Celtic Diary Saturday April 11: The Chaos of Conservatism

The only moment of clarity in maybe the strangest day of 2020 yesterday came from Celtic, of whom it has to be said, are dealing with the current crisis extremely well.

They released a statement confirming what was an open secret that they were going to implement a new finacial strategy with the aim of making sure that Celtic would still be here when all of this is over.

For those of us who regard Celtic as the one constant in our lives, that was reassuring.

CELTIC Football Club today confirmed that a package of measures has been agreed with staff and players which will help the club to come through the current coronavirus crisis on a stable basis while ensuring that the rights and interests of all colleagues are safeguarded.

For the period April-June, the club’s Chief Executive, Manager, non-executive directors, first-team squad, executive team, and backroom staff, including Academy and Football Operation executives, have volunteered to take a significant reduction in salaries and make deferrals of a significant proportion of their earnings.

Chief Executive Peter Lawwell said: “I would like to pay tribute to Neil and the players for their desire to play their part and the outcomes achieved. I am also grateful to my own executive team for the commitment they have devoted to this outcome in very difficult working circumstances and also their own willingness to play a part in the measures adopted.

“I am extremely appreciative of the willingness of everyone concerned, to recognise the practical difficulties which this awful crisis has created. Celtic are in a strong financial position but we are not immune to this unique set of circumstances.

“Our club is built on a great collective spirit and we are acutely aware of our responsibilities to colleagues, supporters and society as a whole. The fact that we can announce this package of measures in a spirit of harmony is testimony to the unity which exists within the club and will carry us into the future.

“We will negotiate and overcome these unprecedented times of challenge with continued teamwork and support for each other and I would like to thank our fans for the continued support which they give to the Club. Our togetherness is our strength.

“I also want to take this opportunity to thank all those people, across so many areas of life, who are so bravely doing all they can to keep us safe and well. Everyone at Celtic applauds this monumental effort.” 

Neil Lennon said: “This club is all about teamwork and solidarity, on and off the park. We are well aware of the economic realities and are very willing to play our part in recognising them. We will come through this in unity and then look forward to the challenges ahead.

“We also know that many within society, including our own support, are facing distress and, in some cases, tragedy. Everyone at Celtic Football Club, including the players and my own backroom team, expresses our appreciation of the work being done by NHS staff, carers and all who are providing vital public services at this time.”

The package of measures will apply from April to June, to be reviewed thereafter.

We are aware that not everyone was happy about it, but the clear and concise leadership from Peter Lawwell was welcome, and in what is becoming an uncertain world, its good to see that the correct measures are being taken in order to achieve the best possible result.

Now, out there in the wider world, both in football and in life, the conservative attitude of keeping the status quo as long as possible continues to stubbornly realise exactly what is going on.

That reminds me…Conservative voters -Protect the NHS, Save lives…stay at home the next time there’s a fucking election.

But now is not the time for recriminations, now is the time for action and perhaps radical decisions.

we’ve seen leadership from Lawwell, but in Scottish football, the leader of the SPFL, Neil Doncaster asked the clubs whether or not it would be prudent to end the season, as is permissible within the rules the clubs all signed up to, or to blunder along hoping that there’s some sort of miracle cure or universal income that would make it possible to pick up the season where it left off a month or so ago.

Doncaster, a leader who follows what his members want , asked everyone to vote by 5pm yesterday on this, but if they couldn’t do that, then any time in the next month would suffice, which meant that when the votes were in, Dundee found themselves in the role of kingmaker as all bar the Championship voted in favour. no mean feat as it required 75% of clubs to instigate change, itself an example of why it’s so bloody difficult to bring common sense into the game, as self interest will always triumph.

Regardless of who needs the money now, the situation will continue in limbo until the Dens Park side make up their mind which way they will vote.

Some clubs may actually enter administration while they do that, which is why “rangers ” have been pushing for the prize money to be paid out, although exact amounts cannot yet be determined, but titles not awarded.

Bizarrely, they will not say it publicly, but they are encouraging their support, and that includes the media, to push for the season to be nulled and voided, despite their being no provision for this in the rules.

Sadly, and yet another example of the conservatism that dominates the game, they would see this as a successful season if they somehow prevented Celtic winning nine in a row.

They have to keep their support onside, without their season book oney over the summer, they will be finished.

And even the most timid and loyal dog  will bite you if you kick it hard enough…..

Over on that most enlightened website of their follow followers, opinion is, as ever, somewhat extreme…

Is rebellion in the air ?

Perhaps, but as ever, they won;t look inwards for the real culprit, it will be someone elses fault…

They needed the resolution neither to pass nor fail yesterday, they just wanted the money. It could be that Close Brothers are demanding payment, it could be any number of debts hanging over their head, and although most creditors would almost certainly wait a month or two for their money, some , where assets are secured, won’t.

Dundee are going to wreck Scottish football…..what he really means is Dundee are going to wreck “rangers “.

Who, of course, to that lot actually are Scottish football.

Dundee have, as yet, not said why they have decided to take time over their decision, perhaps they genuinely aren’t sure.

Or perhaps they have other motives.

Doncaster and the SPFL have the power to end the season when they want to…one wonders of they will just do it anyway.

They should, there are only two options avaiable, it can be ended, or we can wait and pick up where we left off.

Clearly, some clubs cannot afford to wait.

Apart from Hearts…who waited until after 5pm to vote as well….dodgy or what ?

It’s just that one club/company cannot, or will not, see what the reality is.

It’s the same on a wider scale in government.

When this version of “rangers ” bites the dust, it will again attemt to drag everyone else down with them, and no one in the media will point out the damage they have done, the damage they are doing and the complete disregard they have for anyone else.

Yesterday, during health minister Hancocks half hour, the press conference where the press don’t actually turn up, well, not in spirit at least, saw him strike the first blow at the NHS he dearly wants to destroy.

He hinted that the doctors and nurses weren’t looking after the meagre supplies they have which would protect them from infection and possible death instead of promising them that he was doing al he could to protect them..instead its down to the public to protect them by staying at home and washing our hands, which to even the most fervent party support must look ridiculous.

Prime minister Johnson is out of intensive care and has been hailed as some sort of hero despite Britians daily recorded-not actual -death toll now beyond that of Italy at its peak , a peak which was described as apocalyptic when it was them, but ignored by the British media now that its right here on our doorstep…

Society needs to wake up.

The government have clearly adopted the Trumpian diktat on the press, and the supine reaction shows that they are more afraid of losing their jobs than actually doing them, which is the de facto definition of loyalty, and a press loyal to the government during a national crisis merely becomes their mouthpiece.

The Sun newspaper is experiencing a downturn in circulation.

It costs less than a cup of coffee.

So, please give journalism a much needed boost every day.

Buy that coffee. (Stolen from twitter, can’t remember who , so apologies ) 

In short, the may be about to enter the worst week of our lives, one way or another.

Make your voice heard and your actions seen and help to put a stop to this calamity.

So far this year we’ve had floods, fires locusts and now the plague.

Thats because those running the show don’t know how to look after anything but themselves…

At least that one constant that throughout history has provided a release for our emotions and a rock to cling onto when things don’t look so good  looks like it’ll still be there when all of this is done and but a bad memory.

Somewhere we can go to be among our own, and to feel stronger, to feel like we can do something about those bullets that life fires at us.

For that we can be thankful, but there is a whole world out there that needs shaking up.

But there is no one strong enough to do that, the fear of losing what they have is greater than their urge to ensure no one else does either….

Yesterday, we had this….

Today….