One of the definitive acts, or rather failure to act, of Ronny Deila’s regime was his failure to stamp his authority on the club from the moment he walked in the door.<\/p>\n
In allowing John Collins to be his number two, chosen from a list that we hear included Annie Lennox of the Eurythmics and politician George Galloway, Deila allowed the directors to retain control of who was in the team.<\/p>\n
And those in the team simply took the piss, from Scott Brown lounging in a semi coma after a night on the refreshments, to Kris Commons having a rant when he was substituted.<\/p>\n
There are countless other instances we have heard of, and all point to the then manager losing authority and them interest. \u00a0The Diary pointed out on numerous occasions during his reign that he must not let the tail wag the dog, and in the end that was what happened, and he lost his job, possibly down to player power, but certainly down to a lack of managerial power.<\/p>\n
He’s gone now, and his time at the club is over.<\/p>\n
Brendan Rodgers, an experienced gaffer who likes his players to call him gaffer and treat him like one is making no such mistake.<\/p>\n
There was a little snippet i picked up on whilst reading the Huddleboard forum, where all the loonies go to talk to each other, that I found interesting.<\/p>\n
It came from Paul the Tim , who stalks the squad on a regular basis and hears and sees things that most of us don’t.<\/p>\n
In a thread which centred around a story that Craig Gordon had cut short an interview when the manager wanted to see everyone, Paul noted that he had seen a memeber of the staff also run to the managers call, although the staff guy shouted “two minutes , gaffer” to make sure the boss knew he had heard him, and also to explain he was on his way.<\/p>\n
The point here, according to Paul, is that this would not have happened under Deila, and we would tend to agree, from the tales we have heard.<\/p>\n
The huddleboard thread also mentions -or corroborates- wee tales of players openly flouting Deilas dietary regime, eating cheeseburgers and such like in front of him, but lets be honest, we are fully aware that Ronny chucked it after the ajax game, and probably didn’t give a toss by then.<\/p>\n
The players, however, are a different matter.<\/p>\n
They wear the jersey and play for the fans, who indirectly or directly, are the reason they are so well paid.<\/p>\n
More than that, they are playing for a cause, not a club, and if they want to fall out behind the scenes thats up to them, but anything less than one hundred per cent on the park is inexcusable.<\/p>\n
Maybe that is a wee pointer as to the conversation that Rodgers had with captain Scott Brown in London, because as a traditional manager the Irishman would have simply used Brown to convey the message to the players that whatever little cliques were working behind Deila’s back, it wasnt going to happen on his watch.<\/p>\n
All of this may seem a bit irrelevant now Ronny’s away, but \u00a0it also seems to be playing a part in the current buying and selling drive.<\/p>\n
Kris Commons is idolised and despised in equal measures by Celtic supporters. Okay, maybe despised is too strong a word, but when you look at the abuse, disgracefully handed out by “tims ” on twitter to the player, and unforgivably , to his wife\/life partner\/missus , you wonder why anyone would want to play for Celtic at any price.<\/p>\n
Lisa Hague does a fair bit of work for Celtic charities, and her involvment in that scene may well have played a major part in commons signing a second contract at the club, which if I recall correctly was what everyone wanted.<\/p>\n
Now, the family have become a target for the haters. I can’t figure out why, but the bold Lisa doesn’t seem overly bothered;<\/p>\n