It was the sound of silence at empty Celtic Park on Saturday – but the noise is getting louder from angry Hoops fans on the Hotline. The punters swerved the Middlesbrough friendly in huge numbers and frustration at the club's running is growing daily as rivals Rangers and Hearts tool up.
Transfer failures spark outrage
The failure to keep Kelechi Iheanacho and Marcelo Saracchi has pushed some over the edge and the heat is on for the Hoops board as the season approaches. Denis Bruce, Bishopbriggs, said: “Iheanacho was in the building. He loved the club and wanted to stay. Martin O’Neill wanted him, the fans loved him. The club claimed it was looking at players out of contract but they let his contract run down. He did not have a pre-season and yet had been on the doorstep but has now gone to a Turkish side. What a shambles. What a disgrace. The board should resign in shame. O'Neill should show some backbone and walk away.”
Fans vent frustration at board
Sean Dolan, Chicago, said: “I sit here in awe, at the audacity of the Celtic’s board thinking fans are uneducated, uninformed, unable to decipher a balance sheet. Your pathetic approach to running this club is embarrassing. Your continual mismanagement will haunt you. There’s no way out.” Fraser Davison, Glasgow, said: “Just wondered if fellow Celtic fans would be up for renaming Kerrydale Street to Tumbleweed Avenue? No promised fan engagement, bleating about how hard it is to sign players, yet other clubs seem to make it look easy. This is the yearly attempt at a soft let down from the board beginning now to get us used to idea of yet another woeful transfer window despite millions in the bank. I wouldn’t trust this mob to find a stank lid for a game of jawries.”
New striker offers hope amid gloom
Stephen Mulhern, Dumbarton, said: “The sole reason I invested £15 for my concession ticket was to monitor the performance of our new striker Camilo Duran. He didn’t disappoint with a goal and enthusiastic display. Playing in a museum-type atmosphere must have been a shock to his system, though, and unless Martin O’Neill secures at least three quality signings this week similar attendances are on the cards.” Greg McLaughlin emailed: “Celtic are a shambles. From a position of strength, we can't help but shoot ourselves in the foot. Celtic Park is full of dinosaurs and it is time for Dermot 'Fred Flintstone' Desmond, Brian ‘Barney Rubble’ Wilson and Michael 'Bam Bam’ Nicholson to yabba dabba do one as they are making a mockery of Celtic and it's loyal support.”
Wage demands and board decisions questioned
Peter Cooperwhite emailed: “Iheanacho has opted for a club in Turkey rather than stay in Glasgow. He wanted £50k a week, well why not if your supporter's are bragging that they will have at least £203m in bank after selling players and Champion League money? He’s not going going to be only one to ask for major wages.”
SFA controversy adds to tensions
Elliot Watt might have headed to Turkey but the former Motherwell man copping a ban for his comments about the controversial end to last season has sparked ire. Ian Smith, via email, said: “The SFA are making Scottish football into a laughing stock. Not content with blatantly handing the title to Celtic they are now fining Motherwell £5000 for commenting on it. Celtic meanwhile get a laughable £7500 fine for their fans invading the pitch and getting a match prematurely ended. Unbelievable.” Rab Hunter, Dumfries, said: “What are the SFA playing at? They have banned a player for telling the truth and making an honest assessment of an incident which was confirmed as being incorrect and against their own rules by both Willie Collum and their own independent review panel. Doubling down when you are wrong is not clever.”
