Celtic Diary Thursday August 28: Where Do We Go From Here ?

The Champions League is over for twelve months. No amount of finger pointing, whinging or constructive criticism is going to change that. All of Maribors players were correctly registered and we just have to endure the delight on our rivals faces when they think of our disappointment and  failure-not once, but twice.

What is important now is how the players, the management and the board deal with the situation they have combined to leave us with.

And it is a combination of the three.

Lets start with the board, who have some rigorous soul searching to do. Their policy of downsizing has made the club financially stable, but they appear to have forgotten that the business end is there to ensure success for the team, and not the other way round.

Peter Lawwell needs to speak openly and honestly to the support. We hear that he is currently choosing between a couple of speeches to give, and is still unsure which way to go with it.

We’ve got hold of one of them. And we would like to think this is the one he would go for.

” As you know, the club is in the best financial condition it has ever been in. We feel that it has been our mistake to attempt to attain success on the field, however, by consistently failing to replace the quality we have allowed to leave. 

We, the directors, are hurting just as much as you are today, and we have decided that we are going to do something about it.  We will release the funds needed to ensure that the recent disastrous European campaign will never be repeated, and to help the manager , who we feel we have let down a little thus far, and make sure that we compete to our full potential in the upcoming Europa League campaign. 

 We feel that if we fail to do that, it would be unfair to ask you to continue to support us with the passion and fervour that you have done for so many, many years. Although we do ask that if we do this, you continue to give your backing, and to be patient with,  to our new manager, Ronny Deila, and his staff, and allow him to create the vision that he has outlined, and the style of football that we know you all would like to see at Celtic Park. 

This is a time for healing, a time to remember what brings us together, and not what drives us apart. We will do what is necessary, and we will strengthen the club with players of a similar quality, or at the very least, potentially similar quality, and then we can begin the long road back to our rightful position at the top table of European football. 

All we ask in return is for your patience and support. ” 

Whether or not he chooses that one, is of course , up to him. He might not, of course, but thats probably because I only just wrote it.

But if I were to offer him advice, thats exactly what I would ask him to do. And then back it up with action.

Secondly, the management.

Theres no doubt Deila has a vision. Theres no doubt that, as we have seen against Dundee Utd, when it clicks, it is very, very good. However, when it doesn’t, conversely , it’s very very bad.

But change takes time. The players, thrown out of their comfort zone, are either largely unable to accept and implement his ideas, or unwilling.

If its the former, it will be a huge test of his management and communication skills. He has to be allowed the time to bully, cajole or encourage them to understand and change their ways, which if stories are to be believed, is required both on and off the field.

More importantly, however, in the transitional period, he must listen to and accept ideas from his senior players. Those who arguably understand the club and their team mates a little better than he does.

Perhaps , with hindsight, he has accepted it was a mistake to leave out Kris Commons for the best part of the Maribor tie. He is our top scorer, he is our most creative player. He wasn’t bought to provide cover for the midfield, he isn’t in the team to run back and help the full backs.

Now, it could be argued that he is too slow for Europe, but again, thats not why he is in the team. He scores goals, and he makes them. The lift the team got at the start of the second half on Tuesday night was glaringly obvious. It was because the others know he will score goals. They know he will create chances, and they feel more confident when he is around. That confidence is not apparent when Jo Inge Berget is in the line up.

There was one image that is still in my mind from Tuesday, which has a disgusted Virgil van Dijk looking down at Berget after he has fell on his arse again. If a picture could sum up the whole scenario in the dressing room right now, it’s that one.

It’s common knowledge that Deila wasn’t the first choice, he wasn’t even in the top five. Larsson, Moyes, Keane , apparently even Dan Petrescu, Stuart Baxter and Ricky Tomlinson were supposed to have been offered the job. But he’s here now, and the least we could do is demand the board get behind him, the players get behind him, and however painful it feels right now, we get behind him.

But what does he do next ?

May I suggest he calls all the players in for a meeting this afternoon, after training ?

Then he simply walks to the door of the room, opens it, and tells the gathered squad that anyone who doesn’t want to play for Celtic should leave and find themselves another club.

It appears that Virgil van Dijk will be out of the room before he finishes the question, he has told Dutch TV that he wants to compete at the highest level, and it seems someone has told him that can be found in  Sunderland, which will disappoint him when he finds out it’s not actually a country where gold rushes straight out of the river into your hands, the women don’t charge for an evening out and Europe is simply a place where they go for their holidays. It is , in fact, a rather  desolate place on the east coast of England where flowers die shortly after you plant them.

According to one report, Kris Commons will be quitting the club as well, in disgust at not being selected to start against Maribor. This is because he was the first to leave the ground on Tuesday. Actually, Commons is the first to go home after every game, but lets not allow the facts to take away from the shock headline.

The reason for this ” leave if you want to ” policy is that the manager needs to get right back to basics, and the most basic requirement of all is that the players want to play for the club.

If they don’t, then they are of no use to anyone.

Then, after what might actually be a mass exit, but might also shake them out of their trance, the players should be told that they got us into this mess, so they should get us out of it. If they cannot, they will be replaced by younger, hungrier reserves, who will be given a run in the team to show what they can do, as opposed to a few minutes here and there.

In January, when it will have become apparent where the team is short, Deila can then go into Lawwells office, with his copy of the above speech, and ask for the funds to be released, and he can then consult with the scouts, he can listen to their advice and opinions , but he alone must make the final decisions.

That way, he will stand or fall by his own hand. And at least he will know -and we will know, that he has given it his best shot.

Thirdly, the players, where do they go from here ?

Well, hopefully, nowhere. But if their heads have been turned, then their eyes  are  not on the task ahead. So let them go if they want to.

But those who remain must accept their share of the blame for the season so far. They must be honest enough to admit where they are going wrong, and ask for help. They must admit their weaknesses, and work on them. But in the meantime, they must be bold enough to ask to play to their strengths. Do what they are good at, whilst improving that which they are not.

Finally, the support.

What do we do now ?

We are the ones who must go to work and endure the mockery. We are the ones who must justify to our wives and families that spending all our money just to be in a foul mood is actually worth it. We are the ones who are niggly with the kids, unattentive to the wives and downright hostile to the dog. It’s a pecking order thing in our house-The wife shouts at the kids, the kids shout at me, I shout at the dog and he bites me.

For us its an emotional investment as well as financial. We have the butterflies before the big games, we have the tears or laughter afterwards. It could be that we don’t want to care, but we do. We can’t help it.

We love Celtic, and right now, as with any other loved one, when someone is hurting it, we are angry.

But , we must continue to support the club. Otherwise the downward spiral will continue.

Except it must no longer be unconditional love. We want something back.

We can accept that financially we cannot compete with other.wealthier sides. So we must not try to. We must sell what we have to prospective players, and not dwell on what we don’t have, or cannot have.

It’s harder to find players who can buy into the club than it is to simply pay them obscene amounts of money. But that doesn’t mean we should not try.

The support should make it clear that the current policy of downsizing is unacceptable. If steps are not made to put it right, then we will have to consider our own position, and attempt to put it right ourselves. But thats for another day.

Lets see what the board, the management and the players can do first.

Who knows ?

One day we might look back and laugh at all this.

Peter Lawwell is not stupid. In fact, he’s a lot sharper than what he’s given credit for.

All he needs to do is show he sees the problems, and is actively doing something about them.

We’ve been through worse, although we all though we’d never have to go through anything as bad as this.

And it’s time to sort it out.