15 May 2022 09:40:21
Thought this would be a good time to repost my thoughts from last summer. Enjoy the title, glad to see you back on top!

20 Jul 2021 11:05:32
Morning All,

As a Liverpool fan who has always had a soft spot for Celtic, I read this page daily.

I wanted to add my opinion for an outside view without the emotional attachment.

I understand the negativity from some. Such a long period of dominance ended so abruptly must be a bitter pill to swallow. With the off-field problems compounded by the on-field displays, it really was a disastrous season.

First of all, I think the mindset needs to be how can we improve as a club. I know they're hard to ignore, but ignore what those lot are doing over at Ibrox and focus on building Celtic in to the best possible club for Celtic's sake, not to just be better than R*****s.

Secondly, back the manager and players. I've read countless posts about why hasn't he signed xxx amount of players etc. Whether you want to accept it or not, this is a transition period. Transitions aren't always instantly successful. From what I've read (I'm a qualified coach who does read up a lot on coaches around the world) and from what I've seen from Ange, you've got everything you want in a manager.

He has a certain way of playing that he believes in, he's strong-minded and won't be bullied, he creates a great team environment and he's the kind of manager you're equally scared of as a payer but also love playing for him.

This reminds me a lot of our transition at Liverpool. On the 8th of October 2015, Jurgen Klopp took the reigns at Liverpool. A manager with a certain way of playing, strong-minded, won't be bullied and a manager that players are equally scared of upsetting but adore playing for him.

Whilst admittedly having a bit more money to spend than Celtic and a higher pulling power being in the EPL, in relative terms we had a squad that wasn't good enough. We had players that some fans wanted out as they had been poor under the previous manager and felt they would never be good enough to take us to the top (Lallana, Milner, Henderson, Moreno etc. ) .

Under a strong manager who instilled his ways in to the club, both on and off the field, players like Lallana, Milner, Henderson have gone on to win the Champions League and Premier League. The manager has completed transformed the club.

Which leads me on to point 3. Give him time. Klopp won nothing for 3/ 4 years, before taking us to the holy grails. Yes, again it's comparative because Ange will need to win something sooner up there, but give him time from the off. He can't change everything in one summer.

Now yes some will say "We don't have £75m to spend on one player" and I get that. But we had to sell to raise funds in order to spend that as well. My point is in a comparative sense, you'll have the funds needed to compete in your league and you have a manager who, if you get behind, I truly believe will bring you success.

I was fed up like some of you are now, when Liverpool were slumped down in mid-table and another manager was coming in. But you could see instantly from the way he talked, the way he acted, that we just had to get behind him and I genuinely have that feel about Ange.

Apologies for the long post, especially from an outsider, but get behind him Bhoys and Ghirls, back the players because he will see their deficiencies too and give him time to get it right!

Good luck for the CL qualifiers and for the season ahead.

smplfc.

1.) 15 May 2022
15 May 2022 11:35:07
The Record are raging with a report of overflowing bins in there rag.

2.) 15 May 2022
15 May 2022 15:51:35
smplcf - I'm sure you have paraphrased me there!

A good prophetic post that I'm sure most of us were feeling at the time.

"won nothing for 3/ 4 years" - we're not Rangers you know!

Anyway, Up The Pool mate.