And man of the season, part ’08 is . . .

Gary Caldwell

Of the many qualities that go to making a first-class footballer, Gary Caldwell has one of the rarest in spades: mental strength.

A scan over his early career points to a player who required the greatest determination to rise to the highest levels of the game. A couple of years with Celtic Boys Club before moving to Newcastle in his mid-teens, he secured a contract with the Magpies at 17. So far, so good for the young man.

However, a lack of first-team opportunities saw him loaned out to four clubs between 2001 and 2003. Often that would be a sign that a player was destined for the lower leagues but this is also where Caldwell’s cerebral toughness came through.

During that period, he made his Scotland debut in the most trying circumstances, losing 5-0 to France. If that match was infamous for the scoreline and the subsequent abuse doled out to the then coach Berti Vogts, the enduring image was of Caldwell being taunted by an obnoxious David Trezeguet, who went down in the estimation of many that day.

Many players would have had their confidence shattered but Caldwell used the experience as positive inspiration, determined to be the best player he could be.

Signing for Hibs in 2004, for whom he had played 11 times while on the books at Newcastle, Caldwell soon caught the eye and was described by Tony Mowbray as “the best footballing centre-half in Scotland”. And that soon led to Celtic.

It would be dishonest to say that he was an instant success. In his early days, his performances were sometimes marked by poor positioning and over-ambitious passing that resulted in losing possession. He also found himself playing at right-back – a position that didn’t flatter him, though he performed reasonably enough in the circumstances.

The critics – some not too far from this blog – gave vent to their frustrations but gradually his form improved and his international transformation was illustrated when he scored a memorable winning goal against France at Hampden, by which time an ineffectual Trezeguet had been substituted (he did have a good greet at full-time).

However, just as Gary was starting to look a real player, bad luck struck. An unfortunate accidental collision with David Fernandez led to the former Celt being badly injured. Caldwell was blameless but his performance did seem to be affected. A night to forget away to Benfica was quickly followed by an injury of his own.

On returning, it seemed for a time as if all the good habits had been forgotten and many fans again began to despair of his ever becoming a reliable central defender.

This, though, is where Caldwell has again come into his own. The perfect way to “silence the boo-boys” is always to play better football and Gary’s return to top form was crucial to the run of victories that took Celtic to the title in May. This season, he has been arguably the club’s best player, demonstrating intelligence and maturity in his partnership with Stephen McManus.

Appearances as a defensive midfielder have demonstrated Caldwell’s versatility and given him a chance to display those ball skills that are sometimes best kept hidden by a defender.

He is now enjoying the best football of his career and, in this sort of form, few Celtic fans would want any other player in his position.

A very likely contender for Scotland’s Player of the Year awards, Mr Winning-Mentality is our man of the season, part ’08.





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Celtic in crisis – Boruc out – Strachan must go

Just a week after we supposedly won the SPL, it’s crisis time again as our lead at the top of the table was cut to four points.

Of course the talking point will be Artur Boruc’s clanger, which will become a Youtube classic before long. Boruc is good but, whatever his personal circumstances, he does need to concentrate fully on his job as a professional football player – even if John Rankine later said he had been practising his “squiggles” from 40 yards.

That said, the chances of the Celtic supporters being conned by a gleeful press into turning on him are surely remote. Artur has earned the esteem of Celtic supporters and it will take more than the odd howler to challenge his position as first-choice goalkeeper and one of our favourite sons.

And, though the error was inexcusable, Boruc was not helped today by a bizarre team selection. Gary Caldwell was arguably our best player at Easter Road and, at this stage, is vying with Scott Brown for the title of Celtic’s player of the year.

We know he can play in midfield – and more power to him – but it seems ridiculous to have broken up Caldwell’s defensive partnership with Stephen McManus to accommodate Glenn Loovens. Injuries undoubtedly played their part but rather than tinker with defence, surely Paul Caddis or Aiden McGeady could have started in midfield.

If Gordon Strachan didn’t see McManus and Loovens troubled at any time, presumably he missed the first-half miss by Steven Fletcher (admittedly McManus was nowhere to be seen at the time).

Loovens has his qualities but positional sense is not one of them. On several occasions he was caught out of position and indeed the central defenders pushing too far forward was a theme of the game.

And yet – here we go – it could all have been so different if Celtic had invested properly in the summer. We started the season with only three established strikers, two of whom have been injured, with the other one rarely looking like threatening to score.

That was always likely to be problematic and the real surprise is not that Celtic failed to score against Hibs but that we managed to win 12 matches without being fully staffed in that area.

Today, the strikers may as well have been non-existent. Scott McDonald did work hard, Cillian Sheridan, who is still young and inexperienced, made no discernible impact and Georgios Samaras clearly still has some way to go to reach peak fitness.

It has become commonplace for those defending this failure to strengthen (and left-back is still an issue) to portray those who wished to see the club with a balanced squad as demanding reckless spending. That is not the case. Some people would just like to see the club assemble a squad that has adequate strength in all areas. That, we clearly do not have.

Some of the decisions made recently are tantamount to setting up a jewellery store and saying that you don’t have enough money for proper security.

The apologists for this negligence – and that is precisely what it is – insist on comparing our “net spend” to Britain’s worst-run club since Leeds United, one that is in the midst of a calamitous financial crisis brought about by a bombastic impresario.

Is this the only benchmark?

The more I read from some Celtic officials and commentators telling us how it is ridiculous to have expected our worldwide scouting network to have identified a striker and left-back, the more they sound like politicians telling us there is nothing in the coffers to fund free personal care for the elderly.

At football clubs, like central government, funds are found depending on the policy whims of the day.

It is simply dishonest to represent those of us who identified weaknesses in the squad months ago as demanding random, unsustainable spending. And let’s not forget that Celtic’s failure to do so has already cost the club millions of pounds in European football revenue.

Gordon Strachan must shoulder some of the blame, but not the lion’s share. However, if he continues to make excuses for people he believes to be his friends, he may very well one day find himself being held accountable for the failures of others.

The newspapers, of course, will have their headlines, which we in turn will ignore.

Those charged with running the club, those whose only comprehension of ownership is defined by the number of shares certificates with their name on them, ought to think twice before trying to reconcile the supporters to another disappointing transfer window.





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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.