There’s a saying that says someone should walk before they learn to run and I think that, for now, applies to Celtic.
We’ve gone from a league winning side to a mid table team in a short period of time. It may well be the case that, long term, that is ok and in a few months time we might get to a level where we are able to get a win against a newly promoted side in the league.
We may even be able to complete the simple task of not conceding a goal in a home, European qualifier when that’s all that’s needed to qualify – instead of pushing for a win when it’s not actually needed. Remember a nil nil against Maribor would have been ok to get us into the CL group stages. That said, how would this current team manage against the best that Europe has to offer?
An important point to make is that I’m not in Scotland right now, I’m in China, which has restricted internet so I haven’t been able to watch any highlights, I can’t see a lot of comments on some of the fans websites so it’s difficult to know for sure how well or how badly our team are playing.
I’m pretty much relying on friends, family and internet bampots who are going to the games to make my judgements. I can listen to the podcasts on hail hail media which, for me, gives a great indication on the thoughts of Celtic fans instead of the thoughts of non Celtic supporting journalists.
There’s been a lot of talk about how our players eating and drinking habits are continually being monitored. It seems to be the case that Leigh Griffiths is not getting a game because he enjoys a take away and a few pints at the weekend, who doesnt ?
Yes, he’s a professional footballer and yes, he has to take care of himself but he seemed to be able to score a decent amount of goals prior to this season at various clubs – goals that we are badly missing right now.
So, why does the manager place such importance on these things when we are unable to get a win against teams that we should be blowing off the park ?
Is it the case that the players are fed up with his controlling way of managing ? Have the players suddenly became not very good ?
Have the opposition, very quickly, improved to such a level that we are unable to compete with them ?
Prior to the Zagreb match, I read quotes from Robert Prosine?ki who was talking about playing against Celtic a while ago – this was the guy who was reported to be a very heavy smoker off the pitch. Yet, he was one of the best midfielders that a lot of people would have watched. I remember watching him against us and I thought he was a fantastic talent.
Surely, at Celtic, our manager has the priorities wrong ? I think that he seems to be trying to change too much too quickly.
I really don’t care if players at our clubs are eating a big tray of rabbit food or if they are having a fish supper with a few pickles before a game. What I do care about is are they fit enough to run for 90 minutes and to give absolutely everything they have to get a result for Celtic ? Are they playing some decent football and winning games?
At the moment, it seems like they are not prepared to give 100% to the manager and to the fans which is what needs to be fixed.
We should be playing our own game and if we do, to the best of the players ability, we will beat the vast majority of teams that we play against at home.
As and when that happens, I think the manager is perfectly entitled to focus more on the players diet and their weight.
At the start of this blog, or rant if you prefer, I wrote about how the manager may well turn things round but I am absolutely certain that if the board feel there is a risk of us not winning the league in a few months time, he will be fired.
We’ve heard about how we must be playing regular Champions League football in order to generate enough money to pay our chief exec his salary along with players wages and the other things that the club has to spend money on.
If there’s a risk of us not even making the qualifiers, I’m sure the curtain will come down on Ronny Deila pretty rapidly. Who would be brought in to replace him? With our current policy of spend as little as possible and hope for the best, I dread to think who the next in line could be.
My final point is that I’m pretty certain that no fan would have left after the Hamilton game saying ‘oh well, we got beat but at least the players are away for a lovely salad for their dinner’.
It’s a results driven business and if results are not going well, all the other things that happen off the pitch will be analysed by fans and internet bampots alike.
The singer from Muse sang that “time is running out” and even from this far away, I feel that time is well and truly running out for our current manager.
