After the despair of Sunday’s Scottish Cup semi-final defeat Celtic supporters expected some form of decisive action from the club- yesterday they got nothing.
As news dribbled out from trusted sources it seems that the board are crossing their fingers and hoping that Ronny Deila can somehow stumble over the line and clinch the most underwhelming title triumph in recent times.
Why wait for the inevitable and gamble with a league title?
For some time Deila has looked like a dead man walking. The Celtic support has been incredibly patient with the manager, against all reasoning many have claimed that they could see his vision for the future.
The plan that Celtic have to grow as a club is basically the right strategy but is being executed by a man way out his depth, someone who is either a poor judge of players or being manipulated by others when it comes to transfer matters.
What impact on the park has been made by Logan Bailly, Saidy Janko, Jozo Simunovic, Erik Sviatchenko, Tyler Blackett, Ryan Christie, Scott Allan, Patrick Roberts, Carlton Cole, Nadir Ciftci and Colin Kazim Richards?
Are Celtic more likely to play in the group phase of next season’s Champions League with those players on the pay roll?
Over the course of Monday the message emerging is that Deila will leave at the end of the season, a decision that smacks of indecision.
The list of big match failures under Deila is too painful to repeat, even an eight point advantage over Aberdeen provides little assurance with the final five fixtures to be faced.
On Sunday, anything other than a win over the team that ended Celtic’s treble hopes in January will set off the alarm bells with Hearts and Aberdeen to be faced in the next fixtures.
Going into the final matches of the season Celtic’s hopes are pinned on two teenagers plus Leigh Griffiths- beyond them there is no-one that can be relied upon although Charlie Mulgrew and Sviatchenko earned pass marks at Hampden.
Trusting Deila to see the season out is an incredible gamble, it also loses a month of preparation time for the most important games of next season- the Champions League qualifiers assuming the latest gamble pays off.
Having a lame duck manager in place is a recipe for disaster, even Alex Ferguson couldn’t prevent the Manchester United players from downing tools in 2001.
Closer to home Martin O’Neill’s decision to leave Celtic in 2005 was hardly a surprise. Attempting to keep the news in-house failed with disastrous consequences at Fir Park.
Having gambled so much on Deila it seems that the decision makers are making one last final gamble on the big project from Stromsgodset.
If Deila can’t be trusted with next season’s Champions League qualifiers, he can’t be trusted to deliver the Premiership title.
Celtic can’t afford yet another gamble, why wait?