That announcement today was so predictable but nonetheless is still acutely depressing. Yet another bean counter will take the role of CEO who was supposed to be an “interim” until we found the true replacement for Dom McKay. Unfortunately, nothing so promising was ever in the offing and now Lawwell mark two will take over the most important job in the Celtic boardroom.
The team player is in situ now for the long-term. A gut-wrenching prospect in all truthfulness. Dom and his dreams of El Dorado were run out of town no sooner than the ink had dried on his Celtic contract. There was always a feeling deep down the board would resort to type and put one of their own back in the hot seat eventually. It seems modernity isn’t for everybody at Celtic Park.
(Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)
The news today has compounded the poor result last night. I will be the most astounded person on the planet if Michael Nicholson reinvigorates the football department to the standard required. We seem to be hedging our bets on the now defunct *Old Firm tagline and it’s unequivocally pathetic. To acknowledge we can’t exist without the co-operation of another football club is awful and Nicholson being appointed reeks of this ideology that has poisoned the relationship between those inside and outside the boardroom.
If we are intent on life in the slow lane as Martin O’Neill once famously said, we’re going the right way about it. I don’t know Nicholson personally, but this is also true of Peter Lawwell. It was irrelevant; I disliked the man’s choices for our club and his general politics. Nicholson looks like a poor man’s Peter Lawwell and probably won’t even have the gravitas that admittedly he did have in the game in Scotland.
Celtic chief executive Michael Nicholson (centre) Photo: Jeff Holmes
Today’s news is a hammer blow for those of us that feel Celtic Football Club need a fresh break entirely from its current custodians. The AGM performance should have been enough for them to be run out of town on its own, never mind the part they all played in last year’s absolute abortion. Daddy Dermot as usual is nowhere to be seen and we must sit and wonder what the plan is for our beloved club.
Judging by the announcement today of our new permanent CEO, it’s business as usual inside the walls of Celtic Park. What a Christmas present that is after a deflating result in Paisley.
To quote Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke: “I wish you’d quit being so good to me, boss!”
Paul Gillespie
