<\/p>\n
Refreshed and invogorsted from his break in the old country, el cormaco returns with some food for thought.<\/p>\n
Thoughts form a sofa 3<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cwalk on, walk on, with hope in your heart\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Every Celtic fan will know these words well, and will at some stage have sung these words mournfully, at other times in celebration.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Right now I m finding it hard to relate to them, the hope in my heart has all but gone.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Tuesday night was a huge disappointment no doubt, but it got me thinking on my sofa about what Celtic is in today\u2019s football world and where we go from here.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
It is hard to see hope when our business model now is based entirely on being a selling club, finding \u201cprojects\u201d, polishing them up and then selling them on for a profit.\u00a0 Wanyama, Forster, Hooper, Mc Geady, Ki are the best examples of when this model works, and soon Van Dijk, then Bitton \/ Johannsen\/ Forrest. When one of our players now goes on a geat run of form I don\u2019t get exited for what tey are going to do for Celtic in the coming seasons but wonder how much we can sell him for.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
For every success there is a Pukki, Balde, Bangura, Boeerrigiter \u2013 a punt that backfires and sees us lose money on players just to get them off the books.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
To be clear, I understand why the board follows this model and I broadly support it. It does however kill hope in the heart \u2013 \u201csuccess\u201d i.e. reaching the CL group stage obviously generates money for the club in the short term but also in the medium term as these projects play on a bigger stage and add \u00a3 to their transfer value. Any player in our squad is available and all we can hope to do is stand still \u2013 imagine how much better our team could have played on Tuesday with a midfield of Wanyama, Ledley, Ki, but of course all these players are long gone, sold to maintain the financial position of the club, and their replacements are in my opinion in every case inferior. So success is not really on the field success, but financial, maintaining a position as Scotland\u2019s pre eminent club and keeping shareholders happy<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
We are in a situation of ever decreasing circles \u2013 fail to qualify for CL group stage, sell players to make up the shortfall, bring in cheaper replacements hoping they can develop and get up to the level of their predecessors, see them fail and so another batch of players sold on. It gets to the point though were the replacements are not wanted by other clubs for large fees \u2013 Commons, Armstrong, GMS, and so we are left with a weaker squad and less finance with which to improve it.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
To look for a moment at Tuesday itself, I think we can all agree where to point the finger:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The board for continual downsizing, corner cutting, finger crossing and general apathy towards the hopes and dreams of the fans. For taking for granted the devotion of the fans, and slowly eroding the hope that lives in our hearts. For failing to invest in glaring weaknesses in the team \u2013 full backs (both sides), centre half, creative midfielder, physically imposing striker.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The manager for getting what he asked for in terms of the pre season planning, but failing so far in my opinion to develop any viable plan B or to address our basic problems with defending set pieces, and failing seemingly to get the players up for such a huge game. Personally I am beginning to doubt in the Ronnie revolution \u2013 where was this super fit team to dominate possession with incisive passing? Would Lennon\u2019s Celtic have allowed three goals from corners over two such important games? Ronnie talks a good game no doubt, and talks often about learning lessons, when are we to see the evidence of this learning? Having gone 2-0 up in the tie, a good, mature, well drilled team would have managed the tie from there on in, ensuring a relatively stress free progression. Celtic? We shat it, pure and simple.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The players for failing to play any where near as well in the second leg as they had done in the home leg, showing little desire or ability to get on the ball and open Malmo up. The goal Griffiths scored after a couple of minutes in the first leg was beautiful thing, quick incisive passing opening up the opponent before a calm finish, the very essence of what Ronnie has been talking about. But to fail to create another move any where close to that level for the remaining 180 minutes of the tie is an indictment of their heart, belief and ability. Did anyone with 20 minutes to go believe we were about to mount a siege on the Malmo goal to get back into the tie? Is Griffiths really viable at this level in away games when some form of physical presence is required to help the team get up the pitch? Is Charlie Mulgrew a viable left back? Boyata hasn\u2019t been here long but the initial signs aren\u2019t too good. Someone (sorry, cant remember who) talked about Johannsen as a plastic hard man the other day, a perfect description of his play of late, all posturing and pointing while under hitting obvious passes with outside of his foot.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
All elements of the club \u2013 board, manager, players have work to do to restore faith and belief, but I think we the fans now sadly recognise that we are not a CL level club at this time, what is more depressing is trying to identify how we can become one again:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
This year the bottom team in the EPL will receive \u00a399m, last year across the summer and winter transfer windows \u00a3835m was spent in transfer fees in the EPL. How can Celtic possibly hope to compete? Is modern football now a bogey, a closed shop for the rich elite clubs with an ever widening financial gap that Celtic can only look on at enviously? Can the balance be redressed, and if so how?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
With the draw out for Europa league, its got some good level teams, I don\u2019t believe we\u2019ll qualify from that group ahead of Ajax or Fenerbache, and so the ever decreasing circle takes another downward turn.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Finally to cheer myself (and maybe you if you are still reading) I\u2019ve put my big crystal balls up on the table in front of the sofa and gazed at them for a while (some one has to) and I\u2019ll do some predictions for the season:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Champions: Celtic. Surely we cant not win the league\u2026 but\u00a0 I felt Hearts were coming up with great momentum, and will run us very hard and Aberdeen will be in and around again too. If we go on a shitty run we could very well put ourselves under some domestic pressure for the first time in a long time(and it may be no bad thing) With now playing Sundays we\u2019ll be playing catch up on other teams, which can be difficult.<\/p>\n
Relegated: Kilmarnock. Shite club, shite fans, even less ambition than our board, good bye and good riddance. I feel sorry for that guy on You tube, but he seems to be just about the only passionate fan they have.<\/p>\n
Cup: Hearts. We seem to have lost the knack of winning \u201cour\u201d cup.<\/p>\n
League Cup: Celtic \u2026but yet seem to do well in this one now.<\/p>\n
Manager of the Year: Super Duper Markie Mark Warbmeister Warburton. The best thing to happen Scottish football ever\u2122. He\u2019ll also be given a special medal in recognition of saving Scottish football and have a statue built outside Hampden by the SFA. Or the wheels will start to wobble on the heavy pitches, bears will begin to get angry once more, they will realise the club is running on fumes minus the promised \u201cover investment\u201d (2 players released this week, or \u201cmutual consented\u201d of course) and the whole thing could fall apart spectacularly<\/p>\n
Player of the Year: I don\u2019t know the names of many second Rangers players, but one of them. Whoever their top scorer is, accompanied by many many pages in the rags about why they are \u201cso\u201d good. Failing that Griffiths? He may not be good enough in Europe but will score score score for us this year.<\/p>\n
Young Player of the Year: Can James Forrest still qualify? Some other Sevconian, with the help of some of the nominees in the Writer of the Year Award, hyped up to Lewis Mac Leod (?) levels of unsubstantiated moonbeamery<\/p>\n
Top Scorer: Griffiths<\/p>\n
Ref of the season: Very closely fought, Willie Collum and the lads will be battling hard to be the most biased, blind, ridiculous and laughable, but Steven Mc Clean will once again be the man to beat<\/p>\n
Writer of the Year: another keenly fought contest, who can get their head furthest up the Warbmeisters back passage? Chris Jack has impressed so far, with his cuddly buddy Matt Lindsay showing good form too, but it\u2019s a long season and there will be many fawning pieces written between now and then, unanimously informing us all of just how great the Warb-machine really is. Did you know he used to work in the City, working really long hours? It\u2019s true you know. Did you know he left it and went back to football because he loves the game? Yep, fact. Or that he helped set up a European youth club competition? Its all true Timmy.<\/p>\n
Funniest moments of\u00a0 the year: When 2nd<\/sup> Rangers get the begging bowl out to get the money together to finish the season, and fans (co-investors) are convinced once again to be parted from their money<\/p>\n <\/p>\n So that\u2019ll do it, I\u2019ll walk on, there is still some hope in my heart, but hope alone, expectation left a long time ago<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Refreshed and invogorsted from his break in the old country, el cormaco returns with some food for thought. Thoughts form a sofa 3 …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":7705,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/etims.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/sitting-on-the-couch.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2J7If-20g","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7704"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7704"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7704\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7706,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7704\/revisions\/7706"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}