Consistency needed before talk of trebles
This is the last day to complete our survey into who we, the Celtic community, are, our thoughts, values and where we came from. It’s a short, anonymous, survey, with questions on the Living Wage, the Offensive Behaviour Act, Resolution 12 and other topics, including your view on last week’s referendum.
Thousands of people have already taken part so we will have an excellent insight into what the Celtic community looks like in 2014. If you’ve not already participated, you can let your voice be heard here.
A European academic has compiled the survey and we’ll publish findings shortly.
It’s refreshing to hear a manager be frank about a sporting forgone conclusion, as Ronny did yesterday, “we are definitely going to win the league”. More importantly, he added “The goal is the treble”.
For reasons which have never been evident, apart from Jock Stein’s first five seasons, and a gloriously sunny day in 1957, Celtic have underachieved on a massive scale in the League Cup, a trophy we haven’t won in the last five seasons.
It’s maybe been seen as too much of a poor-relation when the team have higher targets in mind, but it’s more accurate to say we have been an ill-prepared soft touch since Jock’s five-in-a-row came to an end. Superior performances in the Scottish Cup suggest there is more than the randomness of cup football at play in the League trophy.
I never understood the criticisms of Neil Lennon for his ‘failure’ to win the treble. We achieved this feat only three times in our history. Even when we won the league, the vast majority of times we failed to win both cups was as a result of defeat to someone other than Rangers, so their liquidation in 2012 should not affect the trend.
Ronny is three games away from his first trophy as a Celtic manager; he will be hot favourite for each of them. On paper, the Scottish Cup will present no more danger, but winning two cups takes a level of consistency that even the great [and consistent]Celtic teams struggled to achieve.
Before we consider the treble we need to find consistency in the league and Europa League, starting with wins and clean sheets against St Mirren and Dinamo Zagreb. If we can do this, this could yet be a memorable season.
Remember the survey closes tonight!