Lord of the Dance
Blog: Aberdeen haven't raised the game, Celtic have just regressed
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Blog: Aberdeen haven't raised the game, Celtic have just regressed

A 0-0 draw at home to Dundee was something that didn’t surprise me during the week. I was away in New York for the Hamilton game, so an evening kick-off meant an afternoon game over there, a perfect start to the day. Or not, as it were.

The last couple of weeks I have spoken about the management, the board and players all failing in their respective roles. Support for Ronny Deila has never been so low, with many supporters who struggled to say a bad word about the man now coming to the conclusion that his time at Celtic has to be up.

I don't want to continue repeating myself, but it would seem that still a few fans don't see how big of a problem it is just yet. The argument at the start of season was "a tight league campaign is great for the game." This may well be true, but the fact of the matter is right now if Aberdeen played out their remaining games with decent form, Celtic would lose the league.

Aberdeen haven't raised the game. They've had a few decent spells and runs but ultimately Celtic can count themselves lucky that the Dons can't be relied on to take advantage of Ronny's woes.

Aberdeen have a 100 per cent record in the league so far [Picture: Getty] Aberdeen are just four points behind Celtic in the Scottish Premiership [Picture: Getty]
I was all for Celtic getting rid of Deila, with my main concerns focusing on the board, but as time has gone on I'm mostly disgusted with the players at Celtic Park. They seem as though they simply do not care.

Many people have defended Deila of late on this topic, but he too must share some of the blame. Certain players in this squad know that even when they don't play well that they will get a game and won't be dropped. Deila has far too many clicks in his team.

On saying that, I don't buy the usual complaint of "he's lost the dressing room". You go to work to do the job regardless of your love or dislike for the boss. Where footballers are concerned, this to me means even more. They are paid a generous wage and to be not turning up week in week out just isn't acceptable.

There are certain players at the club that are hailed non-stop, but let's be honest here, this current side won't do anything in Europe. We have nothing to excite ourselves with. Personally, I would rather start the youngsters who pray to get a chance in the Celtic side and not the ones that take it for granted each week they will get a game regardless of how they play.

Deila is still the manager, how long he is here for is unknown just yet. There have been many debates about who would come in should he depart. Who would I have? That doesn't really matter, as long as Peter Lawwell is in charge of all ins and outs, and I include the buying of players, we can't hope for anything too impressive.

The type of management I would want and expect at Celtic won't come to this club, not because we are "not big enough" and not solely because of money but because of the dictatorship. What decent manager would come to a football club and be told "this is your background staff" among other things.

Celtic manager Ronny Deila [Picture: Getty] Is time up for Celtic manager Ronny Deila? [Picture: Getty]
Don't get me wrong I think the Celtic job is a fantastic job for any manager out there. They certainly won't need to achieve anything too crazy to top this current bunch anyway. Possibly winning a game in Europe could see them passed off as rather successful at this rate! I joke about it but it's true.

With the season coming close to an end, I can't see Delia sent packing before the end of it, but we still have a few hurdles to overcome before that final game of the season and, if there are anymore major mess ups, I would hope the board would be left with no other option.

Deila as a person seems a genuinely nice man. Sadly, though, the fans expect and deserve better results.
Like I mentioned earlier, I don't solely blame him, there are many players I would show the door at the end of this season. Many thousands of fans that have paid good money to come to games this season and have been disappointed time and time again.

Like many supporters, I am merely just voicing my concerns. Nobody likes to see their football club falling backwards. I don't get excited about kick-offs any longer and that's not just because I'm worried about us struggling to get a win, it's because the football is boring.