Yet again Celtic Board guilty of ‘sleeping at the wheel’

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The Celtic Star

·21 de agosto de 2025

Yet again Celtic Board guilty of ‘sleeping at the wheel’

No one is saying Celtic should be spending like Chelsea, but we should be investing enough to overcome sides such as Kairat Almaty…

Jorginho of Kairat heads at goal during the UEFA Champions League Play-offs Round First Leg match between Celtic and Kairat Almaty at Celtic Park on August 20, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

After our sub standard showing against Kairat Almaty at Celtic Park last night the fury has been well and truly unleashed in the direction of the Celtic board, and all within good reason.

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It’s well documented that our incompetence knows no bounds when it comes to player recruitment, and our so called leaders are guilty of to quote an old phrase ‘sleeping at the wheel’ when it comes to taking our club to a new level, or indeed keeping us at the level we’d reached since the combined efforts of two excellent Celtic managers saved their bacon after the disastrous covid season.

Peter Lawwell and Michael Nicholson watch on as Celtic draw 0-0 with Kairat at Celtic Park in the UEFA Champions League play-off match, worth over £40m to the winners.

They may have the club on a sound financial footing – thanks in no small part to the Celtic supporters repeatedly putting their hands in their pockets – but their reluctance to spend that wealth – that we the supporters massively contribute too – is harming us on the park when it comes to making strides as a serious football club.

Since our last match in the Champions League at Celtic Park Celtic has gone backwards at incredible speed with Kyogo sold for £10m, Nicolas Kuhn sold for £17m and Jota injured – and not one of these players has been replaced, just like Matt O’Riley wasn’t replaced when they collected £25m for him.

Nicolas Kühn of Celtic celebrates after scoring his team’s second goal during the SPL | Premier League match between Dundee United FC and Celtic FC at Tannadice Park on April 26, 2025 . (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Time and time again they have failed to improve the side when we are in a good position, just to save a few quid in the process.

No one is claiming that we start throwing cash about like the Chelsea’s of this world, but a credible investment of say £20 million so we are more than ready for games such as last night. We have the resources to do so, as they did last year. Why not the same presently? Especially when we lost a key player in Nicolas Kuhn and were handsomely rewarded to the tune of £17 million.

Ironically that self entitlement might well come back to haunt them if we fail to reach this year’s group stages and they miss out on the riches that brings, some £40m to be precise. Of course the narrative will pushed out by the usual suspects who enjoy the occasional boardroom comforts. It’s all Brendan’s fault!

Brendan Rodgers, Manager of Celtic looks on prior to the UEFA Champions League Play-offs Round First Leg match between Celtic and Kairat Almaty at Celtic Park on August 20, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

The manager will see out the season – unless they sack him (and they may well do just that next week if there’s a bad result in Almaty) but there’s no little to no chance that he’ll be staying beyond the end of May 2025. And that’s exactly what they want to happen.

We’ll then have a management team of ‘board loyalists’ – John Kennedy assisted by Shaun Maloney and Gavin Strachan with the power coming down from the top. That’s the ultimate objective here.

Life in the slow lane awaits. As a support we need to wake up to this and back Brendan – starting with chanting his name again on Saturday against Livingston, who will be just as frustrating to play against at Kairat were last night. Otherwise it’s the Celtic support who’ll also be guilty of sleeping at the wheel.

Last night the support made its displeasure known with the Sack the Board chants. Now we need to go one step further and Back the Manager. He after all is the one fighting our corner.

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