There were parts of Dermot Desmond’s update on the club’s immediate future that were as uncertain as the Celtic defence dealing with a set-piece.
It was short on detail and big on denial that there was anything to worry about.
But the most positive element contained within his address to the fans on Celtic ’s website is that the principal shareholder is irked.
A former director of the club Brian Dempsey provided the irritation by suggesting Desmond had lost interest in a club that was headed back to the days of Save Our Celts in 1994.
Irritability at least provoked Desmond into breaking what had been, up until then, a monastic silence in the aftermath of Neil Lennon leaving and Peter Lawwell announcing his retirement.
Now the fans know he’s no intention of selling his shareholding. Dermot still has skin in the game and when he’s irked that can, as history has shown, be a good thing for the club.
Annoyance with outside forces brought Martin O’Neill and Brendan Rodgers to Celtic at Desmond’s behest.
Now fans can at least hope he has the Hollywood hat-trick in mind on the managerial front.
You could pick holes in his assertion that when Celtic choose a manager there is a process that involves research, investigation, interviewing and negotiation.
According to legend, Lawwell offered Lennon the job of Celtic manager on a permanent basis in the showers at Hampden after Rodgers’ interim successor had beaten Hearts in the 2018-19 Scottish Cup Final.
It might be fair to assume the job offer would not have been made had Celtic lost that game.
The process of research, investigation, interviewing and negotiation must have been carried out at breakneck speed between the directors box and the dressing room after time up in that case.
Still, I would imagine public apologies for boardroom mistakes don’t come easily to Dermot.
So his admission that he accepts “without qualification” that wrong calls have been made this season is a very open account of the failure all too evident to the supporters.
There was, of course, the obligatory dig at the media for members who allegedly foresaw the season being as bad as it is. Having tipped Celtic to win
10 In A Row, I certainly don’t remember that bit.
But there were points along the way since last August when it was allowable to point out goalkeepers who couldn’t save, strikers who could not score and results that should have signalled the need for a change of manager.
Desmond has now to deliver a structure that alters the direction of travel for Celtic.
And those who have made the wrong calls are the same people who have to find the solutions.
Being irked and contrite is all very well. Being right is better.
