Goodbye, Gordon – and thanks

Gordon Strachan's departure from Celtic should not fill anyone with joy. His commitment to Celtic in the most trying circumstances and his three SPL titles coupled with two last 16 places in the Champions League amount to an enviable legacy.

He also invested in youth, meaning that his successor will not be afflicted with an ageing squad of has-been legends, as was the case when Strachan took the job.

However, his final season was a grave disappointment and he gave the impression of a man whose thoughts were elsewhere for much of that time.

He is not totally to blame – his “friends” Peter Lawwell, Dermot Desmond and John Reid are complicit in this season's failure. They have attempted to play the supporters like a fiddle and, unfortunately, succeeded in doing so with Strachan to the extent that he castigated those who derided their failure to invest in the squad.

I predicted the departure of Strachan in November, partly on observing that a certain supporters' blog was suddenly lukewarm in its articles on the manager. That particular site has clearly been used as a mouthpiece for Lawwell, something illustrated most clearly by its ability to pre-empt the Celtic official media channels in announcing Strachan's resignation.

That represents a betrayal of Strachan and the club – as does the naked propaganda in advocating under-investment while touting the benefits of finishing second. When the same blog is being used to prepare fans for the sale of the more talented high-ticket players, it is time to draw a line.

Strachan leaves at a bad time but with his reputation as a manager and man of integrity intact.

Those he leaves behind and their quislings cannot say the same.





--

Missing in action – the men who want your season ticket money

In a commercial master-stroke to match the launch of a new kit the day after a pivotal defeat to the R-word, Celtic announced today that they would be opening the ticket office for three hours to allow for final season ticket renewals.

The sensible Celtic fan will have stayed at home.

Why? Because season tickets have deprived Celtic supporters of influence at the club. As long as a few absurd rumours can be touted around renewal time, promising better things to come, the club gets in its ticket revenue for the season in advance and then cheerfully ignores the wishes of the fans.

We can moan and shout and some even boo but mere expressions of dissatisfaction do nothing to bring about change because the people in power don't care what we think. There is at Celtic such an obsession with the bottom line, with building the brand and managing assets that a new type of supporter has been born – one who can accept defeat on the field if it can be argued that a strategic long-term benefit from the plc may be accrued.

Some people get excited by watching numbers change – like day traders fascinated by stock market tickers. But the day that Celtic's primary focus is on revenue rather than old-fashioned competitive entertaining football, the club as we know it will be dead.

The apologists for Dermot Desmond, Peter Lawwell and John Reid would argue that aiming for the Champions League is not so important given the revenue-generating and co-efficient opportunities from the Europa League. That's why you shouldn't trust them.

Some people can only appreciate commodities that can be quantified in numbers. That is not what Celtic was founded for and if we are to remain the most special club in the world, the supporters must take ownership of the club we love.

The only way to do that is to exert the only pressure the executives appreciate – make them earn our money. There is nothing wrong with going to games on a pay-as-you-watch basis. That way, the continued acquisition of income depends on keeping the fans satisfied.

Likewise, if anyone wants to buy the shirt with the tartan boxers, they are welcome to do so but merchandise and other items such as snacks at the games, etc. are, like football tickets, grossly over-priced and reductions in sales will make a significant statement. They don't acquire our money by divine right.

Some will say that this can only damage the club, limiting spending power.

To that I say two things:

• The people running our club have shown that they cannot be trusted to invest properly in the team when fans have freely given them cash up front.

• The long-term expediency strategists' argument can be turned against them – it is better to take a stand now and force the board's hand than to continually acquiesce until our club reaches footballing oblivion.

We are still hearing that our “net spend” is higher than others and certainly the flawed squad should have been able to secure the SPL title. However, only a Philadelphia lawyer could argue that the failure to recruit a striker and left-back represented anything other than negligence.

In the meantime, the political nous of our chairman continues to set the tone: when there is trouble brewing, keep your head down and your name out of the story. It is a cowardly response that Lawwell and Desmond have happily adopted, following the lead of a man who makes David Murray seem trustworthy in comparison.

But Celtic is our club – and they better not forget it.






--

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.






--