Celtic Diary Friday May 7: The Players Who Played Us

It may be, and it almost certainly is,  that the board had decided they didn’t want to spend any of the clubs money in retaining the high standards on and off the field, or maybe even improving them.

It may be, and it almost certainly is,   that the board have colluded with the new club/company at Ibrox to ensure that there is a club/company operating out of that place.

It may be, and it almost certainly is,  that to ensure that the board have put the best interests of the shareholders to one side, or possible that they genuinely believe that by perpetuating the same club myth they actually are acting in those interests.

In fact, they may almost certainly have made decisions amounting to gross negligence over the years that played an enormous part in the catastrophic decline that has taken place over the last couple of years….but they don’t put on their boots and take to the field on match day.

The core of the business, results, is delegated to fit, well, mostly, young men, well, mostly, who have shown a level of skill in their chosen profession that had elevated them to a position at a club that had previously won twelve consecutive trophies domestically.

And no matter how you dress it up, they failed , as a unit, when it came to doing their jobs.

We have three goalkeepers in the first team squad. They all had a crack at making the jersey their own this season, and none of them could show the consistency or desire needed.

And lets be honest, none of them inspired confidence as they took it in turns to fling one into the net to liven things up.

Bain Barkas and Hazard.  there’s a one liner there somewhere using those words that sum it all up.

A failure to pick one of them and stick with him , and establishing a proper pecking order has meant all three are not only unsure of who holds the jersey, but have been banned from carrying the coffee back to their table at the Lennoxtoen cafe.

We could argue that they never had a settled defence in front of them, and that the defences they had were sub standard and error prone, but their job is to organise and control that defence, which none of them did.

By not imposing their personality or authority, they added to the confusion.

Frankly, if we sold all three of them and played a sort of backie in -closest to the goal become goalie-set up, we’d probably do much better.

The defence, if I may call it that, has been little more than shambolic, it never operated as a cohesive unit at any point in any game all season. Personnel changes won;t have helped, but with three positions often filled by loannees -Kenny, Laxalt and Duffy, it’s hardly surprising.

Whilst it can be down to coaching, surely at some point the players could have taken the initiative and tried to stop the other team from scoring ?

They could have picked up a man each, or a zone, or even just predicted where the ball was going and make sure one of them was there to meet it.

Instead, they just got in each others way, and looked around befuddled when whichever goalkeeper was on duty picked the ball out of the net.

Of all the defenders we havem, only Stephen Welsh and perhaps Greg Taylor  come out of it with any credit, and their development will only be stunted as there is no one to help them settle in the team.

We don’t have a single experienced and reliable centre half, we have no one willling to impose their personality and authority in the area, and playing midfielders, such as Ajer and Biton, in that position is reminiscent of the days of Brian O’Neil and Tom McAdam.

Yes, they all do okay, but they aren’t defenders. they’re players who did reasonably well every now and again and somehow that meant they were happy to get a game and everyone else was happy that money could be saved.

Keep Taylor and Welsh, the rest can go…although Ajer i’d try as a midfielder. Largely because thats what he is.

And no more loannees. Defenders need trust , understanding and consistency. you can’t get that immediately, and there is no incentive to develop it when you know the loannee is away in a few months.

And if he’s on considerably more money, that isn’t going to help either.

In the past we’ve had defenders that were average, but their hearts and desire were far far stronger, and that led to a meanness and pragmatism that has been missing this season.

And that guile needed to be a wee bit flexible where the rules are concerned has been non existent, but you have to expect that when you have no experienced defenders.

Then there’s the middle of the park, where Celtic have talent in abundance and Scott Brown, the seasoned warhorse who leads by example.

However, they also have Calum McGregor, who left Celtic a while ago, Ryan Christie who thinks he;s bobby charlton but will prbbaly end up at Charlton, and David Turnbull, who can play, wants to play and is effective when he does. but i’m not sure he;s one hundred per cent after his operation, and therefore we may be storing up a wee bit of trouble here.

Lets face it, the medical side of Celtic is not great, and players who have left, Keiran tierney, for example, have spoken of the contrast elsewhere, and how injuries are treated proeprly, with the appropriate rest and recuperation.

At Celtic, you get the feeling that some players get their boots and shorts sent straight to their hospital room for when they can stand up unaided again..

Again, there has been little consistency of selection in this area, and again, no one has dominated the game and directed traffic-except probably sideways- with any sense of purpose.

Scott Brown, on whom the team had relied on, and with great success, over the years, was a little more subdued than he has been, and no one stood up to help him out.

Great teams help eahc other out when things are going badly, and one aspect of Celtic this season has been that no one wanted to take responsibility.

A fact that becomes even more bewildering when you remember there were no fans at games to shout at them…althpugh there were more than a few on social media who vented their anger, which was gleefully picked up by the media, and then read by the players, who seemed to shrink into their shells even more as the games flew by.

The forwards are an unusual bunch, for me the owrst moment of the season was when i realised that we;d actually bought Alben Ajeti , and couldn’t send him back.

Oddsone Edoaurd, a flawed character when he joined from PSG, came apart at the seams as it became obvious he wanted to be elsewhere, and Leigh Griffiths…dear god, if ever a player made a complete arse of a golden opportunity to be a bona fide legend, it’s him.

Patrick Klimala, nicknamed the Tank by team mates in pre season training, showed effort and enterprise, reminding us of john Hartsons strength and the mobility of Henrik Larsson, but that sort of effort wasn’t condoned by team mates, and if you look carefully you’ll see he was largely ignored by them on the pitch….

In summary, very few players played with their hearts this season, Taylor, Welsh, Turnbull, Forrest, when fit, or at least when they told him he was fit, perhaps a few others , such as Christie, and yes, Duffy, tried too hard, but overall should any of them be sold, then i don’t think we’ll miss any of them.

In fact, the club should acknowledge this and when it comes to the awards this year, this guy should sweep the board…

He’s loyal, reliable, faithful and got a lovely shiny coat.

As for the players, they let themselves down.

Managers, directors, coaches, fans, they can all share a wee bit of blame, but ultimately, they neither score or prevent goals.

And goals are what the game is all about.

You’ll notice I mentioned fans there….thats right…you’re getting it next.