Out Of Europe And Out Of Excuses

Tonight we went out of Europe, with what might well be the very worst record of a Scottish side in a group stage competition ever.

We have one game left to go, but it’s a meaningless one in a country one wouldn’t wish to visit at the moment.

So, after an truly scandalous European campaign we’re left with domestic football into the New Year.

Few people realistically expect disaster on that front, but is that the point?

Of course not.

Our club is now a third-rate power in continental terms.

This campaign has been an embarrassment.

I’m blaming the manager for what we saw tonight.

This tactical inflexibility has killed us at this level, it has absolutely routed morale and given us no sign whatsoever to be optimistic about the future.

Playing one up front tonight in a must-win game was an outrage.

I watched Griffiths the whole night. He missed chances. He missed big chances at big moments.

At other times he was a man pushing against the tide. Marked tightly, as is painfully easy to do with a lone striker.

He is a fine player; I don’t have to tell anyone how I feel about him. But he does not possess the tool box of talents necessary to play that role in Europe.

Put another striker up there with him – the whole reason I thought we signed Ciftci, because in all honesty there’s really no other I can think of at this time – and you’d have stretched their defence tonight and given Leigh more space to work in.

That we never bothered, that we persevered with one man up front as the clock ticked down … it speaks volumes.

Ronny Deila is a nice guy. We all know that.

His ultimate failing might be that lack of ruthlessness that other managers are notorious for.

If we let that failing become our own, we’re making a rod for our own back.

Now is the time for ruthless analysis, and when you look at his European record … it’s shameful.

I’m sick of people trying to find gold in this pile of sand.

Tonight I have no interest in hearing those urging us to give him time.

He’s had 18 months, and he’s learned nothing and we’ve gone nowhere.

Far from growing into a better side, we’ve gone backwards.

Last season, against Legia, we were destroyed and the humiliation of that has receded, but no-one can tell me we’re improved since then. A couple of weeks ago we lost to Molde, Molde of Norway, at home, when they had ten men.

I’m thoroughly sick of this, of a club that now accepts mediocrity as the norm.

We’ll hear a lot of platitudes in the days to come about how if only Leigh had put away one of his chances … blah, blah, blah … it’s like white noise now. It’s meaningless waffle as far as I’m concerned. You can blame the players all you like; the problem is a tactical system which the manager is wedded to and which is going to cost him his job at Celtic Park.

But before it does that, it’s going to cost us a third Champions League campaign in a row.

I believe Lawwell when he says Deila retains the faith of the board.

Of course he does.

To admit they made a mistake with this guy is to admit their own failings and the arrogant attitude towards the supporters which was on clear, naked, hellish display at the AGM is such that these people don’t think they have any.

So we’re stuck with this.

With a coach who’s not getting it, and a board so above the fray they can’t even see down at what they’re stepping in any longer.

This article has probably been depressing to read.

It’s certainly been depressing to write.

There are those amongst our support who will call this a knee jerk reaction.

They say it after every one of these nights, and if the next ten games were just like this one they’d continue to ask for time, they’d continue to accuse us of jumping in without thinking, they’d continue to say we wait for nights like this one so we can point our fingers.

They can say what they want.

We’re aimlessly wandering towards the next disaster, and they’re skipping merrily along.

I’m often accused of being obsessed with the failings of the club across town.

But I’ll never be accused of not facing up to our own.

My mind changed on Deila after the Molde away game and it’s not going to be restored short of a miracle. Nothing we do in Scotland will revive it, far less the anaemic garbage we served up at the weekend and for which people made the usual excuses.

I’m on record as saying the manager hasn’t been backed financially, but that excuse wears pretty thin when you consider that he’s signed 18 players.

How many have been an unqualified success?

I said the Carlton Cole signing was a no-brainer because it represented no risk. But still, I’m baffled at why we bothered as we have this one up front system which has the player the manager allegedly tabbed as his “first choice signing” in the summer sitting on the bench every week.

The equation isn’t difficult to understand; two players for one position doesn’t fit.

How in God’s name are three going to?

Taken in context, is the Cole signing anything other than a complete waste of money and time?

If we go into the Champions League qualifiers with things as they are we might as well not bother, because it’s a lost cause.

Yes, I’m conceding before the summer, before the current season is even done, before we sign a player or formulate a plan.

The immediate problem, the one we’re not going to solve until it’s far too late and the cost of the “experiment” has jumped another £10 million or so, is in the dugout.

The only way you can fail to see it is if you are willfully choosing not to.

A meaningless match in Fenerbahce isn’t going to tell us anything we don’t already know.

We’re out of Europe.

His defenders are out of excuses.

And Deila is out of his depth.

Even in the state we’re in right now, this job is way beyond him.