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A Wee Reality Cheque

Friend of the site Gezzam, writes with a few thoughts…( I should have been posted this up before now so Apologies – Ed)


 

Entitlementthe belief that one is inherently deserving of privileges

 

7 is most definitely and indeed up.

5 out of 6 in the bag, one more to go in the showpiece final of Scottish football against an honest team, and rude health being blatantly evident on and off the park.

How can there be a problem?

I must of course point out that I do not feel I speak for any other supporter, most might even say there is no problem; some wise souls would even elaborate on darker days when indeed there was a real problem. And in any case our role as supporters is to support, so just turn up and enjoy.

I don’t feel entitled as we have to earn our league success, if any of the following piece betrays this claim then I apologise for choosing my words poorly. That we as Celtic supporters are privileged there is no doubt; privileged to have our rich history, our wonderful Paradise, and our legends of days gone by to remember. But those privileges have been hard earned rather than expected and hopefully that fundamental difference is what makes us different.

(Have I covered my back yet?)

Does that mean negativity has no place, no questions can be asked, no more can be asked for? Again some supporters would agree but I take the view that demanding more pushes us on, and that acceptance of whatever you get can result in for want of a better word, laziness. The hunger to be better is what gets these players up in the morning, at it in training all week, and after it for ninety minutes on a Saturday (or Sunday. Or Friday night. Or…..you know what I mean).

None of us, certainly not me, can influence what happens at our club. I don’t know Brendan, I don’t talk with any players, I don’t know anybody on the Board, my opinion carries no weight with anybody else, but as a supporter I feel able to share my opinion with any other supporter and am happy to have that opinion shaped and changed if it’s wrong, or to find it understood and accepted if others agree. That is the purpose of blogs so that your circle is expanded beyond your mates in the pub and you get better and wider views on where the club is at.

And for me this season has been great, but not good enough (Whit?! – Ed)

I don’t need Brendan telling me this season has been a greater achievement than last. If you don’t like expectation then you don’t belong at this club. Last season Celtic played great football, and that is what I expect. If we play great football we will be successful as a club due to the resources that we have ie it doesn’t matter what the other team does, if only domestically. But too often this season we have not played even approaching good football, and in our European adventures when we have been overmatched we have failed to deliver even approaching competent football. And I want this to change as a supporter, or shall we use the customer label that perhaps better describes the relationship we have nowadays.

As a customer the product I’m paying for isn’t as good as it should be. A season ticket gets us 19 home games and first dibs at the European adventure. Covering Europe first, Astana was great! Bayern was amazing!! The less said about the rest the better. On the domestic front the gubbing of a manky mob was just about the funniest game of football there has ever been, pure joy and pure laughter. Motherwell were put to the sword in their third game against us in a week and these have been perhaps the highlights of our home season, along with 45 minutes against Hearts. Is that worth £500, £700 including the European games? If you’re a fan(atic) then the answer is probably yes, if you’re a customer the answer is definitely no.

Taking the above two league games out our record is played 17, won 9, drawn 7, and lost 1. Plenty of teams would bite your hand off for that record I suppose, but for me that’s not good enough for Celtic. At this point I fear I’m sailing close to that entitlement I mention above, so to get away from it I guess I’m of the opinion that our players are not working hard enough to earn victories, and the blame lies with those players and the manager of those players. Brendan has more managerial knowledge in his little toe then I possess, so I can’t tell him how to do his job, but I can tell him he most certainly has a job to do.

And in addition to that record above being not good enough the football on view has not been good enough either; lazy passes, lack of movement, no initiative in many of the players. I understand the park the bus system is hard to break down, so have we just to accept not trying? Retaining ineffective possession is exactly what our opponents want, and yet we seem to delight in doing it. To break down the system the onus is on the player(s) to attack and beat their defender, resulting in drawing a covering player out their position and this is what generates the space.

My preferred option for this is James or Paddy (and last year Sinclair) using skill and pace to hit the byeline, but I’ll take anyone doing it. Rogic often has a twinkle toe move in him, and Armstrong can be aggressive and attacking from the middle of the park, but that runs into 2 or 3 centre halfs, whilst the wide players hopefully have some more room. But I don’t see that attacking intent often enough, and to be fair to James he has been booed for years when he hasn’t been successful doing it. For me, I’d rather see him run at a full back 100% of the time, and if he gets by him 5 or 6 times he’s having a great game; and every time he does it causes us the fans to get off our seat. It’s what we want to see, especially from home grown wingers which have been the crown jewels in our squads going back decades. But at times he and of late Sinclair have looked scared to try, and Roberts hasn’t been fit enough to have a go either.

Retaining possession is all well and good when ahead by a goal or two, particularly if we can pull off the trick in Europe; but as evidenced by this season, far too often, we are content to do it at all the wrong times.

Over to you Celtic. Treat us like customers, then time to give us a product worth buying!

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Mike
5 years ago

Excellent piece, to the board you might be a.. customer, but that can never apply to any real Celtic supporter. You have in your DNA a passion for the club, we have had many, many ups and downs watching Celtic play. The club have endured many attempts to discredit it, but its a constant force for the good in many different respects and nothing, nothing exemplifies this more, than the support. The good heart of the Celtic support doing good things for many good causes, the Foundation, its all a part of the passion for Celtic. We have learnt over past years not to expect too much, but this is a golden patch compared to other times. But a part of the passion is a great desire to do really well on the pitch, you only wish for success but nothing guarantees success. The players are after all human beings, they sometimes make mistakes or play badly, its the same in every walk of life. Me I am hoping for success on Saturday, for the players and the management team to make footballing history, that is my wish.
J.S. (big Jock). and Hail Hail.

D J Smyth
5 years ago
Reply to  Mike

Not interested in your blog , as I am not a customer & I have no time for “customers” who go to Celtic Park . I would rather we had 40, 000 supporters encouraging & supporting the management & players when we are leading 2 nil or trailing 2 nil .
I have no time for the groan & moan customers who are only happy with 3-4 goal leads & exciting play all match .
Our moan & groan customers have got on the backs of good Celtic players like Ambrose & Johannsonn & didn’t stop until they had destroyed all confidence & made these players nervous wrecks . Than God , both players have moved to different clubs and done well for themselves .
You can stick your customer blogs where the son doesn’t shine

broxburnbhoy
5 years ago
Reply to  Desi Mond

yup

Yoda67
5 years ago
Reply to  D J Smyth

Im guessing you probably work or are friendly with the Board. Either that or you completely miss the point. Lets put it another way DJS, if you treat CFC as if it were your family, what would you say if people in your family were being mean with their money ie taking off everyone else in the family but giving very little back in return? You kind of expect the parents in the family (the Board) to be the ones giving more than they get back but unfortunately, it is the children in this family (the fans) who give more than they get back. Nobody wants to criticise their family and nobody wants the Celtic Board to overspend and put us into debt but even a child can see the maths do not add up; the money going into the club and that being spent on the team does seem stingy to say the least. Its not about having the same £ as EPL teams etc, its about investing and showing ambition, rather than purely counting heads and saving for a rainy day. That is why many fans do feel like they are being treated as “customers” and not family. Why is that so hard to understand?

salad queen
5 years ago

Yer a hard man Ralph, but correct

Sam
5 years ago

Very good article. Totally in agreement with everything you say, and can only hope that Brendan is being the good manager talking up his club and players, whilst knowing as stated in your piece that this season has not been value for money, and that we’ve got to do better. We do need to improve the team, and avoid complacency.

Devoy45
5 years ago

Desi, can’t disagree with anything you’ve said. We can do better and we will need to up our game for 8 in a row. We’ve been off the boil too often this year and Brendan needs to accept that and correct that.

bawsman
5 years ago

In the teams defence, we have had 60+ games and nearly all of the team play for their country’s.
There has also been a catalogue of injury’s to contend with.

I think they deserve to be cut a bit of slack.

charlie
5 years ago
Reply to  bawsman

hail hail bawsman

kevin mckenna
5 years ago

Completely agree. Phoned it in for most of the season and the ticket prices still go up.

K

Mike
5 years ago

I did post earlier, but the pigeon is havin a wee lye doon.

Mike
5 years ago
Reply to  Desi Mond

Thank you kind sir, That CPR course has come in very handy.

Push with your palms, breathe with your lips,
if all else fails give her a wee squeeze on her tits.

Mike
5 years ago
Reply to  Desi Mond
Mike
5 years ago
Reply to  Desi Mond

I am more than happy to be “WARNED” about being called out for using a sexist remark, however that “Warning” must be applied to EVERYONE and not just me. There have been numerous times when “Sexist” remarks have been posted on the Diary especially towards female posters and yet… nothing. Its alright to use ageist remarks but again.. nothing is said. I will be more than happy to consider my word usage and having a precious Grand daughter, I will try to refrain from making sexist remarks, but please, if you are going to start issuing “Warning” signs, then issue them out equally.

Noel Skytrot
5 years ago
Reply to  Mike

Mike, ye oul fecker…shoosh lol

Mike
5 years ago
Reply to  Noel Skytrot

Mike.. the grass. 😉

Noel Skytrot
5 years ago
Reply to  Noel Skytrot

Nah mate, that’s Lee Wallaces gig. I noticed you made a reference to ageism and duly responded. Lol

Noel Skytrot
5 years ago

An honest and open appraisal of where we stand. There’s not anything in there that I would disagree with. We seem to be making the same old mistake of not strengthening from a strong position, and it’s always been that way imo. Domestically, if we turn up, we win, regardless of the many “agriculturists” that ply their trade here. Injuries have had an impact at times and I think BR squad rotation can make things difficult. Europe..we must do better. On a brighter note, we’re on the cusp of another treble and we’ve spanked the gullible emotives all over the place, the last game was superb. I’ve not seen a game like that at CP. Andy Halliday and Morelos getting cheered was brilliant. As the “lifeblood” of the club who pay for the product we’ve every right to be critical and express our opinions, without that it becomes Pravdaesque to say the least.

Cartvale88
5 years ago

Totally agree Desi at times the home games have been uninspiring. There is a lack of will from the players, defensively we have been frightening.
Yes the stats show that we are getting the results, but as big Jock said
‘The working man grafts all week this is your opportunity to entertain them on the football pitch.

The Cha
5 years ago

It’s been a strange season; if we win another treble on Saturday then it can’t possibly be a disappointing one but there are notable disappointments:

24 points, 30+ goals less and inability to win 4 in a row.

It’s strange, as unlike Arsenal, our Invincibles should’ve been young and hungry, with a new manager capable of striving for bigger and better things.

Injuries certainly played a part but these are a feature of modern football that affect all teams, so were we more cursed than any other team?

Having said that, the failure to address having 3 injured CBs was a festering sore that perhaps has never been properly addressed even yet.

The even tougher European qualifiers will soon be upon us,with probably no time to get in recruits before the 3rd round, so we need the current players fit and ready.

Hopefully, we’ve just had a season of consolidation rather than stagnation and the team are ready to kick on next year.

The Cha
5 years ago
Reply to  Desi Mond

I did say “hopefully”!

On Saturday will it be a trophy or atrophy?

FredDDobbs
5 years ago
Reply to  The Cha

This defence is poor by celtic standards. i.e its fucking shite

jrw
5 years ago

I agree with a lot of this – there should never ever be a sense of entitlement at Celtic, either with the players/management or with supporters. That is a sure road to complacency and failure. Success has to be earned, often the hard way. We have certainly been underachieving this season – especially at home. There are some mitigating factors – too many lengthy injuries to key players and a long hard season with virtually no break. Last season was always going to be a hard act to follow, but we should always being looking to improve and not stand still. I think that is Brendan’s aim. We should also recognise that other teams are getting better – better-organised and better coming forward as an attacking threat. In the longer term that is to our advantage as a more competitive league will keep the players sharper and avoid any lapses into complacency.

portpower
5 years ago

I love a Scottish Cup Final game.

As a convict i`ll no be there.(though i`m still a sort of Celtic supporter)
But never forget,shit happens.

Motherwell by 14.

Hail Holy Hail Khids.

portpower
5 years ago

Celtic Champions Seven T-shirt and magnet ordered.

If Celtic win,i`ll buy youse all a heated driveway.

KTF

portpower
5 years ago

Who has the last say on how Hampden Park is lined?

Rob O'Keeffe
5 years ago
Reply to  portpower

Pablo Escabar…..

Steve Naive
5 years ago

Fast paced attacking football is our ideal but failing that fast paced passing and moving to break down 10 men behind. This does work and I’ve yet to see a game this season where Celts don’t create at least one chance or half chance. We are fitter and more intelligent therefore we should get in eventually. Wingers are often double teamed and I see BR saying pass and keep possession rather than the cardinal sin of losing it. This is crucial in Europe. Gung ho only works against inferior teams or when we are losing and even then leaves us (more) open. ST ‘well fan I know says they just hope to try and keep it at nil as long as they can. Blitz them, score and they will come out where we can get in again. Us and us only… ourselves alone.

portpower
5 years ago

Olivier`ll score 3IAR blinder hat-trick.
The rest of the side will want to keep up.

jimmybee
5 years ago

So a disabled Celtic fan who raised concerns over parking around the stadium is told to go and support another team.
Think knob of the week should be awarded to msp John Mason!

FredDDobbs
5 years ago
Reply to  jimmybee

a wee team, you know who the wee teams are.

jimmybee
5 years ago

Anyone else think the new home strip is a disgrace
Looks more like Sporting Lisbon or St Pats than a true Celtic Jersey. Fuckin new balance are at it.
Broken hoops shouldnt be allowed

jimmybee
5 years ago

Good post Desi ice been very frustrated this season especially at home.
April showed us only to skelp the huns.
Dundee Kilmarnock and Aberdeen was way below what we should expect from our players
Wee paddy will be sadly missed but it looks like Edouard is where the money is going to be spent instead of us getting them both.

Rebus67
5 years ago

Desi,

Good article written in a good tone. I agree with your view of the performance overall, with some exceptions.where the whole team turned up.

Clearly they are beiing drilled to play the ball across the field and the midfielders drilled to not lose tge ball but pass it backwards if no immediate forward option is present. I think these tactics have been implemented with Europe in mind. However, they not especially effective there either.

It is true we are in a golden age, domestically, but not from a European perspective. If Deila had been in charge for the games against Dundee, Killie and Aberdeen would he have escaped criticism? We are onto something good here. Let’s not throw away our advantage by just doing enough to win domestically. If Scottish teams cannot challenge us then we must challenge ourselves through the football that we play. It has to start with the manager.

Rebus

Rebus67
5 years ago

My response has gone missing! Can you check the trash.

Rebus

rebus67
5 years ago
Reply to  Rebus67

Forget it! Events have moved on.

Rebus

The Cha
5 years ago

The last man still carrying a torch but https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNPp2IBO-T0

Yes, there were similarities between the second seasons but the respective Scottish Cup Semi-Finals highlighted the difference between them.

Steve Naive
5 years ago

Edouard is not yet good enough yet to be the main or second striker. Scoring against the tribute act should not be the yardstick. Was surprised also at how small Bain is . Yes I know ‘faither’ wasn’t tall but he had genius in front of him playing as a relentless attacking team.

Steve Naive
5 years ago

Not even yet, yet.

Rob O'Keeffe
5 years ago

Correct CS,we even went through a period of In Brendan We Trust nonsense.Celtic fans want the best for Celtic and will often be critical because they care…..

Rob O'Keeffe
5 years ago

C’mon Celtic! Double Treble! C’mon! I might never see this happen again,it’s that important.It’s All about US.Turn up and turn on the style,should win by 2 or 3.
P.S.All problems can be dealt with during the close season.
P.P.S.Paul McStay,what a player……

Rob O'Keeffe
5 years ago

STs and match day tickets-overpriced for what’s on offer,simple and straightforward.Loads of working men and women(take note Mike-D.Mond) are sadly struggling in a harsh financial climate,even having to resort to food banks……

henkesdreadlocks
5 years ago

Rogic 5 year deal. Ya beauty.

Noel Skytrot
5 years ago

Tam hunskelper Rogic signs new deal for 5 years. I wonder who’s going?

Noel Skytrot
5 years ago
Reply to  Noel Skytrot

I agree Charlie, don’t think he wants to be at the club. One season wonder in my opinion.

jimmybee
5 years ago
Reply to  Noel Skytrot

Armstrong for me is the more complete midfielder
Rogic has work to do as for me he is still a super sub.Not 90 minutes yet.But great talent.

Rebus67
5 years ago
Reply to  Noel Skytrot

Charlie,

It is good news that we have Rogic tied up before the WC. Presumably we shall sell him on in the few couple of years…maybe even sooner if he has a great WC.

When he is good, he is spectacular. His goals are things of beauty and power. When he is of the boil, he is frustrating…losing the ball by tirning into a ruck of players. From 70 minutes on he is playing at half cock. I suspect this means Armstrong is for the off……..to be replaced by McGinn?

It is good news and part of BR’s plan of stabilising the core.

Rebus

FredDDobbs
5 years ago
Reply to  Noel Skytrot

hope so he minging

Yoker Bhoy
5 years ago

Charlie S, the league has been tougher this season than two seasons ago, no doubt about it. For instance Hibs weren’t there in season 2015-16 but look how many points Lenny’s boys have taken off us this season.

The Cha
5 years ago
Reply to  Yoker Bhoy

He also had Broony, Forrest etc and couldn’t get a tune out of them.

He talked about fitness, diet etc but the team died on its arse late in games, even the Malmo called it and exploited it. Malmo not Madrid.

He was a fraud.

FredDDobbs
5 years ago

davie moyes get his…hahahahahaha. celtic urney good enough for moysty, hes EPL material hahahahahahaha.

GIRFUY

henkesdreadlocks
5 years ago

Please Thistle, don’t let these hammer throwers of Livingston entry in to the top flight. If a stray dog wandered on to their park, they’d probably kick it to death.

Noel Skytrot
5 years ago

Henke, not much will differ if they come up, they’ll fit in with all the other cloggers except Hibs.

jpm 88
5 years ago

Excellent point CS , I’ve often thought the same ; in my 50’s now and as I refuse to accept ANY trophy won in the Murray years as legitimate and ” clean” then to my mind I only ever saw Rangers win 4 titles 75 ,76 , 78 and 87 . I’ve witnessed 3 lengthy periods of Celtic dominance ,the 9 in a row years , the 79 – 88 era where we won 5 titles in an even fight versus the “new firm”, and of coarse NOW .

Broxburnbhoy
5 years ago

I’m reading the replies and you’d think we were on the verge of relegation. Get some perspective folks. We are having the odd off game agaisnt all 11 behind the ball kicking lumps out of us. Yet only a few off games out of 40 or so domestically. We will not win 5-0 every week and play like 1970s Brazil. That said over the season we will be first because we have the best manager and best squad and best organization. We are the best football club in Scotland by a mile and we are winning leagues and cups by a mile. Lighten up

jimmybee
5 years ago

Well big day tomorrow as my young granddaughter makes her first holy communion.
Sunshine beer and a grand old family to celebrate with. Though the dj has been told to fuck off come 3 the big screen is going on and it was her idea.Aint grandweans the best 🙂

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