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Celtic board’s conservatism is stifling the club.
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Need for a new strategy.
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Fans becoming more and more disgruntled.
Stephen McGowan, a respected football journalist, has offered a searing critique of Celtic’s strategy, both in terms of their Champions League campaign and transfer dealings. This analysis emerges amidst growing discontent among supporters regarding the club’s direction.
Celtic’s performance in the Champions League has been lacklustre, with the team securing only one point from five matches. The squad’s showing in the prestigious tournament has left fans questioning the club’s strategic direction. This sentiment was compounded by the recent Annual General Meeting (AGM), where self-congratulatory tones from club officials contrasted sharply with the team’s underwhelming results.
The club’s transfer strategy has also come under fire. Despite the high-profile sale of Jota for £25 million, inadequate replacements and an oversized squad have not translated into success on the field. McGowan points out that other clubs with fewer resources, such as Feyenoord, Copenhagen, and Shakhtar Donetsk, have outperformed Celtic in the Champions League, highlighting a gap in effective player development and trading.
Celtic’s conservative fiscal approach has been identified as a key issue. Despite generating record revenues, the club’s spending on player acquisition is seen as inadequate.
This conservatism is believed to limit the team’s potential in European competitions. McGowan suggests that Celtic’s ambitions might be overly focused on domestic success against Rangers and minimal progress in the Champions League, without a significant commitment to elevating the team’s European performance. We can’t disagree,
McGowan’s critique of Celtic and the board is spot on. The fear of failure and the lack of any sort of risk makes Europe Groundhog Day for the fans. They don’t want to splurge and go outside their comfort zone for fear of losing any ground domestically, at some point you need to look at the bigger picture.
No one wants them to ‘splurge’. We asked them to spend £10 million on 2 or 3 team ready, quality replacements for those we lost, to stand still.
So basically we asked for a fraction of the £72 million in the bank, and don’t forget, another £30-£40 million is guaranteed on top of this, for Champions league participation, so hardly a ‘splurge’.
As not pointed out Celtic as winners of the Spfl (apart from one ‘covalent’ year) were given Euro participation every year since 2015.
And all those halcion John Stein years, and where has 75% of the money gone? never on the team, never on the stadium rebuild, never on the paying Joe (or Josephine) Soap supporters well being.
But always into the silk lined pockets of the directors (but not of football matters) and the directors wives and progeny.
Will this ever change? not asking for total revolution of footballing matters like the ‘Bunnet’ did?
Just the way those monies are distributed in a player’s on the field of play way, and stadia improvements that suit the paying everyday fan of the ‘Tic’, the prawn and champagne group have had their obese belly full for far too many seasons.
But in order for that to happen Celtic either have to loosen the grip of a cup or two, and just concentrate on being Euro competitors.
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Like most of the other teams mentioned in this blood pressure raising blurb, they do well because they’re hungry for success, not because they think they’re world beaters.