Strachan: The Man The Meltdown.
Gordon Strachan is a man renowned for his humorous quips and one liner's. The old one about a paddle and a certain creek may well be the one most prominent in his troubled mind after another calamitous meltdown at the weekend. His team went into the dressing room 3-1 to the good with a hat trick by the increasingly maligned John Hartson, proving once again that fat is not always bad for you. This particular Welsh type seems to be able to absorb a lot of toxins and harmful attacks and come out the other end capable of restoring smiles and faith in life. This fat, however good, was not enough to see the defence combine yet again to leak four goals, and only a last gasp equaliser from Beattie saved the axe from slipping neckward.
Many Celtic fans, well lets be realistic here, all Celtic fans were dreading the return to the scene of what is without fear of contradiction, the worst crime they have been victim of for a long, long while. It will be many a day before that day in May will fade and with it the horrors that it still represents, when their team, intent on suicide all season, finally managed to pull the trigger of the pistol poised at their temple, handing their title, gift wrapped to their beloved cousins across the river.
Martin O'Neill, as we now know, had been troubled with private matter relation to his wife's health, decided to leave and with Stealth Bomber like speed and secrecy, almost undetected installed his replacement Gordon Strachan who was duly paraded with promises of attacking, “fast” football. All seemed well with the world and a hurly burly of transfer activity seemed to win over the Celtic masses, give or take the now mandatory dragged out affairs that each Celtic signing seems to involve.
The plain fact of the situation is that the team, at present is no more a team than a group of holiday makers brought together for a game of water polo at the poolside during your summer hols. They seem to be unaware of each others methods, there is no understanding, and the outcome of this we have already seen with two competitive games gone and nine goals conceded. The last four at
I must admit as to a little sense of disbelief in this regard, any Celtic fan from the smallest child to oldest, if asked about where help was needed, would immediately point to the whole defence including goalkeeper, which have been leaking goals throughout the domestic success and letting them in at crucial times during punishing away CL games. It is as clear and self evident as something could be, or was it? Strachan chose to focus on the forward line, and players with technique, who could create from midfield, another blind spot in the O'Neill vision. This is all very good and was welcomed by the vast majority of Celtic fans, but it did not take into account the main problem. When your ship is severely holed beneath the waterline you do not waste time looking for Chandeliers for the Ballroom. Anton Neimi, was left because he was deemed too expensive, that mistake has come back to haunt the manager and whole board who now face the loss of £10million CL revenue, the loss of all European football, a reduction in associated financial rewards through exploiting the Celtic Brand, surely the most under exploited resource left on the planet? But most importanltyly for the fans, the reputation Celtic had dragged out of the comedy sketch books of yester year is in the death throes and looks to have been lost after the utter humiliation of Wednesday.
Look out for Part 2 "Strachan: The Man The Meltdown continues"