TRYING to consume Celtic content in the midst of a World Cup can be off-putting and, quite frankly, exhausting.
While the world casts its eye on North America as football’s biggest names battle it out for the ultimate prize, it would be nice to believe that the men behind the scenes are working hard at Celtic Football Club to ensure that the mistakes of last year don’t repeat themselves. Nice, but foolish.
The term ‘silly season’ often rears its head in the summer regardless of whether an international tournament is ongoing, and the Celtic rumour mill is at full productivity, but nothing of substance has been produced.
Like me, you are probably worn down when it comes to Celtic’s transfer activity or lack thereof. ‘Celtic chase’, ‘Celtic consider’, ‘Celtic weigh up’ would all normally be the final stages of a Celtic transfer link which usually ends with a big case of nothingness and frustration for the fans who built up hopes of this player or that making his way to Paradise.
The man who everyone wanted in January, Elijah Just, has now added five million to his valuation after finding the net twice for New Zealand against Iran in the World Cup. And so we can be confident in chalking him into the 'What could have been' category alongside John McGinn and Andy Robertson.
It seems complacency has found its way back as Stephen McGowan broke the news in the Herald that Celtic have been having issues negotiating a deal for Shaun Maloney and Mark Fotheringham to join Martin O’Neill at the helm following the Irishman penning a new deal as full-time boss.
A “significant wage cut” was the headline in relation to what the delay was in getting the Celtic duo on permanent contracts.
And with that, the precedent has been set by the higher ups, and in the main Dermot Desmond, who reportedly was disgusted that the pair felt they could actually say no to the Irish billionaire’s offer, despite it falling on the low-end of the wage scale.
I'll keep saying it again and again: It is simply no longer tenable to have Desmond as the sole decision maker when it comes to the betterment of Celtic Football Club. It's time to end the echo-chamber mentality over the years that means that nobody dare utter the dread words "No, Dermot."
Whilst the blue half of Glasgow are trying early doors to get their battered house in order by snatching Derek McInnes and Lawrence Shankland from Hearts, Celtic are back in 1990s penny-pinching mode, rewarding two of the club's most influential figures from the past season with significant pay cuts.
We can watch the big countries compete on the international stage and try to forget Celtic all we want. The reality is that in two weeks’ time, pre-season begins and not only have Celtic shown no concrete interest in players desperately needed to bolster the squad – they are still negotiating contracts with O’Neill’s backroom staff and lowballing his most trusted lieutenants.
Since the final whistle was blown at Hampden, there has yet to be any positive news surrounding the Hoops. The men in suits who calls the shots in the boardroom have seemingly decided to have the summer off and it worries me that they genuinely believe even after last season that the idea of anyone in Scotland taking the title away from Celtic is impossible.
Maybe I am too quick to judge as far as the management team are concerned. Maybe Maloney and Fozzy have asked for a gazillion pounds each. I seriously doubt it, but who knows? And after all, we only have that £80 million stockpile of cash, and that doesn't get you where it used to, don't you know?
We are often told when the money's not being spent to be mindful of what happened to Rangers, or to think of the Utopia that will be the Celtic museum and hotel (another pipe dream, it seems).
Realistically, you’d have to be a fool to have the wool pulled over your eyes again. The board clearly don't care about the fans – that is not just an opinion of mine, it's borne out by unfortunate experience.
Less than a month ago there were celebrations after a domestic double that looked impossible not that long ago. And what happens less than a week after that? There's talk of bringing the controversial Robbie Keane in to replace O'Neill and suddenly the joy and delight are replaced by suspicion and resentment.
Barry Ferguson would have been less controversial as Celtic boss, but Desmond simply did not care what you or I think. He’s a billionaire businessman and treats Celtic as he does with his other businesses – with a hard-nosed commercial toughness that has no place for the fans that make the club what it was and is.
I'm as baffled as anyone when it comes to understanding how the same businessman is so successful when he regularly refuses to take simple speculative risks (investing to compete in Europe, for instance). Perhaps his conservative financial nature is the secret of his success, but in football the rules are different.
Even if Maloney and Fotheringham join Martin O’Neill, the whole world knows they were toyed with in the process and disrespected by the board, and that has already caused significant damage.
The annual shareholders' meeting was chaired not by Desmond himself, but by his son, who hardly won over the audience.
The recent league win was as joyous as any in recent memory. But I fear that if something doesn't change this summer it will be looked back on as a time when Celtic FC believed itself, like Achilles, to be invincible in battle. Achilles' heel brought him down – and the cycle has to be broken if mythology is not to repeat itself
