Hugh Keevins: Wilde about criticism

I met a famous footballer the other day while he was out walking with his kids cutely bundled up in the pram he was pushing.

He used to play for one of the Old Firm and is now with a new club, and that's the only clue you're getting.

I asked him when, and why, he had moved into the same area of Glasgow as me, only to be told an horrific story concerning how football can move some people to fresh heights of insensitivity and uncivilised behaviour.

The famous player had apparently been innocently walking the streets of his former neighbourhood when a car drew up beside him and a middle aged man rolled down a window to deliver an excruciating message.

"I hope you die in your sleep," he told the famous one before signing off with the usual sectarian barb that trips off the tongue as easily as "Good morning" for certain folk.

That was it for the famous one. Sell up and move on to a place where public abuse wouldn't be regarded as an allowable, and everyday, occurence was his understandable course of action.

The story came to mind after Saturday night's Superscoreboard had ended with a lady calling in to kindly say she wanted to apologise to me for the questionable conduct of her fellow Celtic supporters.

One of them had called in to say I had been sacked by my last employer in newspapers. Untrue.

Another had also sought to personalise the criticism of me by saying he wouldn't call me a journalist.

Several newspapers over a forty-five year period had called me a journalist and paid me to act like one, so I could ignore that jibe as well.

But yet another had said I had "Better be careful" or else Celtic would ban me again for the crime of suggesting that Ronny Deila's European results and performances had convinced me he had taken the club as far as he could.

"Better be careful ?" About daring to hold an opinion ? I don't think so.

It is also my contention, and will remain my belief, that some Celtic supporters will always be the last to know when things have gone wrong because their devotion to the club blinds them to reality on occasion.

When Kris Commons got a standing ovation as he was being substituted on Sunday it was because the Celtic fans at the game with Dundee United were letting him know they felt his explosion after being taken off against Molde in the Europa League was justified.

It was, and it stays, an unfathomable decision on Deila's part. And the crowd were demonstrating their solidarity with the player, not the manager.

And when Celtic are reported to be interested in taking up a franchise in the North American Soccer League it is because the club see themselves as having a presence outside of Scotland.

That notion takes in the need to be bigger, and better, in Europe than they are at present.

Nothing that Deila has done since assuming control of first team affairs suggests he can progress the club on a European stage. Exactly the opposite in fact.

My view is the same one that is held by many Celtic supporters and, so far as I can, see the dreaded media so despised by those who think that we had "Better be careful" about making negative comments concerning Deila.

The manager has to be defined by what he does in Europe while the home front is Celtic's private playground in the Premiership.

If Aberdeen fail to beat Celtic on Saturday it will be said that the league championship is effectively over and done with since the defending title holders will then be seven points ahead of their supposed challengers.

Over and done with while there are still twenty-five games left to play in the competition.

What could sustain the interest of the Celtic fans thereafter would be a continued presence in the Europa League.

But if Molde beat Celtic on their own ground, or even draw with them, on November 5 the door to Europe will be slammed in Celtic's face. Again.

At which point it would seem legitimate to ask where principal shareholder Dermot Desmond sees the club going.

If they want to sweat the brand in Europe, North America or wherever then Celtic will need to have better players than they currently employ. They are fine at home but definitely do not travel well.

It is fair to ask when Rangers' owner Dave King is going to deliver his election promise to spend millions on refurbishing the team at Ibrox. But the same question is becoming applicable to Celtic.

Dermot has been investing heavily in Celtic for nearly twenty years and can't be accused of neglect, but the game against Molde could be the crossroads for him as well.

Beating the bottom team in the Premiership by five clear goals is good entertainment for the paying customers, but they also want the excuse to spend more of their disposable income on the big European nights they savour.

And a more reliable squad of players will be necessary to make that happen.

If the price to be paid for saying this is a barrage of criticism with a cutting edge to it then I will leave you with the words of that well known football pundit Oscar Wilde.

The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about. On we go.