Peter Lawwell and the Board

[BenLynch29]

I don’t think anyone is going to take me as an apologist for either PL or the board based on my previous comments. And I also don’t think they’re completely absolved of responsibility in this whole fiasco - at least not until more of the story comes out and we really find out what went on behind the scenes that caused the breakdown in the relationship between PL & BR. I think we’d all be well served by keeping an open mind and reserving judgement until we know the full story, or at least a lot more than we know right now barely 24 hours after the news broke.

Regardless of all of that however, I would like to commend PL and the Board for one thing: once it became clear that BR couldn’t be trusted to be the steward of the club that we all thought he was, they kept the buscuit tin closed with regards to big money transfers (excluding French Eddy here as that was a good buy that was reportedly pre-negotiated with his initial loan AND we needed another striker anyway). Putting money in the bank and accumulating a transfer kitty for the next manager was the best thing to do under the circumstances once it became clear that BR’s tenure was to be months rather than his full contract. Also, locking up all our 1st team players on long term contracts (sans Boyata with whom we tried to lock down) was a very smart move as BR won’t be able to raid our club for KT, CMcG, Christie, Forrest, Bain, etc etc without paying very significant transfer fees (even assuming they want to go).

While I have differences with PL and the board regarding their handling of certain matters and their decisions on some specific items, one can’t help but come away from the events of the last week, or even the last year, feeling that these guys aren’t 100% committed to the cause. James’ reporting has been excellent the last couple days on PL.

Lastly, whatever may come in the weeks and months ahead, I do think we as a support owe it to PL and the Board to treat them with respect and dignity. They have made mistakes, probably lots of them, and they may or may not deserve to stay in their positions (I have my own thoughts on that which I will not be sharing any further), but I do believe that any disagreements with them should be handled the right way, and they should not be chased out of the club disgracefully or publicly thrown under the bus. They are true ‘Celtic Men’ and want what all the rest of us want for the club. They deserve our respect even in times of disagreement. And we should remember that.

 

[michael duffy]

I don’t think anyone is going to take me as an apologist for either PL or the board based on my previous comments. And I also don’t think they’re completely absolved of responsibility in this whole fiasco - at least not until more of the story comes out and we really find out what went on behind the scenes that caused the breakdown in the relationship between PL & BR. I think we’d all be well served by keeping an open mind and reserving judgement until we know the full story, or at least a lot more than we know right now barely 24 hours after the news broke.

Regardless of all of that however, I would like to commend PL and the Board for one thing: once it became clear that BR couldn’t be trusted to be the steward of the club that we all thought he was, they kept the buscuit tin closed with regards to big money transfers (excluding French Eddy here as that was a good buy that was reportedly pre-negotiated with his initial loan AND we needed another striker anyway). Putting money in the bank and accumulating a transfer kitty for the next manager was the best thing to do under the circumstances once it became clear that BR’s tenure was to be months rather than his full contract. Also, locking up all our 1st team players on long term contracts (sans Boyata with whom we tried to lock down) was a very smart move as BR won’t be able to raid our club for KT, CMcG, Christie, Forrest, Bain, etc etc without paying very significant transfer fees (even assuming they want to go).

While I have differences with PL and the board regarding their handling of certain matters and their decisions on some specific items, one can’t help but come away from the events of the last week, or even the last year, feeling that these guys aren’t 100% committed to the cause. James’ reporting has been excellent the last couple days on PL.

Lastly, whatever may come in the weeks and months ahead, I do think we as a support owe it to PL and the Board to treat them with respect and dignity. They have made mistakes, probably lots of them, and they may or may not deserve to stay in their positions (I have my own thoughts on that which I will not be sharing any further), but I do believe that any disagreements with them should be handled the right way, and they should not be chased out of the club disgracefully or publicly thrown under the bus. They are true ‘Celtic Men’ and want what all the rest of us want for the club. They deserve our respect even in times of disagreement. And we should remember that.

great Ben,until the last paragraph mate!!!!!! HH

 

[BenLynch29]

great Ben,until the last paragraph mate!!!!!! HH

LOL, thanks. I think?

I mean, I just think that if for whatever reason (BR, Res12, general buscuit tin mentality, whatever...) we end up trying to force a change at the top of the club, we ought to do it in a way that allows PL and/or the Board a dignified exit. They, along with Lenny, John Kennedy, and many others, are true ‘Celtic Men’ and it would be disgraceful of us to publicly humiliate them for attempting to do right by the club.

 

[michael duffy]

LOL, thanks. I think?

I mean, I just think that if for whatever reason (BR, Res12, general buscuit tin mentality, whatever...) we end up trying to force a change at the top of the club, we ought to do it in a way that allows PL and/or the Board a dignified exit. They, along with Lenny, John Kennedy, and many others, are true ‘Celtic Men’ and it would be disgraceful of us to publicly humiliate them for attempting to do right by the club.

not suggestin we humiliate them Ben,but the board are business men not "real Celtic men" they see Celtic as a business and the fans as customers, when have the board spoke out about incidents which attempt to harm our club,apart from the mealy mouthed statement re Dec 29th,ask the resolution 12 bhoys,if the board backed them,the sevco 5 way agreement,i could go on....Hail Hail Ben!

 

[_Neil_]

I don’t think anyone is going to take me as an apologist for either PL or the board based on my previous comments. And I also don’t think they’re completely absolved of responsibility in this whole fiasco - at least not until more of the story comes out and we really find out what went on behind the scenes that caused the breakdown in the relationship between PL & BR. I think we’d all be well served by keeping an open mind and reserving judgement until we know the full story, or at least a lot more than we know right now barely 24 hours after the news broke.

Regardless of all of that however, I would like to commend PL and the Board for one thing: once it became clear that BR couldn’t be trusted to be the steward of the club that we all thought he was, they kept the buscuit tin closed with regards to big money transfers (excluding French Eddy here as that was a good buy that was reportedly pre-negotiated with his initial loan AND we needed another striker anyway). Putting money in the bank and accumulating a transfer kitty for the next manager was the best thing to do under the circumstances once it became clear that BR’s tenure was to be months rather than his full contract. Also, locking up all our 1st team players on long term contracts (sans Boyata with whom we tried to lock down) was a very smart move as BR won’t be able to raid our club for KT, CMcG, Christie, Forrest, Bain, etc etc without paying very significant transfer fees (even assuming they want to go).

While I have differences with PL and the board regarding their handling of certain matters and their decisions on some specific items, one can’t help but come away from the events of the last week, or even the last year, feeling that these guys aren’t 100% committed to the cause. James’ reporting has been excellent the last couple days on PL.

Lastly, whatever may come in the weeks and months ahead, I do think we as a support owe it to PL and the Board to treat them with respect and dignity. They have made mistakes, probably lots of them, and they may or may not deserve to stay in their positions (I have my own thoughts on that which I will not be sharing any further), but I do believe that any disagreements with them should be handled the right way, and they should not be chased out of the club disgracefully or publicly thrown under the bus. They are true ‘Celtic Men’ and want what all the rest of us want for the club. They deserve our respect even in times of disagreement. And we should remember that.

I don't think KT, CalMac, RC and James Forrest will be thinking of following BR. Apart from anything else, they HAVE been Celtic supporters whilst growing up and they ARE living the dream. In addition, why would RC want to follow the snake in the grass - he was nearly on the way out under SITG until Lady Luck intervened and decreed that he would get on as a substitute and go on to 'steal the show'.

 

[Micmac]

I don't think KT, CalMac, RC and James Forrest will be thinking of following BR. Apart from anything else, they HAVE been Celtic supporters whilst growing up and they ARE living the dream. In addition, why would RC want to follow the snake in the grass - he was nearly on the way out under SITG until Lady Luck intervened and decreed that he would get on as a substitute and go on to 'steal the show'.

Banker a real Celtic man?

 

[_Neil_]

Banker a real Celtic man?

Eh??????? Where did I mention Bankier?

 

[dmac]

The problem most people have with the board is that when it comes to transfer dealings every so often they repeat the mistakes by thinking they can get players below the asking price and fail to invest to get us into the C.L. Then tell us they budget for no C.L. money but if they don't qualify they sell a player to make up for lost C.L. money

 

[aroona1]

From Management side of the club I have to say that in my opinion, Fergus Mc is the savior of the club and then for all his faults it would have to be PL. I don't agree with lots of things that he does but look at the healthy state of the club at the moment. Fergus had to make a lot of unpopular decisions that the fans didn't like at the time but these decisions have to be made for the sake of the future of the club

 

[Wee Fergus's Bunnet]

From Management side of the club I have to say that in my opinion, Fergus Mc is the savior of the club and then for all his faults it would have to be PL. I don't agree with lots of things that he does but look at the healthy state of the club at the moment. Fergus had to make a lot of unpopular decisions that the fans didn't like at the time but these decisions have to be made for the sake of the future of the club

Fergus was working within tight financial constraints - PL has a far easier time - every penny is not a prisoner as it was when Fergus was trying to build a stadium AND stop Rangers winning 10 IAR .

So PL and the Board could be a little freer with the chequebook and still not endanger the club financially . No one is arguing that we go down the road that leads to becoming another Sevco - but some additional spending is easily justified in the present financial position .

 

[Micmac]

Eh??????? Where did I mention Bankier?

They the board are real Celtic men.? Banker wanted us to be another tartan army ffs

 

[TET]

Fergus was working within tight financial constraints - PL has a far easier time - every penny is not a prisoner as it was when Fergus was trying to build a stadium AND stop Rangers winning 10 IAR .

So PL and the Board could be a little freer with the chequebook and still not endanger the club financially . No one is arguing that we go down the road that leads to becoming another Sevco - but some additional spending is easily justified in the present financial position .

I agree fully with your sentiments.

There is room for spending and there is cash for spending.

But, personally I think it must be risk assessed value added spending, which in a climate of subsidisation for huge portion of the upper market for players (ie tv subsidisation and elitists payments to certain leagues through big money tournaments) then Celtic are forced to pay premiums for wages and players without access to those subsidies.

On top of this, the fact Celtic are in a particular market bottle neck for players, the Scottish football league structure, then the sales market into subsidised leagues is not always at the same premium prices.

So, Celtic to get better players, either buy from high overpriced markets, or higher risk markets for players with unknown quantities with respect to cultural adaptability, or transferable skills into a very hostile environment.

It takes a certain type of personality, and person, to play on the edge every match, which is a requirement of Celtic players.

Most of the players who are likely to be able to cope with Celic playing pressures already play in subisdised leagues.

Therefore, they usually come with very high premium, which is often perhaps beyond their addon value in the Scottish market.

So, although Celtic have funds available, finding genuine high quality players without massive inflated prices and wage premiums is very, very difficult, and more difficult the more succesful Celtic play football.

Why? the exact same reason it is to get these types of players here. The subsidised markets and sugar daddy inflation can afford to tempt these players to leave Celtic for huge financial gains.

The Celtic model of adding value both on pitch and on the balance sheet is more and more risky the better that we get.

And its compounded by the bottleneck in the operation costs.

I dont trust the board. I hate their silence on all things important to me and other Celtic fans.

But, while there is subidised league, the prices for Henrik Larsson types or even Neil Lennon types or even Alan thompson types makes their wages usually so high before they come here, that Celtic cant afford the high quality players that 20 years ago we could compete to purchase outright.

Ask your self?

The Martin Oniel team in Seville today, take those players playing at time, and now, time machine them forward to today but give them to other big clubs across Europe.

Then tell me the price and wage of each player you would expect.

Then ask can we afford that old team today? with the market inflated and the wages at stupid levels?

 

[TartanTim]

I don’t think anyone is going to take me as an apologist for either PL or the board based on my previous comments. And I also don’t think they’re completely absolved of responsibility in this whole fiasco - at least not until more of the story comes out and we really find out what went on behind the scenes that caused the breakdown in the relationship between PL & BR. I think we’d all be well served by keeping an open mind and reserving judgement until we know the full story, or at least a lot more than we know right now barely 24 hours after the news broke.

Regardless of all of that however, I would like to commend PL and the Board for one thing: once it became clear that BR couldn’t be trusted to be the steward of the club that we all thought he was, they kept the buscuit tin closed with regards to big money transfers (excluding French Eddy here as that was a good buy that was reportedly pre-negotiated with his initial loan AND we needed another striker anyway). Putting money in the bank and accumulating a transfer kitty for the next manager was the best thing to do under the circumstances once it became clear that BR’s tenure was to be months rather than his full contract. Also, locking up all our 1st team players on long term contracts (sans Boyata with whom we tried to lock down) was a very smart move as BR won’t be able to raid our club for KT, CMcG, Christie, Forrest, Bain, etc etc without paying very significant transfer fees (even assuming they want to go).

While I have differences with PL and the board regarding their handling of certain matters and their decisions on some specific items, one can’t help but come away from the events of the last week, or even the last year, feeling that these guys aren’t 100% committed to the cause. James’ reporting has been excellent the last couple days on PL.

Lastly, whatever may come in the weeks and months ahead, I do think we as a support owe it to PL and the Board to treat them with respect and dignity. They have made mistakes, probably lots of them, and they may or may not deserve to stay in their positions (I have my own thoughts on that which I will not be sharing any further), but I do believe that any disagreements with them should be handled the right way, and they should not be chased out of the club disgracefully or publicly thrown under the bus. They are true ‘Celtic Men’ and want what all the rest of us want for the club. They deserve our respect even in times of disagreement. And we should remember that.

I hope that if BR comes in for any our Players. Both club & players tell the JUDAS CVNT tae GTF