Tonight was an unpardonable disgrace.
Tonight is the worst individual result in the history of our club, and that’s no exaggeration. Every single person in Celtic colours tonight (or, at least, every person in that black and yellow strip) should have the scoreline tonight etched onto his tombstone. This is a result that will be remembered long after each and every one of them has departed this world.
And it should.
For 90 minutes tonight every one of them, from the starting eleven to those who came on as subs, to the men standing on the sidelines, their employment by our club was an act of fraud. If they collect their wages for tonight they will do so under false pretences. Not one of them earned a penny. If they had an ounce of professional pride each and every one of them would agree to pool their salaries and give the cash to the opposition. Those guys are part timers working real jobs, in the real world. That would be life changing for them.
Had Ronny Deila been manager tonight he no longer would be at the time of writing this. Ronny Deila would have been sacked for this result, and this performance. This would have been it. The final act. The moment the Celtic manager’s post became vacant.
Rodgers inherited this team – this team that clearly, on the evidence of this, is part of the reason Ronny ended up leaving – and it’s his task to rebuild it, but he did himself no favours at all and set his cause back months tonight with a series of appalling decisions which have rocked the confidence in the stands already.
Efe Ambrose is a manager’s obituary waiting to be written.
It was an act of utter folly and gross irresponsibility to leave him on the pitch for the full 90 minutes, and it is a self evident nonsense for us to be in the position where he ever gets to start a game.
The need for a central defensive purchase has been apparent for months; his inclusion is a symbol of either deplorable arrogance or utter recklessness. It is inexcusable to keep him at Celtic a minute longer; his presence in the squad clearly gives people the false impression that we have cover in that area and that allows them to carry on as if his selection isn’t an act of self-harm.
Scott Brown’s ability to walk straight into the team when he misplaces so many passes, when he appears lax and lazy at times, when he inspires nothing but frustration, is a triumph of reputation over ability at the moment.
Brendan may or may not have success in “reinventing him” as some kind of wide midfielder, but right now his presence – and that of Bitton; if we get serious money for him we should take it and chase him – slows the pace of the team to a crawl and stops younger, better options from being included in the team.
Bringing on James Forrest tonight was a joke, especially when Patrick Roberts is sitting on the bench. Forrest ought not to be at the club in the first place; his petulant dummy spitting last season and refusal to sign a contract that some described as generous but looks more like charity, degrades us. We were his second choice. If he’d had a half decent offer he’d have been gone, and on the evidence of tonight, backing up what we’ve seen from him for years, no-one would have missed him at all. The word “ineffectual” was made for him. So was the word “useless.”
Everyone connected with the club – the fans being the only exception – should be absolutely ashamed. Tonight goes down in history. Tonight will live in infamy.
And it should. It absolutely positively should.
The honeymoon is over.
That, tonight, was wholly unacceptable.
That, tonight, shamed the name of Celtic.