old guard finally meet their waterloo

The end of the 2004-05 SPL season was one hell of a sore kick in the nuts, whatever way up you hold it. No consolation prize this year in the shape of a UEFA Cup final. Just a straightforward throwing away of a championship that was there for the taking.

Sure, it would have been something of a pyrrhic victory given the poor quality of much of the football on offer throughout much of the campaign. But that would still have been infinitely preferable to the ghastly events that unfolded before a disbelieving audience of millions of Hoops fans all over the world.

Having achieved an extraordinary level of consistency during the last few seasons, it still seems almost unbelievable that the team could go into the final four matches five points ahead at the top of the table and manage to make an arse of it. Yet screw it up they most certainly did.

But leagues aren't won or lost on the last day of the season, or even in the last five minutes of the season, and there have been more than enough horror shows this term to suggest that this was simply an accident waiting to happen. You can just as easily point to four home defeats - one of them against Aberdeen when a win would have seen us go 11 points clear in October - or two points dropped against the team who were relegated from the division as to the events at Fir Park as decisive games. The final game merely threw many of the collective failings into a sharper contrast: players playing out of position, lack of discipline and organisation at the back, an over-reliance on the long ball to name but three.

MON turned to the Old Guard one last time to see him safely over the line, but this time they fell at the last fence. It's clear that for quite a few of them the end of their Celtic career is fast approaching, so it's a shame that much of what they've done for the club during the past few years will be tarnished by that one game. Had they held out for a poxy five minutes it might have given us a night to celebrate, but it would have maybe postponed some of the rebuilding work that has to be done on the team.

As it happens, it's beginning to look as if that particular job has been accelerated. Take a look at this season's squad photograph and count the number of faces in it who have either already left, will be leaving soon or who you would gladly chip in for their plane fare to realise that the scale of the task in hand is possibly a bit bigger than we'd like for comfort.

What happens next is going to be of crucial importance in terms of progressing. We need some leadership, we need some clear signs of strategic planning and we need somebody at the top to let the fans know exactly where we're going from here.

We cannot afford another summer like the last one. Arguably we never really regained any kind of momentum as a result of the lack of transfer activity. The management had known for a year that Larsson was on his way, yet their attempts to replace him fell way short of what was required.

During that time, MON was obviously having to devote his attention to matters more important than football. If recent tabloid reports about his private life are true then it could well be that he is about to part company with Celtic on what could well be a permanent basis. We won't believe it until it comes straight from the man himself, but if he is leaving then he goes with our heartfelt thanks for an incredible five years and every good wish for his family's future. Nobody could possibly question either his priorities or what he has done for this club since 2000.

If he is staying then he has got a real challenge to face in rebuilding a squad that can take us on to the mythical 'next level'.

Surveying the wreckage of this latest league season the supporters are looking for some signs that the palpable lack of direction that has afflicted the club all season is about to replaced by some moving and shaking. The fact is that most of the clubs we aspire to emulate on the continent already have their new players signed for next season and seem to have no problem with keeping their supporters informed about who they are. Has it never occurred to anybody on the Celtic board that this kind of approach might make parting with the season ticket money a bit easier to bear? Are they aware how unprofessional it makes the club look?

The board can also put money-spinning canters to the States on the back burner and re-focus their focus groups on winning the league next season. If they're seriously including Champions League money in their budget projections they'd better do whatever it takes to help whoever's managing the team get us there.

In the face of what is sure to be a tabloid-led frenzy of fear-mongering they'll have to take a leaf out of the Bunnet's book and be prepared not to panic but to tough it out and make the right decisions. It's time for them to show that they're up to the task ahead.

On the bright side, two rounds of European qualifiers and Celtic will be second seeds in the Champions League, and who knows, after all this we might yet see some serious dough being spent on the team this close season.

If, on the other hand, we're halfway through June with no idea who's going to be manager and basically the same squad of players then it's time to push the panic button.

The Motherwell result and all the rest of it is history now. Two years ago we bounced back from a similar situation to win the league in a canter. Once more we've got a point to prove.

The Cup might have lost some of its lustre this year, but at the very least it's a chance to show MON that we're still behind him and the team.