Mark Hateley's blog in today's record

[redford 0]

You won't like him when he's angry

By Mark Hateley on Mar 11, 10 09:45 AM in walter smith

 

If Tony Mowbray has learned anything from his first catastrophic season in Celtic's hotseat then it is surely not to wind up Walter Smith.

 

I've lost count of the amount of mistakes the Parkhead club have made - on and off the park - throughout this incredible campaign but the single biggest blunder of the lot has been the complete lack of respect they have shown to the man in charge of the club across the city.

 

Walter has had steam coming out of his ears for some time now because of a stream of insults and excuses spewing out of Celtic Park and he has responded like a man possessed.

 

First things first.No wonder my old boss is quietly furious with the furore his rivals have been kicking up.

 

They've blamed the refs, they've blamed the SFA, they've blamed the state of the pitches. They've accused everyone but themselves for the fact their team has performed so hopelessly since Mowbray took charge.

 

All this crap about the "establishment" conspiring against them left a bad taste in the mouth of anyone who cares about the Scottish game. That is the kind of paranoid pap only the most deranged of supporters would cling to.

 

But it seems pretty clear to the watching world from the comments which have been made during the last few months that Mowbray and his paymasters are buying into it too.

 

It's pathetic. It's laughable. But it hasn't half given Walter a fire in his belly during what must have been the most trying and difficult 12 months of his career as a manager.

 

It would've been understandable - given the financial upheaval which has been going on behind the scenes at Ibrox - if Walter had begun to feel drained by it all some months ago. He's been fighting a losing battle at boardroom level and has been left to fend for himself without any kind of support from the people running his club.

 

Two years without buying a player? Working without a contract since January?

 

Just about every other manager I know would have told the money men where to ram it some time ago. Walter stayed because of his love of the club - but even that will have been tested to the full.

 

And then, just when you begin to wonder how he can possibly continue to motivate himself and his players... along come Celtic and their big book of excuses.

 

In short, they have been an inspiration for everyone at Rangers.

 

Walter has always been an expert in man-management but I don't think he could have dreamed for better ammunition than he has been given by Mowbray and the men running his biggest rivals.

 

At the start of this season Rangers were as low as low could be after a disastrous, humiliating Champions League campaign. Confidence had hit rock bottom and I suspect even the great man's appetite for the battle was beginning to wane. He had been rabbit punched.

 

He knew his group had been together for too long without new faces to freshen it up. He knew he would have problems picking them back up. And he knew Celtic were in a position to throw money at their team in an all-out attempt to win a two-horse race. What he couldn't have possibly bargained for, however, was just how badly the other lot would mess it all up.

 

From Mowbray's mishandling of players in the early days of the season to his mass clear-out in January, it's been one cock-up after the next.

 

Clearing out proven winners such as Gary Caldwell, Stephen McManus, Barry Robson and Scott McDonald was almost beyond belief.

 

And it looks even more stupid now Celtic are 13 points off the pace at the top of the table and McDonald is still their top scorer a month and half after moving to Middlesbrough!

 

Because of this list of ludicrous decisions Celtic have mounted a sustained and sinister campaign to cast some kind of doubt over the integrity of this entire Scottish set-up. And that is simply unforgivable.

 

They have thrown accusations around on a seemingly weekly basis. The excuses they have come up with for their own shortcomings get more and more ridiculous by the day. They have attempted to blacken the reputation of the entire Scottish game but have succeeded only in making a mockery of themselves.

 

But they were right about one thing. There is indeed something rotten in the state of the SPL - and it's festering away in Glasgow's East End.

 

No wonder my old boss has taken it badly. Because of Celtic's attempts to deflect attention away from the real reasons why they are in such an awful mess, they have shown utter contempt for the magnificent achievements of Smith and his players.

 

But, in doing so, they have also handed their rivals all the incentive they need to make sure they finish off the job. Rangers have been phenomenal this season and the way they have been playing in recent weeks suggests to me they have taken Celtic's nefarious smear campaign very personally indeed.

 

I expect them to ram the point home now in the coming weeks. If they can win a treble then it will be a miraculous feat and they will deserve all the credit that comes their way. They have performed as a unit and a team with a single-minded determination to prove they are the best side in the country. No excuses.

 

In all my time I'm not sure I've ever seen Walter so fired up. He'll want to win every game left now to leave no one in any doubt as to the quality of his team to wrap up a domestic clean sweep.

 

If Rangers can do that then it will arguably be the greatest season of Walter's career and thanks to Mowbray and Celtic,almost certainly the sweetest.

[Beattie 0]

I must admit.. quite clearly no one here is or ever will be too fond of them. But the way they've gone on this season has taken my personal level of.. is hatred too strong?.. No, hatred to another level.

 

Hately makes a fair point (actually he makes many, but this one I'll pick up on) when he mention who exactly has 'bought into it'. There's always been the 'daft fan minority' aspect and I mean that from both sides who put on the tinted spectacles and go nuts. But when Lawwell and Mowbray start buying into it.. it does become slightly laughable.

 

No excuses.

[Norris Cole 0]

I'm speechless. Best column I've read all season.

 

I particularly enjoyed: "There is indeed something rotten in the state of the SPL - and it's festering away in Glasgow's East End"

 

They've been found out for the scumbags they are this season.

 

2-in-row: GIRUY

Edited March 11, 2010 by Norris Cole

[mainstandbear 0]

Because of this list of ludicrous decisions Celtic have mounted a sustained and sinister campaign to cast some kind of doubt over the integrity of this entire Scottish set-up. And that is simply unforgivable.

 

They have thrown accusations around on a seemingly weekly basis. The excuses they have come up with for their own shortcomings get more and more ridiculous by the day. They have attempted to blacken the reputation of the entire Scottish game but have succeeded only in making a mockery of themselves.

 

 

Thank you, Mark Hateley...at last someone challenging the dheclans for their constant harping about 'institutional bias' and the insinuation that Scotland is a sectarian country.

[Zappa 0]

I'm speechless. Best column I've read all season.

 

I particularly enjoyed: "There is indeed something rotten in the state of the SPL - and it's festering away in Glasgow's East End"

 

GIRUY

.

That line was brilliant! Festering is a great word for the barrafields and its contents.

[Danny 0]

Last time I saw a Hateley column posted on here you lot were slaughtering him for saying quite different things.

 

It's like football form - you only seem to rate based on the most recent 'performance'.

 

So what is it this week - hate or love Hateley?

[Zappa 0]

Last time I saw a Hateley column posted on here you lot were slaughtering him for saying quite different things.

 

It's like football form - you only seem to rate based on the most recent 'performance'.

 

So what is it this week - hate or love Hateley?

.

Fair point Danny. TBH, if you've seen the actual spread for this article in the paper, it was quite strange and personally, I didn't like it. They had a massive picture of the incredible hulk that had been manipulated into a blue hulk with Walter's face. Not particularly funny IMO & I'm still not a huge fan of Hateley in his role as a gutter press hack.

[rbr 1,270]

I dont know where hately found the baw's to put his name to this , very unlike big ermmmmmmm

[bmck 117]

So what is it this week - hate or love Hateley?

 

Depends whether I like what he has written

[Danny 0]

Depends whether I like what he has written

 

Ha, my point exactly