I can;t be the only one tired of glancing at Celtic websites, or social media, who tries to read what might be an interesting or informative article only to be put off by little squares telling me how to get hold of things I would have already got if I’d wanted them.
It becomes tiresome, especially when those local girls who want to meet you tend not to be very local. Or even girls, for that matter.
Since the winter break, ( It must have been a winter break, because there’s no way the Nancy calisthenics and college football period really happened ) Celtic have regrouped and beaten Dundee United convincingly and Falkirk maybe not quite as convincingly, although the Bairns win over Hearts in the Cup yesterday suggests that the hoops deserve more credit for beating Falkirk than they’ve been given.
The Cup tie with Auchinleck Talbot tonight can be faced with a little more confidence rather than the screaming heebie jeebies it brought on when the draw was made, largely because the team are now playing grown up football, and have rediscovered the desire to win.
One of the reasons for that is the manager is saying publicly that the club needs to supplement the squad rather than the previous line which was something like “these players are shite, and they should be able to win games despite the obvious flaws in my system, ”
What isn’t going to help though, are the constant claims in social and mainstream media that pile more pressure on players who are only just regaining their confidence.
Yes, we do need more players in, we need that extra edge to compete for places. That’s how football works.
Alarmingly, though, we seem to be in a place where the idea is to sign any striker from anywhere, and pay whatever the selling club wants.
That’s not how to go about buying anything.
Over the river, a resurgent “rangers ” have allegedly spent big. What has been forgotten is that they are still trying to offload the players they spent big on last summer. The price of a player is no guarantee that he will be a success.
As we have seen.
And it could be argued that he divided the support, and his confidence suffered as well.
Some fans are even berating the club for missing out on Jocelin Ta Bi, as he chose Sunderland instead of Celtic, which is entirely up to him. Some fans need to realise that even landing at Glasgow airport on a cold , wet and windy January day is going to make it difficult to persuade them to move here. Sunderland, though not a real country, more a collection of concrete in north east England may well be just as unattractive for someone from warmer climes to live in, but the wages will be better, and that, at least, means he can put the heating on.
The mainstream media play their part as well, whipping the support into a frenzy as they tell us that Celtic have missed out another player that wasn’t even on the radar, and the support accordingly blames the board, and anyone else they can think of.
the simple truth is the board have realised they made a catastrophic mistake with Paul Tisdale. He’s gone, and so has the coaching team he brought in to, er, well, whatever he thought it would do.
And so has the list of targets for this transfer window. fortunately, the football quack wasn;t allowed to bring in any more dross, and now the grown ups are taking their time and doing things properly. the wosrt thing we can do is apply pressure along the lines of “something must be done, this is something, so let’s do it. ”
Yes, we are halfway through the transfer window, and yes, we have only brought in one right back, on loan.
But there is time yet, and a lot of the more desirable players will also be taking their time to make sure they make the right choices. They will hold back and wait to see what exactly is on offer, and where from.
It’s worth remembering that some players move early because they know that what is on the table is as good as it will get for them.
It’s worth remembering that very few players settle into and perform at a high level as soon as they join a new club.
Some of the nonsense around signing a striker before next weeks game at Tynecastle is exactly that, nonsense.
There were calls at one time for unity between the board and the manager, so that the club could move forward. We have that now.
How about some unity between the support and the players ?
That could work.
I think there is no doubt that we would have a better chance of winning against Hearts if we have a better striker than what we have fit at the moment. A centre half would be lovely too. If we don’t get them in and the board fail to support the manager then it’s going to be a long run in until May.
Sense at last. Enjoyable read
Great article
Never not been strong support for the players.
We can see their deficiencies but haven’t we always.
Not a game a player’s played where I wouldn’t have sold my granny to be any of them just once.
Ourselves alone.
Way too radical that idea.
Finally, a thoughtful, sensible article. Far too many click bait articles. It’s a shame to see, previously, interesting Celtic sites losing all credibility by turning into “we hate the board and will quote anyone who hates Celtic to support our conformation bias”. Goodness knows the Board need to be held to account but writing articles based on what the likes of Andy Haliday, Jim Whyte or Hugh Keevins have said? Really, is that the level now?
Utterly condescending.
Yes, there are some who seem to take great joy in berating players. Your inference about Idah would back that up.
But to say that the fans are not behind the players is really poor.
I expect better
Are the fans demonstrating support for the players by starting to leave en masse from 20 minutes before the end of games. This was especially noticeable in the Dundee United game. Martins first game back, a good display, two goals each half and a clean sheet; and still there they were 20 mins from end starting to leave. By the time the team were going round the pitch to acknowledge/receive the support there’s virtually nobody left in the ground. Why not get a campaign going to “stay for the ninety “.
We are toxic when it comes to transfer negotiations. Why would anyone want to even listen to what we are offering. We need to get in a slick negotiator that can get deals done. Unfortunately he would just be one of many capable professionals, we need at the club presently.
Caption competition- the Celtic board sit through yet another transfer window beneath their Harry Potter invisibility cloak.
Idahs goals won the league and Cup so he wasnt quite the disaster folk portray…theres been a lot more a lot worse
Was a time I eagerly waited for your articles now I rarely do, your sniping and snide know it all remarks just bore me now.
The failure to replace Kyogo and Khun through 2 transfer windows was totally inept. The battle between Rodgers and Key Board members was highlighted by BR at his press conferences by his whistling and tolling eyes, then he left.
That incensed DD who had brokered a truce after his previous exit. It seems Nicholson was key to this and BR always spoke highly of him so DD felt they had been both been let down. DD’s decision to go public was ill judged and disgraceful.
Tisdale was appointed in October 2024. Did he bring 1 good player to the club? Nancy was out of his depth, the points he cost us would have a very different league table today and a cup.
MoN has done brilliantly but the failure to invest in a striker prior to the key CL game blew the previous successful financial model out of the water, using the CL to attract good players to sell on.
I know we have been through this before but we are back to Sept. A good striker could save our season whatever the cost. DD should come out and say he will cover the Nancy outlay.