Celtic fans are board of the same old story

FOLLOWING on from last season’s highs and the dramatic against-all-odds league winning run Martin O’Neill led Celtic on, a summer of canny transfer business was required, which would augment the threadbare Celtic side and re-invigorate them for an assault on Europe.

Depressingly, having got off the hook last season the Celtic board and—increasingly—management are back in the sights of a Celtic support who, despite being fatigued by the protests of the previous year, now find themselves airing the same old grievances once again.

Consistent cracks

A visit to Ibrox in the League Cup joined the away collapse to LASK as the now annual celebrations of failure to prepare which this time of year brings. The 3-0 loss was a going over, and could easily have been worse.

Celtic looked weak, unfit and unmotivated to do anything about a Rangers side who—having looked pathetically short of the standard of even the Conference League so far—were suddenly playing with their tails up and looking like a football team. That Celtic could so easily transform a lacklustre and dysfunctional Derek McInnes side into an all action squad who easily ran over the top of them raises the now familiar criticism of the club that they are nothing but flat-track bullies.

Tapping ever so delicately into the resources which dwarf every other club in Scotland, Celtic can’t help but demonstrate the gulf in quality between them and most sides in Scotland, but push them ever so slightly and the facade crumbles. In crumbled in Austria, from a position of comfort and security in that tie, and it crumbled in the Glasgow derby.

In an alternative reality, those rich resources would see Celtic aim at a higher level, seeking progress in European football and ensuring that the greatest advantage they have—a manageable route to the top table of European football—drives the financial security of the club and opens up a higher grade of transfer target.

In this world, though, Celtic lumber on, making the same mistake year after year and ending up in the position they did at Ibrox—outmuscled, outfought, outplayed and out the cup. If Celtic was not an emotional pursuit, a cradle-to-grave activity that pulls fans in regardless of the condition of the club and playing squad, then supporters would be forgiven for dropping the whole thing and taking up a more rewarding pastime, like banging their head against a wall.

The derby, of course, has been hollowed out and transformed for the worse by the Ibrox club’s shenanigans with tickets and allocations in recent years, and landing in that environment with no backing from supporters—particularly in a cup tie, where competition rules acknowledge that away clubs should have fans in the interests of fairness—presents an unenviable task. The away club can be easily rattled and crack under early pressure, but the showing by Celtic remains absolutely substandard, even making that consideration.

Reaction required

Celtic have the chance to return the favour in the league now, and must do so with interest if a prolonged post-mortem is to be avoided over the extended international break which follows the fixture.

Welcoming their city rivals to Celtic Park means they at least have the opportunity to not only recover from such a comprehensive defeat, but also to have the last word in this double header.

Fans will have their part to play, and with a full Celtic Park putting the visitors under the same pressure that the Celtic players felt at Ibrox the match may well have an entirely different momentum, but fans can only do so much. The players who looked so weak and disjointed have to do the bulk of the work if Celtic are to arrest this slide, and the management must be better prepared and more demanding of the side they select. Derbies are not games where players can coast or play passively. There is enough experience in the dugout and on the park to know that without being told.

Disappointment

Speaking after the match the Celtic manager looked at himself as much as anyone else, and while he can reasonably expect better from professional footballers, grown men who have experience and knowledge of the game they play, than to bumble along shellshocked and unable to adapt, he has only a week to learn how he can better prepare his side to set things right.

“Domestically, it’s been good for us so far, but I just thought we were second best and they looked physically stronger than us on the day,” he said. “We need to do something about it. So, it’s a combination of a number of things.

“The first thing I have to do is look at my own performance for a start before I start talking about the team.

“The disappointment is tangible and everybody has to look at themselves—myself, and then I obviously have to look at the team, how we played, how we didn't play in many aspects. And hopefully it’s a wake-up call to us.”