IT doesn’t matter if people think Ronny Deila was right or wrong to take Kris Commons off in Molde the other night – you just can’t have that reaction as a player. It’s about having respect for your manager. A player, of course, is entitled to be unhappy about being replaced but you need to keep it behind closed doors. If you’re not happy with a manager’s decision then you’re within your rights to tell him but the correct way to do it is in his office or somewhere else private. You can’t do what Commons did by causing a scene in front of everybody. It’s just not the done thing.

There were plenty of times in my playing days when I wasn’t happy with a manager for whatever reason. And there were a few I sought out in private for a quiet word. But I don’t recall ever making a public show about it, certainly not on the pitch if I was being taken off or whatever. Maybe once or twice I shook my head to show I didn’t agree or to show I was disappointed but never any shouting at the bench or causing a big scene like that. As a player you can’t behave like that.

As a coach I’ve had to deal with players who’ve been huffy and maybe sulked a bit if they weren’t happy with a decision. But I don’t recall anyone ever cracking up the way Commons did. I thought Ronny, John Collins and John Kennedy actually did well to stay calm the other night. I think if that was myself or Jim McIntyre then we probably would have reacted and that’s not what the fans want to see. Players can’t behave like that as it gives the impression they have no respect for their manager. And that’s not acceptable. He’s apologised but now he has to make it up to the manager and everyone else at Celtic.

Maybe he’s not Ronny’s usual type of player which sounds mad as he’s a creative type who scores goals. He’s just not one of those modern-day fitness players who can do both sides of the game, attacking and defence. That’s Ronny’s preference and Kris maybe doesn’t fit in to that. But there are time when you just have to overlook that and think, “this is a guy who can go and win us games”. And Commons is like that. But he was still wrong to react the way he did the other night.

IT was almost forgotten given everything that happened to Celtic on Thursday night that they had signed Carlton Cole earlier in the day. When you look at their attacking options it’s maybe something that’s been lacking. They’ve got Nadir Ciftci who has decent height and strength, plus Leigh Griffiths who works the channels and is razor sharp. What they’ve not had is an out-and-out target man, someone they can launch the ball up to who can win it in the air. It also gives Celtic the option of playing a 4-4-2 at times if Deila wants to have another striker playing around Cole. You have to say also, however, that his signing is a gamble because of his injury problems.

There is also a risk attached when you sign someone who hasn’t kicked a ball competitively for five months. We had a similar situation at Ross County as when we arrived the transfer window was closed so we took in free agents. It took us two months to get those players up to full speed, get their fitness levels up and attuned to our way of thinking. It will be the same with Celtic with Cole. You can’t rush him back to fitness or you might burst him and he might get injured again. It has to be a gradual process.

It looks a decent signing on paper given his background but some players with Premier League pedigree have come up to Scotland and struggled. The quality might not be as good here as south of the border but there’s an intensity that often takes players by surprise. It’s non-stop for 90 minutes and that puts physical demands on a player. It’s a gamble but he could be the type of striker Celtic have been looking for.

I’M all for protecting the flair players like Nathan Oduwa. We play with wingers at Ross County and we don’t like to see them getting booted off the park. But you also don’t want to start moaning too much about your players getting too much heavy treatment. To be fair, I don’t think Rangers went overboard with complaints, it was more the clamour of their fans who felt Oduwa was being targeted by the Livingston players. I think it was maybe just one of those games that gets a bit out of hand, a big team and against wee team fighting for their lives.