With huge changes expected to be taking place behind the scenes at Celtic, even as we speak, it’s important to remember that decisions off the park taken now will give the club the framework to build towards what we all need to believe will be a brighter future. For the custodians of the club getting such decisions right or wrong will have a huge bearing on the next decade for Celtic.
That is probably why even in the build-up to this weekend’s Glasgow Derby the column inches are weighted heavily with speculation around appointment of Directors of Football, Head Coaches or old school all-encompassing managers, rather than the traditional feeding frenzy a Derby normally brings. A long-term vision replacing such habitual short-termism after all is vital for the club itself and the fans who will support the club not just this or next year but far beyond. Yet for most players employed at the club a long-term vision isn’t as important, careers and contracts after all are short.
For players everything is short-term, the structure supports a long-term plan, a vision players can buy into and trust is there to support them. But in the short term, in the immediacy of the moment, footballers need two things to perform, belief in the instruction they receive and the confidence following it and seeing the results brings with it. With those two things comes what every team needs to succeed – momentum – and that is why tomorrow’s game is more important than some may consider.
Make no mistake whether a structural issue, a managerial impact or the players themselves and their commitment to date, this side’s confidence has been hammered by the events of a most disastrous of seasons.
The manager has left under a dark, dark cloud, Covid-19 has led to suspensions, long periods of self-isolation, and the loneliness of solitude in empty hotel rooms and apartments. Teammate infections and protocol breaches, postponed games, playing catch up and chasing the scoreboard from the first throws of the battle has ground many down. They’ve had to deal with Celtic on the front pages as well as the back over a winter training camp and of course the visible ire of physical protests from fans. All this and more besides will have all left their mark.
Day by day, week by week, and month to month confidence has been eaten away. Physically and mentally this team has struggled. It has been evident that in far too few games there has been energy in legs or in minds to last past the 60th minute of games, never mind the energy in reserve that adrenaline and momentum gives you to turn defeats into a draw or draws into victories late in games.
Tomorrow has little to do with this season now, but a victory is the fillip these players need and in truth so does everyone connected with the club, at least those who will remain with the club next season.
A morale boosting win brings the confidence back for going toe to toe with a rival next season, confidence that Celtic need to be able to take into European qualifiers and to prepare for a season next year, that should a title be regained, comes with the prize of an automatic qualification for the Champions League. That in itself will be vital as part of any rebuild, but also important in retaining talent and attracting new players, better players, and improving those who remain as they learn from testing themselves against the best.
To have any hope that there is not a residual effect from this season going into next, Celtic must defeat the team who has taken their title, they must feel what it is like to win again, feel the confidence return and carry that on.
A win at Celtic Park tomorrow will breed such confidence, and in two weeks a trophy comes into play, one that again will be at this moment of time of little consequence to many, but to the club it is hugely important.
The Scottish Cup is an opportunity to get on the back of a winning horse and revisit the habit of competing for and winning silverware again. As such the importance of winning the oldest trophy is vital, and if we are to have the confidence to lift that famous cup for a fifth consecutive season, indeed to win it twice in one season, Celtic need to defeat the team who has dented their winning habit. Because deep down the players and staff know, if they are going to win that trophy and get back in the habit of winning tournaments, they are likely to have to face our City rivals again en route. As such defeating them tomorrow will be essential for that confidence.
A win tomorrow will give them hope they can do the same at Ibrox after the league split and again at Hampden or wherever the clubs may meet along the way. Defeat however and the impact of this season could seep into next.
John Kennedy has had time to work with this group of players of late. Confident sounds as to Kennedy’s handling of himself and the players have been emanating from those at the club now and some who worked under him before. This is not about John Kennedy getting the job full-time and the fear some fans may have that an improvement in performances and results will bring. There have been incremental advancements against Aberdeen and Dundee United, they were small but they were evident. Now we hope to see some refinement and a group of players buying into their game-plan. The interim boss has had time to independently work with the players and fine tune the small details he’ll wish to alter – to do things his way without the final decisions being taken by anyone else.
As such Sunday against theRangers will be the first time you can really start to judge John Kennedy’s Celtic team, and whether he can improve this Celtic side up against a rival all managers are ultimately judged. John Kennedy may well have three of these games to negotiate and if he does, you’d hope a season of disaster ends with hope for the next and silverware to boot, and with it a springboard to the required momentum and belief going into next season. I rarely remember a build-up to a Derby being met with such levels of apathy, yet it is as vital to next season as the decisions being reached in the boardroom.
Niall J
COMING SOON…
