Debut Column by @Cfinn1967
It’s the eve of our biggest game this season so far and not to sound too pessimistic but possibly could be our last major game of the season that’ll see Parkhead buzzing with excitement and anticipation, unless Sevco manage to make it past the first round of a cup and get a chance to play the big boys of Scottish football. The season hinges on this match for a lot of fans, I for one will still be there every week at Parkhead to see the Bhoys in green play, but the same cannot be said for a portion of the support but whose fault is this?
Starting off with the players, having been there to watch them in recent weeks and watching them huff and puff away it has led me to ask the question; Do our players believe their own hype? Last season there’s absolutely no doubt as to how big our achievements on a European front were, but is last seasons exploits hindering our progress this year? From my point of view it’s as if our players expected to breeze through the qualifying stages of the Champions League and have been given a harsh reality check that they may not be good enough to come back from.
We lost the spine of our team for the better part of 20 million, Kelvin Wilson who was our most improved player of last season and arguably one of the most consistent moved on to Nottingham for mainly family reasons. Now at first I wasn’t as disappointed as I was to lose Hooper and Wanyama, but now the games have passed and we’re missing him, losing 2 goals to Shakhter Karagandy and Inverness through school boy errors has made me realise how integral the big man was for us last season. Also in my opinion we need Lennon to wake up and realise Mulgrews best position is in defence and not midfield.
Victor Wanyama, need I describe what this man was for us? If at the slight chance somebody got past him to run at the defence, there wasn’t much of them left to make the journey. He was tireless and one of the best players I’ve seen for breaking up play not to mention the important goals he chipped in with. It would be impossible to replace him but to not even fill the hole is unacceptable, we’ve lost our powerhouse and although Brown is half decent in the physical aspect, a lot is left to be desired and we will continue to have serious problems until this is resolved.
Finally, Gary Hooper, our spearhead in attack. Even if he didn’t get a goal which was usually a rarity, he forced to defenders to stay deep and keep us in attack, bringing others into the game which is something we’ve lacked. When Kris Commons is the furthest player forward on a regular basis there is a problem. Sammy came here a striker but I’m sure we all agree his place is on the wing and even when he starts as a striker that’s where you’ll eventually find him leaving nothing to stick to upfront. Amido Balde, from what I’ve seen from the Bhoy he is a typical target man who needs someone playing beside him to be effective and if Lennon doesn’t fancy Stokesy for whatever reason then money needs to be spent.
For me the fault eventually lies with the board, from our exploits last season and our transfer dealings at the start of this season we’ve pocketed nearly £40 milllion and where is the money going? It’s not in the transfer budget because it seems as though Peter Lawwell disappears to the toilet anytime he sees a cheque coming.
Wheres the money going? It can’t be the brand new stadium Wi-Fi because that’s as useless as our defence at long throw ins. Yes, we have a transfer and wage structure but is it so wrong to want a marquee signing? Someone who can turn the game in our favour in an instant. It’s not like the support wants us to go on a no holds barred spending spree that we cannot afford, we’re in a strong position financially and we just want quality replaced with quality and until that is realised I can sadly see our beloved stadium getting emptier and emptier. Is that what it will take to get through to this board?
I sincerely hope not.
Hail Hail
@Cfinn1967
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