It does make me smile when you hear people ascribing some mystical levels of knowledge to football folk, which simply cannot be understood by mere mortals outside the football bubble. Of course, coaching qualifications bring a deeper level of understanding and knowledge of how to improve young players, but that’s not a skill set required of fans.

We don’t have to improve players. We can see the play, the standards and the outcomes. Over decades we learn by experience what is expected and acceptable. This is sport, not splitting the atom.

To borrow from the comedy of Bill Burr, “when you see a helicopter in a tree, you don’t need to be a pilot to know something has gone wrong!”

Can the coaching team at Celtic even see the tree?

My last two blogs were about the foolishness of our addiction to a formation which cannot work for this group of players. This preceded our most recent pasting, after which the manager acknowledged that very issue.

I find that extremely worrying. Yes, I have an opinion, and it’s nice to be validated, but I’m no expert. When it’s that obvious to fans like me, and has been for a long time, it calls into question everything that’s going on behind the scenes.

It’s Not Wizardry

When the veil is lifted in an unintentional and unscripted way, it often reveals just how basic and prosaic these supposedly mystical workings are. Whether that’s in the dressing room or the boardroom. The Celtic board, for instance, through their incompetence, have been repeatedly exposed as an amateurish group. External sources throughout the game have also commented on their inept operations.

When I started commenting on Celtic matters, there was always the caveat of ‘I don’t have definitive information, but that’s what it looks like.’ There was the inclination to offer the benefit of the doubt and trust in ‘expertise.’ However, many times recently, behind-the-scenes situations have been exposed, and it’s apparent that things are exactly as they appear and, in some cases, much worse than feared.

The damage done to this squad by the axis of feeble, with their refusal to invest appropriately in enough quality players in time for crucial deadlines, or set up a footballing department worthy of the name to identify not just quality, but how that quality fits in the team for an identified style of play, is no longer in dispute. But that knowledge won’t help us tomorrow. Or until January.

It’s another of their dreadful decisions made on the back of more demonstrable incompetence that we must deal with currently. A global managerial search that extended to the interim manager and another Irish guy with club connections, who was such a social leper among fans that his first piece of club issued kit would’ve had to be a bell for him to ring, warning of his approach. Too much of a pariah to risk it, even for a board with nothing but contempt for fans’ views.

Always World Class

So, what it actually came down to was offering the job to a club legend who had just saved them from a potentially disastrous season, the highlight of which was appointing a management team who came to play fantasy football with that infamous 4-0-6 formation. Certainly, that’s how it seemed at times.

With 5 minutes left of the season, the team got over the line. Martin’s motivational input to that was undeniable, but there were clear problems with the coaching of the side, or the lack thereof.

Football is a short career, and cracks in team morale/dynamics can appear quickly and accelerate in an unanticipated manner. The turnaround of players also has a massive impact on dressing room vibes, and both the personal and professional qualities in the squad.

With the interim and novel nature of the coaching team gone, and the ‘backs against the wall’ unity not seemingly in play, it appears that muddling through is no longer a viable strategy. Instead, what we are witnessing, in coaching terms, is what the ‘yoof’ might call a hot mess!

A Celtic Wilderness

Lax fitness standards, total lack of identity, players appearing utterly confused, no appreciable style, purpose or discipline, and no drilled repetition of process to fall back on under pressure. A list of failings that cannot be overcome easily, even in games where we have superior players.

Football is a team game and, as the captain pointed out, this is not a cohesive team in any meaningful way. Just a collection of individuals trying their best, but not properly prepared. Lacking direction and belief in how they are expected to win. From a leadership perspective, it appears what happened last year is not replicable on a consistent basis.

This is a new group with new qualities added, but it’s also distinctly lacking in crucial areas. Like last season, we are also hampered by injury and a serious lack of form from key players. Our tendency to get overrun in midfield has now become an established pattern, recognisable and exploitable by other managers. Add to that a variety of quality, fitness and positional problems at the back and, as we have seen, it’s an open door for even barely adequate opposition.

Bring Back Blessed Martin!

Martin O’Neill has overseen this and bears ultimate responsibility. However, there’s plenty of blame to go around. The board got lucky last year, but this board have never been able to differentiate between luck and competence, so they doubled down.

Without green-tinted glasses on, taking the objective view, they permanently appointed a permanent manager who had been out of the game for 7 years and was deservedly retired at age 74. Can you think of any other club that would have done that?

Also, Martin has always relied on having absolutely top-quality coaches because, as we know, he doesn’t do it himself. He has always been heavily dependent on the work they do. Even more so now, having been out of the game for so long.

His current coaching staff were guys who happened to be hanging around the building or were unemployed. Maloney was no longer a coach for a reason. He failed as a manager at Hibs and Wigan. Fotheringham failed at Huddersfield and was unemployed, and McManus was leading the B team to a magnificent fifth place. Hardly the dream team he deserves to support him.

These are the men from whom Martin claimed he was learning so much.

Unfortunately, I believe it!

Can we win tomorrow? Like most of you, I’m sure, I’m extremely concerned. Not just about losing, but about the manner in which this team might capitulate. Short of confidence, form and clear direction, it could be a very bad day. The Europa League defeat also stripped away the notion that the crowd would be enough to inspire the players.

However, that inspiration may yet come from somewhere. If you’re lucky, you’ll have met a real leader in your life. Someone, even from years ago, that you would still run through brick walls for today. Martin may be old, but he’s an old warrior and motivational leader whose appetite for competition remains fierce. Can he convey absolute belief in his men? Inspiring them to glory?

Will this be the latest chapter in the book of Martin’s Management Miracles?

It seems like we might need one.

You really need faith to believe in miracles.

The Celtic fans know something about that.

Mon the hoops!