Graham Spiers last night sparked fury, and ridicule, in equal measure when, on BBC Scotland’s flagship sports program, he described the Celtic boss Ronny Deila, at the centre of a raging storm, as leading “a charmed life” after the ludicrously botched Scottish Cup draw handed us a home tie against Morton instead of an away game at Tannadice.
Those who watched the draw were appalled, and dumbstruck, as Alan McRae, the SFA’s invisible president – so much so that the role is, at the time of writing, still credited to Campbell Ogilvie on their website – picked both a ball and a ticket out of the bowl and fumbled and mumbled through an announcement that it would have to be redone.
Celtic had already drawn Dundee Utd at Tannadice, which surprised precisely nobody as we last had a home time in a cup competition around about the time of the Boer War.
In the re-run draw Celtic finally did get themselves a match at Parkhead, against Morton.
This led to a discussion on Radio Scotland about how shambolic the whole event was, during which Graham Spiers and others debated whether Ronny Deila would have been relieved with how things went before the veteran journalist, who Celtic cyberspace was united in defending only last week, said the under pressure boss “leads a charmed life.”
Is he for real, this guy?
I understand Graham needs to get himself a gig now he’s not at The Herald, but is auditioning for a place on The Record’s editorial team really the way to go?
Come on Graham, show more ambition than that!
I cannot think of a manager in Scottish football’s recent history who has led less a “charmed life” than Ronny Deila does at the moment.
But for a disgusting red card last year he would have probably have clinched a treble.
Except for Efe Ambrose’s sending off against Ross County he might be on the verge of one yet.
Add to that injuries to key players, including Josef Simunovic, who’s literally just in the door, and there’s a case to be made for Deila being desperately unlucky.
Oh I haven’t changed my mind on the manager; he’s the architect of many of his own problems, and no mistake about it, and I’d be happy to see him replaced … but the man finds himself under scrutiny like few other managers in Scottish football history, including from sections of the Celtic support.
If this is a “charmed life” I’d hate to see real pressure.
Violet Jessop, who famously went down on the Olympic, the Titanic and the Brittanic had more luck!
Oddly enough, outside of the internet sites, no comparison is ever made between the position Deila and Celtic are in with the one “enjoyed” by Sevco and their manager Mark Warburton. He, too, has a narrow lead at the top of the league, and a major rival breathing down their necks.
During his side’s own chaotic spell of form just two months ago he was put under precisely no pressure or scrutiny by the media that is all over the Celtic boss like a rabid dog.
Warburton’s club, of course, crashed out of the League Cup months ago, after being routed at home by St Johnstone, a result that would have had the papers clamouring for Deila’s head on a pike.
The media hacks who constantly slabber over the Ibrox club, and drone on about how important they are, how massive, how ready they are to challenge us, characterise that one as the natural consequence of there being a division between the two teams … a fact, but sheer contradictory nonsense as they know full well.
Unlike Celtic, they’ve also got a game to navigate before they can start planning for their own home game (and what a shock that was) against either Dumbarton or Dundee; the small matter of a game against Kilmarnock, at Rugby Park, after an awful 0-0 draw at the weekend that made as good a case for spending Saturday’s at the park as I’ve yet seen.
Warburton doesn’t get a fraction of the scrutiny Ronny Deila does, and neither did any of his predecessors, most notably the media’s pal Ally, whose calamitous managerial career saw more disastrous reversals than a World War II Italian tank division.
Ronny Deila will probably leave Celtic at the end of the season, but when he goes I do believe he’ll take with him two Scottish Premier League winners medals and at least one domestic cup bauble. That’ll be a sight more than McCoist ever accomplished and, I’m willing to bet, will eclipse anything that the Man with the Magic Hat ever achieves in the SPL.
In the meantime, Warburton’s own “charmed life” will go on, and the papers will try and sell Kilmarnock supporters on the idea of McCoist at their club in the manager’s office.
Cue celebrations at every local Greggs.
I have a feeling the mood in the stands would be somewhat different though.