Celtic Pride, restored?: The Gaston-ownership era has been a disaster for the franchise.
Now it’s over, thank goodness. Where the heck did these new guys come from? The Globe’s
Beth Healy, arguably the best business reporter in town, has the goods. Though getting rid of the Gastons is a great boost for the club, Hub Blog still has two concerns: A.) The new guys are venture capitalists and, although they say this deal was personal and not connected with their VC firms, one has to wonder if they’ll end up being penny-pinching investors looking for lucrative exit-strategies down the road; and B.) They’ll be under tremendous sentimental pressure to wallow in Green nostalgia, with some insisting
Larry Bird be brought on board and others calling for Red Auerbach to return. The ever annoying
Dan Shaughnessy, who fancies himself the voice of the fans, is already yelping for this, predictably. But the Gastons milked the Celtic tradition for everything it was worth, and look what happened? The Celts need to build for the future, not recreate the past. For decades after good old Vince left the Green Bay Packers, that sports franchise struggled, largely because of fan insistence that Bart Starr et gang be given a chance to recreate the past. That nostalgic-driven strategy brought nothing but disappointment and mediocrity for years. The Green Bay Packers Syndrome must be avoided at all costs. The old Celtic “tradition” really came down to this: They won.