I haven’t written anything for ages.
Work, the Euros and the drawn out and ultimately fruitless pursuit of Eddie Howe as the new Celtic manager meant there wasn’t much to write about and even less time to write about it.
The Howe saga really was dispiriting.
All that time wasted pursuing a guy who in the end didn’t want to actually come and if you look at his CV isn’t really all that good anyway.
Be under no illusions.
His change of heart was nothing to do with contracts or player budgets. Howe bottled it.
In the end, we got former Australian coach Ange Postecoglou.
He’s got a fine CV but in terms of European football is somewhat of an unknown quantity having never managed anywhere outside out of Asia.
As with any managerial appointment, it could be either a stroke of genius or an unmitigated disaster.
Only time will tell and one thing we do know is that with our support as with just about any modern-day football support time isn’t something that you get much of.
Tonight we kick off the Ange era with a Champions League 2nd round tie against Danish side FC Midtjylland.
They finished 2nd in their domestic league last season two points behind the winners Brondby of what was a truncated 22 game campaign due to Covid.
Captained by former Celtic man Erik Sviatchenko they won the 2019/20 Danish league title and last season had an impressive run to the Champions League group stages with wins over Ludogorets Razgrad, Young Boys and Slavia Prague before coming up against genuine heavyweights in said group stages after drawing Ajax, Atalanta and Liverpool which saw them only take two points but avoid any serious hammerings.
From that perspective, it doesn’t look good but on the plus side they lost their Danish league opener last Friday night 2-1 at home Odense Boldklub and star striker Sory Kaba has been left out of the squad as he angles for a big move elsewhere.
That’s a problem we can relate to.
Kris Ajer and Olivier Ntcham have similarly been left out of our squad because they basically just don’t want to be here.
Ryan Christie and Odsonne Edouard’s futures also look exit bound with both running down their contracts.
So far we’ve only been able to get rid of returning loanees Jack Hendry and Vakoun Issouf Bayo who were sold to Belgian top-flight sides Oostende and Gent respectively.
They join last seasons loan arrivals Shane Duffy, Jonjo Kenny, Diego Laxalt and Mohamed Elyounoussi who were all unsurprisingly not offered permanent deals.
So Ange’s frustrations at our lack of movement both in and out the door haven’t gone unnoticed with only raw youngsters Liam Shaw and Osaze Urhoghide having joined from Sheffield Wednesday along with Israeli winger Liel Abada and Japanese striker Kyogo Furuhashi.
Neither of the last two will feature tonight. Indeed Furuhashi hasn’t even stepped foot in the country.
Safe to say our chances of reaching the Champs League group stages look nigh on impossible and indeed it’s difficult to see us even making it past Midtjylland over two legs.
We usually stumble through transfer windows but even by our standards, it’s been a shocking summer so far from the club leaving our new manager looking like a lame duck even before he’s started.
Dominic McKay needed to come out of the blocks running and instead resembles an OAP wandering around a public park with his hands behind his back admiring the flowers.
And the apparently bulletproof limp duo of John Kennedy and Gavin Strachan somehow remain with no sign of any of Ange’s own backroom team or the promised director of football even out in the distance.
Depressing times and I can’t help but feel sorry for Postecoglou.
Effectively he’s been thrown to the wolves thus far with our Champions League campaign about to start and the league kicking off a week on Saturday.
Ange is obviously someone used to getting results based on a stellar CV which shows success at both club level and internationally.
Based on our dismal showings last year on all fronts he must have known this was going to be a challenge.
Little would he have suspected that one of his biggest hurdles would be his own board.
Back to tonight and it’s down to the likes of David Turnbull, new captain Callum McGregor and the soon to be departing Odsonne Edouard to produce the goods.
Anywhere else you look on the pitch looks pretty uninspiring.
We can but hope.
....Always A Tim! 