Football News: Is it really time to panic at Celtic?

Image from: www.videocelts.com

So after two years of Celtic fans complaining about there being no competition in the Scottish Premiership all of a sudden they don't want any competition.

As Aberdeen build on their League Cup success of last season, their first trophy in 19 years, and push Celtic in the title race there are still fans of the reigning champions still not happy.

If you read through forums and social media you will come across a lot of supporters who seem to think that any challenge to Celtic's league dominance should only come from across the Clyde at Ibrox - anything else MUST be blamed on Ronny Deila.

With Aberdeen stretching their lead over Celtic to four points at the weekend a win away at Kilmarnock for Ronny Deila's men tonight has taken on a greater significance and the more vocal element of his detractors have labelled it 'a must win game'.

I firmly believe that there are certain elements of the Celtic support want Ronny Deila to fail so that they can claim some moral upper-hand that they 'told us so' and to back up their need for a 'Celtic-minded' manager at the helm.

Other supporters seem so entrenched in the past they refuse to acknowledge the need to drag the club into the modern era, they either can't or just won't accept that the club is finally adopting a modern approach to coaching and the way the game should be played.

They're embarrassing themselves by using their own lack of knowledge and understanding as a stick to beat Deila with. Don't get me started on those tactical geniuses Chris Sutton and John Hartson!

A win at Rugby Park tonight brings the gap down to a single point and Celtic still have a game in hand after the postponement of the game against Partick Thistle on New Year's Day.

Celtic don't have another SPFL game until they travel to face Hamilton on January 17th after postponing their match on the 10th versus St Johnstone to allow them fly to Gran Canaria tomorrow for friendlies against PSV Eindhoven and Sparta Prague , Aberdeen are away to St Mirren on Saturday.

By the time Scott Brown and co travel to Hamilton, Aberdeen could have reinstalled a four point gap but Celtic will have two games in hand, is this really the time to press the panic button or are some supporters just looking for any excuse to press it?

Would someone like Roy Keane have been put under the same pressure if he had managed Celtic into the same situation as Deila has?

Remember Keane is a well-known Celtic fan, he spent six months at the club as a player and is an ex-Eire internationalist.

Maybe Ronny Deila, like Gordon Strachan, just isn't Celtic-minded enough for some of the support.

Written by Mark B Jamieson January 05 2015 15:57:51