The Gallowgate Guevaras
Back in 1994 as Fergus McCann fought to gain control of
Celtic Football Club from the families who had run it for over a century, he
had the advantage of the backing of most of a Celtic support which saw the old
board as no longer fit for purpose. Football was evolving fast and entering the
new age of satellite TV and those running Celtic were thought by many to lack
the imagination and business acumen needed to drag the failing institution into
the modern era. It is of course a matter of history that Celtic came perilously
close to going into administration and that would have been the greatest
humiliation in an era where hoops fans had to deal with a few.
McCann’s dreams were backed with the hard cash of Celtic fans
who poured millions of pounds into Celtic to rebuild the club on and off the
field. The club did indeed rise from its slumber and was once again challenging
for honours in Scotland but it took four hard years to prise the title from
Rangers and in that time Celtic fans had some tough days to endure. We dealt with the painful Tommy Burns
sacking, losing to Raith in the League Cup Final and missing out on the title
after losing crucial matches to Rangers as they closed in on nine in a row.
McCann’s insistence that he would run the club on sensible financial lines
despite calls from the fans to spend more on players led to some turning on
him. They were egged on by a Scottish media which was for the most part hostile
to McCann and when he did eventually deliver the title in 1998 he was booed by
some of the club’s supporters as he unfurled the first league flag in a decade.
The death of Rangers in 2012 led many to reappraise McCann’s
legacy as the man who in reality led the revolution which saved Celtic and set
them on the road to the domination of Scottish football. The engine which drove
this domination was financial probity and success on the field. Celtic has won
18 major trophies in the past 9 years, 16 titles of 20 played for in the new
century, has the highest average attendances in Scotland and the biggest
turnover by some distance. Their business model was rooted in qualifying for
the Champions League every other year and garnering all the riches that has to
offer. They also expected to be selling players they developed for
substantially more than they bought them for. This twin strategy along with the
support of over 50,000 season ticket holders saw Celtic dominate Scotland and continue
to make a profit with regularity. The club was held up as a model of sensible
sustainability and while the trophies stacked up there were few dissenting
voices.
This season has been one of the most bizarre in Celtic’s
history. The Covid 19 pandemic has meant matches are played in the surreal
atmosphere of empty stadiums. Celtic’s bond with their fans is well known and I
don’t doubt the lack of atmosphere has affected them. However that in no way
excuses some of the lamentable, error strewn performances we have seen of late.
Celtic are currently on the worst run of form in 25 years and have already
crashed out of the Champions League, Europa League, League cup and are
currently well of the pace in the SPFL. They badly miss Fraser Forster’s
influence at the back and missed out on the excellent John McGinn who headed
south to make his fortune in the Premiership. I still feel he was a player made
for Celtic but who will now be out of their reach probably forever. Players
brought in during the summer have failed to sparkle so far and established
players have run into some dire form. With Rangers resurgent, it is clear Celtic
is running out of time to find their form again.
It has been a bad season so far but hey some perspective, we Celtic fans have
gorged on success over the past decade and when you’ve watched football for as
long as I have you know the odd season from hell can occur. As a lad I watched
Celtic follow the double season of 1976-77 with the dreadful 5th
place finish the following year when they lost 15 out of 36 league matches. Yet
the year after that in 1979 they won the title back again only to throw it away
the following season when Aberdeen won the old SPL. The point is there is no
divine right to win; you need to earn it every time you cross the white
line. In the past couple of months
Celtic’s confidence has clearly been affected and basic errors are killing them
in games. Neil Lennon carries ultimate responsibility but whoever has been
scouting players in recent years must share that responsibility.
A list of players purchased in recent years for millions of
pounds but who seldom if ever looked like breaking into the first team was
published on social media recently. When you look at the millions of pounds
wasted on players who simply weren’t up to it you could weep. The revenue spent
on so called ‘projects’ who haven’t made the grade would have been better
invested in experienced professionals who could have made a difference in this
potentially historic season.
The protests by a handful of supporters at the stadium have
gone from heartfelt concern about the team’s form to hostility and anger. Fans
of other clubs must look on agog at the sight of Celtic supporters chasing
their own team’s bus shouting abuse at players who have delivered 18 trophies
in 9 years, 3 Trebles in 3 years, (with a fourth only one game away) nine
successive championships and an invincible season. Yes their form has been
abysmal of late and perhaps the mythical quest for the ten has hyped some fans up
to almost hysterical proportions but come on, are we seriously suggesting
abusing the players, management and board will help their confidence? Celtic is
in the midst of one of the most successful periods in its long history. Only
the Lisbon Lions nine in a row era eclipses the success Celtic currently enjoy.
Some of the banners saying things such as ‘FC not PLC’ suggest some are unhappy
with the way the club is run as a business but the model of liberal capitalism
which gives Celtic such an advantage in Scotland was never seemingly questioned
when the team was winning and stacking up trophies. Changing the political and
financial culture at a football club isn’t an easy process as it is owned by
thousands of shareholders. Many would like the voice of the fans to be heard in
the boardroom and even some form of fan ownership of the club but that takes
thought, time and logical discussion and is unlikely to be achieved by standing
in the Celtic Way chanting ‘Lennon,
Lennon get to f*ck.’
There are many with no love of Celtic who are enjoying the
discontent around the club at the moment. Some of the scenes we have seen
around Celtic Park recently plays right into their hands and gives them more
ammunition to snipe at Celtic.
Peter Lawwell came in for some abuse too from the Gallowgate
Guevaras but ask yourself, what is the job of a CEO at a club like Celtic? It
is to run the business in a sustainable way and provide adequate funds for
strengthening the team. Has he done this? The answer is yes and if his pay
cheque annoys some then it is the going rate for running a club like Celtic. He
turned down a far more lucrative job offer from Arsenal some years back to stay
with the hoops. Yes we are annoyed by repeated failure to beat teams in Europe with
a fraction of our resources. The defeat to Ferencvaros potentially cost the
club £25m and there have been other humiliations along the way. But the real issue
has been the poor acquisitions Celtic have brought in. Who thought Bolingoli was in any way a decent
replacement for Tierney? Shved was another who drifted out of sight with barely
a sniff at the first team and there have been others. Allowing Forster and
Gordon to leave and spending millions on the unimpressive Barkas was foolish. The
identification and purchasing of such players remains the Achilles heel which
is causing Celtic to stumble. We have not bought wisely in recent years, with a
few exceptions like David Turnbull, and that combined with good players moving
on has weakened the side.
The new Rangers was always likely to improve with the sort of
money they invested in players. They weren’t going to stay hopeless forever and
Celtic’s poor recruitment in recent times has allowed them to catch up. That,
combined with a loss of form and confidence, the Covid crisis and perhaps
playing in empty stadiums has created a perfect storm of circumstance which has
damaged the team’s chances this season.
Managers live or die by results. Neil Lennon faces a cup
final and a trip to Ibrox in the next few weeks and defeat in either of those
games could be the straw which breaks the camel’s back as far as his job goes.
He’s old enough to understand that and would doubtless accept it. What is less
acceptable is the vitriol he has received from an uncouth minority who seem to
forget all he has contributed and endured during his association with Celtic as
a player and manager. He has spoken in the past of the bigotry, the bombs and
bullets, the assaults, the struggles he has had with depression and if he has
to leave his post he should be allowed to do so with some dignity.
It can be unpleasant on social media when Celtic is not
playing well. Some lose all perspective and in an echo chamber of like-minded
voices the vitriol increases. Dissenting voices are drowned out or abused until
they no longer want to contribute to the debate. They are called ‘happy
clappers,’ ‘panty wetters,’ 'Soup takers' or ‘Lawwell’s lapdogs’ if they offer an opinion which
differs from the more aggressive voices. We all know there are serious issues
to be sorted out at Celtic Park and hopefully the team will be on their winning
ways again soon. Europe was a disaster this year and much ground needs to be
made up domestically. To call for unity at such a time isn’t to ignore the
problems the club has, it is to realise that division only helps our opponents.
In the fullness of time I hope there is intelligent
discussion about the way forward for Celtic as every club needs renewal now and
then. I hope there is also some perspective too; the distasteful ‘Shoot the
Board’ banner was defended by some who thought it a witty reference to a
similar banner from the early 1990s. We live in very different times from the
90s. Back then the old board had run Celtic into the ground, the team was
failing and the stadium in dire need of rebuilding. Today Celtic has the best
stadium in the land, a decent squad and sound financial results even in these
difficult times.
How we harness those things to put a good, consistent team on
the field is our challenge.
