Andy Walker on Celtic

Used to like Andy Walker as a player, but since he wrapped football I found some of his comments were way off the mark. Read this article today agree with some points he makes though some of it seems way off the mark.
Former Celtic striker Andy Walker critical of manager, players and board after Celtic’s Champions League exit

Hugh MacDonald
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5 Aug 2010
Celtic fans will turn their fire on the board if the club continues to under-achieve, the club’s former striker Andy Walker claimed last night.


He said Celtic had gone out of the Champions League “with a whimper”, adding: “The danger for Peter Lawwell and Dermot Desmond and the rest of the board is that I don’t believe the supporters will hound Neil Lennon out of a job if it all goes wrong. Their target will change and it will be the boardroom and their business practices.”

Walker, who played for Celtic from 1987 to 1991 and for two years from 1994, had criticisms of board, manager and players after Celtic defeated Sporting Braga 2-1 but slipped into the Europa League qualifying after a 3-0 first leg defeat in Portugal.

“The truth is that they have never threatened to get through this tie from the word go,” said Walker. “To lose one goal away from home, you can come back from that but to lose three was very careless, very sloppy. I watched all the game in Braga and just saw sloppy passing.”

It is a dangerous message to send out that the Celtic manager is not in control ​

<CITE style="FONT-SIZE: 12px">Andy Walker </CITE>
He was not impressed either by Wednesday night’s victory at Celtic Park. “I saw a totally different game from Neil Lennon,” he said after listening to the latter’s praise for his team’s performance. “I expected an ‘up and at them’ performance. I thought I would see a lot of crosses in the box, attempts on goal, sustained pressure. Didn’t see any of that. There was not a shot on target in the first half,” he said.

He added of Lennon: “I thought he was crediting the team performance and I thought the team performance was really poor. I saw a team who have a lot of questions still to answer.”

Lennon also said Scott Brown’s performance was “immense”, but Walker said of the Celtic captain: “I didn’t see it and haven’t seen it for some time with Scott Brown. I can’t remember the last big game he dominated.”
Walker, speaking after he played in a bounce game in George Square to promote Tennent’s’ new sponsorship link with the Old Firm, criticised the team for meekly departing Europe’s premier club competition. “They went out with a whimper,” he said.

The former striker had sympathy for Lennon over events in pre-season, particularly the collapse of the link between Stuart Baxter, the Finland coach, and the club.
“He has been left a wee bit exposed by the board on a couple of occasions,” Walker said, adding that if the board wanted an experienced man to partner Lennon then the manager should have the right to choose a suitable candidate. “The whole pursuit of Stuart Baxter was a complete embarrassment and left Neil pretty exposed,” he said.

Asked if Lawwell, the chief executive, and Desmond, the majority shareholder, were having too much of a say in team affairs, Walker said: “Whoever you give the job to, they have to be seen to be in control and are not taking all of this advice from elsewhere.”

He added: “Look at the signings. Before I went on holiday I was sure I heard Neil Lennon saying he was going to buy British. I came back from holiday and there was a Mexican, a Korean and they signed an Israeli last week. I doubt whether those players were at the top of his radar. It is a dangerous message to send out that the Celtic manager is not in control.”

Walker said the Celtic fans he had spoken to thought the Scottish Premier League could be wrested back from Rangers after two years.
“Rangers are weaker,” he said. “They have lost [Kevin] Thomson, they have lost [Kris] Boyd, they have lost a lot of goals and creativity.
“But Celtic look as if they are losing the same things. They have lost Robbie Keane, who scored most of the goals from January. [Aiden] McGeady [who is almost certain to leave] is your playmaker.This is a team that has underachieved for a couple of years now. I would suggest the pressure is on them to deliver.”

The board, he believes, would be in the eye of a storm if Celtic do not make a confident start to the campaign.
“The problem is that there has been one eye on what is happening across the road [at Ibrox] and they have acted accordingly. That has not been the best policy. The danger for Peter Lawwell and Dermot Desmond and the rest of the board is that I don’t believe the supporters will hound Neil Lennon out of a job if it all goes wrong. Their target will change and it will be the boardroom and their business practices.”

The Europa League was now Celtic’s proper level, he said. “It is a club geared up for Champions League football in terms of the stadium and the supporters. The product on the park is worthy of the second tier. The real danger for any Scottish club is that the qualification process for the Champions League is such is that it will be very difficult for even the champions to get into the group stages. Celtic right now are at their level. They only have themselves to blame. This is the second year they have failed to take advantage of a Rangers team that have been struggling to buy players.”

 

I pretty much agree with everything he said to be honest. Just because he is an ex-celt doesn't mean he has to blow smoke up our * and only say good things about us.

His last sentence especially rings true...

 

Andy Walker is a *. End of. So is Charlie Nicholas

 

I think he's right about the club set up for Champions league and team set up for Europa League tbh.

 

what is it with ex-Celtic players constantly feeling the need to slag of our club. No matter who it is they are normally quick to put the boot in - obviously they value pandering to the Hun media more than the club they once played for.

 

WHY? because they speak the truth, get real wake up and smell the coffee mate, we are no longer one of the top teams in europe, we aren't even the top team in Scotland at the moment.......

Andy and Charlie have celtic in their hearts, do the board???? :bbpd:

 

Why have Celtic failed to take advantage of rangers losing players? We have brought in several players and are still in the Market for more. This is no time to judge a manager or team.

I like walker though.

Of course the board do. If you have any clue about the finances it would be interesting to hear where the cash comes from!! Celtic are buying players and are in the Market for more

That's harsh. Walker is a fair guy.

 

He's being honest here , yeah these things can get you annoyed but sombody needs to say them cos theres a lotta celtic fans out there saying the same things and they dont have the platform to say them from .. walker has .

 

Walker normally annoys me with his views but think this is a fair article.

 

I do believe folk who criticise the board should be aware of the facts before spouting off mind u

 

to be fair my first post was harsh when talking about Walker - he tends to be fair when talking about Celtic but there are quite a few ex-players who really like to put the boot into our club and our board without understanding finances etc.

 

I agree pretty much with everything he says. Andy Walker supports Celtic, we support Celtic, so why is he not aloud to say one bad word about Celtic when the rest of us do it all the time? Just because he played for Celtic doesn't mean he can't critisice them.

 

andy walker was spot on ! just because you support celtic doesnt mean you cant speak out at them. everything he said was pretty much spot on. the board have done a great job at celtic . the only mistake they have made was tony mowbray and thats all walker was saying that if this appiontment goes wrong then the fans will probably round on the board rather than lennon and for what iv seen written on here thats pretty much spot on.

 

i think everything he said was spot on.

Just sounds like a celtic fan talking to me

 

I like andy walker and fel agree or not he usually tells it as he sees it so i wouldnt get too annoyed and the way the team proves itself is to win the league so early days lets wait and see

 

The time to judge the team and the manager is not now it is at the end of the season. As for the board. They have backed every manager for quite a while. I cant think of the last manager they did not back. Yes cutbacks have been made but in the current climate that is to be expected.

 

Its his opinion. We all have one ourselves whether you agree or disagree hes allowed an opinion. Maybe he just has more expectations of how Celtic should be, am sure he gets gutted like the rest of us.

Charlie Nicholas is a gobshite though al give yous that.

 

Walker was a good player for us first time around, then he returned and was poor (he was past it) so the fans got on his back - he's always had it in for Celtic ever since. Likewise Nicholas and Provan. I pay no heed to anything they or the other wounded Celtic fans McNee and Keevins, say about Celtic.

Two games into the season and already the media momkeys have started.

The board have backed Lenny like they did Mogga. Lenny has millions to spend, we are in a transition period yet those clowns in the media expect instant results and hope we fail so that they can dig the swords in.

We are Celtic, give those media puppets and clowns a wide berth FFS!

 

Im sure we will get it together for the start of the season and hope we get who we need and then no more players in/out for a while, transition period is a pain in the * but I can see the big picture.

 

It's abit of bold statement due to some people he signed BUT I don't think board backed WGS with money and transfers as much as they maybe could have compared to other managers