Roger Mitchell Has told Graeme Spiers that Celtic are in a managed decline.
The claim was made in a podcast which this site won’t subscribe to but that phrase will cause concern to Celtic fans and shareholders. No club or company should ever be planning to decline.
My Celtic discussion with @RPMComo on Press Box.
“It is undeniable that Celtic is in managed decline.
You can access all my Scottish football podcasts – about 20 interviews and debates so far – here:https://t.co/nAnQeqBCvupic.twitter.com/gJKzoD25s2
— Graham Spiers (@GrahamSpiers) December 6, 2020
Mitchell was Chief Executive of the SPL when the token contracts for Tore Andre Flo and Ronald de Boer were approved to create Old Firm excitement and commercial contracts.
While the Inland Revenue taxed every penny paid to Chris Sutton and Neil Lennon the Ibrox club’s income stretched further thanks to a policy of disguised remuneration that the SPL and SFA approved of with no sanctions ever taken against the club.
Celtic’s decline can be traced back to August 2018 as a disastrous transfer window unravelled alongside a Champions League defeat from AEK Athens.
The home leg against the Greek side was played at the same time as John McGinn was completing his move to Aston Villa with a clearly identified transfer target of Brendan Rodgers slipping away.
Having failed to bring in a new central defender the absences of Mikel Lustig and Dedryck Boyata due to World Cup duty was badly felt with the Belgian internationalist going on strike.
As the transfer window closed McGinn was replaced by Youssouf Mulumbu while Filip Benkovic came in on deadline day with £20m banked from the sale of Moussa Dembele.
In January 2019 Timo Weah, Oli Burke, Vakoun Bayo, Marian Shved, Andrew Gutman and Manny Perez were signed by Celtic, by the end of February Rodgers had left for Leicester City.