Alan Brazil tells Dermot Desmond that enough is enough as far as the Celtic support is concerned…
The talkSPORT host has returned to work after a serious health scare and of course we’ll all want to wish him all the best.
Brazil of course is well known for his love of the Hoops and he talked about the team he supporters this morning as he gave his assessment of where things currently stand at Celtic, with the season now underway, a huge exodus from the squad still on-going with the latest exit being Portuguese midfielder Paulo Bernardo and just two signing in the door in Camilo Duran and Kasper Hogh.
“The problem that Celtic have, the support is unbelievable. People know that. They’re everywhere,” Brazil said on his popular talkSPORT breakfast show. “And yet, I just get the feeling that the board expect: ‘The fans will turn up anyway, if we spend money or not. It’s a religion to them, it’s in their blood. They’ll come’.”
“A lot of empty spaces”
However what caught Brazil’s attention was the grassroots boycott of the friendly match against Middlesbrough which the former Ipswich Town and Scotland striker reckons points to the support reaching a breaking point with the Celtic Board, the de-facto owner Dermot Desmond and the way that they run the club as a PLC business focused on profit and not as a football club trying to be the best version possible.
“But I did notice this pre-season, Middlesbrough going to Parkhead, and there was as many red tops, shirts and scarves as there was green and white. A lot of empty spaces,” Alan Brazil stated.
“That’s the fans saying: ‘Enough is enough’.
“I remember, as a kid growing up, European nights at Parkhead. I’ll never forget… unbelievable. I used to think about it a week before the game.
“And Celtic, with the crowd they have… but Dermot Desmond, the owner of the club, who’s done a remarkable job. They won the league last year – how they won it, I’ll never know, but they did – Martin O’Neill, brilliant, absolutely brilliant Martin…
“But I think Dermot has said – I don’t know if he’s on record saying it, but I believe he’s said – ‘I’m not the bank. I’m here to look after the club and make sure it’s run properly. You’ve got to use your own money’.
“So he’s not one of these chairman who says, ‘Go on, I’ll give you another £50 million, or another £100 million’. He’s not like that. He can; I think he’s a very wealthy man – but it’s just a business to him, and it’s so frustrating for the fans. They want players.
“And even now, Martin must be pulling his hair out, saying, ‘get me some quality signings!’.
“At the moment, there’s a couple of players that I thought were going to leave. I thought McGregor might leave as well, so it’s not over yet, but Martin needs to get players in.”
No Celtic supporter is asking Dermot Desmond to write a cheque
Alan Brazil misses one or two points here. There are no Celtic fans asking Dermot Desmond to put his hand in his pocket to fund signings. The club has over £70m in the bank. The two incoming transfers will be covered by fees coming in for exits, and the Board will no doubt be looking to retain all the funds at their disposal and probably add to it.
If Martin O’Neill gets us through the Champions League playoff against Austrian Champions LASK then there’s another £40m on top. Celtic supporters once again bought our season tickets but the spending on club merchandise and friendly tickets is now drying up.
The support through the Celtic Fans Collective and other groups such as the Celtic Supporters Association will be ready to act if the club fails to back Martin O’Neill in the transfer window. He is no suffering from the same strategy as all previous managers – with the exception of Wilfried Nancy – suffered from going all the way back to Ronny Deila.
And the result is that Ronny, Brendan Rodgers, Neil Lennon and Ange Postecoglou have all suffered shock Champions League playoff defeats in their time due to the club’s failure to back the manager.
It can’t be allowed to happen to Martin O’Neill surely? If it does then there will surely be an uproar.
HAVE YOUR SAY – Join the Celtic conversation in our comments section below…
Quick Tip – Add Celticshorts.com as your ‘Preferred Source’ on Google News for quick access to the Celtic content you value the most. It takes just a few seconds and you’ll notice the difference straight away! – Click HERE….Hail Hail!
4 Comments
Glad to hear Mr Brazil is doing well.
Just wondering though, did his medical issue involve memory loss as Dermot the Donkey is NOT the owner of the club,neither is he the CHAIRMAN.
We already have a temporary one who is as useful as a Celtic top in the huns end at lpox !
I cant see Engels going to West ham unless its for money and he’s not a man money orintated he going to move to English second tear yes its more competitive than spl but champions league for say till Feb at least yes if we bring in another couple of players Im sure we will two before our qualifiers and maybe one after we qualify thats something Engels needs motivation and some other players
Just doing the numbers game within our squad at present. We stand at 22 players with 3 B listed players?
Problem remains that within that 22, we are potentially looking at AJ, Engels and Hatate moving on, with Balikwisha also getting loaned out imo?
Along with trying to find the solutions to get Duran and Hogh playing together, within the same starting line-up?
Now such a situation isn’t new for ourselves, with being in operation for a few weeks now?
The potential outgoing players has been in place for months now?
So a transitional period was expected, especially with such a rebuilding squad process having to take place?
How we have gone about things, still leaves more questions than answers at this stage, especially when it’s becoming baffling as to why?
For MoN himself, he took our job on, knowing the situation he faced within the rebuilding squad process?
Admittedly, many tough decisions he was always going to have to tackle, and find solutions for?
Even so, many of those decisions that he faced, are no clearer in finding the solutions, within the overall squad rebuilding process imo?
MoN has faith in Nicholson getting him the solutions, yet very few within our support, share the same faith within Nicholson?
So don’t know why, our club is potentially letting the same developments, potentially occur, that were so disruptive last season, and took so much joy away from supporting our club?
Got no idea as to why MoN is prepared to put himself in such a position? But he has.
Admittedly, had concerns with MoN having to deal with a summer transfer window, especially with being away from such a situation for so long, especially with the demands of the modern player involved?
Especially with the amount of changes involved behind the scenes, since his own days in management?
So there was always going to be risks involved, with whatever approach was going to be taken over this summer period?
Yet the solutions to the problems aren’t so forthcoming still?
The mystery still remains as to why our club, continues to act in such a manner?especially with a season already up and running?
And the amount of problems still in existence, within the squad rebuilding process to be completed?
I guarantee the board will wait to see if we qualify for champions league before anymore signings come in because that’s what this clown does…..disgruntled celtic supporter….