Celtic may be winning, but a blunt BBC Sportsound exchange has put the spotlight firmly on what the club still cannot ignore.
The conversation around Celtic right now is not just about results, it is about what those results are hiding, and that was laid bare after the win over St Mirren when the issue was taken onto BBC Sportsound.
There is a growing sense that winning the title could distract from deeper issues within the squad. That concern is not new, but it is becoming harder to dismiss.
When the subject was put directly to me by Michael Stewart, the response was blunt.
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67 Hail Hail regularly appear on the BBC platform to discuss Celtic and this time, we didn’t hold back with a message to the board after a question from popular pundit, Michael Stewart.
Stewart said on BBC Sportsound, “Paddy, I was gonna say, here’s one for you in terms of and I know it’s obviously slightly stupid to suggest, would you forgo winning the title, but would you have a fear if you did win the title, that the board wouldn’t view the job to replace and add to the squad being as big as probably everybody else recognises it as?”
My reply was, “If the Celtic board can’t see it then they are extremely naive, negligent or arrogant. Michael, are they not?”
Stewart: “Is that not accusations that have already been labelled at them, though?”
Paddy: “Probably aye. So I mean, even if we do win the league, it will paper over some cracks. But those cracks are massive. You can see them now, even while we’re winning, there’s still big, big gaps in that team that need to be replaced or need to be filled.”
Stewart: “So that’s my point, Paddy, is that, do you feel that it’s almost like not winning the title is what’s needed for the board to recognise the job that and the scale of the job that’s needing to be done?”
Paddy: “No, I still think even we should still be looking to win the title, but the board should know.
“I mean, surely they should know that even if we did win the league, this team is nowhere near good enough to continue dominating Scottish football as they have done over the last 25 years.”
Celtic board criticism is not new and this discussion reinforces it
The Celtic board have come under fire this season for the direction the club is heading under the leadership of Michael Nicholson, Brian Wilson and Dermot Desmond.
This is not a new phenomenon and even if Celtic do manage to win the league, that criticism will spark up again at the end of May.
If the club do not quickly appoint a manager and then start the rebuild of the squad as soon as possible, the demonstrations witnessed this season will pale in comparison if the Celtic board allow the likes of Rangers and Hearts to hang onto their coat tails or worse, take over as the dominant team in Scotland.
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