Last week, as the media was discussing Ronny Deila, I heard an old allegation surface on a radio show, one that annoys me whenever I encounter it.
The allegation was this; Gordon Strachan was driven from Celtic Park, by Celtic supporters, because he was not a “real Celtic man.”
This, according some, is why Ronny Deila is under so much pressure right now; because he isn’t “one of us.”
I think the idea is offensive, and every Celtic fan I know agrees.
For starters, let’s explore what the media and our critics mean when they say “not one of us.”
If you’re taking your definition from certain Sevco sites, that means anybody who’s not an Irish Catholic with a picture of the Pope in their bathroom.
To some in the media, I reckon it means something similar, but they use phrases like “Celtic minded” as if we aren’t aware of the connotation.
So, have Celtic fans fallen out of love with Deila simply because he doesn’t tick a bunch of arbitrary boxes, and did Gordon Strachan really get “chased out of Celtic Park” by fans?
Of course not.
Before I argue this case, I wanted to make sure that my own thoughts on it weren’t drowning out historical reality.
So I asked the question on Facebook; was it the Celtic supporters who got Gordon Strachan out of Celtic Park?
Did that really happen?
A surprising number of respondents actually believe this.
They know of, or include themselves in, a group that actively hated Strachan and wanted him out.
Crucially, however, very few of them are willing to accept this “Celtic minded” nonsense.
One guy I know, in a moment of exceptional, and refreshing, honesty told me straight up, without deflection, that he had disliked Strachan strongly, but, to his credit – his immense credit, I thought – he admitted that looking back he has no clear idea as to why!
“I just never took to him, at all,” he told me.
He scorned the suggestion that this was because Strachan was not “one of us” and he denied flatly that it had anything to do with him as a player, and how he used to wind the Celtic fans up when he played with Aberdeen.
Others speculated that their own dislike of Strachan started equally early, and some even had a moment for it; Gordon’s first game in charge, the Nightmare in Bratislava, which I still believe is far and away the worst result in the history of our club.
Still more said he had an attitude they didn’t care for, and this, I think, brings us a little closer to the crux of why a number of our fans didn’t really like the guy much.
Gordon came to Celtic with a reputation for being abrasive and short with the media.
We all looked forward to his destroying some of our resident hacks, but whereas he was willing to engage in a jokey kind of banter in England he didn’t generally bother trying up here. There was a good reason for that; Strachan simply didn’t think our hacks were worth the effort.
So when he was flippant with them there was more harshness in his words than there otherwise might have been.
He clearly hated our media and I found his contempt for them illuminating.
This was a guy who didn’t suffer fools, gladly or otherwise, and there were more than enough amongst our hacks to go round.
As such, he preferred to ignore certain writers and publications altogether, and even now as Scotland boss he makes it plain that they are tolerated but not really respected.
So we got what we expected … but what no-one was ready for was Gordon’s occasionally crass comments about us, the supporters, and how little time he had for our own opinions. I think it’s fair to say that no manager in Celtic’s recent history, perhaps none ever, had such a tin ear when it came to opening lines of dialogue with dissenters in the stands.
In his final season, he called some of us “warped” for daring to criticise the team after a 2-2 draw with Dundee United. But it was his “kestrel drinkers and devil dogs” comments, actually made in his first season in charge, that burned me for weeks afterwards.
I couldn’t believe that this was a Celtic boss – who’s team, by the way, were playing dire football, and continued to – talking about Celtic fans, and it wasn’t the only time he appeared to treat our views with absolute condescension.
These were the reasons Gordon wasn’t exactly loved at Celtic Park; a poor style of football and the occasional withering remark directed at our fans.
Added to this that a lot of people had sort of made their minds up after Bratislava, and basically spent the rest of his tenure waiting for that shoe to drop again (which you could argue it did that day at Clyde).
There was absolutely nothing in this “not a Celtic man” garbage, and there’s nothing in the concept that Deila’s critics are from the same school.
There’s one shred, one tiny shred, of not quite truth but perhaps fact … both men followed in the footsteps of legendry men who had an innate and deep love for the club and its traditions.
Gordon took us further than Martin O’Neill did in winning three in a row and getting us through two tough Champions’ League group stages – in my view he was the better boss of the two, another issue that has sparked incredible debate – but Martin’s achievements, a treble, 6-2, taking us to Seville, these were immortal accomplishments from a guy who knew what we were about and where we were from. His support for Neil Lennon that day at Ibrox when he took the captain the length of the pitch to the fans in support for the “racist chanting” his fellow Irishman had endured all day long … these were the mark of a man who “got it.”
Ronny Deila may be even unluckier in following in the footsteps of Neil Lennon himself, who’s love affair with the support was cemented in the way he responded to the most appalling treatment ever meted out to a public figure in Scotland, and in his own managerial achievements including the never to be forgotten win over Barcelona in the Champions League.
Were we more tolerate failures in these guys because we loved them and they loved us?
Yes, of course we were.
The relationship between a manager and the supporters is absolutely crucial and Gordon didn’t try to forge a real one with us until his third season (after which a lot of us really did take him to our hearts) and Ronny’s Roar got a lot of people on board with the Norwegian who were otherwise worried about his percieved lack of passion.
Martin O’Neill and Neil Lennon didn’t have to play to the gallery.
Neither did Ally McCoist when he was at Ibrox, although he often did. But then, Martin had great success at Celtic Park and Neil did too; their counterpart at Ibrox was a walking disaster area and had to appeal to the goon squad in order to protect his position as boss.
Would that have helped Gordon Strachan when the going got tough?
Would Ronny be able to forestall criticism by breaking into the Celtic Song at his next press conference?
Of course not; for starters, we’re nowhere near as gullible as the Sevco fans and had Neil run into real trouble I think he’d have got the same level of criticism as the others. Indeed, there were several occasions, including our cup defeats, when he did.
I get angry when I hear this “Celtic minded” nonsense.
There are a lot of bosses out there who are “Celtic minded” and we wouldn’t want them within 100 miles of Celtic Park.
Alternatively, there are managers out there who probably couldn’t tell you where Glasgow is on the map who’d we take in a heartbeat.
The ultimate irony of this media inspired guff about us “driving Gordon Strachan out” is that there is not a Celtic fan I spoke to who has a bad word to say about him since he left Parkhead. Most would take him back in a heartbeat. His obvious affection for the club, and even for the fans themselves, is obvious every time he talks about us. Had he arrived at Celtic Park with a scintilla of those emotions we’d have worshiped him as we do Marin O’Neill.
Could Ronny yet build some kind of rapport with the supporters?
Well, if we finished this season like a hurricane, sweeping everyone aside with ease, the mood around the club might be very different when he holds up the Scottish Cup. He is a guy the fans want to like, and there’s an advantage in that Gordon never really had.
He was the ultimate Marmite manager, and as many loved his cheek and off-the-cuff arrogance as were turned off by it.
Ronny has no such problems.
As a genial, decent man we would all have loved to see his tenure at the club characterised by unqualified success.
That it may well end with his leaving under a cloud has nothing to do with his “Celtic” credentials or lack thereof.