The Offical Glasgow Celtic thread

[Angelo]

Villa and Red Star ARE big clubs.

Jim Stynes seems to be of the Little Englander variety who thinks clubs with loads of money and little tradition are big clubs.

Oh aye. Massive clubs. When I think of champions league tradition I think of Celtic, Madrid and Villa. You're embarrassing yourself. Deluded.

I do.

As I said, maybe you're 14 and rely on Jamie Redknapp and "Carra" to get your views on football but people who actually know football know how big a club Celtic are. Sadly a lot of players these days make their transfer moves solely on financial incentives.

[tonto1888]

Nobody can deny how good a job Lawell done at Celtic. In a business sense. Sadly this came at the expense of our progress in Europe and in a football sense ok general. I think that is where the dislike of Lawell has come in. Also the boards failure to really act over the whole rangers thing made a lot of people distrust him. And heated driveways

[Angelo]

Nobody can deny how good a job Lawell done at Celtic. In a business sense. Sadly this came at the expense of our progress in Europe and in a football sense ok general. I think that is where the dislike of Lawell has come in. Also the boards failure to really act over the whole rangers thing made a lot of people distrust him. And heated driveways

On what metric did Lawwell do a good job?

In terms of making profits for the board and shareholders?

Because it certainly wasn't anything on the football pitch. He took over the season after Seville.

On the football pitch we saw 17 years of austerity and record profits and bonuses at the corporate level. He chased away Rodgers who had been the best thing that happened to Celtic since O'Neill (who he was also guilty of chasing).

[marty34]

One season out of so many great ones and the reputations are tarnished? Expectations are very high, or the hatred of Rangers winning one title out of so many is more of a problem?

Everyone thought 10iar was an absolute certainty, that's the main issue, the fall from grace has been spectacular.

There's also a mental case section of all support bases and Celtic have their fare share. I see Rodgers praises being sung here (rightly so) but when he left he was the biggest Lundy in the world. Even Kieran Tierney got dog's abuse for wanting to better himself at Arsenal. There's no winning with some fans.

I think Celtic supporters, with hindsight, understand now why Rogers left.  That's understandable.

[screenexile]

Nobody can deny how good a job Lawell done at Celtic. In a business sense. Sadly this came at the expense of our progress in Europe and in a football sense ok general. I think that is where the dislike of Lawell has come in. Also the boards failure to really act over the whole rangers thing made a lot of people distrust him. And heated driveways

On what metric did Lawwell do a good job?

In terms of making profits for the board and shareholders?

Because it certainly wasn't anything on the football pitch. He took over the season after Seville.

On the football pitch we saw 17 years of austerity and record profits and bonuses at the corporate level. He chased away Rodgers who had been the best thing that happened to Celtic since O'Neill (who he was also guilty of chasing).

100% Celtic have done nothing on the field the last 17 years how has he been around so long!!

[marty34]

Like him or not Celtic have been an extremely well run club for the best part of 20 years. I'm old enough to remember the old Board and the laughing stock the club were back then. Look at the tribute act and their predecessors for examples of how not to run a club. I was frustrated at times as well with the "cheap" mentality but equally I am appreciative of how well the club has been managed financially. CEOs aren't paid to be popular and Lawwell is clearly one of the better football CEOs.
Having said all that his legacy is badly tarnished by this season and Lennon in particular. A terrible appointment from day 1 only made worse by the stubbornness of keeping him there

Can agree with this. This season will cast a shadow over his legacy. Well, this season and heated driveways

I think what Angelo is saying (is this correct Angelo) is that Celtic were decent thwy  could have been so much better.

[Angelo]

Like him or not Celtic have been an extremely well run club for the best part of 20 years. I'm old enough to remember the old Board and the laughing stock the club were back then. Look at the tribute act and their predecessors for examples of how not to run a club. I was frustrated at times as well with the "cheap" mentality but equally I am appreciative of how well the club has been managed financially. CEOs aren't paid to be popular and Lawwell is clearly one of the better football CEOs.
Having said all that his legacy is badly tarnished by this season and Lennon in particular. A terrible appointment from day 1 only made worse by the stubbornness of keeping him there

Can agree with this. This season will cast a shadow over his legacy. Well, this season and heated driveways

I think what Angelo is saying (is this correct Angelo) is that Celtic were decent thwy  could have been so much better.

I wouldn't even say we were decent. We haven't won a knockout European tie other than a qualifier since Larsson was at the club.

We won 9IAR because the huns went bust.

Lawwell trousered money as he ran down the football club, you only need to take a look at the transfer dealings every season and what his salary was to confirm that.

[Angelo]

Lawwell's tenure started in embarrassment. He arrived after Seville under Martin O'Neill - you know how much money we paid in O'Neill's squad on new players in that time? Zilch, we allowed a team get old with no investment, his most defining moment of the O'Neill era was to extend Badle's contract for another four years in order to keep him at the club at the manager's request with a stipulation Balde could leave on a free at the end of the season. Balde became the club's highest earner. What happened next - Balde decided to stay and Lawwell tried to force him out of the club. A standoff ensued, Balde was still the best defender at the club but Lawwell instructed management not to pick him and continued to try and force him out of the club with Balde eventually embarrassing Lawwell with his "you might be chief executive of Celtic but I am chief executive of Bobo Balde". After a few seasons of Caldwell and McManus embarrassing the Celtic shirt, Balde ran his contract down 4 years later having played 14 games in his final 3 seasons at Celtic Park as the club's highest earner. He went back to France and had a few solid seasons in Ligue 1 in his late 30s.

[tonto1888]

Nobody can deny how good a job Lawell done at Celtic. In a business sense. Sadly this came at the expense of our progress in Europe and in a football sense ok general. I think that is where the dislike of Lawell has come in. Also the boards failure to really act over the whole rangers thing made a lot of people distrust him. And heated driveways

On what metric did Lawwell do a good job?

In terms of making profits for the board and shareholders?

Because it certainly wasn't anything on the football pitch. He took over the season after Seville.

On the football pitch we saw 17 years of austerity and record profits and bonuses at the corporate level. He chased away Rodgers who had been the best thing that happened to Celtic since O'Neill (who he was also guilty of chasing).

Try reading further than the first sentence before replying in future kiddo.

[Angelo]

Nobody can deny how good a job Lawell done at Celtic. In a business sense. Sadly this came at the expense of our progress in Europe and in a football sense ok general. I think that is where the dislike of Lawell has come in. Also the boards failure to really act over the whole rangers thing made a lot of people distrust him. And heated driveways

On what metric did Lawwell do a good job?

In terms of making profits for the board and shareholders?


Because it certainly wasn't anything on the football pitch. He took over the season after Seville.

On the football pitch we saw 17 years of austerity and record profits and bonuses at the corporate level. He chased away Rodgers who had been the best thing that happened to Celtic since O'Neill (who he was also guilty of chasing).

Try reading further than the first sentence before replying in future kiddo.

[JimStynes]

Villa and Red Star ARE big clubs.

Jim Stynes seems to be of the Little Englander variety who thinks clubs with loads of money and little tradition are big clubs.

Oh aye. Massive clubs. When I think of champions league tradition I think of Celtic, Madrid and Villa. You're embarrassing yourself. Deluded.

I do.

As I said, maybe you're 14 and rely on Jamie Redknapp and "Carra" to get your views on football but people who actually know football know how big a club Celtic are. Sadly a lot of players these days make their transfer moves solely on financial incentives.

You're talking shite. I have said Celtic are a big club and probably even a bigger fan base than Ajax. Celtic has definitely underachieved this past 10 years in Europe and should have at least qualified on a few more occasions. But you have this delusional view that Celtic should be competing in Champions League semi finals and comparing us to Ajax, who have been beating teams like Real Madrid recently. Celtic should be better but have nowhere near the tradition in European football and producing world class players that Ajax does. They have a much superior record of success than Celtic does. One european win and a good run around the early 2000s in European doesn't give us the right to think we can compete in Europe. The Ajax youth system has always produced amazing players who they then sell on and often become massive stars in world football.  Celtic have been shite in Europe for many years and way before Lawell's time.  The most successful spell in Europe that I can remember is the early 2000s. I actually went to watch Celtic V Ajax at home and away in 2001 when we actually beat Ajax that time and qualified for the Champions League for the first time in many years.

On the Lawell situation. He turned Celtic into an efficient business but I am glad Lawell is going and I think a massive clear out is needed to freshen things up if anything. I think it's hard to tell how successful he was or was he just lucky that Rangers shit the nest and inflated his successes. I can't help but think he did more harm than good during his term. The constant cost cutting and being over cautious with money has been frustrating. The Lennon appointment was the final straw (and I agree with Angelo on this one) and a complete cheap option as they thought the 10iar was guaranteed.  A complete failure by the board and lawed.

I am also not so sure of the Dermot Desmond calls to leave but something needs done at board level. Getting rid of a billionaire owner has a hint of 'be careful what you wish for' written all over it but I don't know what he does or what he gives celtic. He's like a security blanket for Celtic in case things go to shit. Id be afraid if he pulled the pin and got the likes of your man Mike Ashely over at Castle Greyskull. But maybe the talk of his son taking over might help change things. 

[Main Street]

On the Ajax comparison, there was time from 2000 onward when Celtic were at least on a par (oft times ahead)  with Ajax in income and Europe adventures. From 2013/14 onward  Ajax pushed well ahead financially and became more consistent in Europe. Ajax's academy and player purchase kicked in with a string of exceptional players who were sold on for tens of millions.

[straightred]

more misery from Celtic today. 2-1 down now courtesy of another Duffy howler. He's a shocking defender

[bennydorano]

I'd imagine the board is trying to string this out and get the right man even if it means waiting to the Summer, but defeat today would surely be terminal for Lennon.

[straightred]

I'd imagine the board is trying to string this out and get the right man even if it means waiting to the Summer, but defeat today would surely be terminal for Lennon.

Off the top of my head i can think of 5 times lennon should have been fired but he is still there. He wont be there next season but I'm beginning to fear that they'll give him the rest of this one. He's the luckiest man alive that there are no fans on the ground