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What crisis? Celtic creates problem with sacking of BarnesPosted: Friday February 11, 2000 04:58 PM
Crisis is an overused word in the world of football. A couple of defeats, and your team's in crisis. A minor disagreement with management, and a player's in "crisis" talks, and so it continues. Of all the so-called crisis situations that have arisen this season, however, I would suggest that the one that cost John Barnes his job as manager of Scottish giant Celtic is the least deserving of the name.
After all, the enforced departure of the former Liverpool and England winger from his first managerial job comes at a time when the club is second in the Scottish Premier League. Granted, they're 10 points adrift of their arch rival, Rangers, as well as being well below the standards that have previously earned them 36 Scottish league titles. But where else in the football world, or in any other business, would second-place be regarded as abject failure? Of course there is the little matter of that third-round Scottish Cup defeat at the hands of first division minnow Inverness Caledonian Thistle, a six-year-old club without a tenth of the resources of 112-year-old Celtic. But that is the lottery of cup football, and hardly cause for panic, let alone dismissal. "John Barnes is an admirable fellow and is someone who will go on in later years to establish himself as a very succesful coach and manager of a football club," said Celtic's director of soccer, Kenny Dalglish, who'll take over as interim coach until the end of the season. "Unfortunately it won't be with Celtic Footbll Club."
Why not? I doubt there's a manager in the game who wouldn't settle for second in the table after just eight months in charge, so it's hard to see what exactly he did that was so wrong. Unless, of course, Celtic perceives the quality of opposition in the Scottish Premier League to be so poor that beating Old Firm rival Glasgow Ranger is all that matters that is. If not, then John Barnes had surely just begun. Teams are not built overnight. Especially under the glaring spotlight that falls on one of the world's most fanatical and staunchly divided football cities. And while the impatience of the Celtic faithful, who reportedly bombarded the club's switchboard demanding Barnes's head on a platter, is understandable, it doesn't make it right. John Barnes was not given a fair crack of the whip in my opinion, because eight months is just not enough to prove whether he's a good coach or a bad one. Such a knee-jerk reaction to a modest failure is not the kind of thing on which dynasties are built, and Celtic's refusal to look at the bigger picture doesn't augur well for the future. Crisis? What crisis? Any perceived problem at Parkhead is now surely of the club's own making. Terry Baddoo is a co-host of "World Sport," the international sports show that airs live on CNN/Sports Illustrated and CNN International.
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