Sometimes there are no words. Sometimes none are necessary. Unfortunately, I’m not in a position where things can go unsaid.
The nature of this job means finding the words even when that isn’t easy and sometimes it means saying things you don’t particularly want to say. Especially on a night like this, when I want to forget Celtic even exists and tune in to something else.
But that’s a cop-out and I won’t do it..
Recently, I watched an incredible film on Netflix; Society Of The Snow.
It’s remarkable, the story of the rugby team whose plane crashed in the Andes mountain range and who survived appalling conditions in a white hell-scape for two months before two of the party walked across mountains to find help. It’s inspiring, and it’s a reminder of what we can do as human beings even when things seem at their most grim.
So it’s no surprise that I feel curiously detached from anger and even disappointment tonight, that I actually just want to put this aside for a while and not think about Celtic. I’ve reached the point where part of my brain knows that we’re a better team than this, that Rodgers is a better manager than he’s showing and that there’s a long way to go … but a deeper part of me understands that those things ultimately might not matter.
And I sense that the part of me which already said in these blogs already this season that this one was starting to unravel was way ahead of the part which wanted to hope for a happy ending.
I don’t like getting up every day and being pessimistic, but I’d be kidding if I denied that the leaden feeling in my gut that we’re watching an unfolding disaster has been there this whole time and hadn’t gone away. I’ve tried optimism; if you’ve read the recent pieces you know I stuck with it even after a lot of other people had chucked it.
I still hope for a happy ending. I even see a road by which we might pull it off, but in the parlance o US electoral politics, the paths towards victory are closing off one at a time. It’s no longer obvious how we’re going to get there. I am not convinced our rivals are that good, but I’ve never been completely convinced we had it in us, and all they have to do to win it now is what I’ve always accused our board of doing … they only have to be one step ahead of a team which hasn’t just taken a backwards step but is falling over its own feet.
So, I realise now that just as some of those boys in the Andes early on realised that it was crazy to hope for a rescue that very obviously wasn’t going to come and started to mentally prepare for what they might have to do in order to survive, I realise I’ve already been mentally preparing myself for a day just like this, and I know that because of the emotions that aren’t there.
One of the analogies I’ve used in previous pieces, at other times, concerns a chapter in Tom Clancy’s novel The Sum Of All Fears called Three Shakes.
The entire chapter takes place over the aforementioned “three shakes” – a span of time measuring milliseconds. It describes the mechanics of a nuclear explosion and if that sounds hopelessly geeky then I assure you it is and that you’re right, but it’s always been interesting to me because, of course, that complex series of reactions leads to one momentous outcome and because Clancy ends the chapter by saying that in strictly scientific terms everything that will happen has happened already … in other words, that’s the explosion.
Everything which happens next flows directly from it. The main event has already finished. All that comes afterwards are consequences.
That’s where we are right now.
The sequence of mistakes and misjudgements and the internal mechanisms which will decide this title have already happened, and that’s the worst realisation of all but strangely enough it’s also the knowledge that enables me to detach somewhat from tonight. We can blame individual errors from the boss and from the players, and we can pick our scapegoats but the truth is that the explosion has already happened and we’re now seeing the effects.
We’re where we deserve to be and where this season has been heading since the summer transfer window shut. We got one chance to alter its trajectory and wasted it.
But we’re here because of the choices the people who run Celtic have made, and those choices were made a while ago. Today has been inevitable since Mark Lawwell was brought to this club to enact the strategy Daddy and his cronies had decided on. The average cost of a player in this Celtic team is about £2 million. There is no quality in depth.
The manager was doomed from the moment he sat and told the media that he would work with what they gave him. That was the moment that started the detonation and we’ve been watching the slow motion version of it. The closure of the January window and the fury we all felt was the last of the Three Shakes. And there’s no further point in trusting to hope.
These people have not allowed Rodgers to build his own team. They’ve thrown random players at him and told him to do something with them … no manager could do it. It’s not just incoherent, it’s self destructive, and we’re now locked in because the window’s shut, there is no further mechanism open to us to change course … and now the consequences are all that are left.
And whilst I’ll hope for the best I’m mentally resigned to the worst now.
I’m mentally adapting to the idea that this season is gone … and you know what? I can do that, I can let this go, because when you are in the midst of a disaster and you know help isn’t coming you can start to deal with the reality of it and that reality is that we either start thinking about how we can save ourselves – in short how we can save next season, realising that it’s too late for this one and that we’re going to have to deal with a lot of appalling consequences from that … or we can write off the next one as well and God knows what after that.
In terms of the here and now, if this season goes the way it’s looking the manager cannot possibly survive and his will be the first head to roll, and he’ll deserve it for leaving his future and this campaign in the hands of people who think they are beyond reproach and won’t ever be held to account – more on that tomorrow, you better believe it.
But our problems, and they are big problems, don’t start at his office door and they certainly do not finish there. The rain is coming. It’s not yet here, but we better start building the ark. If we wait for it we can kiss off more than just this title.
Even for the dreams it’s Time up., 9 points dropped at home. Against very moderate sides to fair.
70 minutes mark panic set in. As usual.
Plan For next season. When new manager accesses this current side and 12.duds brought in for mad money.
He has some job on his hands.
Dermot is responsible for the current manager
Dig Deep . Man use your own financial resources
Pay your pal for this fine mess.
Seen it, good movie. The metaphor I used previously was that of a car where many of it parts are sound but several parts are wearing thin ie tyres and suspension. Renew the tyres, put in new suspension and the car is rolling down the road soundly again.
This club, this board did neither. They bought new cheap parts that don’t fit and aren’t serving as a fix.
Sadly DD owns the car, pretty much, and the board are the unqualified engineers. While they’ve looked after the structure and the bodywork is sound, they’ve been remiss in looking after the necessary elements to keep it running smoothly. They simply don’t know how the whole system works, not well enough in spite of the warning. Too busy listening to their own blow whilst arrogantly ignoring the sound advice. They’re not the engineers of magic on the track but thought it’s theirs to run as they like and they’ve failed. Failing to listen, heeding the advice and stubbornly replacing the redundant bits with cheap parts is the sad reality of their actions. The consequences of not purchasing Bosch quality, as advised.
So here we are, an owner and board that have failed to meet their responsibilities and the drivers, a manager and the remaining players that seem unable to run to their optimum, has been stifled by the know alls.
I haven’t given up on this vehicle yet, I know we’ve got some better quality parts that hopefully can be retrieved from the medical garage but when they will be installed is the issue.
I have no idea what’s going on with Hatate and CCV but if they are able to get behind the wheel soon all is not lost.
Apart that is from confidence in DD and the board. Sad to say it’s they that must be on their way, not the drivers. HH
The board and the scouting department have been a disaster, but I am worried about the manager. He should be getting a load more out of this team than he is. I keep going back to the slow possession football we played before he left last time and it’s the same now.
I realised after the Hearts shambles the season was gone. Yes the board fucked it. But having said that. If we can’t send a team into the park to beat a shit Kilmarnock. Then that’s down to the manager. Time for a clear out from top to bottom.
Rodgers interviewed on BBC post match says he has the quality he needs! The guy is strangling the club to death with his boring tactics and lack of motivational skills. Whatever else has happened, he should never have been brought back. It’s shades of Lennon’s disastrous return all over again. I’ll lay odds he’ll be off again in the summer leaving a train wreck in his wake. What a waste of Ange’s legacy.
This game wasnt any different to what we’ve seen so far this season. St Johnstone at home, motherwell at home, hibs away, even ross county at home recently which we won but the performance was awful. Every match is the same slow boring side to side nonsense. The board are to blame for the shocking recruitment, the manager is to blame for his beyond boring style of play and the players are to blame for extremely sub par performances. Lets not forget, this squad is still far superior to any other in the league, they should be performing far far better than they are, but having said that, the majority of them at the club just now aren’t fit to wear the jersey. Only CCV, McGregor, Hatate, ORiley and Kyogo are worth holding onto, the rest could leave tomorrow and i wouldn’t care. Last season we had such a well run machine and the decline has been so drastic it almost feels intentional because no company can surely be run so bad in such a short space of time? Forget this season, it was gone the minute the January window closed. The board showed their ambition, or lack of, and all focus now needs to be on a major overhaul of playing staff in the summer, drastic changes in the boardroom and huge improvements in the players attitude. This will take time but without the right leadership, itll only get worse. Very tough times ahead unless we force change in the boardroom because that’s where the main issues are right now
I disagree. First half, and really until Idah and Taylor went off, we looked in control. Then it was an utter shambles and suicide defending in possession. The problems run far deeper than Rodgers, but his performance thus far has been unacceptable for 3 million a year. We don’t have a great squad but we have a better squad than it appears from the performancea.
Agree James we are done. The issue now is that £70mill which is going to be needed to clear out the crap in the bloated first team squad and what is going to cost to rebuild a decent squad. Forget Europe we just need a team that can compete domestically.
A controversial point. Is there a thought that the bank balance is being held to cover the legal claim that’s coming down the pipe re the Bhoys club issue
James calm down we will win the league FACT end of.
You are so delusional and you also don’t know the meaning of the word, fact. Blissfully unaware of how deep the hole we’re in.
Got slaughtered by workmates after hearts game, some fellow season ticket holders some not, for declaring that I thought sevco would now do the treble.Not sure about renewing now because before the split we will be sent out renewals. If even as much as 1 lawell is still there then I dont think they,ll see any of my money. I,m not a spoilt fan who is throwing toys out of the pram because all i know is winning. When they did 9 in a row I probably missed about a dozen games in total during that period home and away and that was the last time i felt so low but at least then we didn,t have a board telling us how well off we were because of what we had in the bank.This team is rank rotten.No harm to Scales but not good enough and cant recall him ever winning an airial dual.Palma,selfish,greedy,not good enough. Bernabei, enough said.Tony Ralston,regretably not good enough.Welsh,not good enough.Rodgers. like many i thought he was the obvious choice, although i hated him when he left.not good enough and when looking back at his last season and a half with no challengers, was he really that good. Ready to get slaughtered again
the cross for kyogos goal came from a defender , no supply from any of the forward players ,
we can’t say rodgers has the worse players in the league , in fact he probably has the best , even though , if the game was still going on they still wouldn’t have scored , it has been the same since christmas , every corner taken short even when its not worked for them , the fact he kowtowded to lawell and co in the summer and january windows left him vulnerable to the critics , and it’s going to get worse , he won’t last or the two bumps on a log either side of him today , nor will the board who handed the league to sevco like they did the ten , Yes !!! handed it to them , i feel sad for our supporters who did not have to be facing into this , i remember when the ten was whittled away and this has all the hallmarks , when in fact it didn’t have to be, we saw it coming weeks ago , lawell did too and the galling part of it all is he did it to us before
You think the board won’t survive this?
They’re the only group at the club who won’t be affected by what happens this season.
Totally agree with your article but I think I am a bit further down the road than you in that to me the whole season is over, simply because the ream is nowhere near good enough. The team look disjointed, lack spirit and knowhow and Rodgers can’t seem able to motivate the team and his tactics and substitutions are obviously a large part of the problem. Add to all this our captain Callum McGregor is having his worst season in memory and opposition have sussed out how to stop him playing so he no longer controls the tempo of the game. I and other Celtic fans notice this yet Rodgers does nothing to change his role.
Couldn’t agree more. I was quite surprised when I left the ground tonight how calm I felt. No frustration just a resignation of the league race being over. I can’t even think of next season. The thought of it is dishearting.
Stop buying the merchandise they have enough for 5 years of bonus in the bank, the board only care about their bonus so stick with the old gear and in 5 years time hopefully they move on.
Great if sobering piece James. Personally I think you have put too much store in BR- much of where we are is down to his tactics games with over 75% of possession are not being converted into goals; the team is pedestrian and predictable and has been like that for most of the season; and 4 times this season we have lost goals in added time – these are managerial/coaching flaws as well as player responsibility.
Truth be told I never thought his heart was in it -and other than the two games against the Paisley Road club- he and his team have served up some pretty unappetising gruel. No doubt there are many who will latch on to this result as yet another reason to have a go at the Board- and yes they have a lot to take the blame for – but the body language of the players, the sterile tactics and the lack of imagination on the pitch rest with the manager and the players. It doesn’t absolve the collective act of self harm by the board over the transfer window, but I thik it is time for him to go.
Spot on James.
Unfortunately, for the Ark to have any worth, it needs to be built from a mountain of Season Books. Come renewal date we’ll know the most likely outcome of this pigs ear of a Season but how many of the ticket holders are going to say ‘ you know what, I’ve had it with this Board and Lawwell’s interference’ and hand back their Season Book that they may have had since the days of Fergus or even longer. Or the family of first, second and even third generation fans are they going to collectively say they’re chucking it in ? Meanwhile the Board wave the 10.000 Swords of Damocles-over their head. In other words the fabled ‘ waiting list’.
How many, knowing what needs to be done, has it in their hearts to do it. That’s where the Board, Desmond and the Institutional Investors have us by the short and curlies. That’s where the approx, by now, £100,000,000 comes into play. Lose this title and fail to qualify for the revamped CL, welcome to the ‘big reset’. Austerity rules, sell off the marketable players we have left. The £2 million players on lengthy contracts aren’t going anywhere so a new manager, probably Lennon or Kennedy. Yes the Board are that arrogant and remote, the new manager will have his hands tied from the start.
.
Meanwhile Sevco are in clover, £60 mill + in the first year. The only saving grace is that the people who underwrote Sevco’s £100mill losses to date will come calling for payback so they won’t initially be able to reinvest heavily in the squad, but they’ll do enough to stay ahead of us for a couple of seasons while we will struggle with all of Lawwell junior’s misfits. They won’t be shifted easily and paying off their lengthy contracts will be expensive. So expensive that the board will baulk at the prospect of spending all that money and basically force the manager to use Lawwell junior’s shit ‘prospects’.
That’s our immediate future. O## F### saved once again. Lawwell major’s preferred business partner,
Rodgers hung on until it was too late for Leicester and he is in danger of doing the same here. He is in the same place Lennon was, when we lost the league.
He needs to go now and take Strachan and Kennedy with him to give us fresh impetus for the run in.
Of course the defence is to blame because they are trying to do the midfield’s job of creating chances, Scales in particular.
I used to enjoy reading your articles but the truth is you are one of those people who give your two cents and then continue backing that opinion even when it’s clear you are wrong. You are STILL backing Rodgers. At what point do you realise you have backed a dead horse? You won’t because you hate admitting you were wrong. It will be everyone else’s fault but Rodgers just because you don’t want to admit that when everyone else was wondering is Rodgers the right man for that job you continually told us how he was an elite manager. Stop digging the hole and admit the tactics and style of football under Rodgers is awful. Surely even a stubborn so and so like yourself can see this now?
I’ve tried to absolve Rodgers from any blame, given the multitude of problems behind the scenes. But that 2nd half today was atrocious. No shape and no plan. We were just booting the ball about like a Sunday amateur team. Rodgers is fully responsible for that.
Spot on honest celt and when we are on the subject of backing people I.e.. the gb .
All clubs in scotland and down south in total about 130 name one club that backs the Palestine state only ours why because a crowd of mostly teenagers think this is correct they have chased away the best winger at our club for what a political statement.Do they forget who done this on 7th Oct football stadiums are not political platform’s
For a Celtic manager to say,we nearly got away with it?
Kilmarnock at Celtic park? Think that speaks volumes about this 3m pound per year manager,and this shower of clowns in the boardroom..
Unfortunately, I felt the players were trying their best today and it’s up to the manager to relieve pressure and let them play with freedom and confidence. We (probably) still have the players to turn this around if properly motivated and given belief but it seems like an outside chance now. Let’s talk about individuals, Idah, the terms of his loan are shambolic and he’s done ok but can he be more than ok? Kyogo to me is getting frustrated at not getting the ball, loads of times today he created the space and asked for it but it never came, O’Riley was sub-par, McGregor lost his composure at the wrong time, wingers almost always turned back( lack of confidence/belief) and the defence is somewhat makeshift, Taylor going off hurt us and it’s a bad day when he’s carrying you. Hart done well. Can CCV & Hatate win us this league? Probably not, the problems are deeper. Not spending the warchest was criminal and I think there’ll be lots of fans that will refuse to give the purse string holders any more.
What an absolutely and utter Fcukin mess at Celtic…
By Fcuk Sevco sniff our blood now and tragically I think they will drink it and drink it big time from The League Trophy and for plenty seasons going forward now –
Well that gobshite Struth said “We welcome the chase” and come tomorrow afternoon Celtic will have it…
Jock Stein would be turning in his grave at the lot of shitty shills on that field of play at Parkhead this season –
Hope youse will all be so proud come 3pm Sonny Lawwell, Daddy Lawwell and Invisible Cunt Nicholson !