There’s a general feeling at the moment that our club is treading water, that people in it and around it are marking time, that change is in the wind and that we’re going to part company with the manager at the end of the season.
I don’t know whether it’s true or not.
I have a view on it, and it’s that I hope he leaves us for a more forgiving environment than this one.
I’ve got nothing against the guy on a personal level; none of us do, and I resent the implication.
I also resent the idea that we’ve arrived here via the media.
Before I say another word, I want to nail that one shut.
It’s offensive. It implies that the critics of the strategy are easily led idiots, which is bad enough without the additional implication that goes with that; that the likes of Keith Jackson can influence our thinking and guide us towards a conclusion.
The day I need guidance from someone who still thinks Dave King is an honourable man … please, call the fun factory and tell them to get my room ready.
I supported Ronny Deila’s appointment. I was cheering it when the media was writing its first negative articles. I don’t need them to steer me; I can see full well that things are wrong, badly wrong. This time last year we were in the Europa League knockout stages and the League Cup Final.
Today we’re in neither. Europe was an epochal disaster and I knew we were out of the League Cup the minute Ambrose was shown the red card, with the score still at 1-0 Celtic.
If Ronny Deila does go, many will view it as a verdict on the manager and the manager alone.
I will not be one of those people.
As I said, I supported the choice when it was made, because it looked radical and different and a step in a fresh direction.
People told me it was evidence of downsizing. I refused that hypothesis because it seemed like such a revolutionary step. I really did believe that people inside the club had radically altered course.
But it now seems clear to me that Ronny was brought in because he was willing to work in a greatly restricted environment. I don’t hold that against him at all; how many of us, if we were managers, would have turned down the Celtic job, even knowing that?
As such, those who talk about having faith in Ronny and his project are missing the point.
Ronny can’t be judged on that basis because it’s not strictly his project we’re seeing unfold here. He was brought in because he was willing to work on someone else’s vision … and that’s one of many reasons that, angry as I am with the stagnation of our club, that I do not believe we will get better simply by removing the man in the manager’s office.
He was not brought to Celtic to reshape our club as he saw fit.
He was not appointed to make policy; he was brought to be the instrument of it, and we saw the evidence of that on his very first day in the job when he had John Collins imposed on him by the CEO.
The strategy was already laid out.
He simply works within the parameters of it.
That is a crucial point, and we need to understand what it means.
We do the manager a grave dis-service by failing to think through the implications of that.
If Ronny falls, he can’t be allowed to fall alone.
The Strategy that he was brought to Celtic Park to work with has to fall with him, because it’s truly the cause of our colossal fall from being a club that took on, and beat, Barcelona to the shambling mess we are today.
Some of this is down to Ronny.
You can’t excuse the way in which our attacking midfield department is hopelessly bloated whilst we’re bringing in wide players on loan; the 4-2-3-1 system is his most obvious contribution to our development and he hasn’t got the players to fit into it yet, after three transfer windows.
That’s unforgivable and can’t be ignored.
The defensive midfield position, another key area on whose success that formation rests when played right, is also empty, and that, too, is a joke. The total absence of a solution to a problem that has Callum McGregor played so hopelessly out of position … there’s just no justification for it, and I defy anybody to even try one out.
We have one proven goal-scorer at Celtic Park at the moment too, and that’s another unbelievable problem of our own making, and the worst of that is that you genuinely do get the impression that Ronny lucked out on Griffiths, a player he initially didn’t appear to rate at all.
Had things gone a little differently last season he would have been released and God knows what state we would be in as a club at the present time.
I believe we’d have a different manager, for starters.
But Ronny can only work with the tools he’s given, and the failures at Celtic are widespread and rooted in the blunt truth that we refuse to pay the going rate for proven quality, even when it is available to us, as it was with, dare I say it, Gary Hooper to name just one example, and one there’s no excuse for people inside Parkhead not being well aware of as he was playing here not that far back in our memory.
Sheffield Wednesday? I mean, seriously?
According to our website, including players out on loan, we now have a first team squad of 40.
That’s an absurdity, especially when so many are sub-standard.
There are too many “projects” amongst that number, for a start.
That needs to be cut by at least ten, and ultimately we should be aiming for a settled 25 man squad of 18 top players, on good salaries (the sticking point, as well I know) and long term deals, augmented by the best young footballers we can find, who’s jobs will be to become the first team guaranteed starters of the future.
The absence of any real strategic approach to player recruitment beyond “buy cheap, develop and sell” means all of that is pie in the sky.
When we’ve been on the verge of it, as I would suggest we were when Lenny masterminded that win over the Catalans, it’s been quickly torn down and we found ourselves back at zero.
I don’t believe we ever seriously tried to keep the likes of Wanyama and Van Dijk.
I don’t believe retaining them and moulding a squad around them was ever part of the plan, and the Dutchman especially arrived at Celtic Park knowing that full well; he was, allegedly, sold on the idea of coming in and using our club as a stepping stone to “better things.”
At Southampton, presumably.
When did we become that?
When did we become a “stepping stone”?
Why aren’t players signed on the basis that they’re coming in to form the nucleus of a side that’s going to dominate domestically, but with an eye ever on our progressing in Europe?
The way our club functions – at every level – has to be examined.
If our board was truly on the ball, and determined to take us forward, they would conduct a Strategic Review to overhaul the way everything at Parkhead works at the present time.
Our scouting system would be radically changed for a start.
Its successes are well known, but its failures have cost us more than just transfer fees. They’ve weighted us down with mediocre players who have contributed to the loss of millions more in European exits, and that’s just in the past two years.
The CEO has been at the club too long for any good he’s doing now.
How can a guy appointed a decade ago claim to bring fresh ideas to the table?
He clearly doesn’t and can’t, because his thinking won’t adapt past slashing and burning to save as much as possible.
Too many of his public statements are at odds with reality; he said when Rangers crashed and burned that their demise didn’t change our operating strategy one bit; that was clearly nonsense when he said it because, of course, the idea is an absurdity.
Of course it changed the strategy.
It had to.
Too much of our commercial operation was built on the rivalry. Had we seriously adapted ourselves these past four years, to life without them I would be less concerned. But of course, we didn’t. Because the job was left half done, and we knew that a club playing out of Ibrox would eventually be back.
It’s a well-known fact that the club has spent that time treading water, and can’t wait to rebuild that rivalry again, only around the club that calls itself Sevco.
I no longer kid myself about that, and I don’t expect “fresh ideas” and a new vision from people who can’t break a dependence cycle like that, even one that held us back for decades and might eventually kill us.
That people haven’t grasped, by now, that the “Old Firm” tag ties us, irrevocably, to a damaged club supported, in part, by horror movie goons … this is going to haunt us way into the future, and is what stopped England from taking us twenty years ago.
Our manager gets his share of stick on here and elsewhere, but I have never held him solely accountable for the things that are wrong at Celtic Park.
The blame for much of this lies way over his head.
Let no-one say that if he goes he should be last out the door.
I have become so disillusioned that I am starting to hate football. The people running our club are killing us. Change needs to happen now. Did Barcelona really happen?
John
I sometimes wonder that too..”Did Barcelona really happen”? just where are the board and manager taking OUR club……I Just wish and hope that even one of the current board read the James Forrest blogs……they might get a feel of how some of us think about the current situation.
HH
Reminds me Swiss of the time when the late great Mr Stein was in charge and we played rank rotten. His final quote was to the whole dressing room and I quote ” if you want to know how you played just get a lift home on any supporters bus, they’ll tell you how you played ” Definitely missing something in the camp.
A belter of an analysis James, 10 out of 10 for that one.
Spot on James, we all wanted this too work but it was flawed from the start.
Picking one comment, normally we could expect to win 50% of titles, giving access 50% of the time to the CL, getting through lets say its 75% of the time.
We have had 100% of titles doubling the opportunity but have failed to quailify for two years with questionable hope for next year.
My point is no rivalry opens the door to more cash rather than less, nothing beats CL money, nothing.
Huge opportunity missed.
Brilliant read!
Very good article ????We have been downsizing for years and being told that we have to live within our means whilst in the background our executives continue to take huge money out as wages and bonuses ! There are clearly different camps amongst the backroom staff which never works! Time for the club to listen to the fans and review what it wants to be in the future hail hail
Ronny has lost 2 important domestic games in his whole Celtic career. Both when we were down to ten men. After 2 and a half seasons Neil Lennon was at a much lower ebb than Deila is now. He had lost the league twice to a shocking Rangers side and was only involved in Europe past September because Sion didn’t know their players were suspended.
Ronny has the lowest transfer budget of any Celtic manager in the history of the club. (He’s made a profit of £12m)
The football played in the last few weeks has been the best we’ve seen at Celtic park since Larsson left. Albeit against poor opposition. One up front doesn’t bother me in the slightest given most managers play that formation. With 3 attacking midfielders it’s basically 4 up.
It seems obvious to me that Deila is trying to build a squad of home-grown players and signing the likes of Cole and CKR are stop-gap signings until the likes of Christie, Nesbitt and Miller are ready for the first team.
The fans should start to look for the positives and come and support Celtic because there’s no way that Lawwell will admit he made another mistake and sack the current management team.
As for Gary Hooper. Isn’t he the man who’s poor finishing cost us 2 cups? He was decent but he isn;t half the player Griffiths is. Even with his 2 poor performances this season.
he will leave in the summer with his head up after winning at least a league title,his backroom staff should follow suit,lawell won’t be going anywhere(too cushy)after ross county game i didn’t even get angry,that told me everything i needed to know about this set up
Lawell has got his own agenda and doesnt care about the fans; heard today he has appointed his son onto the scouting system even though he has no knowledge of it, so yea lawell has his own interests at heart and we the fans are no part of it, so time to go Mr.Lawell
Parkhead is a shopping centre. If you’re going to critisise Celtic. At least get the name of our stadium right. But having said that , the board and the clown called a manager must go !
I thought Parkhead was a place in the city of Glasgow.
The holding 2 deep mid system is dying a death. Ronny is so behind current coaching its embarrassing. More shame to come in europe I fear.
The board make a huge strategic error, no rivals opened the door to the UCL every year and not just some of the time, meaning there is more cash available without them than with them. Nothing brings in more cash the the UCL including increasing player value.
They have failed to take this opportunity, competing with the likes of Malmo, Maribor and Legia Warsaw should have been a given.
Make no mistake every decision is speculative and the board and manager have failed us, huge opportunity missed.
Its time liewell & the board know that theres massive discontent from the people who put arses on seats in celtic park, Barcelona is but a distant memory, something Radical needs to done to stop our slide down the ladder of renowned clubs in Europe, A thorough cleansing is needed at Celtic, starting from the top down, we’re stagnating at incredible rate and we need to stop the rot…pronto!!!!
We are being run by a Tory board with Tory austerity policies at the heart of their decision making. Nothing will change until they are relieved of their duties and a fan owned model installed. I won’t be holding my breath as they will hold on to power any way they can & will.
Agree 100 per cent mate.
To ever beat Barcelona again we will have to become like them – fan ownership. It’s the only way our club will ever become great again.
You are correct Ronnie is probably a good coach but the other coaching staff are not up to it. In my opinion we need a new manger ,an experienced one who can stand up to Lawell and the board someone who is his own man who has European experience who is from a Celtic background and has a proven record at the top level.We should go for David Moye’s immediately and let him get on with the job for building for a European campaign. Act now !!!!!
The club went into a decline after the Martin Oneil era.
We need a clear out from board room to players.
Maybe someone could buy Desmond out.
I would say the decline started when Martin O’Neil was still there. Just look at his last season not spending money and bringing players on loan. It was a sign of things to come.
When did we become a stepping stone? That’s fairly simple, since Sky starting pumping so much money into mediocrity south of the border that it allows Stoke City to pay in excess of £18M for a player a number of us said out loud “Who?” and I’m talking about the football club that paid the money, let alone the player.
The Championship have teams to can buy £10M players so that means we simply cannot compete with the Sky money, so we are where we are because even a full house every week could not sustain English Premiership and Championship wages, therefore unless we move quiet and move fast we will lose out on the better players.
I don’t like it, any more than you do James and there isn’t much I can disagree with but the facts are we have to model ourselves on Porto, Sporting Lisbon, Ajax and the like. That said, we need to start buying players at the £3-4M mark and turn them into £6M+ players. If they don’t work out then they’re sold for around £2M and you’ve lost a couple of mill… sounds a bit like buying a player at £2M and letting him go for nothing.
The tribute act up sunny Gov’an may be back next year… actually let me rephrase because they’ll NEVER be back… TRFC mostly likely arrive in the top tier next season but the facts are unless the warchest suddenly appears they’ll be another mid-table obscurity side vying for a top six spot and a semi-final at Hampden with Craig Thompson officiating, preferably against the ten men of Celtic.
As a result that board will not spend millions based on six matches per season in the group stages of the Champions League… despite the fact it is what we all look forward to the most. We are run by businessmen who happen to support Celtic, but nonetheless they’re still looking at the balance sheet and THEIR numbers don’t add up to giving the fans what they crave.
It’s a sad, shite state of affairs Jamesy, and I don’t like it any more than you do.
Hail Hail
There are so many good areas for discussion here in this that my response to all of it would fill up too much space. Let’s just focus on the bigger part of our club’s problems. Strategy! What exactly is it? Can anyone at the club articulate it? I can’t, because everything they come out and say is usually followed up by doing something completely different.
One of the biggest complaints I have had over past few years is around the downsizing. Lawwell has mentioned it many times that being in Scotland, the poor TV money and the absence of the other side has meant we have to cut back. OK, I could live with that if the actions by him supported that strategy.
Sure, they have cut back in the area of player signings. Not in the quantity though, but most certainly the quality (read, higher priced!). And again, if we can’t afford players at that level then OK, I don’t want us going broke. But then, they go out and sign a bucket-load of players in the 1-2 million range, many of whom had nothing but a cup of tea here. Put more simply, we pished the money away! Then take a look at the Club’s compensation for execs. Seen any evidence of any cut-backs in their take? I haven’t seen it.
Lastly, we come to the money spent on the youth teams. It appears that as a club, we are spending a significant amount of money on the development squads. And again, that would be fine if that investment was returning many younger players into the first team. But it is not! The only one who has come up through the ranks and actually made a visible difference is young Tierney. Sure, we get the an occasional outing from McGregor but that is usually only a result of injuries to others. There are also a handful of others that are all out loan at various clubs. Maybe hey pay a dividend in future, but I wouldn’t bet on it given clubs past history with players put out on loan.
And that brings me to what drove me bonkers when I heard it this morning. Ronnie talking about the youngster Roberts who was just brought in from Man City. He said that Celtic had done such a good job of developing players from that team that they felt comfortable and TRUSTED us to develop this player as well. For God’s sake! This after just having sent Aidan Nesbitt out on loan to Thistle. Why the hell aren’t we developing our own in-house players first, BEFORE we do the job for other teams?
Enough for the moment. I am totally frustrated with our club and I see no coherent strategy to make us better in short term or longer term. I could write an entire article about Ronny asking just what is his strategy and what tactical mastery is he bringing to the team. But I really do like Ronny, so I will save that for another time.
The new Kelly Clan, most certainly worse.
I completely agree that sacking RDis only the first step and the CEO should follow immediately after.
The problem however is that whilst step one is an almost certainty if not now then certainly by the end of the season the second action is simply not foreseeable for any number of vested interests.
I completely agree,the fact that celtic have become a “stepping stone” to clubs down south is not the Celtic I knew,the celtic I knew would have players coming to celtic because they wanted to play in a team where they will win trophies and play European football.I mean celtic have never spent a huge amount on a player anyway-lennon and Sutton being our dearest purchases at £6 million each-but celtic are too big a club to be getting players on loan all the time and buying players at £500,000,now ok we did buy Larsson for not much more than that,but when will celtic get a player in the same calibre as Larsson for that price ever again?For me the answer is they won’t.And then we have this Dave King character,it’s still not really been disclosed what this guy is actually worth,but I don’t think he will spend anywhere near what the likes of Murray spent,but if this Dave king gives Warburton a good amount of money to spend,will that then force celtic to spend big? Is that what it really has to take? Celtic should be years ahead of Rangers by this stage,and from what I have seen,they certainly are not,Celtic should be going for 10 in a row here and not only that,but to also progress in Europe,parkhead is no longer the fortress it used to be and it’s certainly down to that board.Look at how much celtic earned getting to the last 16 with lennon,we sold ki,wanyama,hooper,forster and Van dijk all for high sums,so where is all this money going exactly? And then you have the likes of Dermot desmond,a guy who is worth €1.3 billion but is more interested in spending money on a golf resort.