At the start of the season Celtic strived for immortality. In the end fans were served mediocrity.
Eighteen months ago ultras unveiled a banner warning club hierarchy: “Don’t Sleep At The Wheel.”
While The Green Brigade couldn’t predict a pandemic, their crystal ball hinted at their club heading for a fall.
But with trophies seemingly arriving on tap, those on the North Curve could not have foreseen an implosion of such epic proportions.
On Wednesday manager Neil Lennon paid the ultimate price for a woeful campaign as his exit was confirmed.
The all-conquering Hoops were bidding to create history by becoming the first Scottish club to win 10 league titles in a row.
That ambition was over before Christmas as the season sunk into regression and depression.
In August, Celtic suffered their earliest Champions League exit in 15 years losing at home to Ferencvaros. In the Europa League injury-stricken Sparta Prague put eight past Lennon’s men over two games. Then Ross County visited and dumped Celtic out of the League Cup. Home is where the heartache is.
Thirty league matches have seen 19 wins, seven draws and four defeats. Ten titles in a row? At times 10 passes in a row seemed beyond a team stripped of confidence, cohesion and a crowd.
Instead of making legends, results made a mockery of fans who paid for season tickets with no chance of getting inside the stadium. Supporters have had no indication they will receive refunds.
Alongside poor performances, PR has taken a nosedive. In early January, at the height of the pandemic, Celtic jetted to a training camp in Dubai. While such trips by elite sports clubs were permitted by the Scottish Government, it seemed utterly out-of-sync with those in lockdown down London Road.
Images of the squad on sun loungers – with pints by the pool – served to put another wedge between club and country.
And when defender Christopher Jullien’s positive coronavirus test on return from the UAE forced 13 team-mates into isolation, supporters went into meltdown. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon even had her say as storm clouds gathered.
Celtic fan Pete Cowan, 54, says: “The season has been a disaster. A sizeable section of the support wanted Lennon removed much earlier. By autumn the season was only going one way.
“The core of the team has been together too long. Star names eye career-defining moves away, all the time knowing that the manager probably wouldn’t be here next season.”
Fans like Pete are not entitled to trophies. But they are entitled to a shot on target. Something Celtic failed to do in October’s home defeat to Rangers. Steven Gerrard’s men currently bask on a sunny summit 18 points clear of their cragfast green rivals.
North Stand season ticket holder Tony Boyle, 46, says: “Players have been making errors all over park, but especially in defence. They looked nervous when they conceded a goal. They fell apart and rarely ever looked like coming back.”
The marketing campaign by Celtic to get 50,000+ season ticket holders to renew for 2021-22 is set to get underway. Fans who have faced financial strife during the pandemic will have some thinking to do.
“There is no communication from the club,” Boyle adds. “We are treated as customers not fans. They know we’ll all renew our season tickets each year and if you don’t there’s always someone to take your seat. The relationship has gone from bad to worse – from banners from The Green Brigade to protests outside the ground after defeats.”
Fan podcast A Celtic State of Mind (ACSOM) is one forum supporters have flocked to vent anger at Celtic proceedings. In recent months supporter Anthony Haggerty has become something of a cult hit with impassioned pleas for the board to act as the season lurched from one low to another. Haggerty has demanded Lennon’s replacement be: “An appointment not a disappointment.”
In Scotland, the cycle of supremacy swings towards Rangers who could clinch the Premiership title in Celtic’s back yard next month.
All Celtic fans can do right now is focus on the future. There are glimmers of light in young midfielders David Turnbull, 21, and Ismaila Soro, 22. While defender Stephen Welsh, 21, has taken his chance and shows maturity beyond his years.
A month ago Dominic McKay was announced as Celtic’s new chief operating officer and starts on 1 July. He will be acutely aware of the seismic sores felt by the fanbase because he is a season ticket holder himself.
Currently CEO at Scottish Rugby with a background in communications, McKay will have a lot on his plate. He will need to oversee a rebuilding of the Celtic team while working to restore fractured relations between a club and the supporters it has alienated.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3uqgS6B
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