Quick post before the Ross County match today: Who has two opposable thumbs and told you months ago that Lewis Morgan would make an impact on the MLS in Inter Miami CF’s inaugural season?
This guy.
Lewis Morgan scored twice against Atlanta United earlier this year, and was a linchpin in the moderate success of Inter Miami CF in their inaugural year. Hence, he was awarded the club’s MVP.
Morgan has been named Inter Miami CF’s MVP in their first season, the club announced today; a season in which they did not do half bad for an expansion team, making the playoffs before a quick exit at the hands of Nashville SC.
An example of the former Celtic winger’s quality of play for the fledgling Herons was when scored twice in the span of 10 minutes — at the 28- and 38-minute marks — in a game against Atlanta United earlier in the season. Obviously, this earned Morgan the man of the match. On set piece and free-kick duties for the club, Morgan also excelled as well.
For the benefit of those of you — and I’m guessing it’s a pretty high number — who are hung over right now after celebrating in the afterglow of Celtic’s Quadruple Treble victory at Hampden yesterday, I’m going to write very softly as not to disturb you. You’re welcome.
But as we head to Wednesday’s game, there are a few more observations that should be made regarding Sunday’s victory. Like . . .
How historic was it?
Matt Corr, my colleague at The Celtic Star and a Celtic historian without peer, outlined the gravity of yesterday’s accomplishment with a Twitter post (which I misread, and was quickly “corrected” — mea culpa!), stating that the last time a club had won three Scottish Cups in a row was . . . 1876, when Queens Park did it for the third time that year.
Celtic broke that record yesterday, nearly a century and a half later.
This, of course, adds to the gravity of the herculean accomplishment of four trebles in a row, and adds even more to the awe-inspiring feat that Celtic achieved yesterday.
Not only did Matt give it the notice it deserved, but you can bet that William Hill also got into the act on Twitter, posting a tweet that showed the domestic trophies won this century by clubs . . . and by Scott Brown at Celtic.
To be fair, Scott Brown is missing one from his time at Hibernian, but that’s a minor detail.
Gathering up the tears
Schadenfreude is probably not a good thing to have on an occasion like this, but when it comes to both Heart of Midlothian, as well as Glasgow’s other club, it’s hard — no, it’s impossible — to resist.
First, like Glasgow’s other club, Heart of Midlothian FC has always been a classless organization which deserves every tumble of its recent downfall. Its captain, Steven Naismith, is a hammerthrowing thug who will only be known within the confines of Scotland and will be forgotten once he retires, unless of course he end up on SkySports post-career as one of Martin O’Neill’s aptly described “basement dwellers.”
That said, it was nothing short of hilarious to see the greeting from both about what a meanie Scott Brown was during the game, ignoring the fact that Naismith stomped on him early in the match, or that Naismith was carded during a corner-kick tussle with Brown; both actions career hallmarks of that legend in his own mind.
Then there’s Neil McCann’s moaning about Odsonne Edouard’s penalty kick that he looped over a diving Craig Gordon being disrespectful. Seriously? If you want to talk about disrespect, Neil, how about starting with players — like, oh I don’t know, you? — taking EBT money at the expense of Scottish taxpayers. How’s that for disrespectful?
And for the love of God, can someone help this poor Rangers fan who seems to have lost the plot?
The stupid, it burns.
Onward and upward
Once the celebrating stops and the hangovers subside, Celtic are still faced with a phenomenal task of reeling in first place in the Premiership. Without the benefit of a winter break — which traditionally filled the tanks for the second half — it appears that the club will have to bear down and move forward without it. Naturally we are up to the task and, with the right mix of acquisitions in the transfer window and the calling up of qualified players from the reserves, we should be able to achieve this goal.
On to Wednesday’s match against Ross County. Mon the Hoops, and in case I forget, have a Merry Krismas and a Hoopy New Year!
I woke up early on Sunday morning because a couple of hours before the historic Celtic match at Hampden, FC St. Pauli played Fortuna Dusseldorf — we won’t go there at this time, except to say it was not pretty — and my mood going into the game with Hearts was not exactly chipper.
Then the starting lineups came out on social media. I expected Scott Brown to start in place of Ismaila Soro, but I kept tripping over the goal choice. Conor Hazard. You want the kid to be between the sticks in what is possibly the most historic game of the 21st century?
Clearly we do. And this is why they pay Neil Lennon, and not me (who would have gone with Scott Bain), the big bucks. Hazard did remarkably well in goal for the Celts, as he has since he has been brought up to the first team.
History: Celtic win the quadruple treble at Hampden on Sunday.
There is a lot to be said for the accomplishment of a quadruple treble, and that will be written by writers and pundits with a lot more experience than me. But something about today’s game spoke volumes to what could be a changing of the guard at Paradise; the historic Celtic game where not only do we acknowledge the tremendous gravity of winning four trebles in a row, but also it was a game where we look back and say that youth was served.
It speaks to an issue that I hope will be explored further in the upcoming weeks as we head into the 2nd half of the season: Bringing up some of the other Celtic Reserves to play on the first team. We all saw today that the dues Hazard paid toiling in the Reserves is now paying dividends for the first team.
Hazard is not alone in that department, and the list of worthy Reserves is long: Armstrong Oko-Flex, Cameron Harper, Karamoko Dembele, Jonathan Afolabi, Scott Robertson, Kerr McInroy, and on and on. Along with Hazard, one other Colt who has made a mark on the first team this season in Stephen Welsh, and each of these aforementioned players listed arguably are in the starting blocks of a successful career for the Hoops.
They’ve all shown what they can do in the Reserves and in loan spells with other clubs. It’s time to put them to work for the Hoops.
Hazard has punched his ticket on the Celtic history express, and hopefully he will translate this huge accomplishment into a successful Celtic career in goal. Seeing his performance in the last several games, no doubt he will. But the quality of his play Hazard has shown he has set the table for others in the Reserves to follow suit.
If you’re like me, you’re still basking in the glow of this monumental feat: the quadruple treble. So while I process this, I may have more to say about this amazing feat itself in an upcoming post.
Unlike me, though, you’re probably not still apologizing to your neighbors for waking them up so early on a Sunday morning — remember, I’m 8 hours behind Glasgow here — with a rousing chorus of “I Just Can’t Get Enough” after Kris Ajer’s final penalty, but that’s another story for another time.
Let’s pick up this momentum Wednesday as we get back to the league games. Mon the Hoops!
When a week goes by with no Celtic games, and having to see what’s available elsewhere — the default mode is to find which clubs with former Celts are playing and watch accordingly (for example, Scott Sinclair was pretty good in the Preston North End win, though he flubbed a chance to score) — it gives one pause to collect one’s thoughts for Celtic’s upcoming game on Sunday, historic as it is, as well as to look back and ponder some might-have-beens.
Like . . .
Bet that Greg Taylor, the Kilmarnock defender in the photo of Scott Brown winning the league at Rugby Park, is glad he’s now a Celt . . . .
Does Scott Brown start on Sunday?
This is the big question of the week, being batted back and forth over the journalistic net like a tennis ball at a Wimbledon final. Does Scott Brown start on Sunday, or does Neil Lennon go with what’s been working over the last couple of weeks with David Turnbull and Ismaila Soro?
This is a tough one. If it has caused me a sleepless night or two, imagine the tossing and turning Lenny must be doing over it.
In the final analysis, my guess — and my hope — is that Broony starts on Sunday. History dictates it. In large part, Scott Brown got us to where we are now. A gut feeling that Broony will shine comes into play here over the logic that his performances lately have been, to put it mildly, lackluster.
My guess, too, is that as a starter he’s on a very short leash as well, and if he looks anywhere near lackluster, he may be getting the hook early.
What’s not being talked about is this: You know who I would like to see start on Sunday against the relegated Heart of Midlothian? Mikey Johnston. He subbed against Kilmarnock in the last game, coming off a long-healing injury, and looked to be his old self, bobbing and weaving through traffic goalward.
The tackle that launched a legend: Jozo Simunovic sends Kenny Miller into orbit in an April 2017 match against Celtic’s crosstown rivals, which the Hoops won 5-1.
Jozo opens up
On the day that Jozo Simunovic scored at 67 minutes in the game honoring Celtic legend Billy McNeill — number 5 scoring in honor of number 5 — I put a photo of the big Croatian pointing skyward after scoring as my wallpaper. And there it stays to this day — a reminder of probably the first historic Celtic moment this realtively new Celtic fan had seen for himself (in the company, of course, of the San Francisco CSC in Millbrae, California).
I’ve always liked Jozo a lot, and he played with enthusiasm and love for Celtic. He was one of those players that, when healthy, often anonymously steered the course of the game to our advantage. And then he punctuated his Celtic career with gems like the header above, scoring an occasional important goal like the one that put us ahead against Kilmarnock (again) late in the season to increase our lead in the standings.
And, of course, nothing beats Jozo’s launch of Kenny Miller in 2017 during a 5-1 drubbing of “The Rangers” at Ibrox.
The Celtic Star recently ran an article about Jozo recently where the former Celt opens up on his departure, it is definitely worth a read. Arguably, not offering Jozo an extension — along with letting Jonny Hayes and Mikael Lustig move on — arguably has put the club in the precarious position it finds itself today. But that’s another topic for another discussion at another time.
The Philadelphia Union’s Mark McKenzie could very well join the Hoops during the January transfer window.
Look through any window
With the new year around the corner, it will be time for — fanfare, maestro — the January Transfer Window, and the wailing and gnashing of teeth that will undoubtedly follow.
A primary target on Celtic’s radar has been Philadelphia Union’s Mark McKenzie, who sees his road to the EPL running through Glasgow.
“I’ve done my fair share of research (on Celtic and the Scottish Premiership) and I’ve always loved football so I’ve known about Celtic for a while,” McKenzie recently told SkySports. “You hear about Celtic and the path of Virgil Van Dijk — going from there to the Prem.”
Not the kind of loyalty you would expect to the club, but understandable in this day and age of mercenaries. If the price of a top-notch defender is that he plays outstanding football for Celtic while punching his ticket to a larger club, then maybe that’s the best we can expect.
However, in this transfer window, it would not bother me if we stood pat with this team — maybe adding McKenzie or another defender — and bring up some of the Reserves to play for the Hoops.
Over 40 million Californians agree: This bhoy Cameron Harper, a native son of the Golden State, should be on Celtic’s first team.
Cameron Harper in particular deserves the opportunity to show what he can do on the first team, since his ability to challenge and go thorugh defenders at the Reserves level shows he could do it at the top level. The same goes for Armstrong Oko-Flex and Karamoko Dembele — both reported to be on the radar of a few teams down south — who both deserve to show what they can do for the first team. Get Jonathan Afolabi back from his loan spell from Dundee.
The fact of the matter is we have all the pieces we need going forward. It’s just putting them in the right order so the club fires on all cylinders as we motor to the 10 in the 2nd half of the season.
One more thing
Those who know me well already know this, but for the rest of you following me on social media, there are a couple of clubs which have earned my following due to their actions in their communities. As mentioned in a previous post, Nairn County FC took a windfall they had when COVID-19 stopped their season and put it back into their community, as thanks for the community’s ongoing support for the club.
More locally, just up the road in the San Francisco Bay Area, Oakland Roots SC deserve a shout-out in the same regard, and I am a supporter of a club that “harness(es) the magic of Oakland and the power of sport as a force for social good.” No one is more excited than me that Oakland Roots have partnered with FC St. Pauli in promotional efforts, and hopefully in the near future a friendly between the clubs in Oakland will be on the horizon.
My affinity for community-based, community-owned clubs does not stop there. As some readers know from a past post offering a few tips to former Celt Lewis Morgan in his move to Inter Miami, I spent my formative years — from 3 to 29 to be exact — living in Miami.
That said, a shout out goes to a new community-owned, community-based club in the area — Biscayne Bay SC — which will play its inaugural season in my old stomping grounds, so to speak. Not only this, they’ve adopted the quintessential Miami mascot — the Manatee! Score that as an own-goal for David Beckham in NOT adopting that mascot for Inter Miami, but Beckham’s loss is BBSC’s gain. Mon the Manatee!
Celts to bring home more silverware tomorrow — you read it here first.
Under unfortunate circumstances for Celtic, Hatem Elhamed may return to play in Israel to be closer to his family.
There’s an elephant in the room that no one is talking about: a work-visa system in Scotland which, for all intents and purposes, seems on the surface as selective and arbitrary. It’s a system that keeps players like Americans Andrew Gutman and Manny Perez from opportunities to play for the Celts, and it kept Hatem Elhamed’s wife from working in Scotland while he plays for the Hoops.
As a result, Elhamed has stayed in Scotland to play football while Mrs. Elhamed has returned to Israel with their son, leaving the Celtic defender to live alone in Glasgow. It has been reported that Elhamed leaves his house only to train with the team and to play games for the Celts.
Elhamed has had to make a really difficult choice – to stay in solitude in Scotland or to return to his family in Israel. It appears that, understandably, he will be pursuing the latter course.
I stay “understandably” because I know this drill firsthand. In the mid-’90s I started a relationship with a Japanese woman in the U.S., followed her back to Japan, married her there, and we had a daughter all in the space of the four years we lived there. Even with a family, culturally it was a major adjustment to live in a foreign land, so I would imagine it would be significantly worse without the benefit of family support.
So I get it, Hatem. And those who ludicrously and ridiculously comment that, “Well, he has his tons of cash to keep him company,” well, they reveal with that simply moronic statement that they have no clue. On anything.
Elhamed brought a lot of good things to the Celtic table. He was fast, he was an outstanding defender, his play on the wing — especially lately, off an injury — was top-notch. It’s unfortunate that Celtic loses a quality player primarily due to government bureaucracy rather than to injury or to being enticed away from afar with riches.
Fortunately for Elhamed, he has options: The Daily Record reports that Israeli clubs are lining up to sign him. Hapoel Be’er Shiva, his former club prior to joining Celtic, seems to be first in line — with open arms, apparently — and Be’er Shiva gaffer Yossi Abukasis said, “Hatem is an excellent player that every team would want to sign. If we can bring him here to the club it will be a huge blessing for us.”
No doubt the other clubs seeking Elhamed’s services — Maccabi Haifa, Beitar Jerusalem and Maccabi Tel Aviv — might agree.
[As an aside: Hatem, please don’t sign with Beitar Jerusalem. Just don’t. You know why.]
So while he will no doubt be successful wherever he ends up in Israel, I will miss him wearing the Hoops. Goodbye and good luck, Hatem!
The original plan was to concurrently post my interview with Auldheid at the advent of the AGM here on the pages of this blog. But then I thought, why reinvent the wheel? So I decided instead to urge you to look at The Celtic Star version linked above, rather than reprinting it verbatim here on these pages.
You’re welcome.
Make sure you have a look at the story linked above. The palace intrigue inside the walls of the Celtic boardroom is definitely worthy of a BBC miniseries, at the very least.
And thank you, Auldheid, for taking the time once again this year to do the interview. I would imagine it is a painstaking task to explain the situation to this fan — 5,000 miles away — on a level that can be understood by a five-year-old or a golden retriever. More importantly, thank you for all you do to keep Celtic on the right track and on the level.
My heart was broken . . .
With a hat-tip to both The Proclaimers and Hibernian, one of the more humorous memes to come out of the more than excellent play of Ismaila Soro yesterday against Lille is that an artist will take four pictures of Soro and match them up with the first couple of lines from “Sunshine on Leith.”
Soro, Soro, Soro, Soro . . .
Laughter aside, there were a plethora of positives to come out of the Lille game, and Soro’s play was one of them. While they’re worth their room on this earth, Ewan Henderson and Conor Hazard both showed what Celtic can harvest in the care and feeding of the Reserves team, and it will not be long before both are up with the First Team.
Unfortunately, Cameron Harper didn’t get a chance to join the party on the pitch yesterday, but his time will come. All these youngsters — as well as players like Stephen Welsh, Armstrong Oko-Flex, Karamoko Dembele, and Jonathan Afolabi — have bright futures as first-teamers.
And then there’s David Turnbull, who had what can only be described as a breakout game for the Hoops against Lille. We saw what he could do with Motherhell, sorry Motherwell, and now it looks like he’s earned a spot as a starter. It prompted one Celtic fan on Twitter to post a lyric change to a Christmas favourite: “This year, to save me from tears, I’ll give it to David Turnbull.”
George Michael couldn’t have said it better.
Saving Private Frimpong
It’s pretty clear that the hammerthrowers — and there are many — who populate the ranks of the Scottish Premiership’s also-rans seem to have a laser-like focus on harming Jeremie Frimpong. As unfortunate as it might be, that seems to be all we can expect from some of the halfwits who have reached the apex of their football careers as goons for all-but-forgettable clubs.
That said, yesterday’s mugging of Frimpong — who ironically was celebrating his 20th birthday yesterday — seemed to be the final straw.
About 11 minutes into the match against Lille yesterday, Jeremie Frimpong was sent crashing over the touchline and into the ad boards. As usual, there was no call on the play.
Seriously, officials, what the hell? All season (and last season, too) this had me seeing red. What I would like to see from SPFL referees — you know, the guys on the pitch less-than-ironically sponsored by Specsavers — is more red, as in red cards on players willfully out to harm the bhoy, and others on the pitch for that matter.
Is that too much to ask?
One more thing
It bears mentioning that while Soro, Turnbull, Henderson, Hazard, et al., all had a great game yesterday, Diego Laxalt has been pretty consistent in the “good” department in his level of play over the last several games. With a Ryan Christie-like depth of nonstop energy, the Uruguayan has fit in perfectly with the Celts so far.
When he first came to the club, I was a little annoyed by fans who made fun of his hair and glasses. I said that if he works out and becomes a mainstay for the club, I would get cornrows — as much as I could on a balding pate — to go with the glasses I have worn pretty much all my life. Now, Diego’s play has me asking my barber how to go about doing this (Step one: Let what hair I have left grow out . . .).
I will be the first to admit that Celtic fans who have supported the team for decades surely don’t need a lecture from a relatively new fan 5,000 miles away. However, I do think I can offer some perspective on some of the games this season — like today’s — from America’s baseball world. The San Francisco Giants in the early aughts, when they were winning championships by any means necessary (and usually “winning ugly”), had a term they always used to describe their style of play: “Torture.”
Sound familiar, Celtic fans?
Torture. That would aptly describe the first 89 excruciating minutes of Sunday’s game at McDiarmid Park against St. Johnstone, where the Saints took a poke or two in that time — glancing one off the bar, even — while mostly playing back. Thank whichever diety you believe in that Leigh Griffiths got the header at 90 minutes, and then Patryk Klimala sealed the deal at 93 minutes for a 2-0 win and wrap up the Late Late Show.
Ladies and gentlemen, the Late Late Show, with your hosts Patryk Klimala, left, and Leigh Griffiths.
Let’s talk about Klimala for a minute. For those who think that offseason training does not pay off, ask yourself if Klimala makes that comeback — Terminator style — quickly upright from a tackle to make that second goal if he hadn’t strengthened up. Chances are he doesn’t, and with the way the referee was being selective with fouls — multiple ignored muggings of Jeremie Frimpong, to no one’s surprise, for example — chances are Klimala doesn’t get the call as well.
Then there’s Griffiths: The bhoy is back. Full stop. But that goal doesn’t happen in a vacuum. The lead up of Kris Ajer to Hatem Elhamed, and then Elhamed’s perfect cross, is a play to watch over and over again.
And how’s this for strategy: Put the soul of your club on the bench and then bring him in to direct traffic toward the end of the game. It’s pretty clear that Scott Brown has an influence on the team that transcends his immediate play.
In geological terms the first 89 minutes of the game had the magma of the Celtic Boo Birds pressurizing the surface, awaiting to erupt in the lava of negativity all over social media. Thanks to Messrs. Griffiths and Klimala, eruption was averted, for the most part.
In addition, let’s be clear about something which some folks may be missing: The other 11 teams in the Premiership are all professional outfits, with players who step up their game a notch or two when playing Celtic. It definitely makes the difference between having a highlight reel and a highlight slide when a club plays Celtic well or, God forbid, beats Celtic. Opposing players get that and up their game accordingly.
Yet some in the support expect this season to be a walk in the park where we dust off other clubs as if they are made up of starving orphans or cloistered nuns.
News flash: They’re not.
So winning 2-0 against St. Johnstone may not be historic, or even noteworthy. But it is another win, and another 3 points. And if we have to grind it out to get to the 10, then that’s the “torture” we have to endure to get there. Naturally, I’d prefer it to be easy, but we would be well prepared to take it that way going forward.
There’s nothing like an exciting new player to get the poetic juices flowing in Celtic fans. And in the spirit of a thread on The Celtic Noise forum around Celtic striker Albian Ajeti, the Swiss forward could be gearing up for his own song in the near future.
But before we get to that point, break out the dictionary, because “Ajeti” is sort of hard to rhyme.
Fortunately, that has never stopped us before here at ’67 in the Heat of Felton. Challenge accepted.
‘There once was a man named Ajeti . . . .’
So as the sun rises on the Central California coast, yours truly has written a few limericks — yeah, I know . . . “the poor man’s poetry” — during his coffee and Raisin Bran to start the day.
To wit:
There once was a man named Ajeti Who kicked the ball into the netty When Saturdays loomed Opponents were doomed, Their fans became moany and fretty.
Or . . .
That trick from the Swiss guy Ajeti turned centre-backs into spaghetti. And when the ball crossed, with their goalie tossed, It quickly went into the netty.
If we reverse the order so “Ajeti” isn’t the rhyming word . . .
Ajeti, a bearded Swiss fellow, made goalkeepers turn into Jell-o. A cross that was long from wee lad Frimpong Would always make Celtic fans bellow.
Or, to address more immediate concerns . . .
Ajeti – and let me be blunt – Needs Edouard to help him up front, or Griff would be nice, or Klimala twice, Oh, Lenny — please do take a punt.
Give it a shot. Feel free to put your best efforts in the comments below, or swing by The Celtic Noise forum to the thread about Ajeti and unleash your inner poet.
Now if you’ll excuse me, the Poetry Police are pulling me over and asking for my poetic license and registration . . . .
Celtic’s performance on Sunday against Hibernian in the club’s 3-0 win was outstanding across the board; so much so that the silence from the doomsday brigade populating Celtic Twitter has been deafening. Let’s take a quick look at the match, and single out those who deserve special mention in a game which displayed why Celtic is the club in command this year.
Scott Brown? The armchair Steins on Twitter said he needed a rest, but he came out roaring on Sunday to have a great game, and in some folks’ opinions, he should have had Man of the Match honours. Greg Taylor? Improving on the wing with every game, and more importantly on Sunday, showed his defensive prowess by shutting down Martin Boyle, Hibs’ go-to guy, for the entire game.
I suspect there’s a bingo game going on with all the talentless hammerthrowers in the SPFL to see which one of the bastards can be the first to cripple Sunday’s Man-of-the-Match Jeremie Frimpong. Hibernian’s candidates gave it their best shot on Sunday, but still the Oh-My-Days Kid came up sprinting and doing what he does best: Speeding past hapless defenders.
David Turnbull looked sharp and his play on the pitch overall was remarkable. As an aside, my only concern on Sunday — a minuscule one at best, and one that’s easily rectified — is that nearly every corner he took was a line-drive with little altitude for the skyscrapers like Shane Duffy, Kris Ajer, and even Odsonne Edouard, in the box.
But truly, the man who deserves the highest praise on Sunday, and high praise every day that he’s a Celt, is Nir Bitton.
Nir Bitton took the game to Hibs on Sunday and proves how important he is to the club.
For seven years, Bitton has simply played the game — and played the game well — for Celtic. No fanfare. No drama. No should-I-stay-or-should-I-go chapters. Just a player who is proud to wear the hoops and plays where he’s asked. And though not perfect, he plays wherever asked to as near a perfection as a player can.
Listed as a midfielder, Bitton is blessed with the ability to play in the back like a world-class violinist plays a Stradivarius, as was evident in the Hibernian game. Though some criticize his pace as “slow” — I prefer to use the term “methodical” — yesterday his ball distribution from the back, mostly to Frimpong, and advancing up the field with the ball like, well, a midfielder, were sights to behold.
It’s players like Bitton who make the game enjoyable. To say he’s a throwback to another era where players played for the jersey is maybe a little over-the-top, but Bitton — who has found his niche and who seems to appreciate his place in Celtic’s history — “gets it.”
In short, he understands what it means to be Celtic.
And Jock Stein would probably agree: His jersey fits.
In the meantime, let’s hope Albian Ajeti heals quickly. Mon the Hoops!
It inspires awe, unfortunately not in a good way: A club that has won nine championships in a row, not to mention three trebles, has some members of its fan base that excel at either hair-on-fire panic or terminal negativity — sometimes both — for essentially no good reason.
Even some members of the fan base — these same members, of course — who will swear on the graves of their ancestors that they love Celtic constantly, will also, at the same time, make it their sole purpose in life to slag the manager and specific players on the team.
You would think that this crass shallowness would be a hallmark of Glasgow’s other club, and one could successfully argue that it is. Which, of course, is all the more reason why it should stay there instead of encroaching onto the other side of Glasgow.
We’re better than that. Does that even warrant mentioning?
Maybe it does: Elements in the “support” — real or imagined — are calling for the removal of Neil Lennon while dragging players like James Forrest or Greg Taylor or Ryan Christie or fill-in-the-blank for the scapegoat du jour.
Seriously?
Greg Taylor: Just another day at the office.
Taylor is an above-average fullback who is still learning to play in the Celtic system. He’s not flashy; in fact, he’s what we call in America a “lunchpail player,” a guy who brings his lunchpail to work, puts his head down and does his job without fanfare or attention-grabbing. Is he the answer to Celtic’s problems? No. But he’s not the cause of them either. Primarily a defender who excels in that aspect of the game, Taylor would be ideal in a back 4 and his current role of supplying crosses into the opposition box is one that has come with a learning curve for him. I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt here because I think ultimately he’ll both succeed and be a more well-rounded player for it.
The ire towards Forrest and Christie is totally unwarranted. Both have consistently given all for the club every game, both have been brilliant overall for the Hoops, and Christie deserves special note for being constantly on the go, whether it’s the first minute or the 90th. Both have established themselves in a midfield that has a vast overstock of talent in it, not to mention both being a scoring threat for the entire 90 minutes.
I am as mystified as anyone at some of Lennon’s choices in the recent lineups, but I’m not at Lennoxtown making that decision. So I trust his vast knowledge of football, not to mention his staff’s, over my approximately two years of studying the game. Yet some of the armchair Steins among the support want to replace Lennon because of it? One question: With whom? Honestly, you want to abruptly halt the momentum the club has gained under Lennon because you don’t like it that he doesn’t play 3-5-2 enough? And even if you could replace him, who would you reasonably get to replace him at this point?
It’s perfectly all right to have an opinion. Unhappy with Lennon and his choices? So am I, but rather than calling him names or worse, I’m more than glad to hear him out. Do I think players deserve to be benched for having an off-day, or even worse, resort to name-calling? Absolutely not.
Criticism can take two forms: Positive and negative. Positive critique has been sorely lacking. The panty-wetting and negativity on forums and social media are beyond the pale and are downright embarrassing.
Again, we’re better than that.
This much is clear: The demands made of Celtic players are far greater than many other clubs. Second place is nothing, to be sure, and one of the main aspects of supporting a football club is experiencing the highs and lows, the good and bad, the euphoria and the horror. In an era marked by championships, “trebles,” and a vast array of silverware, there have been few “lows,” and even fewer “bads” and “horrors.”
Fans should be held to the same high standard, because the Celtic scarf doesn’t shrink to fit inferior supporters.
Mon the Hoops!
[Blogger’s note: Much of this item comes as a result of private discussions with a few friends from The Celtic Noise, and they will recognize their contributions herein. While they know who they are, I won’t identify them for privacy’s sake, but needless to say I gratefully appreciate and acknowledge their contributions.]
