![\"Celtic](\"https:\/\/e0.365dm.com\/26\/06\/1600x900\/skysports-keane-oneill_7264529.jpg?20260603145223\")
<\/p>\nAfter the dust settles from last seasons exciting climax, if you don’t count the Cup final, that is, Celtic Football Club finds itself at a crossroads.<\/p>\n
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Dermot Desmond, having decided that after allowing his minions to pick Wilfred Nancy as manager, and despite the Frenchman contributing a massive six points to the title campaign, that under no circumstances was anyone ever going to interfere with his policy of “Is he Irish ? Hire him. ” ever again.<\/p>\n
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His choice of Robbie Keane, who had even made a few cracks at the expense of plucky newcomers “rangers ” to ingratiate himself with Celtic fans, backfired spectacularly and we’re left with Martin O’Neill again, who in his fourth stint as manager actually gets to keep the club.<\/p>\n
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Desmond had wanted Keane earlier in the season, but Robbie, who lists his interests and hobbies as “Robbie ” turned him down, and we ended up with Nancy. Desmond apparently forgave him, and asked him again. this time . Keane was more receptive, having made an arse of things at Ferencvaris, finishing second in a one horse race and breaking a run of seven consecutive titles for the Hungarian side.<\/p>\n
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His reason for turning the job down was that he felt he didn’t need the stepping stone to the EPL as sooner or later Tottenham would come in for him, as they change their manager every few months, and he would be the one to sort that club out.<\/p>\n
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They didn’t, and must have given off vibes that they probably won’t any time soon, despite his stint in Israel to show he’s on their side.\u00a0 He would have come to Celtic, but in my own opinion, he baulked at the response from fans.<\/p>\n
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That would have irked Desmond, who is used to getting his own way, and plan B swung into action, quite possibly at the instigation of O’Neill himself, who has agreed to a new rolling one week at a time contract.<\/p>\n
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For the first time since he took over, Dermot didn’t get his own way. He’ll probably sulk, and get one of his sons to unfurl the league flag to piss us off.<\/p>\n
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then again, he wanted one of his sons to take over anyway, but he didn’t want to live in Glasgow as he has a young family and wanted to keep his family away from the goldfish bowl. Which is fair enough.<\/p>\n
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But again, Desmond has not got his own way. The other son, who made the speech at the AGM wouldn;t be a good choice, and he hasn’t asked him anyway. He blew his big chance when he had a go at the support.<\/p>\n
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Then you have our board of directors, and the chairman, who are all stuck between a rock and a hard place. They’ve had enough of the abuse that they’ve been getting. They want out, but there is no one to replace them, as anyone who could do a job has looked at how the current lot have been berated, and decided it’s not worth the bother.<\/p>\n
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That’s the problems at boardroom level, and then there’s the problems on the pitch.<\/p>\n
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Celtic operate the only feasible fiscal policy outwith the big five leagues. It cannot compete with even the lower EPL clubs in England , and it’s not just us. Even Milan were forced to concede defeat when they couldn’t compete with Brentford for the signature of Kris Ajer when he moved from Celtic a few years ago.<\/p>\n
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Not only is it the only fiscal policy that works, it has fine margins. Supporters complain that money in the bank should be spent on players, which is fair enough, but the pressure to find the right players is immense. If we make an arse of it, recovering that money is going to take years.<\/p>\n
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Brendan Rodgers would have spent it all in one go, and that terrified the board, which resulted in the clash of heads that saw him leave.<\/p>\n
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Martin O’Neill will prbably spend a chunk of it, but we will have to sell as well. Fortunately, even though the window hasn’t opened yet, Celtic have raised around \u00a35m from fringe players already. Which should give us a budget if, er \u00a35m.<\/p>\n
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There is a clearout on the cards, which may be harsh on some players who gave their all during the run in. you can;t buy that attitude, but you can look beyond statistics to try to find it.<\/p>\n
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What money is available will have to be spent wisely, and it will be on a buy low sell high basis. and we’ll get some donkeys, but with O’Neill in charge we’ll also get some height, some pace and more importantly, some strength.<\/p>\n
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We just have to be patient.<\/p>\n
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Although no doubt we’ll find something to moan about.<\/p>\n
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Coincidentally, O’Neill signed Joos Valgaeren almost immediately during his first stint, after watching him at the World Cup, so maybe we will have someone like that in mind.<\/p>\n
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And I don’t mean Grant Hanley or Scott MacKenna.<\/p>\n
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The media continue to bang on about how cruel it was for Hearts not to win the league, and it was. But if they were good enough they would have won it. Although maybe our first signings should be John Beaton and Andrew Dallas, but i doubt “rangers ” will sell them.<\/p>\n
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Mind you, they need the money, so it’s possible.<\/p>\n
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In the meantime, the club formed by immigrants has the chance to really establish itself as the number one club in Scotland for another decade.<\/p>\n
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As Martin O’Neill said though, unity is the key.<\/p>\n
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Change is coming. It won’t happen overnight, but will happen soon.<\/p>\n
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So, let’s have a caption competition, just to try to put a smile on our faces.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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