29 Sep 2014 00:32:41
Lets for 1 minute take it that RD is something special and it all taking time to adjust to the changes and tactics (where?) and he has a long term plan which will work or so he will have us believe. Ok its next summer and we just won the treble.Now he is a star and a wanted man. So what happens next? A premiership side or a top euro team comes a calling.Do you think he will stay and see thro this vision he has? No chance.He has no allegiance to us and a managers career can be short so he will be off. Now before you all clamber that Lennon would a done the same (of course he would have). But the difference here is that RD has changed the structure of the team and has them playing his way and doing all the things he wants them to do.Diets and domes etc.Now chances are that we won't get a RD clone as next manager it is much more likely to be a Moyes/MacKay/Coyle type manager.So do you think its worth it? Wud it seriously hinder our CL qualification as new manager would need time to? We have to be honest with ourselves and and admit Scottish football is poor at the moment and the CL is the be all and end all.Yes the cups are nice but they don't attract any money or fans except in a final.Wud you rather go to Hamden in Jan a stadium with no atmosphere against St.johnstone or be at Celtic park in September playing Barca/Munich/Chelsea etc? I don't think for 1 minute Europe will sit up and take notice we beat St.Johnstone in League cup final but they would if we beat any of these team on a CL night at Celtic Park with the place jumpin.Now I know some might say a treble is important, yeh it might be to some and will show on the record books but if you look at the record books you will find we also won the Dryburgh cup. My point here is the cups are now an afterthought to the CL as money rules now and if you look across Europe very few cups are taking seriously and how many of us would know who won the French cup or the Dutch cup.I just hate missing out on CL these are the games that get hairs standing up on the back o my neck.The games that the stadium is rocking.Soz I feel like paradisewon a bit here lol, but I think this is the reality now I just worry if RD is that successful it will harm our chances. If he isn't I think he will be off before season ends 1 way or another and at least we would have time.

{Ed007's Note - RD's ideas, if given time to implement them, will be used at Celtic and Lennoxtown for years to come. He will make us a modern run club using the best available people to ensure everything is geared towards the club and players success. This is our Paul Le Guen moment, if Rangers had backed him chances are they would still be around, RD is trying to take us forward and put us on par with all top European teams behind the scenes and in player development.
Would you rather RD was on Twitter talking about playing poker (that's POKER, not poke he.. ah forget it) or down in Jinty's drinking with the players?
Remember the problems Alex Ferguson faced when he joined Man Utd, he had to change the whole set up and outlook of the club not to mention break up the drinking culture that was embedded around OT, remember Wenger taking over Arsenal and everyone laughing and scratching their head? Mourinho started out as Bobby Robson's translator and look at him now, have a look at the current Marseille head coach Marcelo Bielsa, he is one of the best coaches in the game but people from England and Scotland don't know who he is.
To be judging any manager after so such a spell smacks of fickleness, the fans need to start looking forward rather than back the way, too many people are focussing on the negatives, and enjoying doing it, rather than the positives. RD is telling everyone what he is trying to do, did NL ever do that after a defeat or poor performance?
I really believe there are sections of the support (I'm not saying you Ray) wanting RD to fail just so they can sit back and say they told us so.
99% of the support think the sun shines out John Park's backside, it was him that was raving about watching RD's while scouting Johansen, so why all of a sudden is nobody saying listen to JP, he is after all our Football development manager and chief scout.
If you've lived through the Liam Brady and Lou Macari years you should know we're nowhere near that now, was the draw in Salzburg not a decent result,? The game against Dundee Utd at CP was one of the best performances I've seen from a CFC team in the last few years, we're in the next round of the League Cup (trophies mount up if we're going to overtake the dead Rangers record) and we have got 2 players at the club that fans have wanted for years in Tonev and Guidetti.
I give the club pelters when I think they're due it, Ray, and sometimes when they're not, but I'm willing to give RD time, I don't doubt that he will leave the club in a better condition than when he came in with regards to youth development and training methods etc, I buy into all the new fangled scientific methods so I am biased but I'm excited by it all, by the thought of us moving forward.
I'll leave a note for Ed001 to comment on this, he is right into the technical side of training and he couldn't believe some of the things RD was bringing in that weren't already implemented.
Anyone would think we got beat yesterday!}

1.) 29 Sep 2014
Ed007 has asked me to comment, I have to say I am amazed at some of the things I have learnt about how Celtic were operating. It is like you were still stuck in the 70s, with players being treated as lads, rather than as professional athletes. While you still need to be able to kick a ball correctly, and can get away with being not at your peak physically if you have better technical players, if you don't have players at their physical best, then they won't perform to their best.

For starters, drinking carbonated drinks, while I love them myself, they are not good for the body and should have been banned from the training ground years ago! The reason players should be in for meals, apart from for team bonding, is to ensure they have the correct diet, and that is not fizzy drinks and junk food!

When Wenger first came into Arsenal, the reason he had immediate success is because the players all bought into his fresh new (at the time) ideas. The Arsenal of those days was faster and stronger than everyone else, in large part due to his ideas. Now they get physically bullied by teams such as Stoke and any team managed by Allardyce, purely because Allardyce and Stoke have taken on board the lessons of Wenger and then gone on another step further.

There are so many things that can still be done, for instance dental work, silly as it sounds, can fix a number of niggling injury problems. In France most clubs will employ a dentist to check the players' teeth on a regular basis, because bad teeth or diseased gums can cause a weakening to the system. I can remember Vladimir Smicer telling me how a niggling hamstring problem he had, that had been constantly reocurring, was fixed by a trip to the dentist!

If you are on that same physical level as the opponent, it gives you a boost psychologically, which helps you play better, as you are more confident. If your opponent can nip past you for pace and bully you for strength as well, it is demoralising. In Europe, you can't compete in terms of finance, which means you can't buy the best players, so the only way you can ensure long term competitiveness is to be faster, stronger, fitter and force the opposition to allow you to play.

It takes time for dietary changes to have effect, some toxins will stay in the body for months, plus the players have to buy into it. No good them eating healthily on the training ground, then going home and stuffing themselves on junk from McDonalds, that will undo all the good work done. That is why it took Ferguson years to get success with Man Utd, he had to get rid of the players who wouldn't work with him and bring in ones who did.

No one can tell if Deila will be a success, but it will be at least 3 years of his modernising regime before you can even be sure. He has to completely gut the club of all who are not backing him and bring in a fresh new slate. You have to look at it like building a new youth system, that can take up to 10 years to show its effects. To go back to the Manchester United example, it was Ron Atkinson's work that resulted in the class of '92. Fergie got all the benefits though!

The question is whether or not Deila will be able to get the benefits of his work or not? The thing I am sure of is that Celtic need this to be able to be more competitive in Europe. If you don't start moving forward soon, you will just continue to go backwards, as everyone around you is moving forwards too. Forget what you need to compete in Scotland, you have more money than the rest, so you will always be able to compete at home. This is about making Celtic a force in Europe again. Not just getting the odd lucky result by hanging on for grim death, but actually being able to look to play them and pick up results.

2.) 29 Sep 2014
Guys i'm giving this one last bash to explain my point from yesterday as I don't think we're all singing from the same hymn sheet!

I did not say I wanted Ronny sacked at no time nor did I say we got beat at the weekend.

Last season we were defeated once in the league and finished 29 points clear of Motherwell yet the poll of the day asked about Ronny's regime being the reason we beat St Mirren? Why do we need a new regime to beat St Mirren?

Posters are saying they gave up their season tickets purely for the reason they did not like the style of football that was on offer (although I did find it strange it was after Lennon's 1st full season in charge but hey ho their ticket, their cash, their choice)

Ronny might come good and be the best thing that ever happened at Celtic - I don't know. What I do know is no amount of talking about tactics, diet or new ideas will help if he does not start getting results. I've seen Managers get better results than him sacked - rightly or wrongly remains up for debate but still sacked.

This is a results driven industry and no amount of talking a good game or fancy pants ideas will change that.

I posted my concerns which received no reply instead it was I had an agenda against Celtic (laughable), this is my concerns:-

He's spoken about unfit players - its the end of September and I see players who look lazy, cannot be bothered and have no pace.

Attacking football - we are struggling to break teams like Dundee down and are playing with no creativity at all. We seem disjointed most of the time.


Gordon, Wakaso, Guidetti, Scepovic, McGregor, Berget, Denayer, Tonev - did not work under Lennon last season to blame his poor diet and the rest have been working with Ronny for 3/4 months now. This is enough time to see the benefits of any change in diet particulary in a player who was already reasonably fit.

I have also posted about the fact we have loan players and how can Ronny be building or rebuilding anything - based on what structure, what players is he building the team around?

He will also be in the very same boat as Neil Lennon should he get players he can call his own - they will be sold. Celtic do not play in the league the same as Alex Ferguson, Mourhino or Wenger and its not a fair comparison. They can cherry pick players and keep them, we cannot. Folk seem to have a blind spot regarding players coming to Scotland, it isn't high on their ambition list.

Scottish football is probably at its worst its ever been in terms of quality in the teams we play - Motherwell, Aberdeen, Inverness, Dundee Utd, St Johnstone are all considerably weaker than they were only just a few seasons ago and have lost some of their best players. We have no Rangers, Hearts or Hibs in the league - as we all know and laughed, 2 of these teams suffered finanacially due to not watching the dreaded balance sheet.

This is the challenges Managers face in our League not the challenges like having David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Nicky Butt, Gary Neville, Phil Neville and Paul Scholes in your youth team. To be fair, Ferguson is the first to admit he inherited decent players both at Aberdeen and Man Utd.

ED - I don't really know what Ronny did at Stomsgodset other than be their Manager for 5/6 years and took them from battling relegation to League Champions last season which is fantastic. I do not know enough about the Norwegian league to comment and I do not know what long term changes he made at the Club either. What I do know is Stromsgodset are not in the Champions League or Europa League and they never made it past the early qualifying rounds. I am unsure why this means he will make changes at Celtic for the better, we were already Champions, not battling relegation and were playing the Champions League including the last 16 only recently. Ronny's job is to at least sustain this and hopefully improve.

After all that, my point is I can only comment on the here and now not what Ronny may or may not do at the Club in the future and at this moment in time, what Ronny says and what actually happens on the park are polar opposites. I will give him time mainly because I have no choice in the matter, he's here and is the current Celtic Manager but I don't like what I see. At no time have I mentioned I won't be back at Celtic Park until he's gone nor have I booed him unlike the whole of Murrayfield or after the Aberdeen game last week, its not my style.

I haven't heard or seen anyone say they want him gone but I have seen comments with concerns about where we are headed under Ronny. I do not know any Celtic fan who wants any Celtic Manager to fail, I would actually find this pretty pathetic and weird to be honest particulary if it was for the 'I told you so' reason.

3.) 29 Sep 2014
Ed001 - I posted before I read your comments and this is more like my point I've been trying to make (although I've been accused of being drunk and having an agenda lol)

Ronny is here to try and sustain us in the Champions League but at this moment in time is struggling to break down Dundee. Fans are asking questions that's all

{Ed001's Note - you are wrong about the dietary changes having an effect by now, in one sense. They only have an effect if players are actually taking them on board and following their diet plans to the letter. Even then, for the first few months you actually feel worse for a while, as your body flushes out toxins and has to cope with withdrawal symptoms from things such as caffeine. It varies from person to person, but 3 months is the barest minimum you can really start to judge a change in diet. A friend of mine is a regular Iron Man triathlete, when he made the decision to cut caffeine from his diet he had to withdraw from competition for 6 months, because he just felt so weak and lethargic he was unable to be sure he would complete the course, let alone give his best. So it can be a long process, though others will adjust very quickly, usually the younger players will feel the benefits more rapidly than the older ones.

You are right though, it is a results business, but anyone can get the results, if they are willing to look short term. Celtic have the resources to blow everyone else in Scotland away. This is about short term pain to create long term gain. Though I do agree, Deila might only be useful as a way of moving Celtic into this century in terms of training methods and diet sheets. Trouble is, you won't know what he can do if you don't give him time, lots of it. The board need to make it 100% clear to the players that they are backing the manager over them, then shift on the ones not willing to work under Deila and then you will see what he can do. Until then, you are always watching a battle of wills, as unwilling players do as little as they think they can get away with.}

4.) 29 Sep 2014
This is the problem, we aren't blowing anyone anyway in Scotland. Granted the league table tells a story that we are but in one-off Cup games we were complacent under Lennon and lacking discipline in our game.

I know there are rumors of certain players being unfit but to be fair Crystal Palace, Norwich and Southampton have not complained about Hooper, Ledley, Forster or Wanyama nor have any of the players International Managers so not 100% sure about this and one of the reasons I'm not keen to dwell on the diet issue.

He needs to start putting together a string of results and build confidence which has hopefully started now.

{Ed001's Note - Norwich have complained a lot about Hooper's lack of fitness actually. Forster is a keeper, that is a totally different area, with a lot less requirement to be physically fit and it is not expected that a keeper is at the same level as a midfielder. Wanyama is a hard worker anyway, he likes the physical side of it, so you would expect him to just adapt, though Poch did say a few times that Southampton needed to be patient with him as he got used to the fitness levels required. I can't comment on Ledley as I haven't heard anything either way.

International managers are something else. You are not talking about players in the Spain squad, who do have strict diet plans etc, so any fitness deficiencies would probably be put down to exhaustion etc. Players aren't really with their countries enough for a true assessment.}

5.) 29 Sep 2014
Fair enough about Hooper, I've not seen Norwich's comments. Hooper always was a bit of a puffer and panter.

I just don't think the team are that unfit. Celtic play more games than any other team in Scotland and a much faster game but I suppose to take us to the next level we might benefit from these changes.

I'm not good at moving with the times and can be cynical of 'talk'. I can actually see a Manager in the near future going back to basics soon - boot room etc. Just the way I see life :-)

{Ed001's Note - going back to basics I agree with, but being fit is a part of the basics of any sport.}

6.) 29 Sep 2014
My last word on the subject and reading through the comments, really diet etc can all come down to plain old discipline?

Something I can agree was lacking with Lennon.

{Ed001's Note - very much so. Self-discipline as much as anything though I do agree, that was a real weakness of Lennon's regime.}

7.) 29 Sep 2014
29 Sep 2014 09:25:21
Mrs e I feel I must defend myself here as you are doing the woman thing of twisting words to suit your argument. I said I wouldn't make it personal by accusing you of being on the sherry despite you accusing me of being on the madam ( whatever that is ) . I also said you sound as if you had an agenda against rd because he is not nl , at no point did I say you were drunk with an agenda against Celtic . The one thing I would say is I have met nl on several occasions on both social and work levels and some of the time his demeanor was not what I expect from a Celtic manager , hence the reason I felt a change was needed. Now back to the point you don't think rd has what it takes and compare his teams performance and results from last season to rds teams from this one, a totally unfair comparison as nl had years to get his team together. I will give him a bit longer than a few weeks before I past judgement on his ability .

8.) 29 Sep 2014
Fab I feel you are doing the man thing and not listening/reading what I am saying. Appreciate this is a forum and there can be misinterpretation from all posters including myself.

My point yesterday was do we really need a nw regime to beat St Mirren? I wasn't unhappy with Neil Lennon and thought he did a reasonable job for a rookie. He did lack discipline which was seen in his one-off Cup performances. Some did not like his style of play - hmm not sure this was that bad as we always dominated possession and scored goals however he was guilty of complacency after Rangers departed.

I think we need a new regime to take us to the next level which is Europe. Maybe in time this will happen, I don't know.

Unless Ronny finds away to break down Dundee, he will not be competing in Europe anytime soon. Totally agree a few weeks is to quick to make an overall judgement but I do usually post on most games and can only form an opinion based on what I've seen so far.

I hope you are right about Ronny, I really do.

Please do me one favour though, stop assuming this is about Lennon - I cannot stress enough that it isn't.

9.) 29 Sep 2014
In terms of Arsenal in the beginning Tony Adams went to Arsene Wegner and complained that they squad felt they were not fit ENOUGH! pre season! and it was not until they felt vitamin INJECTIONS kick in they felt stronger!

What I am saying is we are the ONLY team in Scotland STILL BUYING players for a fee etc we were and still should be miles ahead of the rest and on current 5 performances! we are really really struggling as a have said it is far far to easy to "countermand" this 4-3-3 system IMO as we seen on Saturday St Mirren went to a BACK 6! and there creative midfielder followed our captain all over the pitch as a SPOILER our league is "anti-football" and if a team gets the first goal against they shut up shop and invite us to try and get 2! and we cannot do it with this negative football we encounter! especially with 1 striker! as it has been pointed out PLG tried it, Tony Mowbray tried it great ideas, men IMO but it doesn't suit our league/system any more than it would be for Barcelona to try and start to play the "long ball"

What a will say on RD's defence or should that be defiance? He does not look a worried man or under any pressure at ALL which would suggest that he has had assurances he is not going anywhere . . . as in the P45!

ATVB JB7

10.) 29 Sep 2014
29 Sep 2014 12:02:30
ED interesting points of view re RD. You make a lot of valid points and in particular points regarding giving RD lots of time to allow him a valid chance of putting his philosophy into practice. Also agree that players not buying in need moved on. My question therefore this. Do Celtic have the funds to see this through.

#1. Players not buying in, move them on. We only have 3 or 4 players who we would get reasonable money for. Principally Brown and VVD. So many of the players may need to be allowed to run down contract and then replaced. That's expensive and takes a lot of time so it's easy to say move them on but in reality more difficult.
#2. Look at latest Celtic accounts. 11.4mill profit but the key number is cash on hand which is 4.1 mill. That profit and cash surplus was generated from CL football plus player sales amounting to around 15mill. So if we have reduced player sales and no CL football for a few seasons whilst RD makes his changes, where does the money come from?

#3. RD has said we will be in a better position to compete at CL level next season. However 6 players are loan players, so if they go, we won't be in much of a position to compete in the qualifiers anyway. Understand they all have buy out clauses but the board need to sanction the payments. We need the CL money to feed his revolution so we are back to square 1. If RD can get us CL football next year then that's good enough for me, at this moment in time however he is going to need results in order to win the league just to get the opportunity to play in qualifiers.

So the question is, if the Board are thinking like you regarding giving RD 2 or 3 seasons to make the changes, have they factored in the loss of maybe £30 mill from CL money? We have already lost £15 mill this year. Why would they do that when they talk about the risk of spending £4 or £5 mill on a player? Somewhere along the lines I don't think the board ever considered that RD would not win the league and that he would do any less well in CL qualification than NL and Strachan did. I think they factor in 2 CL qualifications every 3 years, so just to hit the budgets he needs to qualify next year. If he can't do that then where does the money come from? So everything is hanging on RD getting this right and right now he looks a million miles away. So if you want to introduce a long term plan it may be useful to work out the actual cost of going so before you start.

{Ed007's Note - Blame RD if you want but all these problems are the impact of long term neglect, not short term shambles.}

11.) 29 Sep 2014
All good points well made ed, yes fitness is a major factor and I tell my son the same as he plays football under 15s, in Blantyre though he is very lucky to be extremely fit anyway. I also play poker on a thurs night where a certain pro player is there also (premier league), and can be seen downng the red bull at an alarming rate (at least its no beer).Now we can preach all the diet stuff in the world but they are also human and we would be daft to believe they not having a sneaky fish supper wi irn bru in their own time.It may wel be our Le Guen moment and he might have had some great ideas but plainly the players (top class players) did not like him could that be the same at Celtic.My worry here is RD is off at end of season and the new manager as I said just throws it all out the window as he will want it his way and its all been wasted.

{Ed007's Note - The players are professional and very well paid athletes, if they can't resist eating fish suppers etc then they won't be at the club, it's as simple as that.
On the first day of training at Real Madrid James Rodriguez thought he would make a good impression and get in early, get warmed up, do some personal drills etc and be good to go when training started. He arrived TWO hours before training started only to find that Ronaldo was already out on the training pitches working away, that's how you improve. Do you think Carlo Ancelloti accepts players will have a fly fish supper?
If players at CFC aren't dedicated to improving themselves and the team then they can leave, they'll never play for a club like CFC again and it will be their loss, too many players fell into a comfort zone under NL, they need to knuckle down or move on.}

12.) 29 Sep 2014
A new manager trying to implement a new system with 90% of the previous regime's players will always be a struggle.A lot of people on here slated the appointment of John Collins as RD's assistant and I said at the time that eh would make the fitter and better football players BUT you have to want it as well and as Ed has said it takes time. People have been moaning for years about how poor a team we are, how we are not entertained anymore, we don't play "The Celtic Way", well here is a man who wants to do that but people expect a complete transformation is 3 months. When Dortmund went bust a few years ago they brought in Klopp, gave hiom the canvas and told him to write the club's future. He did this by changing the academy, the players thought process, diest, training, social life, sleep patterns, style of play, work rate but he didn't do it overnight. He told the fans what his plan was and they bought into it 100% because they believed him. We all believed NL when he said about bringing back the thunder and he did for a while but it reverted back to boring again. We now have a management team who want to play fast attack minded football but to do that you need the players, it may take another 2 or 3 transfer windows for them to get the players they want to make it work but the least they should expect is for us to support them, don't be so nieve to think that it will all be perfect in 6 months, it wont, there will be good and bad performances but we will win the league and over the 6 months RDJC will find out who wants to come along for the new trip and who will leave the club in December of next Summer. I like the philosophy of what he wants to do, I like that it will filter through the academy, I like that he wants another astro indoors for all the age groups to be able to practice all year round. The end product may take a wee while but when it comes it will be there for years to come as the whole place will be playing the same way.after all that was Tommy Burns philosophy as well!

13.) 29 Sep 2014
People are correctly saying that it too soon to criticise Deila he needs more time . That is perfectly right . However it is also too soon to praise Deila and to tell us that in the long time he will reinvent the Celtic team winning doubles and trebles and success in the Champions League year in year out .
Maybe he will and maybe he won't . So fat we haven't had any noticeable improvement, maybe that if fair enough . But how long should we give him? Maybe he should get 5/6 years but will he get that time?

14.) 29 Sep 2014
29 Sep 2014 18:51:18
Allymac, when Dortmond went bust and Klopp came in the fans would buy into his regime. It is a different scenario here at Celtic. We are expecting to win the league and qualifying for CL. If you said to the supporters we are brining in a new system from top to bottom and it may take 3 years to get it right and during that time we may well not win anything? How many would back that policy. That however is what we have. RD is a risk and he is unproven ( in any meaningful league). So are you willing to take the risk and there are no guarantees? I don't know if I am willing to take it with RD?

15.) 29 Sep 2014
Lots of good points ally, but Klopp would a been given loads o time as Dortmund were not expected to win the league esp given their financial situation. RD at Celtic is expected to win the league and finishin 2nd would be like relegation to other clubs.The important thing for me (like him or loathe him) lennon has brought in est 60m in last 2 years and that's me bein conservative.Money is king now and can you imagine how our team would look if we never got that 60m.We already missed CL and if we don't get there next season that's 40m missed. WE cannot afford that regardless of who might think we have the dogs testacles as a manager. All the philosophys in the world won't replace that.And just a fun point TB team was great to watch but it didn't half leak goals and didn't do much in Europe if I remember right.

16.) 29 Sep 2014
29 Sep 2014 19:37:30
Any workforce faced with such a massive change to the methods and systems they operate under will take time to adapt. While I get a lot of the criticism Rd is receiving the Dundee utd game contradicts much of it. That day,as ed touched on, the system clicked, the players clicked and we dismantled a side we all expected a really tough game against. The baffling thing is why we haven't got near to that level since. Was it luck? I don't think that eleven have started a game since. Were Dundee utd really poor or did we stop them being good? The players showed that day they are capable of playing high tempo entertaining football and scoring goals. I think RDs system demands 11 players fit enough to play at a high tempo for 90 minutes. If the squad are only at 60% of the fitness level required the system will only be 60% effective. There is no hiding place for non tryers or favourites. RD for me is trying to find out how good the players could be if they get fit enough. He won't know the answer until the fitness is increased. He can't really be blamed for anything he inherited or players who refuse to give him 100% commitment to his methods.

17.) 29 Sep 2014
Fair point Andy but for me this team looks less fit than last season, and slower. And for a manager that goes on about fitness all the time, why the hell does he play players who are clearly not fit yet.(Berget 1st match, Brown, Scepovic, Tonev, Forrest, to name a few). The ironic thing here is prob the least fit player and defo not match fit till recently has been our best player (Gordon).I just don't like this pressing game 20/25 away from opp goal. It makes the pitch too big because if they get past it we are wide open half the time. Why not wait till they 40 yards out and them we can press as a unit and with less ground to cover the players will be fresher to attack on the break more often. because the disappointin thing for me this season is we have simply been shocking on the break. This is when the opp is at its weakest and we fail to make a simple pass at times. We want to go thro the middle straight away when the space is wide to open the defence then get it inside.

18.) 29 Sep 2014
@rayman, will that system be much more effective once all our squad understand their role better and are fit enough to play it properly? I guess players are getting games as part of the process to make them fitter. I think very few of the squad are at the required level yet. If performances don't improve as fitness levels rise is it the system that's wrong or are the wrong players trying to play it? Until it's an entire RD team that's hard to answer.

19.) 30 Sep 2014
What I was trying to get across with the Dortmund comparison was a new manager trying to implement a new system and asking the fans to buy into what he was doing. We have got too many players who believe they are world beaters when in fact they are very average. We have looked at some of the young Scottish talent that has escaped our clutches over the years, McArthur, McCarthy, Gauld, Russel, Robertson just to name a few, all young all Scottish who would have made us better. I think RD has a philosophy about how the game should be played and he wants it all the way through the club, that takes time but we as fans need to buy into that as well. I know he will be expected to deliver trophies every season and you are right I wouldn't be over the moon if we didn't win the league but after only 7 matches in the league we are already dissecting the guy and his methods without giving him a fair crack, jeez we gave Mowbray more than that! I think another couple of players are needed, and once we get Lustig back then one more creative, dynamic, powerful centre mid and we will be ok. I know I am talking about the player everyone wants but that is the harsh truth because without Broony we look toothless in the CM areas.