Celtic board must show ambition, or be shown the door

Last game: St Mirren 4 – 0 Celtic

Celtic form after 5 games:  LWWWL

By Séan Walsh

Celtic’s were dealt another staggering blow to the already dead body that is the clubs SPL campaign this season. St Mirren ruthlessly hammered Mowbrays team in a manner so ridiculously that Celtic fans were left in angered amusement at their current situation. The manager saw fit to drop arguably player of the year Andreas Hinkel in order to test out Mark Wilson according to the Germans official website blog, elsewhere, an on form Artur Boruc could not remove Lukasz Zaluska. The midfield saw the return of a Korean Ki ‘Dave’ in place of midfield maestro Marc Crosas – which only adds further mystery to exactly why Crosas continues to be dropped by Mowbray despite evidence showing the team excels when he is part of the proceedings. Needless to say, the changes made did not work and youngster Paul McGowan gave a performance that he will undoubtedly worry about in regards to whether he can ‘cut it’ at Celtic. However, it wasn’t just the changes that sparked Celtics downfall. Recent Celtic regulars such as Landry N’Guemo, Josh Thompson and Edson Braafheid all turned in below-par cameo’s in the green and white – whilst Robbie Keane gave a Scott McDonald-esque performance of lots of huffing and puffing and complaining about those around him.

But surely, the brunt of supporters anger lies at the feet of Tony Mowbray, the man who sat face in hands, playing Aiden McGeady at leftback and six strikers on the pitch, as his multi-million pound team were pummeled by a club less noteable than Johnstonebridge service station. It is evident from just his body language that the pressure of Celtic is too much for the Yorkshireman and that he really has no idea of how to cope in the vicious goldfish bowl of Glasgow. But to be honest, he should have never had the job. The Celtic boards rightful dismissal of Gordon Strachan was met with hope amongst Celtic fans that they would show ambition and really try to push the club forward, but scouring the championship for managers such as Martinez, Mowbray and Coyle only showed that they wanted young managers. Young, not because we wanted to try snatch the next best talent (Even if the board tried to pass this message off) but because young managers are not set in their ways and are easy to manage, easy to reduce transfer budgets and easy to make scape goats out of.

After what I see as two failed managers – failed because they have not replicated the euphoria and belief Martin O’Neill created – the board cannot and must not continue with a third uninspiring manager. As the rival Glasgow club slowly crawls its way back into financial security through Champions League handouts, we cannot allow ourselves to continue down the drain pipe. A new inspiring and confident manager must be brought in,  allowed to spend and buy who he wishes and not have interference from a board, who lets face it, think that the football match is an extension of scones & tea networking events. Failure to do so, and the already impatient Celtic fanbase will see the apathetic fans depart, leaving only the hardcore element – ready to go to war with a board that they already have gripes with in regards to treatment within the stadium and how the club deals with the media.

I wrote last month about targets, and why would anyone want to manage our club, you can read it at http://thecelticway.net/wordpress/?p=15, the thinking behind it still stands. Any manager looking at our club will be met with high risk extremism – failure is career ending, success is complete adoration – there is no middle ground at Parkhead. Whilst all those managers remain untouched and available, I believe there is truly and realisitcally, only two men capable of achieving glory. The first, Guus Hiddink, but admittedly a manager who doesn’t seem to like long term plans and currently ready to take over the Turkey job in August – with Ivory Coast sniffing around for the summer World Cup. The second, the charismatic executor of the English national team, Slaven Bilic, a man credited to elevating unmknown youth players such as Modric, Corluka and Eduardo and creating strong, attacking and confident sides. He has openly said he would “walk to Glasgow” to coach Celtic, he is everything Celtic fans adore – iconic, aggressive and above all confident. Yes, he doesn’t have the football league experience, but then Strachan and Mowbray did, and it didn’t seem to do them much good. In fact, even without that experience, Bilic has gone on to scalp huge national teams and make a name for himself out of nowhere. The fact he hasnt been signed up by a club is startling for me, Celtic must take their chance – he is a realistic choice who would want to come, he is ambitious and above all, he will not be intimidated by a media, country and a PLC board, out to dominate his proceedings from the start.

Bring in the Bilic.