Firstly, it would be churlish not to congratulate Sevco on their first ever league win against the champions.
When talent is not allied to hard work then it can be neutralized by collective effort and that this what happened at Ibrox yesterday.
However, it is folly to dismiss the role of incompetence in human affairs, especially sport.
Celtic have concocted a title race solely by their own efforts.
The last two transfer windows have saw the Parkhead side complacently commit self-harm.
A third such failure in succession will endanger the league title.
The first time that Sevco bested Celtic was at Hampden in April 2016.
That as a wake-up call for Dermot Desmond. Until then he had been happy to allow his CEO to run things as he saw fit.
When the Irishman stepped in to be more hands-on and he hired Brendan Rodgers.
You know the rest.
Then in the summer of this year, the old Heated Driveway hubris re-emerged.
The Double Treble suggested that it wasn’t broken, so someone decided to fix it.
Rodgers thought that those transfer negotiations would go smoothly for players that wanted to come and were within the allocated budget.
Several of the positions that were targeted in the summer remains an issue:
Centre back, Right back and striker.
The 11th hour departure of Moussa Dembélé and the situation with Leigh Griffiths makes that last position even more problematic.
I’m told that the French frontman might now be considering that his move to Lyon to be a bad decision.
C’est la vie…
Celtic cannot afford to ignore the lessons of yesterday and here the blogger James Forrest doesn’t miss.
I have written here before that because of the epochal events of 2012 only Celtic can topple Celtic in Scottish football.
Consequently, the people who run Celtic have one calendar month to fix things, because now it IS broken.
The disjointed and anemic performance yesterday suggests that major corrective action is required.
In the post-match interview, a gracious and honest Rodgers stated that the champions would have to push “reset”.
He isn’t wrong…
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Whereas Celtic appear to need new faces in the team..
Sevco appear to be trying to back up their claim to be Rainjuurz 1872/3… by filling the club with ‘former players’ who are reckoned as still ‘real rangerz men’….
In fact , with McGregor, Laugh-at-me, and Wallace already there, Davis on the way back and the sash being held out to Naismith… they just need to round up ‘auld Davey’, Papac, Burnt-foot and Whitaker and they’re pretty much back to where they were in February 2012.
Those guys walked away but they seem to all run back when it suits them ( ie English leagues career at an end, desperate blue pounds being waved st them).
Now …, how hilarious would it be if Sevco ‘go full admin’ again with those guys all there for the second coming of the reaper.
Would they walk away , run, or do a Lee this time and just hang on for the journey and whatever money they can get.
Hilarity aside – it does appear quite pathetic really… I’d be deeply deeply embarrassed if Celtic were to start recruiting players that left the club nearly 7 years ago in the hope of getting some spirit into the side.
Of course – the Huns don’t see it that way! It’s getting back to their roots. It’s getting the right men ( who turned their backs previously) back to the club to get them back where they belong.
For them it’s Nothing to do with being inward looking, their deeply misguided superiority, trading on the history of another club, pandering to fans and media or simply being so pathetic and desperate that you’d do ANYTHING you can to try to halt another clubs genuinely honest title run rather than build your own club with the future in mind.
I actually hope they sign them all … sign them all on huge wages to add to the penas and hereras returning to the club ,huge wages and and long long contracts. Defoe on 70000 a week (oh please) sign… sign…sign away!!!
When the finances finally go nuclear on them and there IS no ‘last resorting last resorts’ … we can all sit back and watch with that ‘told you so’ look on our faces while the horde cry about ‘nobody warning us’ and ‘why was King passed fit and proper?’ and ‘SFA /Celtic plots’ without an inkling of irony, never mind any realisation that they did it to themselves …. AGAIN!
Oooooh!
I’m getting all giddy just thinking about it!
We have to splash the cash, pure and simple. Of late we have looked tired and missing a spark in to many areas of the park. I would say we need two strikers, midfield play maker and at least two defenders. We cannot allow heated driveways to halt our progress, sure a nice bank balance is all very well,but if we don’t invest then that bank balance means nothing.
Please excuse the grammar, it’s Hogmanay
Comments are being allowed now, I’ve posted 2 or 3 times, of which none were posted for going against the grain. James Forrest is a serial victim/moaner and whilst I’m behind bloggers of substance, James has always lacked this with joe pieces about newspapers mention secco twice, and is once, or Kris Boyd said something critical. I prefer to read blogs of fact and of tactical know how.
In terms of the football, we were honking. Clearly KT was no where near fit enough to play, and you’d think the same on Edouard, despite his late super-cameo up in Aberdeen.
Long story short, panic gets you no where, the club will invest in January on permanent and loans I believe and this in turn will raise competition, and hopefully add some consistent performances to ensure the title.
Get through this season and the 10 is in the bag as that mob are financially in melt down.
We have gone backwards since last December, the club, the manager, the paying squad; points totals evidence of that and inconsistent form. Now reading the article above it is almost as if Hybrid Grass Productions is blameless; a list of his signings since coming to the club prove otherwise. He has been great for Celtic in our competitions but Europe has so far been a step too far, compared to O’Neill, Strachan & Lennon.
Celtic as a club need to move forward together and singling out Lawell as the fall guy is lazy SMSM stuff.
Problems coming up, due to bad signings, we will have to bed in a new defence by or before summer and Europe (Boyata, Benkovic & Lustig gone), Broony well time has caught up with him quickly it can happen with players who give everything and honesty is best policy here. I would suggest 1 yr contract but not a starter other than let him go with fond farewell (what a servant).
Finally, can anybody tell me what our scouts/manager see in Timothy Weah; played a handful of first team games…so what exactly are they scouting and what is it that they think he will bring to us…Projects FC.
Celtic got what they deserved on Saturday by a far superior team. I didn’t see the talent Phil refers to in the beginning of his piece. It should have been a rout. As usual, there’s no dignity in defeat by him.
A neutral onlooker might think that the Celtic board , team and manager weren’t bothered about winning an 8th , 9th or 10th title in a row for some reason….
I’m struggling to see what the financial advantage could be in this scenario (as this would be the ONLY possible reason) but my ever increasing suspicions are not quelled by the result or the managers reaction.
In fact I find BRs lack of concern deeply disturbing and actually shows little concern for the feelings of the fans and (I think) highlights a deeper concern regarding his understanding of the’game’ in Glasgow.
His ‘every match is just 3 points” and “these things happen” approach can he tolerated for the occasional upset against Kilmarnock, st Mirren (jeez) or Hibs…. but against the club that unjustly exists through continuing corruption and trades off its bogus ‘worlds most successful club ‘ garbage ??? Claims to have 54 league titles etc etc etc…
This is what I find intolerable.
Giving fuel to the baying horde singing about superiority and slaying catholics is about the worst thing he could have let happen…. and HE did let it happen! Meekly handing over the bragging rights and the inevitable confidence injection that comes with it will mean that the balance will not be the same for a long time irrespective of the league outcome. Treble treble or not.
In addition – and this is where my conspiracy type paranoia is particularly piqued … he has played right into the hands of the pro-sevco media desperate for a ‘title battle’ and even more desperate to see Celtic toppled.
Well on Saturday BR more or less did all their jobs for them.
I’ve never known my anger at a pathetic Celtic result to be SO intense and for SO long after the match. In fact I’m still seething as I write (48 hours later) and can’t see my feelings on this changing until a proper explanation comes from manager and players.
I wonder how many of them will be thinking of the supporters as they get handsomely paid to avoid the Scottish winter and enjoy the omni-present sun and heat of Dubai.
I think I know the answer.
I have had real difficulty getting my head around the fact that a team who played so well against Aberdeen could be so bad 3 days later, You can accept one or two players going off the boil at the one time but not a whole team, how can the full team be struck down with the same malaise and produce such a lethargic performance. Loose passes, slow reactions, lack of urgency, that is not us, that is not Celtic. So when things just do not seem rational to me I tend to look for an irrational answer, so thinking outside the box could they have been got at? Could their pre match drinks, snacks, whatever been tampered with? It’s a real conspiratorial thought but the only logical one I can come up with.
Cowards all. I’ll be letting people know about this.
I bought Phil’s book and there’s all this rightful pontificating about the free press in it. As well as racism. Yet not one of my comments are allowed to be published on this blog. All are censored, including my mild comments about why Brendan got it badly wrong yesterday. Sad. I’ve been a Celtic fan for my entire life. Even with a name like ‘Hamad’.
You mean the lengthy comment below this one?
I agree with all of this article. However, let’s be clear about something that seems to omitted from the (very apt) doom and gloom: If this was the Celtic side that just a month or so ago thumped Hibs and Hearts, destroyed teams home and away (St Johnstone, Dundee etc.), and, perhaps the crème de la crème, defeated Leipzig, there’s no way that the Sevco would be beating us yesterday. That’s a starting 11 of Gordon, Lustig, Boyata, Benkovic, Tierney, McGregor, Christie, Rogic, Forrest, Sinclair and Edouard.
Yes, I know Boyata and Lustig both had nightmares yesterday, and I get that one of the problems is not having a quality squad that could account for moments when our best starting 11 was unable to be played. However, I think we could’ve won yesterday with some ease if not for Brendan’s lack of faith in our squad. For a start, he knew Lustig was struggling and so could’ve started the very impressive Ralston. He could’ve played Jonny Hayes or even Izzy at left-back. Hayes was I think fantastic when he played LB against Aberdeen in the previous game. This would’ve allowed him to have our best, and Scotland’s best, midfielder, namely CalMac, in the midfield. This would’ve stopped the pressure on our imploding defence.
Moreover, he should’ve played Edouard from the beginning and introduced Johnston later on. Or, if Edouard was completely unable to start (which I don’t buy), he could’ve started with the same system as we played at Aberdeen – with Christie playing as a false 9 and Ntcham or Brown brought in beside CalMac.
So, yes, the lack of quality in our squad is a huge factor in this, but so is the (forced) errors of Brendan Rodgers. To play the best midfielder in the country at LEFT BACK against Sevco is absurd. And, without any disrespect at all to the 19-year-old, ever-improving, endlessly impressive Mikey Johnston, there’s no way someone so inexperienced should’ve led the line. He’s a winger. Not a CF. It might work against Motherwell and Dundee, but not against Sevco.
excellent post.
Does BR know in his heart of hearts that three points dropped against sevco will matter little in the long run? Did he sacrifice three points to send a message to P L in the sound knowledge that he can put them back in their box in the meeting? Just a thought.
If he let us get beat by that lot, to prove a point then we are fucked !!!
Will the Compliance Officer be having a look at the 3 assaults carried out by Morelos on Celtic players?
Obviously none of these were seen by Beaton or the other match officials otherwise The Petted Lip would have had to walk.
Over to you SFA, I’m sure you will do the right thing!
Morelos proved that he is more in the Boyd mould than that of a top striker. Sevco’s top scorer but is still to score against Celtic.
However, Brendan has got us into another fine mess with a poor team selection and poor tactics. It was evident from the first 10 minutes that the players were told not to press the ball in the sevco end leaving Johnstone (19 years old!!) isolated and ineffective. 10 against 11 in other words.
McGregor at left back. FFS!
This was nothing to do with poor transfer windows. Just poor management. Celtic’s away game record speaks for itself. Keech.
I can’t believe you are passing on blogs by James Forrest. Always a victim, most his blogs are whataboutery at its finest and lack any sort of substance. I suspect this reply will not be permitted, like the last time I commented. If im not on the same boat, then my comment is not worthy?
My comment was not permitted. It wasn’t even a criticism.
Tim Weah and a young Ivorian striker are hardly “certainties” to hit the ground running if signed. We all know that at a club like Celtic, getting off to a good start is very important.
I would like more of a guarantee if that is at all possible, a Dominic Solanke type, where he has played at a higher lever so to speak. Maybe even a Jermaine Defoe. although I would not allow his wages to spiral out of control.
just saying…..