The Celtic board may think they’re almost off the hook, but winning doesn’t wipe memories, and it most definitely does not let them off the hook
Eric Knott 
When you’re winning, everything seems rosy in the garden.
You tend to forget about all the things that bothered you about your club throughout the season.
Euphoria tends to be a good stress killer in any walk of life.
And on Saturday, I was in euphoric form after the final whistle had blown at Paradise.
As I stood soaking it all in at my CSC, the cameras panned around Celtic Park to display the scenes as the Celtic players lapped up the atmosphere and adulation from the home fans.
Then the camera fell on the director’s box, picking up Peter Lawwell and Dermot Desmond.
Lawwell looked like he was chewing a mouthful of wasps, such was the scowl on his face.
Desmond wasn’t much better.
You’d almost think the result had pissed both of them off.
The board had as good as just banked another £60 million for Celtic football club.
Or more to the point, the Manager and the players had.
Despite the fact Lawwell’s son had hamstrung Rodgers to the point that the Ibrox side were in this title race up till the full time whistle on Saturday.
£60 million is pocket change to Desmond, I suppose.
But to Lawwell, surely the guarantee of another fat year end bonus?
He had reason to be cheerful, yet he didn’t appear to be.
Maybe he was smiling off camera.
But you know the old saying?
A picture paints a thousand words and all that.
Many of us are aware of Lawwell’s feelings when it comes to O** F*** Inc.
I don’t need to say much more than that.
At just about this point every season at Celtic, we all have the “surely the board won’t get complacent now?” conversation.
Yet, that always seems to be what happens.
I think what enraged supporters so much this season was the fact we were sitting on a huge cash surplus, and that the recruitment team (Mark Lawwell) had not supplied the manager with what he required to be competitive.
Both at home, and in European competition.
Despite the fact the funds were more than readily available.
We reverted to being Project FC.
It is important to note that not one signing from last summer’s transfer window started against the Ibrox side on Saturday.
The fact that Brendan Rodgers is on the cusp of delivering the title he promised he would, is down to his unnerving desire to succeed, and his resilience against the incessant onslaught he faced from the media, and in some quarters, his own support.
This title will be on him, and his players.
The board deserves no recognition or credit whatsoever for this achievement.
And it would be a travesty if they attempted to take any.
But I think they know that.
Maybe that’s why Lawwell had such a miserable face on him on Saturday, who knows?
One thing that I am now acutely aware of is the fact that the club’s cash surplus will increase hugely.
The club already has a large balance sitting in the bank.
Season book renewals are under way.
A new home top is about to be launched.
We may be about to bank another £7 million as a result of the impending sale of Jeremie Frimpong.
By Wednesday night, the £60 million could be as good as banked.
We will be an obscenely wealthy club, within an organisation in the guise of the Scottish Premiership that is probably only worth a fraction of the value of our club.
We will have players on our books who have gained serious value over the course of this season.
In reality, this is probably the strongest position we’ve ever been in in our long, unbroken history.
So, the £125 million question is, will complacency continue to be the order of the day?
Or will we actually start to show the ambition the fanbase of this club has always so desperately desired?
Put it this way, we will never be in a position like this again if we do decide to be complacent.
But if we don’t embrace complacency once again, then there is no reason we cannot build from here.
And become stronger, and stronger.
The Celtic board would be very foolish to think the fanbase will accept a repeat of last season’s transfer antics.
One things is certain, while it may be not be up to us in the end, we most certainly do not need to accept a big bid, should it come our way, for Matt O’Riley.
No doubt, his performances will have put him on the radar of plenty of big clubs.
But instead of always flogging our biggest assets, maybe we should be at least be putting up a fight to keep them?
Especially when we are now in a position where we don’t need the money.
Although I doubt our board would ever be satisfied with the bank balance, even if it extended into multiple hundreds of millions.
Maybe we should also be looking to increase our wage cap, so we can attract players who are worth more than £3 million at a time?
We have the opportunity to change a lot of old, and tired policies, and there is no better time than now to do it.
No doubt, the board thinks it’s off the hook, and that because we are in a position to win this against the odds, we the fans, will forget about everything that happened throughout the course of this season.
We won’t.
We won’t forget about the disastrous summer window.
A repeat of that will not be tolerated.
We won’t forget about the fan group lockouts, and how that affected the players on the field of play.
We won’t forget about the crass jokes at the AGM in relation to refereeing.
And how the real problem was ignored, and continues to be ignored, even though it was clear there was full awareness of it.
Those jokes would never have been made if there wasn’t.
Nor will we forget about the pathetic January transfer window, when we had almost £70 million in excess sitting in the club’s bank account.
There can be no excuses in the next transfer window.
Brendan Rodgers needs to be backed fully, with no more projects foisted upon him.
He needs to be to given free reign to work in conjunction with the new head of recruitment to bring in the players HE requires.
Not the players the board requires to keep the bank balance looking ridiculously bloated.
We need to show the ambition a club of our size should be showing when it comes to European competition.
Especially when the club across the city takes it a hell of a lot more seriously than we do.
And the evidence of the last 4 years proves they do.
With several forays into the knockout stages of European competition, and an appearance in a major European final.
What do we have to show for our endeavours of late?
A 5-1 aggregate loss to Bodo/Glimt in the knockout stages of Europe’s third tier competition.
Embarrassing when you look at it from that perspective, isn’t it?
Look, I know, and I accept we are a very big fish in a tiny pond.
But when we’re outside that tiny pond, we need to act like a club of our stature.
And our global footprint shows the rest of the footballing world just how big we are.
We need to start thinking outside Scotland.
Instead of relying on a parochial rivalry, which clearly does not challenge us.
They only challenged us because our board hamstrung us by reverting to a transfer policy, which this season, has clearly been proven obsolete.
We have an opportunity to leave our closest rivals in the dust now.
We have had this opportunity many times before and we’ve never taken it.
It is up to that club to provide us with a challenge.
It is not up to us to constantly throw them lifelines, just like we did this season.
I don’t care if everybody who looks at our league from the outside labels it a one horse race.
For Christ’s sake, we’re about to watch Manchester City, barring a major upset, win the Premier League again!
It’s always the same top four in that league, and nearly always the same team winning it.
It isn’t our fault our club is well run from a financial perspective.
Let’s be fair, that’s the one thing our board is actually good at.
If they put half as much ambition into the footballing operation, as they do into the bank balance, imagine where we might be then?
God forbid, ambition on the playing field might actually result in an even bigger bank balance.
Speculate to accumulate and all that?
We have an opportunity to push on after this season.
If the board thinks we’ve forgotten all the events of this season, just because we’ve almost wrapped this title up, they need to think again.
They aren’t off the hook, and we won’t forget.
In order for that to happen, things need to change.
And now is the time for that.
If that happens, then, and only then, will we park what happened this season.
We can never, and should never, stand still.
We are so much better than that.
The fans know it, and Brendan Rodgers knows it.
And the board, in no uncertain terms, should know it too.
No more excuses.
Push on Celtic!
Click here for – A KEW HEAVINS EXCLUSIVE: CELTIC AND RODGERS ARE GOING TO WIN THIS TITLE. I HATE TO SAY I TOLD YOU SO
Click here for – THE IBROX SIDE WILL EMPLOY EVERY DIRTY TRICK IN THE BOOK ON SATURDAY. CELTIC WILL NEED TO BE AT THE TOP OF THEIR GAME TO ENSURE THE BLACK ARTS ARE IRRELEVANT
They’ll hide behind the fact there’s no automatic CL entry next season as an excuse not to spend money this summer as we need the cash as we won’t be in CL next year yadayadayada
Do you presume we have the cup in our back pocket already?
Do we know the men in black yet?
Those half smiles could well be replaced by full fledged scowls if three blind mice appear on the field
It shouldn’t but……
As soon as Daddy Lawwell got his feet back under the table things went back to b4 Ange DD & PL threw NL under the Bridge by Not backing him with Ambition & Serious Money which Cost Us the 10!!! Nothing has changed DD & PL HAVE NO AMBITION OUTSIDE OF BEING BEST IN SCOTLAND Every Euro Adventure is Embarrassing & We the Fans are made to look Stupid As we give Not just Money but Tears as well..PL had No choice but to throw his Boy under the Bus in January. .I Won’t be Surprised if Club sells our Top Players for less than £30m & Still Limit the Manager’s Budget in the Summer Boo! DD is a Billionaire & no reall fan / supporter of the club as I said no ambition would rather be on the golf course typical!!
This article is bang on …in every way. The Board have been negligent and complacent for years, just trying to do enough to stay ahead of Rangers. It seemed to improve a little under Nicholson and Postecoglou but the last 2 windows have been a disgrace but BR and his team look like getting them off the hook this season….but it definitely won’t be good enough next season…the team needs at least 7 new first team players due to retirement, upgrades required and players possibly being sold. The money MUST be there and Rodgers needs proper backing this time. Efficient and proper recruitment is a must…no excuses.
All fair comments. But on the subjects of stupid things that happened during the season, let’s not be blinkered. Let’s look at both sides here! What about the idiot so-called fans masquerading as GB members who constantly cause the club’s name to be dragged through the mud for their own political protests which have NOTHING to do with being a Celtic fan for the ninety minutes throughout gametime! Bringing your political protests to games is taking your support AWAY from our great club at the same time!
No-one at the club has denied you the right to have your beliefs. They just ask that you keep them in their place and at a time appropriate.
You cost the club so much in fines and credibility with the European governing bodies. You encourage vengeances and anti-Celtic reactions from Scottish officialdom.
To simply state, “they allow Orange walks” etc., is totally irrelevant! You live in a Protestant country where they do everything they can to hold us back already! They don’t need your help!
So sure! Let’s look at the board’s flaws. But not before we take a good long hard look at our own first! Get our own house in order first!
Well said Joe, look what happened on Saturday when Tavpen went to take a corner, he was bombarded by coins and other paraphernalia from that very section. How can we complain about not being safe at Greyskull if we’re throwing stuff at their players? We had the high ground over safety as our supporters and Celtic staff have been injured there over the years, that’s now gone because of those actions on Saturday. There’s some of our support who shouldn’t be allowed near a football stadium as they’re assholes and some won’t want to hear that but it’s true. In my opinion supporters round about these clowns should be getting a grip of them and having a word in their ear because it’s not on what they’re doing. I also agree that politics should be kept out of the stadium as well as the fines are going to become partial or full stadium closures in Europe and how does that help the team? I agree with you Eric about the board speculating to accumulate but how many times do we have to beat this drum before they listen? Apart from Seville we’ve done nothing of note in Europe since 1980 when we got to the EC quarter final where we got robbed against Real Madrid. We keep saying we’re a big club but it’s only in stature not competition wise, now some might not like that but it’s true and the only way to change that is put real pressure on the this board. The only way to do that is to stop buying merchandise and food and partaking of the hospitality on offer, it’ll be a short term measure for the long term good of the club. Money and their dividend is all this board care about if that was to change so would their attitude.
Robert, I’d disagree the board did back Lennon in the pursuit of the 10. We wasted millions Barkas and Ajeti. Big wages on Duffy and ME. Kept players who were clearly unhappy Edouard and Ajer. That season exposed Lennon’s complete inadequacies, he was a yes man to PL and DD. Even how he was handed the job in the Hampden showers. Lennon was a decent stop-gap when Rodgers left but should never have got the job permanently. Re the article, a bit like Edouard, Ajer and Christie, I think we should be prepared to sell Matt O’Reilly. His value is at its peak and that could only decrease if we persist with a player whose mind has been turned. Snap up Bernardo for £5m. Adequate replacement.
There has ben a lot of good comment here, so may I add another one.
Supposing we kept winning treble after treble. That pocket filling Tory Capitalist Lawwell would see his personal bank account going down and down as the support from across the city would just dwindle and dwindle, and that’s the last thing Lawwell would want. Think about it.
It is a lack of ambition from the board, and the love of the yearly dividend for major shareholders. The £25 million being spent on a white elephant at Barrowfield could have been put towards developing the main stand.
On the subject of Europe, looking back on the last 45 years, what we are witnessing is nothing abnormal, it is the norm. How many European campaigns can be considered good, average, or poor in that time ? I counted one from the 80s, not one from the 90s, maybe 7 good or decent campaigns since O’Neil came in. The fact is we have been rotten in Europe most of the time, with a few good campaigns here and there, hard to see it changing, even if we buy good players and they perform well in Europe clubs come in for them and near all will want to move on, the days of holding on to quality players for years like Martin was able to do are long gone.