Ronny Deila, the manager, described Celtic’s situation as “critical” yesterday as he held a team meeting with players to clear the air about their poor recent form.
Unusually, the players milled around the foyer of their Lennoxtown training base yesterday, some sitting on the floor or on the stairs, waiting for Deila to finish his weekly media briefing.
When speaking to reporters, Deila made no attempt to downplay the gravity of the team’s position, or his own, after the latest setback to their season in midweek. Celtic allowed Aberdeen to narrow their lead to just four points with ten games remaining in the Ladbrokes SPFL Premiership, maintaining the unthinkable possibility of the 1/40 pre-season favourites failing to land the title. After an awful campaign in the Champions League and Europa League, and going out of the League Cup to Ross County, recent league form has heaped more pressure on the Norwegian. Celtic have won only two of their last five league games and were booed off after a 0-0 draw at home to Dundee on Wednesday night.
None of Dermot Desmond, the major shareholder, Peter Lawwell, chief executive, or any other senior Celtic figure has indicated that there is any threat to Deila’s job but widespread supporter unrest would eventually force them to act unless they finish the season strongly. Even then, it is believed Deila could be moved on at the end of the season. The Northern Ireland manager Michael O’Neill, Malky Mackay and Alan Stubbs have all been linked with the position.
“I don’t fear anything but I’m aware of the situation and that it’s critical,” said Deila. “No-one feels that more than me but I believe I can change it and make it right and that’s what I’m working towards every day.” He said the meeting with players was not especially significant. “I talk with everybody all the time and that’s between us. I talk with them in groups, on their own, and that’s nothing to think about. Can the players talk to me too? Of course, that’s very, very important. I’m a humble guy. I take criticism and positive thoughts the same way.
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“I accept there is pressure on me. Of course. There is pressure all the time and when we are performing as badly as we’re doing now of course there is pressure. If you see the big lines, we need to win the league; I’ve said that all the time and we are still four points ahead with ten games left. I know and I really believe that we’re going to do it. I believe in what I’m doing. This team has played very well under me. Now we are in a period where we are not playing very good but we have to get back to the things we did before. It’s about improvement; it’s not about change.
“It’s not about their attitude. The boys really, really want it. Nobody goes out in front of 40,000 people and wants to play badly or is lazy, especially in the situation we are in. The players really want it but lately we haven’t played at the level we’ve wanted. You can say sometimes you are a bit tired but now it is not about tiredness, it’s more about the total situation: get confidence, get good experiences and things will grow again. It’s not about ‘wanting it’, it’s not about fitness, it’s about getting people’s minds in the right order and getting confidence back.
“No-one can tell me that Scott Brown or Charlie Mulgrew do not give 100 per cent. They may have been half a metre too late [ie slow, during the Dundee game] but it’s because they are drained and that’s what we have to turn around. It’s about conversations and focusing on positive things. When there’s so much negativity, it’s important to see the positive things.”
Meanwhile, Celtic have been unsuccessful in their appeal against Dedryck Boyata’s red card against Hamilton Academical last Friday night. Initially, Deila criticised the defender for lunging into a tackle on Carlton Morris rather than staying on his feet, and said that the referee Craig Thomson had called it correctly, only to change his mind on repeat viewing and claim that Boyata had made contact with the ball. The appeal allowed Boyata to play against Dundee but, the appeal having been rejected by the SFA, he will now be suspended in their next league game against Partick Thistle a week tomorrow.