Under-fire Celtic board may yet have 'last laugh'
In the high-stakes casino of Scottish football, the Celtic board are chasing their losses. Kairat Almaty laughed all the way to the Champions League. When Brendan Rodgers resigned and the club sounded the horn for Martin O'Neill's remarkable return, Celtic then beat a path to the door of someone who had never managed in Europe.
[BBC] In the high-stakes casino of Scottish football, the Celtic board are chasing their losses. Each time they've bet the house on black, it's come up red. Beetroot-red for embarrassment.
Every time they've gone all-in, they've quickly wished they hadn't. Amazing to think then that they could yet break even. Their biggest gamble was the £40m one: betting that the squad stumbling into the new season would have enough to get past the champions of Kazakhstan.
Kairat Almaty laughed all the way to the Champions League. It set the tone for a season that lurched from one crisis to the next. The next big punt was arguably stranger still.
When Brendan Rodgers resigned and the club sounded the horn for Martin O'Neill's remarkable return, Celtic then beat a path to the door of someone who had never managed in Europe. At a time when, lest we forget, the legendary interim manager was already doing a spectacular job of saving the season. The Wilfried Nancy gamble haunts the club still.