Celtic Are In A Great Place - But Don't Blow It

DOWN here in "Orange County" Ayrshire, where you are advised to turn back your watches to 1690 as you exit the M77 at Fenwick, we've had the rare sight this week of replica Celtic strips being worn in public - yes, even in Cumnock and Kilwinning.

 

But, while I don't truly think Neil Lennon will let it happen, I would caution Celtic fans: it could all still blow up in your face. I will be amazed if Celtic do not, from the position they reached by beating Barcelona, go on to qualify for the last 16 of the Champions League - indeed, their fans' case ought to be: "Why stop there? If we can beat Barca the last 16 need not be our limit".

 

That said, they could just as easily cling to time-honoured Scottish tradition and follow-up a marvellous win with a couple of dodgy defeats and scrape into the Europa League; I don't honestly see total calamity, fourth in the group, happening, however.

 

Now that would really give that old ham Rod Stewart something to blurb about.

 

 

 

ELSEWHERE, it's a case of woe, woe and thrice woe, in the wake of Vlad the Bad donning his spotted neckerchief, getting out the six-guns and threatening the Hearts fans with: "Pay up - or else".

 

It now appears that six Scottish clubs are in serious financial doo-dah and could close at any minute. Am I surprised? Not really, Scottish football has been living beyond its means for years and this cannot go on, at some point the cracks have to open and swallow-up one or two.

 

Ayr United, for instance, has been up for sale for a couple of years, with no takers. St Mirren's long-awaited and much-hyped fans' buy-out is threatening to out-last the Trojan Wars; John Yorston is doing Corporal Jones "Don't panic" impressions at Dunfermline, with as much credibility; Falkirk are struggling; Killie are skint, we keep getting tales of financial woe from Stephen Thomson at Dundee United - the story goes on.

 

Would it be such a bad thing if Scottish football was reduced to the level of the Irish or Welsh Leagues? After all - Denamrk, Sweden, Norway, Republic of Ireland and Wales, countries whose leagues we tend to sneer at here in Scotland, are all ranked above us in the latest FIFA standings.

 

Perhaps it's time for us to admit - really, we're not very good at football, revert to part-time status and sort ourselves out. Alas, I don't see the "blazerati" having the self-knowledge to see this and the talent and drive to do it.

 

 

 

CAN I just say, Billy Stark might not be a bad shout for Scotland boss. Let's face reality here, Scotland is, at present (if we look at it from a club context) a once-powerful "big" team which has under-performed for years, still has delusions of grandeur but has slipped into the middle of the Third Division, from whence it needs to emerge.

 

We could go for a "big-name" manager - Strachan, Souness or Dalglish say - even Joe Jordan. However, because of the way football has changed over the past 15 years or so, such guys are used to operating at clubs where you BUY rather than DEVELOP your squads. "We need a centre half - who can we buy?" is the mind-set here.

 

With Scotland, if you need a centre half, you have to look at who you've got on your staff of Scots-qualified players; you have to work with what you've got. This calls for a different type of manager.

 

I always felt Craig Brown was such a good Scotland boss - because he was used to operating at under the top-flight, with few, if any, top-flight players and he was good at getting performances from such players.

 

Berti Vogts got a bad deal - he had a long-term plan; he was trying to change a whole culture, but the guys with whom he was working, didn't want to change and it didn't help that he was operating at a time when we had no players with more than limited talent. Vogts's pushing of "Futures" internationals was a positive long-term move, which was killed as soon as he went and that move didn't help Scotland in the least.

 

We've wasted then years and, just maybe, with his experience with the Under-21 squad and at lower level with Morton, St Johnstone and Queen's Park, Billy Stark, a guy I have always liked enormously, could -  given time - turn us around.