Kheredine Idessane has served up an outstanding dish of succulent lamb on the BBC Scotland website.
Since Peter Lawwell’s botched attempt at hosting an AGM legacy media outlets have gone the extra mile to paint Celtic shareholders as the bad guys.
AGM SHAMBLES
A claim by Michael Nicholson that the 40 hecklers were drawn from the Green Brigade and Celtic Trust has gone completely unchallenged.
The normally cocky and arrogant Chairman has avoided any criticism from legacy outlets.
Under Brendan Rodgers BBC Scotland were excluded from the invite list to Celtic media activities. With the Irishman gone Communications Manager Iain Jamieson has been in overdrive to pander to the state broadcaster. Separate media conferences are back on the menu for newspapers despite their crashing circulation figures.
In return the Celtic board are being painted in the most sympathetic of lights.
Lawwell’s decision to allow Ross Desmond to attack the Celtic support was a genuine Gerard Ratner moment. Some fans had hoped that Desmond Junior might bring a fresh approach to how the Celtic is run. How wrong can you get?
CHAIRMAN LAWWELL
The AGM lasted less than an hour with a 30 minute adjournment. Apparently a vote was called by the exiting Chairman. There was no sign of voting boxes as shareholders left the meeting.
You’ll need to look far and wide to see those details catalogued in the mainstream media. Instead they are all in to remain in the news cycle, picking up occasional crumbs to justify their actions.
Putting the boot into Celtic’s entitled supporters Idessane wrote:
The scenes at last week’s AGM would suggest a club in crisis. Such open revolt would normally be associated with a failing team, an institution teetering on the brink financially, a raft of executives not fit for purpose.
SO SUCCULENT
None of which is the case at Parkhead. Home to the club with the country’s healthiest bank balance and a run of success unprecedented in Scottish football.
Four trebles in a row in recent times; a virtual monopoly on domestic silverware extending to 13 Premiership titles from the past 14. A minute – and some sloppy defending – from beating Bayern Munich away in the Champions League knockout stage.
Sack the board? You’re kidding, right? Football fans from Stranraer to Ross County would bite your hand off for a fraction of those trophies. The Parkhead custodians should be properly, and regularly, held to account. But all in good measure and with the proper perspective.
One mention of Europe. Telling. Avoid at all costs. The level playing field. Domestic success for Celtic is like Manchester City dominating the Northern Conference.
UEFA COEFFICIENT TABLE
It suits the Celtic board to focus on domestic matters. So that’s what Idessane concentrates on.
The BBC website doesn’t get too much traffic but it is a box ticking exercise to ensure that the state broadcaster remains inside the Celtic news loop.
The domestic stats are well known.
What Idessane and others rarely go near is Celtic’s abysmal European record.
Think Malmo, Maribor, AEK Athens, Cluj, Ferencvaros, Midtjylland and Kairat Almaty.
All clubs with an even lower UEFA coefficient than Celtic. Yet able to plan and prepare for Champions League qualifiers.
PATTERN OF FAILURE
Celtic have come through the qualifiers twice during the same time period. Kolo Toure was parachuted in to see off Hapoel Be’er Sheva in 2016. A year later the untested pairing of Nir Bitton and Kris Ajer were thrown together in Astana. That 5-0 first leg lead was fully required, at one stage Celtic trailed 4-1.
Currently Celtic are placed 57th in the UEFA coefficient table. Immediately above them are Qarabag, Ferencvaros, Shakhtar Donetsk, PAOK and RB Salzburg. By no stretch of the imagination elite clubs.
None of them sell 50,000 Season Tickets year on year or feature in the top 20 for European kit sales. None have ever paid their CEO £3.5m in one year.
Idessane continues with
The rainy day they’re preparing for is just around the corner. In summer 2027, the Scottish champions will face three rounds of qualifying to reach the Champions League. This season Celtic couldn’t negotiate one.
MANAGED DECLINE
The rainy day is being created by Celtic with their fondness for managed decline. This year it has got out of hand.
A competent Celtic should be competing in the Champions League every season. If they fail to qualify they should be capable of reaching the last eight of the Europa League. Another SPFL club managed that last season.
There’s every chance revenues will decline significantly in the next few years. Being prepared for that isn’t just sensible. It’s a fiduciary obligation.
Managed decline, Kheredine. Try it.
Were the board asleep at the wheel of Brendan Rodgers’ Honda Civic? Quite possibly. Firmer action from Desmond over the summer may have prevented all the recent carnage.
Desmond is a non-executive Director. Not the CEO or Chairman. Maybe there is a story in there?
But are the executives who led the side to the verge of victory in the Allianz Arena suddenly not fit for purpose?
The executives sold Kyogo Furuhashi and didn’t bother replacing him. They’ve not been fit for purpose for years.
Given the state of other clubs in the UK, some Celtic supporters may want to be more careful what they wish for.
Just because the team closest to the hearts of BBC Scotland died in 2012 it doesn’t mean that reinvesting in players is going to send Celtic into liquidation.
No fans are asking Celtic to indulge in tax scams and disguised remuneration. Sell a striker and replace him, sell a right winger and have his replacement in the building two months before Champions League qualifiers are played.
Top tip Kheredine. Type Brugge, Copenhagen, Qarabag or Pafos into your Google search. Failing that try Bodo Glint or USB.
There is more to life than lamb, regardless of how succulent it is served.
No problem. I had information from China that there was no bid. I was then invited to Ibrox and shown the documentation. Seems the Chinese were trying to save face. Wasn’t an unknown club, it was Beijing Renhe. And it was never a ‘verbal bid’ as some people oddly seem to think.
— @Kheredine (@Kheredine2018) May 11, 2023
