THE unrelenting cycle of disappointments for supporters of the Bhoys continued this week with more upheaval, players leaving, terrible football and the announcement that, after 17 years, CEO Peter Lawell was finally taking his leave of the club.
Lawell’s exit was predictable but the news that Jeremie Frimpong was leaving came as something of a shock as there had been no indication before his sudden departure that he was unsettled or was angling for a move.
Lennon did say to the press that the Dutch youngster had made his feelings clear for a number of months about wanting to leave. Normally these things have a tendency to leak out but this seemed to come clean out of the blue, for the fans anyway.
Looking at it from the player’s point of view, he is clearly a very ambitious young man who felt that his career wasn’t progressing at the rate that he wanted. Lennon’s obvious inability to develop players was a factor and Frimpong felt that he would be better served working with a different coaching team.
One thing is for certain, he would not have left under the previous manager as Rodgers admittedly does have a flair for bringing out the best in his playing staff and would have known exactly how to harness the young right-back’s raw energies. That is not to say that the move is a bad one for Celtic, given the reported transfer fee.
At the minute, Frimpong is nothing more than a prospect. He had been on the books at Manchester City so they obviously saw something in him. He then moved to Celtic to further his career in terms of getting time on the pitch which he wouldn’t have got at the Etihad. He burst onto the scene with an infectious character, boundless energy and amazing pace.
He was still raw, however, with many aspects of his game needing a lot of work. For a full-back, his defensive positioning could be suspect even if his speed was enough to get him out of trouble at times. He loved to bomb forward, beating opponents and getting to the bye-line but his final ball into the box also left a lot to be desired.
He is undoubtedly a rough diamond but at Celtic he was not getting the quality of coaching which would have unlocked his full potential. He may well get that at Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen and from Celtic’s point of view, the transfer fee of a reputed £11.5 million represented a superb bit of business. In Everton loanee Jonjoe Kenny, they will have a more than adequate replacement for the rest of the season.
Acquiring that type of fee for Frimpong is an example of what Peter Lawell was good at in his off-field commercial activity on behalf of the club. It was to be one of his last major negotiations before he made public his intention to step down at the end of the current season.
It didn’t come as a great surprise as the writing had been on the wall for several months. It was obvious that Lawell had outstayed his welcome in the Chief Executive role and that a change was going to be necessary for the overall good of the club.
This season was supposed to be an historic one, with a quadruple treble on the cards and the chance to claim a record 10 league titles in a row.
With Lawell and Lennon at the helm, however, the club has run out of steam and are on course for their worst league campaign for the last 20-odd years. There is no doubt that Lawell has done great things at the club, overseeing a period of significant economic dominance over the rest of Scottish football.
His time, however, was up some years ago with the general life expectancy of someone in his post at a football club widely understood to be around five or six years. The opportunity to be involved in the 10-in-a-row has probably extended his time in the role a bit longer than it should have and in the final analysis his input has in effect detracted from the effort of achieving that record.
His decision to hand Neil Lennon the manager’s job on a permanent basis amidst the euphoria of a Scottish Cup win and the claiming of the treble treble in May 2019 has proved a disastrous one, made worse by the fact that that no other manager was even considered at the time.
Lennon should have been thanked on his way out the door for keeping the show on the road after Brendan Rodgers slithered out of the club and his second stint as Celtic manager should have only been a temporary one. The lazy decision to keep him on will be the one that, in the eyes of the Celtic support, overshadows all the good things that Lawell had previously done for the club.
As for Lenny himself, he still seems inexplicably determined to remain in the manager’s seat, despite the absolute pigs ear that he has made of this season’s title challenge. There have been many times over the last few months when we have thought “this is the defeat which will signal the end” but the Lurgan man just carries on.
The latest of these was last Saturday’s dismal capitulation to St Mirren at Celtic Park. After conceding a poor first goal, the Hoops struck back to equalise, only to fall behind once again soon after.
The goal which turned out to be the winner came after yet another shocker from Shane Duffy, whose time at the club will forever be considered as one of the worst transfers ever made. Just what comes next for the Derryman is anyone’s guess but you can be sure it won’t involve Celtic.
The club did try to improve their centre half options in the transfer window as Preston’s Ben Davies was due to sign a pre-contract, with Celtic also considering paying a transfer fee now to bring him in for the remainder of the season. They lost out at the last minute, however, as Liverpool swooped to bring Davies in to alleviate their own defensive problems.
It’s difficult to take issue with his decision as a player of Davies’ ability would never ordinarily have been presented with the chance to join the English champions but their need was urgent and they pounced as Celtic dithered. Their constant tendency to wait until the very last moment before getting deals done has robbed them of the chance to bring in a decent player for relatively little outlay. This is something which the incoming CEO will hopefully improve upon.
Dominic McKay will replace Peter Lawell in the summer, having been held a similar position with Scottish Rugby for the last five years.
McKay will have an awful lot to deal with when he does take up the post with a major rebuild of all aspects of the club his first order of business. He will also need to bring new ideas and innovations to the club as they attempt to return to the top of the football tree in Scotland.
Lawell is leaving him with an absolute mess to clear up but the new man seems ready to get stuck into it. Hopefully he will not be left with the job of relieving Neil Lennon of his duties as the Lurgan man, if he has any self-respect at all left, will surely be long gone before the summer. Tickety-Bhoy!
