Martin O'Neill has yet to be announced as Celtic boss as talks have stalled over the appointment of his backroom team. Scientists reckon the Arctic will be a pile of slush by the mid 2040s due to global warming – but they can't say for sure if Celtic fans will have heard from the club's board by that point. Or if they'll have a management team in place. No wonder Hoops fans are tearing their hair out at this lot. The ice caps are melting at warp speed compared to Celtic Football Club.
It's been 19 days since Callum McGregor lifted the Scottish Cup and it's 15 until some of the Parkhead squad report back for pre-season duties. Yet there's still nada coming out of the club.
Backroom team contracts unresolved
Martin O'Neill may have shaken hands on a deal to become the new boss, but Celts have yet to sort out the contracts with his backroom team. That is not strange in itself. The fact it's taken a week is weird though. And the talk they have been low-balled over wages is SHOCKING.
Shaun Maloney and Mark Fotheringham have every right to protect themselves. Maloney has been doing about seven different jobs for the last six months and needs to get his role nailed down. He also needs to know what his future looks like at Parkhead. He was brought back as the pathways manager, which is the kind of job that could be for life. Since January he was also recruitment chief, scout and presumably made the tea as well as taking the training. There's no way he can deal with all of that again, or if he's even asked then he's entitled to ask for a few quid for doing the job of at least three people.
Fotheringham also deserves some kind of stability. The coach dropped everything to answer Maloney's call twice in the space of weeks last season. If he's going back in full-time, there has to be some sort of plan for him. A one-year contract might suit O'Neill at 74-years-old, but it certainly doesn't for a young man who might have to up sticks. Nothing is long-term in football, and every coach and manager is well aware they could be out on their backsides after a couple of months. But it's the security of longer-term contracts that makes the gamble worthwhile. To actually offer them less dosh than last term is a major slap in the face. These are guys who were every bit as important as O'Neill in dragging Celtic out of the s*** last season. Perhaps even more so, as O'Neill himself has suggested.
Shambles continues
Delivering the Double covered up a multitude of sins from last season but no sooner had the trophies been put in the cabinet, the bumbling has begun again. There was the whole Robbie Keane sideshow, the complete lack of communication coming from the club and now the dithering and stumbling over appointing O'Neill and his team. It's a shambles and it's got way past the ridiculous stage. It's embarrassing.
Which is exactly how O'Neill will feel this weekend. Incredibly, he signed up to get back on the speaking tour circuit earlier this year as he thought there was no way he'd be in charge going into next term. He's got THREE gigs in the book for this weekend, as he's due to be on stage in Dumfries on Saturday, with another two shows on Sunday in Uddingston. The very notion a sitting Celtic manager – or soon to be appointed one – is even doing these things is bonkers. But he could now be about to go on stage for a Q&A session where he can't give any answers. It should be mortifying for the Celtic board, yet it seems you can't touch these necks with a blow torch. If O'Neill let his head rule these matters rather than his heart, he'd run a mile from this job and leave them to it. He's accepted months ago he'd be off into the sunset but the success changed the picture.
Seven huge questions remain
Celtic have had since January 5 to get their ducks in a row. If they had a manager lined up they could have thanked Martin, wished him all the best and got cracking with the statue while the new team got to work preparing for the Champions League qualifiers and new domestic campaign. Instead, Celtic are all over the shop right now and the questions are piling up, even beyond the manager's office. Who is going to be the permanent chairman? Will Brian Wilson go back to the board or will he be replaced? Who is coming in for departed Tom Allison in the boardroom? Where is the head of football operations or director of sport? Who will be the player pathways manager if Maloney does move across – or how can he go back to that role if he doesn't become assistant because Celtic couldn't agree wages for the new gig? Who is selling players or allowing them to go right now? Luis Palma, Stephen Welsh and Hayato Inamura are all gone and more could follow. Who knows what's happening with the options on Kelechi Iheanacho and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. More importantly, who is BUYING new players? Names are bouncing around and inquiries are being made, but by whom?
The transfer window isn't open but Rangers have already snapped up Lawrence Shankland and Hearts have brought in FOUR new players before the World Cup kicks off. Celtic fans are desperate to hear the grand plans and see the ball rolling. The squad needs several new signings but already hopes are fading that anything is going to change this summer. Because if Celtic can't even get deals done for people who are already in the building, what chance do they have when it comes to recruiting from outside? If Celtic don't get their act together sharpish there will be enough heat coming from fans to melt the ice caps in an afternoon.
