Hi All! As timdom the world over wakes up to a very happy wednesday morning…(aye right) we must look back at what has been a very bad 2010 as Celtic are concerned, who cares about the January to May? not like we signed anyone big like Robbie Keane or anything…
Anyways, since we appointed Neil Lennon, We’ve seen our season turn on the defeat against our biggest rivals, Rangers. Before October 24th Celtic were absolutely flying, hammering everything in sight, as well as scraping out key away victories at places like Kilmarnock, Motherwell and most impressively, Dundee United. There seems to be one key problem with Neil Lennon and his team this season, they just don’t know what to do when things are going wrong. Obviously everything is ok when we’re winning everyweek, but since we lost against Rangers, we played well twice against St.Johnstone, followed by a 9-0 demolition of Aberdeen then crumbled at Tynecastle, scraped past at St.Mirren then drew 3 games at home on the bounce. The only game we’ve actually played well was of course the 9-0 win, but that was against a very poor Aberdeen team. But I did think that was us back on top form after Aberdeen, it looked like all our strikers were on fire and nothing would stop us, then of course Hearts came along. Since then we’ve only managed the one victory, and thats after 3 successive home games.
Where do we go from here? It would appear that Neil Lennon is under very intense pressure at the moment, so sack him? Would be very harsh considering the start to our season but something must be done by someone to save our dying season, we are on the verge of losing the league for the 3rd year to a team who couldn’t afford to buy Daryl Murphy off us…
Which brings me nicely to my next point, Should the board give Neil Lennon more money to spend? Why? Yes the team does need improve but why give Neil Lennon a million pounds if he returns with Daryl Murphy? Apparently Anton Ferdinand would be a bad loan move because hes a Sunderland reserve player…so spending a million on one is acceptable? Obviously Lennon can spot a player in Izzaguire and Hooper but 1 Million pounds is a lot of money to spend on such an unacceptable player.
Maybe am over-exaggerating how bad we are at the minute, maybe it’ll all be turned around soon and we’ll still repay those who were putting their faith in the word ‘treble’ at the start of the year, but serious work must be done in January, deadwood (no matter how long they’ve been at the club) must be thrown out and replaced with youth players, lets not have another July of 11 new signings, realising the team cannot gel within 6 months, then get rid of them again in July again, my recommendation would be to stick with Lennon, give him a season, but if the next 12 months don’t bring serious improvement (with at least a trophy, and us still in Europe by this time next year) then Neil Lennon’s position as Celtic manager will have, in my opinion, become untenable.
Get big Rasmussen back, throw him into the game with 15-20 minutes to go and watch defences crumble at his physicality, Rasmussen is a very smart striker, he’s big and he’s strong, and he can put himself about, but he can grind goals out, i.e his goals against Hamilton, Hibs and St.Pauli (he just about saved Neil Lennon’s caretaker period with his introduction against Hibs)
I’d like to finish with wishing everyone on the site, twitter and facebook a very merry christmas and I hope santa gets you all you want and need this winter!
Tune in next week for the preview of our trip behind enemy lines.
Brucehillbhoy
What the board do in Jan is give Lennon a long term contract and financial backing. That should put a stop to the doubt that people have due to his year deal.
I love how Big Duncan is all of a sudden a saviour. He’s this years o’dea.
Get O’Dea and Dunc Rass back, give Lenny a christmas transfer pot in time for the january sales and get fuckin anton ferdinand in.
Hes not that bad a player to be honest. I would welcome him to our club if he plays at the top of his game for us and hopefully Maj, Rogne and Jos will perk up a level with quality competition around.
As for the right back situation, Juarez could be an option, Hinkel has played at a good consistent level and if he is given game time to find his form he will be solid, Wilson can look exceptional on his day also and Cha I have time for him as he never gives up when I have watched him play but he cannot just rely on his physicality to get him through he needs to adapt fully to the Scottish game, he needs to realise this isnt the Bundesliga.
Odea is frankly a big piece of stale mergine. He is woeful.
I have no idea why anyone has any belief at all in either O’Dea or Rasmussen. Neither has done anything to warrant a go in the Celtic first team.
We have been going with the ‘he can’t be any worse than we’ve got’ strategy for years and this must stop immediately. The alternative is one title every five years, due to Rangers managing to be even worse than us, or back to the 90s.
Scottish football is on its knees. There is no money and the crowds are starting to dwindle. It pains me to say it but we are taking a bigger hit than anyone when it comes to attendances and this will continue to worsen. There will be under 30,000 at some games come March.
If we don’t take maximum points from the next three games brave decisions must be taken during January. This must take into consideration management, players and future strategy. Defeat at Ibrox, and possibly being 8 or even more points behind by that time, means the season is over and a serious rebuilding exercise needs to commence during the very next window. Hopefully this does not happen but it is more likely than us being level. Lennon (if he remains in post) or whoever comes in must cull the dross, and there is plenty, and bring in exactly the type of player he said he was going to last summer. You would think that there would be a contingency plan in place for the exact scenario unfolding before our very eyes? But the people running Celtic are poor at what they are doing and have been basing all plans on the implosion of Smith and his thread-bare squad. Thing is they are hanging on better than anyone expected, much to the delight of the press. Celtic have become a laughing stock, gaining our best victories off the field against nonenties like Dallas and McDonald. Time for a reality check and a good look in the mirror by everyone at Celtic.
Every window I hear cull and deadwood. What has got us into this mess? Aye, a cull the size of a highland clearance. If Mogga had made minor adjustments maybe in the summer we wouldn’t have needed to sell the only two assets we had.
Culls mean you replace deadwood with new and shiny deadwood. Achieves nothing.
This is a 4 or 5 window metormorphis. Time to admit we are low and anything gained this season is a bonus.
Plus I often wonder how the Huns can keep finding there level of cunts. It seems to be never-ending.
Enjoy Lhads….
http://viewer.celticfc.net/Special_Events.php?movieid=220
It`s so tough reacting to every game. Youall have a relaxing Christmas day because Sunday will bring another test.
Come on the Bhoys!
I feel I’m beginning to sound repetitive here, but for root causes look no further than the board.
Mowbray was a tube with a big mouth and little judgement, what else can you do but set yourself up for a fall with statements like we’ll play like Barcelona. Really? Like “I could never set a team up like Smith does with Rangers,” he does know how to motivate the enemy.
Lennon seems to be making the same mistakes as Mowbray, from bringing in too many players, of questionable pedigree, to not knowing his best team.
Someone appointed these guys and approved their spending, and selling policies. Mowbray went after 6 months, a dire failure. Lennon seems to be getting found out and confirming the fears of many when he was appointed, that is to say, inexperienced, not smart enough, too confrontational and poor with the press.
If the C.E.O. of any company brought in a dud as a dept head he would get a doing from the board and the shareholders for it. If he replaced said dud with another one it would be the golden handshake and goodnight Vienna. When has anyone at the top level of Celtic been held to account for repeated failure? Never that I can think of.
The fans need to own more of the club so that the decision-makers can be held responsible for failure. Reid, Lawell and co seem more concerned with fiscal prudence and the bottom line than trophies. They’ve forgotten that unless the club wins the title at least then there is no success. Profit making depends on full terraces, which depends on the right results. If the team wins the championship the crowds and therefore the money will follow. The only way to force change is to vote with the feet and stay away. Look at the Fergus McCann scenario.
I went to a q & a in the summer and the first question to Bawwell was “have you ever thought about resigning?”.
Of course he hasn’t. Loyalty bonus innit.
Lennon is not being found out. He is making expected mistakes. It’s the bike we are riding.