Ah come on. You’re not believing that nonsense surely.
I’m not sure that comparing anything to the latter part of last season is a good sign though, it was stale and turgid. The club was drifting. I was actually pleased to see BR leave, and MON has a good humour (when he’s not in a bad humour) which is infectious.
I now expect us to get beaten by the Huns, a d I think if /when hearts falter, they are as likely to be beneficiaries as us.
I like Nancy and I want him to do well, but equally, the performances have been so poor, and the system so apparently ill suited to the in truth expensive and well renumerated squad, that I can actually understand folk who think it should be called off now.
Honestly, under Nancy, I think we can probably pack in winning anything this year. Which is grand if he is the right person to rebuild. The trouble is, there simply isn’t anything to suggest that he is. He has played and coached to a mediocre level, and his MLS win rate was 43% iirc. He doesn’t have the feeling that Ange has, nor, more importantly, the presence. Should he be trusted with the tens of millions he’ll need to bring in the players he wants??
The club seems to be accepting a generally second rate level currently. It is reminiscent of the Huns fraudulent 9 in a row years.
I hope your operation went well.
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https://www.youtube.com/live/TUmUnarufWM?si=Wn-8_Xau_uzhms5W
Martin O Neill taking calls in studio today
Lots of ads. Caller Frank is exhibit A in Bandages search for a give him time supporter
His win record is probably comparable to most other managers prior to getting the Celtic job. But it does require an ability to change from being a decent manager to being a relentless winner and there’s no evidence yet to suggest Nancy can do that.
I’m not sure we will win the league with him but I didn’t think we looked like doing it under Rodgers either. Maybe a Kieran McKenna might have been a safer gamble but again it’s impossible to know how success will translate.
It’s a very concerning state of play though. The board have become stubborn in pretending everything is rosy when it’s not. I don’t think another managerial change is the answer to anything and would just be further distraction from the lack of a coherent transfer strategy. Any manager achieving success is just papering over those cracks. But I’ll back the one who has the opportunity now and trust he knows what he’s doing.
I hope he’s capable of getting his tactical messages across. I’m a little more concerned that he doesn’t know how to lead the players. The noise from the US was he was very good at that side of things but there’s a lot to prove on that front to compare with Ange as you say.
And yeah all good thanks. Nothing big.
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I mentioned Dean Smith yesterday.
Celtic decided to get an MLS manager. Dean Smith is an MLS manager. He’s the manager of Charlotte FC. He’s 54, which is still relatively young. He’s managed Brentford and Aston Villa. He took over Villa with them 15th in the Championship. He got them promoted that season. Then he kept them up in the Premier League and finished 11th the following season and humped Jurgen Klopp’s all conquering Liverpool team 7-2.
He left the team in an excellent state for Steven Gerrard and now Unai Emery.
He signed Ezri Konsa, Emiliano Martinez, Matty Cash, Ollie Watkins, Emiliano Buendia, Leon Bailey and Tyrone Mings and those players all remain pillars for Aston Villa. So he has an eye for a player.
With Charlotte Smith has improved them from getting 43 points from 34 games in 2023 before he was appointed to getting 59 points from 34 games this year.
If Celtic had got Smith, there would have been a very good chance of John Terry coming in as assistant as Terry has worked as Smith’s assistant at multiple clubs. In a league which increasingly struggles for publicity oxygen, Celtic need big names to drive interest and hype, and while Terry might not be particularly popular with large sections of the Celtic support, it is well known he is a Celtic supporter.
Smith has a superb relationship with Jack Grealish and joining Smith at Celtic might seem an attractive proposition for Grealish when he reaches 32 or 33. John McGinn would be a possibility too.
Smith has managed a proper big club with very good success and would get Celtic immediately. I feel his personality would be very suited to Celtic.
Given Celtic were already fishing in his pool, why the fuck did they not go for him?
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Pretty sure he has left.
Any reason why you left out his Norwich tenure?
Played for AS Roma against Celtic last week.
Sorry Bailey is on loan at Roma. I mentally confused seeing him playing for Roma at Celtic Park on Thursday with the Aston Villa v Arsenal game last week. But the point remains that Smith built the backbone of that Villa team that is flying so high now.
Smith took the Norwich job on the rebound. It wasn’t a good decision as they were absolute shite and he couldn’t keep them up. But I wouldn’t blame him for that. He was harshly sacked the following season with them in 5th place on Boxing Day. They finished 13th.
He had a cameo at Leicester after Rodgers was sacked in April 2023 and considerably improved their form but it wasn’t enough.
His credentials are miles ahead of Nancy.
A lot of the ITK fan media types are going with it & the likes of McGowan in The Evening Herald have been alluding to it in pieces today & over the weekend. There was Nancy’s pre final stuff with the written media where he spoke about slowing down the pace of change following player feedback.
Even I picked up on the player press conferences/interviews pre & post Roma & St Mirren & how their responses just didn’t sit right. None of them offering a positive backing to the new regime & the manager’s methods. It was very much “we have to follow it” but the body language from McGregor, Trusty, Scales, McCowan & any of them who were up before the media was off - they were like Desert Storm “we are being treated very well by Saddam Hussein & the noble Iraqi people” hostage situations.
McGregor & Nancy pretty much blanked each other on the pitch at full time yesterday too.
The Tierney substitution was odd yesterday also. Nancy stopped him coming off the field & starting going through instructions on pages (he’s dumped the tactics board) while Tierney looked bemused & then walked on past him. Stevie Woods operating the sub board was shouting over at Nancy too, as if to say “what are you at?” I don’t know if he confused Tierney with one of the lads going on or what.
My sense from observation & reading signals is that the players (despite many being heartless bastards) think this guy is a tool. I think those separate points listed above are things I’ve actually seen myself.
That’s before you get to the stuff that can’t really be corroborated yet such as rumours Stevie Woods handed in his notice after seeing Nancy & his assistants at close quarters over the first week & McGregor went to the board to raise concerns about the new regime already or Nancy in his introductory meeting with the players apparently stated that he hoped nobody was happy with 7/8 wins under O’Neill as he’d watched the games & they were shite.
There isn’t any ITK types lending any credibility to the “change tactics or resign” rumour. It’s clearly just made up.
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After yesterday I’m willing to believe anything🤣
Surprised Kasper hasnt been getting more stick. He has been awful.
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He really has
I was more following up on the first part of the post about the Nancy/McGregor relationship & how I think it’s pretty obvious from displays & interactions & the other stuff mentioned that he hasn’t hit it off with the players at all.
You think parsimonious stooks like the Celtic board are going to expend tens of millions… Would you be interested in a raffle I’m going to run?
This is Celtic - think a Cavan father Christmas week - showing the children Santa’s grave…
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With tierney, werent they waiting to see could ralston play on? And then when he could tierney walked off
He is done
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I don’t think they had a clue what they were going at that stage. Ralston went off himself less than a minute later.
I think they were getting confirmation that Ralston was a head injury so they could make an extra change. Otherwise they would have had to consider leaving Tierney on
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Before @thedancingbaby time but Mogga’s tenure ended after a 4-0 reverse to the buddies. It had that sort of feel to it
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