Celtic’s board of comedians have another laugh at our expense. We are now becoming the laughing stock of Europe
Eric Knott 
Anadolu/Anadolu/Getty Images
So, I tried to be positive in yesterday’s article.
I gave it a shot, but it was all in vain, and at the game last night, my uncanny knack of predicitng what was going to happen kicked in once again.
I turned to my mate at our CSC and said, “Since Immobile came on, we’re getting stretched, he’s pulling our defenders all over the place, it’s only a matter of time.”
My mate nodded, and low and behold, less than two minutes later, Immobile had scored his first of two for Lazio.
Past experiences, as I said yesterday, allow you to see these things unfolding before your eyes.
I have no doubt the Celtic directors sat in their executive box at the Stadio Olimpico, enjoying the best of hospitality, while the ordinary Celtic fans struggled to gain entry in time for the start of the game.
One of our CSC was over there, and sent messages to say he had to go through no less than five security checks to get into the stadium.
The final check involved him having to remove his shoes.
He didn’t take his place in the Celtic end until the 18th minute of the game.
He stated when he got in, there were thousands still behind him awaiting entry.
This is the kind of treatment our fans endure to follow a busted flush.
They spend hundreds, if not thousands of pounds and euros of their hard earned money to follow Celtic across Europe.
And for what?
To endure humilation after humiliation?
If there was ever a defintion for self flaggellation, this is it.
I wouldn’t be surprised if you looked up synonyms for it, and Celtic fans were mentioned amongst them.
Yet the Celtic board sits and looks at this, and deems it to be some kind of succesful strategy.
Succesful for who?
Them?
Or us, the fans?
We know the answer to that.
Peter Lawwell, if you look at his rise to power since 2003, is the poster boy for getting fat off the comforts of huge earnings throughout his 20 years at the top of our club.
In 2003, he had a chin, 20 years later, it’s non-existent.
No doubt he enjoys prime steaks at the best of eateries throughout Glasgow and further afield.
I hate to say it, but I really feel like we’re back to the days of the Whites and the Kellys.
We are stuck with this board, and it seems that no matter what we do, we will never shift them.
Brendan Rodgers has stated clearly that he requires quality to be brought in in the January transfer window.
Right now, I hold no faith whatsoever in the Celtic Board delivering the quality he requires.
None.
They will say they tried, but that the transfer window is an incredibly complex operation, blah, blah, blah.
This morning, in the Record, reports are coming in that we are targeting left winger, Tiago Araújo of Estoril in the Portuguese Primeira Liga.
Araújo is 22 years old, he will cost us around £4million.
He has played 40 first team games in Portugal, with Portuguese provincial club Arouca, and previously mentioned Estoril.
He has scored 1 goal in 40 games.
Araújo comes from the same Benfica academy Felipe Jota came from.
He looks uncannily similar to Jota, sporting a matching hairstyle and moustache.
When I look at this player, pursuit of him screams one thing at me.
Project.
And a return to the same well that Jota came from, in the hopes it will yield the same return.
This is not the pursuit of a first team ready player.
This is not the pursuit of quality.
It is a punt on a player for £4million, whose stats show us little or nothing of note.
This is the Celtic board engaging in insanity, the definition of which is doing the same thing over and over, while expecting different results.
This is nothing new.
It is the same bollocks we commenced the previous transfer window with, and it is the exact reason I have zero faith in the Celtic board delivering the quality Brendan Rodgers requires to take this team forward.
I mean, for Christ’s sake, what do we need yet another winger for?
We need a new goalkeeper, and we need a new left back.
We don’t need another winger, we currently have six of them on our books.
Brendan Rodgers has one first team ready left back.
The other, Alexandro Bernabei, seems to have faded into insignificance, and could be on his way in the next transfer window.
Scott Bain is the back up keeper, to a fast fading Joe Hart.
So, on the morning after another Champions League humiliation, because make no mistake, this was a humilation, Lazio were there for the taking, we wake up to the news we’re pursuing yet another project player.
I hate using the term project, but what other way can you describe this kind of player?
A project is no longer a project when he becomes a first team player, and contributes hugely to the first team.
How many of those have we seen come and go?
I wrote about it in detail recently, and I estimated we have wasted approximately £51million on projects since 2016.
£51million on players who made no meaningful contribution to our first team.
That’s on the Celtic board, and most of all Peter Lawwell, who decided up until Brendan Rodgers hightailed it in February 2019, that he was the de facto director of football.
I did not expect to read in the papers this morning that we’re in pursuit of another project, and yet another winger.
I hope it is just a rumour, and nothing comes of it.
Another Champions League campaign ends with a whimper.
Our next group game against Feyenoord is a dead rubber, if we manage to beat them, which in all probablity, we could, we’ll finish the bottom of the group on 4 points.
No doubt the Celtic board will tell us this is progress, because it will be 2 more points than we secured in last season’s competition.
This is the kind of bullshit they’ll cling to to justify their lack of investment in the last transfer window.
While in reality we are fast becoming the laughing stock of Europe.
The Celtic board are having a right laugh at the fans’ expense though.
It seems that anything that we consider serious, like the state of Scottish refereeing, they have a laugh and a joke about it.
We have a tough schedule coming up in December, where it’s non-stop.
We’ll see how funny this bunch of comedians are if we enter the new year behind the Ibrox side.
Their lack of giving a shit about Scottish refereeing, and the football operation, makes this a very distinct possibility.
If we then begin the transfer window bidding for projects again, well, it makes you wonder?
Will that be the tipping point?
What will be the tipping point where the fans really start to make life uncomfortable for this Celtic board?
Because it’s high time it happened.
Nothing will ever change while they’re in charge of our club.
And only we can change that.
The question is, can we, and will we?
Aodhán Ó Conchobhair 
Absolutely true Taking the true fans for a ride 2 comfortable at board level Rodgers was conned Wont get the money he should A joke
Fantastic article and echoes my sentiments precisely. They have the audacity to feed it to their fav reporter at the Daily Mail, the most far right tabloid available. Fat Peter was supposed to leave after the disaster that was the 10. Now he’s back and his boy with zero experience is in charge of scouting. We need to get them all out, they are failing us completely and treat us with utter distain.
I said yesterday we are like Eddie the Eagle Happy to be in the competition but not a snowballs chance in hell of doing anything
I hate saying this but the Lawell family are just the same as the White’s and the Kelly’s a cancer on our club
100% correct,we have stood still for two DECADES while those in charge line their pockets it needs to end NOW fan power needs to take control ,no more TORY greed
Totally agree my friend, its just never going to happen at this level with the calibre of players we employ.
Moreover, this will blow over when wee beat the other side next month, and win 6 nil against the next mob we play in the comedy league we’re in!
It’s great reading when we all see the monies we have in the bank, granted. However, what’s the point in (investing?) This hard earned cash on these projects we keep bringing in?
I guarantee everyone 1 thing, every top team in the CL and probably Europa League plus the Conference in all honesty. Lick there lips and punch the air when they get drawn against Celtic! It’s almost a definite 6 point guarantee, worst case scenario 4 points, literally embarrassing for every Celtic supporter! I REMEMBER THAT USED TO BE US!
Totally agree. Lawell senior sneaked in the back door and is telling his son how to run the club. This won’t end well we are regressing at a rapid rate and the fans can see it.
The huns will be smirking celtic the poor man of Europe
We ended up so desperate in 1959 we took ropes to the games to threaten Bob Kelly with hanging we have to act now before desperation takes over
We were fighting the board in 1959 and 1993 time to fight again
I always thought that the prime reason Rodgers came back was that he had unfinished business in Europe ? If he did not have discussions with the board relating to player purchases to enhance our chances in the UCL then he’s not the man for the job ! When he arrived back in the Summer , one glance at the squad names would have told him automatically that they were nowhere near good enough to compete at the highest level . The problem with this shambles is that everything and everyone’s reputation gets slaughtered for this latest round of Lawwell austerity ….Lawwell austerity mark ll ,just like the Tories !
The ONLY language this negligent board pay any attention to is withholding season tickets money.
Would our lemming support ever go down that route? Doubtful!
Something has to give, Lawwell and the suits won’t budge unless there’s a boycott, it has to be STs, that’s where the board do their most bean counting, as for CL packages (should we make it through next season), a total boycott of those games is a powerful tool to use against this board.
All i hear is we cant get shot of the board listen i no fans have payed for there ST but every fan should stay away from the games and embarrasse that board surely DD will have something to say if the fans stop going to paradise and away.games but no doubt you’ll get the fans moaning why should they stay away wellmif you want shot of that board and the 5way agreement the lawwells who lied to the celtic fans but anyway im finished with Scottish football why pay into watch a rigged game and our board are involved in it all FUCK THE CELTIC BOARD BECAUSE THEY ARE DIRTY TORY RATS WHO DÒNT CARE ABOUT THE CELTIC FAMILY THATS AFACT IM OFF SCUM BOARD..
The fans will do nothing, many think the board are great, and a great many more are happy to beat the counterfeit huns,as the pinnacle of achievement. A club trading insolvent,who we’ve helped and continue to help since 2012. I think there are many years of pain before anything will be done, and where the team will be by that time is anyone’s guess, but the business will be strong.
£400,000 spent. Manchester United are the laughing stock of Europe. Keep it in perspective. Give Celtic £400,000 to spend and see if we sit at the bottom of our group. Not many a club would want to be in the same group as Celtic if that was the case.
Spot on Andy, Lawwell has to go.
SACK THE BOARD.
We’ve done it before and we can do it again. Liewell out and take your son with you.
Back passe’s square field passe’s keep possession and manage the game and starve the striker =2-0 lazio
Yip LW must GO
I’ll give them to January and if nothing sorts not another penny will spend on Celtic till it changes.
Lawell should never have had any more to with the club after 10 in a row failure.
Fans made their point clear at the time, now he is back so are his type of signings look good on a PC game but in reality, well make your own mind up.
Stop going to matches as long as he is there, nothing will change if you don’t act, lawell has contempt for everyone as well as the other teams in the league.
It is an easy shot to blame the board. Many ‘lesser ‘ teams with smaller budgets can get results in Europe, but we can’t.
We have an ‘elite’ manager who has overseen some of our worst results abroad.
We have international players throughout the team but they can’t play as a team for the hoops. Even the other team from the other side of Glasgow can get results.
.
This board are disgrace and they are only there to line them own pockets. Its back to the 1960s with the Whites and the Kelly’s.Spongers the lot of them.