Why Celtic had to keep hold of wantaway stars
Celtic manager insists selling Edouard and Co would have enraged the support
WITH the benefit of hindsight, the decision taken by Celtic in the summer to hold onto some of their best players – even if a few of them didn’t particularly want to be there – looks to have been misguided. Those players subsequently performed below their best, and so did Celtic as a result.
You may have been hard pressed at the time though to have found too many detractors of Celtic’s policy, with the composition of the playing squad being viewed in a hugely positive manner going into the season by the majority of fans, and certainly by manager Neil Lennon.
It is of little surprise therefore to learn that Lennon stands by the decision taken back then by the club not to cash in on stars like Odsonne Edouard, particularly with what was at stake going into such an important season.
There is plenty of blame and fault to be shared around here in February with the Premiership title already a forlorn hope, but Lennon says any revision of history that claims fans would have accepted the departure of Edouard back in the summer transfer window is wildly inaccurate.
“We took a decision as a club to keep the players,” Lennon said. “Really, the way the situation was, we didn’t entertain any bids for players and a lot of clubs didn’t have the money to match our price tag.
“It’s difficult sometimes when players are unhappy – not playing for the club, just unhappy in the environment that they’re living in. Some of them have found it difficult.
“If we had sold players at the beginning of the season, there would have been uproar. Complete and utter uproar, so I think it was the right thing to do.
“Unfortunately, some of them didn’t hit their best form or their most consistent form at times, but the majority of them are back on song now.”
There is no greater example of this pattern than Edouard. Though it is sometimes easy to forget amid the fallout from Celtic’s season to forget that he is still the country’s top scorer.
For all that his performances this term have fallen short of the standard of the previous two seasons, and for all that has contributed to Celtic falling short in the title race, the striker’s double against St Johnstone at the weekend took his tally to 20 goals in all competitions in 31 appearances.
In fact, Edouard’s current strike rate per game is actually marginally higher than the 28 goals he managed in 45 appearances across the whole of last season.
While the Celtic boss has undoubtedly been exasperated by Edouard’s drop in performance level over the piece, he does understand why that has happened, citing a potential move falling through late in the transfer window as the main reason for his player’s apparent ennui.
Sometimes, it is also easy to forget, says Lennon though, that Edouard is only 23.
“He had issues going on in the first half of the season, but he seems to have really found his mojo,” he said. “He makes us a better team, no question of that. He felt he missed out on a potential move, so he has galvanised himself and making a good contribution at the minute.
“I am delighted with his goals obviously, but more importantly – particularly in the second half on Sunday – his all-round game was outstanding. So it was really getting close to his best again and we are just hoping that continues now.
“He has been quite easy to manage really. He is never any problem, I have a good relationship with him. He is a very quiet lad, very laidback. He is difficult to really get to know because he is so quiet.
“Obviously with the way things are going through this Covid period you are a little bit more disconnected from the players at times. But you speak to him one on one and he has found it difficult this season, like many of them away from the football club.
“You can’t keep a good player down for long. He has really found good form at the minute and I am really enjoying working with him and watching him play.
“We just kept working with him. We kept working on the training ground and cajoling him and supporting him really.
“He has done so much for me since I came back in the second spell and it’s important that I support him as well.”
It is just a shame, from Celtic’s point of view, that their underperforming players are only just beginning to settle back down, with Lennon citing the extended transfer window as another factor in their woes.
“It’s a very good point,” he said. “Again, it was an anomaly we haven’t come across before, the window did go on for a longer period of time.”
OF the many criticisms that have been directed towards Celtic this term, there has been an accusation that the hunger from the support for a record-breaking 10th title was not matched by a similar appetite from the club.
If that ignores the financial investment that was made last summer – whether it was money well spent is another matter – it also put the players firmly in the dock when it comes to questions about commitment and desire.
If the ferocity of the backlash as the 10 was lost in an insipid start to the campaign might have been an eye-opener to some who are not versed in the culture around the club, it was not anything that caught Callum McGregor unaware. A graduate of the Celtic academy and the most likely candidate to assume the captaincy when Scott Brown retires, the midfielder has offered a case for the defence as he made clear that the suffering of this season has not been exclusive to the supporters.
“It has been tough,” he said. “When you are so used to winning and being consistent, when it is not happening, it hurts you.
“I think that is one of the good things about the squad – it does hurt us as players. It matters to them. They care about it and you can see that in their faces and their demeanour. It really does hurt.
“It was a once-in-a-generation thing that we were trying to achieve so you can understand the frustration and sensitivity around it. That builds the pressure of trying to do it and it has been difficult in that sense. But we tried to look at it as a normal season and regardless of whether it is one in a row or 10 in a row, consistently we haven’t been good enough to go and win the league. Take away the 10-in-a-row factor, in any season we haven’t been consistent enough to be champions.”
There was realism around McGregor’s tacit concession that the title has gone but there remains a need for Celtic to continue their recent flickering resurgence. It is too little, too late so far as the championship is
concerned but regardless of the damage that has been wrecked on the campaign it is imperative that some form of stability is restored between what will be a significant rebuilding project this summer.
Tonight’s match against Aberdeen is the last of the games in hand Neil Lennon’s side have. A win against Derek McInnes, who has been under pressure of his own given the winless run Aberdeen are on, would cut the deficit to what will remain an unpalatable 15-point gap.
“When you are so close to it and have grown up your whole life around Celtic then inevitably it is going to hurt you more than some,” said McGregor. “That’s obviously a challenge for me in being from Glasgow and being at Celtic for so long. That’s just something I have to take on my shoulders and deal with best I can. It does hurt, even more, but I then feel I have the responsibility to try and change it as much as possible and that is what I’m trying to do.
“The last four games have been good and out performance levels have been good. We have been scoring goals and defending a lot better and it is positive. But there are not too many games to go so it is a bit frustrating in that sense but we need to keep performing and see where it takes us.
“It is frustrating that we didn’t find that form when we really needed it. The focus has to be on the performance levels and the results so it is just a case of keeping going.”