If you think the problems Celtic are going through right now represent the peak of the challenge facing the club, you’re wrong.
Yes, the league is all but over. The Dubai debacle has fractured the relationship with supporters further. There have been reports of dressing-room discontent.
However, if anything, the task facing club figures such a Peter Lawwell and Dermot Desmond has yet to even truly begin.
There’s a perfect storm on its way to Celtic Park:
- A number of player exits are inevitable. Odsonne Edouard, Kris Ajer, Moi Elyounoussi, Shane Duffy, Diego Laxalt and Olivier Ntcham will all likely need to be replaced, at the very least. Only two of them hold blockbuster value.
- Celtic must make a managerial appointment that inspires fans to buy season tickets. If not, financial realities will come to the fore.
- The club enter a much tougher Champions League qualifying process as runners up in the Scottish Premiership.
- Rangers could capitalise on the riches of the tournament with progression through the Champions route, allowing them to invest in a title-winning squad.
- A planned rebuild/restructuring of the football department must go-ahead.
The scale of this upheaval could easily have a detrimental effect on ambitions next term even for the most switched-on club.
Most dangerously, it all impacts on each other. Sell players too quickly and our European qualification can be kissed goodbye. Wait too long and true cash value is not banked on expiring contracts. Failure to make the right manager appointment could severely impact the ambition of the club.
It really is the dawn of a new era at Celtic Park. But none of it was unforeseeable.
Action must be taken on Celtic problems now
Ideally Celtic would be well down the road on all these issues right now. However, something tells me they are not. We barely even seem to deliver on our January needs, nevermind those down the line.
The message from the club seems to be that they’re still clinging on to the unrealistic hope of catching Rangers at the top of the table. That’s not going to happen.
By continuing to publicly back Lennon, or perhaps more accurately, hide behind a wall of silence, the club are doing themselves no favours at all.
The club can’t continue to punt ‘reviews’ or ‘state of play’ addresses into next week, or next month. This all needs addressed urgently, now.
Only with action can Lawwell and Desmond begin to repair the relationship with fans. Words from them mean little in 2021.
In other news, this is what Rafa Benitez said about the Celtic job in 2019.
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