This is the second draft of todays Diary. The first one consisted of just one word.
Bollocks.
Celtic crashed out of the Champions League last night as Ronnies Rollercoaster left the rails and exploded on impact with the ground. Early reports say that the new parts required to repair it won’t be available for months, and the existing parts won’t work any more.
Maribor became the latest ordinary team to make the hoops look even more ordinary, securing a group stage place with a 1-0 win as a nervous Celtic looked bereft of ideas, application and inspiration. Except maybe when Kris Commons came on for the second half.
Then , for maybe fifteen minutes , Celtic seemed to want to win, but the removal of arguably the first halfs best performer, Beram Kayal, left the midfield exposed again, and gradually Maribor took control.
Celtic had chances, but they didn’t take them. Calum MacGregor hit the bar, Efe Ambrose was marginally off target with a header, and Virgil van Dijk should have done better when he was in space in injury time, but he elected to pass the ball to the Slovenian keeper instead of trying to score.
So, from winning the league by thirty points, and at times playing great football using a diamond midfield, Celtic now face a huge rebuilding programme if they are to do anything in the Europa League, where its almost inevitable we will face Legia Warsaw again.
Is it to early to start to apportion blame ?
Probably, but I’m going to anyway.
Dermot Desmond, the clubs largest shareholder has taken a back seat. Some argue that he should “dip into his billions ” to finance the club a little more, but thats clearly never going to happen. Desmond has delegated Peter Lawwell to do the day to day running of the club, while he concentrates on his other business interests.
Fair enough.
But Lawwell will not allow the same sort of free hand to his football manager.
Whilst the bold Peter is undoubtedly a capable and efficient business manager, he is not a football manager. That sort of thing should be left to the guys at trackside.
With previous incumbent Neil Lennon being mutually consented at best, fired at worst for apparently standing up against Lawwellian interference ( Hey- I just invented a new word ! ) and a number of others turning down the position, Ronny Deila, a moderate success in his homeland Norway, was given one of the top jobs in football.
No matter how much we dismiss the Scottish league, Celtic is a massive club with a worldwide fanbase. Certainly the biggest where the support is concerned. Even standing on the outside looking in, you sense it’s a world away from other supports. For us, its not about money , its not about big signings and multi million pound wages.
For us its about the team we support, and being proud of it. win , lose or draw.
The way the club, from Desmond to Lawwell and the rest of the board and the major shareholders have treated the fans is a form of neglect. A form of abuse. We’ve been taken for granted, and in a sense they are right. We will always turn up. We will always support the club.
But thats no reason to give up and do things on the cheap. Money has been spent, just not wisely, as the policy of downsizing continues.
Downsizing. Its when you have a nice big car, or a nice big house, and then decide that you don’t need it anymore, and can get a smaller one and keep some money in the bank for a rainy day. Or a sunny day. The point is, the money stays in the bank and you toddle along at a slower pace settling for less than you have been used to.
With Ronny Deila, I think we’ve settled for less than we are used to.
Of course, there will be cries to allow him time, to let him build his own team and impose his own ideas.
Frankly, so far the only ideas he has had have been awful, and the one player he can probably claim to be his own signing is someone who could probably do a job for Stromgodset, but not for Celtic. Unless we needed someone to catalogue “haircuts you shoudn’t ask for. ”
Berget- I can’t even be arsed trying to remember his first name, it’s Janice or something , I think, is little more than a wasted jersey.
Aleksandr Tonev, another brought in on loan hasn’t featured, and anyone and Jason Denayaar, whilst obviously potentially top drawer, is a mate of one of Peters mates. Or something like that.
Craig Gordon is the exception, but he was here before Ronny.
To return to Ronnys ideas, whatever they might be , last night we had one striker ploughing a lone furrow in a home European game. Our top scorer from last season has been in and out of the team, and only featured for a quarter of this tie.
Instead, we saw Berget out wide, Stokes often out wide, backed by some full backs out wide, and eventually just flung Virgil van Dijk up front like we did against Morton last year.
It didn’t work then either.
Deila seems to have taken a few bad ideas from Lennon, added a few of his own and come up with a whole new level of ineptitude. After the game, he spoke to the press;
“I think we are better now than we were against Legia but, again, it’s a long way to talk about playing at Champions League level.
“You can say now we were very close and should have gone through. But when you have two chances and you don’t take them there are no excuses. That’s how it is.
“We are not good enough and now it’s the Europa League and we are going to do everything we can now to achieve good things there.
I’m sure we will. Is it too late to enter the Petrofac Cup ? I’d fancy us for the last eight if we get a decent draw.
“Of course it’s disappointing. This is a feeling I have to take with me. So do the players, the whole staff, the whole club.
He needs to take a look at some of the photographs from last night, or some of the tv pictures. Then he might finally understand that although from inside Celtic Park, its just a job for them, but for those of us who commit emotion, passion and time its a way of life.
It’s what makes us different. He clearly doesn’t understand that. He may well prove to be a fantastic coach technically, but he’s completely missed the part about heart and fire.
“There are no excuses. This is the level it is. We haven’t deserved to be in the Champions League. We have to start building now so we hopefully can stand in the same position next year with a whole other feeling than I have right now.”
Stop dreaming. I’m sick of “hopefully” this and “maybe ” that.
A week ago, I watched his team tear Dundee Utd apart. Fast football, precision passing, and pressurising the opponent to get the ball back. Thats what happens when you get it right.
But that game is now looking like a one off, as Celtic were beaten by Inverness on Saturday, and now Maribor last night.
In both games albeit with two different line ups, Celtic couldn’t pass, couldn’t tackle and couldn’t score. Three fairly basic requirements for a football team.
One of his statements , though, borders on the bizarre. As though he was watching a completely different game from the rest of us.
” If we continued to play like we did in the first half then we would have conceded goals. We needed to get much more out of the players than we got in the first-half. That wasn’t good enough.
Granted, Celtic didn’t look like scoring, it was hard to see where a goal would come from. But Maribor didn’t either.
So he removed Beram Kayal, and lost the midfield. Then, as he did against Legia, he removed Mikael Lustig, and we lost a goal immediately after. Scored from exactly the position where Lustig would have been.
Theres a danger that I’ll ramble on and end up on anti depressants by tea time, so I’ll call a halt there.
Put simply, though, Deila isn’t up to it. The players don’t believe in him, despite the lip service offered by one or two of them, and more importantly, the fans have lost faith.
Lawwell has to shoulder a huge portion of the blame. He picked him. Whatever his reasons were, he chose Deila, and he must be the one to put it right before he does any more damage.
The opening question concerns the comparison made in and around previous diaries.
Jock Stein came in and changed everything. The results were spectacular. But he knew what he was doing.
Tony Mowbray came in and changed everything. The results were equally spectacular, but in a different way.
Ronny Deila came in and changed everything. All it needed was for him to say we would have to take it on the chin to confirm which of the two he resembles most .
Too early to call for a change ? The honeymoon period is certainly over, in fact, some might argue we’ve already filed for divorce.
Deila isn’t up to it. Collins still hasn’t realised that not everyone is the consumate professional he was. Instead of managing what they have, they have tried to turn the team into what they aren’t.
Thats not management. Thats making an arse of it.
Should he be given more time?probably.but if *they*were in our league,his jacket would definitely be on a shoogly peg.taking Kayal off,leaving KC on the bench,playing Efe,who looks like he’s only playing for a bit of a laugh and the king of the wayward pass,chuck who will go down as one of our most inept captains ever.and where do we start with Berget?too many didn’t show last night.the europa is our level now,and has been for a while thanks to the business model we seem to have.last years CL was an embarrassment and its probably a blessing in disguise that we’re not in it this year.
Ken,
You topped and tailed it perfectly.
Last night’s performance – Gordon excluded – was an audition for ‘They embarrassed the Hoops’.
‘Celt’s for change’ needs to be resurrected, fast!
Lustig pulled up injured
For heavens sake stop the bleating and self pitying oh poor old us get behind your manager and your team regardless of what happens or try being a hibee fan for a few weeks and see what we have had to put up with over the last few managers don’t lose the faith guy and stop acting like a sevco supporter lol.
get behind a third rat twat that makes john barnes look world claas,he should be out the door today
I keep waiting for the ‘Scooby Doo’ bit where they whip off the mask from Ronny and find Tony Mowbray grinning underneath. As with Mowbray we hear about ‘chances’…..’chances’ do not win games, you win games by putting the ball in the net. Tell Bobby Lennox to get his boots on and show these pretenders how it is done. I’m sick of this.
Deila is simply fckn awful, the guy is totally clueless and needs to be removed immediately.
Ralph,
I agreed totally with your points, I took a day off work along with the wife, we have been to loads of great nights at Celtic Park but that was not one of them, as a life long Hoops fan going back as far as 1968 (I was six at the time), this is bordering on pure rubbish, the only good thing about last night were the pies and that was debatable.
PL and his crew need to stop going on an ego trip and think about the grass routes supporters, until that happens i will not be back, interestingly on the train last night the only thing on the supporters minds was the inevitable draw against Warsaw (fate has its was of coming round to bite your arse).
Hail Hail
Fairly difficult to think of any positives from last night but while the manager has to shoulder some of the blame the players were unbeliveably inept. Their basic passing, positioning and helping others out just didn’t exist.Its as if they were not talking to each other. I thought McGregor worked really hard without support and the two central defenders would get a pass. As for Efi……TAXI!! I feel like the guy who comes on here…. deadpan? deadspace? deadlazy?
Why when lustig went off did we bring on that useless wingerinstead of denayer,we were going through at that point
Iv,e been saying for weeks he should be sacked
Lustig was injured ya tube that’s why he went off. Playing Efin Ambrose was a mistake(one that you wanted in yesterdays diary) as he is one of the worst defenders I have seen. he takes the phrase ‘bomb scare’ to a new level. need to give the manager some time and some new players before we talk of getting rid of him.
yeah this is the guy who helped set a clean sheet record last season,played out of position by a total asshole of a manager
Totally discusted today! Delia hasn’t a clue. His tactics are baffling and the players are not playing for him. How does Emilio, Mulgrew and Commons all poty the last 3 years look now as if they can’t play – there something wrong in the dressing room. Berget played left wing and always cut in to his right foot as he has no left one! Johansson played at left back at Inverness and last night was terrible again! Sevco makes a great debut against utd and he leaves him out last night. Kayal did ok, but he won the ball and didn’t drive forward, just passed it back or sideways, easy way out. We are now a laughing stock, go and get Davie Moyes or Paul Hartley even now. I am not sure I will be back under Ronnie.
Pregame a manager makes decisions and the subsequent 90 minutes reveals how sound his thinking was. Yesterday there was healthy debate about playing Ambrose or Denayer so even the support was split.
However he needn’t wait the full ninety minutes to see how his decision plays out; as soon as Ambrose “crossed” a ball out the park (before even reaching the near post)his confidence was shot! Why he wasn’t removed at half time I don’t know, but to compound that with removing Kayal is baffling. Lustig got injured so his hand was forced there but his decision making during a game is what concerns me as he is not reacting to what is in front of his and everyone else’s eyes.
Gordon, VVD, Kayal, McGregor; the rest let the fans down, and even the wee man was knackered after an hour and couldn’t control the ball. A rookie 21 year old carrying the hopes of our club, not really fair on him.
I endorse everything Gerry says in his post. but, please no kneejerk reactions. As far as I am concerned the man should be given the space to develop his ideas and we will see where we are As for the direction of the club and our aspirations and the actuale well that is for another time I do not have enough skin on my one handed typing finger to talk about that. One last thought, Iremember being in despair when we lost to basle of Suisse. but that did not turn out too bad.
Today is Deadhead67s day, kudos, they called it!
A team of headless chickens was what I saw last night. Only Gordon and Virgil get full pass marks, Kayal, Lustic, Commons is excused for half shifts.
Others tried like Izzy and McGregor but the rest were abject.
I just dont see a turning point. All i need is a glimmer of hope. Is a striker going to give us the shape we need? These latest sigings, too little too late and new striker is going to be way down the quality list now we have no CL so give up searching and just play Grittiths instead.
On last nights show, half can go, Stokes is never good enough but will do for SPL as that seems to be our aim these days. As for Ambrose, I really have no idea what he was doing, guy on ITV4 said “hes playing as bad as he did against Juventus after cup of Nations partyfest!”
I expect Virgil and Forrest to be in the EPL and Commons in the EPL\Championship by Monday..shame Celtic, shame!
Ron Manager, interviewed by ITV4 just prior to the game, was asked about the inclusion of Ambrose instead of Denayer and explained his decision thus; ‘we need his experience’.
That’ll be a YouTube classic!
Forrest, the glass winger, can go wherever he likes – draining cash out of celtic like fat mccoist from that new scum mob.
Yes,the board are to blame for downsizing.Not providing a decent target-man,was the reason Lenny walked away.
However,last night was Deila’s disaster.In a great position at 1-1,his tactics were to play for a 0-0.
I am sorry,in my 40 years watching the Hoops at home,in Europe,I have never seen previous manager’s deploy this tactic.
This is NOT the ‘ Celtic Way ‘.The Tinkerman,can say we are not good enough,but we SHOULD have got through.Why bring the dud Boerrigter on,when a goalscorer(Deila say’s is best
finisher at the club) in Griffiths is left on the bench ?
Maybe,Celtic is TOO BIG a club for Deila.
The reason we are not in the Champions League groups,
is partly down to the board,but MOSTLY due to Deila’s tactics.
Has the gamble backfired,in taking a rookie coach out of his Norwegian comfort zone ??
Extremely disappoining result and performance last night – completely agree that Kayal should have stayed on the pitch unfathomable that he was hooked. Mulgrew was taking an age to try to pick a pass and was being pressed. We seemed to have no clue. Ambrose was an abomination and should never wear a celtic strip again. McGregor and Gordon were again the 2 who showed up well.
The major flaw in the squad is the lack of any resemblence of a prolific striker. Stokes is the best of a terrible, terrible bunch – possibly the worst group of forwards in our history. The mismanagement of our club has reached embarrassing proportions.
We have 3 nice guys in charge of the first team – we need a wee bit of Fire in the belly too though. Agree that we lack passion – although the GB absence has hurt us as far as making CP a wall of sound.
Gutted doesn’t even describe it and it is completly understandable some were venting their frustration outside the stadium last night. Will it change anything? Time will tell!
Why did he keep with johansen for so long he couldn’t retain position, couldn’t play a simple pass and ran around like he was lost, he was awful. It was the same against Inverness. Why drop kayal at half time?. And this berget guy isn’t half the player Sammy was. I want to know why Neil was pushed out the door at celtic. I really hope ronny gets it right but he has me worried. I just hope he proves everyone wrong and turns it round. But rangers are one season away and I’m sorry but don’t fancy his team against them. Now that’s scary. Hail hail
Spot on about Johansen. He’s so milky it drives me mad! He tears about the place, trying to shut players down, but then he just dangles a leg out. He doesn’t like the physical stuff. Granted, he’s a decent passer, but he’s got to grow a pair if he ever wants to play at this level.
There’s a lot more to playing football than running around a bit.
Sorry can’t believe this drivel…he has been in the job 10 weeks he must be given time…the fact that PLAYERS CANT HIT A FECKING BARN DOOR FROM TWO YARDS IS NOT THE FAULT OF THE MANAGER!( I give you Commons clean through and nearly hit the fecking corner flag with his shot, if he had more composure he would have pulled it back onto his left and then had a shot)…
Your point about players not believing in him well name names as its clearly not all and if some of the OLD GUARD are not buying into his ideas get them tae fuck out the door we don’t need Craig Burley style bottom lips hankering after bottles of Irn Bru for lunch!!
The manager made a mistake by playing Ambrose instead of Jason Denayaar…however we had chances to win and win by some margin e.g. Ambrose, Van Dijk, Commons, McGregor…that’s four clear cut chances three by the OLD GAURD not new guys and they fecking blew each and everyone of them
If you think Kayal was the best player in the first half then you were watching from a different planet from me…Lustig went of injured not by choice as you inferred.
Clearly the manager has a style he wants to play and some of the palyers we have wont fit into it for example Stokes is not a lone striker he is shite end of, but I would rather experience short term pain for longer term progress though I accept there is no guarantee…when Lennon started after 10 weeks everyone wanted him out the door remember the disasters that befell him and Strachan before him…my point is its not the mangers fault he must be supported.
Now as for spending money this is the crux of the matter and the problems we face are many…We don’t get money in to pay the wages players even in the SKY bet two league get paid, we don’t have the TV revenue due the league we are in (and the fecking ineffectual prick that is in charge of the SPFL). Players wont come to Celtic without Champions league and because we are in a shite league we need to fecking qualify every year which as last night proved is not going to be easy. So do we spend 10 million before we qualify..again we could but on who as they wont come until we have qualified!!
So there are far bigger things for us to look at before we get rid of Deila..remember others shit themselves from taking the job, Keane for example so do we want a guy who has the balls to say yes despite the restrictions, has a clear plan and vision which when it comes off its brilliant to watch or do we want shitebags who just want to spend millions to be a success…millions that we don’t have and offer no guarantee of success…remember Martin spent millions and we didn’t win all the time but of course him and Lennon are “one of us”
I am raging about last night but not at the manager…We need to keep our perspective and be clear about where the problem lies, shite league,shite money coming in, and players (who Lennon bought) who couldn’t score in a barrelload of fannies…We need a change in where we play if we want to play with the big boys.
On the Lawell front and spending generally I agree
Chris,
You are very naive, if you think Deila’s is not to blame for last
night’s debacle.His tactics,his responsibility.The game was their for the taking.His inadequacies shone like a beacon.
Take a look at his No2,when they score,the camera pans on
him,he is stretched back with hands behind his head,as if he is on a sun lounger in Monaco !
Is this the management team,you want to take is forward,or backwards,as the case may be ?
not naïve I have watched celtic for 40 years..and I have seen some shite managers…Deila’s not one of them. Apart from Ambrose most people would have chosen the team he put out last night as I said 4 chances and we couldn’t hit the barn door we were poor in the first half granted but he changed it at half time (lennon never every made a sub at half time unless through injury). They had one chance in the second half and scored we had 4 and missed everyone of them…tell me how that’s the managers fault…the performance was not great but the palyers out there last night should have done their job…4 goals and we would not be talking about Deila in terms of being a dud, the duds were Ambrose, Commons and Van Dijk (McGregor I don’t blame but he should have scored)…As for John Collins which is who I think you refer to…he could start singing the boys of the old brigade and Celtic fans wouldn’t take to him he’s the next scapegoat for shite players missing gilt edged opportunities
I couldn’t agree more Chris and thank fuck you said it. Anthony Stokes isn’t even a good Hibs player. Like everybody else we have had mixed fortunes in player selection. The good ones LEAVE us as soon as the first offer comes in. The only way to solve this is to bring in proper coaches and breed our own. It can be done. Many clubs across Europe do this and are consistently more successful than us. We need to wise up and stop drooling over the EPL.
I have no idea whether Deila is a good or bad manager – time will tell, if he’s given that.
When Strachan took over, he completely changed the way we played – some of the older players either couldn’t or wouldn’t change to suit his tactics, so were dumped. Strachan brought us success once we started to play his way.
The current Celtic players either can’t or won’t play Deila’s style of play, so we either back the manager and change the playing personnel or sack the manager and find a new one who can find a system that suits the players. I think the first idea is the way ahead. If players can’t play a system, move them on.
Last night izzy, effe, johansen, mulgrew & berget were shown up. I’d rather balde had played rather than berget. From what I’ve seen of him, berget is the worst signing we’ve made for many a year.
I reckon Deila blundered on Saturday against Inverness. He should have played Gordon, VVVD & Denayer to get them used to playing with each other in preparation for last night. If Deila had no intention of playing Denayed last night, why wasn’t he playing against Inverness.
Lustig pulled up 10 minutes before he went off last night – he hasn’t recovered from his operations and needs to be rested for a good while in order to get completely fit (the same goes for Forrest).
Stokes I’ve never thought was good enough for Celtic – Boerrigter is hopeless and I have no idea why he was played last night. Commons clearly isn’t in the manager’s plans.
My view, clear out the players and rebuild.
VVD will go because his head’s been turned. Stokes, Commons, Balde, Pukki, Boerrigter,Izzy, Ambrose, Izzy, Ambrose 7 Berget should all be told to find new teams.
Mulgrew has shown in the past he is useful, he just seems lost just now, so I’d give him another chance – same goes for Johansen
Matthews looked a shadow of the player he once was, but I’m sure he’ll come good again.
Problem we’ve got is there’s no money in Scotland – we can’t go spending money and running up debt as there is no guarantee we’ll make money in the future.
Even if we did soend money – £30 million? – to get a ready made team, the finances in Scotland would mean that we wouldn’t be able to maintain paying the wages that would bring with the turnover we have.
Chris,
Like you,I have watched Celtic for over 40 years,have a season
ticket for past 25 years.That garbage was the most INEPT performance I have seen from a Celtic team at home in Europe.Yes,Stokes etc are duff.But,it’s the Tinkerman’s TACTICS and MOTIVATIONAL skills,that are severely lacking !!
motivation moti fecking vation a manager shouldn’t need to motivate a team attempting to get intae the champions league other than say go out there and fecking score when you are clean through!!!…do you think Commons Ambrose Van Dick and Mcgregor needed motivation to hit the fecking target 2-12 yards out!! Not a chance the players fecked it up not the Manager…I repeat take the 4 chances and we win and noone questions the manager…its an easy target and needs to be challenged..if we hadn’t made chances and Maribor peppered our goal for 90 mins then fair enough but that wasn’t the case sure they had possesion but until they scored they didn’t get near Gordon (after the goal they had chances only because we were chasing the game but not before)
This hysterical blaming of the manager gets on my tits he has just started inherited a pile of shite and we knew it and yet before he has got his jaiket aff we want him punted…FFS…
he did play bergetae who is fucking rank. if you don’t believe that why cant he get a game for cardiff
Spot on on all accounts I too have followed Celtic for over 3 decades and fully back up your points.
Poor finishing and the lack of a quality goalscorer over the past 18 months has cost us dearly in Europe.
Hooper has not been replaced yet.
Neither has big Jan Vinegar Stroke of Renton
Deila has spoken well of what he is aiming to do he has spelled it out and has a clear vision of where he wants us to be.
The problem is some of those within the squad will be unable to deliver it.
Mulgrew,Bitton and Commons are all to slow for the quicker pressing style he wants.
Commons is one of the laziest players in the side he is reluctant to track back when he loses possession.
We take our chances in that tie and it’s out of sight.
End of story.
HH
You see what you want to see. Kayal was the best player in midfield and the manager (he isn’t a manager) has turned an average side into an extremely bad imitation of a piss poor side. The guy has destroyed any confidence that the players had and has lost the dressing room big time. I think Deila is so far out his depth that winning the league under this clown will be no gimmee. I would not give this guy 2 bob to spend when he thinks that imposter Berget is a player.
give him a chance and we may not even win the league,he should never have been appointed and should resign or be sacked asap
Totally agree with you Chris. HH
Ralph you wanted Ambrose in the team (see yesterday’s diary), for me, Denayer was the safer bet. Twice (at least) their forwards walked around Efe and he did nothing. His defending is no better that you would get in a Sunday league team.
Agree that Berget is a waste of a jersey, but Ronny brought him here.
Lustig was injured and had to come off so I don’t know where you get that from.
Hindsight is a great thing, but his team selection and tactics were appalling. There was no direction, no Plan B when we went a goal down other that to stick VVD up front to get a goal.
The team has been in decline for a while now, the alarm bells should have rung when Hooper was sold and not replaced.
How Commons did not start is beyond me. You cant take 29 goals in a season out of a team and not suffer, especially when we have no real goal threat. To play one up front at home is shocking.
I could go on and on here, but paying £600 for a season book for me and my son annoys me. I back the team, why don’t the board? We have recouped £11.2million from the sale of two players, we have spent nothing. This shit cant go on………………
I consider Charlie Nicholas a first class arse, despite his early celtic career he will always remain an arse. However he hits the nail on the head here
http://www1.skysports.com/football/live/match/324523/video
O’Neil coined the phrase “prepare for life in the slow lane” an those years ago and we have been working DOWN the gears ever since. Seville? Well that was just on of those once in a lifetime set of circumstances where a team, despite the actions of the board, achieve greatness! After that there has been a systematic striping of quality throughout the squad.
The question i want answered is this. If we have been awarded all this CL group participation money in recent years, add to that record breaking transfer fees received, healthy crowds and sponsorship etc why are we running the club from hand to mouth, its as if we are skint!! Are we??? Some answers and clarity should (dream on) be given from PL and the rest of the board. If we are skint (for whatever reason) then tell us and we can adjust our hopes accordingly but dont keep us in the dark letting the rage build when all we see is money coming in and fuck all going out!
Many of the comments are valid, but the Celtic geniuses look to Europe for players and miss quality in Scotland. A few names they could have bought for bawbee a are Johny Russell, Stevie May, Ryan Gauld, Robertson, MackY Stevens, but dross like Lassad, Balde amongst others Boerigter, nuff said have been bought.The path is onwards and downward with Desmond and Peter totally lacking in empathy with the Celtic Family. I will not be attending any more games, last night is the first match I have ever left fifteen minutes before the end. I am 66 and have sat through some dross over the years, but this mob takes the biscuit.The correct result happened as they were gunned by Legia
I don”t buy we missed out on the quality of Russell, May or whoever. We tried that tactic for years by buying Laursen, Sylla, O’Riordan. It didnae work then and it won’t work now.
yeah lets buy a failure like russell lower english league quality at best who did nought against us ,and stevie may what a joke
I feel pretty empty this morning because some of the players who were poor last night played better for Neil Lennon. Stokes was terrible but where is the Stokes who pulled the team up by it’s bootlaces against Kilmarnock?
I would rather lose having given it our best shot but last night we were too cautious and much too “nice.” All the best ever Celtic teams had a few tough cookies in the mix and I don’t need to name anyone, we all know who they were. However, I feel there is a degree of poetic justice in all this as we never deserved to be in this competition after Legia. It was a farce to let us through at their expense. I would rather we met them in the Europa and gave them a doing to make up for the thrashing we got from them. I can understand why owners and CEO’s think they could do a better job than the managers because some of the managers are pathetic and I include oor Ronnie in that.
Hail hail.
“Instead of managing what they have, they have tried to turn the team into what they aren’t.Thats not management; thats making an arse of it.”
100% correct.
And to compound it all, the man seems to be a coward or a narcissist – constantly blaming the players instead of owning up to the first rule of management, which is to hold YOURSELF accountable and to always (at least outwardly) back your team.
He has clearly lost the dressing room, which is why players who were/are good enough to at least get through (Ambrose excepted)can no longer do the basics. He’s lost the CP thunder with his baffling selection, formation and failure to understand the support.
I rear there is more local SPL and cup humiliation to come before Christmas
The most disapointing thing for me wasnt that we lost but the manner in which we lost. I’ve said it a few time already this season – The players look to have little or no clue what RD wants them to do on the pitch. This means one of 3 things –
1) The players are shite. (We know they’re not that bad, its essentially the same team that cantered the league
2)RD is unable to get across the the team what he expects of them. Cover the channels, retain the ball when neccessary and pass it quickly.
3)The players simply dont buy into what RD is telling them. If its this option then its a gross failure by all involved. If you’re a manager who cant command respect from your players you’re already doomed. If you’re a player unwilling to follow instructions to the detriment to the team you’d better fucking hope you dont meet me on a dark night.
I dont know if i’m punch drunk but I actually found myself agreeing with Bill Leckie in the Sun this morning (Fuck me!) The Europa league could be our silver lining. RD is inexperienced at european level and a season playing matches in the 2nd tier could hopefully give him much needed experience and a chance to add to his tactical nouse, leaving him in much better shape for the the CL next season. It certainly did NL no harm in his first season and creditable showings against Udinese, Rennes and A.Madrid meant that as a manager he was better placed to deal with the CL the following season.
I want to like RD, I want him to do well. I like his ideas and the footballing legacy he is trying to build and I’m trying my damndest to keep my jerking knees under control.
Surely letting that idiot of a manager stay another day will just bring more embarrassment to the club
HE HAS TO GO BEFORE SUNDAY
Ambrose, Stokes and Johansson how in the hell are they professionsl footballers never mind playing for celtic, poetic justice really, just as well we are not in the champions league we would be utterly humiliated,and the money earned from it would go to the spivs that run the club,not on new players beaten by two pub teams we are now a complete joke. Massive changes are needed fro
Well said.
I’d rather not watch Celtic get tanned in the CL, as happened last season. And now we’re much worse than we were last season!
Can you imagine what proper teams would do to us!!??
It doesn’t bear thinking about!
We will suffer in the Europa league and the Scottish league with this man in charge.
Enoughs Enough, LAWELL gambled on Ronny like he did Lennon to save money and to be able to control the new manager like a puppet, he got lucky with Lennon but even Lennon eventually seen the shit storm heading CELTICS way as far as players and the team are concerned, Ronny is full of shit, he’s so out of his depth it’s now embarrassing, he’s come in with a vision of how football should be played, but that vision is made for FIFA 14 XBOX, Cut him loose now and invest the money we should have done in a top player in a top manager, the Ambrose at right back, dropping Commons and taking Kayal of instead of Berget was the final straw for me, Ambrose is at best a mediocre centre half but Ambrose at right back is an unforgivable choiceof tactics, MATHEWS+ LLUSTIG at right back anybody, so Ronny you can take your vision of how to play football and shove it where the Norwegian sun doesn’t shine, and don’t ever think you can use CELTIC as some kind of football experiment until it’s Been tried and tested on a lot of much much smaller clubs..HAIL HAIL, KTF
Enoughs Enough, LAWELL gambled on Ronny like he did Lennon to save money and to be able to control the new manager like a puppet, he got lucky with Lennon but even Lennon eventually seen the shit storm heading CELTICS way as far as players and the team are concerned, Ronny is full of shit, he’s so out of his depth it’s now embarrassing, he’s come in with a vision of how football should be played, but that vision is made for FIFA 14 XBOX, Cut him loose now and invest the money we should have done in a top player in a top manager, the Ambrose at right back, dropping Commons and taking Kayal of instead of Berget was the final straw for me, Ambrose is at best a mediocre centre half but Ambrose at right back is an unforgivable choiceof tactics, MATHEWS+ LLUSTIG at right back anybody, so Ronny you can take your vision of how to play football and shove it where the Norwegian sun doesn’t shine, and don’t ever think you can use CELTIC as some kind of football experiment until it’s Been tried and tested on a lot of much much smaller clubs..HAIL HAIL, KTF.
Jeez Oh, we are as bad as Man United now.
i wouldn’t be so eager to pin the blame on deila. he’s been allowed to spend no money whatsoever, and the players have to carry the can too. so does lawwell, obviously.
ultimately you can’t spend years starving a team of investment and still expect to do well. the karagandy game last year was a big warning. lawwell ignored it. deila is a handy scapegoat though.
Did anyone else sit next to a Jamaican woman who kept shouting “work it baby” and “Bring it home to mama”? Very Bizarre
Another shite game, another shite result. All the folk (arseholes) that wanted rid of Lennon must be the only happy folk right now. Our best result this season was the Dundee Utd game where we played Lennon’s ‘side-to-side, as a unit’ football. One man through the middle that has a proven non-scoring record at this level, we got the result we deserved. Folk are comparing Ronny to Mowbray, one guy sitting behind me said Ronny is a skinny mccoist, as this ‘vision’ is looking worse by the week. The only positive is Man Utd got hammered so the press focus isn’t on us.
The static five man defence when in possession is really starting to grate. Ambrose had to play everywhere across the back four and still had two of our best three chances, hes not superman, hes Efe Ambrose. Van Dijk is clearly our best player, said for a while now that he should be in a ‘Ronald Koeman’ type role, breaking up attacks and making supporting runs, etc. Ronny expects for too much from our centre halfs, holding the defence without midfield support then being a goal threat when plan A fails. Midfield was static again while Kayal disappeared and Mulgrew and Johansen were passengers, dead weight we can’t afford. I hate to think how bad we would be if it wasn’t for McGregor this season.
During the summer, I joked that I should be Celtic manager, now I’m starting to think I could do a better job than Ronny. Now that we’re in the UEFA Cup we could be drawn against Inter or a rematch against Spurs, wonder how that will turn out. I’m not a shareholder but I hope those that are ask some very searching questions at the AGM, we deserve better than this.
I wonder what Lenny was thinking as he watched our pathetic attempt to draw 0-0 at home.
Ron Manager is a dead man coaching.
As Strachan said after the game ‘the Board here have plans for everything. don’t worry!’.
The next man in is being primed.
Last night was an embarrassing shambles.
Whilst the players are to blame for their inability to do the simple things like pass the ball to a team mate, the system was the manager’s. Everyone knows that Stokes isn’t a centre forward and needs someone to play off, but he gets played as a lone striker. The manager’s insistence of playing 2 wide men regardless isn’t working, because the guy’s he gives these roles to aren’t natural wide players (one of them, Berget, isn’t even a football player).
Jock Stein once said that football was a simple game. You play to the players’ strengths and don’t ask them to do things they can’t. Perhaps our manager should think about that, because last night smacked of having a system and sticking players into positions regardless of their ability to fulfil them. As a result you end up with a team of players who don’t know what they are supposed to be doing.
Maybe the manager will get players he wants that suit his footballing philosophy but I won’t hold my breath. After going to Celtic matches from the sixties to date, this is the first time I have ever considered binning my season ticket and stopping going to Celtic Park, because seeing clowns (from board to managerial level) destroying the club I love is too painful to watch.
Hope all you people who have been standing up for Delia,are
happy the guy should have gone after The first Legia game
The panic in Deila’s face was incredible to see in a Celtic dug-out at Parkhead. He has not a clue. The brain doesn’t shrink to fit a lesser manager.
All that Birgit kid requires is a pair of Birkenstocks to fit his vegan male nurse hairdo.
Daila blames players – and you have to admit some are pure Karap. However, the mark of a good manager is a manager who can manage his way into, and out of, situations with the team he has.
I love this team with all my haert. Daila is a tactical joke. Stokes, Mulgrew, Commons – they wont put out for this guy. Collins was a menace to his players when he managed Hibs. This is a complete shambles – we are a laughing stock.
Surely letting that idiot of a manager stay another day will just bring more embarrassment to the club
HE HAS TO GO BEFORE SUNDAY
Some of those crap players were better last season under a average but not great manager,this Delia is at best fourth rate
Ralph,
I mentioned months ago about John Collins influence and how he treated the Hibs team years ago and they didn’t want to play for him…..I feel that’s were it has started all over again within the dressing room at Celtic…it hates me to say this but Charlie Nic was also spot on with his comments on sky sports last night.
Hail Hail
If we are such a massive club how come we can’t get quality players to come and play and can’t get a manager with a seasoned pedigree to come and manage us? We are a small club in the backwater of European football with a huge heritage and huge support. Living off scraps that teams in England’s lower leagues don’t want. That’s it. Stop with the massive club pish. I’m sick of fellow supporters telling me how big we are. We couldn’t get a manager out of English League 1 at the minute. We will struggle with the Europa League no matter who we get. So let’s give Ronnie some support to try and implement his new ideas. There’s nothing to lose. Maybees he is the next best thing. Who knows. What’s the worst that can happen? Does anyone really believe we won’t win the league.
I’m not sure if this is the worst celtic team of the last 20 years or the worst in living memory
delilah has to go
forgive me delilah I just cannae take any more …
I hope the Suits feel the same angst as us lowly cash cows.
If they were real supporters, they would.
But they’re probably too busy still counting the shekels stolen from us last night.
A nice night’s work, Mr Lawwell!
I hope you’re satisfied, because it’s the biggest gate you’ll get for a good while.
This Celtic team is NOT the worst in the last twenty years and certainly not in my living memory—I’m 64. We finished fourth or fifth in a league of 10 around 1990 or so. Wayne Biggins, Martin Hayes,Gary Gillespie, Tony Cascarino and so on. Last night the players were who I’d have picked but not the formation I would have gone for. I’d always have Griffiths in there somewhere. What we gonna do?
O.K. Let Deila play every team in the league—11 matches. That should give us some idea. If he fails by then, get David Moyes in. I want to like Deila and like some things he’s said. Maybe Paul Le Guen is better than the Mowbray comparison. Here’s an old bhoy’s advice to Ronny:
Gordon
Matthews/Denayer/Van Dijk/Mulgrew
Kayal/Bitton/Commons/McGregor
Griffiths/Stokes
Let the boys play and encourage them. Arm round the shoulder, boot up the arse, whatever works. Don’t think too much. It’s a simple game. Keep Dundee United match in mind. My god, that was football at its best.
League Treble?
Europa League: as far as we can go. At our best, we could win it. You heard it here first!
We can play every league game and every team and every cup with the same team in the same way. We do need to buy one game changer: someone who can unpack any defence. Someone tough and quick and maybe big. It’s too soon to send Ronny back to Norway. It’s way too soon to give up on this team. We are not good enough for Juve, Barcelona, Man City. It’s just as well we won’t play them. We are good enough for the Europa League.Forget Desmond and Lawwell for now. Skoosh coming back will also make a big difference.
My challenge to Ronny and the Bhoys. Win us a Treble, and win the Europa League, something even Henrik and Saint Martin couldn’t do.
1990 we had Bonner, Elliott, Grant, Whyte, Rogon, Galloway, Collins, McStay, Miller, Walker, Nicholas. How many would have walked into last nights team?
remember Alan Sneddon?
celtic 2 real Madrid 0
Wayne Biggins, Martin Hayes,Gary Gillespie, Tony Cascarino
good to see you are on the same wavelength as regards the shit we are comparing this bunch of wankers with. All of the above would walk into this team which is a *unit* of shite. These classless individuals played in teams with at least one decent player in the side. Any of that starting eleven yesterday would disgrace any team. Any team with effe ambrose in it can lose to anyone. Did anyone else see isaguire passing the ball to an opposition forward from the half way line only to be trumped by ambrose later with an even worse back pass directly to an opposition forward. This went on and on and on throughout the game. luckily for us we were playing a Slovenian gasworks eleven side or we could have been severly humped like we were in the last round.
utter utter utter shite and the worst team in the last 20 years if not living memory
. We are not good enough for Juve, Barcelona, Man City.
you forgot Maribor and legia wankoff
See that the young keeper FASAN has signed a pro contract
get him on the bench on sunday can,t be as bad as zaluska who was badly at fault in inverness for the goal
I don’t normally post but I think you need ot ask who is driving the signing policy here. Sounds like the CB are not too convinced either.
The reality is this the is the only way Celtic can go forward. We need a completely different culture and approach from top to bottom and that includes the fans.
Ronnie Delia should be backed this season and allowed to implement his ideas. What was Neil Lennon’s grand plan? Snodgrass @ £8m…. come on….celtic don’t have that money and never will again.
The market has been completely skewed by EPL and as a result Celtic have to look towards the future. They should have sent most of the overpaid professionals packing the minute Rangers got kicked out and started with youth.
The reality is the fans have no patience and knee jerk constantly.
If you re-read the last half a dozen diary entries…I rest my case.
If the Dundee United game is a glimpse of what Celtic might become then I for one think we need to back RD long term. If not him then certainly someone with the same ideas.
Fed up taking the short term, knee jerk attitude as we will not progress if we continue to flap every time it gets a bit tough.
Make the judgement when the guys has had a chance ….that way no hiding place.
What’s the worst case we don’t win the league. So what! Might be the best thing to happen to us.
ideas fall into two catagories
Well done deadbrain where wer you yesterday you wer missed with your words of encouragement for the team, no you wer sitting praying that the team would get beat so you could come and prattle away like the wee Jessie that you are strachan, Lennon & probable every other manager out you haven’t mentioned once who you would pick or what player should be approached,
I was disgusted with a lot of the support 5min into game & the first boos started it was attack this boot the ball up the park that & half time was a disgrace the boos wer terrible you could see the players looking at each other and not wanting to try anything cause the fans wer on there back even Gordon was getting it & he had next to nothing to do.
There manager has came out and said he knew celtic would attack cause the fans would want them to do it when we only had to pass the ball about like over there and control the game.
But the players we needed should have been in long before the start of the season don’t tell me that players don’t get the nod and asked would you like to play for such & such a team if not interested go to another player.
I dont normally comment on here but feel i have to.
I could not believe that Celtic supporters booed the team at half time with the score at 0-0. They might not have played well but were still well in the game.
Anybody that watched us in the champions league last year would know that our brand of football and level of performance were poor to say tje least.
Ronny Delia should be given the rest of the season at least to see how he develops the team.
As for anthony stokes, i was gutted when he signed a new contract last year.
I’m just fed up with the hole thing now. The hole fiasco stinks. Peter lawwel what are you doing man?. Do you even care?
Where’s pensionerbhoy? I need to know his thoughts!
Apart from the goalie and george o’the jungle leaving, this is the same squad who won the league by 20+ points last season. Has joan tit collins watched any Tic games in the last year or two? Travelled the 190 miles to Glasgow fae Elgin yesterday,don’t know when I’ll be back again.
Ronnie Cleasby could do a better job.
Pay peanuts you get monkeys.
Totally disagree with the diary today. As I have said on here many times before this situation was totally predictable. Why? Because the board are not interested in the football – only on the balance sheet. You’d think these guys would have the sense to appreciate the balance required to ensure both prosper sufficiently. Clearly not.
Total lack of investment in the first team has been the reason for this situation. It has been apparent for years now.
The destruction of the huns has been manna from heaven for the celtic board – keep feeding the fans the line about us ‘balancing the books’ and all that shite. If Celtic don’t have alot of cash and/or credit available then heads should roll.
The policy of signing loan players is deeply flawed. I don’t want them.
The manager has turned up at an ‘allegedly’ big club to find his players being fed grub ‘not fit for purpose’ and juice of the ‘fizzy’ variety, which is clearly unacceptable for top sportsmen. Shame on Neil Lennon and the celtic ‘sports’ department – truly breath-taking stuff.
The manager has made mistakes – they all do – even the best and most experienced.
If the players don’t like his new methods then they can all fuck off! Mulgrew was dreadful – likewise Johanssen and bombscare in defence. In fact, too many to mention. Hats off to the young fella and the goalie – that’s it. Stokes – dire.
I dont want us to sign anyone until next summer. Not a single player. Send all the loan guys back if possible. Let the manager sort out the squad and let him manage.
Anyway – fuck it.
Good luck Ronny – watch your back – Lawell’s about!
COYBIG
Lawwell has got to Sunday night to sell Virgil and Commans,if he doesn’t I’m sure he’ll MANAGE in January.
Cheer up you lot!
It could be worse!
If anyone knows how let me know.
You could be Luis Van Gaal Rab 😉
We could still be part of the UK in three weeks time.
You could be having breakfast with Deadhead67 in the morning…