Napoleon once said, “Never interrupt your enemy when they are making a mistake,” and I’ve always liked the expression. But in light of what we’ve seen across the city at Ibrox over the years, I’ve always felt a certain freedom to disregard it.
It’s not that we’re interrupting them—it’s more that we’re drawing their attention to their mistakes. And even when we paint it in letters 200 feet high, they seem incapable of seeing, comprehending, or acknowledging it.
That’s why today, instead of interrupting them or drawing attention to their blunders, I’m actually going to cheer one of them on. Yes, Barry Ferguson, I’m talking to you.
Your side is under tremendous pressure. One of its players has already abandoned social media, admitted to sleepless nights, cracking under the scrutiny and negative fan commentary. The manager has been forced into accepting a player into the squad he clearly doesn’t rate or want. The captain is old, creaking, and was already a dreadful defender before losing a yard of pace. And judging by recent attendances at Ibrox, the fans are starting to desert them.
So, of course, it’s the perfect time for someone in the media, with a high profile and a long-standing Ibrox connection, to come out and deliver an ultimatum on winning trophies. That’s exactly what Barry Ferguson has done—reminding everyone that the man himself said they’d start to see results, and the best of his team, in October or November. And here we are in the first of those months. Just what everyone at the club needed!
As a Celtic fan, I’m loving this. As a Celtic blogger, I can’t get enough. So, I say: “Yay, Barry Ferguson! Keep the pressure on. Ramp it up to ever greater heights, because this team deals so well under pressure, and this manager thrives under scrutiny!” We all know how well they respond when their backs are against the wall, right?
What makes this even better is that Ferguson’s words will be echoed on the forums by the fans. They agree with him 100%. He’s speaking for them, on their behalf.
There have to be trophies at the end of this campaign. There has to be a challenge to Celtic. He’s called it “non-negotiable.” No one over there is going to get time to breathe. No one will be given a chance to put a long-term plan in place. The fans won’t allow it, and, most importantly, the pro-Ibrox media won’t either.
Ferguson has said it clearly: He expects—no, he demands—success. There’s no room for talk of “signs of life” or “progress in the right direction.” Without silverware, it’s all for nothing. Talk is cheap, and they want results. Results you can put in the trophy cabinet. Even if such talk is wildly unrealistic and only makes the situation over there worse.
Let’s be honest: Clement isn’t going to get time.
We all know it. So, no matter what we say, or what Ferguson says, that pressure is going to be there. But to see so many ex-Ibrox players in the media, swinging the boot at this team and this manager, is frankly glorious.
Ferguson isn’t alone. Kris Boyd is at it as well. Keith Jackson is constantly waging war against certain elements at the club. The other day, he took another swing at Cyriel Dessers, who’s already under the microscope after four games without a goal. It all adds up.
The weight is heavy. And, for once, it isn’t us—it’s not Celtic fans or the blogs piling on. It’s their own people. The boot’s coming from inside the house.
Panic has gripped the club as they begin to understand the full weight of what this season might bring. We’re level on trophies with their “Big Lie.”
Win the League Cup, and we move ahead. Win the league title, and we’re off to the races. Win the treble, and the gap starts to widen—one they might never close.
This is the genesis of Dave King’s panic, the reason behind his desperate efforts to push the Ibrox board to spend more money they don’t have. John Gilligan recently confirmed that these people are talking again about finding cash to give to the manager. How much they can pull from under the mattress remains to be seen, but the crazy days aren’t behind them yet.
King’s meltdown stems from the fear that we’re on the brink of overtaking them. We’re on the cusp of rendering the Survival Lie redundant. After all, what is that lie worth if Celtic overtakes them as the most successful club in Scotland? Once we remove the need for that lie—once Celtic is undisputedly the country’s most successful club—what else do they have?
That’s what’s driving Ferguson’s recent remarks, what’s at the heart of Boyd’s wailing, and what’s fuelling King’s terror. It’s all about delaying the inevitable, holding onto the one thing they have left for as long as possible. But they know the day is coming. They know it’s unavoidable. And it scares them to death. Every mistake they make only brings that day closer.
And I’m loving every minute of it. So, for the first time in a while, I’ll say it: Barry Ferguson, keep on doing what you’re doing. Keep feeding the beast. Keep ramping up the pressure. Keep piling on. Because the only people you’re hurting are your own.
Brilliant James absolutely brilliant.
An interesting development
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5831858/2024/10/09/celtic-paul-tisdale/
Absolutely Hilarious indeed… Not sticking up in any way for Fillipe Fillop but Bloody Hell being lectured on management by the likes of Void Boyd and Fergushun – Jeez ya couldn’t mark their fuckin necks with dragon fire neither you could…
Looked up the managerial career of Fillipe Fillop and he’s won three consecutive Belgian titles and a Belgian cup…
(Incidentally he looks a picture of health in his Club Brugge trackey top the polar opposite of the present time)…
What the Fuck has Fergushun achieved as a manager apart from sending his Alloa Athletic players out to maim Celtic players from The Far East…
But aye – Carry on regardless Fergushun – All the more we’ll drink all the more of your delicious tears of grief !
Could we be about to see history repeating itself to some extent? In the late 60s the original club were under the cosh – Stein was steamrollering them and although they were making record signings left right and centre it was making little difference. Successive managers Symon and White were under extreme pressure from the fans and especially from the hacks. One in particular – Willie Waddell, a decorated ex-player turned successful manager, turned football writer. His campaign against White was successful and he got what he wanted – the home dugout at iBrox. But with only one league cup and the Cup Winners Cup to show for 3 years in charge while Stein racked up the trophies, he wasn’t exactly a runaway success and moved upstairs leaving his rather rough and ready deputy in charge, though ironically the deputy would go on to greater success.. If Ferguson really is angling for the job himself, I sincerely hope he gets what he is after – I’ve a feeling he will leave a broken man after about a year……
You’ve really cheered me up with this piece James. It’s going to be great watching the meltdown over there.
It’s a never ending story in the land of make believe down Edmonton Drive.
.
They’ve spent so long and over a £100,000,000 in trying to re-shape the Scottish Football landscape
to fit their ‘Entitled & Supremacist’ worldview. Futilely trying to achieve their romanticised version of Rangers as top dog.
Their innate conviction that success was their ‘Right’ as it always has been in their blue tinted memory banks. Ignoring the reality
of their history pre the EBT fuelled LIQUIDATION. Their fixation with Other Peoples Money as the catalyst for success that never comes. Their insistence that only ‘Real Rangers Men’ are fit to Manage the Team or run the Klub.
Their annual tradition of changing Manager after some equally ‘Gullible’ Director(s) have raided their own pension pots and children’s inheritance all to finance the recruitment of the latest batch of Continental rejects and escapees from treatment rooms throughout the UK and beyond.
The Gullibles in the Stands investing their emotional Capital in overpaid players that they’d over hyped. Placing their hopes in the hands of ageing journeymen looking for the last big score or injury prone players loaned out by Clubs at ludicrous Loan Fees, weekly wages and obligations to Buy.
Every year to huge Meedjia fanfare the dice are rolled and this year will be their year says the Stars. Operation ‘Stoap Sellik is relaunched and just like a collage of Hammer House of Horror ‘B’ movies Spliced with Carry On reels we’re off and running.
The madness and absurdity is contagious with every player /character at the Klub striving to outdo each other. From Capt “disappointed’, to the Belgian Beale / Waffler. The very infrastructure of the Club colludes by tripping and falling apart. The Top Brass are disappearing faster than the clueless hacks can report. The Ibrox Circus is in full swing and its not even halfway through the season.
Meanwhile, in the real world, us Sellik fans rejoice in the Survival of the Banter Years.
Copious amounts of ‘Hun Tears’ are supped as we celebrate the ‘12IAR and counting Banter Titles’.
(FFS, this it what we’re reduced to in International Week and no fitbaw oan th telly.)
What i feel should be rammed home at every given opportunity, once the “55” is gone and the rest….
Is that even if we fall in line with “the big lie” we’ve achieved these things quicker and without the same levels of financial manipulation that they did.
And to keep reminding them that their club died chasing the one they’ll never win!!
Yep brilliant to hear , more blue on blue attacks, delicious.
Looking forward to the inevitable ( best fans in the world ) turning on the ringmasters and the team once again, loud booing and the usual vile language directed at an already fragile team , long may their journey last , always a pleasure to watch.
The klub that keeps on giving .
Good for Bazza…still living off the deludamol that is regularly prescribed in those parts.
Some of the long term side effects, evident since 2012, are supremacist behaviour, whipping fellow sufferers into a frenzy, continually living in the past, a feeling of divine rights, and a wanton, reckless desire to spend money, that isn’t your own!!!
Barry, like so many of his Sevco supporting colleagues in our “unbiased” media, suffers regular attacks of the aforementioned side effects!
Time for him and others to put down the loud hailer, take an antidote of reality and start issuing some honest communiques.
Like the Twelfth of Never, they will continue spouting their unrealistic crud! HH