Eric Knott 
Alan Harvey - SNS Group/SNS Group/Getty Images
Last night, the Ibrox side capitulated to a third tier English side, losing 2-1 to Birmingham City.
In complete contrast to our pre-season, theirs has been an unmitigated disaster.
Four defeats from four.
The side that won the Covid championship is finally almost dismantled.
What you have left now is a squad being built in a time of austerity for a club that does not have a credit line from any major banking institution.
With UEFA’s new Financial Stability Rules, the days of that club running at a loss are numbered.
Chairman John Bennett is now saddled with navigating his way through uncharted waters at Ibrox.
For the first time in their history, they will now have to live within their means.
They are going to have to do what every other club in Scottish football has been doing for most of their existence.
That is an altogether alien concept to that club.
Amidst all of this, Ibrox is falling down, and building techniques from over 40 years ago are starting to show their age.
Over the last twelve years, we all knew that their way of operating could never be sustained indefinitely.
It would appear those practices have finally caught up with them.
They are entering the 2024/25 season effectively on their knees.
No home ground, a drastically weakened squad, and a fanbase which is finally starting to realise what living in the real world entails.
Needless to say, they’re not taking it very well.
Like the dying supremacist ideology of the Loyalist Orange Order, the supremacist viewpoint of the Ibrox faithful is also dying.
They do not, and have not dominated Scottish football for the majority of the 21st century.
Twenty four years in, and it looks like it might finally be dawning on them that their 9 in a row happened almost 30 years ago.
The years of Ibrox dominating anything are in the annals of history.
Along with the club that created that history.
And their future doesn’t look like it will be filled with domination of any kind either.
In fact, this coming season, you might just see other clubs in Scotland starting to pull ahead of them.
There’s no two ways about it, they are in for a financial struggle this season.
With their stadium costs running into millions, could they be facing another administration event?
Apologies, I’ll rephrase that since they are a new club, could they be facing their first administration event?
It does look pretty ominous for them.
But the real question here is where does all of this leave Celtic?
The contrasting fortunes of both clubs could not be further apart.
As things stand, Celtic have almost as much in the bank as the old Ibrox club owed when it died.
Our club is now a very big fish, in an ever decreasing pond.
Its clear we don’t have a board who can think outside of the box.
Outside of the fishbowl that is the Glasgow duopoly.
This is really what we need, a board that clearly understands where it needs to take our club.
Both Joe McHugh and James Forrest published articles yesterday, where they discussed in depth Brendan Rodgers’ meeting regarding transfers in the US with Michael Nicholson and Chris McKay.
They both covered this pretty well, so I don’t need to go into it in any great detail.
But what I will say is this, I have no doubt that that particular meeting will be the subject of many discussions in the Celtic boardroom between now and the end of the transfer window.
Simply because Brendan Rodgers has effectively placed the responsibility for delivering the players he wants completely in the hands of McKay and Nicholson.
If they deliver what he wants, judging by how we’ve played in pre-season, we will absolutely dominate Scottish football next season.
In a recent article, I discussed how we would become like Mike Tyson, sparring with Barry McGuigan.
What do we get out of that?
Very little.
Its a complete mismatch.
So the board now find themselves in the midst of a dilemma.
Deliver the players Brendan Rodgers wants, and we pulverise the opposition in Scotland this season.
The Ibrox side won’t stand a chance against us.
Even their own fans realise that now.
They can see that the writing is on the wall.
My view is that our board won’t want that, because it’s bad for business.
But if the board fail to meet Brendan Rodgers’ expectations, then they risk pissing off the manager, maybe even losing him.
Which will in turn piss off an already thoroughly pissed off fanbase.
In reality, at the moment, they find themselves caught between a rock and a hard place.
If they do deliver, not only will we dominate in Scotland, we will give ourselves a fighting chance in Europe too.
What’s bad about that?
To the fans, the idea of that is manna from heaven.
Its what we all want.
But to the board, their conservative fears will cloud their judgement.
They always have.
My belief is that Celtic is at a crossroads right now.
What happens over the next 5 weeks or so will determine the direction our club is headed in.
Regardless of what we do, bar giving Ibrox the money to save themselves, their fate is already sealed.
We are in control of our own destiny.
We must not let their predicament influence what we do in any way.
Its this simple, the board needs to deliver on what the manager has asked for.
Ibrox may be in complete disarray, but we are the furthest thing from that.
We need to start acting like it.
We should give Sevco a few million to help them out. We’re not spending it.
For your information Eric,
The Orange Order membership has been rising over the years. Where do you get your stories from. Ill tell you. They are all made up shite as even some of your own supporters tell you. You keep writing your non stories and the Rangers fans will keep Laughing.
The fact that the numbers in the Orange Order mean more to you than the fact your beloved club is on it’s knees speaks volumes as to where your priorities lie Billy. Supremacist guff and Sectarianism means more to you than anything. Having said that, I must admit I’m impressed by your stoicism and bravado in the face of your club’s current predicament. Either you’d prefer to be completely ignorant of that predicament, or you’re really so thick, that you believe everything is rosy in the garden over Ibrox way. I know which it is that I think, since you live on a
Celtic website…
I couldn’t agree more.
We should not be concerned by what any other team in Scotland is doing.
Celtic should have their own vision that is not linked to any other club. Have targets that are achievable, look to the horizon and make your own path. Leave the other clubs to worry about us.
Says wee Billy, obsessively hanging about Celtic sites and having us believe he & the kkkultural fanbase are in fact laughing
Ok Billy, keep yourself in stitches wee man
Celtic should be building a team to compete in Europe with funds available. I’m not expecting celtic to go out and spend 10’s of millions on players at 50k a week but at least give the manager a fighting chance. If Scales is regular started I won’t be paying £200 for CL package.
Billy you can talk some perfect brown stuff your sevco is dead and all you knuckledraggers can’t see it everyone of your so called players want OUT is it because the don’t want to catch asbestosis, even big lurch is desperate.
Celtic board are not Celtic fans….
Billy Boy
says:
25th July 2024 at 12:54 pm
For your information Eric,
The Orange Order membership has been rising over the years. Where do you get your stories from. Ill tell you. They are all made up shite as even some of your own supporters tell you. You keep writing your non stories and the Rangers fans will keep Laughing.
—————
There wasnt any laughter at your shite teams performance from hun fans last night at half time when they booed the team off the pitch.
Whereas Celtic fans were laughing our heads off.
The club will be backing BR. They promised him the support to be able to compete in Europe, with the backing of DD. They wouldn’t have brought him back on false promises to have him walk again and make us look stupid. The board are running a very good business which is why we are in a different stratosphere from Sevco. Our wage bill is nearly £100m and have a valuable squad on long term contracts. I am sick of hearing and reading crap from bloggers and journalists who laugh at the mismanagement of Sevco, while continuously bleating on about removing our board. I can tell you now there is no bigger Celtic fan that Michael Nicholson, a ST owner before he worked for the club, and anyone who thinks what DD takes out of the club as way dividend is not restraining the spending. We put in some very good performances over the last few years against Madrid, Athletico, Lazio etc and 3 x £10m players isn’t going to make a massive difference. I agree, we do need to get better results against the Benficas and progress.
As much as I have enjoyed the last 12 years we should be careful of what we wish for with that lot, having the top tier closed again at Celtic park wouldn’t bode well for us and for Scottish football as a whole, watching them go from one football disaster to another and seeing their undead fans turning against their infantile club and against each other is magnificent entertainment as it has been for the past 12 years
Our board who are obsessed about cash should remember every CL win brings in c.£2m whilst draws are around half that.
Being uncompetitive in the CL should not even enter their empty heads.
The Ibrox chairman told us why
Their roofs won’t fall down from the sky
And from this fact it’s very plain
Don’t go to Ibrox with your wean
A brick, a bolt, a bar, a girder
Might crush your skulls
It’s bluenose murder!
And even stupid Sevco fans
With pea sized brains can understand
That, worrying about your napper,
You’ll miss the game locked in the crapper
At Ibrox half the fans or more
Are shitting themselves ’til their arse is sore
So let your watchword be ‘take care’
If you’re a zombie, hun or bear
And wear a hard hat on your head
Lest, like the club, you end up dead
Heard the same chat from you lot a few years back then Rangers won the league by 25 points. You arrogantly thought you just had to turn up and Terry Munro was won football doesn’t work that way. Long way to go in this transfer window yet while your Micky mouse club goes for 38 year old free transfers Rangers are about to strengthen soon with a couple of full internationals. Everyone knows why your club can’t spend right now and you live in ignorance of it.
I can’t quite understand why Celtic don’t loan out more development players to other Premiership Clubs in order to make the League more competitive & attractive to watch. It would no doubt improve the club’s trading model, as well as help young players improve. In order to thrive as a club Celtic need to look to improve the product in Scotland by every means possible. Having a two horse race (with one horse being lame) every season isn’t healthy for anyone & only progress in European Competition will sustain a healthy vibrant club.
If the board don’t follow the managers wishes and fail to deliver we know then that celtic fc will simply be an spl side , weakened and held back by the failings of the other clubs in this league, that alone would be an absolute disgrace to destroy the clubs ambitions and that of the fans to become a shadow of our former selves due to mediocrity.
Our club is not run to accept failure or to have progression held back to suit anyone never mind the other clubs in this league, our success must now be in playing in European competitions, we must move constantly forward and not stop to accommodate failings of others, maybe lawwell could stand in front of jock steins statement regarding the size of the strip while he ponders if he’s the man to take us forwards or backwards.
A quick Google check will tell you the orange order has been in decline for years.
Billy boy, the typing cliche .
James Smith calling us a Mickey Mouse club is prime Sevco. I want them gone fvck this caring about the top tier being closed. They are a scourge on the country,get them tae fvck.
Well said James Smith. You are closer to the truth than any of the DIM TIMS on this site. They dont want to acknowledge what is going to happen to them in the very near future. Bring it on as its been a very long 5 decades for the poor victims in all of this. They deserve justice and the sooner the better and before Chrissy nae pals and Jim the dim tim reply Paedophile FC Are the only club in world football thats facing the courts for their sickening crimes.
James Smith
says:
25th July 2024 at 3:03 pm
Heard the same chat from you lot a few years back then Rangers won the league by 25 points. You arrogantly thought you just had to turn up and Terry Munro was won football doesn’t work that way. Long way to go in this transfer window yet while your Micky mouse club goes for 38 year old free transfers Rangers are about to strengthen soon with a couple of full internationals. Everyone knows why your club can’t spend right now and you live in ignorance of it.
———–
God knows how you will handle the news when its officially confirmed that malpractice insurance will be what covers the abuse cases.
Unlike the abuse victims of the dead club who were told by the new club to take up compensation claims with the liquidators of the old club but claim they are the same club as the one that died.
Disgusting.
If we are a Mickey Mouse club with 19 of the last 24 domestic trophies won, what does it make Sevco, who don’t even know if/when they will have a home stadium to play in this season!!
Sevco about to strengthen?
Your club don’t have a pot to piss in.
Billy Boy
says:
25th July 2024 at 7:28 pm
Well said James Smith. You are closer to the truth than any of the DIM TIMS on this site. They dont want to acknowledge what is going to happen to them in the very near future. Bring it on as its been a very long 5 decades for the poor victims in all of this. They deserve justice and the sooner the better and before Chrissy nae pals and Jim the dim tim reply Paedophile FC Are the only club in world football thats facing the courts for their sickening crimes.
—————–
Still nothing about the victims of Neely and Dunn?
Also, you support a former club that put fans into a death trap knowing the dangers.
Your old club was responsible for the deaths of 66 people and severe injury of hundreds more.
You are a fanny.
Malpractice insurance does not cover the crimes Paedophile FC committed. As I’ve stated before no insurance company pays out on crimes that is fact. So Chrissy Nae pals back to the drawing board for you.
I’ve also stated if you needed insurance then Paedophile FC Must have known what was taking place all along.
Billy Boy
says:
25th July 2024 at 7:28 pm
Well said James Smith. You are closer to the truth than any of the DIM TIMS on this site. They dont want to acknowledge what is going to happen to them in the very near future. Bring it on as its been a very long 5 decades for the poor victims in all of this. They deserve justice and the sooner the better and before Chrissy nae pals and Jim the dim tim reply Paedophile FC Are the
only club in world football thats facing the courts for their sickening crimes.
—————–
But you told everyone on here that the dead club reported Neely and Dunn to the police which would have meant them both going to court, being found guilty and sent to jail.
You were adamant about this.
Now you are telling us that your old club swept the child abuse carried out by Neely and Dunn under the carpet and lied to the media and the BBC when quizzed about this.
Lie, lie, lie the hun way.
Only a fanny like you could come on boasting and being delighted about Dunn and Neely not being reported to the police for child abuse.
So you are actually delighted that paedos got away with it!!
You are outed now you fanny.
Billy Boy
says:
25th July 2024 at 8:23 pm
Malpractice insurance does not cover the crimes Paedophile FC committed. As I’ve stated before no insurance company pays out on crimes that is fact. So Chrissy Nae pals back to the drawing board for you.
I’ve also stated if you needed insurance then Paedophile FC Must have known what was taking place all along.
————
I always had my suspicions about you on here grooming.
Today with you confirming that you are delighted that Dunn and Neely weren’t tried in court for abusing wee boys then you confirmed what kind of sicko you are.
I an feel your pain re malpractice insurance covering the CBC claims.
Hun pain is unbeatable.
I cant wait to see your reaction when it is officially confirmed.
If you havent been convicted of being a paedo by then, of course.
David
says:
25th July 2024 at 2:13 pm
The club will be backing BR. They promised him the support to be able to compete in Europe, with the backing of DD. They wouldn’t have brought him back on false promises to have him walk again and make us look stupid. The board are running a very good business which is why we are in a different stratosphere from Sevco. Our wage bill is nearly £100m and have a valuable squad on long term contracts. I am sick of hearing and reading crap from bloggers and journalists who laugh at the mismanagement of Sevco, while continuously bleating on about removing our board. I can tell you now there is no bigger Celtic fan that Michael Nicholson, a ST owner before he worked for the club, and anyone who thinks what DD takes out of the club as way dividend is not restraining the spending. We put in some very good performances over the last few years against Madrid, Athletico, Lazio etc and 3 x £10m players isn’t going to make a massive difference. I agree, we do need to get better results against the Benficas and progress.
————–
This makes depressing reading.
Some of the happy clappers are so deluded.
Praising the team for putting in ‘some good performances’ when our last 14 matches in Europe are W1 D3 L10 just makes David sound dense.
Chrissy Nae Pals
You just stay in your lonely bedroom listening to your Gary Glitter LP,s and staring at all the Jim,LL Fix it badges you’ve collected ya prick.
Kenny put the product on the park and the top tier won’t need to close. Also if it were the case fans were not attending games then simply set up a ticket exchange,it’s a win win. When there’s thousands waiting for season tickets I’m pretty sure people will snap the tickets up to watch games when they get the chance. Also, 38 games in the spl wins you 3m, one win in the cl wins you 2.5m, win two games and you win more than you do for a full season in the spl. If the board backs the manager and we steamroll team like we did in his invincible season,I’m pretty sure the crowds will still be there.hh
James smith I seem to remember a certain board member saying celtic was built on a house of cards. How did that work out for you when you won the covid title?? In all seriousness I wouldn’t swap the quadruple treble for anything. It’s a feat that in all probability will never be achieved anywhere in world football. You keep clutching at those straws heavy heid
Billy boy, thought I told you to go suck your sisters cock previously you inbreeding halfwit, maybe your 3rd eye confused you , HE, HE .
PS Chris , you outing Billy as a proven liar really has got under his inbred reptile like skin , keep up the good work on this delusional halfwit.
PS Billy boy, your mother should have swallowed you .
This is my first comment on here and I must say I really like the comments.
Jim M, you had me laughing out loud,and I could hardly talk to my wife about you last comment on your last post.
PS Billy boy, your mother should have swallowed you .
That is one of the funniest things I have read in many a year. 🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂
Jim the Dim Tim,
You were born as an abortion so you keep shagging your sister who is really your mam and your dad is your brother. Now that’s what I call an inbred family. Also Chrissy nae pals and you were banned from joining Gary Glitters gang for being too perverted.
Billie
Why did your old club shove innocent people into a death trap?
They only wanted to watch a football match and go home to their families.
Hoe could your old clubs directors live with so much blood on their hands?
Its ironic that the killer club was practiced an apartheid policy for 70 years killed themselves from within by lying to HMRC who put them 6 feet under, the same HM who huns sang in praise of every week killed them off!! What was your favourite and funniest memory of your old club dying?
Chrissy nae pals. I’ve got news for you, The Famous Glasgow Rangers never died nor will they
NO SURRENDER Ya little pervert. Heard a story about you it goes like this
Chrissy nae pals-
What are we doing daddy
Daddy – it’s called masterbating son and when you’re 15 you can use your own cock.
Is this true
Billy Boy
says:
26th July 2024 at 12:50 pm
Chrissy nae pals. I’ve got news for you, The Famous Glasgow Rangers never died nor will they
NO SURRENDER Ya little pervert. Heard a story about you it goes like this
Chrissy nae pals-
What are we doing daddy
Daddy – it’s called masterbating son and when you’re 15 you can use your own cock.
Is this true
————
Were you one of those losers that went to the stadium and stood outside crying when news broke that your old club was sent for liquidation, while tims everywhere were scoffing down jelly and ice cream?
Everyone on here now knows from your comments how delighted you are that Neely and Dunn werent tried in a court of law for their abuse of wee boys.
Fuck off paedo sympathiser.
From now on I hope everyone on here calls you the same.
Sorry but I thought these sites were for intellectual debate on footballing matters and not for childish name calling and insults?
Yeah very good Chrissy nae pals. You are the ultimate paedophile enabler Ya little alky tramp.
Billy Boy
says:
26th July 2024 at 3:03 pm
Yeah very good Chrissy nae pals. You are the ultimate paedophile enabler Ya little alky tramp.
———-
You have outed yourself.
Best part of Billy boy ran down the inside leg of his mother .
Chris, he’s beyond help , a compulsive moonhowling
fantasistic proven liar who lives in another reality that normal people.
He’s probably got signed posters of Neely and Dunn above his single mattress.
Obviously à site idiots, obsessed with accusing each other of being pedos, you all sound really stupid.
Neither green or blue
says:
26th July 2024 at 7:20 pm
Obviously à site idiots, obsessed with accusing each other of being pedos, you all sound really stupid.
===========
Billie the fuckwit has been on here virtually every day and always brings it up.
Repeatedly.
That’s his life.
But now he’s coming on here boasting about paedos getting away with child abuse at his old club that died.
I get the impression that he has been trying to groom for months.
So I respond to his sick pathetic bullshit.
RE, NEITHER GREEN OR BLUE , IM MORE MATURE THAN BILLY BOY BUT HE STARTED IT, IVE TOLD THE TEACHER .
See Billy boy has been buying lots of sweeties so his handler has reported , claiming it’s for Halloween , so don’t know about you Chris, but I think it’s a bit too early, hopefully he’s not thinking of buying any puppies , it’s not Xmas time yet , it’s a bit of a red flag if you think about it.