Mowbray a victim of ill-advised planning

The superior man, when resting in safety, does not forget that danger may come. When in a state of security he does not forget the possibility of ruin. When all is orderly, he does not forget that disorder may come. Thus his person is not endangered, and his States and all their clans are preserved.

Confucius

Well, we finally concede a goal and play a competitive game, with our Champions League hopes already severely undermined.

To some, this would appear to be an appropriate time to warn of the fate of other managers who lost their first game for Celtic – how some fans will never forgive Tony Mowbray.

If we read the Scottish tabloids – and those of us who try to avoid that embarrassing illness of the media world are ill-placed to comment on their responses – we might castigate Marc-Antoine Fortuné for a night of spurned chances.

But Celtic fans are already showing that, despite the worst wishes of our critics, we are capable of reacting proportionately to disappointment.

For Marc-Antoine, Wednesday night will surely not figure highly in his list of career highlights. He showed us what we were led to expect – he is willing, athletic and appears to have a finishing capability to match his scoring record. This, we were fully warned of before he signed the deal but we can reasonably expect that a few more matches will improve his effectiveness.

Landry N'Guémo continued to demonstrate that he could serve as a potent weapon in midfield, if he is careful with his distribution but then Massimo Donati, arguably the best technician left at the club, somehow managed to pass the ball to Dinamo players, scorning the vindication of a rare first-team selection. Those of us who have defended Donati are now starting to avoid people in corridors, recalling past “just wait and see” conversations.

But if we are going to single out individuals, let them be Shaun Maloney and Aiden McGeady. Quite frankly, it is time for these two laddies to act like men, to produce the goods for 90 minutes consistently. Instead, for too much of their careers, they have been playing like kids in front of their grandmothers, expecting words of praise and consolation, regardless of their ineptitudes.

“Some nice touches” and “effective for a while” are not phrases with which to heap praise on Celtic players. These two need to talk to someone like Bertie Auld and ask for private tuition in how to combine football with expediency in order to be effective. Hell, they could start by having a word with Peter Grant – by common consent not the most naturally talented Celt ever but one whose standing our two starlets look unlikely to challenge in their careers.

But in the case of Tony Mowbray, it would take a hard heart not to sympathise with him in his disappointment. True, he made a baffling decision in bringing on Danny Fox late in the game but a least he attempted to be proactive with his substitutions, quite rightly demonstrating to Fortuné and Scott McDonald that they will only play if they are doing so well. And it was refreshing to see him attempt to influence the game rather than waiting for something better to happen with a failing formula.

However, it would be wrong to fail to (again) point the finger at the real culprits – those who arranged a ridiculous pre-season schedule that was viable only in the case of winning the league title that they neglected to pursue professionally. Anyone with a modicum of sense would know that if there's one thing to avoid, it is playing a Champions League qualifier before even a domestic league game.

That can only be done by investing properly to win the SPL. Sending a team off to Australia in the aftermath of that gross negligence was utter folly – but then it had been pre-booked at the height of their naivety.

The outstanding image from last night was not of any player but of Messrs Reid, Desmond and Lawwell, sitting shiftily side-by-side in their directors' box that might equally have been a high court dock.

They may have sharp lawyers but the public are still likely to consider them guilty.






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Time for recriminations? Damned right!

As the improbable became the inevitable, Celtic's capitulation to arguably the worst team ever to be Scottish champions presents a clear case for a change of personnel. That starts with the manager.

For three and a half seasons, this blog supported Gordon Strachan. Recent months, however, have raised questions about his attitude to the job, his ability to field a winning team and, frankly, his loyalty.

That Strachan was not accepted by a section of Celtic supporters is old news. In that, he was often a victim of fans' ridiculous petulance. But he also occasionally fed the critics through gross immaturity.

Few Celtic supporters had any sympathy for the journalists he sent packing with fleas in their ears – we know they revel in criticising all things Celtic. But Strachan failed to grasp the fact that he was also addressing the fans. Snippy one-liners directed at hacks may be well and good if he was communicating with the supporters elsewhere – for example through Celtic's website. Failure to do so seemed to indicate a lack of respect for the people who, for good or ill, make Celtic what it is.

The closing of ranks between manager and players might also be admirable in its own way if it was accompanied by acceptable results and performances. Unfortunately, though, that was not the case. Continually defending players after draws and defeats leads a club perilously close to accepting second-best. Not good enough for Celtic.

Furthermore, there were some absurd decisions over the past season. Squad rotation of middleweight players was an abject failure. Keeping faith with the talented but increasingly out of his depth Marc Crosas was as ill advised as was the bizarre decision to play Gary Caldwell in midfield. Dropping Aiden McGeady in favour of Shaun Maloney (whose return has been shown to be a mistake) at Ibrox was just one more unfathomable move that was an utter failure.

Even yesterday, needing a goal for some semblance of respectability, he replaced Scott McDonald with Maloney, one of the most absurd decisions of his managerial reign before he reached for Willo Flood, a move that was symbolic of a man who had run out of ideas long ago.

True, he was badly let down by directors and a Chief Executive, who were too damned smart for their own good in trying to keep Celtic a hair's breadth ahead of an abysmal Rangers team. Peter Lawwell, Dermot Desmond, John Reid and all their apologists fully deserve every bit of the abuse that will assuredly be hurled in their direction. Their briefings to certain supporters' websites in a transparent attempt to manage information have represented an underhand tactic that insults the intelligence of Celtic fans. They have failed the club and would do us all a favour by moving on to pastures new.

But there comes a point where the manager must stop meekly accepting under-investment because of his great friendship with Peter Lawwell and demand the best for the club. The world and his wife could see that we needed another striker and a left-back yet we spent an entire season with the most ineffective front line we have had since we were relying on the likes of Tommy Coyne and Andy Paton for goals. Still, he loaned out Cillian Sheridan though he has no time for Ben Hutcheson, leaving us with hopelessly inept forwards. Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink has shown that his race is run as a footballer while Georgious Samaras would be better taking up a career on the catwalk where his aimless strutting would be more appropriate. Scott McDonald found some form but far too late for the campaign as a whole.

It was naïve to say the least to rely on friendship with Lawwell, who would cheerfully hang Strachan out to dry if it made his life easier (and there is good reason to believe he was using at least one of those supporters' websites to do just that). Lawwell is a survivor and such people rarely reciprocate loyalty when their neck is on the line.

The country will now be represented in Europe by a club known as Scotland's Shame and one which is a national embarrassment. Finishing second to such garbage makes Strachan's position untenable.






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Cometh the hour, cometh the Mac

"That was as good a striking performance as you'll ever see."
"He held the ball up and made chances. In the second half, he was a constant threat and, the longer the game went on, his fitness level was phenomenal."

Gordon Strachan

90 minutes at Pittodrie on Saturday demonstrated much about Celtic's title ambitions. It told us, as if we needed reminding, that the challenge will be stern and nerve-wracking. It showed that our players do have the nerve to come through when the pressure is on. And it made clear that right now Scott McDonald is the player most vital to our aspirations.

Just a few months ago, McDonald looked off the pace, in questionable condition and with timing issues that seriously dented his prolificness and our championship challenge. He was being roundly criticised, especially given the responsibility on his shoulders with injuries to Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink and Georgios Samaras, and the wisdom of rushing to give him an extended contract looked questionable.

But if ever a player found top form just when it was most needed, it has been the Australian. Saturday's performance saw him literally lead from the front with a showing that included, guile, guts and goals. It is an irresistible combination and, if his team-mates can follow Scott's example, the confidence will surge and a fourth consecutive title should land at its rightful home.

McDonald thrives on the big occasion as he has shown with some excellent goals in the Champions League. He will be the man everyone looks to when we face the R-word on Saturday and the man they will assuredly try hardest to hurt.

Sometimes this season, Celtic could be accused of lacking a sense of urgency at an early enough stage – taking too long to dominate a game. McDonald is showing the way. Who needs Total Football when you have Skippy Soccer!

* Apologies for the long but unavoidable absence of this blog. Someone, somewhere must have been very disappointed.






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Cheap shots and dirty tricks in vain as hamstrung team beats club on its knees

We should have known something was in the air. Indeed, we would have been warned had we been the sort of people to buy the Daily Record: Incorporating the Rangers News.

As the worst paper in Scotland heading further into decline, the Record is the ideal vessel as the tabloid of choice for Rangers. However, even by its low standards, choosing the morning of a game against the Scottish Champions to announce David Murray’s team of all-time Rangers greats was questionable. The content of that list pointed at a man transparently desperate to regain popularity with the lowest form of his club’s fans.

Conveying a bizarre message that he intended to pick only players who “knew what the club was about”, Murray therefore confined himself to Protestant Scots, scorning the contributions of the likes of Brian Laudrup, Mark Hately, Paul Gascoigne, Ray Wilkins, Trevor Steven and even Terry Butcher. (His man at the Evening Times surprisingly got a mention).

He began by declaring that Andy Goram, a known associate of terrorists and other gangsters, recently quoted as having boasted about his racial and sectarian abuse of Pierre Van Hoydonk, a notorious debauched drunk and incorrigible gambler was “a great character, … the best we’ve ever seen”. (Presumably a role model for young Rangers fans).

In case you need reminding, this is the same Rangers Chairman who celebrated his 20 years wreckage of the club by insisting that he acts with “dignity”.

So much for the value of the Record-Rangers alliance – they thinking they’re helping Murray but in fact are only giving him a platform to make an even bigger fool of himself and stripping him of every last shred of credibility in the process.

By the time the teams left the tunnel, it was clear that Murray would do anything to regain that respect that others understand as notoriety. Long ago, when he still occasionally bemoaned the “FTP brigade”, however unconvincingly (he never mentioned Donald Findlay by name, after all), Murray admitted that he had to stop playing the Tina Turner number, “Simply the Best”, because his supporters insisted of shoe-horning “F--- the Pope and the IRA” into their rendition.

On Saturday, however, the strains of the song – and the sectarian abuse that goes with it – were again heard echoing around the stadium. Already, we had some indication that Murray policy at Ibrox is dangerously close to being dictated by the kind of supporters groups usually noted for their fondness of Nazi salutes.

On the pitch, there was something more sinister. There has again been criticism of the Ibrox pitch, with the suggestion that the grass had been watered on the coldest day of the year and the undersoil heating “not working properly”. This is clearly a farcical euphemism. Every time a better team plays at Ibrox – that means every time Celtic play there – the pitch, once described by Murray as one of any football club’s most valuable assets – seems to be in any condition from atrocious to dangerous.

Only a very friendly press and Scottish football administration would continually ignore the fact that this has been a deliberate ploy to frustrate superior teams.

They do have form for this, after all. As far back as their European tie with Dynamo Kiev, Rangers illegally narrowed the pitch between Dynamo training on it and the start of the match. Before their tie with Marseille, the pitch was mysteriously flooded. When they are forced to do so in order to play a team seriously hampered by injuries, it makes clear just how desperate their sense of inferiority has made them.

As usual in the game, the match was notable for the Rangers culture of cheating and dirty tricks – apparently the only speciality of the Walter Smith-Ally McCoist coaching partnership. From Kirk Broadfoot throwing Artur Boruc into the net to Celtic reject Kenny Miller’s diving, it was clear that this was to be a day for winning by unfair means or foul.

Having controlled the ball with his hand before diving outside the box to see his Scotland team-mate Gary Calwell booked, Miller screamed at the referee, apparently believing that his cheating merited a penalty. In doing so, he merely further illustrated that bitterness and second-rate football is now the order of the day at Ibrox and that he is better suited to Rangers than Celtic.

However, in contrast to his last outing against Scotland’s top team, when he seemed to celebrate scoring by shouting “We are the f---ing peepul”, at least his form in front of goal showed that he didn’t discriminate when it came to missing chances. It is unlikely that a Premiership club will be pursuing him this season.

The highlight of the match was, of course, the perfect Celtic goal. Brilliance by Scott McDonald, helped by Georgios Samaras, against a backdrop of Kirk Broadfoot defending. McDonald has shown in recent weeks that a player can work his way through periods of poor form and looks ready to find a goal-scoring streak.

There were several outstanding performances but none more so that Scott Brown. Those who think that Brown must be a defensive or “nullifying” midfielder because he makes a lot of tackles are to be pitied. You will rarely see such a compilation of aggressive energy and attacking instincts in any one player and Brown is an asset far too precious to be allowed to leave.

Along with Barry Robson and Paul Hartley, who both performed heroics in the midfield, Brown seemed to particularly relish the occasion. Brown is maturing rapidly and the day when he utterly dismantles a Rangers team is coming soon.

At the end of the match, the Ibrox PA system belted out Rangers songs in a piqued attempt to drown out the singing of the Celtic supporters.

The attempt failed but did allow for ironic context. As the Celtic fans and players shared the victory, the words rang out: “There’s not a team like the Glasgow Rangers; no, not one and there never shall be one.”

To which the obvious response is: “Thankfully true; and we certainly hope so.”





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Motherwell 1 - 2 Celtic

Celtic’s ugliest three points all season also brought the greatest relief to a side that has now opened a sizeable gap at the top of the table. With Rangers having four games in hand, the Ibrox side remain favourites to win the SPL but Celtic’s eight-point lead must look like a chasm to the chasing side at this stage of the season.

Top-flight football will probably never be played on a worse surface than the disaster that is the Fir Park pitch, but Motherwell adapted their game better in the early stages.

A combination of a packed midfield, tenacious tackling and using an offside trap to limit Celtic’s previous aerial success against the home side, left Celtic struggling for answers as Motherwell won eight first-half corners. Celtic, on the other hand, failed to make any impression in the first period with Aiden McGeady’s threat negated by a combination of an uneven pitch and opponents prepared to double up or even send three players to challenge him.

For Motherwell, Keith Lasley and Darren Smith were especially impressive in a confident, committed and aggressive team display and such little football as there was came from the men in Claret and Amber.

The match came to life in the second half when Chris Porter beat Bobo Balde to a Brian McLean cross to nod home on the hour mark. However, it was Motherwell whose game was more disrupted by the goal and the over-excited players allowed Celtic hitherto unheard of space through the middle allowing Shunsuke Nakamura to find Scott McDonald who headed an immediate equaliser.

With the crucial goal came a sense that the momentum had swung in Celtic’s favour.

Gordon Strachan brought on Scott Brown for Nakamura, whose skills were largely wasted on the bumpy ground and under some rough physical treatment. Giorgious Samaras replaced captain for the day Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, who had had little joy with the few high balls that were launched his way and who seems to be penalised every time he tries to challenge for a header.

Samaras’s strength and skill on the ball gave Celtic a greater sense of composure married to the now expected resolute play of Barry Robson as Hartley tidied up when Motherwell pressed forward. Meanwhile McGeady, on the left wing, was benefiting from running on the only decent patch of grass on the field and getting forward more regularly, playing some testing deliveries.

On the other side, Brown’s energy gave Celtic more width and the ability to reach the touchline.

Mark McGhee decided to go for the win, replacing the excellent Smith with Ross McCormack while Strachan responded by replacing Lee Naylor with Mark Wilson.

The breakthrough came from a 79th-minute Robson corner which Samaras duly converted, being the hungriest man for the ball. It is indicative of the team spirit that exists at Celtic that Samaras’s first instinct was to head to the bench and embrace Vennegoor of Hesselink in a display of solidarity.

With the game now far more open, nerves were jangling in the Celtic supporters but another top-drawer performance from Gary Caldwell did much to alleviate the pressure, not just with his defending but through clever forward passes that relocated the play to the Motherwell half.

The home team continued to press, forcing corners and with Stevie Hammill’s shot flashing across goal in the 88th minute, Motherwell could yet have wrecked Celtic’s dreams.

The final whistle was greeted with joy from Celtic fans who were asking for nothing other than a “job done” performance. But, in difficult circumstances, the spirit of the team shone through. Special praise is due to Gordon Strachan who demonstrated all his managerial expertise with his substitutions and transformation of a match when the stakes were at their highest.

Man of the Match: Barry Robson for his insistence on taking charge of the midfield when most needed. Gary Caldwell could make a case for his own bottle of champagne.

Gordon Strachan: the time for change

If there is anything more unedifying than a Celtic defeat it is the sight of Celtic fans who have never taken to Gordon Strachan consoling themselves that every misfortune is another excuse to say “I told you so” and strengthen their calls for his sacking.

However, sometimes criticism is just and the manager must simply learn or fall on his sword.

Celtic’s defeat by Rangers – Strachan’s fourth failure against Walter Smith, setting a record for failing to score in four consecutive matches – has profound implications for the partial remains of the season. Simply put, Celtic must win all remaining games and hope that Rangers’ away form sees them drop silly points, a scenario that seems unlikely.

But Strachan must be accountable for his own actions. It was a brave decision, some would say bordering on foolhardy, to drop top scorer Scott McDonald, favouring Giorgios Samaras. That decision was partially vindicated by the Greek forward’s performance – he looked dangerous throughout the match. There were also good reasons for the selection. McDonald has been a little off the boil lately, both in terms of goals scored and in his generally exceptional ability to hold the ball.

Samaras, performs that function admirably and has the strength, stature and attacking instincts to justify his selection. In picking a front two, Strachan was faced with a choice between the proven partnership (McDonald and Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink), the top scorer and all-round forward (McDonald and Samaras) or the two form players (Vennegoor of Hesselink and Samaras).

His choice of the latter pairing was understandable and sensible, presuming that Strachan was as good as his word in saying that he had three excellent forwards he would like to utilise to the full.

In midfield he had one other key decision to make. Shunsuke Nakamura or Barry Robson. Again, the clever variety of passing and dead ball ability of Nakamura made him a reasonable choice over the recent acquisition of Robson. However, for all the ground that Strachan’s computer indicates Nakamura covers, the Japanese international has had an indifferent season and rarely imposes himself on a physical game (though he doesn’t lack courage in getting up after kicks).

In contrast, Robson has a variety of skills, including making aggressive driving runs, the ability to link with others, a strong scoring record and a dead ball ability that is bettered in the SPL only by Nakamura. Robson had one other quality – a sense of injustice that could only have further fuelled his undoubted hunger.

It is wrong to blame the manager for these decisions, using the benefit of hindsight, just as he can make a case for the exclusion of his best central defender, Darren O’Dea.

But where Strachan continues to get it infuriatingly wrong is with his reluctance to make changes at the appropriate time. With his team desperately needing a goal and crying out for a win, the manager waited until 78 minutes to make his first substitution. Yes, some teams have supersubs, but generally players need time to make an impact on the game. If Celtic’s front two had done a decent job of working the Rangers defence, 20-to-30 minutes is the least that a player like McDonald or Robson (who should have replaced Nakamura rather than Hartley) should be afforded to exploit a tired defence.

It is ridiculously precipitous to forecast Strachan’s decline but it has to be said that in his recent contests against Rangers he has evoked memories of a belligerent Martin O’Neill making a tactical genius out of Alex McLeish.

O’Neill learned eventually – but after unneeded damage had been done.