Well it's all over at last. We simply didn't deserve to win it and TFOD managed to put a run together and took advantage of our dreadful loss of form and focus during the last three months. Fair enough.
Yesterday's performance, while badly distorted by news filtering through from Tayside, was indicative of what is wrong with us - at least on the park. Here's my take on it.
Firstly, we are utterly predictable in every way. We play 4-4-2 and we stay in that shape regardless. In fact, we are so obsessed with team shape that opposing defenders must look forward to playing us. We never ask enough questions of them. They are never stretched by a burst of pace, an intelligent run off the ball, a quickfire one-two or someone doing the unexpected - like shooting. The ball is shunted from side to side and back to front until someone (usually Gary Caldwell) sees a chance to give it to McGeady or Nakamura in a bit of space. Then our two most creative players are crowded out by a posse of defenders.
Assuming they do have a chance to look up and make a pass, they have few options. Their team-mates are invariably standing like statues watching and waiting for the ball to be given to them, at which point they will be promptly tackled and dispossessed by the opponent standing on their toes.
Astonishly, no-one has the intelligence or the courage to make a run, create some space, make the defenders work. No one seems to know that playing football doesn't always involve having the ball. It's mind-boggling for a club of Celtic's stature and supposed football philosophy that first team players do not appear to have any grasp of the concept of movement off the ball. I was taught this playing Boys Guild football at Under 14 level! Surely Gordon Strachan and his coaches have heard of it? It makes me so mad!!!!!!!
Second, we cannot seem to score unless it's from a set piece or a tap in from inside the box. Not one member of our team has the necessary combination of vision, confidence and technique to shoot and score from outside the box on a regular basis. Fact.
Murdoch, Gemmell, McStay, Van Hooijdonk, Moravcik, Thompson, to name only a few, could all do it. Naka had (note past tense) the vision and technique, but no confidence. Even Maloney, a decent ball striker, does not pose a regular threat from open play. As for the rest, forget it. Again, what are the coaches doing here? It appears that Gordon Strachan would rather they passed the ball to death. Ball retention is better that scoring it seems.
Third, we have players who are simply not good enough. I wouldn't shed a single tear if Samaras, JVOH, Naylor, Hartley or McManus, never pulled on the hoops again. Brown's game intelligence and composure still give me concerns. McGeady has talent and technique, but I'm beginning to think he's not a team player. Hinkel is no better than average. It's hard to be critical of McDonald given that he's being doing the work of three men this season, but we all know he's not the real deal. Boruc, Caldwell, Loovens, O'Dea and Crosas are the only ones I'd really want to keep, but if we could get anything over £5m for either Brown, McGeady or the Holy Goalie, I'd take it. We could use that £15m to buy at least two good quality first team picks and blend them with the remaining core.
Crucially, though, we need to bring some of the young guys in from a reserve side which has won its league for the last eight seasons. You can't tell me there isn't anyone from that crop better than Samaras or Naylor, for example.
We also need a new leader and head coach. Gordon Strachan has been successful and he has aspired to play a certain style of football. The truth is, however, that we have gone backwards this season and I suspect he has now lost the confidence and backing of a large percentage of the moderate, pro-Strachan element of which I have been, hitherto, a member. It's best that he moves on and makes way for new thinking. Who next? I have no easy answer to that one, but I'm available if required.
Finally, we need our board to wake up to the fact that fiscal success cannot displace football success as the primary target for the club. Increased brand awareness in the Far East and a healthy balance sheet are fine, but the source of pride in our club is to be found mainly in what happens on the park. No genuine Celtic supporter wants the club to go back the poverty of the pre-McCann era, but they do want any future strategy to include sufficient investment to assemble a team capable of lifting their spirits and winning prizes with a bit of style. It's not rational. Fans want it all. Entertainment, trophies, survival and prosperity. Fans are customers - and the customer is king.
Managing a major football club like Celtic is a delicate balance of fiscal acumen, achieving results and providing entertainment. The board must now recalibrate the business model and adjust its attitude to risk in order to achieve the right balance. The risk-averse approach embraced by the Plc board has achieved good results, but it is no more sustainable in the long-term than the cavalier approach the same Plc board denounces. It cannot be beyond the wit of this board to design a strategy which accommodates both good fiscal controls and the aspirations of the supporters.
Next season will be a huge test of character for all concerned and the response to this season's disappointing end will determine much.
SP. Wee Gordon has just resigned. Sad, but I feel it's for the best.