The Ghost of Willo Flood
It is now over 10 years since Strachan’s final season saw an aging, unbalanced Celtic squad limp to 2nd place in the SPL bringing down the curtain on 3 titles in a row. The parallels cannot be ignored.
Warning Signs
In 2008/09 manager Strachan had, on a wave of post Tommy Burns emotion, abandoned his principles to the extent that his oft quoted maxim of a manager not extending himself beyond 3 years now progressed into a 4th year.
The drama of clawing back a deficit to win the league at Tannadice the previous season meant Celtic entered the 08/09 campaign united with grief following the untimely passing of coach Burns, and steeled by the confidence of that comeback title.
Samaras signed on full time after a loan, Loovens arrived from Cardiff City and Maloney returned. Intrigue was provided by Crosas from Barcelona and the maverick McCourt was sourced from Derry City.
An early season 2-4 defeat at home to Rangers (Miller nearly scored a hat-trick for goodness sake!) and an ineffective Champions League Group campaign (Aalborg, Villareal, Manchester United) was partially covered by decent league form including 12 wins in a row in late Autumn.
A 27th December 1-0 win at Ibrox (McDonald) perhaps persuaded everyone at the club the 4th title was on the way – the Hoops lead the league by 7 points.
The Willo Flood Window
As Celtic entered the Winter transfer window, there were clear structural issues affecting the squad. In general, the squad was aging. Hartley, Nakamura and Vennegoor of Heesselink would all leave for nothing at seasons end very much in the twilight of their careers.
The central midfield was a problem (sound familiar?). The youthful Brown was struggling to get regular support (sound familiar?) as aging Hartley and Robson competed with the elegant but slight Crosas. Left back was an issue (sound familiar?) as Naylor and O’Dea, a centre half, swapped about in the second half of the season.
Up front the declining Vennegoor of Hesselink would finish the season with 8 goals, Samaras was as often on the bench as playing and so the scoring burden fell to McDonald (sound familiar?). Otherwise, despite wanting to play 2 up top, there was a lack of cover especially as Maloney had one of his many long absences due to injury. Killen and Hutchison were clearly not up to standard.
At centre half, McManus was beginning to creak, and Loovens and O’Dea on occasion were called upon in what had previously been a regular pairing of Caldwell and McManus (sound familiar?).
Despite all these structural issues, the only notable addition to the squad in January was one WIllo Flood, a £1.3m acquisition from Cardiff City. Flood would go onto start (but not complete) 2 matches that season. The long-winded saga of trying to sign Steven Fletcher to bolster the attack ended in disappointment.
Strachan
As well as the 7-point lead, Strachan had made it know to the club he would be leaving at the end of the season during the Winter months. The club perhaps felt they would not spend money on a departing manager. I can’t think of a single occasion the early warning of a manager leaving ends well.
Self-Harming Opponents
The 08/09 season saw the original Rangers exit Europe early, and signs of the impending financial melt down that would end in liquidation were becoming apparent. The March of 2009 saw voluntary redundancy being offered to staff. No players were added in the Winter and the club attempted to force top scorer out the club to Birmingham City to ease the financial burden but Boyd’s wage demanded scuppered that.
Despite all this, the Ibrox outfit had splaffed over E17m on players in the Summer of 2008 on the likes of Mendes, Davis, Lafferty, Bougherra, Edu and Miller rather than make provision for known extensive tax responsibilities. In the end the Bank would be put in place to run the club as the custodians of the day were incapable or unwilling to place the financial safety of the club over the reckless pursuit of trophies (sound familiar?).
Celtic, perhaps knowing of the impending financial storm to come, chose to stick rather than twist as regards squad strengthening (sound familiar?).
The Hoops wouldn’t see the title again for 3 seasons.
A Soro-ful Window
Lennon clearly stated McGregor, Brown and Forrest needed seasoned help and that 2-3 starters were required from this latest Window. Instead some excess was trimmed from the squad but supplemented only by two youngsters (Kilmala and Soro) that will take time to bed in and acclimatise.
A 3-5-2 shape seems to bring out the best in the side yet there are only 2 fit centre backs. Elhamed seems to have long term problems, Bitton should not be considered a centre back, and Simunovic cannot be relied upon to stay fit for long periods. With Frimpong now injured after a severe tackle against Kilmarnock, Bolingoli losing the trust of the manager, the whole back line looks thin.
On the wings, Johnston has now picked up a knee injury and Elyounoussi is still out. Hayes, the Robson / Hartley willing journeyman of his day, fills in. On the right, Arzani is untested and Shved another who seems untrusted therefore Forrest carries the burden.
In midfield Brown and McGregor will again be expected to rack up minute after minute.
Celtic do have 4 strikers to rotate but Griffiths remains fragile, Bayo is an enigma and Klimala needs patience.
Across the 28 Celtic first team squad members (some of whom are not trusted and 2 are reserve goalkeepers), 201 matches have been missed to injury. Each player averages 7 missed games this season. Celtic, on average, miss 5 players per match to injury.
Meanwhile a financially impoverished opponent once again ignored clear financial red flags to bolster their squad in areas where there were weaknesses.
Conclusion
Celtic are a relatively cash rich club with clear structural weaknesses in the squad and 3 trophies to chase in hopefully another 60+ game season. Effectively, ignoring two back up keepers and those not trusted, Celtic have 23 players to navigate that 2-game-a-week slog. 5 of those are currently injured. The manager clearly stated what he needed. That hasn’t materialised. That is a failure.
What should (and may still) be an historic season, is very much on a knife edge and for what? Celtic are structurally miles ahead of the opposition in Scotland but maybe that’s not good for business.
The ghost of Willo Flood haunts the Celtic boardroom.