Frustration is a word that sums up how I feel about how our club is being run by Desmond Dermot and the current board.
Dermot continues to micro-manage everything going on at the club including recruitment of players or as some would say the recruitment of players too late. Missing out on the Champions League under his and the current boards watch once again.
Surrendering a 4 goal lead against Lask, the Celtic players must also take a good hard look at themselves after such a collapse but ultimately the continued failure to qualify for the Champions League starts at the top and their lack of ambition in Europe. They seem happy to pile the cash up from transfers only bringing in a player when one is sold. Their ambition is domestic based and to stay one step ahead of the rangers.
Last season we saw great division at the club between the Celtic support and those running the club and in the shenanigans Hearts almost won the title while chaos continued inside the corridors of Celtic Park.
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I believed this summer it would be a case of one player out one player in and I was correct. Dermot and the Celtic Board seem much more interested in Shareholders than Season Book Holders and more interested in silence than meaningful communication.
Celtic Fan media remain banned because they have the club’s best interest at heart and the board are fearful of being asked the hard questions which the fanbase deserve.
Instead they want to divide and conquer the fanbase by holding separate meetings with different supporters groups.
On the odd occasion when interim chairman Brian Wilson speaks it is a scripted we must do better type apology on the clubs official media channels.
They now have our money once again and as season book holders at Celtic very few are going to give up their season books and will continue to support the Celtic manager and the players at each game home and away.
The Europa League may not be as sexy as the Champions League but we have once again splashed the cash on tickets and travel because we just can’t walk away from OUR club.
In January after the whole Wilfried Nancy fiasco came to an end it was Head of Football recruitment Paul Tisdale who got the axe. The appointment of Nancy and failure to bring in a striker to replace Kyogo or Adam Idah will be his legacy at Celtic.
Thankfully Celtic have now 4 strikers for this season with Duran the pick of the bunch so far with plenty more expected to come from Hogh. Chelsea loanee Mheuka looks decent with Osmand out injured again. The kid just can’t catch a break.
During the Nancy spell we lost the league cup to St. Mirren but I don’t think the self professed football doctor will be putting that on his CV as he looks for another job.
The problem was not just about Tisdale and more about who appointed him and what stood out on his CV that made Celtic hire him.
Brendan Rodgers certainly did not rate him or the players he brought to the club as very few of them made regular first team appearances.
The appointment of Tisdale to such a senior role at Celtic would suggest how little Dermot Desmond and those running Celtic Football Club know about football.
They may know about the business of football but the actual game, experts they are not so they should leave the football to football people with decent CV’s.
Those who hired Tisdale are still earning the big bucks in their director roles at the club.
They have failed to appoint a successor to Tisdale which would suggest that Martin O’Neill has had a say in the players that have been brought into the club over the summer.
Some of the signings that have been brought in look like they can play a big role in the first team this season while others have yet to make a start so the jury remains out on them.
Failure to bring in a quality trusted left back has seen Martin O’Neill have to use Liam Scales as cover for the injury prone Kieran Tierney.
So the Celtic manager will know more than anyone that more should have been done in the transfer window early but as usual it was left till after the Champions League qualifier before finalising the squad for the this season.
Andrew Milne is Editor of More than 90 Minutes Celtic Fanzine & Host of the Celtic Soul Podcast
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