Reaction from certain Celtic fans to the slow start of new coach Ronny Deila’s tenure at Parkhead has been pretty predictable.

Hordes of supporters have been on social media and radio phone-ins stating: ‘He’s too inexperienced‘, ‘He doesn’t have the dressing room on his side’ and ‘We need someone Celtic minded‘.

The first two statements may have an element of truth to them. I don’t hold much in the last one; Lou Macari and Tony Mowbray were Celtic minded,yet  both were useless as Celtic bosses. Even the great Tommy Burns failed to win a title, even though he brought back exciting football to Glasgow’s East End.

Plus let’s not forget that it was Dutchman Wim Jansen that stopped Rangers ten in a row bid. He wasn’t more Celtic minded than Burns, but did have the experience needed to win a Championship.

But the fact is this, Ronny Deila isn’t the main problem at Celtic.

Look at this BLOG from @Krys1888 to understand why Celtic are in their current rut.

Now this is the problem. Celtic have extremely passionate fans and are run by men who count the pennies and lack imagination. Its the old debate which comes first, the business or the football club?

No one can argue with Peter Lawwell’s overall record at Celtic. But should he now step aside?

As a PLC Celtic owe their shareholders reasons for doing what they do. They need to be transparent. Yet many of those shareholders are huge fans who want to see the club run more in keeping to Celtic’s traditions. Trust in the board has been in decline for a while now.

The fans obviously understand that money is always going to be an important issue. No one wants to be in the position Rangers are in.

But their demands aren’t excessive. They want more transparency when it comes to transfers. Over the past few years they have seen the clubs sell off top assets like Fraser Forster, Ki Sung Yueng, Gary Hooper, Victor Wanyama and Joe Ledley for big fees. Plus they’ve lost Georgios Samaras and Kelvin Wilson. All key players. Most of them haven’t been replaced with adequate replacements.

Money has been spent but signings like Mo Bangura, Teemu Pukki, Nir Biton and Amido Balde haven’t cut the mustard. The likes of Virgil van Dijk, Stefan Johansen have improved the squad slightly but surely the famed Celtic scouting team need to do better.

They have spent the last summer bringing in loans, a free transfer and then Stefan Šćepović from Sporting Gijon. Lawwell explained that because Rangers are not in top flight Celtic have had to cut their cloth accordingly. Yet the same man stated that Celtic didn’t need Rangers to ‘flourish financially’. It’s funny how Lawwell usually keeps his jibes at Rangers for when he needs to defect criticism away from himself.

As Krys explains in his blog, the Celtic board continually fail to build on success. They react slowly and try and get every ounce from the squads that they have. Sometimes to get into the prestigious Champions League you need to speculate to accumulate.

Everyone and their dog knew that Celtic’s squad wasn’t strong enough to get to the group stages this term if it wasn’t improved upon. Too much is dependent on captain Scott Brown. They need more leaders, a goalscorer and someone who can make that decisive pass.

Celtic’s failure to reach the group stages is all down to the inactive board not a coach who has little to say when it comes to bringing in players. You can’t build your whole transfer policy on hope alone! Surely the shareholders deserve better?

Now passionate Celtic fans look at their club becoming a bit of a stale and are concerned or losing interest. It’s another reason why they want a ‘Celtic man’ as boss. Because they want someone that they can relate to and get behind.

But Celtic’s money men could make the club more like a community base than a business and that could ignite enthusiasm again.

What do I mean?

• Well involve the fans in more key decision making processes and just listen to them more. Why not have at least one fan appointed board member?
• Have a transparent study looking at the pros and cons of brining in a living wage policy for all the staff at Parkhead. It’s an issue that lots of Celtic supporters believe in and it is one that founders of the club would’ve supported. So at least look into it and publish a report that shows you respect the views of your fans/shareholders.
• Show that your interest in recruiting doesn’t start and end with one week left in the transfer window.

A club like Celtic need to realise that their fans are more than just customers that you can fleece. To make the business work at it’s optimum everyone needs to work together.

Now I am not saying Ronny Deila is the right manager for Celtic, I still believe it’s too early to tell but the fact remains that a lot of the supporters feel like outsiders looking in.They are disgruntled and the manager is an easy target. Of course a change in coach might excite a few but the fundamental problems will remain. Also lets not forget that Roy Keane and Henrik Larsson turned down the job last time, working for this board at this time seems to be unappealing even to the ‘Celtic minded’ managers out there.

Only a change in attitude from the top will make Celtic harmonious again. Yet I believe Lawwell and co are yet again just going on hope. Hope that they’ll win the league, hope that they can scrape through to the Champions League next term without proper investment, hope that Van Dijk can be offloaded for £8m or more and hope that Rangers come back next term.

Posted on October 9th, 2014 by scott
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