SENTINELCELTS

It’s a very strange quirk that of our rearguard during the 14/15 Ronnie season many went on to have good careers and most could make the claim they moved upwards after leaving Celtic, not something you read often.
 
Even though Izzy was playing his best football in the Hoops Ronnie handed Kieran Tierney the jersey twice that season, despite his tender years. The lad might just be moving to one of the worlds biggest clubs, if rumours are correct.
We all know Virgil is considered amongst the best defenders on the planet but the player alongside him didn’t do too shabby either.
 
I thought Jason Denayer a little bit short, and he had to make up for that with better movement and anticipation off the ball. He didn’t shirk, was a naturally strong lad, with decent pace. Playing next to Virgil your flaws stand out given his near perfection in most aspects, but Jason wasn’t overawed, he wasn’t the ugly sister and also became a good defender in his own right.
 
Of course he’s still playing, he’s only 26! It’s hard to believe it was eight years ago now, or that he was only 18 while winning leagues in the Hoops. He graced the EPL with a poor Sunderland team, played 39 games in Turkey for Galatasaray, and has just broken the hundred appearances barrier for French giants Lyon. It’s fair to say he’s done well in the game, I like to think we helped in that regard.
 
That season Master Lustig got injured, only managing 15 appearances which opens the door up for a new right back. Adam Matthews gladly stepped up to the plate. It’s debatable if he went on to bigger things, but it’s a fact he became a solid English Championship player with a brief spell in the top flight, alongside Denayer for Sunderland actually.
 
Darnell Fisher was the back up to the back up, he was given the nod eight times that year presumably to give Adam a rest.
He’s still young at a spritely 27 years, but unlike the others didn’t thrive much, and is hardly playing anymore. I guess he was cheap/free and impressed aka worked hard on trial, and Peters told Ronnie why not eh?!
 
That’s a pretty solid defense, who in theory had a strong midfield to protect them. We had a plethora of stars back then to choose from,,
Rogic
Scott Brown
MacKay Stevens
Tonev
Bitton
McGeogh
Stefan Johansson
Liam Henderson
Kris Commons
Stuart Armstrong
Calum McGregor
James Forrest
Yet all I seem to recall was Johansson failing to shine when given an extended run, then the boring Brown and Bitton years began in earnest.
 
There’s two players missing from the above list though which brings us up to 14 midfielders and maybe 15 as big Charlie Mulgrew tended to play left midfield originally, giving Izzy a bit of extra cover. Two midfield punts that went the typical way at our club.
 
The first never played again, retiring with us due to injury at a tender age.
The other was the complete opposite and is truly a real footballing journeyman.
His CV boasts Rubin Kazan
Espanyol
Panathinaikos
Elche
Alaves
Villarreal
Granada
plus more and currently at 31 and in his prime years he plays for Shenzen in the Chinese League, and has 61 International Appearances to his name.
 
Derk Borreighter and Mubarak Wakaso were clearly a couple of Peter specials. I understand Derks circumstances but the latter only being handed the jersey five times remains a mystery.
There was clearly something there or he would have a Darnell Fisher style career, and his direct competition on the left wing (Derk) hardly played. So why not an extended run or more of a look-in for the lad?
 
So defense was given one punt (Fisher) and midfield thrown the two mentioned above, not too bad at the moment you might say.
That’s because we haven’t reached the forward line, which was more punts than players, I make it 4 to 3.
Of the four punts at least Teemu Pukki actually had something as he later proved, but he was much too raw and timid to be handed a starting jersey. He needed slowly introduced, confidence built up, instead he was flung in at the deep end. A rabbit in the headlights is my overwhelming memory.
 
Stefan Scepovic I shall file under punt, we mentioned him on Saturday as never getting a real chance to shine. The other two ‘strikers’ truly took the biscuit though, so much that Danny had to ask was one an actual professional footballer.
 
Yet Amido Balde scored against Liverpool in an early preseason game which only enhanced the mystery of ‘is he a player’?
They called Craig Beattie ‘Bambi’ back in the day but I reckon that nickname was very apt for the big man.
He was gangly, awkward, and looked like the chap playing down the park for his local team this weekend.
Somehow he put one in the net against a good ‘Pool team and the more he didn’t play, the more his reputation grew, that strange football phenomenon.
 
Like I say he scored in the Hoops, and has a story for the grandkids. The last punt can’t even make that claim.
When you have a Scandinavian striker called ‘the Fridge’ there’s bound to be a large degree of mystery at the very minimum.
Hombert Fridjonsson didn’t garner a single minute that season, and in doing absolutely nothing, got far more chat than he deserved. He’s still playing, having just about managed a hundred appearances since leaving the club.
 
You’ll recall during the 14/15 season our business rivals had been placed elsewhere post death, so Ronnie had a free hit, as much of one as possible. Yet he ultimately failed his task as evidenced by the top tiers being empty and covered.
It’s easy to see Peters influence on the squad, not least via the seven punts mentioned above. It’s true we discovered Virgil and did well from that deal, but as we now know even the significant number of seven incorrect speculations never made our DeFacto Director of Football stop and think.
It’s a shame the club decided to merely drift and tread water during their free hit years rather than embark on some type of strategy. I’ve always maintained we should have assembled a team of really talented youths supplemented by some experience (Wakaso and Johansson) with the aim of having an entire starting eleven of home grown heroes with a hundred games each under the belt and a settled style of play developed by the time our rivals reentered the top flight. With one of their worst managers ever in order to sell the continuity myth, and a rag tag bunch of a squad, the new quality street gang could have toyed with them and enhanced their price tags in doing so.
We lost a trick farting about with punts and Peter’s preference for a pliable manager who definitely doesn’t hold all the cards, ever.
We lost the opportunity to let our kids play regular games without fear of dropping points, to develop their swagger and develop into men while wearing the hoops.
We lost income due to the closed stands, and I’ve heard Ronnie lost the respect of the squad after locking himself in his room with a blonde for an entire training break.
He was separated at the time in his defense, and no it wasn’t a crime, but it seems players want a leader not just a man. One could never imagine Martin or Ange countenancing such activities, and that’s probably why when they speak they get silence then intently listened to.
If the players see you as just one of the boys, perhaps had a dressing room row with you before, they are likely to hold you in lesser regard. I suspect that’s why the player/manager quickly became a thing of the past.

By Mahe