My apathetic state towards the current set-up at Celtic leaves me torn as we head into 2016.
An absolute disaster of a Europa League campaign put an end to any of the managers theories that we are improving as a team. A complaint I don’t solely put at the managers door, let that be clear.
In fact, I have been a big proponent of Ronny and what he is trying to do at Celtic. When I hear Celtic fans freely bash the Norweigan and call for his head a part of me cringes as I lay out why he should be given one more crack at Europe next year. However, as I said at the top of the article I am torn, this comes from my current mood towards Celtic as a whole. A mood which I’ve never really experienced in my 20 plus years of supporting the club. I look at Ronny and I see a guy who has the ability, drive and the knowledge to succeed but does he have the stomach for a fight or, to put it another way, does he have the cajones?!
While he may have the acumen to succeed given the proper tools can he show courage in his convictions when it comes to dealing with the Celtic hierarchy. Deila has been up against it since day one, with questions of “Ronny who?” coming from certain quarters, people eager to analyse and reanalyse every move he makes in the job, looking to scrutinise even the most minuscule of chinks in his armour. So with that in mind, the Celtic boss must have confidence in himself and the decisions he makes. This is why for me, John Collins and John Kennedy should be kicked into touch by the Celtic gaffer in place of the people that helped him become a success at Stromgodset. Harsh, maybe, but if the Norweigan is to succeed or fail it should be by his own decisions. Not choices made for him by a chief executive that seems to suffocate Celtic managers, a chief executive that balked when major shareholder Dermot Desmond put Roy Keane up for Ronny’s job once upon a time. No, I didn’t want Roy Keane as Celtic manager but you could see the panic in Lawwell’s eyes when he knew there was a possibility he would be in charge of a manager that would show no-nonsense when it came to challenging his employers.
My point is, many fans see Ronny Deila as an obedient Celtic manager who is just happy to be here, rather than someone who is going to rock the boat a little. Not that I’m looking for the Celtic boss to become a petulant teenager, but he should definitely be able to pick his spots.
One of those spots should be his backroom staff. John Collins seems to be a polarising figure in the dressing room and I’m not sure what John Kennedy is teaching our defenders but it doesn’t seem to be working. Time for a shake up and one last crack for Ronny on his own terms.
Let him bring in players and staff he endorses, give him the freedom and the tools to succeed and as I said before if he fails on these terms, then, at least, he has shown courage in his convictions and can hold his head high. But under the right circumstances, he may just surprise his doubters.
The preparation for next season’s qualifiers starts now.
