by an absolute mile.

Rangers are at a disadvantage this week compared to Celtic. They are both playing on Sunday, but Rangers played in Belgium last night, were as Celtic played Wed night, so Celtic get an extra days rest/training to prepare for their game

The disadvantage is Celtic not being able to put Rangers under pressure by playing first and reducing the gap.

It's utterly bizarre and unprecedented to have a game at 7.30 on a Sunday in Scotland.

[sid waddell]

You keep talking about Rangers last season. This is a different year and another year under a good manager and coaches. It's not unheard of for a team to improve and get better as years go by. You have to give Rangers and Gerrard credit. Even if Rangers have a semi collapse and lose a few games they have still been the best team this year by an absolute mile.

Rangers are at a disadvantage this week compared to Celtic. They are both playing on Sunday, but Rangers played in Belgium last night, were as Celtic played Wed night, so Celtic get an extra days rest/training to prepare for their game

The disadvantage is Celtic not being able to put Rangers under pressure by playing first and reducing the gap.

It's utterly bizarre and unprecedented to have a game at 7.30 on a Sunday in Scotland.

I think I hear a barrel being scraped

[JimStynes]

Article in the Atheltic today about Dominic McKay. Some of the headings might not have copied correctly.

What will Dominic McKay bring to Celtic?

Dominic McKay will inherit a gargantuan in-tray when he replaces Peter Lawwell as Celtic's chief executive officer on July 1.
The 42-year-old, who will leave the Scottish Rugby Union (SRU), has spoken of the job being a "once in a lifetime opportunity" at the club he supports and where he is a season-ticket holder. McKay said he was "incredibly impressed with the vision and people within the club". He clearly loves a challenge.
It is plausible that more than 10 players in the first-team squad will leave Celtic this summer. There is likely to be a sweeping restructuring of the football operations to oversee. The club's next manager — or head coach, depending on the outcome of the restructure — needs to be someone capable of correcting the decline. Whether McKay and the board believe that to be Neil Lennon or not, a decision needs to be made soon.
There is also the financial impact of the pandemic to help traverse. Celtic's interim financial report was released on Monday, and made for sobering reading; if not quite as cataclysmic as dreaded.
Celtic feel like a club on pause, and the longer they are paralysed by inaction with each passing day, never mind weeks or months, the steeper the task facing McKay becomes.
Who is McKay and what has he done so far?

McKay will leave SRU after 13 years. Before that he was head of communications at the whisky brand, Chivas Regal. After initially joining as their director of communications and public affairs in 2008, he joined the Scottish Rugby Board as an executive director in 2013, and was named COO in 2015. Over the past five years, he has overseen the SRU's marketing and communications, as well as their commercial and ticketing activity.
He was responsible for Murrayfield's management, which has seen him interact with institutions including the SFA and SPFL; Celtic, Hibernian and Hearts; and the Scottish government.
He was in charge of commercial activity for Scotland's two professional rugby teams, Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh, and is the chair of the Guinness PRO14. Under his stewardship, average crowds at Glasgow rose from 1,500 to 7,000. Edinburgh's attendances also increased.
He led the SRU's threat management group during the first lockdown and secured a test event last August in which 700 fans were in stadia for a game between Edinburgh and Glasgow. It took until November for Scottish football fans to be able to return.
When the Scottish government's emergency grants for sport were announced last year, McKay reportedly used his relationships within the government to help secure Scottish rugby funding of £20 million. It is understood that he has good connections within the Scottish parliament.
As COO he helped secure lucrative sponsors, most prominently BT. In conjunction with the SRU's CEO Mark Dodson, he also secured the sponsorship of BT for Murrayfield, Scottish rugby, Glasgow and Edinburgh. This contract brought in an estimated £20 million.
Both this sponsorship and novel ticketing schemes were crucial to SRU's annual turnover increasing over time to a record-breaking £61.1 million in 2019. McKay is credited with introducing football-style season tickets as a way of guaranteeing seats for big games at Murrayfield; England in the Six Nations for example, or New Zealand in the autumn tests. Because of the season-ticket success, waiting for general sale for big games would more often than not mean that only corporate seats worth hundreds of pounds would be left.
This has meant games such as Samoa or Italy, which in the past have had crowds as low as 15,000 as they are less illustrious opposition, have sometimes become sellouts. It is understood that the vast majority of season-ticket holders renew year-on-year.
Murrayfield recently claimed that they were "debt-free" as a result. McKay also secured additional revenue by renting out Murrayfield for concerts and was involved in having Celtic play their 2014-15 Champions League qualifiers at the stadium when Celtic Park was being used for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Hibs and Hearts held discussions with McKay last summer over potentially playing games at Murrayfield for this season because its size would allow more fans to attend and socially distance more effectively. In 2018, McKay bid for Scotland's national football team to play at Murrayfield before they renewed their contract at Hampden.
There were a number of high-profile PR disasters during his time as COO, though sources stress that he cannot and should not be blamed for them. The SRU sacked Scotland international Finn Russell's father Keith from his role as director of domestic rugby in 2017. He later won an unfair dismissal case and gave interviews to publications heavily criticising Dodson and the SRU.
In their opening game of the 2019 Rugby World Cup, Scotland were thumped 27-3 by Ireland. Soon after full-time, the SRU's official Twitter account tweeted that upgraded hospitality packages were available for the Six Nations in four months' time, which was widely panned as not reading the room.
What is he like as a businessman?

The Athletic understands that McKay made a positive impression with the SFA and with representatives from both Edinburgh clubs, while Celtic have also been charmed by him for a number of years.
McKay is known to be a sharp operator with a ruthless side when necessary. He was referred to within the SRU as 'Teflon Dom', in the sense that no criticism sticks to him. He is understood to enjoy having control over projects and likes things being done his way.
Multiple sources who have worked with McKay in the past describe him as charming, witty and intelligent; but they also add that he can come across as "corporate". However, he can also be personable and has been known to text and chat on the phone with sources even when the conversations are not around Scottish rugby.
He prefers to shun the public spotlight when he can, but when he does front a press conference it is understood that he is charismatic and engaging and knows how to work a room.
One source describes him as the most influential person of the past 10 years in Scottish rugby's marketing, and the engine behind its modernisation. Multiple sources suggest that he would be a good fit for Celtic in helping modernise the club in a similar fashion.
What changes at Celtic does McKay's CV suggest he might make?

Two areas that could see meaningful change are fan engagement, the match-day experience and more media access. Murrayfield regularly sells out for international rugby games not just because of improvements in the team's performances but because it has become much more of a "day out" and "experience". This relates to family-friendly entertainment and the quality of food, drink and merchandise available.
A different approach to media access could be a change given McKay's background in PR and communications. This extends to traditional media; but also potentially fan media. It has been suggested that the Celtic press office have spoken with some fan media about reviewing their level of access going forward.
This could possibly also mean a renovation of in-house media. This month Celtic announced a partnership with digital media company Dugout, who specialise in video content with high production values, in order to "expand the club's international reach". Some fans have been critical of the production values of the club's in-house TV channel Celtic TV, as well as the season ticket holder streaming service Pass to Paradise.
One source predicts that McKay will be shrewd with the media, the SFA, and SPFL, but will be forceful behind the scenes, and will likely want a degree of control over things.
About that in-tray...

Celtic released their interim report on Monday for the first half of the season. Their revenue from this time last season decreased by 23.7 per cent, from £53.3 million to £40.7 million. They made a pre-tax loss of £5.9 million, compared to a profit of £24.4 million in 2019. Their period end net cash at bank is £19.7 million, while in 2019 it was £32.9 million.
Kieran Maguire is an accountant, academic and author who specialises in football finances. He tells The Athletic that while expectedly sobering, the outlook for the future is not disastrous. On a scale of 1-10 on how worrying the report is, Maguire puts it as "a two or three. The thing that exceeded expectations is the fanbase. They upheld the accounts to a large extent.
"If you look at merchandise, even though you can't wear the kit to go and watch the club play, the fans still came out in force and supported them (with the club's new kit contract with Adidas). The merchandise sales were up, ticket sales obviously had a negative impact and did hit the club pretty hard. Broadcast was down mainly due to lack of progress in Europe.
"My concern is for the second half of the season. If you look at the 2019 accounts, Celtic generated 75 per cent of their revenue between July 1 and December 31 because you've got the impact of Europe in the first half of the year. Their day-to-day losses in the second half of the season are likely to be significantly higher, but they'll offset that through the sale of Jeremie Frimpong."
Frimpong moved to Bayer Leverkusen for an estimated £11 million, which would suggest revenue of just under £8 million after Manchester City receive their 30 per cent sell-on fee.
Maguire says that while the second half of the year will be "unpleasant", Celtic "have a very good balance sheet and plenty of cash". "What you need in crisis is cash," he adds. "And if they have £23 million in the background then they can use that as a buffer to cover. So they don't have to go to Dermot Desmond and hold out the begging bowl. If he wanted to inject money into the club, then I'm sure the fans and Neil Lennon, or whoever will be the manager, will be delighted. But they do have that money in the bank as a backstop to cover the next six months."
Perhaps McKay's most urgent task is to weather this financial storm while remaining competitive on the field.
He will have to oversee an extraordinary level of player turnover, in which potentially 12 first-team regulars from this season depart by the close of the summer transfer window; although that number includes Frimpong, Hatem Elhamed who last week left for Hapoel Be'er Sheva, and feasibly Olivier Ntcham if his loan club Marseille decide to execute their option to buy.
Deciding what value of revenue generated from player sales will be reinvested into rebuilding the playing squad, rather than directed towards offsetting the losses produced by the pandemic, will be one of McKay's most difficult tasks.
Maguire suggests that the "depressed market" for player trading this summer will inhibit Celtic from extracting the maximum value possible from sales: "If you take a look at Celtic in this model over the course of the last five or six years, the club has been losing money on a day-to-day basis, and using player trading to cover those losses and make a profit.
"Those losses are likely to be higher this year as a result of COVID, so it'll need more money to come in through player sales to balance the books. Then there needs to be a core decision made at senior level as to how they deal with this. Do they batten down the hatches, as is going to be the case in the majority of Europe?
"At Celtic it comes down to (the major shareholder) Dermot Desmond. He can release cash, as he's independently wealthy. Or he can say 'my job at this club was to help it 20 years ago from the financial position it was in, and now I expect it to operate on its own two feet regardless of who the chief executive is'. He's probably the key person rather than Peter Lawwell leaving and being replaced."
The club are looking to restructure into a director of football (DoF) model, with Celtic contracting sports executive search firm Nolan Partners to headhunt candidates. It is understood that contact has been made with Juventus scout Matteo Tognozzi, and Manchester City's football partnerships and pathways manager Fergal Harkin.
Given the ambiguity over the job description (will it ostensibly be a head of recruitment with greater responsibility, or a more all-encompassing head of football operations?)it is a role that can be sculpted on the go, which might make the quality of appointment hard to determine at first. One heavily underlined job specification should be getting to grips with an academy in flux, with the club — almost certainly — having lost five of their brightest prospects across development squad and Under-18s level over the past two years.
Though McKay's level of input into making the decision on Celtic's first director of football is unclear, it can be assumed he will have some level of involvement during his transition period with Lawwell; and he will certainly be assigned much of the responsibility for the appointment.
McKay needs to land on his feet in his relationship with the Celtic support. He needs buy-in from them; financially and emotionally.
There is a growing backlash around the inaction over making a decision on Lennon's future, which continued to snowball after Celtic chairman Ian Bankier's update on the situation.
There are a significant number of fans considering boycotting renewing their season tickets, as well as a wider shunning of merchandise unless there is a change in management. There is a waiting list for season tickets, and some fans may end up renewing when push comes to shove, but to have a substantial number of fans deciding against renewing would be troubling for a club as reliant on gate receipts as Celtic.
A CEO with fresh ideas and the introduction of a director of football model will be welcomed by a majority, but for many fans it will not be enough if there is not change in the dugout.
Whether it is primarily McKay's responsibility or not, that decision could come to define the opening chapters of his reign.

[screenexile]

You keep talking about Rangers last season. This is a different year and another year under a good manager and coaches. It's not unheard of for a team to improve and get better as years go by. You have to give Rangers and Gerrard credit. Even if Rangers have a semi collapse and lose a few games they have still been the best team this year by an absolute mile.

Rangers are at a disadvantage this week compared to Celtic. They are both playing on Sunday, but Rangers played in Belgium last night, were as Celtic played Wed night, so Celtic get an extra days rest/training to prepare for their game

The disadvantage is Celtic not being able to put Rangers under pressure by playing first and reducing the gap.

It's utterly bizarre and unprecedented to have a game at 7.30 on a Sunday in Scotland.