Celtic Diary Tuesday February 9: And Now, The Solution

Well, in a minute or two.

First , though, there’s the Scottish Cup draw. both of them.

Initially, Celtic were drawn to face Andy Murray in the quarter finals, but those sharp eyed chaps at the SFA noticed that something was wrong when the hot ball melted and burst open, and as that meant Second rangers could be forced into an away game, they had to do it all over again.

This time , Celtic drew a home tie against Morton, who haven’t beaten the Celts since the last time they played them in the Cup, and happily for all concerned , Second Rangers got their traditional home tie, this time against the winners of the dumbarton -dundee game. If they can overcome Kilmarnock at rugby Park that is, after the plucky new club held the Ayrshire full timers to a draw at Ibrox.

An Ibrox which, interestingly, had the top tier of a stand closed for safety reasons, presumably because there was a real fear supporters would jump off if the new club failed to progress.

William Hills betting for the tournament makes for interesting reading;

Celtic 8/15

Rangers 9/1

Hearts 10/1

Hibs 12/1

Ross County 12/1

Inverness 14/1

Dundee 16/1

Dundee United 20/1

Kilmarnock 25/1

Dumbarton 500/1

Morton 750/1

A club that has never won a major trophy, managed by a manager who has never won a major trophy, featuring no current internationals, is second favourite. 

Crowds at Dumbarton gathered to show what they think of the new club;

Mind you, the word “William ” features in the name of the company-or is it club?-so that may explain things.

john Brown, who used to play for the original club from ibrox, clearly hasn’t noticed what happened to them, paid tribute to the tribute act when he ignored reality and rued the fact that Celtic were not facing Second Rangers:

“If there was a time you wanted to get Celtic it would probably be now.

“I was at the East Kilbride game and I know it’s hard for Celtic because it’s a no-win for them because people are expecting double figures – but I just felt they were lacking something.

“I don’t know if it’s just on the back of the two defeats and pressure building up on the manager. That soon builds up too.

“I honestly felt Celtic put out a decent team on Sunday and you could see with the conditions and everything else that they weren’t firing on full cylinders.

“I think the the gap would be less than it was last year. It’s a totally different squad.

“I would take the best team in Scotland at the moment to test the manager and the squad, to say ‘ this is what we really need’ or ‘That group of players can take us on if we get into the Premiership’. It’s building up for having a strong enough squad to compete if Rangers go up.”

Brown speaking publicly is a tough act to follow , and I have to admit, I couldn’t follow a fucking word of that. 

The SFA have proved that even the simple task of pulling some balls out of a bowl is beyond them these days, and once we sort the problems out at our own club, surely its time to focus on that lot and put together some sort of petition to remove them…

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, and Ronny Deila has decided to ignore the issues concerning many Celtic supporters with yet another one of his deep and insightful statements;

“It can be tough sometimes, I will say that, It has not been an easy week but always you have to be prepared to go again. No-one likes to be criticised but I am a strong person and I can deal with it.

“My escape is football. The training ground, talking with the coaches I trust and working always to try to improve. If you were to listen to everything that people said about you then you would never get anywhere.

“You have to trust yourself, trust those around you.”

Has he even noticed that Aberdeen beat St. Johnstone and drew level on points at the top of the table-albeit having played a game more ?

“I saw the score but I think we have to look after ourselves.

“I do not control what might happen in the games with Aberdeen but I can influence what happens with Celtic and this is a league that is in our own hands.

“We have the chance here to go on and win the league and the Scottish Cup and that is what I am trying to do.

“There are 14 games left to play in the league and our aim now is to get through them without losing any more points.

“That is always the aim but we do not want to get too far ahead of ourselves – it is all about the here and now.

“Over the next few weeks we have home games to Ross County and Inverness and we would like to try and press on. They are difficult games but we are at home and I hope that we can go forward.” 

“We have to be together, The players have to feel free when they go on the pitch and the pressure on me is no problem. It’s also very important everyone stands behind the players when they go on the pitch.

“We cannot move forward if we are not together. We have some home games now and hopefully that we can use them to put ourselves in a good position.”  

After three days of looking at the problems facing the club, we can now move to the solution.

What I have tried to do is to look at the issues from a number of different standpoints, and tried not to allow personal felings or bias to interfere with the conclusions.

One of the solutions may surprise you, so we’ll move deal with that first.

I’ve ,mentioned that players read the papers, and that management need to be very careful what they say in public. Some of the stories eminating from Celtic Park have been embarassing, no more than that, they’ve been mortifying.

It would be unfair to blame the PR department for, say , Calum MacGregors drink driving, or Leigh Griffiths singing songs, or James Forrest and his alleged willy waving, or Scott Brown’s pause for breath against a wall in the town centre,

Or Anthony Stokes for punching an Elvis impersonator, or four of the players running up a five grand bar bill in a London nightclub after a defeat back in December.

Five Grand ?

Fucking Hell, they even drink like part timers.

But its the PR departments job to deal with these stories, and its not the first time they’ve failed miserably.

First things first, sack the entire department. Recemtly everyone from the board, the manager, and the players has taken their turn in dragging the clubs name through the mud.

Whoever does the PR isn’t , er,  doing it, so get him out of there, and get someone in who knows how to deal with the media. Failijg that, get someone in who has the balls to stand up to and the nous to manipulate the fourth estate.

But, of course, you cannot blame the PR department for the several indiscretions we have seen of late.

The players are behaving like kids who have the house for the weekend when mum and dad are away for the weekend. And the damage they are doing is along the same lines.

Who is in charge here ?

Really ?

It may be that Ronny is allowing them to function as adults. allowing them to make their own decisions. Carlton Cole, for instance, was apparently brought in to add character to the dressing room. He did this , according to the Sun, by loading a private plane with impressionable youngsters and flying to London to go on the piss.

Simultaneously taking the piss out of Celtic.

When the sackings start, and they should, he’d be the first out the door.

Scott Brown was allowed to let off steam a while ago, and was found collapsed, with his kebab in his hand, suitably refreshed.

Fair enough, we all need a blow out, and at the time, I figured that was fair enough.

but as stories emerge, it seems like his influence has carried on off the pitch as well.

Calum MacGregor forgot the golden rule where drinking and driving is concerned. Don’t do it. Don’t even risk it, as the consequences, even if no-one gets hurt, are simply not worth it.

And if someone does get hurt….

This incident more than any other surprises and alarms me.

My generation would think nothing of a couple of beers before driving. Not that I’m condoning it or advocating it, but years ago it was the norm.Thats why the limit is now roughly the equivalent of half a pack of wine gums , as it should be. The younger generation have a different mindset, and it wouldn’t even enter the heads of most of them to take the car on a night out. Thats why i’m disappointed with MacGregor, and wonder if there’s more to it than a daft wee boy not watching what he’s doing.

You’ll notice that all the above incidents are linked to the drink.

You’ll remember that Ronny Deila was big on fitness and diet when he arrived.

You’ll notice that the players are not as fit as they should be

You’ll notice that all the above incidents are linked to drink.

Oh,I already said that.

Is this indicative of a larger problem within the club ?

Its certainly a sign that Deila has lost at the least a degree of control over the players. We’ve had some legendary drinkers at the club in the past, but this is different. This appears to be more than a few lads occasionally on the beer.

A private plane to London.

Deila has no chance of controlling the players if all they are thinking about is getting on a plane and hitting the nightclubs.

It could be a sign he has chucked it.

I think , all things considered, that he has had enough of the media, enough of the support-or lack of it-and, as a result, doesn’t really give a toss what happens next.

His touchline stance, which is the style of a manager who wants his players to make their own decisions , is becoming more that of a man who is wondering if he left the deep fat fryer on, and his after match comments are more that of a man who has somewhere else to be.

Its not that he can’t do the job, he can, he’sproved that in the past. Its that he seems to have decided he doesn’t want to.

Some of you may feel i’m making excuses for him here, but I’m not.

His body language now tells us he’s tired. . History will record what has happened behind closed doors when someone decides to tell us, but the enthusiasm has gone.

For whatever reason, despite his claims to the contrary, he’s not bothered any more.

If he has chucked it, and I really think he has, then he must do the decent thing and resign. Not this week, but this afternoon.

Then what.

We are aware that another management team has been approached. We’ll run it past the legal people and then let you know who later today.

At the moment we’re checking the story.

Yes, we do actually check them.

However, that won’t happen yet. you’ll understand why later.

For now, we need to concern ourselves with the League and Cup double ahead.

Scott Brown made a statement the other day, ( Feb 4 ) which, although it was meant to reassure us, did exactly the opposite.

“There is always a title race. But at the end of the day we will win the league again.

“Am I certain? Yes. Aberdeen will fight us all the way to the end of the season, but we are three points clear and we know what we need to do and we know how to do it.”

We’re not three points clear any more. You get the feeling the above statement would be altered merely to say we have a game in hand… 

Control of events is  running away from Deila.

Time’s up, I’m afraid. And the players know it as well.

Unless he can rally the troops and get back to the way things were twelve months ago. Except he , too , will know that the club have already decided to replace him.

All of this will become clear later, but for now it’s time to bring someone in , short term, to steady the ship. The fifth consecutive title is important, and cannot be allowed to slip away.

The problem, of course, is who ?

Who would take the job short term.

Who would be strong enough to command the respect of players and get them working again in the knowledge that he won’t be around next season ?

In all seriousness, Gordon Strachan isn’t doing anything. Asking him to help out for a few months is quite a sensible idea.

It would benefit him, in that he would get a chance to work with the young Scots on the books, and that can only benefit the national squad.

More importantly, the players would respond to him, and the club would get a much needed lift.

As for the new guy, you’ll have to wait until later on , for the Rumour Mill Special edition.

As soon as we get clearance from our man…

By the way, have you seen this video ?

Granted, these pair are no Colin Kazim Richards or Dedryvk Boyata , but I’d take a punt on them.

Selkirk were the team in the picture yesterday, correctly spotted by Selkirk Celt,

today, we return to that old maxim, the caption competition… with a picture of Celtic substitutes warming up t half time-well, they had their jackets on- but we’d like to know what they were talking about..

Finally, I’d just like to say well done to Liverpool fans who walked out on the 77th minute in protest at ticket prices being hiked to £77 to watch their team. It’s about time that someone made a stand.

We hear, however, to prevent such a protest taking place at Celtic Park, Peter Lawwell is taking swift , decisive action, and will announce our most expensive tickets will cost £95