Celtic fans STUC for a protest?

There are few things as irksome as being told what to do – especially when it is potentially damaging – by people who have no interest in your welfare.

Yet in an unprecedented intervention in the affairs of Celtic, the Scottish Trades Union Congress has taken it upon itself to urge Celtic supporters to demonstrate solidarity with the Palestinians at a European match, a probable breach of UEFA rules. And they'll supply the flags.

Now you might ask yourself some questions:

• Why are Celtic fans being honoured with this task when, for example, there was no such call for the hordes of R-word fans to do so against Maccabi Haifa in 2006?

• What exactly have Hapoel Tel-Aviv done to deserve to be taunted by Celtic fans only two months after the surely uncomfortable experience of having to play the German Nazis' favourite club, SV Hamburg, in Germany?

• Given that Hapoel are arguably the most socially progressive football club in Israel, doesn't directing proxy protests at them, purely because of their nation of origin, simply amount to racism?

• Where has the STUC's interest in football been when Irish Celtic fans have been subjected to the most abject racism, which has on several occasions precipitated the sectarian murders of Celtic fans?

Actually, there is a good answer to the latter point. Seven days before the Scottish unions' umbrella organisation announced that it was using its funds – contributed through union membership fees – to buy flags, they produced a report on sectarianism, an issue often thought to have been largely disregarded by the Scottish trades union movement.

The study makes interesting reading. It highlights overwhelming instances of Catholics (and a smaller number of Protestants) being disadvantaged in the workplace; it points to the damaging effects of sectarianism in football, noting certain songs by our lesser rivals; and it concedes that at national and workplace levels, Scottish unions have done little or nothing about it.

For the record, I am as staunchly anti-Zionist as are the most orthodox Jews. I sympathise with the Palestinian cause and the international cowards' conspiracy that disregards their human rights and I also sympathise with those Israelis who are targeted by rocket attacks while they sleep in their beds.

But there are appropriate occasions for protests and methods of displaying solidarity. Staging a puppet show at the behest of outsiders who have little regard for our club, and at the expense of those who have wronged no one is not one of those occasions.

We have our own problems to concern us regarding performances in a group that had one old antagonist and in which we found a new one. Neither was Hapoel Tel-Aviv.

PS Fans attending the match should watch out for idiots intent on encroaching on the field of play, which would surely see our club punished severely.





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Beware the waterfalls when chasing dreams

Well, the fateful day approaches when Celtic discover whether or not salvation lies south of the border. Phil Gartside seems an unlikely name to be associated with the most radical reform of British football since the adoption of professionalism but then again so, once, was Jean-Marc Bosman.

Occasionally, it is the less celebrated figures who make the greatest impact and if Gartside's plan for the now legendary EPL2 gets the nod, football as we know it will never be the same again.

To listen to some, not least those employed by Celtic, such a move can only be good for our club. Of primary interest is, of course, money – barrow loads of it. Since the inception of the Premiership, English clubs have been lavishing – nay, wasting – enough money to maintain a small country.

It has resulted in outrageous inequality within the game as the financial muscle of England's major clubs ensures that only a handful of foreign teams can hope to compete. For Celtic, whose budget is exceeded by some Championship outfits, this has provided the perennial reason (some would say excuse) for our inability to come close to European success.

But would this plan really be good for Celtic?

The 1980s saw the idea of Celtic playing in English football mooted and greeted with a groundswell of support from the fans. In the days when David Syme was refereeing football matches and the pundits were routinely dismissing institutionalised bias as paranoia on our part, Davie Hay infamously stated that he would gladly take Celtic out of Scottish competition. Many supporters agreed, believing that escaping the narrow-minded confines of a Scottish football establishment run by old men in nylon bowling club blazers would see Celtic prosper, freed from the blight of prejudice.

To many, it appears that little has changed. The Scottish Football Association has been guilty of naked bias favouring Rangers, notably involving clandestine meetings the results of which were announced exclusively to a tabloid newspaper before it was discussed with member clubs. We have seen our players cited for additional punishment following media pressure while those of our opponents escape such attention from the same referee and we have faced the absurd situation of responding to disciplinary action without the apparent need for a transparently just process.

But would life in EPL2 really be any better? Celtic are popular in England, looked on with much fondness by many thousands of fans. Should we be directly competing with those supporters' primary clubs, how long would that last, you might ask.

Secondly, with the authorities, Celtic would certainly be seen as interlopers. We might not expect cultural bias against our heritage or the religious associations of some of our fans but we would certainly be seen as a Scottish club in England's game.

Substituting one cultural prejudice for the potential for a second may seem like a gamble worth taking to some but this may overlook a more practical problem. Ask anyone who has come late to the party in commercial or political terms and they will tell you of the difficulty in penetrating social barriers – i.e. the network of personal and professional relationships that has been formed over years to the mutual benefit of the existing participants.

Make no mistake – English football is a network of friendships, alliances, and enmities and while some would see Celtic as valuable allies, others would seek to disadvantage us as potentially dangerous competitors.

Of course, Scottish referees would not initially be invited to work in England, due to their appalling quality, but can anyone feel confident that exclusively English match officials would handle contests between Celtic and the biggest English clubs without fear or favour?

Would Scottish administrative officials be invited to join the new league management? Would we want them? Has anyone considered the relationships with the mainstream media that have already been built up by the great English clubs and how we would then be represented? It could be argued that we are embracing the prospect of a new manifestation of the same ills.

For that perspective, the possibility of an Atlantic League could be more appealing. That would be a wholly new body with an opportunity to influence its shape and direction from the outset. Celtic are genuinely respected outwith the shores of the British Isles amongst clubs that see themselves as roughly our equivalents. However, there are huge logistical difficulties to be overcome if such a league is to be created, not least the division of Champions League and Europa Cup places, should those competitions remain open to us.

Both proposals have other implications. Celtic bring thousands of fans to away matches every week. That is difficult enough within the boundaries of a small country like Scotland. How many fans could regularly travel to London and beyond at weekends, never mind Monday nights, simply to watch their club? In trying economic times, both EPL2 and the Atlantic League would see a rapid diminution of Celtic's away support – something that has a huge part to play in carrying our identity with us.

The glamour of the competition may also be being somewhat overplayed. Without doubt, some of the finest footballers in the world would visit Celtic Park. Then again, for how long would the excitement carry us forward before we hear BB King singing “the thrill is gone”?

I am sure we would never tire of playing the likes of Manchester United and Liverpool but, of the rest, how many clubs really set the pulse racing? In recent times, Manchester City visited Celtic Park to no discernible excitement whatsoever and for every Arsenal or Chelsea, there is a Hull, a Wigan, a Burnley, a Wolves or a Stoke.

For now, they may compare favourably to our Scottish competitors but I suspect the novelty would soon wear off.

The subject of other Scottish teams should also be considered relevant. Any plan that further cements our notional connection to Rangers, a club that has extolled bigotry as a virtue for generations, would find an objector in me. Being invited in with our Glasgow neighbours would have just that effect and it is no secret that this would provide a lifeline to a club that has fully deserved its current troubles.

But any British League without a possible route of entry for Aberdeen, Hibernian, Hearts and Dundee United would also be flawed. If there is to be reform, let it allow representation from Scotland's major cities and clubs. Otherwise, why crave to be champions of England?

Personally, I see much to despise in Scottish football. However, as the only current power in the Scottish game that is not in danger of ruin, there is also the unique potential for Celtic to lobby hard for a fairer, more enlightened administration. For the head of the SFA, Scottish Premier League and the Scottish Professional Footballers' Association to all have been ex-Rangers players at the same time is a situation that Celtic never should have nor ever should tolerate again.

The administrators and other clubs in Scotland have never done anything to assist Celtic so let us wreck their house if we must. We should do so cautiously and with open eyes, remembering that the glister of gold can be blinding.

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Shh! Hear the irony?

I have long argued on this blog and elsewhere that Celtic fans must make the mainstream media irrelevant by ignoring it.

For too many years, unscrupulous scoffing hacks made their own kind of sport taunting and goading Celtic fans, denigrating the club and its representatives and often succeeding in sparking unrest.

That should come as no surprise – the Scottish media has long been an old-boys network where the lack of a common tie was replaced by questions on the name of prospective employees' schools. That may be changing but extreme nepotism has dictated that white male protestant journalism in Scotland will take many more years to absorb enlightenment.

The breaking of male hegemony has yet to be fully realised while the Catholics, Jews and Muslims stand further back in the queue (the atheists are notionally disbarred due to their inability to become Freemasons). You can expect to see the demise of news titles before any find themselves with a Black or Asian editor.

And, believe it or not, this is relevant today as the White underclass described by Graham Spiers has provided blood stock for the Scottish media for years. There is an old joke that you know you are a redneck if you have more than one brother called Darryl, which is quite apposite when you think of it.

And so, to the point. Before a minute's silence is besmirched, today has already been chronicled as a day in which Celtic fans defiled the honoured dead. Before we even have a chance to paraphrase John Robertson and declare our wars fought on the football field, Celtic supporters are being lined up for their routine haranguing, something which is always pursued with even greater enthusiasm when fans of the R-word disgrace themselves.

Not merely anticipated, the reaction has already begun with attempts to equate this longed-for behaviour with Rangers rioting in Europe's unsuspecting cities.

For my part, I would repudiate anyone who disrupts a memorial as stolidly as I would any authority that tried to dictate that there is only one view of war and prescribe precisely how it must be commemorated. The deeper issues are profound and subtle and therefore lost on the archetypal Scottish newspaper sports hick.

And yet, the one common courtesy observed in thousands of wars over millennia has been the right to reclaim, bury and remember the dead. In conflicts sparked by issues of survival, greed or sheer hatred, only the most savage have failed to observe the protocol of having enemies only amongst the living. (Viz: Michael Stone, Rangers fan helped by British security forces.)

But while the explosion of colour that has become the independent Celtic multimedia environment is bringing us ever closer to that day when the Scottish papers speak only to themselves, fans should remember that protests are better articulated through considered letters than oafish grunts.

But the great irony – one which is unlikely to be observed in the Scottish press – is that this week, it was Celtic who literally faced the Nazi Hun. In Germany, Celtic played a team with a strong German Neo-Nazi element, the SV Hamburger Hitler Fan Club.

Who swelled their ranks? The right-wing “loyalist” supporters of Rangers, who have branded themselves as the “quintessentially British club”, supporters of “our boys” in the armed forces, brandishing their Union Jacks and banners of “no surrender”. While they listen in hope for a single Celtic jeer, their friends will be lamenting the fall of the Third Reich.

Whose side are they on?





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Time for a knee-jerk reaction?

“If you can’t say anything positive, you should say nothing at all,” goes the instruction often given to the terminally morose and you could say that this is the excuse for the neglect of this blog in recent months.
Where do I start? A few months ago, I was extending a cautious welcome to Tony Mowbray, a man whose credentials were inadequate for a potential Celtic manager but who, nevertheless, I expected to perform quite well.
And yet, to be frank, nothing could be further from the truth. Mowbray inherited a squad with serious problems. Not least amongst those was a certain satisfaction in being second-best; a smug disregard for the opinions of fans whose patience was exhausted with their inability to score goals against teams with a hint of organisation.
From Mowbray, we looked for answers. We got a £4m player (now injured) who had scored 16 goals in his previous 89 games and a midfielder who started his Celtic career like some great undiscovered talent but faded when praise came his way.
When Arsenal dismantled the team, attention was focused on the unique qualities of the Highbury outfit with the expectation that our new manager would improve matters once he got to grips with his squad.
Much has been made of Mowbray’s “philosophy” and “principles” relating to how the game should be played. On recent evidence we can conclude that this emphasises the rights of the individual over the team. Where there was a dull, grey order, we now have a team with all the drive and discipline of the new-age hippie generation.
But worse, Mowbray’s influence seems to have resulted in our decent performers appearing lost in a fog of tactical bewilderment. Solid pros – like Stephen McManus, for example – find themselves in a team “system” that shows apparent disregard for their limitations.
Mowbray likes to build from the back – so McManus is urged to start playing forward passes into the heart of the midfield, costing us dearly against Rapid Vienna and Rangers while he still had not learned his lesson against SV Hamburg.
Enter the ever-reliable Barry Robson to bring some professional common sense to midfield – he spends the evening giving the ball away to opponents. These two are not the only culprits but when no-nonsense footballers suddenly drop the “no-“, we have cause for grave concern.
But in truth, there is not a single outfield player who can claim to have performed satisfactorily all season, something that would probably comfort a group of footballers who apparently value camaraderie ahead of the desire for excellence, never mind honouring the traditions of Celtic or performing for the fans.
With only three strikers, we play only two and rarely together while two younger, hungrier players are out on loan. Likewise, we only have three central defenders, none of whom have performed even passably, while the man who is arguably Celtic’s best defender is plying his trade for Reading.
Meanwhile the midfield has all the shape and cohesion of a jar of wasps.
Scott Brown has an admirer on this blog and was Scotland’s player of the year last season. This year, even accounting for injuries, he looks to have suffered amnesia, forgetting all that he has learned in the game to take a full role in a school playground 11.
As for Shaun Maloney, well he is like one of those old pals you can’t shake off – the kind who is occasionally entertaining but more often a liability and an absolute nightmare in a crisis.
There we shall stop naming the underperformers and go for the short-cut of absolving Artur Boruc of most blame while those around him fail.
Amid this disintegration of a football team, Mowbray allegedly claimed that the fans would “be happy with the effort, desire and commitment” shown in capitulating to Hamburg. He should sue the person who implied he is so out of touch with the supporters.
Few would sympathise with the players he has criticised. But he is also required to demonstrate that he has the slightest clue as to what to do with a Celtic team, rather than starting with a lone striker at home and persisting with this approach while his team trailed.
If Mowbray is the student of the game he claims, he should take a leaf out of the book of Alex Ferguson. Just a few weeks ago he noted that publicly criticising players “hurts morale”. I suspect it affects their loyalty to a manager more and, certainly, this is not a team of players fighting for their boss.
Ferguson, of course, also founded his success on tightening his defence first as a foundation for a positive approach to football. What would he make of a manager who goes to Ibrox and finds his side two goals down before they have wiped the sleep from their eyes?
But most of all, Mowbray is ignoring the basic tenet of management that you must make the most of the players you have until you can bring better ones in. The constant huffing about transfer windows lends weight to a suspicion that he believes he can disregard his current squad because they are not of his choosing.
If that is so, he is unlikely to see those “four transfer windows” as his position will have become untenable long before then.
He has been let down by directors, investors and executives, for sure. But most let down have been the fans – by the suits, the players and the management.
Mowbray must change the outlook and performance of his team radically and immediately or face a John Barnes-like ignominy.





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Europa, Europa: truth and tradition, history and enmity

Celtic, as we know it, is in peril. For evidence, you need only look to the television pictures of supporters leaving early against Arsenal, on a Champions League night, at Celtic Park.

Tradition, such as the kind Tevye sang of so, is when customs become the fabric of identity.

Once, long ago it seems now, Celtic supporters stayed to the end. Why? Pride, steadfastness and the traditional expression of ourselves as a club apart – faithful through and through.

Why do we applaud the opposition when they score against us with fine football? Because our identity and tradition are interlinked. We care about football as it should be played – as Willie Maley, Jock Stein, Billy McNeill and Tommy Burns dictated – the thread of constancy of our existence demands that it must be this way.

If that has often won us admiration, then let it be so for many years to come. Then we will know that we always stand for the highest ideals in the game, a position so pristine and unscratchable that our detractors can only throw filth and envy. And dirt, as we all know, is as enduring as a Scottish summer.

But tradition without memory is nothing more than habit. And sometimes it is necessary to endure the brickbats so that even harsh memories are carried forward.

“Woe unto you when all men speak well of you,” said a wise man.

Of that, we need have no fear any more than the righteous ought to expect an abundance of rewards on earth.

But we have cast our pearls before swine. Outwith British waters, Celtic have only three enemies: Racing Club, Atlético Madrid and our upcoming Europa opponents Rapid Vienna.

None know the story better than Peter Grant – how in the worst example of blatant violence, cheating, and organised deception seen in the British Isles in the past 30 years, Rapid Vienna overturned a victory based on football, courage and sportsmanship and forever sullied the name of one of Europe's greatest cities.

Eduardo? A mere mischievous boy next to Hans Krankl, who strode into Celtic Park on 7th November 1984 as one of Europe's finest players only to slither out as one of its most notorious and contemptible cowards.

Tommy Burns, it seems, was the catalyst – for challenging fairly for a ball the goalkeeper had failed to hold and for having the temerity to put Celtic 3-0 ahead, to the horror of Rapid who had thought the tie safe following their 3-1 win at home.

Soon after, the Rapid goalkeeper Karl Ehn blatantly kicked Tommy – studs first – in the groin while jumping to catch the ball. Rightly, sent off, the Rapid coaches and management took every opportunity to antagonise the Celtic players and supporters, with only a few morons allowing their temper to get in the way of decency and good sense.

The Rapid complaint was farcical – as was summed up by the original findings of the UEFA Disciplinary Committee.

To reject the protest entered by the club, SK Rapid Wien and to confirm the result of 3-0 in favour of Celtic FC
To impose a fine of 12,000 Swiss Francs on the club Celtic FC for the comportment of the spectators (in case of repition).
To impose a fine of 15,000 Swiss Francs on the club SK Rapid Wien for the conduct of the team (in case of repition).
To suspend the player Reinhard Kienast (SK Rapid Wien) for four U.E.F.A. club competition matches after his expulsion (already cautioned in a previous match of the current season).
To suspend the coach of the club SK Rapid Wien, Mr Otto Baric, for three U.E.F.A. club competition matches.
To censure the club SK Rapid Wien for the comportment of the other team officials.
To confirm the cautions administered to the players Zlatko Kranjcar, Karl Ehn and Peter Brucic for foul play.

But then we witnessed one of UEFA's greatest ever travesties. The appeal by Rapid was heard by none other than Ted Croker – Secretary of the FA – and a man who had a personal vendetta against Scottish football fans going back to his humiliation when he attempted to ban Scottish football fans from Wembley only to see tens of thousands in the stands taunting him personally.

They say you should not speak ill of the dead, therefore Croker's malicious role in the appeal that followed will be spoken of here no more.

In as absurd a reversal as has ever been seen in major football, UEFA revised its utter condemnation of Rapid and ordered a replay away from Celtic Park. Old Trafford was the venue but another 3-0 victory was never on the cards, the idiotic actions of two supporters whose frustrations boiled over – attacking Rapid players only further damaged the club, leading to the next European tie being played behind closed doors. To rub salt into the wound Raid made the UEFA Cup final that season.

Why is this important? Is it because the Rapid players of today, many of whom weren't born at the time of that shameful episode deserve to suffer? Is it because the gloating Rapid fans – and the likes of Peter Pacult, still at the club, ought to suffer violent retribution? Should we trash their city as our Glaswegian co-habitees have done with Manchester and Barcelona?

No, of course not. The reason is that any club with tradition must have players worthy of defending it. On this occasion, the proposition is very simple. Exact the finest and purest form of sporting revenge.

Or don't come back to Glasgow.






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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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Summer's no breeze for Tony Mowbray

Well, the close season comes, birds twitter, summer breeze makes me feel fine, blowing through the jasmine...



... and blogs are neglected.

Which is sort of a shame because there has been no proper welcome on here for Tony Mowbray, Mark Venus and Peter Grant. By all that's right and holy, Mogga & co's credentials shouldn't have got them near the interview stage at a club like Celtic but that's by the by. I like who we have in charge and I believe that they can do an excellent job for us.

That task isn't helped by having to fly to the Antipodes to play some exhibition football when they should really be preparing a squad for Champions League qualification. But then in “pursuing sources of revenue“ … “we don''t get Premiership money“ … blah, blah, Celtic always have some sort of excuse.

The truth is, of course, that all these commitments – like the Peace Cup – were made when it was believed that Celtic would win the SPL. The mere matter of adequately improving the squad to make sure that we could play in that nonsensical tournament and travel to the other end of the world without wrecking our chances of playing in the Champions League was surely a technicality.

That's in the past, of course, but not forgotten – and nor should it be.

Tony has made a bright start, attempting to re-awaken that passion and loyalty to the team and manager that disregards the intrigues of the boardroom suits. His job has not been made easier.

The departure of Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink inspires mixed feelings. He was very effective for a time but when the last remnants of pace left his legs, watching him proved to be torture. Personally, I never fully forgave him for stupidly getting sent off as we were going down to an improbable defeat against the R-word at Celtic Park. At that stage, we could still have won the match and Jan's idiocy – with the wry smile that followed – was costly and unbecoming of a Celtic player.

Shunsuke Nakamura was a marvellous footballer, who seems to have been allowed to leave without even being asked to speak to the new manager. He was, after all, quoted as saying he would stay at Celtic “as long as Peter wants me“. We must presume that Peter Lawwell had no further use for him.

Tony himself made the decision to let Paul Hartley go and while it may have been the correct decision in the long term, Paul's professionalism will be missed. I often wonder how large a figure in Celtic's history Paul might have been had he been signed a few years earlier. He has exceptional qualities and Bristol City are fortunate to have him.
So with those three and Bobo gone, “salary-trimming“ is in full swing.

And now we have Marc-Antoine Fortuné, whose signing is a bold move. Most of us are in no position to make judgements on him and the coaches have high praise for a forward they worked with at West Bromwich Albion. However, strikers who score very few goals are an immense risk.

The coaching staff point to the overall scoring rate of the team in matches he plays in. Are they perhaps overlooking the phenomenon of Celtic strikers being penalised when they challenge for the ball? Since certain blue-minded zealots campaigned for special treatment allowing centre-halfs impunity when challenged by Chris Sutton, there has been a constant theme of referees favouring defenders against our strikers.

In part, this accounted for the ineffectiveness of Jan and, unless there is a serious change of culture, Marc-Antoine faces the challenge of his life. We should be patient with him as the Jacksons and Broadfoots of the world are surely waiting to compare him unfavourably to Kyle Lafferty.

We await much-needed further signings and suspect that more players will be asset-managed out of the door. In these circumstances, if Tony Mowbray takes us into the Champions League proper, he will already deserve legendary status.






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Aberdeen-minded?

Well, today is the first-day of post-Strachan Celtic and, for me, there is a degree of sadness. I had great hopes for Gordon as Celtic manager and for a time it appeared that he would fulfil all of them and more.

However, his final season has taught us one thing – just as with Martin O'Neill's last campaign, it is folly to believe you can successfully carry out a job of the magnitude of the Celtic manager's role unless you are 100% committed. Ultimately, this was Gordon's greatest failing in his period of tenure.

Managing people is 10% theory, 20% common sense and instinct, and the rest is psychological, much of it subliminal. Anyone who has had to manage people in the most minor degree will know that keeping subordinates fully focused and motivated all of the time is a monumental task.

Demand more than their abilities allow and the pressure will tell. Be too stern and their motivation will drop as their resentment rises. Be too easy-going and familiar, then people will believe they can deliver lower standards.

In a top-level, supremely competitive environment, it is impossible to perform optimally with a shred of doubt about your commitment. Communications experts tell us that 70% of any message conveyed is non-verbal. We subconsciously pick up signals from people all the time. It's what tells us when someone is lying and when someone just doesn't fully believe in what they say.

I don't know what Gordon Strachan said to his players before they performed like lions to deliver the third title in the aftermath of the death of Tommy Burns. But he could have said the same words in the last three weeks and they would have had none of the impact of 12 months ago.

I believe he will look back on the past six months with regret. He will know that a manager at Celtic cannot accept draws or narrow defeats. He cannot pass on to players the notion that anything less than victory is ever enough and he certainly cannot continually praise them in defeat. Watching the team in recent months was painful because, for the first time in years, we saw a Celtic side with no heart.

There is a time for patient play and a time for roaring your team-mates on, demanding more from each other. That passion was missing from the field of play, arguably because players had picked up signals that it was not required.

That is not to say for one second that Gordon Strachan didn't want to do the best for Celtic. I have not the slightest doubt that he conducted himself professionally at all times. But whether the death of Tommy Burns left a hole in his life at Celtic, whether he was dismayed by the reaction of some fans or whether he was disillusioned by executives who refused to invest adequately in the squad, something was clearly missing and that was evident in his public demeanour and on-field performances.

Much has been written about his lack of “Celtic-mindedness” and despite what some say there is a half-truth there. Unfortunately what masquerades as the vast bulk of the Scottish media loves to take a half-truth and spin it into an ugly lie.

Gordon's background wasn't a problem, though some remembered him as an Aberdeen player with no fondness at all. Following Martin O'Neill, whose personal circumstances encouraged fans to ignore any failings was a huge personal challenge, one not helped by two awful results in his first season – defeats to Artmedia and Clyde.

Yet it is easy to forget that his stock was at its highest when he spoke so movingly about Tommy Burns and then delivered that third title. He also received overwhelming support from the fans when he took a stand over the behaviour of Aiden McGeady.

What he was lacking was the well of goodwill that is available to someone the fans of any club feel affection for. Newcastle United fans forgive Kevin Keegan all his failings and admire a hopelessly inept Alan Shearer. The same couldn't be said for Ruud Gullit, Kenny Dalglish or Glenn Roeder. Do they face accusations of bigotry?

Aberdeen have just lost Jimmy Calderwood, their best manager since they foolishly sacked Alex Smith. He claims today that directors did not support him and it is well known that a vast section of the Aberdeen support detested him, not least because of his known affiliation to Rangers. Yet the press absolves them of the stain of prejudice; the same press that ignores mass racism and sectarian abuse from Rangers fans; the same press that besmirches the good name of Celtic supporters with invented theories.

Now, the number one choice for Aberdeen fans is Mark McGhee, a former Celt allegedly recommended to our directors by Gordon Strachan. One of the stars of the Dons' greatest era, their choice is certainly based on emotion as much as his managerial record, which includes two relegations and a bottom-six SPL finish.

Let them have their man. The truth is that the manager they have lost has far better credentials for a top job – even the Celtic job – than any of his SPL rivals. But then, if he isn't quoted, it could only be because he isn't Celtic-minded.





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Celtic hotseat - the runners and riders

Betting is a mug's game. Of that, there can be no doubt. People who advocate speculating your cash on the outcome of sporting events/managerial appointments are the sort who invariably only remember their wins, failing to discuss the times they have blown their lolly on their folly.

So the odds below are useful only as a guide to the expected probability of those listed as candidates for the Celtic job – a position that has probably already been filled.

O Coyle 6/4
The new hero for our time. Personally, I'm an admirer but it's worth noting that he has never managed a club in any top division. There is every chance that he will be the next outstanding Scottish manager. Then again, he might be the next Billy Davies.

Verdict: Too soon

D Ferguson 20/1

These sites don't specify which D Ferguson they are talking about but we must presume they mean Darren, not Derek or Duncan. Darren is currently the manager of the mighty Peterborough Utd, who have just been promoted to the Championship so he is probably within the ideal budget range of our miserable board.

Verdict: You have got to be kidding.

R Aitken 50/1
Good old Roy. If ever there was a made-to-measure Celtic legend, it was the Bear. However, apart from a brief and modestly successful spell as Aberdeen manager (during the club's self-destruct phase), he has little experience in the top job. He is also working with Alex McLeish at Birmingham City but the alleged shoogliness of Eck's peg may tempt him to look elsewhere.

Verdict: Ideal back-room addition.

T Mowbray 9/4
Another well-liked former Celt and respected coach, Tony Mowbray won many admirers during his time managing Hibs. His style of play and youth development were major pluses before he moved to West Bromwich Albion, where he secured promotion. However, his team have just finished bottom of the Premier League.

Verdict: More to prove

D Moyes 28/1
Without a shadow of a doubt, Davie Moyes is the supreme candidate. So good in fact, that we have a snowball's chance in hell of attracting him. His impeccable credentials from successful stints with Everton and Preston North End mean that many more covetous eyes are on him. He would be unlikely to join Celtic with the resources that would be made available.

Verdict: We can dream

R Hodgson 50/1
Once upon a time, Roy Hodgson was the most admired English football manager. He certainly knows his way around a football club with a CV that includes the Swiss national team, Blackburn Rovers, Inter Milan and Fulham, where he has done sterling work.

Verdict: Intriguing possibility but unlikely

C Levein 11/2
It's amazing what an outburst against Mike McCurry can do for a man's popularity. Craig Levein has many qualities, as shown by his ability to make life difficult for Celtic. On the other hand, he has yet to put together a team that can consistently outdo United's smaller rivals. His time at Leicester City was also notable for its mediocrity.

Verdict: Don't even think about it

N Lennon 33/1
Another hugely popular player, some idiots in the tabloids touted him as Gordon Strachan's replacement even as he was being appointed team coach. Neil may or may not make a manager one day – Celtic Park is not a place to test the managerial waters.

Verdict: Nae chance

C Laszlo 66/1
Yes, yes, Csaba, you really were very good last season. One swallow doesn't make a summer.

Verdict: Not a serious contender

A Curbishley 10/1
The Londoner is highly respected from his stints with Charlton Athletic and West Ham Utd and was once allegedly interviewed for the England job. He has never won a trophy as a manager and walked out on the Hammers over the board's interference in team affairs – so why would he go to Celtic.

Verdict: Uninspiring

S McClaren 33/1
One of the great numpties in European football, it would almost be worth giving him the job to see how he would use his linguistic prowess to “talk Scotch”, following his now infamous interview on Dutch TV. Gave us great entertainment as England coach.

Verdict: Might as well appoint Harry Hill

S Eriksson 66/1
A once-great coach who took the greatest generation of English talent and ruined their prospects of winning anything. Who could forget the time he took two injured strikers and a boy who had never played a senior first-team game for his club to a world cup. Boned Ulrika Jonsson – who hasn't?

Verdict: Expensive folly

M McGhee 11/1
Yes, I'm aware of that school of thought. Mark McGhee is admired by the sort of people who think Ross Perot was the greatest president the USA never had. His team finished in the bottom six – enough said.

Verdict: Levein without a neck

S Bilic 33/1
An intriguing possibility, and one of the most exciting coaches in the game. On the down side, he has only ever coached at international level, which doesn't fully prepare him for the rigours of club management. The Scottish press could never accept him – too Catholic-minded.

Verdict: Risky

J Klinsmann 66/1
From the realms of sheer fantasy, we consider the former Bayern Munich manager.

Verdict: Waste no more time

J Collins 16/1
Undoubtedly believes himself to be the best manager around as well as the most handsome little bundle of cuteness ever to flash a winning smile. Surprisingly successful for a short time at Hibs, he has rested on his laurels ever since – and probably Hardy too.

Verdict: They wouldn't dare, would they?

R Martinez 33/1
The sort of name bandied about by people who think they know what they are talking about. He is Spanish and manages Swansea City.

Verdict: Nothing to see here

P Ince 66/1
One of those annoying “hot tips” for managerial greatness, his automatic gub would have fans crying out for the succinct insights of Gordon Strachan in no time. 177 days as Blackburn Manager did nothing to inspire confidence.

Verdict: Pillock

F Smuda 16/1
How the hell did we end up being linked with the 61-year-old manager of Lech Pznan? Franciszek Smuda was, according to unreliable sources, approached some months ago and his name refuses to go away. Just the sort of bizarre idea that Peter Lawwell would come up with.

Verdict: Bloody hope not

S Coppell 33/1
Like watching paint dry, Steve Coppell is the anti-Strachan when it comes to speaking to the media. He bailed on Reading because, not for the first time, he wasn't good enough.

Verdict: Nay, nay and thrice nay!

A McLeish 100/1
Hmm!

Verdict: Obviously not a serious contender.

M McCarthy 16/1
One of the better candidates, we can be sure he wants the job. A quarter-final place in the World Cup and promotion to the Premiership with two teams are evidence of his ability but, if he was to be a top-class manager, would that have shown by now?

Verdict: Could do worse

D O'Leary 50/1
Thankfully David O'Leary's record of ruining clubs by spending outrageous sums makes him a non-starter for Celtic. Never liked him – never will.

Verdict: Bastard

H Larsson 100/1
We love Henke – that's a given. Could still do a better job up front than at least two-thirds of our strikers.

Verdict: Sentimental dreaming

W McStay 16/1
Look, we know Willie McStay is a fantastic youth coach. That doesn't make him a reasonable candidate for the top job.

Verdict: Not likely

M O'Neill 50/1
Yes, yes, we remember the days well. He brought us good times and paid his pals vast sums of money for doing very little. Still, he is doing well with Aston Villa and the hair dye keeps him looking young.

Verdict: Memories should stay memories

K Dalglish 125/1
The return of Kenny would be just the sort of miscalculation that some on the board would deem a masterstroke. Should be the next Scotland manager – but the hacks have another candidate in mind.

Verdict: Mibbes naw

P Lambert 18/1
Get to the car park if they appoint this plonker. Livingston and Wycombe Wanderers say “no”!

Verdict: Hopeless

A Irvine 20/1
Just the sort of middle-ranker who is always linked with jobs he won't get. Something about Preston North End gives coaches credibility they probably don't deserve. Couldn't reach the play-off final. Not exactly Champions Leage material, is it.

Verdict: Zzzzzzzzzz

R Keane 20/1
This is the danger. Surely the oaf that is Dermot Desmond has had enough of this arch quitter. Having indulged Keano in his whim of playing for Celtic, could Desmond yet offer him the managerial post he covets? I wouldn't put it past him.

Verdict: If they dare....

F Rijkaard 50/1
Of course, why wouldn't Frank Rijkaard come to Celtic? What a player he was, though.

Verdict: Sheer fantasy

L Blanc 50/1
I can just hear the dilettantes in the support cooing over the sophisticated choice.

Verdict: Non!




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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.





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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.






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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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Rotten to the core. Scottish football: of the peepul, by the peepul, for the peepul

Forget the corruption jibes against Italian, Eastern European or South American football. It has become increasingly evident in recent years that Scottish football is rotten to the core.

Take the Chief Executive of the Scottish Football Association, the Chairman of the Scottish Premier League and the Chief Executive of the Scottish Professional Footballers' Association and they have one glaring thing in common: all three are former Rangers players. This is such an astonishing imbalance that it would shame Ceaucescu's Romania or Saddam Hussein's Iraq but is easily overlooked, given the fact that the Scottish media routinely ignores the issue.

Is it a coincidence that all three bodies have contrived in recent seasons to materially affect the outcome of the Scottish Premier League Championship in favour of Rangers? And, today, true to form, they continue their naked corruption with the approval of the Scottish news industry.

Cast your mind back to the end of last season where one extension was not enough for Rangers. In an unprecedented act of duplicity, the SFA's (former Rangers player) Gordon Smith and George Peat secretly met with Rangers officials and offered to move the date of the Scottish Cup Final, briefing the Daily Record in the process to present the move as a fait accompli.

In doing so, they disregarded the rules of their own association without consulting any member clubs, including Queen of the South who were Scottish Cup finalists. And crucially, this move could not benefit Rangers in their UEFA Cup final campaign – it could only benefit their SPL challenge.

The attempted intervention was an outrageous act of duplicity yet acting against the interests of one of the competing member clubs – Celtic, of course – was allowed to pass without censure for the officials.

At the same time, the SPFA's (former Rangers player) Fraser Wishart, a man paid as a trade union official under the umbrella of the GMB, actively supported a full season extension, again without consulting his members, even though it was against the interests of those who paid his wages.

Take any unionised company or organisation in the United Kingdom and see what happens when they arbitrarily announce, at short notice, an illegal reduction in holidays without consultation. Any union would immediately threaten action. But Wishart, acting in favour of Rangers against the interests of his own members, actively supported an extension that could see hundreds of players having to cancel holidays without compensation, never mind affecting European Championship preparations, all for the sake of trying to help Rangers win the SPL.

No reference has yet been seen in the Scottish mainstream media querying Wishart's role or, for example, his publicly disavowing the actions of his own members when they happen to play for Celtic. In any real trade union, he would have been dismissed.

The SPL, led by (former Rangers player) Lex Gold, at the time agreed to one extension, specifically defying UEFA's continent-wide instructions to finish the season on time due to the Euro 2008 championships. It was a move that was opposed by Celtic and defied the SPL's own rules but it was largely supported by the mainstream media in Scotland, those who like to claim they are the arbiters of common sense, even if their diction and attire suggest that most of their “journalists” would be better suited to selling knocked-off bottles of suntan lotion.

This season, the SPL contrived to allow Rangers to play Scotland's third-best team, Hearts, three times at Ibrox Park, excusing the actions in such fanciful terms that they could only be believed by a proponent of the seven-day-creationism school of science.

Again, this materially affected the run-in to the SPL and was largely supported by the Scottish media.

Further hitherto unheard-of actions have been undertaken by our referees. For the first time in several decades, referees have been publicly punished for “dubious” decisions, the head referee, Don McVicar having abandoned his practice of defending officials in the face of club attacks when decisions were seen to go against Rangers or in favour of Celtic.

The most obvious example of this was the removal of Iain Brines (who has no fan on this blog) after accusations emanating from Rangers that they had been hard done by. This is the same club whose former manager in his “132 years of unsurpassed dignity” rant insisted that nobody at Rangers would ever question the integrity of an official.

Walter Smith publicly implied bias by assistant referee Tom Murphy, again without sanction or comment from McVicar, even though he was forced to send Murphy a written apology which was unreported in the Scottish newspapers and broadcast media.

Finally, in recent weeks, two Celtic players have been referred to the SFA to consider further sanctions over incidents that referees thought unworthy of attention at the time while we are now told that the Rangers and media campaign to free Madjid Bougherra for the last match of the season has been successful.

This is in the face of one of the most appalling pieces of cheating by a footballer in recent years, Kyle Lafferty's dive to have a fellow professional sent off and regardless of the fact that Bougherra's studs are clearly shown to have made strong contact with the head of Aberdeen goalkeeper Jamie Langfield. Smith and Smith have clearly been in consultation again as the SFA Chief Executive has now praised the Ibrox club for fining Lafferty in a move that was intended only to pave the way for Bougherra's reinstatement.

And let's not forget Rangers' flouting of international anti-doping legislation in using pain-killing injections to allow them to field injured players or the dismissal by Gordon Smith of Rangers fans racist chanting, even though it strained international diplomatic relations between the UK and Ireland.

In the meantime, Celtic officials remain silent, save for one letter requesting “clarification” of the SPL post-split schedule. We have a former Home Secretary as Chairman, who apparently sees fit to allow the combined forces of Rangers and their allies to continually move the goalposts for the benefit of the Ibrox club.

We have a billionaire major shareholder, who may or may not be aware of these things from the sun-drenched tax haven of Gibraltar and we have a Chief Executive who has learned from Reid to keep his head down when there is flak flying, regardless of the detriment to the club that pays him handsomely.

It would appear that the parlous state of R-word's finances have led to desperate measures by the Scottish football and media fraternities to support them, rather than observe fair play. Celtic should – but won't – refer the entire matter of the administration of Scottish football to UEFA.

It seems that only Celtic fans have the interests of Celtic at heart.





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Five out of top six clubs advocate fair play. Refs not polled

Yesterday, at Ibrox, Aberdeen's players fought strongly for their first victory at that ground. At 1pm today, Hibernian will host Celtic, fully intending to fight tooth and nail to undermine our title ambitions at least as severely as they did to Rangers with a 1-1 draw at Easter Road.

Move forward seven days and Hearts, who in Csaba Laszlo have a strong candidate for manager of the season, will try just as hard to ruin the end of our season while Craig Levein's Dundee United can be relied upon to strive to make life at least as difficult for R-word as they did for Celtic in a nerve-wracking encounter at Celtic Park.

It should be no other way. The Aberdeen players, along with Hibs, Hearts and Dundee Utd – and, of course, Celtic – still recognise some basics of sporting integrity; still maintain pride in their performances and in their clubs.

How strange it is that the club most fêted (or perhaps that should be foetid) by the media and by the Scottish football establishment should have such scant regard for the sporting ethos.

Those whose claim to know is based on receiving wage packets for writing such tripe will tell you that Walters Smith is a beacon of integrity. Nevertheless, his teams have been remarkable for a devil-may-care attitude to ethics, epitomised by his faith in Ally McCoist, one of the most cynical and unrepentant cheats the Scottish game has known.

Then came Kyle Lafferty. A typical Smith signing in that he has been as abysmal a performer as he was expensive, Lafferty first fouled, then brazenly cheated to have his fellow professional Charlie Mulgrew sent off, to the tumultuous roars of approval from the Ibrox horde. It was, to date, his most significant contribution to Scottish football and indicative of the type of character who grows up in the Ibrox tradition.

Smith's promise to “have a word” was, some might suspect, more in hope of legitimising his claim that Madjid Bougherra's studs making contact with the Aberdeen goalkeeper Jamie Langfield could not possibly warrant a red card.

Special attention is also due to the referee. Stuart Dougal, fresh from claiming not to have seen an incident between Scott McDonald and Lee Wilkie, despite having taunted Wilkie as he lay on the ground, apparently invites us to believe that he thought Kyle Lafferty had been violently assaulted.

But there is a flaw in the story – as photographs suggest. While Lafferty lay motionless, on the ground, he was simulating the symptoms of someone who had suffered a severe head injury. Curiously, Dougal was happy to deal with the mêlée without summoning the medical assistance that such health risks routinely require.

Not so when Langfield was injured, at which point the player was quite rightly given attention.

So might Mr Dougal be asked why, if he truly believed that Lafferty had been butted, he was happy to stand over the player doling out his unique interpretation of justice?

Over the next eight days, Celtic will neither ask nor give quarter to any team but rather simply ask for fair contests officiated in a professional and impartial manner. All of our players can be expected to conduct themselves better than to besmirch the hoops by “doing a Lafferty”.

Individual allegiances aside, we can confidently expect the other clubs to be impartial, meaning that our players must take victory without favours or underhand tactics. Anyone who cares for fairness in sport will be willing us on.





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The great hunger

It is appropriate that the Irish National Famine Memorial day should coincide with the meeting of two of Scotland's three great clubs of Irish origin.

In 1875, Hibernian were one of the first clubs in Scotland to seek to give the Irish community a place at the table of Scottish football. Dundee Hibernians, later to be known as Dundee United, came much later, in 1909, formed by businessmen with Irish roots. There were many others, which came and went, barely to be remembered now as anything more than curios appearing in historical reference books.

Some Scottish journalists railed against the early Irish clubs, decrying their use of the words, “Hibernian” or “Shamrock”, and urging them to come up with “proper names”.

In 1887, they got their wish with the foundation of Celtic. It could easily be forgotten that in the early days, it was Hibernian that was the inspiration for Celtic as well as being the more strident in its interpretation of how best to further the interests of an oppressed Irish Catholic community in Scotland.

Its early policy of favouring players of Catholic backgrounds is now nothing more than a historical foible, one that Celtic would choose not to follow. Yet, without Hibs – without the vision the Edinburgh club inspired – there may never have been a Celtic.

Today Hibernian FC is far removed from the ideals of that early club though it will still attract a greater proportion of supporters of Irish origin than its Edinburgh rivals, Hearts. Celtic, through the will of its supporters, clings more dearly to the culture and heritage that gave it breath – the Irish in Scotland.

It is apt that the club should commemorate Famine Memorial Day. Celtic was born of Irish blood, sweat and tears. Impoverished men built the first Celtic Park with their bare hands for no pay. They were not building a brand or a business but an ideal; a vehicle in which to invest the dreams of the wretched. They created something bigger than themselves, something enduring through which the humble might know glory, where people deprived of education might write and live a great story.

The league of legends is just one aspect of our club's history. The unnamed million is another no less deserving of commemoration. Some would say that we should speak less of them; that our inclusiveness demands it. Yet our origins and identity are embraced the world over, often by those without a drop of Celtic blood. In Catalunya, in Palestine, in post-Communist Europe – wherever people recognise a struggle for dignity and identity in a hostile culture, you will find people who see parallels with their own story. They see no barriers in the Irishness of Celtic.

Let us hope that those who direct the club's future remain as clear-sighted and that supporters will remain watchful should there ever be a hint that that identity might ever be diminished. On Sunday Celtic will wear a Celtic cross around the corporate trademark of Celtic plc, one more sign of changing values. But tradition is a thing that, once lost, you may never hope to re-find.

The club statement reads: “We are a club open to all and while we celebrate our traditions, it is important that we also celebrate our diversity.” We always have done.

• www.irishholocaust.org
  

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McVicar, Murphy and the integrity of Walter Smith

He is, according to all who have managed his reputation in the media, a “prince among men”. I refer, of course to the R-word manager, Walter Smith.

A “disciplinarian” who oversaw the most unruly bunch of thugs and boozers in Scottish football during his first stint in Scotland – the flute-players, the car vandals, the kebab shop kids and the terrorist associates who turned out in royal blue in the name of queen and country. It was, as he infamously put it, all part of the “Protestant superiority complex at Ibrox”.

Scarcely has a word of criticism been written of Smith by the “legitimate” media; those whose opportunities to share the fruits of David Murray's wine cellar allegedly add a weight to their opinions that their intellectual fortitude can never hope to support.

Perhaps most notably, Smith has indulged in specific abuse of officials that has yet to draw comment from the “sensible” media, by which we mean the Jacksons and Broadfoots of the world.

Nor has the SFA's “referee's chief” Donald McVicar defended match officials against the aggressive tirades and distasteful innuendo perpetrated by Sir Walter-in-Waiting.

When he specifically named linesman Tom Murphy, recalling a disputed decision in a match his team played with Celtic, the SFA decided there was “no case to answer”.

What was not reported in the established media was that this followed a written apology from Smith to Murphy, without which the authorities could scarcely have failed to take official action. The exact content of the letter can be known only to Smith and Murphy but we might assume that any such letter of atonement contained some form of assurance that further abuse would not be directed at the assistant referee.

And Smith had good reason to be grateful to Murphy. At half-time at in the same game at Celtic Park last season, his then captain (since abandoned) directed such venom at Murphy that an officer from Strathclyde Police offered to intervene. Murphy's response was to request that no action be taken, pleading on Ferguson's behalf that he was “just upset”.

Was this incident reported by the Ibrox in-house tabloid, the Daily Record? Were the paid hacks who masquerade under the title of journalists unaware of the events? We must draw our own conclusions.

Perhaps it is too much to stomach that the manager of the vanguard of Scottish bigotry should have had to cow-tow to a man named Murphy, a man who had already spared his club the shame of yet more police action.

Perhaps, also, it is too much for Smith to be a man of his word and to refrain from intensifying the invective against an official whose errors have been paltry in comparison to, let's say, Mike McCurry.

And in all this there is a gap usually filled by the gargantuan mouth of McVicar. When Iain Brines was perceived to have made errors that disadvantaged Rangers, McVicar condemned the state of refereeing before declining to re-list Brines as on the FIFA list. He was then, on Saturday, given an opportunity to make amends, to “even the score”, which he was quick to take. Might Brines be restored to the FIFA list for 2010?

Murphy's chance is to be offered this week. Assured of 90 minutes of abuse that has been at least tacitly endorsed by Smith, what chance is there of his flagging for a major decision for Celtic as the spittle and sectarian abuse fly?

How many dives will Nacho Novo, Kenny Miller, Kyle Lafferty or Kris Boyd need to make before their first penalty? With the intensive scrutiny and lack of support being offered to Murphy, you can expect that to be within the first three.

Of course, some might expect that Celtic could likewise expect to benefit from refereeing redress in the coming weeks. But, then, the officials are impartial.










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Sounds a bit Irish?

On 30th January 1982, a 17-year-old Paul McStay scored on his debut for Celtic in a league victory over Aberdeen, laying immediate claim to a central midfield position that would be his own for 15 years.

Moral of the story: if you're good enough, you're old enough.

24th May 1995 – an 18-year-old Patrick Kluivert scores the winning goal for Ajax against AC Milan in the Champions League final.

Moral of the story: if you're good enough, you're old enough.

30 June 1998 – Michael Owen, aged 18, scores the World Cup goal of the tournament for England against Argentina.

Moral of the story: if you're good enough, you're old enough.

15th March 2009 – 22-year-old Darren O'Dea scores against Rangers in the CIS Cup Final, two and a half years after his Celtic debut, having faced AC Milan in the Champions League and been included in Giovanni Trapattonni's Irish national squads.

Moral of the story: the boy needs more time?

Facing the most crucial match of the season on Saturday, Celtic must choose two reliable central defenders, capable of holding their nerve under immense pressure and, most likely, extreme provocation.

O'Dea, who has acquitted himself well at left-back but was nevertheless born to play in the centre, somehow finds himself fourth-choice. Yet, he has never baulked at a challenge and, of all the defenders at the club, he has the greatest potential.

Given the near certainty that Stephen McManus's injuries will rule him out for the game, O'Dea should be considered a must-have in the team. But still, he is cosseted as McManus, Gary Caldwell and Glen Loovens have all been preferred to the Irishman, who has rarely put a foot wrong in a Celtic jersey. Isn't it time to trust him for the biggest challenge of all?

On the form he has shown this season, nobody could reasonably argue against the inclusion of Gary Caldwell. However, though there are similarities between the two players (apart from their haircuts), it is O'Dea who is the more naturally talented and whose use of the ball is better. And you cannot have too many defenders who can win the ball in the air as well as being comfortable on the ground.

It remains to be seen whether Caldwell will play in defence or be pushed into a midfield role to nullify the Rangers central midfield, which is after all approximately 50% of the R-word's entire threat.

But it seems inconceivable that a talent such as O'Dea could again be confined to the bench when all that stands between him and a flourishing career is opportunity.

It would be as wrong to use Saturday's match to placate a player who may soon look elsewhere to further his career as it would be unforgivable to lose an exceptional talent through near-obsessive over-protection.

But, despite the misconceptions of the ignorant, decisions that sound a bit Irish are most often eminently sensible. Just ask Michael, Patrick and Paul.





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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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Set up to fail by no-spend policy

So the dust has settled on a top-of-the-table encounter that was not so much a disappointment as a confirmation of the worst fears of Celtic supporters.

What have we learned? Nothing.

What have we been forced to confront? That the club's negligence in maintaining an adequate squad (never mind aiming to improve) could better be described as reckless endangerment of our title ambitions.

For 45 minutes, Celtic dominated a Rangers team whose paucity of talent is perhaps best illustrated by the fact that the club and Scotland's top scorer was not allowed a second on the park while Lee “Elbows” McCulloch was invited to start the match and introduce his studs to rib-cages at his whim. Despite this, only one chance was created.

In the second half, the team somehow contrived to allow time on the ball to Barry Ferguson and Pedro Mendes – the only two quality players in blue (and with the greatest respect to Ferguson, time has taken its toll on his limbs). This resulted in Celtic actually managing to be second-best to Rangers after the break.

But here's the rub: Rangers are and were awful, their smothering 4-1-4-1 epitomising the anti-football of the pathologically inferior side. Celtic looked almost embarrassed, like a strapping young man being attacked by a drunk pensioner but constantly slipping on an icy pavement, continually looking round to make sure that no-one was watching.

Is this a team to achieve a treble (yes, Darren and Giorgios, that question is aimed at you)? Not unless all football conventions turn on their heads, Celtic Park is laid with one-way grass and referees like Willie Collum start moving walls away from balls instead of the reverse.

Given recent form and a transfer window that saw Celtic defy the odds and enter February actually relatively weaker than the club that ended 2008, the best we can hope for is a stumbling performance the like of which was last seen when Wim Jansen's side tripped over the line with the least-worst form of the two hamstrung giants.

Our strikers – all three of them – seem to have spent far too much time at the hands of Zero Tolerance, habitually assuming a non-threatening demeanour. Scott McDonald looks like a player who, with a big fat pay check thinks it is appropriate to replace quantity with rare, special quality when it comes to goals.

Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink (much admired on this blog) is demonstrating how injuries to nippy players with a turn of pace over ten yards are as nothing compared to the crocking of one-gear strikers without an accelerator. Jan has been quoted as saying he must end his goal drought, which is tantamount to saying that the banks ought to get their act together.

As for Giorgios Samaras? Well, suffice it to say that his polo neck is hotter than the odds of him upsetting any goalkeepers these days.

On the other hand, we have a glut of talent in midfield – too many to play – amounting to a “too many cooks” scenario that is by no means adapting to squad rotation.

The defence continues to have its wobbles – with personnel still looking uncomfortable with zonal marking every time something unexpected (like a cross or a mis-hit pass) is witnessed.

On this, it is only right to mention Lee Nayor. Lee has suffered from constant demands for a new left-back (hey, his form has led to demands for a new left-back) but on Sunday he performed reasonably well, as he has on several occasions this season. We absolutely need competition in that area but the attempts of our financial decision-makers to smudge over this weakness has exposed poor Lee to the sort of unwarranted intrigue last seen when Saddam Hussein was filmed in his y-fronts.

Lee has not been an especially weak link of late and he hasn't prevented any signings.

But we know the men who have.

All this doom and gloom is a roundabout way of returning to an inescapable point: Celtic are regressing while attempting to keep one notch ahead of parity with a Rangers that is heading down the toilet.

There are easily identifiable people who shoulder the blame for the wreckage of our squad and squandering of our ambitions.

We know who they are and the empirical evidence helps to identify them, despite what their paid apologists claim.

But that is another story...





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