Every man and his dog is offering advice to the Celtic board, the Celtic manager and the Celtic players. If someone doesn’t get a grip soon, the whole lot will explode and we’re going to be sitting round discussing what we should have done.

We all have our own ideas.

But for the moment at least, the only thoughts that matter are those of the manager.

‘I look at everything, ‘There are three things (that are) important – first is physical and second its mental stress.

‘Everything is affected but the mental things can be affected more. You train and then when you stop training you can lie on your couch with your feet up so you can rebuild your body.

‘If you think about other things 24/7 then it’s about getting positive thoughts, thoughts you can do something about.

‘Not about if you will win the league, if you will play, if the fans will get after you.

‘You can’t do anything about that and you have to keep your mind away from those things.

He may have a point. The players, especially the new boys, cannot handle what has become unrelenting pressure, and the one’s he maybe thought he could rely on are shirking their responsibilities. 

Yesterday, for instance, on the back of a dreadful performance against Dundee, it was left to Patrick Roberts, the loan siging from Manchester City, who must have wished he had kept his hand down when the biannual “who fancies a crack at Scottish football ? ” was asked in the Etihad dressing room.

“This is the biggest club in Scotland so there’s going to be pressure to win every game, which is normal and what I expected. It’s why I came here.

“It was good to get a first start and get the full 90 minutes, although it was disappointing not to win the game.

“You can feel the fans’ frustration because we feel it on the pitch as well, but we need to pick ourselves back up and get playing the way we were earlier in the season.

“We need to stick together, not letting our heads go down and just concentrate on the next game.” 

The last line could be very telling, as it may imply a split in the dressing room. Yet overall, what he says is perfectly sound, and extremely simple when you think about it.

Get on with the job and stop bloody blaming everyone else.

Some months ago, when Celtic exited Europe’s premier competition, Stefan Johansen went on record as saying that it was a bit of a disappointment. As champions League football is a major selling point for the club when it comes to foreign and established players, the zest went out of their games knowing that a “real challenge ” wasn’t going to be there. The Europa League isn’t the same for players either, despite being drawn in a group which contained a couple of big names.

Then we had the three players, alleged to be Commons, Stokes and Mulgrew who were hauled in after some sort of players revolt, which was never really quelled.

Commons’s rant, aimed at Collins and not Deila, may also have let slip a little more about what is really going on.

One criticism aimed at the manager is a lack of strength in dealing with players. At this point, he should have stopped the tail from wagging the dog. If players weren’t going to do it his way, they should have been removed in January. At the time, the diary noted that this laissez faire approach could well cost him his job.

We appear to be edging towards that scenario, and indeed , if reports are to be believed , then Martin o’Neill is already lined up to take over.

Yet one of the stories about O’Neill concerns Charlie Mulgrew reminiscing in the dressing room. One of the main antagonists, allegedly, openly talking about the good old days. Subtle and sleekit undermining of the manager.

What we now see is a manager under pressure, despite, and this is crucial, a four point lead at the top of the table.

“Thats not enough, it should be more ! ” cry his opponents.

Like last year, presumably ? When after twenty eight games the table looked like this…

Celtic are down three points, and Aberdeen down one.

The fury whipped up by disgruntled supporters and happily seized on by the press could yet backfire.

Unless we all stop the moaning until at least the summer.

But as Deila is the man in the position to help allay the fears , he must be decisive and do what he is paid to do.

He must manage.

To my mind, he needs to question the attitude of some of his senior players. To his however, it’s a different story.

‘No-one tells me that Scott Brown or Charlie Mulgrew does not give 100 per cent. They may have been half a metre too late but it’s because they are drained and that’s what we have to turn around.’

Astonishing. I would give one hundred per cent, but I too, would perhaps be half a metre late. The trick is to pick someone who would get there half a metre early. If Brown and Mulgrew are drained, then they shouldn’t be starting.

There are young players, Deila’s own sigings , straining at the leash to get onto that pitch. Players who might even know what it means to wear that jersey, and they should be given a chance. Over the last few weeks, on the park, the senior players have let us down, and yesterday, not one of them had the balls to come out and admit it.

So if they won’t admit it, does that mean they don’t accept it ?

Are there possibly players, senior players, in that squad who can look at themselves and say that they are doing their bit ? If so, then there is a deeper problem than we first thought.

In my line of work, i’ve had to deal with people who blame others for their own deficiences, and the first thing I do is tell them I know exactly what is wrong, and then take to the car and ask them to look into the rear view mirror.

That, more often than not, will show them the problem.

Ronny, however, may need a bigger car.

Winning the fans over is a different proposition. For many it’s already too late. The results we can put up with, but this “Celtic Way ” of playing is a neccessity, despite it being more in our minds than actually a regular occurrence on the pitch.

With ten league games and a possible further three in the Cup, will they prove to be an unlucky thirteen for the Norwegian ?

Not if he has his way;

‘The fans come with performances. The last three matches now haven’t been at the level we want but we had a good spell in January and now we haven’t played at the level we want.

‘So then of course there are a lot of emotions, and that’s not only for the fans it’s also inside our group. We need to just keep on working hard and stay together as a group and I know also the fans will stay together with us because we are Celtic, and when we get good performances we will get back on track again.

‘It’s nothing about the attitude. The boys really, really want it. Nobody goes out in front of 40,000 people and wants to play badly or is lazy, especially in the situation we are in.

‘The players really want it but lately we haven’t played at the level we’ve wanted. It’s small details that we have to do better. I know we’re going to get there, it’s just about turning it around as quickly as possible. We’re still in a good situation in the league but our performances need to be better.’

He’s right, but what will he do about it ?

If, indeed, he gets the chance ? How’s he dealing with the pressure that appears to have crushed his most experienced players ?

‘I speak with Peter (Lawwell) every day so that’s nothing new Everybody in the club knows what situation we are in and how we are performing.

‘There’s pressure on everybody. Everybody is also quite experienced and knows how to do it.

‘Now we have to show how we turn it around. Of course. I believe in what I’m doing. This team has played very well under me.

‘Now we are in a period where we are not playing very good but we have to get back to the things we did before. It’s about improvement – it’s not about change.

‘We just have to keep winning games and performing. 

Thats the size of it.

‘It’s true that if Aberdeen win every game and we slip up they are champions but it’s also true that if we win our games we are champions.’

Er, there wasn’t really any need to add that. To my mind it shows he is worrying about aberdeen, and in fact he should be concentrating on our side, and getting the team playing the way they can. Everything depends on this.

Aberdeen, of course, can smell fear. They’ve added to their own impetus by offering the players a little incentive, taking their lead from a similar offer given to nigerian players which spurred them on to African Nations glory…

Of course, several players failed to see the attraction, so the offer was improved.

As it stands, Morton are next up.

Maybe we should get behind the side.

Deila Out banners, bedsheets and booing  isn’t going to help the team.

We are Celtic supporters. And the club needs us right now.

Away from all that, it appears that the Daily Record, who offer a “Celtic blogger ” and a “Rangers blogger ” in an attempt to appear all modern, suffered a wee bit of embarassment yesterday when the representative of the dark side allowed his own feelings to run away with him, much like the spivs ran away with his money, to be fair.

which was later altered to…

Even more worryingly, look at the size of that arrow coming out of Keith Jacksons mouth. no wonder his colleague is looking worried.

Speaking of the Record, often criticised on this page, we have to say well done and credit where credit is due for todays headline, as it seems they have finally worked out exactly what is wrong with Scottish football.

Yes, he is.

Now , how about a campaign to get him out of there ?

Speaking of the beaks, Dedryck Boyata got the result of his appeal..

Disciplinary outcome: Dedryck Boyata (Celtic)

Thursday, 03 March 2016

A Disciplinary Tribunal convened today in accordance with the Judicial Panel Protocol to consider the following case:

Player: Dedryck Boyata (Celtic)
Match: Hamilton v Celtic (SPFL Premiership) – 26 February 2016
Case: Claim of Wrongful Dismissal (Denying the opposing team a goal or an obvious goal scoring opportunity)
Outcome: Claim dismissed. One-match suspension applied (SPFL Premiership).

Well, it must be said right now we need a hero, and this leaves the way clear for him….

Cometh the hour, cometh the man….

When a team is missing heart and soul,

 it needs a man like Efe.

Which reminds me, we need a caption competition, and for some reason, as regular readers may remember, when I think of Efe, I think of this picture… taken when he got tired after a cross country run.

Which makes a re-appearance as todays caption competition, in a probably futile attempt to put a smile back on our faces, if only for a moment.