Celtic’s failure to invest and prepare for Champions League qualification this season has tipped an awful lot of fans over the edge.
Last nights elimination in Kazakhstan is the latest in a long series of blunders the clubs supporters have been asked to suck up.
The manager clearly isn’t happy with the depth of squad he was left to work with and Callum McGregor pulled no punches after the match, saying
Everyone has been quite vocal about what we need.
We need help, we need the players, we need to have a strong squad if we want to compete on all fronts. That doesn’t change after tonight – the players still need help, we need bodies in the door.
After weeks of talking round the issues that is about as bold and direct as you’ll get from a club captain, normally chosen to deliver the safest of club messages.
Four hundred Celtic fans made the trip to Almaty for last nights game, and Brendan Rodgers was quick to acknowledge their efforts.
Asked after the game about going round to applaud the fans before kick off, he said:
I just want to show my appreciation, you can’t underestimate the travel, the finance, the love of the club to be here so far away, it was just a gesture to say thank you.
Fans reaction has been as predictable as the result itself, we all seen it coming but hoped for the best despite having seen this movie many times before.
The fallout will hit supporters hard and justify calls for change at the very top of the club.
The clubs cash reserves, generated by the fans, will now have to be used to plug the looming gap in income rather than being spent on new players.
Players that could’ve allowed Celtic to reach the Champions League proper.
That high point in the Allianz Arena just six months ago is now a distant memory.
The hope of the fans was that the team would be improved upon, a few positions strengthened and perhaps we could have pushed beyond taking a club like Bayern Munich to the brink in the knock out stages.
But Celtic hierarchy weren’t thinking like we were after that game.
They had already sold Kyogo and not replaced him and would do the same with Nicolas Kuhn.
Add to that Jota’s injury at Tannadice and it was crystal clear that our attack needed major investment.
The money was there to spend, they chose not to.
It is now very clear that the lawyers, accountants and investors that run Celtic do not share the same ambitions the fans have for the club and the calls for change are only going to grow.
Forcing change under the current club set up wont be easy, it will require fans to come together, share ideas and think creatively.
Thankfully Celtic have a support capable of doing all this, we’ve done it before.
In the short term we will have to contend with more Sunday football courtesy of playing in the Europa League.
Matches will be missed by fans who have already paid for season tickets but are unable to swap shifts or rearrange planes, trains and automobiles for the fixture changes.
And any fans who can’t attend Thursday night Europa League games but are part of the Home Ticket Cup Scheme are out of luck – you’re paying for those Thursday night tickets regardless.
No Champions League, a depleted squad, an elite manager working his notice and a board and CEO with nothing to say about anything – fans have reached breaking point.
There can be little doubt that Rodgers will leave Celtic at the end of this season.
A manager who has stated that he is only interested in managing progress is well aware of the decline from the Allianz Arena to Almaty in just six months.
And while the manager can be criticised over his own decisions with the team against Kairat Almaty, he has been put in an impossible position.
As the only Celtic spokesman, his press conferences have become an exercise in tight rope walking.
He’s had to acknowledge the widespread discontent with the depth of quality in the squad, a view shared by fans and players alike, while motivating and inspiring a squad to believe they are good enough to win.
We can only guess at what impact all of this has had on the team, hearing all these calls for more players to be brought in followed by deafening silence from the club.
The support seems as united now as they have ever been – It’s Time For Change.
RELATED READING
4 Comments
by Bhoy4life
Wonder when the first words, if any, will be forthcoming from the suits?
Chairmen & CEO’s the world over comment quickly in difficult times, to reassure investors, employees & customers that they are on it, that they will make good any damage done to finance & reputation after a freak result.
They reassure everyone that they have learned from their mistakes, and will take whatever steps are required to become what they were again and more.
This often means cutting loose the deadwood whilst reaffirming their support for the ones they know bring stability & success.
The suits are never usually slow to act in these circumstances, ruthless in decision making.
So what can we expect from our suits?
Sack themselves? No.
Sack Brendan? No..they haven’t got the minerals for that.
Seems its business as usual in the East End.
A weakened team every fan could see a mile off, as could the players and the manager.
Out of the CL not even with a whimper, just out.
Players coming in after the horse has bolted.
And the golden sound of silence from the biggest bunch of shyster’s in Scottish football, well maybe not total silence, expect the usual squirrels in the coming days from Pete’s pet media chums which will obviously include plausible deniability on his part.
We deserve better.
by Che
Stop giving the billionaire your cash
by Jim M
Too little too late , nothing this board now does will escape the ire of fans Brendan constantly told them we were unprepared .
In Brendan’s own words the sale of players and injuries took so many goals out of the team but the old men in grey suits thought they knew better, starving the team of replacements of some quality, there’s no way back , since lawwells returned we’ve been asset stripped for pound signs , all because his inept wee boy got chased for being a chancer in the same vein as him .
Their vindictiveness has bit them on their arses , the loss of the CL revenue hurts them more than the fans, wonder how DD feels losing out on millions due to his incompetent shyster board controlled by lawwell.
by Bonaventure
The board are misers we all know that
There was still an “elite” manager and a team out there and at Paradise last week that should have scored with the players available
Yes get rid of the board but also those players should be taking a long hard look at themselves and ask are they really the calibre that Celtic require