The Celtic board are playing Russian roulette with our upcoming season. It will not end well…
Eric Knott 
(Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
For those of you who don’t know what Russian roulette is, and how I think the Celtic board are now playing it with our club, let me give you an explanation.
Russian roulette is a game that involves gambling with life and death.
That might sound extreme, but the outcome of this game can kill you.
Just as our board could possibly kill our season this season unless they stop gambling with the footballing operation.
In Russian roulette, you put one bullet in the cylinder of a six chamber revolver, and then spin the cylinder.
You then place the gun to your temple and pull the trigger.
You have a one in six chance of dying if the bullet lines up with the barrel after spinning the cylinder.
But you have five chances of survival.
If you keep playing the game, the law of averages dictates that eventually the lethal shot will be delivered.
Whether you have the sense to stop, is ultimately down to you.
Since 2023 and the return of Brendan Rodgers, the Celtic board has been playing Russian roulette with our football squad.
They continue to gamble, and the law of averages dictates that if they continue to gamble in the way that they are, a lethal shot will be delivered.
It may not happen in the coming season.
But if Brendan Rodgers leaves Celtic at the end of that season, and the board further weakens our squad, and our management team, it is only around the corner.
The signs so far this transfer window are ominous.
That’s not to say that it couldn’t all change in the coming days, but do you hold out hope in our board to suddenly land two or three big signings fairly soon?
According to Sporting Director Marc Overmars of Royal Antwerp, Celtic are up to their usual lowball offer tricks when it comes to Michel-Ange Balikwisha.
Putting in derisory bids to test the water.
Which does not serve to test the water.
All it does is piss off the selling club, and Overmars’ reaction shows that its achieving exactly that.
What makes it all the more galling is that people know we’re a club that is cash rich.
So its an insult to their intelligence when we act like paupers.
Not only is it an insult to their intelligence, it is an insult to the Celtic fanbase who plough their hard earned money into the club.
Did anyone inside that boardroom learn anything from last year’s summer transfer window?
It really is getting ridiculous at this point.
Earlier today, oft times mouth piece for Peter Lawwell, Stephen McGowan went way off script today with an article headed: Celtic are spending like a club in the throes of buyer’s remorse
In it, he repeated pretty much everything we the Celtic bloggers have been highlighting for weeks now.
In a nutshell, he stated that the board is after shitting the bed because they spent big last summer and they feel like they haven’t got the return they expected for it.
So what’s the answer?
Revert to £3 million punts in the hopes that one might turn out to be a gem.
Well, at least that’s the way it’s looking in this window thus far.
Which begs the question, is anybody in that boardroom capable of an original thought?
Its almost a case of, “Well, we spent big last year, that clearly didn’t work and we really got caught with our pants down by Norwich and Augsburg, so we’re not making the same mistake this summer!”
In other words, we took a risk, risks are too dangerous, back to playing safe.
But safe is not safe.
Safe, which these accountants and lawyers cannot seem to grasp, amounts to playing Russian roulette in the football environment of today.
The bullet in their cylinder?
The eventuality that spending low in the hopes of unearthing a gem will be to the detriment of the football operation.
Because for every one £3 million or less punt that might become a success, there are at least five failures.
In fact, there were nine out of ten failures in that ill-fated 2023 summer window.
And the jury is still out on Yang, who could now be on his way to Norwich.
This method does not work.
But it appears to be the only method the geniuses running our club have in their locker.
And when they do find that rare gem, they get a rush when they get a big payday from him.
What does that rush do?
Rather than replacing that player adequately, they get the idea into their head that they can do this again.
And again, and again, and again.
So they don’t spend to replace him.
Instead they take punts on unknowns.
They play Russian roulette with our season.
And if the season is a success, despite their gambling, they get more of a rush because they dodged that one bullet in the cylinder.
But eventually that bullet will align with the barrel, and when it does?
The tidal wave of anger that will hit Celtic Park will be a sight to behold.
Because as patient as our fanbase is now, if we lose a title to the club across the city with a cash reserve of over £100 million, all patience will evaporate.
In fact, if we fail to qualify for the Champions League this season as a result of inaction in this summer’s window, then patience will begin to evaporate rapidly as it is.
The question is, will the Celtic board wake up and realise this?
Or will it be too late by the time they do?
Russian roulette, it will kill you eventually…
A blog full of if’s but’s and maybe’s but nothing that is actually fact apart from how to play Russian roulette.
What happened to your crap about the board and the stadium and a new stand?
Same a usual sweet FA.
When will you actually write something that you have concrete evidence of that will be the truth?
I’m not too sure about how to do it …but if it was possible to set it that the board had to inform the fans , shareholders and staff every 6 months how the club is doing ..on and off the pitch ? That way there would be no hiding place for money men decision makers trying to keep things ‘ dark ‘ from everyone ! A 6 month mini AGM where the board would get grilled about the previous 6 months decisions and business events . Does that sound too good to be true or wishful thinking ? It would certainly give us all more clarity especially regarding incoming players and what the procedures were to obtain them !
Eric is spot on with what he says. I think this Board’s transfer business is proof/evidence that they have no idea what they are doing. They employed Lawell Jnr – disaster, tried to play the Big I Am with Norwich and Augsburg and got their fingers well and truly burnt and now they are at it again with Antwerp. They made an arse of chasing Eddie Howe and got lucky with Big Ange. Our great Club will never move forward with these Parasites and Desmond in charge.
But of course the Happy Clappers will back and probably still back them after Sevco have overtaken us. As Eric says that bullet is not far off.
C,mon Eric you are getting pretty depressing in your anti board rants. I have to agree with Dans comments.
You know at some point some other club will be league winners and we will deal with it.
Quit with this total ” anti board” crap.
What makes you think you are right. Celtics success over the past twenty years suggest they are doing something right.
By the way do not be accusing those who disagree with you as being Board lovers I think they are just not as deeply negative
as you. Almost 100 percent of those responding to your evaluation of Kuhn disagreed with you. Why is that ?
The fans can see through the crap, this board are out of step with all the supporters and the managers aspirations and don’t give a monkey’s, they only care about 100 million plus in the bank , they must be getting something from it , if the club is worth circa 175 million and 100 million plus in the bank Dermot Desmonds shares were worth 60 million , how much are they worth now it’s one big rip scam against the real owners the fans
Will Brendan be promoted to the board to oversee the football department? Will Shaun Malloney be the next manager? Why are we buying young players from other clubs when we can’t develop our own? Maybe the board are taking advice from Rod Stewart. Buy cheap, buy twice
Fingers burnt by Augsburg?
We’ll get way more than we paid for Engels come his transfer time…..
Also, the time to write such a negative article like this is AFTER the transfer window has closed and we haven’t signed what we need.
HH
VVD,Wanyama,Hooper,Foster,Christie,Armstrong,Kyogo,Kühn,ORiley,Ajer,Jota, Frimpong all signed for relatively small transfer fees and moved on for huge profits.
That’s our model and it’s successful as the trophies pile up around us.
How do you know Celtic have bid for Balikwisha? or are you gleaning this from the MSM😂😂😂.
Yes I think we can all agree that the window in 23 was a disaster but hey we have moved the guy responsible for that out the door and one by one his signings are following him.
We could spend more and probably will before the window closes but recognising that it’s not easy to get top players to play in Scotland.
It’s clear that the trinity times have never ran big businesses because the constant stamping your feet demanding would not be tolerated in the corporate world where collectively you would all last five minutes
I run a business with a turnover of between 4 and 5 million a year Stevie. Not as big as a football club, but the same basic premise, so I actually do understand how a business works, and how to grow it. Contrary to popular belief, this is not my full time job, I do this out of love for Celtic and a yearning for better for our club.
Eric keep writing the way you do mate there’s a managed decline in the side and it’s been going on for years. Guy’s like Stevie who are smacking their gums about you being negative is bullshit, what’s the point of having £100 million pound in the bank to the detriment of the squad and paying HMRC large amounts of corporation tax? It’s crazy and our success is in spite of this board and the fact that the huns were liquidated, not because of them and you’re 100% correct this board are risk averse. Those of us who slate the board aren’t asking them to bankrupt the club but we can see what the club can be and it’s plain as the nose on your face that all this board want is domestic success, instead of at least trying for CL success. The majority of our support want CL success and having that success means our bread and butter domestically will take care of itself, it’s not rocket science. We’re being grossly mismanaged by a board who are not football people they’re businessmen and you’d think that as such would be looking to buy a better standard of player which takes us further and will make us more money to buy even better players bringing in more success ie more money in the bank, that way if we could at least see they were making the effort then we wouldn’t have to complain about them so much. In fact we’d probably be singing their praises as we could see a business plan that looks successful. A big bank balance is great if your doing all you can to make the product on the pitch the best it can be and guys like us can see the potential of our club and the board can’t or don’t want to and that’s criminal and why we give them the criticism that they thoroughly deserve.
Torky
If you read my post I said we could and probably will spend more however given the players I listed shows that there is a balance to be had as we made millions from essentially punts.
We can only spend 70% of turnover so even if the club wanted to the couldn’t spend most of that money that’s in the bank.
What part of that don’t you understand?
Stevie, you name 12 players over a 15 year period. 4 of whom were not signed when certain board members were around. Another 4 sold when the same members were not around. I am sick of hearing the happy clappers. You name 12 players who went for a profit, some of them not even a significant profit. What about all the 2-3 million duds, who stole wages. what about the hundreds of millions left on table by failure to strengthen for CL qualification. This board has only net spent in windows when the chairman was not about. And in those winfows, O’Riley, Jota, Kyogo, Maeda, Hatate, CCV, waken up, its same old same old. Net profit and an apology that they worked hard but deals just couldn’t be done. They seem to be completed rapid when selling mind.
what a load of rubbish and the idiots that agree well you make me laugh. We are the 15th of July and we have been bringing players in this is not Football manager its real life. Teams across Europe still not started pre-season. There were tournaments and such – this is not the time big signings come there is still around 7 more weeks of the transfer window left. You know nothing about the players brought in.
You read negative SMSM post from guys like Shug and even Sutton – Yes he does and its deliberate because they both know how to tug on the umbilical cords and pull people into clicking on their threads.
Hammie,
You’re talking shite.
All of those signings were made when either Lennon,Delia or Ange was the manager.Lawell who gets the blame for everything on these blogs was either CEO or Chairman during these periods. The crap signings usually get punted for more money as well such as Bernebei and Oh for example. I can only think of American and Barca’s that we took a major hit on. If you have more name them.
As I said above we can,may and should spend a bit more,more however not easy attracting top talent to a crap league and from this year can only spend 70% turnover on future operations. If we sign huge talents on big wages and fail to reach champions league next year we can’t afford their wages under FSR and they would have to be sold.
The only way to spend that money now is on infrastructure which they so far refuse to do which is my biggest gripe with the board.
Eric,
If you run a business then consider the implications of having a ceiling on the amount that can be spent on out goings in the way that football clubs are handcuffed.
You can’t go right up to the limit in case your earnings drop.
If they drop you are in a world of pain despite how much you have in the bank.
Ajeti and Barkas sorry for the typo
@Stevie
In no particular order, over the last 10 years or thereabouts (remember, the parasite Lawwell has been in situ since 2003).
Vakoun Bayo
Ciftci
Mulumbu
Eboue Kouasse
Scepovic
Pukki
Amido Balde
Rasmussen
Gamboa
Soro
and last but not least,the ultimate waste of time,effort and money(my opinion, anyway).
The guy who we turned to,to save us when we were staring defeat in the face in the Champions League final qualifying round when we were losing 1-0 at Celtic Park.
Drumroll………………..
Derk Boerrigter !!!
Get these fuckin parasites out of our great club and some people in who aren’t just concerned about balance sheets and their own trough dollars.
Stevie, your talking shite. 70% of your earnings, so if your successful like we’ve been for the last several season’s and bring in more then you can spend more. Nobody’s talking about EPL fees and wages here, we need to spend to ensure we get the CL money. If the board take the risk by sending us in unprepared and we don’t make it then we’re in trouble and the board should be sacked.
Nah,
Clearly you need to educate yourself properly on FSR.
When you have done that come back on
@ballon heid bhoy
you forgot ‘the next larsson’ aka Mo Bangura!!
The cost control rule restricts spending on player and coach wages, transfers, and agent fees to 70% of club revenues. (The gradual implementation will see the percentage at 90% in 2023/2024, 80% in 2024/2025, and 70% in 2025/2026). This requirement provides a direct measure between squad costs and income.