Originally published at: Celtic have bizarrely spent the summer extending Ange Postecoglou's to-do list - 67 Hail Hail
This was supposed to be a summer in which Celtic went through their to-do list and ticked off an extensive array of tasks one by one. Instead, the club has been extending the manager’s pre/early-season tasks on a consistent basis. Whenever Ange Postecoglou has taken one step forward, it doesn’t feel as though we’re any…
As difficult as it is to stomach this is clear the decks time. Nicham was already a squad gap, will anyone notice whether he’s in the building or not? I don’t think so.
Hoping for instant results is one thing, expecting them is pretty naive.
Last season fiasco beggars belief but it happened. What is happening now is the outcome of all that.
Amongst the many faff ups their are three that jump out.
Firstly keeping players that didn’t want to be there. I was in favour of keeping the guts of the team in place to go for the 10. MISTAKE.
Secondly allowing NL to remain in position when it was obvious things wouldn’t improve. MISTAKE.
Thirdly allowing the Howe issue to rumble on far too long.MISTAKE.
Hence we arrive where we are.
AP probably needs two or even three windows to get this bag of sh:: fixed. Let’s get behind him, hope for the best but be realistic……HH
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This is a tough one, due to timing. No, not our club’s abysmal lack of timing in decision making on players and structure but the Ch League money up for grabs in what is our overhaul / transition season. If the new club manage to win, they’ll have what is it £30M? That’s a big jump, whatever debts are accruing. In an ideal world, we could have this season and maybe next to shape a new squad but in the same world, we’d also win the league and rake in that £30M. That’s a big uphill task, so how do we manage both?
Focus on the absolute key positions to be covered:
Goalkeeper
LB
RB
Winger
Striker
Dir of Football
Cover those roles and we have a chance. Especially the last one because we need someone to let Ange focus on the team and Dom to focus on the daily running of the club. And Desmond to make sure all our player sales money is available to for the manager to buy. At some point this season, yes, we need to address a sports science and nutrition role too.
I don’t see Ange making a change in this window to the coaching staff but I think he will use the first year to decide if he needs his own crew around him or if he can somehow forge a new (unexpected) partnership with who is at the club now, despite the apprehension of fans to this.
Guess we’ll know soon enough; by October, our league form should be stablising, if not the noise of disgruntlement from our support will be loud enough to knock Dermot’s ball off the tee
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Kenny’s and Laxalt’s contracts had expired and it was clear that they weren’t good enough and of course I think Ange gave Ncham the benefit of the doubt but soon realized he was for whatever reason not going to be able to take the opportunity so Ange pushed him. I expect the same with Griffiths. Somebody wanted Ajer and offered decent money so he went before they lost interest as seems to be what is happening in Eduard’s case. The longer he’s at Celtic playing the way he’s playing the less chance of selling him for a decent sum. It’s time to let him go before Ange has to push him. Or keep him out of the squad. This failure we’re seeing is all about lowered ambitions and lack of succession planning and it is entirely the responsibility of the board. I hope it won’t take Ange too long to turn things around but that also depends on the board. He needs the right player not any player. Signs are worrying if: (i)Ange wanted Buta but board are haggling - they should just pay the asking price NOW; (ii) Joe Hart is a serious contender for GK. Either it’s being forced by the board as he’s cheap and will take a wage cut or even more worrying, Ange forgets he needs a sweeper keeper for his system and is going for short term fix. I prefer him to build a team than have the board build a team. This board needs to go.
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I have a train of thought this board is not as stupid as they come across and forever what reason they have concluded that celtic need a strong rangers in order to retain interest from the television company’s and business sponsors. How else do you explain the absolute shambles the club finds itself in now. I just can’t believe any responsible business people would p£&s away the financial and player advantage we had two seasons ago if there was not an ulterior motive.