The Scottish mainstream media are at it again.
Their relentless pursuit of Celtic and Brendan Rodgers continues unabated, giving free reign to the likes of Kris Boyd and the performing monkey, Charlie Nicholas to try and stir up trouble and undermine our club.
That does not mean, however, that we don’t need to look critically at what’s happening at Celtic.
The fact is we have had an abysmal start to the season, as you’ll know by now, or would have guessed, the worst start to a Premier League campaign in 20 years. There is no doubt that the goings on behind the scenes have had a negative impact on the players, following what was one of the worst transfer windows in living memory.
Losing Dembele on the last hours of the window, the Boyata debacle, the financial hesitation that cost us John McGinn, the failed bid for Ntcham and Brendan Rodgers statement about only being a ‘coach’ have all had a serious affect on the mood surrounding the club. Going out of the Champions League and a series of very poor results domestically are proof that all is not well.
To compound things Rodgers statement last week when he appeared to ridicule Leigh Griffiths whilst singing the praise of a thug who had tried to cripple one of our players a few weeks previously did not go down well with supporters. Frankly, if Brendan had nothing good to say about the only striker who has scored goals for us of late, he would have been better saying nothing at all. The unity of the dressing room which so characterised the last two seasons was essential to our success.
The time is now, to stand together, stand united, and shut up the naysayers, the Boyd’s and the Nicolas’s, and indeed some, like Kris Commons, from whom we might have expected better.
I know it’s a cliche, but the next game is crucial.
Victory on Saturday against Aberdeen will mean that we end the week it a much better place than we started it. Anything less would represent another significant setback and put the cat among the pigeons. Can we do it? Can we turn things around? We can. We didn’t suddenly become a bad team overnight. In my opinion, the best is yet to come.
It’s Aberdeen on Saturday, The only thing we need to do is start with our strongest 11, with “Griff ” leading the line and Rogic in the box. Ntcham owes us a good performance, and I think we might get it. Let’s hope so. Away the Bhoys!
Vincent Docherty
