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Realistically we had three years out of the 9 where the football was at a consistently high level. Year 1 was hilarious for non-footballing reasons, 2-5 were hit & miss, & 9 was an anti-climax again for external reasons. Three almost perfect, six pretty perfunctory.
European progress has been limited to put it mildly. We’ve had some fun for the last 4 years in the domestic Cup competitions but again before that, not brilliant. Recruitment has been peaks and troughs. Homegrown player development & promotion has been pretty appalling.
Basically our benchmark for success hasn’t been the other mid-sized European clubs, the other big fish in small pools. We’ve sought to judge ourselves against the Huns. As long as we were tanking them, the Board could freewheel and everyone was happy it appears.
Now that’s on the verge of turning and the place has turned into a freak-show. Manager flailing, players barely functioning, fans in uproar, Board in complete denial. It’s hard to see how a club supposedly built on robust & resilient planning can fall to bits quite so quickly.
There’s no way I’m going to say the 10 wouldn’t be an achievement but context is everything. We’ve won 8 of them against a paucity of real competition. We’ve been truly dominant for three of them. We’ve hurtled backwards in Europe. It doesn’t compare to 66/74 on any measure.
The Celtic Board had an unprecedented opportunity to build something that could have truly progressed the club and built a decades-long legacy. If that’s been achieved I just can’t see it. The Celtic Way is nice though I guess.
