Celtic Football Club's Recent Struggles

When it comes to self harm Celtic are without doubt in a league of their own.

No other club would go near Michael Nicholson as CEO. No one would continue to pay £17,000 a week to the guy that appointed Mark Lawwell, Paul Tisdale and Wilfried Nancy.

Those three decisions have cost Celtic millions plus multiple missed opportunities.

Under Nicholson the remnants of a club Academy has been run into the ground. Five seasons in the Lowland League has made Celtic a club to avoid for aspiring footballers.

From Andy Robertson to Aaron Hickey and Lennon Miller getting out of Celtic is the first step towards a top level career.

One area that should be fairly safe from self harm is Fitness and Injury Rehab. Should be.

Recently we heard the incredible details of Kasper Schmeichel’s shoulder injury. Provided by an American broadcaster to a global audience.

How the blame is split between the player and his employer is open to debate. Bottom line is that Celtic used a goalkeeper with limited mobility for 60% of the season.

Why?

CELTIC AND THE WORRYING INJURY ISSUES

The same can be asked about the Alistair Johnston situation.

Who would have thought that a trans-Atlantic flight and change of training routine would hamper his rehab?

Martin O’Neill did.

Club managers are always protective. O’Neill had good reason to be looking out for Johnston with his replacement, Julian Araujo back at Bournemouth with no word on when he’ll be back at Celtic.

Johnston is an engaging, enthusiastic player. He wants to be involved, he isn’t hiding in the treatment room.

Sometimes players like that need protected from themselves. Celtic failed their player and are paying the price. Johnston will now be wondering if he will be ready for a once in a lifetime home World Cup.

It didn’t have to be this way.

On March 20, ahead of the international break O’Neill announced his concern over Johnston.

His national side want him to go for a week over there. We at this minute would probably prefer him to stay.

We need to have some sort of bounce games or something like that there for him to play in here as soon as possible.

I don’t think it’s going to be a big issue as long as he’s training somewhere.

But now that he is getting close to being involved with us on a permanent basis, then it might be better if he does the work here.

Arsenal held 11 players back from the latest international break. Most required rest, there weren’t many with serious knocks. But Arsenal have big prizes to aim for. A trophy-less season won’t to Mikel Arteta any favours. It could cost him his job.

THEN THE SET BACK

On Friday O’Neill’s fear was confirmed as he announced:

Alistair has had a wee bit of a set-back.

He went away with the Canadian national side, was doing some running and had a bit of a setback on his final day of training, which was really disconcerting for us.

In the wider scheme of things, for the length if time he’s been out, hopefully it’s not too bad but it has delayed things a little bit here.

We were hoping to have him in a couple of weeks, maybe having played some bounce games. That will just have to be parked and put to the side for the moment. It’s a shame.

It is also predictable. O’Neill went public with his concern over Johnston completing two long distance flights either side of training sessions with Canada.

Jesse Marsch seemed pleased with the condition that the Celtic defender was in.

But somewhere before he returned to club football an issue occurred.

Johnston’s post split target, April 25/26 can be pushed back further. More than six months since he last played.

The glass half full option is of a very fresh player returning to the Celtic side. The other option is that he will be short of match fitness and unable to have more than a cameo role in the end of season fixtures.

JOHNSTON AND THE YEAR ROUND FIXTURE LIST

Johnston has more or less being playing non-stop football since February 2022. Straight after the World Cup in Qatar he joined Celtic, the successor to Josip Juranovic.

International football has blurred the calendar.

Last year Johnston was due to get a break, partly down to his honeymoon.

Early in his honeymoon he got a call to return to Canada for the Gold Cup. He played matches on June 22, 25 and 29.

Back at Celtic he missed out on a full pre-season. He played against Al Ahli on July 26 in the Como Cup.

At home to Kairat on August 20 Johnston pulled him hamstring. He managed 25 minutes against Sturm Graz on October 23 and hasn’t played since.

The extent of last week’s set back hasn’t been revealed. His previous comeback target of April 25/26 will be pushed back.

Phil Clement was something of a laughing stock as the Ibrox medical department picked his team. Red zone players were a non-no. Clearly there is a middle ground.

Celtic have paid a heavy price for playing Schmeichel when he wasn’t 100% mobile.

Johnston isn’t getting that far. He has started five Celtic matches this season, he hasn’t completed 90 minutes against Falkirk on August 15.

There are a million jobs needing done at Celtic today, not in the summer. Starting with a competent CEO followed by appointing a manager and Director of Football.

Getting the medical side right could provide the manager with an additional two or three players every week compared to O’Neill’s weekly medical updates.

Ditching the Self Harm tag means much more than having the Green Brigade back for the match against St Mirren on Saturday.