Today Ronny Deila gave a press conference where he appeared to hold the door open to James Forrest signing a new deal after all.
Or did he?
Earlier this week Forrest’s Celtic career looked as good as done and there was not a single Celtic supporter I know who would have been in mourning about that.
Having rejected our deal, and with just over a year of his current one remaining he’d put us in a Hell of a bind and I thought the manager’s anger over it revealed how he’d handle it.
There seems little point in playing Forrest.
He’s never shown much inclination to dig down deep when the going got tough; I don’t imagine he’ll suddenly find that motivation when he could get a serious injury (as opposed to all the niggling ones he’s had these past few years) that threatens his next big career move.
If that sounds harsh it’s because this is the time to be.
We need people in this team who are willing to fight, who are willing to get down in the mud and wrestle for that SPL trophy if that’s what it takes and a winger with a moody who can’t cross a ball is of no use to us at all.
Deila seemed to have a good idea about what to do here, and most people thought Forrest had played his last game this term.
The contract offer we’d given him appeared off the table.
Suddenly everything seems to have changed. Now he’s been resurrected as a top player and member of the squad and even the contract is still available to him if, you know, no-one else wants to offer funny money to a guy who’s speciality is riding the bench.
What happened here?
Has Deila been told to keep him in the squad and talk up his ability so we can get a transfer fee?
Because few people think he’s worth playing and fewer think he’s worth a new deal.
If the offer really is still on the table that shows extraordinary weakness considering how little he brings to the side. This isn’t a small thing; this looks like the manager reversing himself on a hugely important issue. He’s trying to be coy about it, but he’s changed his tune.
Please note; I am not blaming Ronny for this.
Like I said, his instincts appeared to be spot on regarding this.
He seemed ready to cut the player adrift and let him rot in the reserves where, frankly, we would barely have noticed his absence.
There are players at Parkhead right now who are desperate for a first team jersey and ready to run through walls for us; James Forrest’s place in this squad appears, to me, to be an insult to every single one of them.
To increase the confusion on this matter, Izzy has been told he’s still wanted at the club too which means that’s another name of the “Leaving List.”
So who exactly is going to be going in the summer?
Take a look at the Celtic squad right now, and look back at the public statements of the manager.
There’s an incoherence here which is impossible to ignore.
Is the manager making first team policy, or is somebody else?
If the management team is being second guessed and reversed, maybe we’ve been focussed on the wrong people all this time?
Because the problems are clearly not confined to tactics on the pitch.
The whole team building strategy has contributed to our problems.
And who runs that?
Who the Hell knows at the moment?