By the time the Scottish League Cup semi-finals come around, it is entirely likely that Ange Postecoglou will be going head-to-head in the wider war with someone other than Steven Gerrard. What a shame that is, because I reckon the big Aussie was going to clean his clock.
The press tried to draw the big man on the Gerrard situation, but he’s having none of it.
He is way too smart for that. Yesterday at the presser where he collected his Manager of the Month gong – the first of many, and no doubt – he made it clear that nobody inside Celtic is focussed on the circus which is about to unfold across the city.
All minds at Celtic are focussed on the job at hand; winning the semi-final and keeping our title challenge going. Beyond that, we have to prepare for January. There is nothing to be gained from the people inside Parkhead thinking about what happens elsewhere.
Oh don’t worry, we on the blogs will have plenty of fun doing it and covering the events over there as they unfold, but the manager and the coaches and the players at Lennoxtown will have other business on their minds and big Ange says it’s all they are thinking about.
It would be easy to get side-tracked by all this. Of course it would.
Everyone knows I was appalled by the decision to give Lennon the gig in the aftermath of Rodgers’ midnight flit, but within 24 hours of the temporary appointment I understood how smart it was – as a stopgap measure.
Had it stayed one I firmly believe we’d have won ten in a row.
But in the moment, it steadied the ship at a time when it could have floundered.
The next decision they make over there will have to be perfect, or they risk a total spiral. There are opportunities here for us, of course there are … but none of it does us the slightest bit of good if we’re relying on it to the extent that we take our eyes off the prize.
We need to keep on doing what we do best. As long as we’re focussed only on the next game and then the one after that and then the one after that we have nothing to fear. Ange has vowed that this is exactly what we intend to do … and that’s music to all our ears.
When the bigots get a new manager coach he has a settle team so could even improve them so I don’t go along with some talk they are in trouble I think that’s wishful thinking we just need to keep winning.
Let’s just hope the Board stay focussed on the project at Celtic and are not distracted by the goings on down Govan way!!!
I’m gutted that he’s gone. I believed that Ange would win the league this season and put some reality back into the Gerrard success story promoted so much by the Scottish and English press/media. To lose to a rookie manager, as portrayed by the journos not me, would have been a proper reality dent to his CV and all of them that lie with regularity.
Sadly the survival lie and 55 will now only gain much more credence with the media down south and he will, in spite of one trophy in nine, be hailed as a success.
Questions now come to the fore. If he’s nearly bankrupted the rankers to stop TIAR, according to Celtic bloggers such as yourself James, then how will they persuade a quality manager to come to the midden unless they shake the magic money tree again.
The biggest question therefore and foremost in my mind is to the SFA with regard to the issue of fair play, where is this money coming from and is it legitimate? I live in hope of objective scrutiny but not holding my breath. HH
Great comments.
Where and how do they go from here?
Skint and needing a decent managerial appointment to keep the Orcs onside for matchday revenue till the end of the season.
Could be fun or worst case scenario Scottish Football could implode.
H.H.
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