Back in the giddy days of June the loyal bears were drooling over the return of Brendan Rodgers and the prospect of some retribution dished out by the Brains Behind Gerrard.
Apparently Ange Postecoglou had s**t it from the hottest property in football management, bailing out after a treble as he realised that next season he’d be sussed out and cut down to size.
With a couple of days of Postecoglou leaving for Spurs most Celtic fans had come around to the realisation that their former boss was the best qualified successor but the bad blood from February 2019 appeared to be an obstacle too far for a re-union.
The mood changed swiftly when Michael Nicholson was reported to be in talks with Rodgers in Mallorca, a deal was possible but the incoming boss would be requiring certain commitments around recruitment. The issue that had ended his first spell at Celtic.
Across the city Celtic’s world record eighth treble didn’t cause too much alarm as bears hung onto the bizarre notion that further signings like Todd Cantwell and Nico Raskin would turn the tide.
As evidence the Dead Rubbers Trophy was won by Beale with a 3-0 victory over Postecoglou’s champions confirmation that the tide had turned.
With an exciting summer of recruitment coming up driven entirely by Mister Beale success was assured- having Rodgers in place across the city would add to the joy after the pain he inflicted first time around.
Apparently the team built by Beale would be a very different prospect to the side that Mark Warburton took into the top flight in 2016.
Two months into the season it is hard to make a case for Cyriel Dessers, Sam Lammers, Kieran Dowell, Jose Cifuentes and the rest being superior to Joey Barton, Josh Windass, Nicky Kranjcar, Joey Garner and Filip Senderos.
First time around Rodgers saw off Warburton, Pedro Caixinha and left Caretaker Murty a bubbling wreck, after one derby match it would be a foolish punter that put anything on Beale surviving long enough to be in the dug out at Celtic Park on December 30.
Morning.
Whilst the kettle is on, enjoy some FF screen-grabs from when Rodgers was about to be appointed: pic.twitter.com/u95RwKe5Fq
— 🍔 Gastro Celtic 🍀 (@Gastro_Celtic) October 1, 2023
Changing manager after seven SPFL matches is a massive risk but not as big a risk as allowing Beale to continue.
Last week he chucked the players under a bus after beating Motherwell, yesterday he turned on the fans for booing their well paid heroes off the park at half-time.
Some might think that the manager is working his ticket, hoping to be dismissed by email to ensure that he never has to go through another training session with the players that have given up on him.
Strangely, after the 4-0 win over Livingston some bears were starting to soften up towards their boss, perhaps preparing themselves for Beale hanging around to win the League Cup.
Tat option closed yesterday, now the only question left open is who on earth is desperate enough to try and get a tune out of serial losers bolstered by two summers of dodgy signings all sitting on fat long term contracts.
