Rare wisdom about making mistakes

In many years of writing here I’ve never before used a piece of Charlie Nicholas wisdom; there is not too much to choose from.  One of his comments stuck in my head, though.  A year after Celtic won at Arsenal in the Pierce O’Leary Testimonial, but went on to lose the league, Arsenal thumped Celtic 1-5 in Glasgow.

In a rare generous mood towards his former club, after the game Nicholas said, “These matches are all about making mistakes”.  What the returning Celtic manager Billy McNeill needed more than anything was information.  Arsenal provided plenty that afternoon.  The lesson was clear, Billy and his players had a lot of work to do.

What happened that season is now part of our folklore.  Billy pursued, and within two months signed, Frank McAvennie, Celtic steamrollered their way to the league title and completed the double against Dundee Untied at Hampden.  Heavy preseason defeats to Arsenal (and Stromstad) were grist to the mill, a part of an eventual successful outcome, just as the doing West Ham’s doled out last year was.

Celtic would benefit from flushing out their mistakes in their three remaining preseason games.  Thus far, the build-up has been useful in putting energy into the legs, but we need better tests.