Latest thoughts on Deila?

McGregor hasn't really featured lately. Not from the start anyway. Last night was his first start since the last Europa League game. The last league game he started for us was a 2-0 home win against Kilmarnock on October 26th. Hardly getting a free pass into the team.

 

The only fault isn't just McGregor, just an example.

For me whether it's a start of sub, he's featured too much for me without offering anything.

But we've got more problems than just Callum.

 

Away game was truly awful. I don't think we weren't great in the home game either though by any stretch of the imagination.

What so you'd rather of been horsed out of Europe and embarrassed in te league cup against a team who were relegated to league 1 in the same season, than be Europe beyone Christmas, albeit the europa league (our current level) and still have the possibility of the treble?

 

Am still unsure on Deila. He's definitely a step down tactically than our previous manager. And that's cost us in a good few matches.

Were so open at times it's embarrassing, our defence is made up of some good players, Matthews, Lustig, Van Djik and Izzaguire are no bad at all, yet were * honking defensively as a team.

Leaving out players like Kayal who's played great when ever called upon this season is bizarre to me. He's not scared to get stuck in, can bring a bit of steel to the midfield and protect the defence.

Why Griffiths isn't get more of a shot, when he to has been good when ever called upon.

Some of the subs and decision making during games are questionable.

But all that said, were still top of the league, in Europe after Christmas and in both cups.

A do hope we strengthen in January for the next round of the Europa cause we are * average at best and will get pumped if we get a big team.

 

I wouldn't we need to be in the Champions League - we miss out one season and we have a team full of loan signings. Begs the question of what exactly we do in the summer? We need Champions League money, need it,

 

I'm sorry mate, but that is nonsense in my opinion. We done it erse for elbow. We should have been looking to spend the money to ensure our passage into the group stages. We played with fire and got burned. I think we were always going to look to bring on loan signings regardless. We shoudn't be waiting to see if we can scrape through into the group stages before buying players. We should be grabbin the opportunity with both hands. We went into the Legia Warsaw game having signed one player, Berget! That is farcical. We went into the games, and from my point of view, the fans got sold short. We showed no ambition.

I agree we need CL money, but you have to speculate to accumulate. We didn't do that, and we paid a heavy price. However, I would still much rather be in the position we are just now as last season. Treble still on the cards, and still in Europe, there is much to look forward to.

 

I 100% agree with that, however that doesn't make the point any less valid. If we cement ourselves as a Champions League group stage team then we have access to more money and better players. We need to make it every year, for 5, 6, 7 plus years.

 

Let's just hope we have learned our lessons then mate, and we don't go into next year's qualifiers with a sub standard team. Otherwise, we will be missing out on CL money again. Lennon's team last year was lucky to get in as well. We were fortunate to draw the worst team possible, and we just about made an * of that. We qualified for the CL two years on the bounce, but regressed as a team in that time. So although you are saying we need CL money to progress as a team, that didn't happen in Lennon's time in charge.

 

Yes i would sacrifice the league cup to get us to our real level. Champions league.

 

I'm not talking over a period of two years though, I'm talking long term. The mor engrained we get as a Champions League team, with players all over Europe watching us, with us as a current household name rather than a giant of thr past... That's when players start staying longer. We saw a glimpse of that in getting Van Dijk (and Boerrigter even though that was a failure)

We did regress but Lenny's first team was two years in the making, we need those funds, we need that recognition worldwide, we need to grow as a club,

 

I agree failure to qualify this year can be forgiven if it is only a blip. Failure to qualify next season will set us back 5 years from the point where Lenny had us.

 

Nail on the head! In fact I'll admit, a lost my way with Celtic a little because of it. I'll always love this club but this is the first season I can remember where I haven't been behind the club like I should be or the way I always have been. And it was because of the way the board acted in the summer, there lack of ambition to get us to the Champions League. I was hurt big time.

I should of started the season excited with the new management and everything that comes way it yet I was angry way the board. The stingy * wouldn't open the coffers and we got badly burned!

 

The excuses are already being lined up.

 

If we went backwards over the period of time when we were getting into the CL though, and we were still selling our better players, even though we were financially sound, what makes you so sure it would be any different over a longer period of time. I don't dispute that we need to be competing in the CL though.

 

Totally agree. I left Parkhead after the Maribor debacle and said there was no chance I was forking out more money on top of my season book to go the Europa League games. It was nothing to do with it being less glamorous than the CL, because I've bough the EL package in the past. However, the board showed no ambition to get us into the CL, and I was scunnered with it.

 

Mostly because of repuatiom, it's not a one off, it's cementing ourselves on the European stage, it's more money we have access to kn a regular basis, players will still come and go but we will be more able to replace them, not just money wise but attracting them to Scotland wise.

Regular access to the Champions League gives us far more scope when attracting players, it's * hard to get good players to Scotland, if they think of us more as a team on the European stage, rather than just sporadic participants it's only a bonus for us, for us to grow, everything rests on the Champions Leage.

 

And by the way, the board is at the top of my list for * up the Champions League run this year. First for whatever they've done to force Lenny out, as I believe he definitely was and number 2 for not backing Deila.

 

Deila takes 0% of the blame for getting knocked out of the CL in my opinion. And I honestly mean 0%. He was barely in the job for Legia and we still hadn't made enough signings by the time we faced a pretty decent Maribor side.

 

We had a chance to do the things you have said though mate. We were going for our 3rd year in a row of CL football, but we went into the games with 1 signing. A loanee from Cardiff who couldn't get a game with them. Will that ever change under the current board? Or will we look to just scrape into the competition with what we have at the time, before buying players.

 

Said this a lot as well.

Whatever way we look at it, our team wasn't good enough to beat Legia Warsaw in my opinion.