Today, after two days of silence and mounting fan pressure, Celtic took the obvious step to get everyone at the club through the season without answering hard questions.
They told us what we already knew, from Norwegian TV the other night.
Ronny Deila is leaving the club.
That announcement was not a shock.
Nor was the naked appeal for “support” that was contained in it, a naked appeal which is, as this site said a few days ago, a way of saying “sit down and shut up”, a piece of emotional blackmail to every single season ticket holder.
In effect, they’ve sacrificed the manager in the hope of saving themselves.
But as many of these sites have said, repeatedly, over the last 48 hours and beyond that for weeks, months and even years, Peter Lawwell’s presence at the club is the single biggest problem we’ll face going forward and those fans who want to make their voices clear on that have three home games left.
Deila and his players know what the job is, and they know it needs to get done.
If they have an iota of professionalism they’ll get over the line, whether 50,000 fans turn up or whether none do.
The lunacy of not dispensing with his services right now is mind-boggling, but we’re stuck with it barring another disastrous result or series of them.
Today the club is attempting to dampen the enthusiasm for real change by promising a cosmetic one. Not even at the end of the season … I suspect we’ll need to wait until after the season tickets have gone out before we even start to see a parade of names.
The cheapest option wins, of course.
How any person in the Celtic support can believe in or trust the people who appointed Mowbray, who then decided we were going to appoint a rookie boss who’d never managed a football club, who then decided to appoint the guy who was to have been pegged as his number two … seriously?
If you’re expecting Moyes or Rogers forget it.
It cannot be said enough times; it has to be clear and understood.
Until the Strategy changes and the man who implements it leaves too then nothing will change except the patsy in the dugout.
Once they appoint someone all momentum a change campaign has will be lost entirely. If they get it wrong again or appoint some yes man, we’re going to look back on this as an enormous moment and one we let pass us by.
Have you enjoyed austerity up until now? Downsizing up until now?
Do not, do not, let them buy you off with “jam tomorrow” bullshit here.
Our supporters deserve real leadership and a real vision instead of this transparent appeal to emotion and fluff.
Three home games left.
That’s all there is.
If you want to be heard this is the time.
Those who are calling for unity now … ask them what really changed?
Ask them what fact we have in front of us now we didn’t have two days ago?
If you want real change, there’s only one way to get it.