How the **** John Park and David Moss still have their jobs is a mystery to me. The scouting at Celtic is ****ing pish nowadays, haven't had a transfer window of decent signings since Lennon bought Izaguirre, Ledley, Hooper, Forster and Stokes. I'm no counting Amstrong & GMS because GMS has faded into obscurity.
With any Celtic defeat comes the urgent quest for culpability. In the specific context of the latest one, triggering a painful exit from the Champions League at the play-off stage, the club and its supporters must accept some of it. Ronny Deila was heralded as a Nordic footballing messiah long before producing anything to back up such sentiment. It is often thus, amid the charge to laud supposed football revolutionaries. Celtic recently released a book in commemoration of their manager’s apparently eye-catching first season in charge. Those in the stands have vociferously bought into tales of Deila’s alleged raising of bars and changing of attitudes. What had Deila actually done? Precious little. How the truth came crashing home on a wounding Tuesday evening in Sweden. Those who have long suspected Deila is a backup coach – as was the initial Celtic plan for him – in managerial clothing only had their sentiments endorsed. Yet again the Deila fanfare – and make no mistake, there is plenty of that – was exposed as ludicrous. Dermot Desmond, the club’s largest individual shareholder who presumably was making a rare match appearance in anticipation of an altogether different movie, could barely conceal his disgust. The blunt reality is this; Celtic were consigned to the Europa League by a Malmo team that included Kari Arnason, last season of Rotherham United, at centre-half. Deila may object to the notion that domestic dominance is taken for granted but he should be long used to that. It is in Europe that he will be appropriately judged, owing to the lack of credible opposition over the course of a Scottish season. That isn’t Deila’s fault but he shouldn’t be so blind as to not recognise it. On Saturday, if Celtic defeat St Johnstone, it would be customary for their manager to head towards supporters and produce celebratory “Ronny Roar” antics in contrived delight. Whether he does or not will be fascinating. Celtic headed to Malmo needing only a draw to progress to their Holy Grail, while 12 months ago, when a goalless stalemate would have been enough for Deila’s side, Maribor departed Glasgow with qualification secured. Legia Warsaw had earlier embarrassed Deila’s men, only themselves to be left red-faced by an administrative blunder. Celtic later limped their way through the Europa League, with a stirring home showing against Internazionale the marquee, but ultimately irrelevant, moment. In August 2015 – the juncture at which he had asked to be judged – Deila was presented with the scenario his predecessors wouldn’t so much have relished as marched all the way to Nyon for. See off Starjan, Qarabag and Malmo for the Champions League proper was the mission. The Norwegian manager failed while offering not so much as a whimper when the pressure told in Malmo. Celtic were abject in every area of their play. If Deila and his superiors are seeking consolation, they can perhaps find it in the fact Celtic weren’t as shambolic against Swedish opposition as was the case in successive defeats by Legia. But it ends there; Deila’s constant claims of progress, which he repeated on Tuesday, aren’t backed up by evidence. A coach who preached about fitness standards and issued dietary edicts to an immediate, curious degree is presiding over a team with a worrying lack of sharpness and a tendency to concede late goals. Watching Celtic, even in Scotland’s top flight, leaves the continual impression of a team lacking a vital, exciting ingredient. Deila cannot bemoan poor preparation. Unlike recent years, Celtic didn’t traipse around the globe on corporate pre-season missions. They remained in Scotland, with signings made in good time for European qualifying ties. Celtic’s board were true to their word in retaining Virgil van Dijk – who has been keen to move to pastures new for some time and now is likely to move – to assist Deila’s Champions League bid. Straightforward aspects of this manager’s approach fail to convince. The fielding of Charlie Mulgrew at left-back in the second leg against Malmo was a blunder; the 29-year-old should never be trusted there in a high-profile environment and was duly exposed. Deila did not change his team’s shape or style when things were so obviously slipping away from Celtic. Deila’s pin-up boy, the Norwegian midfielder Stefan Johansen, only served to prove over 180 minutes against Malmo that he must be one of the most overrated players to feature on the Scottish scene. Johansen lacks discipline, both in a positional sense and in behaviour; the latter was evident during his role in Malmo’s late, crucial second first-leg goal. Celtic’s scouts were credited by some with being the key influence in regards to a batch of left-field arrivals under Deila’s predecessor, Neil Lennon, who were both effective in Glasgow and sold for premium sums. Curiously, those scouts haven’t unearthed anything approaching the same level of talent since. Deila’s core buying market has been Dundee United. His primary attacking purchase from abroad, Stefan Scepovic, has proved a flop. Lennon, it seems safe to infer, was vastly superior to Deila in identifying talent. Deila has routinely given the impression of fielding and retaining Kris Commons, earlier a standout player and particularly in Scotland, under duress. Yet it was to Commons Deila turned at half-time on Tuesday. He did likewise against Maribor and Qarabag, with a corner kick from the Englishman in the latter tie the creative force suitable to swing the contest in Celtic’s favour. Commons has done nothing to merit such treatment. Perhaps Celtic labour under the heavy burden of expectation. Huge crowds and a rich history, after all, will never be the inevitable backdrop to Champions League participation, let alone success. In many ways, it seems reasonable to regard the Europa League as Celtic’s natural habitat. Yet there will be frustration at the on-field shortcomings at a club that have had the platform to establish themselves as stand-alone and prominent in a wider sphere as a consequence of Rangers’ demise. When Celtic defeated Barcelona on a wonderful November evening in 2012, it seemed the only matter up for debate was how rapidly the accelerator would be pressed in Glasgow’s east end. Instead, it has been a case of reverse. For all Deila may be the recipient of sympathy amid the inevitable flak that will now flow his way, the fact he is in position at all rather endorses that change of direction. The wise among Celtic’s own followers have slowly realised as much.
I stopped here "Ronny Deila was heralded as a Nordic footballing messiah long before producing anything to back up such sentiment" That's bullshit.
What a load of ****e that is Eddie. Which self-important fanny wrote it? "Contrived delight" That phrase alone invalidates every other word in the article.
I read it on the Guardian and that's the biggest load of ****e in it. He even finds fault with the guy for changing the diets of players Typical spastic Jock journo.
The Champions League qualifiers are a crap shoot. Last night wasn't good enough and that's a given but it's no the end of the world for Celtic. Still in Europe at the end of the day even if it is the gimp equivalent of the CL.
Spiers A painful night of inadequacy from Celtic throws up fresh doubts about coach Deila Ronny Deila has received many plaudits for his stewardship of Celtic, but failure against Malmo over 180 minutes in the Champions League play-off is a distinct blot on the Norwegian coach’s reputation. For a second year in succession Deila has failed to guide Celtic into the Champions League group stage. And, as with the Maribor farce of last season, Celtic have fallen to a club over whom they should – and do – have many advantages. Celtic have better players and a bigger squad than Malmo – which is not to disparage the gritty Swedish champions. So what does it say about Deila and his game-plan over these two matches? A manager carries the can – rightly – even though it is the players on the field who execute the failure. In Nir Bitton, Virgil van Dijk and Stefan Johansen, Celtic had at least three players whose minds seemed to be elsewhere on Tuesday night. It was shocking to witness how woeful Celtic were in Sweden. The question has to be asked: how can a team of such players bond together as wretchedly as this on the pitch? Deila cannot wave a magic wand and eradicate every foible of human error on the field – of course he can’t. But a manager can or should ensure that his team is primed, ready, motivated, and up for the challenge on an evening of such importance. Celtic appeared to be none of these things. In which case, the coach, just like the players, has to assess his own shortcomings. It is to be hoped that any unwarranted whining does not form a part of Celtic’s explanations. The goal Celtic had chalked off just before half-time – probably wrongly – cannot be allowed to linger and form resentment. Across the 90 minutes in Sweden Celtic had nothing like the panache or aggressive tempo which their opponents brought to their game. The Scottish champions looked frighteningly vulnerable to a high ball in Malmo, despite a distinct height advantage across their team. It contributed to an inauspicious night for Celtic, a costly one to the club’s coffers, and an occasion once again when Deila’s planning and preparation came up short. Come May 2016, if Deila and Celtic have a treble nestling in their lap, this abysmal Champions League failure will be long forgotten. But none of that conjecture can take away from a night of gross inadequacy by Celtic’s players and management team. Virgil van Dijk remains quite a mystery as a lauded centre-half. Sometimes the price for him is hiked up and up - £10m then £12m then £15m – but there are games in which this young Dutchman looks nothing like such a talent. Can Van Dijk actually attack the incoming high ball as an aggressive centre-back? Malmo, both in Glasgow and at home, have cast some doubt on this. Van Dijk also has that curse of many a rated central defender – his complacency sometimes knows no bounds. As for Dedryck Boyata, well, the most diplomatic way of putting it is that long-suffering Celtic fans are “prepared to give him time”. The historic context of this Celtic failure will only add to the club’s discomfort. Last season’s Champions League qualifying flop weighed heavily on Deila and Celtic, but the truth is, an opening Deila season in the Europa League was a perfect fit for Celtic. The Norwegian coach was new to his team. He was still finding his feet and knitting his team together. There were gremlins galore, and the chances are, Deila and Celtic were not fit for purpose in the 2014-15 Champions League. But things had looked different this time round. Deila had seemed to grow in stature, and has a reasonably settled team. This, surely, was the moment for Deila to take Celtic up a level, to compete against the best in Europe. It is a failure that looks embarrassing for Deila, and will cause some to think again about the merits of the Celtic head coach. Deila’s record in European games with Celtic now reads: Played 20, Won 8, Drawn 5, Lost 7. These stats include games against such cannon-fodder as Reykavik and Stjarnan. It seems to cast doubts about Deila’s readiness for the top European arena as a coach. He has now come up short quite a number of times in Glasgow. Deila, in fact, will have to stand tall and play hard to recover from this setback.
It's a load of Hun-tinted reactionary pish with little merit or forethought. Lennon barely scraped into the CL twice with a better team than Deila has. Simple as that. The club are going in a different direction, comparisons with Lennon are neither helpful or applicable at this point.
A load of Hun journalists sat there with the "Send" button primed on their anti-Celtic article from the first minute last night. If you're getting your opinions on Celtic from Ewan Murray and Spiers then
Spiers is the best sports journalist in Scotland, not saying much admittedly but he has no bias and hes not a raging ***** of darryl king proportions.
Spiers "The historic context of this Celtic failure will only add to the club’s discomfort." Aye so he is.
you are bordering on green brigade we can win the champions league levels of delusion if you cant see the legit points in both those articles
