Wow that was painful stuff yesterday, wasn’t it?
The performance was turgid, awful and our team played without imagination or flare. They won by two clear goals, one a deflection off Leigh Griffiths after he’d handled the ball and the second a tap in on the line. Both came from set pieces, instead of open play.
This wasn’t exactly inspirational stuff.
There are a lot of people on the internet who refuse to be concerned at what they see happening to Celtic at the moment. To them, yesterday was a win, and a comfortable one, and the only thing about it that truly matters is that we’re in the next round of the Scottish Cup.
Deila himself has said that if Celtic win the tournament no-one will remember the match.
He’s wrong about that, and he ought to know better.
Whatever anyone thinks of Ronny Deila, this one forms part of the Case for the Prosecution and you only need to look on Celtic cyberspace to realise it.
Yesterday should have bought him breathing space, and a comfortable win of five or six, with good performances from the players, would have bought him that. The match was one-sided, to be sure, but it never looked, remotely, like the best team in the country playing against an amateur side, and that is scary enough.
What’s even scarier though is hearing a Celtic manager talk of his “relief” at getting through such a tie, as if we were playing a side from our own league.
Yes, I know he was reacting to a direct question, a sneaky one, akin to “so, do you still beat your wife?” but he ought to be able to avoid those landmines now. He did not have to answer it, and he certainly did not have to answer it in the affirmative.
I found it terrifying in its implications, that and the statement he made about how “tough” it would have been keeping his job if we hadn’t been able to accomplish that goal, as if he somehow hasn’t realised, as if it simply hasn’t twigged, that his termination would have been instant, and automatic, in those circumstances.
And it makes me think; does he actually get it?
Does he realise how big this job is, how big this club is?
The answer that dawns on me is “probably not.”
You know what? I even understand it, sort of.
He was brought here by a CEO and a board who essentially sold him on the idea of Celtic as a feeder club for “bigger teams”. He was sold on the idea that there was no money to spend, that “settling for” was our official policy when it came to Europe and to domestic success, except for the league.
I think of other times when performances have been unacceptable, when results have been astoundingly bad, and the glib way he appears to wave them away as if they were mere blips and not diabolical setbacks for our club.
The size of this club, the size of the job, is beyond the scope of his imagination, and it makes me sad to finally have concluded that. He simply doesn’t understand the requirements of it, and a lot of things that have otherwise been unclear make perfect sense in light of that.
You know what? After watching that display, against car mechanics, plumbers, joiners and PE teachers I am more worried than ever. I am no longer convinced we’ll win the SPL. The idea of simply relying on Aberdeen to drop more points than we do … it’s playing with fire and that’s exactly what we’ve been reduced to here.
The very best we’re going to get now is a nail-biting finish right to the wire.
His team selection yesterday didn’t inspire confidence either. It reeked of fear, including his decision to finally play two up front, an experiment I don’t think we’ll see repeated too many times in the remainder of the season. Worse, by far, was his decision not to start either Allan, Christie or both. That match was tailor made for showing off the skills of these two fine young footballers. Allan’s position at the club has to be in doubt already and I seriously question the logic of that signing if all he’s been brought to the club for is to sit on the bench every week.
But it was the decision to start Charlie Mulgrew that brings the most concern, that and the news that he is “playing for a new deal.”
I’m not a Charlie Mulgrew fan, but I think even his biggest supporter would balk at the idea of offering him a deal when he’s spent the better part of this season on the treatment table. Add to that Deila’s penchant for playing him in midfield and a crowded area of the team is now Plus One.
The more you look at things here the less it all makes sense.
On a last note, I have serious concerns about the way our first team squad behaves too.
Players out on the piss and one getting arrested for drunk driving?
A tougher boss would have a grip on this and wouldn’t be talking about “supporting the player” as if he was some kind of innocent party. Callum McGregor behaved like an absolute idiot, and that’s me being charitable here.
Where are our high standards as a club?
What in God’s name is going at Celtic Park?
