A football fan in dire straits, a club in tatters, wondering what will happen from one day to the next, without a manager at times, without the will to watch when it comes to the weekend. We have all been there and weekend after weekend it can feel like a slow death through stress, depression of not gaining the results and anger over inept performance. It really can feel like death row.
Strachans exit was looked on as a good thing by the bystanding fan, the unknowledgeable footballing casual thought Strachan was “bad for the club” he signed players un-orthdoxically and out of the blue, literally Mr Miller. Strachan was frowned upon at times and tore into by the media as a manager of one of the bigger clubs would when results and expectations where not lived upto in league and European competition.
He got the results, I still see him jumping for joy as Nakamura sailed numerous match winning free kicks into the net, I still see his little snigger and snarls on the side lines when things had not gone our way, he in a nutshell whether we like it or not was the best thing to happen to us since Martin O’Neill.
25th of March 2010…In our darkest hour…
A new decade, a new era, same old challenges await, same old fate? We had not the backboned dictator to even inspire the strongest of our brave warriors on our most dull and saddening nights of this decade so far.
Crushed 4-0 by the buddies, a defeat and a time of mis-management that many of us thought would take years to re-assess, for our team to see successful light again was just a mere dream, success seemed like an echelon away and a fabrication of our thoughts that only could be believed in a wifes tale.
Battered, slaine, beaten and tore apart by a beligerent team of second rate players that embaressingly pushed us back on our behinds and left us in the dirt. Looking up from the dirt we had been left in, gazing through a dust of newspaper headlines so severe they could be razorblades, we had been left broken and felt like we had been put to the bottom of the pile.
Laying in the wake and sodomy of loss was not kind nor helpful for us Celts in our daily lives, in footballing conversation I sat red faced with anger wanting to defend my team with a purity of acheivement and statistics but I had to swallow my pride and own up we had been disgraced and our once trophy glittering side from the Strachan era had simply melted and soldered into a melting pot of pure petulant faeces.
Lacking, lacked, lack – losing, lossed and lost. An intrepid punchline but a sincere-less but excruitiatingly loud hello in the ear, a wake up call of the loudest proportions that was about to wake a sleeping thunderous giant. The rumble started with a caretaker manager that was nested in the history of the club.
9th June 2010…Neil Lennon is given the Celtic Managerial role
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Lennon was unleashed finally as signified manager of our club and even though in his first season we did not win the league, he shaved the title by a flys leg hair, it was literally down to the wire, but the foundations laid by Lennon and a Scottish Cup win personified what was to come.
The signings of mere unknowns Beram Kayal, Emilio Izaguirre and Victor Wanyama plus the added benefit of quality with well championship experienced Ledley, Commons and Hooper gave us on paper one hell of a great youthful side.
Arguably the most surprising signing for me was Charlie Mulgrew, with Celtic not being a club to go back for seconds I found it strange but yet still a solid signing for the club, for those who watched Mulgrew at Aberdeen they knew what he was capable of.
A few Knowns, unknowns and loans. It’s a simple equation and Lenny and his staff nailed it to a tee.
We didn’t win the league in 2010/2011 but some of us could see what lay beneath the “league loss” – hunger, passion, determination and an electric youthful flair. The foundation started to grow into a powerful structure…and it grew to skyscraper proportions.
2011 / 2012 Champions
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The thing is we as fans all walk the mile, we live every moment, we absorb every second, every kick, tackle, save, pass and goal we take everything from it and make it what it is. It can give us the greatest of times, the lowest of the lows and that insecurity of football keeps us on the edge of our seats.
Right now it feels as if we are a free man, rivals left behind? and the long walk on death row on the mile is behind us? no the season coming will bring it all back again, we are the holding champions and we need to defend our title because it will not be given to us, as the past shows every road holds its own journey, its own story and we will forever be walking the mile.
And the thunder? The thunder Lennon spoke about I believe was not the team, not himself but bringing the roar back to Celtic park.
WE are the thunder, the team is the eye of the storm and Lennon is the lightening conducting everything in its path.
Brilliant article, loved the final paragraph. In Celtic and Lenny we trust.
Thanks as well 😀
Well I got tired of all the sevco crap, so what about them and their shyte, our team is our focus.