It took Celtic supporters the best part of half an hour on Sunday afternoon to belt out their now traditional rendition of ‘Sack the Board, Sack the Board’.
But as dysfunctional as this club may be off the park, there’s no doubt things are every bit as bad on it. This is an organisation that requires a rebuild from top to bottom. No one should be exempt.
Not the board members, not the management team, not the players. The whole thing is a shambles.
The table will show the champions are right on track to defend their crown. Indeed, the stats here will show this was a contest they dominated. But anyone with a set of eyes and any sort of common sense knows the real story.
Ahead of the match, Martin O’Neill insisted he is essentially oblivious to the outside noise around his team. Aye right.
Callum McGregor looks frustrated as Celtic go down in Falkirk
Scott Tanser celebrates his goal with Falkirk team-mate Owen Eames
Legend at the club though he may be, the Northern Irishman is surely on thin ice. Any other Celtic manager with three wins in his last 10 in all competitions certainly would be.
Frankly, he’s kidding himself on when he says he’s been satisfied with Celtic’s start to the season. The fans aren’t buying that nonsense any more. Does the man himself even believe it?
He continually talks about how his team need time to find their feet. More drivel. We’re now in November. Falkirk also signed 17 in the summer and they seem to be doing relatively well.
The football is just atrocious to watch. It has been all season. Such is the standard of the opposition in Scotland, they usually have just about enough quality to get away with it.
But that’s not a long-term solution to an increasingly worrying problem.
Falkirk, by the way, were outstanding here. They have now won four games on the bounce, each in a thoroughly un-Falkirk way.
Their success under John McGlynn has been built on the ability to pass teams off the park. This victory was far more to do with grit, determination and unity than anything else. Three qualities their opponents are lacking.
Falkirk play like a team. Celtic play like a bunch of individuals. And unless something changes pronto, things are going to get even uglier.
Just as they did in the 2-1 win over Hibernian at Easter Road last week, Celtic fell behind early doors.
Finley Barbrook picked up a loose ball midway inside the visitors’ half before finding Ryan Strain in acres of space on the right-hand side.
The full-back’s cross should have been blootered clear by Cameron Carter-Vickers at the back post with minimal fuss. Goodness knows what he actually tried to do, with the ball simply bouncing off the big American and right into the path of the grateful Ethan Ross, who couldn’t miss from five yards out.
Celtic winger Haissem Hassan gets involved in a scuffle with Falkirk players
Shocking stuff from a Celtic perspective. Carter-Vickers’ comments questioning Celtic’s ‘random’ style following defeats to Rangers in September were bang on the money. But he would do well to examine his own performances too. He’s not as good as some fans seem to think.
It took 10 minutes for Celtic to muster up a response. Liam Scales’ long ball found Camilo Duran in behind the Falkirk defence. His strike across goal from a tight angle beat Scott Bain, but not the far post.
Haissem Hassan’s curler from the follow-up was then brilliantly tipped round the post by the keeper.
Jacob Murrell is the country’s in-form striker with five goals in his last seven outings, but sclaffed a shot wide from the penalty spot at the end of a lovely move involving Owen Eames and Scott Tanser down at the corner flag.
Duran should have levelled things up on the half-hour mark after getting on the end of a wicked Hassan ball into the six-yard box, but headed straight at Bain. Anywhere else but right down the middle would have done the trick.
He was made to pay for that miss as Falkirk doubled their advantage with a wonderful team goal on 38 minutes. Eames was given far too much space on the Falkirk left, but take nothing away from the way he threaded an inch-perfect pass into the path of the underlapping Tanser.
He took one touch to set himself as he drove into the box before coolly slotting past Johnstone. It was the kind of football we’ve become accustomed to seeing on a weekly basis from this side under John McGlynn.
Yes, Celtic looked like they couldn’t even be bothered to try and stop them but that’s not Falkirk’s problem. Their execution was flawless.
Man-of-the-Match Bain was once again called into action as the break came into view, and he once again stepped up, tipping Duran’s left-footed strike from 18 yards around the post.
Martin O’Neill looks on in dismay as Celtic suffer in Falkirk
O’Neill could have taken off any one of his so-called big-name stars at half-time and there would have been no grounds for complaint. He settled for just the one, replacing Callum Osmand with James Forrest.
Osmand should never be playing on the wing anyway. In Yang Hyun-Jun’s absence – and with Jota still searching for fitness – he has had a run of games in that position. You suspect he won’t be holding on to it for long. Square pegs in round holes, and all that.
If O’Neill did give his players a boot up the backside at the interval, you wouldn’t have known it, conceding a shocking third through Murrell within minutes of the restart. Fortunately for the visitors, they got away with it, with VAR spotting that the ball was bundled in by the striker’s hand.
Forrest forced a comfortable stop from Bain on the half-turn, with Callum McGregor then blazing over from a promising position.
The captain has been a shadow of himself all season. In truth, he looks a yard or two off the pace.
For so long, we’ve heard that Celtic just can’t do without him. However, playing like this, he isn’t helping this team.
Bain’s stop to deny Forrest on 68 minutes was simple enough. The one which denied substitute Benjamin Nygren seconds later to seal the points was right out of the top drawer.
The Bairns hadn’t beaten Celtic in 19 years coming into this one. Given the state of this Celtic side, is anyone truly surprised that run has come to a halt?
