Come Together Right Now

I get stick sometimes for the stuff I put up here and elsewhere.

From Sevconian’s it’s easy to brush off. From Celtic fans, it’s a little harder to just dismiss.

At times like that, I try to remind myself that one common thread unites all of us; that we love our club and want what is best for it.

We disagree on how this can best be achieved sometimes, but that one constant remains.

I hope to Hell the people inside Celtic are made of the same stuff.

Every single one of us will have heard rumours of discontent behind the scenes at Celtic Park. Of clashes of egos. Of falling out. This happens at football clubs everywhere, but unless it is addressed and those issues resolved it has the potential to do a great deal of harm.

A lot of our fans aren’t convinced by some of what we’re seeing.

The blame has been laid at many people’s doors; from that of the chairman, to our major shareholder Dermott Desmond and at the office of the Chief Executive Peter Lawwell. The Strategy has come under real scrutiny, and there is now some pressure to change it, or at least for someone to justify it.

Others blame the manager, and they point to tactical inflexibility, a lack of killer instinct, perhaps even bad man management skills.

Others point to the players, noting a lack of cohesion, issues around fitness and what some perceive to be a distinct disinterest amongst some of our squad.

The drive and the dig and the passion which we had all expected to see this season are absent.

Wherever people think the blame lies, it’s clear we have some issues to resolve as a club and those issues are only going to be resolved when the people inside the club come together.

We, as fans, have a unique perspective on all this, but we’re not privy to the internal workings of the machine.

Our investment is emotional, but at a distance.

Our criticism might sting a bit, but it doesn’t inherently damage Celtic.

But if there really are problems inside the walls, that definitely has consequences.

I don’t pretend to speak for anyone but myself when I write this stuff, so I’m not assuming the voice of the supporters, but to me one thing makes a football club run above everything else; the chain of command. It delegates power and responsibility right down the line.

The board sets the overall strategy. No manager can work at a club if he doesn’t buy into that.

A good example would be Brentford. Their current manager was brought in because the owner has a definite view on how things should be done. Their former manager wasn’t interested in that, and the parting of the ways was inevitable. A manager has to be a team player.

When I blame our failings on The Strategy that gives the manager an alibi of sorts, because that’s set above his head.

But when some outlets were linking us with a move for Roy Keane one of the reasons I was against it is that Keane, if he’d taken the job, would have been butting heads with the board over that, and other issues, every other day and that would have damaged internal cohesion.

Deila was willing to work under it and he still is.

The problems that exist at Celtic Park do not exist at the point where Ronny Deila and the board connect.

That relationship appears to be good, although it would be foolish if people above him weren’t asking questions about performances and attitude.

However, I am convinced that relationship is still a working one.

The rumours suggest the schism is between the management team of Ronny and John Collins and the players; the most crucial relationship at the club.

A lot of us are frustrated with what we’re seeing on the pitch, and I mean that in terms of the tactics and the way the games have been going.

But it is the manager’s job to decide on that, and to live or die by that decision.

It is not the job of the players to second guess it or down tools as a result of it.

Those who are willing to adapt, fair play to them. Leigh Griffiths was one of them.

Those who aren’t need to be reminded who the boss is.

Ronny Deila is the captain of this ship, and whether doubts are starting to creep into the stands or not is utterly irrelevant to how things should be working inside Celtic Park and Lennoxtown. Anyone undermining the manager is harming the football club; I think it’s that simple.

I don’t particularly care whether players are happy with training or the approach the manager takes; their job is to do as they’re told and play to that system and get with the program.

If Ronny is wrong, if his approach is wrong – and some think it is – he will be the one to pay for that.

Players do get managers the sack, but it shouldn’t work that way if they are being professional.

Our club is far too important to far too many people to let egos run amuck and destabilise things.

The challenge is outside of us.

Aberdeen, with a five point lead. Ajax waiting tomorrow night.

A season of tough games against opponents who already smell fear and weakness and are waiting to take advantage of it.

Teams no longer fear Celtic.

That has to change, and the way it will change quickest is if everyone in the club gets together and sorts out whatever differences there are.

The fans can see that things aren’t right; these are good players. Ronny is a good man and a good manager. In the fullness of time his ideas may prove not to be the correct ones for Celtic, but he will go on and have a fine career come what may. With so much talent inside Celtic Park, the problems have to be about attitude.

Our club should not be losing to the likes of Malmo.

They were nothing but a well organised team; it should have been possible to break them down over the two legs.

I don’t care what anyone says to the contrary; on our day, with those players, we ought to have won those games.

We could – and should – have had a stronger squad going into those qualifiers, but that doesn’t alter the simple fact that we ought to have done the job.

Our club definitely shouldn’t be losing a game in Scotland, in which we were in front, against ten men, no matter who the opposition are.

Likewise the goals at Kilmarnock were shocking, and the dropping of points there was wholly avoidable.

Anyone still in doubt that we’re facing one Hell of a season only need consider that Aberdeen don’t have to be world beaters; they just have to be better than the rest of the teams in the SPL, and hope that we slip.

They look as if they’ve got something.

They are well organised and hungry, with a good manager and players who’ve bonded and gelled.

They are a very dangerous opponent and we can’t ignore that they showed real resilience against us, which is something we’ve rarely seen from a club in this country.

Whatever the issues are, they need to be set aside.

The players and the management team need to get on the same page, and right quick, before we fall further behind.

If this club can heal from within then some of the anger we feel will be smoothed away.

Then we can retain our title, and go for that domestic treble that has eluded our club for way too long.

Come together, Celtic. Right now.