6 days ago
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- Daily Record
I see Celtic chaos coming as blunt instrument goes from sleep walking to full blown narcolepsy
Shug can't help but spot the irony in Brendan Rodgers' quest for Celtic immortality being hampered by mediocrity
If Celtic fail to beat Aberdeen at Pittodrie today the curtain will go up on chaos.
Celtic The Musical is scheduled to begin in a Glasgow theatre next month. Celtic The Pantomime will open immediately if points are dropped this afternoon.
It will signal an inauspicious start to a sequence of games that includes two Champions League qualifiers and an Old Firm derby at Ibrox before the end of August.
Oh, yes it will.
No guarantees can be given about the outcome against the Dons, in Europe or against the team across the road on the other side of the city.
Through no fault of manager Brendan Rodgers, Celtic are a blunt instrument. No cutting edge.
The sleepwalking during the close-season transfer window, which prompted Rodgers to suggest last weekend he's had enough of banging his head against a brick wall at Celtic Park, has now turned into full-blown narcolepsy.
The fans' banner that berated Rodgers when he left for Leicester City in 2019, accused him of trading 'immortality for mediocrity'.
The situation the manager finds himself in now, unable to get his employers to realise the critical need for new players of quality, is that he is, ironically, trying to win immortality while being hampered by mediocrity.
Is Celtic's hierarchy seriously waiting to see if a blunt instrument can make it to the group stages of the Champions League to justify spending cash they have in abundance?
If you can't handle prosperity in a proper manner, what chance will you have if austerity lands at your doorstep?
Things don't happen for a reason in football. It's all about the choices you make.
Rodgers' position today, against the side who beat Celts to win the Scottish Cup, seems to me to smack of wanton neglect on the part of those he's asking to provide him with greater playing resources.
In 2025, Celtic have lost Kyogo, Nicolas Kuhn, Matt O'Riley and Greg Taylor.
Not so much a case of gone but not forgotten, as gone but not replaced in case that costs money. And that's a lot of charisma and capability needing to be replaced.
Meanwhile, against Aberdeen today, the manager might very well have to pass off Adam Idah and Yang up front as alleged replacements for those who have gone before.
Jimmy Thelin's side were firmly put in their place by Hearts at Tynecastle last Monday night. But Celtic don't possess the attacking intent that Derek McInnes has at his disposal in the Capital.
Celtic fans were forced to watch the leaden-footed Idah and hopelessly-miscast Yang contribute nothing against St Mirren last Sunday.
Tens of millions of pounds in the bank and Rodgers was forced to rely on 34-year-old James Forrest and apprentice Johnny Kenny to replace them in an attempt to save the day.
And when a goal finally arrived, Celtic then took the ball to the corner flag in time added-on in an attempt to get themselves over the line.
At home. Against St Mirren. On the day the league flag was unfurled.
A lot of the crowd missed the moment. They'd already left the ground disillusioned by what they were watching.
If this was the real world and those in charge of a stock exchange-listed company risked millions through commercial inactivity in the market, the shareholders would be entitled to question the way the business they backed was being run.
If Celtic don't get the finger out and sign players before the deadline passes on Tuesday for the play-off round of the Champions League that will be the risk strategy the shareholders, and the rank-and-file fans, will be looking at with absolute dismay.
Or they could always adopt the stock market philosophy that shares can rise as well as fall, of course.
Will they? Oh, no they won't.
