It’s time to put something in the bin. That hoary old cliché about Celtic only ever being three defeats away from a crisis doesn’t feel entirely accurate any more.
While a bad run of results will always make the natives around Parkhead feel restless, it seems like a summer of breathtaking ineptitude in the transfer window coupled with some ill-advised words also leads us to the same toxic place.
Celtic travel to Kilmarnock on Sunday unbeaten in the Premiership yet with an air of mutiny now engulfing the entire club.
This feels distinct from the many occasions in the past when factions of the support have waved pitchforks in the direction of the club’s board. This level of disaffection won’t be reduced by scuffing a few wins in the Premiership. This schism isn’t going away.
Brendan Rodgers will realise this. He’ll face the media tomorrow afternoon, but it would be surprising if there’s any mention of a precarious trip to Rugby Park in his pre-match media conference.
While everything eventually comes back to football, right now, the only game in town is the club’s hierarchy versus the fanbase.
Brendan Rodgers hasn’t spoken publicly since the transfer window closed
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The Celtic manager with chairman Lawwell and chief executive Nicholson in happier times
Celtic’s failure to get past Kairat Almaty was a disaster many saw coming
Not since the final days of the old family dynasty in the early 1990s have Celtic supporters been so opposed to those who run their club.
Having been placated for so long by domestic domination, events so far this year mean they are no longer buying the line about the club wanting to be ‘world class’ in everything it does. The evidence of their own eyes suggests that’s simply not the case.
As tensions between the fanbase and the board have fluctuated since he returned to Celtic, Rodgers has flipped and flopped.
At different points last year, he expressed a need for more ‘bravery’ in the transfer market then reminded directors how Celtic supporters had still snapped up their season tickets during Covid.
Then, in the days before this summer’s transfer window closed, he tried turning on the charm.
‘Over the next few days I am pretty sure we will invest in the squad,’ he said on August 29. ‘But we want to get the timing of investment right to give us every single chance to be the best version of Celtic that we can be.
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‘We have a major owner in Dermot (Desmond) who is a super intelligent guy. We have a board of directors who bleed Celtic and want the club to do well. So, everyone here is connected.’
That assertion raised eyebrows at the time. Two weeks on, it feels almost risible.
By the time Rodgers had left his seat that day, his position on the ongoing speculation surrounding Adam Idah was crystal clear.
‘There is interest in Adam,’ he admitted. ‘But no one can leave here unless we get players in to replace them. It’s as simple as that.’
Two days later, Idah was nowhere to be seen as Celtic put in another toothless display at Ibrox. He signed for Swansea 24 hours later.
Lawwell and Nicholson have been the subject of ‘sack the board’ chants from Celtic fans
In sanctioning the transfer, Rodgers’ paymasters knew they fine well that they were undermined him in public. The signing of free agent Kelechi Iheanacho after the window closed — released by Leicester, posted missing at Sevilla and Middlesbrough, and then also released by the Spaniards — didn’t change that fact.
Many a manager would have walked in that circumstance. The fact Rodgers remains in place no doubt has more to do with the fact that he’s pledged to fulfil his three-year contract this time around.
Evidently seen as part of the problem by the board, he’ll go in the summer for sure. There is not a chance, though, that the huge disconnect between the directors and the rank and file will lessen as a consequence. This is no longer about a failure to back a certain manager.
In any normal company of Celtic’s size, the loss of £30m-£40million in revenue would lead to heads rolling in the boardroom.
When Celtic failed to score a goal in 210 minutes of a Champions League qualifier against Kairat Almaty after going in hopelessly ill-prepared, some luminary upstairs decided to tell the fanbase that they were all missing the point.
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Last Saturday night’s anonymous 1,030-word address would not have gone down worse with its recipients had it started by telling them that next season’s change strip was to be red, white and blue.
A public relations exercise that would have made Gerald Ratner wince, it was rich in flannel yet contained not a trace of contrition.
The claims that the club’s cash reserves were ‘not relevant’ in regards to UEFA’s financial rules begged two obvious questions: What are they then for? And who decided to accrue them?
On the back of failing to replace Kyogo Furuhashi in January and Nicolas Kuhn prior to facing Kairat, the explanation for being unable to conclude deals in the necessary time was simply staggering.
‘Our clear goal is to secure new signings as early in each transfer window as possible,’ it read after making a £13.6m profit this summer alone.
‘Unfortunately, it is not always possible to conclude transfers either within the timescales that we target, or at all.’
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Just when you thought this blunt admission of failure took the biscuit, there was an attempt to place the blame at the door of the media for accurately reporting a slew of low-ball bids.
‘Unfortunately, as is often the case in the media and social media, there is inaccurate and misleading information in circulation.’
For Celtic fans who’d watched their side go into sharp decline since almost beating Bayern Munich in February, this litany of excuses felt insulting.
Their club had £65.4m sitting in the bank in December. It sold its star striker to Rennes for £10m and failed to replace him.
Despite knowing a Champions League play-off was in the pipeline, it punted its star winger to Como for £16.5m (with another in Jota out injured) then moved with all the pace of a sloth to find suitable replacements.
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With the forward line at its weakest in 30 years, the disaster in Almaty and the dismal display at Ibrox were as inevitable as day following night.
Nothing creates the ‘inherent volatility within football’ — as the statement put it — quite like failing to prepare for your season’s defining game.
The landscape has changed beyond recognition in the two weeks since Rodgers last had his say. His hopes of the board belatedly coming through for him in the final hours were dashed.
A fanbase which has lost all faith in the way their club is operating in incandescent. The talk is now of demonstrations, boycotts and votes of no confidence.
Rodgers has tried to plant his flag in the middle ground in the past. That no longer exists. Celtic may well earn three points at Kilmarnock, but he cannot win here.
