Celtic is a concept that does not give itself to easy comprehension. We are suffering at the moment, and it has to be said that unless you are part of Celtic, you do not really understand just what it is that we are going through. Yet there are some things that really have to be said about the current situation.
In the first place, and let’s get this one out of the way, there is no place for thuggery and there never will be. Protests at what is going on are indeed justified, but they cannot be accompanied by any kind of violence or missile throwing. That behaviour actually hides the real point, and it is to be hoped that the courts take a very dim view indeed, and hit them hard.
It is odd for an outsider to understand why a team which is on the verge of a “quadruple treble” (something which I understand would be unparalleled in world football) suddenly finds its fans turn on it in such a way just because it is having such a bad season. There is of course nothing new about this. I personally can recall Kenny Dalglish, Henrik Larsson, Paul McStay, Fergus McCann, Steve Chalmers, Bobby Murdoch, John Hughes and many more being abused by some of our support, Now which one of them was a failure, I wonder?
The difference is that 2020.21 is of course a VERY bad season. Repeated European failures, the loss of the Scottish League Cup and now the virtual loss of the Scottish League (yes, I know there is a long way to go but it doesn’t look likely, does it?) have been brought about by a series of odd team selections and (something that is very rare for Celtic) the apparent insouciance of so many of the players whose body language shows that they are clearly unhappy and don’t seem to understand what this all means to the fans. They don’t seem to care in some cases. (Please don’t anyone start pleading the excuse of the pandemic, because that affects everyone – and does not seem to have done any harm to our opponents!)
The protests are justified, although the bile, vitriol and sheer hate on some of the websites is not helpful and in many cases just sheer rubbish. The Board seem to have decided not to make any change at the moment. I think that I and quite a lot of people disagree with that. Nevertheless, if we are Celtic supporters, we should act as if we are Celtic supporters, and keep supporting the team, while making our feelings clear in a positive, and not an abusive way. We must for example rally round the team. Do we want to win the Scottish Cup in less than a fortnight’s time? I do, so I am going to back up the men in the green and white jerseys. I will have my criticisms, no doubt, but that is still my team.
If there is anything good about this, it shows that Celtic supporters will not be prepared to accept anything less than the best. Let us consider Newcastle United, a club whose supporters have so many similarities in culture and background as those of Celtic. They do NOT protest anything like as much as they should, and they are punished for their compliance with a long line of incompetent Directors and Chairmen, poor Managers (who can in some cases do it for other clubs by not the Geordies) and players who are lacklustre and apparently indifferent to the performances of the team. And how have they been punished? By well over 60 years of lack of success!
This must not be allowed to happen with Celtic. One poor year must be the limit. It is of course still possible that Celtic could win two Scottish Cups this year. Indeed, there could yet be some sort of challenge for the Scottish League. And this is why Celtic supporters must always be prepared to show their disapproval of what is going on. Enough is enough! There must be no further slipping! We deserve a team to be proud of. We are not getting it at the moment. And we NEED a good team!
David Potter
