A few days ago one of the most experienced and respected managers in football, Martin O'Neill, sat in the technical area and watched his team blow a 4-0 lead on aggregate to exit the Champions League costing his club north of £25 million. As he watched this, there is no doubt he would have tried to make changes to help stem the tide of attacks hitting the Celtic goals, but at the end of the day he personally could do nothing to stop it. Why was this ? It's because once the players cross that line it's ultimately up to them to play to the best of their ability and win the match. The manager can only work with the players during the week, pick the team and set the tactics. After that, it's up to the players to perform....and very highly paid players at that.
I think the people who feel the need to carry on this onslaught of criticism of David Gray should maybe keep the above in mind. The manager can only do so much. Substitutions are made for a reason. Players get knocks and have to come off as was the case with Passlack on Thursday night. Then there are players who have maybe been carrying injuries or are completely wiped out.
As manager, of course Davie Gray ultimately takes responsibility for results, and there are 15,000 people at Easter Road who all think they can do the job better than a fully qualified coach who has been involved in the game for the best part of 20 years. We are all entitled to our views and opinions. For me though it's the players who win or lose a game. They all want to win as much as the fans, but it's easy to forget that there is another team and another manager who wants to win that game as much as we do. I know Thursdays result and the manner of the defeat was a real sore one, I was absolutely gutted after the game, but we have to back the team and the manager. If the board decide he isn't the right guy for the job any more, they will make the decision, but until that time I really hope the support get behind the manager and the team. We have some huge games coming up that we need to win, and we need everyone at the club to pull together.