Thankfully Celtic have a manager who appears to be keeping his head while many others are losing theirs. A Cup semi-final defeat after extra-time to any other European semi-finalist this season would perhaps not have been met with the ‘Don’t Panic’ reaction Corporal Jones was famous for in Dad’s Army, while resorting to extreme agitation himself.
Yet that is what we’ve seen in the fall-out to an extra-time defeat to a side who played only marginally better than Celtic on the day, in a match had it been a training game, any self-respecting coach from either side would have stopped it due to the inability of either side to string two passes together, and one refereed so leniently Terry Hurlock would have considered he’d hung his boots up too soon.
Yet because it was our rivals who took to extra time to see us off, despite our uncharacteristic showing, and because too many of us had talked ourselves into being a far better side than they are, there has been something of an overreaction to Sunday’s Scottish Cup exit.
Instead, the evidence this season shows a 34-game domestic unbeaten record, including home and away wins against the side who progressed on Sunday, should really outweigh a solitary bad day at the office.
Thankfully Ange Postecoglou who stated “the road to success is not downhill” as reported by Daily Record appears to be a steady hand at the tiller whilst he negotiates stormy waters, much of which appears to be of our own making.
“The road to success is not downhill, mate. It requires effort every single step of the way. Sometimes you’ll stumble. We’ve stumbled a few times this year as a group and we’ve managed to bounce back quickly.
“That’s what we’ve got to do again but just because it’s happened in the past doesn’t mean it’s going to happen in the future. What you do know is we’re capable of it, we’ve used it the right way in the past, and we use this disappointment in the right way for next week.
“We’ve got five games to become champions so we have to perform well in every one, win those games and hopefully if that happens the players will get the rewards I think they deserve for their performances this season. Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall.”
Ange Postecoglou appears to be evoking the spirit of Muhammad Ali alongside that brilliant North Curve Tifo “ain’t nothing wrong with going down. It’s staying down that’s wrong”, and he’s spot on.
Too much has been made of the weekend’s performance. It may not have been what we expected to see, but it may also be the straightener required after being punch drunk on the unbelievable domestic run we’ve been on.
Yet it needn’t be a sign the wheels are coming off Celtic’s season, after all the scarcely believable unbeaten run we’ve been on is far more the norm and the cup semi-final defeat the outlier this season.
Celtic remain the equivalent of seven points ahead in the league title race, when you take our superior goal difference into account, with five games of the season to go. Three of those games are at home, including the next meeting with theRangers.
There is no evidence to suggest Celtic and Ange Postecoglou will suddenly collapse like Devon Loch in the final straight of the Grand National. Indeed, any supporter, had they been told last August, this would have been Celtic’s position after the league split would have bitten off the hand that offered them that deal.
It really is time for some perspective right now and thankfully Celtic appear to have a manager with just that sense. It’s an approach we could all do with mirroring as we as supporters also have our part to play in ensuring a sense of calm prevails.
Niall J
