It could all come crashing down around the Celtic board’s ears if they continue to stall on Shaun Maloney and Mark Fotheringham’s deals

There is something very wrong at Celtic.

As the summer of discontent continues, the club are on the verge of all out crisis.

We teetered on the edge last season, but since then, it seems that things have only gotten progressively worse.

Nothing, it seems, is straightforward at Celtic anymore.

The board cannot seem to get anything right.

Yesterday, it was reported that there is still no progress in getting Mark Fotheringham and Shaun Maloney’s deals over the line.

Both men are standing their ground.

They are holding out for what they feel they are worth.

And rightly so.

When you are negotiating from a winning position, you are the one in the position of strength.

Yet the Celtic board, mainly driven by Dermot Desmond, believe they should feel privileged to work at Celtic, and that they should accept doing it for less money than they earned last season.

Where is the logic in this kind of thinking?

What does the club achieve by behaving in this manner?

It’s hard to comprehend.

Then again, the ability to comprehend why this Celtic board behaves the way it does decreases with every passing day.

I get a lot of comments on my articles telling me that I’m always negative when it comes to the way I write about the club.

I’m told that I should be more positive in the way that I present my stories.

To that end, I would challenge any of my readership, and regular commenters, to suggest a feel good story about Celtic to me at this moment in time?

If they do, I’ll happily write it.

I get the feeling they’ll struggle though.

Because there is very little positive emanating from Celtic Park at the moment.

Not only do we have the Fotheringham and Maloney story clouding everything, we also had a story yesterday about Marcelo Saracchi which genuinely defies belief.

The story appeared in the Record from Ryan McDonald.

I was in disbelief when I read this part:

Celtic have opened talks over a return for Marcelo Saracchi – but want to re-sign the player on LOAN.

Record Sport exclusively revealed on Sunday that the champions were ready to open discussions to bring the fans’ favourite back to Parkhead.

Saracchi, 28, is keen on returning to Glasgow on a permanent basis after starring on a season-long loan stint from Boca Juniors.

Boca are open to offers for the out-of-favour Uruguayan left-back as they seek to clear space for a new foreign recruit.

It’s understood the Argentinian giants are willing to offload Saracchi for a cut-price fee of just £1.5million.

However, Hoops chiefs have indicated that they would rather pursue another loan rather than sanction a permanent deal.

But that’s been deemed a non-starter by Boca Juniors, who are keen to cash in on the ex-RB Leipzig star this summer.

This is absolutely mind boggling.

A player, who had a pretty significant contribution to our title win last season, is available for a cut price fee of just £1.5 million?

Yet we don’t want to pay that amount because we would rather pursue a loan deal??

£1.5 million???

This, folks, is where we’re at.

If we cannot even manage to get deals for players and coaches we already had at the club last season, how in God’s name are we going to manage to get a transfer deal for a new player over the line?

The level of incompetence here is just staggering.

We are in the summer of one of the biggest rebuilds in the club’s recent history, and we cannot even tie down integral parts of last season’s double winning side?

It beggars belief.

I can’t wrap my head around it.

I just can’t.

Yet there are still people out there who are backing this shitshow.

Who still believe that this board knows what’s best for this club.

I wrote an article on that very subject last week.

If anybody out there genuinely feels that this board are capable of taking this club forward, then at this point, they need their heads examined.

Pre-season starts next week.

We are no way prepared to begin pre-season training because we don’t even have a coaching team in place.

Gavin Strachan has departed for West Brom.

The two men Martin O’Neill wants by his side aren’t worth what they’re asking for, apparently.

Despite helping Martin O’Neill in leading us to the unlikeliest of doubles.

Is it any wonder then, that we’re hearing rumours from O’Neill’s close confidant – Graham Spiers – that he is grossly unhappy with the treatment of his coaching team?

And it goes a lot further than just unhappy.

Spiers, writing on his Press Box Patreon page, floated something that should stop every single one of us in our tracks.

Read this carefully.

Might Martin O’Neill get so frustrated with this current Celtic imbroglio over contracts that he simply walks away?

Heads back down to London, to peace and quiet, maybe some fresh media work, safe in the knowledge that he has already elevated the modern Celtic once more?

I will hazard this guess…that O’Neill is deeply frustrated by the goings-on at Celtic this summer, to a point of near-despair.

This is quite the temerity by Celtic, to ask the men who helped land last season’s unlikely Double, to come back on wage-cuts.

Dermot Desmond, the significant shareholder who historically has done so much for Celtic, is the man behind it all.

If Celtic don’t resolve this soon, a brassed-off O’Neill might well think it is time he stepped away. The clock is ticking. Celtic desperately need to announce a resolution.

Near-despair.

Thirteen days into the job.

Thirteen days.

Let that sink in for a second.

We have just handed this man a permanent deal, off the back of the most unlikely double in living memory, and within a fortnight he is reportedly at the point of telling them all where to go.

And who is the man behind it all, according to Spiers?

The absent golfing meddler in Barbados.

Of course it is.

Who else would it be??

Desmond has dug his heels in over Maloney and Fotheringham’s wages, because every pound is a prisoner, and cash comes above all else.

Even when that cash is the difference between keeping the man who saved our season, and losing him.

This is what penny pinching at the very top looks like.You haggle over coaches’ contracts.

You haggle over £1.5 million for a left-back who dragged us to a title.

And while you’re busy counting the pennies??

The manager is sitting in London thinking it isn’t worth the hassle.

Make no mistake, this is exactly what this board does.

Every. Single. Time.

It was ever thus.

So here we are.

No coaching team.

No new signings.

A manager who delivered the most unlikely double in living memory, on the brink of walking before pre-season has even started.

A board who, as ever, are fast asleep at the wheel.

Nobody, and I mean nobody, can say they didn’t see this coming.

I rest my case.

If they let Martin O’Neill walk away over a few quid, after everything he gave us last season, then it really will all come crashing down around their ears.

And they’ll have nobody to blame but themselves.

Get it f***ing sorted.

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