 Sunday, May 22, 2005
Celtic face the harsh reality of failure
My friends today our club has entered a new phase. We have failed, and the harsh reality of failure must be addressed.
I am more surprised at my lack of surprise than the fact that we could not close out a game against an extremely under strength team from Motherwell (population 35,000).
The debates which have raged here all season have been answered; the players are not good enough and the system is not good enough.
The five year plan, which I have defended so stoutly here, has flattered to deceive. It will be considered a limited success in as much as it delivered three championships and European credibility, but it has been walloped down to size this season by Aberdeen, Rangers, Hearts, Hibernian and Motherwell.
Having spent all those millions did we get value for money? No.
Champions have the luxury of consolidation. Losers have the responsibility to change and a root and branch change must now happen.
The scouting system has not delivered. The youth system manages to win their leagues, but fails to graduate their prodigies into the first team. The first team squad are among the best paid in Europe and yet do not possess sufficient variation in their play.
I do not know how Martin O’Neill will respond to this most damaging defeat. He has loved his time in Glasgow, but he will feel the cold draught as much as any of us. He has now lost two leagues to a man most Rangers fans believe to be a weakness at their own club.
For what it is worth, I believe the Gordon Strachan story of today to be a complete falsehood, planned to inflict as much disruption as possible on our preparations for today’s game.
I expected a story along these lines to be carried by those who care less about our club than you or I, and it arrived right on cue.
I hope Martin responds positively and maintains that appetite of his to see Celtic succeed at the very highest level. He is a precious part of our larger family.
The estrangement between many fans and the club is a concern I have had all season. I have been a Celtic supporter long enough to remember only 16,000 attending most games and I have genuine concerns that this season will result in a reversal of momentum.
To those who mocked me last week for advocating greater financial commitment to the cause, please believe this. Our club will succeed or fail primarily on the efforts of you and me, not the players, the manager or the board.
We will be Celtic supporters long after all present office holders at the club have moved on. It is our club, and it derives all its strength from us.
Just as I am not sure how Martin O’Neill will respond, I am not sure how our board will respond. I am convinced they had not planned for today’s outcome.
In case they are in any doubt, they need to respond in a clear and effective manner. This will take more than just money (though it will certainly take lots of that). It will take leadership, good judgement, and perhaps even good fortune.
Today has violated how this great Celtic team will be remembered, for that I am genuinely sorry. This league is gone, the Cup Final cannot come quick enough for me to put this season behind me.
It is time for Celtic to rebuild and plan. It is time for you and me to look forward.
Celtic must prosper.
363 Comments:
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Thanks for putting all that so well Paul-just what I am thinking but I am unable to put everything into words at the moment.I have never felt so let down by Celtic in all my 40 years.
I cannot believe it.
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A bit harsh.
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It is the manner of the defeat.
It does not make sense to lose in the 88th minute, it just does not make sense, again aswell not the first time.
This team HAS to be broken down we can all see it, it cant go on.
I hope Martin stays but the man needs help, support and money yes money and no 15 million 30 million.
Goal difference and a good celtic boy scoring goals against us who would believe it 2 seasons lost, but thats us the tic the timaloy never short of controversy, we will be back, desmond underwrite 30 mill for the man HAIL HAIL.
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I believe todays paper talk did contribute. How much? We'll never know.
One thing for sure though is that if MON is leaving then he has left at a very low and with a reputation that is not deserved for the things he has given us over his tenure?
If he isn't leaving then he has to take blame for the paper talk as he has instigated it over the last couple of weeks.
Yours so disappointed in that the worst Rangers team for 20 years wins it's 2nd title in 3 years.
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I think we threw it away,we gave it to Rangers not only in this game but in others.
we nearly lost it last week with our inept performance over that whole game.
I am sorry but whoever came up with the idea that we should start waisting time with 30 mins to go should be shot.
Well heres to next season and hope it brings some better highs than this year.....
Also there is no taking it away from motherwell they played a good game Big Marshy and Scott McDonald played exceptionally well but again it was Celtics poor performance(not just today) that let us all down.....
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All Martin had to do was refuse to answer the question. His 50% reference did us and him no favours at all......
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WE ARE LIVING A NIGHTMARE BUT WE MUST REMEMBER TAKE THE GOOD WITH THE BAD AND THIS IS BAD BUT THIS IS WHEN TRUE CELTS COME FORWARD
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Copy of the letter I'm sending to Boyle re the outrageous way I was treated today....
Dear Mr Boyle,
I am writing this letter to inform you of the disgraceful way I was treated at the match v Celtic this afternoon.
I was invited to attend by my friend who lives in Motherwell and although not a season ticket holder goes to a number of matches each season. As a neutral supporter I was looking forward to being at the final league game of the season, as the championship had not been decided.
As soon as I took my seat (East stand, Row B, 107) I was verbally abused by a group of four so called Motherwell supporters. I was called a “fenian bastard” as I was not wearing colours of any description. I refused to talk to or even look at these people. For the first twenty minutes this continued. The abuse was not only directed at myself and those beside me but towards some of the Celtic players as well. Agathe and Balde were told to “get back to their mud huts” and called “black bastards”, Lennon was called a “fenian bastard” and Bellamy was called a “welsh coke sniffing bastard”. On a number of occasions these so called supporters called over stewards to complain that we were Celtic supporters. One steward asked me if I followed Celtic and I informed him that I was simply a football fan wanting to watch a game. The steward told these people that there was nothing he could do, as we were quietly watching the match and causing no trouble. The abuse continued and eventually another steward (number 52), an elderly man with a hearing aid was called over by the fans verbally abused him for not ejecting us. He then approached me and stated “you will have to leave as I have been watching you abuse the Motherwell supporters for the last twenty minutes”. I could not believe what I was hearing. A police officer was called and advised us to go with him “for your own safety”. We duly did this and were advised that we were being ejected from the ground. I explained to the officer and senior steward my position and the fact that it was us who had been abused. This fell on deaf ears and I was advised to either leave the ground or be arrested. I was also advised to put my complaint in writing and send it to you.
I therefore write in expectation that you will firstly find these so called Motherwell fans and look into the possibility of in some way reprimanding them. Your cctv will no doubt corroborate what I have said. These people were guilty of racial and sectarian abuse and should be punished for this by both the club and the police authorities. I would also expect an apology from you. Your club was happy to take my £16 and then treat me in such a disgraceful manner. The steward as mentioned deliberately lied about the situation in order to engineer a reason to eject us. He too should be reprimanded for such outrageous behaviour.
In conclusion you should be ashamed of your so-called supporters and stewards who have done nothing to encourage a neutral fan to return to your ground. When the focus, quite rightly, is on stamping out racism and sectarianism from our society it is sad to see a football club such as yours doing nothing and indeed allowing these people a forum to express their appalling views in public.
I will be sending a copy of this letter to the First Minister and to the police authorities. I expect a prompt reply from you.
Yours faithfully,
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I think we need a change in direction but I am not convinced that Mon can change. He has always had big defenders and a big target man up front. BBJ has had his fair crack and I think its now time to wave him goodbye, he missed several good chances today, yes big marsh had a few good saves but BBJ continually goes for the top of the net and straight down the middle, he might have got 30 goals but with his chances this season the King would have been over 60, we need someone who can convert a higher percentage of chances.
The defence panic far too easily kicking the ball anywhere, we are in need of a central defender with more composure and that can play decent balls out of defence.
The longer it went at 1-0 the more I felt uneasy and it was no surprise when we lost the equaliser, the second mean't nothing we had already lost the league and we were looking for a winner when caught again on the break.
Roll on August
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What's the beef about Gordon Strachan here? Get off his case. More to the point, I think it would be more pertinent to take a long hard look at MO'N's record of the past 2 years. Aside from his domestic difficulties, was there no-one else at the club he could send out to check out prospective new signings in his 'absence' last summer? We have an ageing group of players at Celtic living on past glories. Hartson wants to keep off the pies, Lennon should should simply piss off to the English Mercenaryship if anyone is crazy enough there to pay him the money he thinks he's worth, and Alan Thompson wants to take a long hard look at himself in the mirror - he's had a couple of decent performances in the past few weeks, but aside from that his contribution to the season has been nil.
And God help us going into the Champions League qualifiers with a defence like that; they are the reason why we blew the league - just look at the recent nightmares against Aberdeen, Hearts and Hibs and todays result suddenly comes into perspective. Jeez, it's so hard conceding the league to such a poor Hun side as well.
I'm afraid I can't be too sentimental about the issue - Martin, your time is up....
Disgruntled in Glasgow.
(With Huns both sides of ma hoose as well..)
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Paul,
I can see where you are coming from, and I share the disappointment.
Yes, we lost the league today, but I would argue that we lost it against Hibs and Hearts over the last few weeks.
The squad is tired, and it shows.
I don't agree, however, with the comments re. the youth system or the comments re. the 5 year legacy.
Celtic have a strong youth setup, with several players emerging. Whether they are the answer to the problems we face right now, is open to question, but it can't be denied that they are capable. Compare our setup now to 5 years ago. Compare our setup now to the current Rangers setup.
Celtic have moved immeasurably over the last 5 years. We are in Pot 2 of the CL (assuming we navigate Q2 and Q3 games). We are in the top 25 sides in Europe. Compare that to 1999/2000.
Yes, its disappointing. Yes, that's an understatement. At the end of the day, we conceded the League several times this season. And to a very poor side.
Let's make sure that the Board and the Management Team understand the signal. Let's get behind the team. Let's build for the next 5 years.
Hail! Hail!
Sprite.
P.S. Its times like this that I thank the Lord that I live down South. Cowardly, I know, but...
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In all the references to MON etc and the ageing, failing team there seems little recognition, except for paul's initial refernce, to where MON and that team (bar Larsson) have taken us in 5 years. Remember, before MON we had just been horsed by ICT as well as our so-called management team.
This is more disappointing than Seville but, please, recognise that MON might just have something more than a game of fotball on his mind at the moment. He will always be a true legend at our club. Forever wearing his heart of his sleeve. Forever Celtic!
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O'neill is a legend, no doubt. He has however made the mistake of allowing the press to unnerve him, the team and the supporters. He did not have to make any comment about his future.....
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The team did not play badly today, the game should have been won by 2 or 3 goals and marshall was outstanding for Motherwell.
If Bellamy or Hartson took the best chances and put them away we would not be feeling like we are now.
Look to the future, if it is an EPL future then i would want MON to be the man taking us there.
It will be full of excitment at the players we are able to compete for in the transfer market and the atmosphere at all home games would be electric as well as many away games as our support throughout the UK is massive.
If Bellamy and MON announced they are staying at the club we would all feel better in an instant. Maybe this is as good a time as any for them to say what there plans are.
It's all very well for MON being annoyed with media speculation at every opportunity, but it is us as the supporters who deserve to know the situation we will have for next season.
Come on Martin, give us a lift, we need it!
Tony, Latvia
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Stunned.
Having gone out walking for the day to try to escape the tension, I hurried back to the car to listen to the last 10 minutes on the radio.
Then there were three minutes to go, with Hibs and Rangers playing out a result that suited them both, given the situation at Aberdeen. That is, 1-0 or 10-0, it made no difference to Rangers, and Hibs making no attempt to claw something from the game out of "professional pride". (A goal for Hibs would have rendered the Celtic defeat immaterial.)
Meanwhile Celtic were holding a 1-0 lead and I sat nervously with my fingers crossed, desperately awaiting the final whistle. But then I thought to myself: pull yourself together... if we were 1-0 up in the Cup Final with three minutes to go I would expect nothing but victory, so why should this be any different?
And then it happened!
Meanwhile Hibs remained happy to stroke the ball around in their own half, playing out time and hoping for a 0-1 defeat. The same Hibs that came to Paradise and threw everything including the kitchen sink at a shell-shocked Celtic. Where was their "professional pride"? If Motherwell could put everything into getting a (meaningless in their position) result just for the sake of winning a game - the same Motherwell that was so easily swept aside by Rangers - then why couldn't Hibs do the same?
Paranoia momentarily raised it's ugly head.
Then the thought entered my mind that maybe Rangers are just better than us. A fact borne out by the respective results against Hibs and Motherwell (and Aberdeen).
And the league was won, not by the team who won the most games or scored the most goals, but by the team that lost the fewest games and conceded the fewest goals. And perhaps we should take this into account when rebuilding our shell-shocked team.
Congratulations to Rangers. But Celtic will be back.
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As disapointing a day as I have ever had as a fan. We couldn't beat a very very average Motherwell team and started defending on our own 18 yard line with 15 minutes to go. We haven't been able to defend alead all season so what him think we could do it today. A good European Team would have strokec it about and killed the game, Celtic? we boot it up the park and it came right back down our throat ever time.
Petrov was dead on his feet with 20 minutes to go (after having been played out of position for the entire game) did the manager change him, did he heck. Martin, you need to have a good look at yourself.
Finally, £6M and 50K is what THE very best players cost, not ones who can't score with just the keeper to beat. Our money would be better spent on 2 or 3 £2M players.
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Unbelievable. I'm still stunned. It is so obvious our side needs freshened up. Lets hope our manager (O'Neill?) gets it right this summer by bringing in some decent players.
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I fail to see hou you can state:
"The debates which have raged here all season have been answered; the players are not good enough and the system is not good enough. The first team squad are among the best paid in Europe and yet do not possess sufficient variation in their play."
and then later in the same article declare:
"To those who mocked me last week for advocating greater financial commitment to the cause, please believe this. Our club will succeed or fail primarily on the efforts of you and me, not the players, the manager or the board."
In the first example your arguement is the tactics and the abilty are too blame despite money being invested and then in the second you seem to claim the opposite.
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Ahh wis never really into tae fitba anyway like. Hows dem lakers doin by the way.
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I hear what is being said about Martin and his home life! and i Wish Geraldine well however and i might sound harsh here last year we lost out on signings because MON had much more important things on his mind (and I don't disagree with his priorties) Are we to enter another close season of will he won't he. Or will he say yes (and I hope to God he does) say yes this is my club these are my mistatkes and now is the time for me to rise and make it all better! On the bright side Mcleish stays! Minx 1888
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Christ I hope it rains. My Hun neighbours are having a barbecue.
However, let them enjoy their day for they shall awake in the morning and still be Huns. And for us, tomorrow is another day nearer next season. In a week this will all be history.
Hail! Hail!
GerryBhoy
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Lets keep our heads held high and not be too harsh on this Celtic team, even though I still find it hard to believe that we are not champions tonight. You are right Paul67 that if they are to be judged on this failure alone that would be an injustice to this side. Sure, we feel very let down but tomorrow is another day and we must get on with it. I remember saying to friends after we had won at Ibrox that if we could not win the league from this position then we did not deserve to win it. Recent performances have not been the performances of champions - and it proved to be so. That said - lets remember that we are 'faithful through and through' - and that means taking the rough with the smooth - and today is very, very rough! I too remember the days of the average 16,000 attendance (and was one of them) - we have changed immeasurably since then - some things in a bad way, but most in a good. I sincerely hope that Martin is with us next season but if not he goes with my best wishes for him and his family and my gratitude for the past 5 years. And, if the name suggested in today's press happens to be correct I can assure readers that I know, from personal experience of the wee man, that he would be absolutely committed to the cause. Hail Hail!! Roll on Saturday. Sorry for the rambling, guys - don't know if any of the above makes sense - really hurting just now and lookig for some positives!
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A bit harsh ? Not harsh enough in my opinion. We did not perform well enough and we did not deserve to win.
As supporters what more could you and I do today Paul? We gave our all.
If we cant beat Motherwell away from home did we truly deserve the league title? I don't think so.
Its time for MO'N to stop playing games, either commit to Celtic for the long term or go. If he choses to go then I for one say thanks but lets look forward. If his wife is seriously ill then they as a family have all my sympathy. However all this mystery over his future does not help us as a club so we need to put an end to it.
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I'm not going to say a thing,I'm going to give it 24 hours before I put my thoughts into the public domain,a lot of people have to think long and hard what they are doing for Celtic and I'm not talk about the fans,they never entered my mind,they are the best in the world with no exception.
We seen it coming,just a bit quicker than we thought.
Heres a few things to think about before I go.
I'm only 35(next weekend Bhoy)and have been through the lean years at CP since a kid standing in many a queue at the turnstiles for tickets for me and the family,I have NEVER seen such a wasteful and dreadful team as the Glasgow Rangers yet where are we?
No matter what you have to post Paul67 as the next exclusive even with a bright slant on it you are going to find there is to be a huge backlash against the custodians of OUR Club.
It's time we the fans got a grip of the Club and send it into the direction that is needed not waiting for the board to do it as you have said recently Paul67
Negative Anon
Hope to hear an interesting few lines from you in the coming days after you have come out that dark cupboard.
Yes you have been banging on about lack of investment in OUR Club for a long time with the board only looking for the interests of themselves,that much is true.
50p a share,that's all they are worth at the moment.
I just hope the officials of OUR great Club are going to be reading the comments of the CELTIC supporters on this site over the coming few weeks as we KNOW they are.
I just hope you are happy with yourselves now.
The vein in my neck is starting to bust,time to go.
And that's me trying to POSITIVE.
We will pick ourselves up and hold our heads high.
Papers,referee,lines men.sorry I'm just getting paranoid now.
Feel like an alien in my own country.
1.1 million population in our city in the 1950's now only 550,000
I wonder why?
Sour grapes maybe!
Reality probably!
Cabbage
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Utterly gutted. Walked home from VC’s house and I could hear huns celebrating from various houses.
I can’t remember ever feeling so low as a Celtic fan but, as you say Paul, it wasn’t entirely unexpected.
What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.
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It hurts. Its not even that the hun took the candy away, at the last minute, it hurts to see billy havin the business end of the cake.
We tripped and stumbled, fell like an old derby winner, it hurts because we gave it to them.
It hurts because in the 88th we had it, but you know what? celtic yesterday, celtic tomorrow and celtic forever.
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Maybe there is a God after all. It's just started raining. Maybe my neighbours will take their CDs of "Popular WW2 Tunes Played By Flute Bands" indoors now.....my what a rich cultural tradition they have!
GerryBhoy
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Anon 6.06 Scott McDonald is Australian,his parents are from Scotland and his dad watches the games at the Frankston RSC in Melbourne,one of us i don't think so,his dad will be so proud tonight.
The better team won the league.
Pot 3 anyone?
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Celtic have been unprofessional for 80% of this season and this is a disaster that has been waiting to happen. Good luck to the wee teams if they can get stuck in and get one over on their overpaid rivals. No use complaining about us beating them regularly 5-0, then saying they're all against us when we can't.
If we had won the league we would have been as lucky as Rangers have been today.
In saying that, there's always the feeling that not only do we have to be better than them to win the league, we have to be a WHOLE LOT better...
We can thank our lucky stars we are still in the CL qualifiers next season. A lot better than us are not so fortunate.
We can forget about jaunts to the States and get back to the drawing board cos the revolving door is going to start turning at a tremendous rate of nauts as from now.
The only thing I thankful for tonight is that I live in a country where everybody is oblivious to it all.
Just hope that next Saturday will be one of our 20% good days. I think for a few it will be their last chance in the hoops.
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I see the crowds have came down to 16k Paul a bit hysterical on your part there Paul any one who was really there in the mid to late seventies know that they should add on 10 k to the real attendance figures{ anyway enough of the past stewardship of the club]the team has underperfomed all season JH the worst offender with AT right behind him and a a player will always play if selected the manager has to hold his hands up he has got it wrong more than right all season replace the above with CB and AMcG AND CELTIC WOULD HAVE BEEN A FAR MORE FLEXABLE TEAM TODAY
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They can't be in Pot 3. In terms of Champions League it makes no difference to their seeding at all whether they're champions or not. It just means they have to play an extra qualifying round.
With the squad the way it is which pot they're in is the least of the worries - just getting there could be a major problem.
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Here,Here,Boltonbhoy.
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Anyone old enough to remember Devon Loch?
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We didn't deserve it, pure and simple.
As has already been mentioned, it isn't just down to today's result.
I'm also trying to not be 'paranoid' (even though I got a bad feeling in the 1st minute when Dallas booked a Motherwell player for a foul inside the box, but no penalty)
Im with you Sprite, living down here does have some advantages.
If you find an extra hole to crawl into Boltonbhoy, give me a shout, I'm not too far from you.
We really have a bad track record on days like this, today, 2 seasons ago and does anyone remember the 2nd last game of the season when we could have won it at East End Park and lost an equaliser in the last 5 mins. At least we had a home game afterwards to redeem ourselves.
Paul67, I was one of those 16,000 and your right, we have got to keep the focus on all the positive aspects of the last few weeks. 'Its going to be really exciting'.
One game doesn't change that, just like the Craig Bellamy Show didn't turn us into world beaters.
We will prosper but can we start tomorrow, cause I'm going to the pub, I need it
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This result has been coming for weeks. With 20 minutes to go we could all see it.
Bellamy aint worth 40K if he can't bury a simple 1 on 1. The defence is a complete and utter disaster waiting to happen and has been for all season.
What can I say about MoN.... He has brought us to a place we thought we deserved but would never see again but unfortunately events have conspired to bring us to a point where we just lost belief.
If Martin is leaving, then I thank him for these wonderful years of unsurpassed joy but in my opinion Strachan will not take us to the 'next level'. If he stays then please show less dependance on the tried and tested. The tried and tested bottled it in a mannner I would never expect from a Celtic team, regardless of the importance of a match.
Like all of you, I'm feeling hurt and let down beyond words. The cup final will be an enormous anti-climax and what confidence will we take into it.
I could go on but it's only my heart talking..
Hail hail, we never walk alone.
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CeltsDownUnder,
Pot 3 my arse.
Celtic will have a skoosh of draw in R2 qualifying, as the top seeded team in the draw.
Hopefully we will have a decent draw in R3, where we will be in the top half of the seeds along with Rangers - if we can avoid Shakhtar Donetsk and Everton.
We should then be ranked 14th, if we can qualify - firmly in Pot 2 of the draw for the league stage.
Let's no panic.
This may be a watershed for the club.
GerryBhoy
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As i said before - they CAN'T be in pot 3. If they make it the're in pot 2. If not...
And Shakhtar aren't the only dangerous opposition Udinese/Sampdoria, Betis/Seville etc.
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LETS HOPE THAT THIS GETS RID OF THE GLORY HUNTERS AT CELTIC PARK WHICH HAS MADE PLAYING AT HOME A NIGHTMARE AND MORE TRUE FANS GET TICKETS
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6.48 sorry for the mistake,pot 2 was intended,that's my point,will we even get into Pot 2? hope we don't get the next CSKA
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Alex McLeish talks complete, and utter PISH. First the classic about them never questioning a decision. Today? Well, obviously today's title will "silence all the critics in the MEDIA". When was the last time you saw a rangers-negative story?
I mean, the "Marvin Andrew- medical miracle" story would have dislogded a new 9/11 from the front page for god's sake. AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!
Anyway, i'm sure tomorrow i'll be thinking a bit more on the performance and i'll be able to look a Hun in the eye and say 'well done'. Lucky for me, i won't be living with the knowledge that i am a Rangers football fan
westim
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Gerrybhoy.
Watershed, you say? We have to hope that those in charge recognise it as a watershed.
However, I'm not holding my breath...
A blind man on a galloping horse has better vision at times...
Words fail me...
Georgiebhoy.
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Certainly the end of an era, the fact that we did'nt win the league will hopefully spur us on for a mass clear out in the summer. Big defenders and big target men are not the way to play football, arrival of bellamy opened our eyes a bit to what we have been missing. I don't think he will stay now, potential targets maybe robbie keane and robert green from norwich.
Ready to hang myself here !!
Hail Hail
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Well you're out there and you know who you are - all of those who told us it was acceptable to put up with the football we played as it didn't matter as long as we won – those who suggested that this was the worst Rangers team in 20 years – what does that make this Celtic team and who’s laughing now?
Fortunately for you Paul I accept that latterly you’d begun to see the light though you’re condemnation of the youth system is too severe. You should instead be wondering why players have not been given an opportunity to develop. Why we prefer to play older players out of position rather than younger players in their natural position? Why we weren’t blooding these youngsters last year when the title was won by a distance?
You should be considering your defence of John Hartson as good enough for the team we need to be.
For you and the other defenders of Hartson please simply remember Chris Sutton can do everything he does only more effectively but we have continually disrupted the balance of the side to accommodate someone who isn't fit enough or good enough. Doesn't make sense and we finally paid the price today for all that went before. But then BBJ doesn't pick himself.
Sadly I’m afraid the blame needs to be placed where it belongs, with a manager too stubborn to change and that flaw in his make-up now means that in terms of trophies won in the record books he’ll be lucky to rival Billy Mc Neill .Worse than that Alec McLeish has now won as many trophies as the “blessed Martin”
Of course the other inevitable consequence of today is that we will have to negotiate 2 rounds of CL if we are to get into the fabled pot 2 and is anyone willing to take odds of Craig Bellamy being with us?
I'm angry. Why ? Because it was obvious all along and we failed to do what was necessary.
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http://www.celtic-mad.co.uk/news/loadrprt.asp?cid=MTCH&id=222972
http://www.followfollow.com/news/loadrprt.asp?cid=MTCH&id=222970
Based on the info on the above links I should probably withdraw my suggestion that Hibs might not have been really trying. Whilst they managed only 2 shots on target during the entire match, incredibly Rangers are reported as having JUST ONE SHOT ON TARGET. And that secured the title for them!
Celtic mustered 8 shots on target to Motherwell's 7, but their 41 year old ex-Celtic 'keeper was their (other) hero.
Ironic though that a team managed by a former Rangers captain beat Celtic to deny them the title, much to their managers huge delight, while Hibs were losing to a Rangers team managed by their own former boss!
Sorry, there go the conspiracy theories again...
Roll on the Cup Final. And please please let us not capitulate against The Arabs. One league championship out of a possible three and one cup out of a possible nine will NOT be good enough for Celtic Football Club.
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Hard one to take
been here before but....
and still here......
and will always be.
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Sorry but the truth is we are not good enough.Of the fringe players only Beattie and when fit Kennedy are worth keeping. In the first team Douglas Varga Balde Thomson and dare I say Jackie and Lennon need to move on.We gave 25-30 grand a week to Juninho when everyone could see we needed a goalkeeper left back and a centre half
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A wee survival tip for tonight: Lock yourself away with your favourite people and listen to your favourite music. Just spent a great hour with Mrs Timmy and Timmy junior dancing to Nina and The Cocteau Twins.
Tomorrow if any huns come out the woodwork to talk to me I could lose my job but tonight 'I aint got no…………..'
Hail Hail
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I wasn't going to post but feel I have to. I can't really describe how I feel. When McDonald scored I just sank to my knees (was close to being physically sick - then again that might have been my hangover). I would normally head into that dark cupboard that cabbage described - but I forced myself to watch and listen to the huns getting the trophy. I wanted to remember how this feels and why we should never let anyone put us in this position again.
As supporters all season we sensed this - the booing of Quinn was a symbol of our unease. Many of you thought this was stupid or crass. But the reality is that the support know and understand what is going on.
To lose to Rangers like this once is bad enough - but twice? To lose to a very poor Rangers side as well.
We had all seen it coming - when we failed to get the second goal and began to sit back I just knew they would score.
The truth is - this defeat was hatched in the boardroom and perhaps at DD's luxury home. They have effectively sacrificed this season (though they very nearly got away with it thanks to players who have tried to keep going and a manager squeezing the very last fom them). Responsibility for this debacle sits squarly on the board. They gambled and we lost. Their gamble may succeed in that they may well still make all the money they dream of. But I for one will never forgive them.
So what are they and we going to do about it.....?
I await a statement from Quinn or Lawwell - but guess what - they will be nowhere to be seen.
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Gerrybhoy,are you sure,maybe it's Pot Black we could enter and win!
Alex has the same record now and he can't get throught the quailfiers
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Gutted, absolutely gutted.
To be honest I had a feeling that the equaliser would be coming. It summed up our season entirely. Not good enough.
Let's face facts. The Dark Side did not win this league - we lost it. How any Celtic team can go into the last four games of the season five points ahead and then still manage to loose the title is beyond me. But somehow this team managed it.
There are many factors that resulted in the Shambles that was today. However, one of the biggest ones for me is the inability to play players in the correct position. Yet again today we had Petrov out right and was largely annonomous. Then when Beattie came on for Hartson, I thought great. Stan will go back into the middle Beattie will go out right and Sutton will go up front. Everyone in their best positions. But no, Petrov stayed out right, Beattie up front...why??? This was not the game to start experimenting in. It worked well last week, and if it ain't broke why fix it??
Who knows what effect the managers family situation has had on this season but it would be silly to think that it's had no effect. I am not sure if I was in his role with that situation I would struggle. The team needs surgery now. And if Martin - and I've been one of his biggest fans - feels he cannot do it with everything else on his plate then this sabatical may be the best thing.
However, we are Celtic fans and as such you take the lows (and God this is a low) as well as the highs. It's football after all and we have to prove that we can bounce back. However, like my earlier poster above I just want the cup final out of the way so we can start the rebuilding in earnest.
Hail, Hail.
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Today is indeed a sad day, but it makes the good days all the better.
Three minutes changed all our perspectives today and put a sense of reality into our team, our lives and confirms the fact that we have a lot of work to do.
It is clear we have been spiralling downhill since Seville and the loss of dear Henrik.
Today is not the day to shoot from the hip and blame everybody and anybody. Remember people will be watching and laughing at us.
We have a cup final to win first; we must get behind the team.
We have a whole summer to reflect, blame and be mocked by the Red(Blue?) tops as well as the Forces of Darkness.
Sometimes to go forward we have to take one step back.
Today, we took one day back.
Hail Hail and to next week to salvage something in this season!!
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Re: Conspiracy Theories - while we might have thrown this title away we haven't really played like champions ourselves this season.
Their is a much greater question than whether the five year plan has worked. It's what can we learn from it and where do we go from here. I disagree with the critism of the youth setup. Over MONs time we've seen a couple of folk who weren't cut out for it (Crainey, Healy, Burchill etc) and quite a few who have shown promise and have contributed at key times: Marshall (Remember the Nou Camp?), Kennedy (Lets see if he can come back from injury), Maloney (again, see if he can come back), Beattie (is he the real deal or not is still to be answered), McGeady and Wallace. The current crop of youngsters in the first team are like all prospects in the game, might work out or it might not.
It will be interesting to see what happens next. Whether it's with MON or whoever the need for a long term plan (3 to 6 years) is still a must.
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Unlike you guys, I never saw it coming.
Sure we havn't played well all season, but it was Motherwell for gods sake, 47 points behind us in the league. I've been following Celtic for over 40 years, have seen Milan and Seville, but never felt the dissapointment I feel now.
These players were seasoned Pro's who have been round the block, yet in the last 15 mins defeneded like schoolboys. Next Saturday is such an anti-climax. We've let the big prize slip. Paul I was also one of the 16,000, and thought that the lows we experienced then, were a thing of the past (domestically). Oh how I've deluded myself. -
We all need some time now to put this behind us. We will come back stronger for it. Faithfull thru' n 'thru.
an aside. Paul J I was sitting a couple of rows along from you and can honestly endorse what you said The racial tants were a disgrace from Some of the Motherwell support. To be fair, also, some of them gave the guy with the Union Jack an earful too, when he started waving it... Sad day alround
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I stood in a packed bar today and the cheers rang to the rafters. While i watched the game on a tiny telly all the big screens showed eintracht frankfurt gain promotion to the bundesliga. They have a fabulous following who cheer them even when they are down with no hope of a comeback. They havent experienced the highs that we as celtic supporters have known. Their club hasn't got a history to rival ours ( not many have) and only now have they got themselves a decent stadium.
We need to get back to basics , from top ( supporters) to bottom ( board members) , no more booing the young lads ( or agathe) at CP when they make a mistake. No more negative attitudes. no more leaving early , how sickening is that to see for those of us who would love to be there? Next season we need to get behind our team and manager whoever it may be. We talk a good game and sing a good song , we need to take it to the next level as fans.
Discussion of personnel etc i will leave for another blog when i am in beter fettle.
Hail Hail lads and congrats and commiserations paul67.
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Yeah it is time for Celtic to face the music - we need major changes. Rangers won fair and square and they by thier own standards are a poor team - what does that make us? At the game, we sang from about half tme until 70 minutes and then the fans began to sense something. There were no songs about champoinies or the like. Everyone was thinking the asme thing - give us a second goal this is too dangerous. But the team could not deliver they ran out of ideas. Petrov and Belamy had the ability but the rest of the team were just giving them the ball and saying - go on do it. I have said this for some time now but we need another dimesion to our play. No width today whatsoever. Thompson on 30 grand a week should have a look at himself.
Anyway lets be positive, 2 rounds of qualifiers and we will be second seeds in the champions league, we will get a big spend in the summer.
Today was a wake up call - a reflection of the voices on this site for some time, we are simply lacking.
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Gutted. But not really surprised. Our form these last 5-6 weeks has been awful, and some of our play simply excruciating to watch. Against Hertz last week I genuinely thought I was watching two Sunday League teams.
And here's the rub: our players are among the best-paid in Britain, but only a handful of them can put their hands up and say they've given their all this season.
Complacent, unfit, lazy, and unprofessional are words that can applied to at least 50% of our first team squad.
Maybe we need today to emphasise just how far the rot has set in. Winning the title would have simply paered over a few cracks.
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I can only echo much of what already has been said.
The simple fact of the matter is that we were just not good enough. We have got from this league season exactly what we deserved.
There can be no excuses. The facts speak for themselves - a five point lead with four games to go thrown away, capitulation to an injury-ravaged Motherwell side on the last day of the season.
It says a lot about the state of the Scottish game that such a limited and lethargic side could come within two games of winning a double.
Hard as it is to admit Rangers are worthy champions. Sure they barely scratch they heights of mediocrity but over the course of the season they deserved it.
They were hungrier and fresher than a creaking and stale Celtic side which should be dismantled before it crumbles any further.
Sure if we had held on today I would be celebrating with everyone else, my doubts and fears blinded by silverware.
But my lack of surprise in the way today's event unfolded told me that in my heart of hearts I knew this Celtic team did not deserve the title of champions.
Indeed I wonder how we would have fared if our friend Souness hadn't so appallingly mismanaged the Bellamy situation at Newcastle? You can't help but feel that the title would have went to Ibrox somewhat earlier had Bellamy remained in England.
The Scootish Cup has historically provided Celtic with renewed hope and joy - even in our darkest days. Lets hope next week is no different.
But lets also hope it marks the start of a new era at Celtic Park. Not for a long time has the need for change been so evident.
Hail! Hail!
Wee Jinky
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Derbyshirebhoy, not sure I recall defending John Hartson to any great extent. If I was in charge I would be asking big questions of them all – even failure has a silver lining.
My condemnation was not meant to hit the youth system per se, more at the irrelevance of it all. Twenty years of irrelevant activity which has not produced a tangible success for a period greater than 12 months.
Again, if I was in charge I would want to know what I was getting for my £1.5million annual spend.
Paul J, I have long held the view that Fir Park is totally consistent with your experience of today. For 2005 read 1950.
Anon 6.25 I don’t follow you. The first quote dealt with the failures of this season, the second with where Celtic go in the future.
Cabbage, my big story for next week will have lost some shin all right. There will be a backlash, and I will be accused of all sorts for daring to talk about future positives.
Thanks for endorsing the message that it is Celtic fans like us who need to take responsibility for our club. I know we cannot direct things, but if we want to rebound from this we need to continue to turn up and support the team.
On Scott McDonald, he did not celebrate very enthusiastically today. More Larsson than Albert Kidd.
Thanks Timmy7, spending time with my boys helped a lot.
Cheers Xavier
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This is a tough one. Don't ever remember feeling this bad after a game. The club gambled on getting through this season with what we had and they lost - just. On another day we would have scored 3 or 4 with the chances we had but sadly, Agathe, Varga and Hartson let us down today. Hartson hasn't played well since he got his contract, Agathe looked tired and Varga just wasn't there for us. MON wanted his tried and trusted players to win the league and go out on a high - they deserved it for their efforts over the last 5 years, but they came up short - the manager has to take much of the responsibility for that.
As I say this is a tough one. Hopefully the bhoys can get some enthusiasm back for next week - for me it is going to take at least that long. Right now I couldn't give a toss for the cup final.
Roll on next year - faithful through and through.
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Thanks for the comments about the motherwell "supporters" today. At least I was kicked out before the goals were scored! Seriously remember the song "faithful through and through" hard to take but its now history let's look forward not back.......
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Paul J
Great sympathy for your treatment today.Regret it only confirms for me the reason why I would never return to Scotland. Afraid its a society that has failed to grow up and the fault lies squarely with leadership that has singularly failed to lead.
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Thanks Derbyshirebhoy. So much for making racial abuse an offence.... I told the police but they were more interested in getting us out of the ground for our "safety". Crap.....
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I agree with alot of this article. The time for severe rebuilding is NOW, well it should have happened right after the Uefa Cup Final. MON looks set to go, but i will have to see it to believe it, and who knows if Bellamy is cumin or goin?? If we lose them both, i don't know what state we will be in. I know £15 million would be a MASSIVE help, tho i feel we'd need more to conquer Europe. I was ashamed of our performance today, we didn't deserve to win, i could see it coming from the 60th minute or so. Lets look forward to the cup final and end this below-par season. Celtic WILL bounce back!
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Once again we have shot ourselves in the foot. As poor a Rangers team for many years has been allowed to steal the title from our grasp, or did we throw it away ?
Once all the finger pointing has stopped we will all realise that the writing has been on the wall for some time.
Our defence has been very poor this season and I cannot believe that this was never addressed. OK Larsson was always going to be missed but our defence this season has been awful.
I hope that Martin clarifies his future asap as his recent comments did us no favours in the build up to this weekend. If the reports are true I cannot see how Strachan will take us forward.
However,don't forget that Celtic is our club and if there was ever a time that it needs our support it is now !!!!
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Devastated like all of us but hereare some thoughts.Hibs/Hearts/Aberdeen play their socks off but lie down to the Huns. Motherwell get walloped 4-1 and then play their match of the season against Celtic and then there`s Hugh Dallas doing his very best for the Huns in his last match. Martin O` Neil... give the man the money to replace this team of ageing warriors and let`s not forget the heights they took us to we`ll never forget them but it`s time for Celtic to move on with MON
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Long time reader of this page, but never posted. Still not sure what some comments are all about, but never mind...
Feel I should add a comment now...
To be perfectly honest I do not think the team has failed us.
It is very unlucky to loose the league twice in the way we have and I have to say last time there was the memory of Seville which eased the pain, but this time it is a real sore one. As sore as it can get.
I do however hold the board responsible for both lost titles.
Football is a cyclical business and you can not expect a team no matter how expensive it is or was
to be at the peak for a long period (5 years is exactly that in football). I am not talking about mega transfers, but if money had been made available at an early stage (early enough to be able to spend wisely) I do think we would be talking about 5 in a row now.
How much will this lost league
cost us? If we do not make it into the champions league it will have a big financial impact particularly as it appears to me that we would be in case of qualification seeded in pot 2.
And for all who are unhappy with Martin O`Neill: Where were we before him?
And Paul67: Among the best paid in Europe. That sounds to me as if we are in the top 10. I doubt we are in the top 30. Sometimes it gets said we can`t even match English 1st Division wages and then we are top payers.
Toby
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Don't agree. We lost the league by our own demerits. If we had beaten Hibs, Hearts, Motherwell it would not matter how much they lay down to the huns............
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We have a wage bill ten million more than anyone else. We hade a 5 point lead with 4 points to go.
Just like Fergus, MON has stayed on for one seasson too many.
His lack of foresight and his conservativism has cost the club big time this year.
I ask you, Bobo signs a contract which could mean he leaves on a free but (as seems more likely) we will have to cough up a million a year for four years if he stays and just how awful has he been this season ?
We pay Hartson a million plus yet he is so physically unfit its embarrassing. But MON won't drop him.
Truly great managers know when to get rid of players who have reached their peak. MON does not. For all his success in previous years, MON IS NOT a truly great manager.
Today was his nadir. We have given the title to one of the worst Rangers teams I can remember. Bearing in mind our wage bill what does that make us ?
All we had to do today was beat a team whose players most of us couldn't name and even then then they had half of them out injured.
Disgraceful - that Celtic team should hang their head in shame. And MON, thanks for the memories but GO for godsakes GO
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A sad end to a poor season.
I hate to say it but rangers probably deserved to win the league this year, mainly because they have overachieved (yes they are probably the worst champions in memory) Celtic on the otherhand have massively underachieved.
Blame can be pointed in all directions but everyone is collectively at fault, the players the manager and the board.
Fortunately for Martin, a measure of what he has achieved as celtic manager can be measured by the fact that there will not be a demand for his sacking, any other manager would deserve to be sacked for failing to beat this rangers team, but he definetly deserves the chance to put it right.
If Pauls predictions are correct better times are ahead and as such the media lead hysteria should be avoided at all costs.
In the meantime if todays press reports are correct then Martin deserves all our support and for us to realise that the last thing he needs is Celtic fans on his back.
I know it wont feel like it but put yourself in his shoes, losing the league is not the end of the world.
Chin up and look on the bright side, rangers are now stuck with big eck for at least 2 more years.
MichaelC
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"I do however hold the board responsible for both lost titles."
Anon
the bord sanctioned O'Neills dodgy deals a la Hedman (£!.5M and counting) etc. Yes.
Who bought the shite that we have paid through the nose for?Has he ever captured a bosman? NO! Our loan deals? Abysmal and extortion. If our scouting is rubbish, who's to blame?
THE MANAGER.
Everybody and their Aunt Sally knew that the King was leaving for a YEAR!!! No serious attempts at getting a replacement in place for this season, the traditional Celtic farce of a last minute abomidable loan deal which cost us a fortune. This guy knows only one way to play and he has been found out.
The only plus point is that the ginger bawbag will be there for the next few years while we, hopefully, get a decent manager.
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Toby, our wage bill is £40million. There are not 30 clubs in the world who turnover £40million.
Birmingham City pays £16million in wages. You are right about what is sometimes said about wage comparisons, but that is testament to a lack of good information.
cdmcc, family site, remember. Had to bin your previous comment.
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This particular accident has been coming all season. Late disasters have ben the hallmark of all MON's defeats. We have rarely held onto slim leads (or draws) in the big "must win" matches. And I'm talking about Euro matches, key home defeats and now League Deciders (not the games where we win the league with 4 games left).
Our lack of adventure earlier in the season, sitting on two goal leads with 20 minutes to go at home and not going after a goal or two was always going to count against us in the end. We were never ahead on the goal difference and it cost us big time as we turned a league marathon into a cup tie at Fir Park.
Has anybody asked why our players are now tired after spending the second half of the season playing mainly one game a week due to the lack of European matches. Our big money players didn't do it today and the league is gone. Back to the drawing board and tak it on the chin.
As I have said earlier we lost the PR battle by not shooting down the MON leaving story and have nobody to blame for this but ourselves. MON has got to come clean to the support as he obviously won't blame any of the 5 year veterans who are to blame. Impatient fans, especially those who leave early because Chris Sutton and Neil Lennon have decided to play keep ball with 20 minutes to go instead of upping the tempo and bagging extra goals, will probably also get the blame.He must let the fans know what the board are up to and if they are part of his reason for going (if that is true).
Keep the faith, the next couple of days will be difficult.
Gerry
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Once again, the Rangers boardroom find their greatest ally to be the Celtic board, and quite frankly, i am sick of it. Once again, our esteemed boards lack of foresight has led to the supporters being left with one long awful summer to look forward to, whilst the Rangers support go home with the big prize.
The sense of shock i feel from today's events, is only lessened by the fact it was not, sadly, totally unexpected.The team have been rudderless for weeks, if not months, and requires major surgery. Whether MON should be the surgeon is a debate that requires discussion at great length. All good things come to an end, and maybe it's time to look to the next chapter in our teams history. That said, Mr Strachan, with respect, is not the answer.
The fact that a no more than decent player in Bellamy was seen by many as 'the saviour' speaks volumes for the level that Celtic are at today. He wouldn't have made the bench on the run to Seville.
Surgery is required at Celtic Park if the decline is not to be even more dramatic.
Welby.
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Let's put a lid on this conspiracy stuff now,
we had 90 minutes to beat Motherwell,
there were no penalties, sendings off or debatable goals!
We were simply not good enough!
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I'm with Timmy. (Best mate)
I even gave a special hug to the son that has gone over to the dark side. Still owe an apology to the trouble for the mood I was in for the first hour after the game. I'm sure she understands. It just makes the close season that bit more interesting. Disguised blessings and all that.
You'll never Walk alone.
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Both front and back pages of the Hunday Mail were there to undermine us and to try to give the psychological edge to Rangers, no doubt. If Martin had denied or refused to comment on his future this may not have been as it was today...
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Paul, apologie for the previous comments which may have caused offense..one too many Nelson Mandelas
If the manager does not resign after next Saturday then we are in deep doo doo.
You state about the wage bill being so extraordinarily high. WHO SANCTIONED THE WAGES? ARE THESE PLAYERS WORTH IT? WHO BOUGHT THE PLAYERS ANS ARE THEY WORTH IT? NO!!!!!!!!!!!! Sorry but the manager is piss poor and must resign NOW!! to lose two leagues to that mob who are in so much debt is unacceptable.
Most of that team should follow him out the door.
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And as for Strachan.
Firstly his record is extremely mediocre. He got Coventry relegated and he guided Southampton to mid-table - Big wows
Secondly - his behaviour in the 84 Cup Final is something I cannot forgive either.
He would be a disasterous, poorly thought out appointment. It smacks of the boardroom not having a clue
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Paul67
Thank you for many intelligent posts! Everything you say makes good reading for the Celtic minded.
Today was certainly a disaster in terms of results but football is the one arena that can do that - it happened to us in reverse in that season when Hearts 'deserved' the title but we 'stole' it on the last day of the season - I can't remember the year but I'm sure many of you can.
Celtic played well today until the last 10 minutes when of course they totally lost the plot. But nobody was actually at fault about that. Motherwell's Marshall had a blinder in the 2nd half and he did that for US a few times but 1-0 was tactically never going to be enough at that stage of the game.
The weather was difficult so the pitch was difficult but I felt the problem today was 2 fold. I think Martin told his midfield to find Craig Bellamy whenever possible but today Craig was a bit flippant about his contribution and at somewhere around £2.5m per year that is not endearing!
As regards to all the media picking on our "Aging Players" - it's mostly tosh! - the only Celtic player who has not lived up to expectation this season is Alan Thompson - he's not been terrible but he's not been that good either.
I thought the attitude of Terry Butcher was first class and I also thought the attitude of Tony Mo was disgusting. But that's called 'tactics'. In MHOP Tony goes downwards!
Gordon Stracken will be a disaster at Celtic! Even more so than Dalgleish.
We are facing a plummet! Again!
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surely the board have known for some time that MON is on his way. Strachan is a manager untested at the highest level but so was MON............
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Hi all... again long time reader, first time poster...
Gutted... absolutely gutted... what can I or anyone else say?
Has recent triumphs bred complacency?
I too, watched McDonald (anyone else note him as the danger before kickoff? )speak almost apologetically at having done us for the title... real feeling there...
... and yet watching those scenes unfold before me, It occured to me that I seemed to witness only Bellamy and Petrov share the FULL agony we all feel...
This team... this (almost) seville team have all too often displayed the 'yeah... we're ahead, we've done it... now lets see you come at us' attitude that we are no longer capable of carrying out efficiently?
Sorry for this now drunken rambling, but my point is that even successfull teams need new blood continuously to keep that hunger for success up no matter how good the players are... the desire is required... that is why the apparent 'Celtic 5 year plan' that we have witnessed has now shown its inherint weakness... Winning your first or second title isn't the same as winning your third or fourth...
As for the group of players we have... pride, wounded as it will now be... will make Dundee Utd pay in the Scottish Cup Final...
Unfortunately, right now it feels little more than a consolation cup...
Hail Hail
(I'll now wake up tomorrow hung over and think... jeez... did I really post a message...)
Keep up the good work Paul... the rebuild this close season will see the championship find its way back to Celtic Park next year.
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The one thing that MON should do is come clean now about his future. As Celtic supporters we deserve to be kept informed. The will he or won't he will surely have a bad impact on preparations for the final, a fact not lost on the Rangers press......
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Have we learnt nothing this season? Why do we consistently sit back after scoring just one goal? After Sutton scored today we just sat back and let Motherwell come at us. It was inevitable. We're just not good enough to play it this way.
It was an easy enough ask, go to Motherwell (who we've already beaten three times this season and who were under strength) and win. We couldn't even do that.
Absolutely gutted, and angry.
MON is right, it is time for change!!
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Sorry Paul but I cannot accept your comments about only "Alan Thompson" having a poor season.
Have you watched Bobo this season ? And as the season has worn on, Hartson's fitness is unacceptable for a player on £1M plus a year.
Lambert, Fernandez, Sylla, Laursen. Hedman, Juninho. Camara, Valgaeren, Douglas and for half a season Petta. All took money from the club and gave hey haw in return.
Today was MON's team and his fault. His loyalty to players has resulted in a team with a shocking lack of pace, no defenders who can pass or have a left foot and a disaster for a goalkeepe.
After 5 seasons is that acceptable ?
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agree that strachan is not the answer. if we are to change managers now let's get someone decent in- Paul LeGuen? Co Adriaanse?
Strachan has stop-gap written all over him.
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I have been posting as Anon for a while but now is the time to nail my colours to the mast.
Firstly I believe O'Neil deserves a lot of credit for all that he has achieved. In light of the view that I will express it is necessary to state this obvious fact.
I have however been posting over the season that I believe O'Neil has taken us as far as he could, unles there is a major change in his footbaling philosophy.
Lets be clear, events to day has not been a surprise. In fact if we had won it may have masked a major problem with both the team and the playing style. Before the usual mob starts calling for the board, WE DID NOT LOSE THE TITLE BECAUSE OF LACK OF INVESTMENT. We spent a heck more than any of the teams that beat us. We have a wage bill greater than any team in SPL by far. Now did we get value for money? If these guys are worth what we are paying them then the manager is not getting the best out of them and if they are not worth it then why did the manager sanction such wages. The buck has to stop at the managers desk.
Our style of play is so predictable that every team knows how to play against them. We are not likely to cut teams open with flair or inventive football, we just keep battering away in hope.
Lets us also not be too mean- minded as to give Alex his due, even if grudgingly. At least he knows when he has a dead-wood in the team and tries to rectify that. He sold players that are either surplus or have no future at Ibrox thus saving money to be used to replace these. O'Neil unfortunately either do not have the heart or is emotianally too attached to the players that he never thinks of cutting a player loose. Just as an investor ahould not have an imotional atachment to his shares a manager should not have sentimental attachment to his palyers. When they are past it or the team have moved to a new level which is beyond their skill set then a manager should release and replace them. Expecially in these days where finance is tight, it is important for a manager to identify quickly who has no future with the club and prune them as soon as identified. This will save wages and and provide funds to be utilised in buying someone else. The issue with Lambert, who I have a huge respect for, is a case in point.
O'Neil also seems to like to shop at inflated market. What about all the technically gifted players from the former Eastern block and even Japan. Why shop from the English Premiership. I would also like to see more of our youth team integrated into the first team structure to give them experience. Most of our youth player will be a first team pick for Motherwell etc., hence why can't we trounce all these teams with one of or two of these youngsters in our team , afterall they are better than anything they have in their first team pool.
Clearly the direct and agressive style that served us a few years ago is no longer useful. Does O'Neil know how to play any other way?!! I hope so , if not then he should go with our gratitude. For me I would like Gus Hidink (spelling?), he has shown that he could mold a hard working team that also play with flair, on a shoe string budjet. He is also not afraid of blooding yougsters.
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Phil01
Your post is spot on. I couldn't agree more
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I'm in a boit of a daze, waiting on somebody waking me up and teling me it was a bad dream!!
I was really worried iI've watched us for the past 6 momths or so go a agoal in front and cause apoplexy with the way we try to hold on to the lead. We could do this a year or so ago, but no longer. We virtually invite teams onto us to to score. Though i would obviously have taken the 1-0 is there anyone who didnt expect the sucker punch?!!!! We got out of jail last week against Hearts, recently against Aberdeen, Dun Urd and there are more.
If Bellamy decides to go, i would only keep Jackie, Didier, Stan P and Sutton from the starting 11. That in itself tells a story. Defend deep with no composure = poor results.
Roll on the £15m spend, topped up by a summer cull. Thanks for the memoties guys, but there is no room for sentimentality, and we are all guilty of that.
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A season that promised so much has delivered so little. At this moment I am not even remotely optimistic about the Cup Final. Can't even really think about it to be honest. The big prize has gone and a Cup win would be scant consolation.
Where did it all go wrong? We all have our reasons and most of them have been discussed on here for the last few months. It's just gut-worthy that it had to be hammered home in the cruel way it was.
It seems absolutely ages ago that the CL draw was made and we were up against Barca and Milan. The optimistic of us even thought we could sneak through (an away draw and a home win against both big teams - our home form was impeccable and seemed an almost possible outcome). We have gone from this, to struggling against SPL also-rans and trying (and failing) to hold on away to Motherwell. The season has seen our form flip upside down and it hurts. It hurts because it was avoidable.
I don't want to pick over the bones of what went wrong right now. There are too many things to mention. We all know that change is needed. Change was going to happen this summer regardless. It just would have been nicer to have gone into it as champions. As it is, we need to use this feeling as a positive and to remember how losing feels. Mind you, I was hoping 2003 would be kind of fresh in the memory.
On a different note, I kind of expect the media to adopt an "Andy Davis won the league" stance in the run up to the Cup Final. That should stir up some hate in the support and they will be hoping for a reaction and a subsequent negative Celtic story.
Hail Hail everyone. We will be back. And we will be stronger and more determined than ever.
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apologies for the typo's, a bit emtional and had a few sherberts to dull the pain
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8.29 anon. Fergus didn’t stay one minute too long. He delivered on every promise he made
VC – Thanks – your text got me home without being arrested.
Tonight is not the night for recriminations – it is time for tears; they’ve started now after the shock has worn off.
However, this is not our lowest point (remember the 90s). This is a minor setback. We WILL be better next year and we will still be against a ‘Ned’
I would ask one thing of our board: The first qualifying game should be on the season ticket.
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leabgarrow
If Strachan is appointed Bellamy won't stay. They fell out at Coventry apparently.
I agree your other comments
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Phil, you are right. we nearly sneaked it this year but we would have been the worst team to win the championship in a long time.
The lack of pace and flair is alarming. The lack of footballing ability in the defence is shocking. The fitness levels of the players is very very bad for club with our resources, and the complacent attitude of the last eighteen months is criminal, and was always likely to damage us.
The choice of how to spend precious resources has been hit and miss to say the least. I don't kow how anyone can defend the Lambert situation. The juninho and camara debacles were also completely avoidable and really bring into question MON's judgement.
So gutted at the moment that I fell physically sick.
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hi
we'll you cant say you did not see it coming celtic
have been pretty awful at times this season.
i dont think martin has been with us for some time
his pre match comments about the future are very unfair
on the celtic fans
- it looks like all change this summer
brendan67
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FAO Timmy7
I think overall Fergus did a wonderful job.
But his last year was spent boosting the share price and winning battles to the detriment of the team. (Do you remember the Sick Kids Stunt?)
One other point. Fergus said he wanted to earn 50% on his investment. He in fact earned 400%. I would have forgiven the last year if he had waived £5M of that £28M profit for a training ground
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hmmm, when's the transfer window open?
The only way i can think about today without having a mental/emotional breakdown is by thinking about the season after Seville, and rangers being the best club in the country (by 1-ONE-UNO-EINS-UN goal). We came back at them and showed them that no, we will NOT let you do that to us. I'm pretty sure today's loss will be hurting our players more and next season they will want to put a bullet between the eyes of Bazza and Co.
So lets rebuild and r*pe them next season, Celtic
ataloss_tim
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We lost the league due to our home form, not today's defeat. 4 losses at home is our worst home record in 10 years. We must get back to the days where away sides were dominated and feared coming to Parkhead.
We knew that a rebuilding job was required in the summer, today's result does not change that. We thought we could hang on for the title, but didn't quite make it.
Today's game was a metaphor for our season, good in parts, didn't take our chances and untimately throwing away a winning position.
Sounds like sour grapes but I honestly believe this Rangers side is the worst league winners I can recall in 35 years of watching football. Says it all that we were not good enough over the course of the season to come out on top.
GJ
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All we had to do today was go and beat a team more than 40 points behind us and who had half their first picks out.
Bobo earns more in a month than Scott MacDonald earns in a year. Yet both terrorised us from the first minute.
The board is NOT to blame for that
MON has to take responsibility. I'm sorry but today IS a sackable offence
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Welcome and thanks Stephen74 and Tullies Bairn.
Gregory Graham, it was Tullies who said only Thompson had a bad season, I agree with your other nominations.
Why are any of you spending time discussing Gordon Strachan? Either the Sunday Mail is correct and they were not plotting against us today, or this story is simply unfounded.
I stand by my earlier estimate; this was a successful attempt to bait Celtic fans.
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Seville was a turning point for our club.
It should have been a springboard towards re-establishing Celtic as a European force and domestic dominance.
Instead it has been used as an excuse for failing to invest in a team which has since looked increrasingly stale and tired.
In the two years since Seville we have regressed to the point that we now have a playing squad which is, I believe, much worse than the one MON inherited.
Some money has been available but even that relatively small amount has not been spent wisely.
Now, after a succesion of bad buys, the manager seems to have lost all confidence in his own ability to spot a talent.
This would explain why he has been so keen to hold on to 'tried and tested' players who to many others have long since served any useful purpose.
Since the board has chosen not to follow the path of evoloution over the past few years the only course open to us now is revolution.
I hope many of the current team played their last league match in the hoops today.
As for MON - well, I hope he signs off in style next week but the time has come for him to go. In so many ways he has been magnificent for this club and brought us all so many great memories.
For his own sake he should go out with a bang - for all my criticisims of him at the end of it all he has done much more good than bad. He deserves to leave this club a winner and with all the luck in the world for more important battles ahead.
This is going to be a very important summer.
Hail! Hail!
Wee Jinky
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Devastated,
sitting on a 1-0 lead is a bad idea, but all those missed chance caught up with us in the end.
good to see henrik back on the pitch tonight, well done Dr.
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shocked, the first word that comes to mind,should be interesting off season,still cant believe it, whats next? looking with interest at your next post paul...the sun will rise again..
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MichaelC
Paul I hope you are correct about the Sunday Mail/NoTW articles, but i just cant understand why Martin doesnt just end the speculation. A simple yes or no would suffice. I got the impression from todays reports and Martins comments that they are true. If not true then i hope MON has his solicitor on the case.
Wouldnt change the championship, but would at least clarify.
Secondly,
You are a brave man as your cynics are waiting if your predictions are incorrect. I hope you are right and keep up the good work. Its going to be a long summer, no hiding place for the board after todays debacle.
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Like everyone else I am bitterly dissapointed with what unfolded in front of my own eyes today!!!
Looking ahead to the Cup Final I firmly believe it is the time to start looking to the future. Start with Beattie (thru the middle with Sutton), McGeady (on the right) and Wallace (on the left). Bellamy..........are you staying? If yes, you start. If no,out of squad!
Unlikely to happen as MON has shown he will not drop Thompson (for Wallace) Hartson (for Beattie).
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I am gutted. I will not stop supporting Celtic. They will not stop me, Celtic, is so much more important than football. I believe in what we stand for. I have done my best to be as good a supporter as I want player at CP. But I am unworthy. Some are more unworthy than me. To all who left early when they should have been supporting. Too all who shouted abuse when they should have been shouting encouragement. To all that have been on the call in shows and written to the red tops. Shame on you. You have cost us the league. The smallest of margins is down to you. You have let the rest of us, the good supporters, down and yet you try blame others. I will try to be a better supporter next season in the hope that I can compensate for you. South Stand FS3, the best in the land for celebrating but the worst in the land for supporting. Keep up the good work Paul, some of us are right behind the Bhoys.
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Don't think the answer is to cahnge team before the final. Qustions do have to be asked though about the signings of Juninho and Camara, the likes of Momo Sylla, Lambert etc on the bench, playing Petrov abnd thompson out of position, Martin's criticism of the home fans etc......
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Still gutted. Better keep my counsel on my thoughts for the moment - like many have said, 24 hours may make a difference, although I doubt it.
At least the following will help me sleep tonight:
http://forum.comeonthehoops.com/showthread.php4?t=1314
Roll on the final!
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I saw my first Celtic game in 1954 aged 7. Celtic 2 Dundee 1.
Since then, I've watched great victories, terrible defeats, lucky victories and unlucky defeats.
Tonight, more than 6 hours after the final whistle at Fir Park, I feel I need to post a comment.
I've never felt so angry for a long time about a result, and after analysing what happened, my feelings are that MON has to move on.
How can he watch that Celtic team play like this for months and not do anything about it.
Granted, he led us to some highs mainly at the start of his tenure, but remember, he inherited 2 of the best players we ever had since the Lisbon Lions, viz. Lubo and Henrik, and give him credit for bringing in Sutton, Thompson and Lennon, but now he has to be held responsible for leading us to one of our biggest ever lows.
How can he stand or "jump up and down" and watch Bobo, Varga, Big Rab, BBJ, Lennon, Thompson, Jackie albeit with him out of position, struggle against almost every team we played this season, and not do anything about it.
His tactical prowess is non-existant, almost other than route one, he has cost us a fortune by our standards of available finance in players he has bought to sit in the stand, mainly Juninho, Camara, Henchoz, Fernandez, Sylla, Laursen, whom I feel is a better left back than Jackie, but still not true Celtic class, not to mention Joos, whom he continues to play at left-back, when he gets an opportunity, much to his and our torture, and further not to mention giving Lambert £30k per week to go and do a coaching course in Germany, in order to get himself the Livingston manager's job.
On top of this, he tried to sign both Dwight Yorke and Marcel Desailly just before the cut off for this season. Now that would have put the tin hat on it, both are hopeless.
He was also very fortunate to get Bellamy, as I understand it was he that wanted to come to us and who has almost single-handedly kept us in the title race, although he did not do too well today.
I know loads of Celtic fans who think that MON can do no wrong, but remember he only has to finish in front of Rangers, who for most of the time he has been up here, have suffered the worst period of financial rectitude in their history, yet he has failed again with a team of guys on a wage bill that far outstips not only theirs, but dwarfs, teams like Hibs, Hearts, Aberdeen and Motherwell, all with guys from their reserves getting a game, and whom have all shown in recent weeks far more spirit and fight than our highly paid loafers I mentioned earlier.
Re. the reserves issue, we keep winning the reserve title, so we must have played against most of the young guys playing for Hibs, Hearts, Aberdeen amd Motherwell, yet Martin hardly ever gives our youngsters a first team start apart from Aiden, who has now slipped back onto the bench.
If he does leave because of personal reasons, I wish him and his family the best wishes in the world in his wife's fight for health.
That aside, for footballing reasons, displays, results, entertainment, etc. he and his style has now been well and truly sussed out in the heady atmosphere that is the SPL.
God help us in Europe if desperately necessary changes are not made to this current Celtic team.
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Absolutely gutted, cant quite believe its happened.Its ok people saying that we"ll be back next year etc etc but never before has a Celtic team capitulated as we did today when everything was at stake.Hope they can raise themselves for next week but having been at every Cup Final we"ve participated in since 74 I can honestly say that its going to feel a bit hollow no matter what the outcome.Sorry for the depressing post but I really feel like heading for the nearest bridge at the moment. Keep the Faith
Mark-F
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People might think it is a risk not to play mcgeady from the start but I felt dropping him was the risk. Same with Beattie. I think the players were the only people involved with Celtic that were happy with 1-0, we should have played an atatcking team from the start and have the league won by half time. It was simply not the Celtic i know and love out there.
MON should have cleared his future up during the week a yes or no would have been fine. I suspect he was hoping to delay the decision till after the cup but in doing this he has caused more problems for himself. It sends mixed signals to all the players. Nonetheless they get payer more than enough to beat Motherwell.
Lets learn from our mistakes and move onto a new era hopefully wiser and in a better financial situation. The huns will crumble in time but one of the worst things about today is the fact we just handed them a place in the champions league.... and they will speculate to acumulate
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Sorry about this... 1 hours drunken kip and 6 coffee's later ( I dont normally drink the stuff)
I have to agree with Paul J over anon 9.57... the final isn't the time to start messing with the team...
With regard to MON, It seems pretty clear that he himself isn't sure what he wants to do with regards to carrying on as Celtc Manager with everything else going on in his private life, his comments at the pre match conference seem to suggest this...
I firmly beleive that THIS close season, MON will do what is best in CELTIC'S interest and stay on if he can give 100% to Celtic, but move on if he cant... thats why there is 'as good a chance of him being here next season as not'
I remember him saying his old man once told him that he should WALK all the way to Parkhead for Celtic if they ever came calling... and if you have watched how he has aged in these few years, he has (metaphorically speaking) done this... and given us some of the best memories for a generation... give him time to make up his mind... and only IF he decides to move, should talk of a replacement crop up... REMEMBER... as was pointed out in an earlier message, Martin was a learner before he was taken on by the hoops, even he is still learning, and although he has been loathe to change things this season when things arn't going well (Wim Yansen anyone?) next year will see a different MON
Hail Hail
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Anonymous 10.25 you deliberated for a while … you should have deliberated more. To say MONs. .“tactical prowess is non-existent” A manager who has took Celtic to the UEFA cup final a few seasons after loosing the league to Rangers by 21 points is unbelievable. The thing that has brought us so much success against Juve, Barca, Stuttgart, Liverpool,….etc (and in Scotland) is MONs “Tactical prowess”. What else could it be? The facts are that Celtic started on this business footing after many others because of the old board. Fergus McCann brought us up and then MON was given a big cash injection which had to last 5 years. This is the end of that five years, and like most of us at the end of the month (before the next wage) the strain is beginning to tell. He has played the stile he plays because of the squad he has. Look at his style with Bellamy/Larsson/Lubo in the team? He will play the stile the squad allows him to and that’s governed by the cash he has to spend. We are at the start of a new chapter, the end of an old chapter. Don’t let the doubters get to you. The legacy of the old board and building a new stadium is now over and good times are ahead.
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I wish I could share your optimism about O'Neill learning from his mistakes.
No disrespct but if you can point to anything that suggests he might then I stand corrected but I just don't see it
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Apologies Paul, for accusing you of comments you didn't make.
I am very critical of MON tonight as I have been for the past six months. I feel a change is essential.
But I must point out that he did give me my best moment as a Celtic fan for 35 years (Seville). And if he does leave I wish him and his family nothing but the best of luck
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The last time I cried for a bad result was for the Milan final 1970. Not a tear after Seville, so certainly not after Quagmire 2005.
Time for a big time clearout starting today.
As somebody suggested, get the young guys on from the start on Saturday: Beattie, McGeady, Wallace, etc.
Martin O'Neil said at the start of the season that we would win nuthin'if we just played the young guys - well we haven't and we haven't...
Surely CFC should have the technical fitba savvy to negotiate a match against DU with the eyounsters that we've got?
Time fur bed, ma heidz burstin...
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Barring injury or kidnapping Agathe, Balde, Varga, McNamara, Thompson, Lennon, Petrov, Hartson and Sutton would always get a game this season. They knew it, and we knew it. Too many ageing fat cats in their comfort zone meant we never had the edge. God bless MON for all he has done for us. I hope we have some real competition inside Parkhead next season - not just outside
Paullyv
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Although I've said don't blame the board it is not because I don't think they are at fault but the reason I say it is that anyone who does blame them misses the real ones to blame.
Martin O'Neill deserves some slack for what he has done for us but today was his fault. Pure and simple.
To blame the board is ignorance to the failings of MON.
1)1-0 up against Hearts and nearly blowing it.
2) Unable to hold a 1-0 lead against an injury ravaged Motherwell team who haven't won a game after the split for two years.
3) Realising 1-1 wasn't good enough for us today because of goal difference. Should we not have learned the previous lesson about that.
4) Kenny McDowall's team could have beat Motherwell today.
5) 5pts clear with 4 games to go
6) Unable to drop the useless Hartson
7) Playing a top class forward (Sutton) in midfield where his legs are not good enough any longer
8) Playing with the press for a fortnight which ends up with todays front page headlines
9) Playing McNamara a left back despite the fact that this right footed player continually gives position away even when playing at right back
10) Playing Douglas in goal when you say Marshall will be No.1 next season.
11) Being unable to motivate a team to have any urgency on a game like today. Although we scored in the first half we had no urgency, just like many other games this season. 10-15mins in the 2nd half we had a little bit of urgency which is unnacceptable given todays importance.
Don't blame the board.
Better utilisation of the funds given is what is needed. Fees paid for Fernandez, Laursen, Hedman, Sylla and big wages paid for Juninho, Camara etc.
Alex McLeish has had less money to spend than MON. Both on wages and on fees (remember Bousmong gave Eck £8mill) and Eck also had to build a team unlike MON but who wins 2 out of 3 titles between them.
No hoper Eck.
Sorry Martin
Thanks for Seville (Best day of my Celtic supporting life)
Thanks for the first treble since 69
Thanks for the first back to back titles for 20 years
Thanks for last years double
Thanks for sticking up for the club against the media
But the blame for today's humiliation is at your door.
Tonybhoy
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Easy to be wise after the event....... we were beaten by not having the killer finish required.....I've not lost faith that we are still a great club and will be back better and stronger next season, this could be the kick up the backside the board needed for some transfer action instead of relying on the team who,to be honest, are past their best.... Hail,Hail...
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ghg67
no more valgarren at left back... whipping 'one of his favourites off (Hartson) 2 games in a row...' Small changes I grant you... but I just feel that as this Celtic team breaks up... MON will re-assert himself as the dominate personality within the Celtic Dressig room...
ps... I understand where you are coming from... Petrov at right midfield is the one glaring problem ( although that will be recitied next season :)
3 posts now... the wife is now looking at me funny!!
Hail Hail!
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no wonder she's looking at me funny... that word at the end of my last post should read rectified...
time for more coffee
Hail Hail
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MON has to go.
I've thought that for most of the season and today only confirms it. He has completely lost the plot this season. Thompson, McGeady, Petrov and Sutton all played out of position for most of the season.
Camara & Junhino. The first he paid £1.5M to have him on loan for 1 season. The other he bought without having a clue where he was going to play him.
When you look at the wage bill of his team, it baffles me that people can say the board have not backed him. If he didnt put everyone on massive contracts that few deserve, he would have extra cash to spend in the market.
But most importantly, MON's greatest asset has always been his ability to motivate - if you can't motivate your team to beat a very weakened Motherwell team then it's time to go.
Not many managers have the ability to build a 2nd team, Stein struggled with it. That's why there are very few managers that stay around as long as Ferguson at Man Utd.
I believe these failings are part of MON, no matter what his personal circumstances are but I feel it's only right that I finish by wishing him and his family all the best, after all they are far, far more imporatnt than football.
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GarBhoy,
We had Lubo playing one of the best games of his life against Juve. We had Henrik playing great in all those other games you mentioned, not to mention both Marshall and Kennedy against Barcelona in the Camp Nou and Henrik's magnificent display against Lyon at Celtic Park.
I'll bow to those performances, with delight to do so, but Henrik and Lubo were geniuses, far better footballers that MON is a tactician.
However, we now find ourselves being out-fought and out-thought by such European heavyweights as Motherwell, Hibs, Hearts, Aberdeen and this season 3 times by the Huns. Give me a break!
I'll be totally honest, I cannot for the life of me understand why we play at Parkhead against some teams that everybody and his dog knows are going to play 11 men behind the ball, with a back 3 and Lennon playing in front of them, protecting them.
This means that the 6 remaining players, one or two of whom you can guarantee to being played out of position, viz Petrov, Sutton, Thompson, and then not forgetting the immobile BBJ all trying to breakdown the oppositions 10/11 players in the opposition's half.
Surely to God he can come up with better than that.
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TODAY....
The players let us down big time. ALL OF THEM.
THE LAST 4 GAMES...
Martin let us down...to fail to win two out thrtee out of four is unforgivable.
THE LAST TWO SEASONS...
Martin signings have been poor. Despite the lack of real cash. Wsrted money that could have been better spent.
THE LAST THREE SEASON...
The PLC (or Board as they used to be called)......they have depended on one man while working away at a bigger financial problem. A win today would have seen that strategy vindicated, a loss today sees it exposed as cutting he cloth too fine.
Let's see what comes next...
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Obviously should have read "three out of four" - can't type properly after 8 pints....
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Douglas; Mjallby, Balde, Valgaeren; Agathe, Petrov, Lambert, Lennon, Thompson; Larsson, Sutton. Subs: Hedman, Sylla, McNamara, Fernandez, Laursen, Maloney, Smith.
Injured Hartson
Not included Varga
This is the Seville squad. All of them still at Celtic today apart from Larsson, Mjallby and Smith.
No one has displaced these players and claimed a first team place.
We need to look forward and not dwell on a past failure.
O'Neill mentioned Seville today saying that today was worse!
We need to move on!!
A new manager will allow us to do this
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I was fortunate to be at Lisbon, Milan and Seville. I have had my highs and lows like any other Celtic Supporter. Today was one of my lowest. My son, Paul went to Motherwell after a Higher exam the other day to buy him and myself tickets for today. (remember he is still at school). This morning I woke up feeling very excited and confident about the outcome of today's match. The only tickets we could get were amongst the Motherwell fans and it was not very nice. They cursed, baited and made every attempt to rid their ground of any Celtic fans around them. Even the stewards seem to be Motherwell fans in disguise!! Okay it was a nervous 87 minutes sitting on our hands but with 3 minutes to go I thought we were nearly there-then the world ended. Motherwell scored-I looked at my son, and his eyes filled up. Again, I have seen the highs and lows, but to see my son tear-filled nearly broke my heart. We left the ground stunned and headed home. He made for his room and I headed for the wine bottle!!! 2 hours later whilst watching a dvd with my wife she said she could hear the strains of "You'll never walk Alone" coming from my son's room. I went up there and he was staring disconslate at the computer with Gerry and the Pacemakers belting out our anthem. I gave him a big hug with a lump in my throat and told him we are at our lowest ebb but the only way is up!!! All I ask of the board is to give our manager (whoever he may be) the money to rebuild this old creaking team asap. Unless this is done (after the Cup Final) I regret to say we are in for a few long and unhappy seasons on Rankers domination. We will be there on Saturday cheering on the Bhoys but we must see soon some sign of the Board's intentions to see us back where we belong-Champions!! Sorry for the rant guys but I an gutted!!! (No newspapers for the next 3 days).
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Paul fair play on your post, normally you put a positive spin on things but here you seem to be feeling the pain we all are.
I for one are sick of being the gracious loser always saying we'll be back Mon will learn, sad fact is, he never does, todays league throw away is to me simply his fault and his alone.
People have moaned about his private life and having other things on his mind, fair enough, buts he's a highly paid professional and if he can't fully do his job he should not be there.
We through away this league due to bad tactics and continually playing player out of position.
All we had to do is beat a very poor motherwell side and we couldn't, we didn't just lose this league we gave it away, gutted doesn't express how i'm feeling.
As for all the negative press about Mon leaving going what ever he could have ended it all in 5 seconds with simply saying he wasn't going end of story that would have been it, but he had to play his stupid cryptic games.
Seville was amazing, but how long ago and how much of it was down to Larsson ? and how long can Mon live off the back of it?
one very sore bhoy here, celtic have a massive job ahead now,a lot harder than anyone at celtic thought it would be, exciting times ahead i don't think so, more like critical times ahead, if anyone thought this weeks press was negative watch this week and the summer, look out for the old faithfull split crest !
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A few of you have said "don't blame the board".
Well if you go for years without investing in the team what do you expect? MON has been working with both hands behind his back. If we lose him we will be back in the dark ages (and yes I appreciate we might lose him anyway - but that is a different matter and one that is so much more important than a league title).
The Board are looking after their own interests first and foremost. They have not invested because they wanted to depress the share price to make more money for themselves in the future. I know Paul and some others disagree - but all the evidence is there.
It was their gamble and WE LOST. MON has been telling us this in the press. Remember he said we need six players in the close season last year? HE HAS BEEN TELLING US THIS WHILST TRYING TO KEEP HIS JOB.
We as a support need to be told what this board are going to do about this. Do we expect any answers? All Quinn has ever done is hand the initiative to the huns - even when we were flying high he told us how skint we were. EVEN IF WE WERE WHY DO THIS? All he did was undermine the club and the support.
The board have lost sight of what the objective of the club is. Its not to make money - its to win trophies.
I will never forgive them for this - NEVER. We should never be in this position.
An earlier poster said that football is about cycles - too right - and our board has managed to ensure that the top of the cycle is unsuccesful. All for their own greed.
Lastly I just want to say how much comfort I find in my fellow tims - both my friends and family and on this site and others. My wee girls asked what was wrong and gave me a cuddle - cheered me up no end. We might not always agree - but knowing you are all out there and hurting together is a huge consolation. Over the next week or so we will need one another. This sordid little country will take the greatest delight in this. Thinly veiled sectariansim will abound. Hold your heads up high - show dignity - our time will come again.
May all our gods go with us...
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Anonymous 11.51. please give yourself a name - it makes it easier to answer/bebate.
Lubo and Henrik were both part of the team when we were 21 pts behind Rangers. Dont want to have a slagging match but either the team was great getting to the Uefa cup final or the tactics were, for me MON was tactically astute for many of the games.
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First of all, the pain was self-inflicted. We stopped playing football after 70 minutes and just prayed they wouldn't have a lucky strike. They did.
Secondly, there can be no conspiracy theories. The scorer, Scott McDonald, is an Australian fan of Celtic with a dad, girlfriend and pal who support Celtic and a mum who supports Rangers. He has already said he's delighted he's flying back to Australia today.
We lost it after 70 minutes when the team started battering the ball into the stands and Petrov started falling out with everyone. But over the season, the damage was done with the appalling home losses to Aberdeen, Rangers, Hearts and Hibs.
Dress it up any way you like, if we had hung on for a few minutes longer it would have been an unsatisfactory triumph for a dying team that rarely looked like a cut above the SPL far less Champions League contenders.
Now we enter a new era. Paul 67, you suggest the MON story was a plot to unnerve the Bhoys. My inside information is that it came to the News of the World (who claimed it as a'World Exclusive' which the Sunday Mail followed up later) from a Celtic BOARDROOM source.
The blessed Martin's Friday comments were a clear hint. He says nothing without thinking about it carefully beforehand.
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O'Neill has to go.
I have no confidence whatsoever that the guy has the ability to take us any further forward. If these £15million investment rumours are true (and they damn well better be), then the summer is going to be one of the most crucial pre-seasons in the history of the football club. The actions of the board over this period will determine where Celtic as a club will go over the next 5 years at the very least.
The recrutiment of a new, exciting European coach with a good knowledge of the game could see Celtic repeat the heights of Seville two years ago with this rumoured budget. O'Neill staying in the job, or appointing the wrong man (ie Strachan) could see us plunge even lower depths than we've experienced today. Difficult to imagine i know.
Thanks for the memories Martin.
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We have reached the crossroads my friends in so many ways....
This team which profited so well from it's "Band of Brothers" mentality in the past- eventually it became it's undoing.
The manager's loyalty to this band (IMHO) made him blind to the cosmetic surgery that is required to keep a successful side successful. What we need now is major invasive surgery.
The manager's insistence in playing out of form players (Thompson) , players out of position (the whole midfield -bar Lennon), players not good enough (Varga) and the biggest sin of all ..not making change gradual (we knew Larsson was leaving for a year - a year later we still haven't bought another goalscorer/creator). (I know Henrik was one in a million).
Martin, you let your Leicester side age , and like an old heavyweight boxer they had one fight too many. You the done the same to us..
5 years ago we were no-marks - runners up in a peripheral league in north western Europe. You, Martin, have taken us places most of us have never been,Seville, 6-2, 80 (?) odd games unbeaten at home by anyone.
Thanks for that , and we really mean it, we really ,really do .
But I for one can't take anymore of the high hump up the park to a overweight £30,000 lump of a battering ram we have had this season only for the oppostion to pass it up to their mobile £1500 per week journeyman professional to score against the run of play .
I want change , at ALL levels.
I want a fortress mentality back at Celtic Park.
I want a better return on investment in the youth set up.
I want rid of the idea that the "untouchables" (HArtson, Sutton,Lennon, Thompson etc)can't be dropped .
I want an improved scouting network that doesn't end at the channel tunnel.
I could go on and on and on....
If you are up for the fight Martin let us now (by Tuesday if possible)if not then step aside for the greater good of the Club.
I truly thank you for the last 5 years and hope you and your wife have a long and happy life together.
Finally - we really need to murder Dundee United on Saturday.
I really need Sunday May 22 2005 right out my system.
P.S. Paul -Thanks for conveying what seemed to be my thoughts so concisely in your opening statement.
PPS - I have just read this back and it seems like an attack on Martin O'Neill - it is not meant to be. I remember thinking (when after one minute into the second half when the ball hit Agathe on the face on the line)that I would argue that this style of play is no longer acceptable for my club.
Messrs Desmond , Quinn and O'Neill it's over to you. Either put up or shut up and move on.
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First of all, if Gordon Strachan is to be the next manager (and all indications I've had from top sources confirm this) then let's give the man a chance. I was there when the clown from the Jungle attacked him on the pitch. I was there at Hampden when his histrionics helped persuade Bobby Valentine (as if he needed any encouragement) to send Roy Aitken off in the 1984 Scottish Cup Final.
That was back in the days when Aberdeen were our main challengers. And do you know what? Strachan did a fantastic job for them. He wound us Celtic fans up big style. In other words, he did his job.
Personally, I feel he could be a great choice. He has taken time out to gather info. He is much more of a COACH than Martin O'Neill (God bless him), who was a MANAGER who allowed Robertson, Walford and Burns to look after the team on the training ground.
If it's wee Gord, I say cut the man a bit of slack. He was a wee diving, moaning-faced B*****d as a player, but if he becomes our manager we must give him our TOTAL support.
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GarBhoy,
I'm off to bed after this comment, and I hope to waken up sometime in August.
I don't want to get into a slagging match also, were both Tims and I know we only want the best for Celtic, but you must admit that having guys like Lubo and Henrik around with their skill and vision, they had could produce moments of skill that can change games, when tactics are not working.
I also gave MON credit in my original post for bringing in Sutton, Thompson and Lennon, which also helped eliminate the 21 pts advantage Rangers had.
Everything has is a shelf-life, even Big Jock lost the plot towards the end of his reign with some really strange signings, and he was a real tactician.
However the UEFA cup run was 2 years ago, and we have gone backwards no doubt, it pains me to say it, but we have. We can't bask in former glories, even though some of them were glorious failures.
We must see things from where we stand today, and in my opinion, I feel that we are not pleasing on the eye, putting it mildly, sticking with guys who have seen better days, playing guys out of position, not giving younger guys a fair chance, except for Aiden, and too predictable in how we approach too many games.
On top of that have squandered any little money we had on people who are just not Celtic class, most of whom just sit in the stand.
All of this I place squarely at the door of Martin.
I'm sorry, but this is how I see it.
I'd rather it was different, but it's not, and we are now failing against very mediocre outfits, who just have ago at us, and struggle against others who put 10/11 men behind the ball.
EG, if we hadn't got Bellamy, we would have ploughed on with BBJ and Sutton up front, both with no pace and long balls getting played up to them, with Petrov fighting for the knockdowns.
How did we let ourselves get into that position, when MON knew that Henrik was leaving for 2 years before he left.
Bellamy was a Godsend to him, otherwise we may not have got this far anyway.
Time for bed
Goodnight and sleep well.
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Strachan has done absolutely nothing as a manager to warrant the vacancy at a club of our stature, one decent half-season with Southampton doesn't quite cut it i'm afraid. This isn't an objection based on how much he may have been disliked by the Celtic supporters as a player, it's purely my feelings of him as a football manager.
If the rumours of his appointment turn out to be true then it'll prove just how out of touch this current Celtic board are with the club's supporters as far as i'm concerned.
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It's a shame the way things turn out. I am gutted after the events of yesterday and really, the events of the last few years.
104 weeks ago, 736 days ago, I was anticipating what I never thought I'd see in my life time....Celtic in a European Final.
On the way to Seville we disposed of Liverpool and look where they are now.
Yes, it hurts and by God it hurts like hell typing this but we will be back in late July with Martin at the helm or someone else and we'll be going for it.
Celtic is our club and no one person is bigger than the club.
Investment is necessary and has been for a few years. The team has grown older together and it needs freshening up.
Over and over we will follow you
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Purely to complete a night of depressed jibbering and allow myself to go to bed for a fitfull sleep, can I perhaps venture the opinion that several of the players who endured today's debacle may only see next Saturday's final as a prize barely worth winning.
Will Lennon, Thompson, Hartson, Balde, Sutton, Varga et al be fired up enough to take on a Dundee United side dreaming of their only chance of glory?
Even if these guys win, will they just mump and mope about the park?
I say bring in the likes of Simon Ferry, Michael McGlinchey, Scott Cuthbert, Michael Gardyne and Rocco Quinn to addd to the likes of Marshall, Wallace, Maloney, Beattie and McGeady.
Instead of being the end of an era, we could celebrate the start of a new dynasty.
I'll be in Glenties, Donegal, next Saturday and want to see happy faces when we parade the cup.
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I am ashamed at some of the wild criticism being tossed at MON on this mb. To simply state that MON "can't take us any farther" followed by a cold "thanks for the memories" will certainly please those who hate our club.
I'm sorry if you are upset, but MON deserves a chance to bring in more players this summer, because he is something special and should never be dismissed as easily as some have after today's disaster.
Many at Celtic are culpable for this past season's 2nd place finish in the SPL and 4th place finish in the group stages of the CL, so it defies all logic to clamour for MON to fall on his sword.
Its shameful that the man largely responsible for the raised expectaions and elevated confidence among the Celtic support, now has to be subjected to some of the foolish comments directed at him on this blog.
It brings me tremendous joy that Paul has created a very positive environment on this website, but it seems all who visit don't get the message.
thethirdeye
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It would appear things are about to get a bit darker if this story in Mondays Sun is confirmed.
STRACHAN IN FOR O'NEILL
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2002390000-2005230498,00.html
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Like many others, I have been sitting in a darkened room since this afternoon wondering how it has all gone so horribly wrong. I have read what has been posted throughout the day and without repeating much of what has been said, i have to say the blame for this fiasco lies firmly at the hands.....of the board.
I think its wrong to lay all the blame either at the players or MON. He has had his hands financially tied for the last three years and the players can only do their best....which is now clearly not good enough.
People have been saying that the '5 year' plan with MON using the bulk of the budget at the start has left us with ageing players no longer able to the job...but remember that when MON came to the club, he HAD to use the funds, simply because the team he inherited was pathetic to say the least!
The board has acted disgracefully in not giving MON the funds to 'push on' from Seville. It's easy to say in hindsight that MON should not have given the 30 plus players new lucritave contracts, but did he really have much choice?? One has to ask if the money spent on these contracts would have been enough to buy other top quality players, bearing in mind that these players would have had to be on good wages also.....where was MON going to get the money for that....certainly not from the board.
This summer is going to be the most crucial time Celtic have faced since the day Fergus took over. It simply just isn't an option for the board to say that they can't afford to give the manager serious money to rebuild the tream.
I must also say that if the reports of Strachan taking over are true, then i am filled with dread. This is the man who who says he had left management because he was worried about what the pressures of the job was doing to his health....how the hell is going to be able to handle taking over from our greatest manager since Jock Stein!!! If MON is going to leave because of familly reasons then I like many others wish him all the best, if he is staying he MUST be given money....and lots of it.
Finally, and I know many people will find it hard to at present, but come next Saturday everyone of us MUST get behind the team and do what we do better than any other fans in the world.....support our team with all our heart!!!
Paul
I am now more desperate than ever to read what you have to say about the future of the club this week...i'm praying that it will be something that will give us hope for the future.
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It will be the most subdued cup win IF we win for year gone by and years to come. The cup does not seem to matter now.
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Third eye - here here
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After a sleepless night (in Australia we had to try and sleep straight after the match!) and a splitting headache this morning, I'm a little disappointed to read these articles suggesting Starchan will be the new manager. MON's mind has clearly been off the job this season, and the motivation just isn't there in the players. The last few months of games have all been hair-raising, and I can't recall the Champions League games being much better (5 points was a lucky total). He's a great manager, but he can't go on like this. But Strachan???
I've still got my fingers crossed that Co Adriaanse wasn't lying when he said he had been approached, and that he would be interested. Bring it on.
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The Scottsh Herald are running the Strachan story as well!
This is as bad as the Dr Who Headlines when Venglos was appointed.
If it is true about Strachan then in my opinion we are not showing enough ambition.
Celtic football club should be looking at top coaches, the cream of Europe, not a guy who has won nothing and led his teams into more relegation battles than contention for silverware, and he never won a trophy as a manager!
I can't believe this.
MON is still the man to lead us, if he has to take time out we would be better with Robertson and Walford until MON returns and still let MON look after who to sign.
I'm still gutted, bemused and starting to get very ticked off.
Tony, Latvia
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Garbhoy you say that the style of the squad is governed by the cash MON has to spend.
I'm sorry but if MON had spent his budget wisely and in a business like manner with the board looking over his shoulder then this 5 year plan budget could have worked wonders for us.
The supporters money that has been squandered right left and centre by MON & Co. on players contracts are nothing short of a disgrace,added to the clear fallings in the tactical department on the field.
If my wife who is Australian but takes a small interest in Celtic to keep me happy can ask me during the games,
"who's that fat baldy guy standing doing nothing all the time"
If she (and everyone else)can see this about Hartson then why can't MON?
I'm not ignoring the fact that big John has scored 34 goals(is that correct)this season and is the SPL top scorer,but to accomodate him in the team in every game,the rest of the team have to be played out of position to the down fall of the team performance over the season.
Didn't we loose again on GD?
If Petrov stays the,team will be rebuilt round him.
I'm not even going to say anymore about the players,it's plain to see and has been pointed out very clearly by many a supporter on here.Just woeful is the word I'm looking for,but schoolboy also comes to mind.
Why the board continued to have blind faith in MON I'll never know,can't blame them too much as us supporters had as much BLIND faith in him too for long enough(maybe it's mainly the supporters cash that's being wasted and not DDs)
You were correct Paul67 the 5 year plan was a great idea,something I didn't agree with until recently. Just not executed very professionally.Could have worked a treat,the idea was there though.
The money could have gone a long way for a few extra years,at least kept us well above the rest until this summer coming before fresh cash is available,but was squandered a long time ago.
Celtic has become a long list of failures for Brian Quinn Negative Anon or should that be NegativeUnknown?
Anyone still want to complain about BQ & Co getting boo'ed on the park?
"we are no fouls" Thought by many,spoken by a few.
Someone pointed out a while back that in everyday working life you put up with the boss in work 'cos he's the boss but after a few years you start to question his tactics at taking the Co. forward.
If he is a poor performer,boss or not he will be told by someone until the other employees start to listen too and join in,especially when these people are shareholders too.
That time is finally coming to us at the Club.
The forward thinkers who think out the square are usually ridiculed until the masses start to pick up on it.
Keep it up Paul67 & NegativeAnon(do you have a name NEG?Don't like to call you Negative all the time as you are clearly not)maybe change to ConstructiveCelt.
Many,many great views from fellow supporters and a great balance is being achieved and nice to see opinions changing from the same people.
I for one will agree one day with someone but the next day will read another opinion completely different and change my mind,so I have no set point of view.What's best for the club is best for me.
I do have the utmost respect for MON & his family.
We as Celts are a family and look after our own,it's the only way we know how,but I must be blunt and hope I do not offend anyone but hope you will see the realistic side of this away from the emotional ties that are pulling at the hearts of us decent minded people.
MON has deep family problems that take president over everything including CELTIC and not to be questioned by any of us but the fact is that his performance at the club recently is clear for anyone to see poor,but this has only ADDED to the other underlying problems and faults that he has and making them worse with his clouded judgements.
I didn't think I would have said this but it really is time for the board to take stock of the situation,MON and their own position at the Club.
If I had said this type of statemnet up until only 6 months ago,I would have been ridiculed and laughed at and abused.I was tempted but thought the timing was better down the line a bit.I'm not saying "I told you so" as I'm sure many members of this site have thought the same but just like me never spoke out.
I'm not saying sack them all,but if they don't come up with a better "business plan" for the future for on & off field developments,then it will be time for the supporters of this great Club to step in and voice our concerns a bit more stronger.
Not only the over payed wages to many a player,Paul67 do you know more about this private PR company(used by Mr.Quinn over the text messages) and how much they are being paid?
They should be sacked on the spot.Do we have a PR officer at CP working for us directly also??
If so how,who and how much they are paid?That will be a good start to lowering that 40 million wage bill we have.
Well I don't buy the rags anymore but have decided to sponsor a few less fortunate than me for the same price per day.
BOYCOTT THE DAILY RECORD.
Cabbage McF
Still POSITIVE but constructive.
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As a wise Celtic supporting scottish coal miner ( remember that species ) used to say, after some of our more historical defeats, would say .........Roses will bloom again !
Me . I thought for the last few weeks we nearly won the league despite our team .
Will we have MON or not next season ? .........I don't know .
However don't you apply for a job a CP ? The Biggest Club in the World . Do we give the big job to someone ? Strachan ?
I think even if he wanted a start in ASDA he'd need to apply .
Let the dust settle . Get rid of the overpaid under achievers ( we all know how the majority of them are . )
Best of luck to MON on the personal side . Professionally he needs to take us the wage payers into his confidence . I for one am a bit sick of the media mind games . I want committment to the cause .Any manager in any other profession must put forward a Business Plan . Whats MONS ? Will he continue to play people out of position ? Will he get rid of the afore mentioned deadwood ? Who are the future signing targets ? etc etc .
On the game . My shout since a young bhoy at Paradise : Come on Celtic , die for they jerseys ? ( In later life I have included an expeletive .)
Yesterday the jerseys were on but I couldnae see anyone willing to die fur the jersey .
Proud to be a tim . Will wear my Celtic gear through the close season despite our reverses , will buy my new top asap .
We are all in this together . If you sit by the river ( clyde ) long enough you will see the bodies of your enemies float by . I await next season to see wee bazza , (f)eck and lord murray float down past us .
Yours with faith ,
Coatbrig Bhoy deported to Oz.
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Strachan,I've been waiting for the new Celtic shirt eagerly to come out,but if this Strachan rubbish is to believed then I won't be buying any shirt that's for sure.
If anyone at Celtic think I'm going to plough money into the club to get a basement bargin manager you can forget it,and I won't be waiting around for MON to come back either,forget family matters,he isn't good enough.
Waiting for the CFC official line before I move on anything.
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Test
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Unknown 4.53, we"re all hurting badly just now but your comments on MON are verging on the offensive. He"s taken us a long way (and some apparently feel as far as we can go)but to dismiss his family matters and say hes not good enough is disgraceful.Its going to take a while but we"ll come back from this. Lets not start pointing fingers at O Neil, he"ll be hurting more than most just now.
Mark-F
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Being too young at the time of the 1970 European Cup Final, this is easily the biggest football dissapointment of my life. Normally after something like this, things seem a lot better by the next day, but they actually seem ten times worse this morning and I genuinely feel physically sick. Yesterday I don't think I quite believed what had happened, and I'm still shaking my head about ten times a minute.
How did such a disaster happen? I think there are several reasons. I've read with great interest Paul and others explaining why there has been so little money to spend these last couple of seasons, but still think that a little more money should haver been made available, at least enough to allow one new first eleven player each season. Teams need new faces coming in to avoid staleness and apathy. Would it make such a difference if the debt was £22 million rather than £17.3 million?
Despite this the players we had should have been good enough. They are the highest paid in the country and several have massively underachieved this season. We were at full strength yesterday (with the exception of the long-term injured Kennedy) and up against an injury ravaged Motherwell side earning a very small fraction of our team's salaries. It was an unprofessional and unacceptable performance.
Most of all, however, I'm sorry to say I blame the manager. He worked miracles in his first four seasons, but has made mistake after mistake this season. Why did he waste a small fortune on Camara? Why did he sign Juninho? Why did he sign Hencoz? Why were Balde and Hartson given lucrative longterm contracts when neither is good enough any more? Why has he played Thompson, Petrov and others out of position? Why was Thompson not dropped when his form collapsed? Why, after FIVE years, do we not have a half decent goalkeeper and leftback? Why have we never signed a Bosman? Why do we almost always never sign players from Europe? Why have our promising young players not come through into the first team? These are all questions that need answered.
In saying that, if he is staying at Celtic, he has done more than enough to deserve a chance to rebuild the team, but lessons must be learned. And if he is staying, the tabloids have sunk to an all time low.
We will come back from this, although it may take a year or two. Like others, I acknowledge what Martin and this team have given us. Keep up the excellent work Paul.
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If MON is leaving then we should be told NOW. I can understand his reluctance or should the be refusal to talk to the media about it, nonetheless he could use other outlets such as this site and celtic tv to inform the fans of what his plans are.
If he is to stay then please please can we learn that the scottish media scum will do anything to upset a people who many view still as unwanted imigrants.
Gordan strachan as a replacement?. I would only be happy if this was on a short term basis till MON sorts out his personal situation, indeed if (and I pray it can} be sorted out.
Gordan strachan on a long term basis NO, what has he achieved as a manager diddly squat thats what.
I would much prefer someone like the guy mentioned a few weeks ago adrianse. At least we might see some dutch lads following him lads with skill and can shutout teams with bloody 2 mins of normal time remaining, 88 bloody minutes.
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One fact that indicates that at least some of the O'Neill story is speculation is that Geraldine has been described as having breast cancer by one source and lymphoma by another. Suggests they really know very little for sure.
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Celtic just may have made a rod for their own back with the longer term signings of hartson, sutton and thompson. These ageing players have just signed longer term contracts on good money.Will they want to leave?, who would pay them the same and indeed take them off our hands?.
Who on these boards really believe that Hartson should lead the line again next year?.
Who on these boards cannot see suttys age catching up on him?.
Who on these boards fail to see thommos dip in form in terms of free kicks and general play?.
Who on these boards fails to see that jackie mac for all his good points is NOT a left back.
Who on these boards fails to notice that the varga balde set up is slow, and detrimental to shuttinig up shop with minutes to go, big clumsy and slow.
Who fails to notice the fiddling with the team to accomodate certain players. Players who have as paul stated blown the chance to be known as a great celtic team.
One hill to many celtic and that is down to the board the manager and the team. Time for a re-vamp. Strachan is NOT the anwser.
A motherwell team who half of would not have been on the pitch. There are no words.
Mowbray defends his teams caution against rangers, the well attack attack, attack in th dieing minutes , something not right in the state of demark, mowbray for celtic never.
Again celtic seem to have been twarted by incompetence, tactical error and celtic "people".
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Just a wild thought here - could Martin be moving 'upstairs'? This would let him oversee the football end of things, decide where to spend the estimated 15 million and give him more time to deal with his domestic problems. Fits in with the 'not going to another club' statement and the 'exciting times ahead' Hmmmmmm, I wonder?
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Reports from the bbc to ireland have MON leaving the celts today, or a statement to that affect.
Lets all remember how the well fans rubbed it in, lets all remember how they treated our supporters, lets all remember how this defeat feels. For me far worse than sevile or the loss of the league that year, far worse.
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I hear that Desmond did not even go into the dressing room after the game. Says it all about the man really.
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Does this result mean no tour to the usa with 2 qaulifying rounds to negotiate in the champs league now?.
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Time for a bit of calm among the support. I know it sounds stupid but apart from the fact that we cannot be called League Champions, what have we really lost.Really all we have to do is play in the 2nd Champions League Qualifier instead of the 3rd.After negotiating the 2nd qualifier we will be seeded in the 3rd which is where we would have been if we had actually won the league. Make the Champions League proper and we will be in pot 2. A few months from now when the pain has subsided we will be concentrating on Europe, hopefully have some new "stars" to watch and be back at the top of the league.
Let the Bigots have their day because Celtic will be back; there is no doubt about it.
"Faithfull through and through"
Seamus
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Whoever the next manager is needs to get new signings in promptly and settled with the setup so that they bhoys will hit the ground running. We will have a tough job qualifying for the champions league and last minute signings is not the answer. As good as our Martin is, his transfer dealing is patchy. I hope the new man for next season will be a lot more direct and dilligent in the transfer market. One question I have is, how many full time scouts working abroad do we have??? Maybe we should bring back John Barnes and unearth another Petrov, maybe not :-) Lets get the cup out of the way and roll on next season. Hail, hail.
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It sounds like it might be too late but Gordon strachan will set the club back a decade. No experience managing in Europe, a very patchy record managing small clubs and a brittle temperament. I think we're looking at another period of managerial instability and all that entails.
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Some points :-
Anon 8.16 DD was asked not to go in the dressing room by MON
Co Adrianese is on his way to Porto is he not?
Why , over the last two years or so, has it not been uncommon for Celtic to protect a slender lead in the last 15 mins of a game by playing deep in their own half? Once again, after constant pressure around the M'well goal they resorted to type when there was no imminent danger.Why oh why? I can only imagine they are playing to orders and, if they are not, one has to question Jackie Mac's role as captain. Why didn't he urge his team forward instead of inviting the opposition to come to them? It was a disgrace that they gave Motherwell any respect at all especially when there was no obvious danger hitherto.Not for the first time we have taken our foot off the pedal when in a position of authority and suffered the consequence.
Jeromek
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I can’t remember many worse days in my 4 decades supporting the Celts.
The longer the 2nd half went on without a goal - and we played very well for the 1st 20 minutes of the 2nd half – we seemed fated not to succeed. Corner after corner, continually getting behind their defence and 2 golden chances – all came to nothing.
Long will I remember the union jacks and red hand of Ulster flags carried by Motherwell fans who profess “to hate both sides of the old firm” and trying to explain to my son why they were carrying them.
We can only blame ourselves – it beggars belief that we could beat the huns at Ibrox, go 5 points clear with 4 games to go, and not win the league.
Most of all this morning I feel for Martin O’Neill. If he does leave us soon to care for his wife, then he should go with our blessing, and our heartfelt thanks.
The wee man from County Derry dragged us up from the floor when he arrived 5 years ago. We were a laughing stock, and he gave us back our pride.
6-2, Leagues, Trebles, Cups, and what about Europe? Beating Ajax, Juventus, Porto, Stuttgart, Celta Vigo, Barcelona, Liverpool and taking us to a Pilgrimage in Seville, where we truly celebrated our Celtic-ness.
Thanks Martin, God Bless you & yours. If you do leave us now, I’ve a feeling that we’ll be re-united in the future, maybe even in the English Premiership.
Celtic Supporters have always had great spirit in adversity. That’s where we are right now and we should show it. Starting today, and culminating on Saturday with great support for the management and players.
Faithful through and through.
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If we had been told on the day MON took charge that over the next five years the Club would win 3 league titles, be piped at the post on 2, play in the UEFA cup final and be seeded in pot 2 of the CL draw,I'm not sure many of us would have believed it.
Yes, I'm angry because mistakes have been made. But my overwhelming emotion is one of deep sadness that the legacy of a great manager and a great team has been tarnished by yesterday's result.
Whether it be MON, Hartson or the board, there is little to be gained from conducting a wich hunt. The media will do that for us.
The team is breaking up and next Saturday should be used as platform to say thanks, goodbye and welcome in a new era.
GM
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Took the day of to recover from my hangover!
Well if there was a way to kill the atmosphere McDonald's goal really did it.
Got an email on the 21st telling me that Martin notified the board of his intention to resign. Walford and Robertson are also going.
Martin cites his wifes illness, can't really go into specifics but Martin's last game in charge will be the cup final.
Have to agree with numerous bloggers who stated that we gave them the title--That HURTS!
Martin's inablity to play players in their correct position,inability
to drop players and not changing things has cost us. Comments have been made about the board and YES they havn't given the manager the funds available. But when our first targets from Barcelona didn't sign there was no plan B.
Signing Camara (the most expensive LOAN signing WHAT!!) and Junhino were panic buys.
Last years indecision has cost us dear. Family always comes first and if Martin wants to be with his then thats right.
No one is bigger than the club. Still have this empty feeling and the thought of facing the huns over the Next several months is a thought. Less than 3 BLOODY minutes to go!!!
A prevoius blogger made the points abour Le Guen or Co. Adranse i would prefer any one of these as their brand of football is fast clinical and exiting... So different to what we have been watching
Incedentally if anyone of these two got the job would their contact RE: players be better.
Cup Final is going to be a big let down now!
Going back to bed!!
Mick
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Lost intrest in posting a few months back.
I first posted I wanted MON to go, during the first days of July, again when we blew an 11 points lead, and after our CL displays.
Tactics, players out of position, time wasting when 1 goal up at CP, his signings.....
I was shouted down, because we were winning, I was also shouted down yesterday when MON walked to the stand and gave us a wave, and i hope it was a wave goodbye.
To play football the glasgow celtic way. Most of you stated 'That doesn't win us things'
nor does playing the MON way of football.
A lucky run to seville, some league wins against a poor Rangers side and some meaningless victories at home in the CL.
We win every league in scotland from under 12's to the reserves by playing football, then when it comes to the SPL we play the long ball.
Is that the boards fault?
This would have been a great year to go to America, along with Nike. what a mess.
Good article in the sun on Friday, the players we have sold / let go since seville have given us £400,000.
Porto have sold and made 75 million.
Get rid of players when the going is good, replace with better.
Who would now want BBJ, Sutton,Thompson, Joos, Jackie, Varga..
Derbyshirebhoy, again I think you are spot on.
Falkirkbhoy.
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Feel like, I've been mugged. No phone calls yet from my Orc colleagues. Still, better to face up and get it over with.
I don't think I need to state the obvious, we could all see what happened, yesterday and throughout the season.
As to comings and goings, I would only ask one think. Don't sign Bellamy, he's not clinical enough, he's too expensive (although the initial £5million tag, has now risen to £6million via the press) and the running costs are too high. I think he flatters to decieve. I think he's done OK, but has not justified the large price.
I'm thinking he's an X3, when we need an X5. Similar engines, same badge, but when you need that bit extra when the going gets hard forget the X3 it's just not good enough.
(by the way I drive a rusty old golf, not a good car to use in this example as all the imitations are as good or better, including the Skoda)
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Falkirkbhoy:
"A lucky run to Seville"
Says it all.
Do me a favour and just stay in Falkirk.
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If MON is leaving we should know now. If the cup final will be his last game we have the right to pay tribute to him. I am not prepared to lose another cup due to the uncertainty of the clubs position. If he is leaving which he has stated as being equally possible of him staying, that means 50:50, then we will have to start rebuilding and we will need as much time as possible to do so. It will be extremely hard to find a manager as good as MON.
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Some perspective:
In the last 5 seasons Rangers have won the league twice, both decided in the final couple of minutes of the season. (Had Celtic done "a Motherwell" 2 years ago against Killie they'd have been champions.) Hence their BEST season is one where their title wasn't confirmed until the last couple of minutes.
Conversely Celtic's WORST season is one where they were still in the running for the title until 2 minutes from the end of the last game of the season.
In the other season's Celtic won the league by 15, 17 and 18 points.
Small consolation, and irrelevant to some extent. But if the WORST Celtic team in 5 years can get so close, then with only a slight improvement the crown should be returned very quickly to it's rightful home...
We can only hope.
In the last
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Paul - very good source. MON is off, he has made the decision to spend timw with his family.
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Sometimes it's better to wait a while efore posting following a result such as yesterday. Today however the hurt and pain is still there with no signs of abating. Yesterdays performance epitomised the full season. We used to be able to grind teams down but now we struggle to see out the remaining minutes of a game and not for the first time we were badly caught out yesterday.
So who is really to blame for the debacle?
Certainly there are players who have underperformed throughout the season but the players don't pick the team.
At a time when we knew for a year that our best player was leaving, we scrummaged the bottom of the pile looking for "frees" and Bossmans and ended up with Brazillian past his sell by date.
Our tactics left so much to be desired throughout the season and there ws an unwillingness to drop certin players no matter how poor they were performing.
All of this my friends points to the manager as the culprit and he alone has to accept responsibility. Not the board, not referees, and not teams who didnt want to beat Rangers.
I will not jump on a bandwagon mainly because I was never convinced MON ws the man for the job in the first place. Having said that I am glad we got him when we did because he raised the spirits of the club for three years and for that I thank him.
No one could blame him for his lack of committment at the start of the season as his wife had to come first in his life, unfortunately I think this has plagued him all year and she needs him much more than we do and he needs to be with her. My thoughts are also with her at this time.
So who do we choose? I wish I could be covinced like Paul67 that the rumours in the media about Strachan are untrue although I have a horrible feeling about this. We have to go foreign after all, how many British managers are in charge of the top sides in Europe or even England?
I fear we are in for a barren period unless the correct appointment is made.
Remember we will go into the CL as a second seeded team but we will have an almighty tie to negotiate in the second qualifier unless we manage to get one of the three poorer teams.
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was Bobo not a Bosman??
Take a moment to think about how Martin is feeling this morning. IF this was indeed his last attempt at the title, think just how heartbroken he will be. He would have wanted to go out on a high, so that our last thoughts of him were a league and cup double. As it is, he knows we're all hurting from throwing away the league.
I have a feeling we'll only realise how much Martin did for us when it is too late, and Strachan is in charge.
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Absolutely gutted havent felt this bad since Seville, if this is what it is like to follow Celtic I am going to have a short life. The pain.
We have to take it on the chin.
Stop slating Jackie guys he is one of the guys that deserves a new contract.
I would move on Balde and Varga and get in three centre halfs(one spare.) That defence needs to be strengthened big time.
Maybe move on Lenny, not sure on thompson, definetly keep Sutton.
Hartson is not going to get us to the next level sorry big man.
Bellamy is not prolific enough although he has been a revelation this season.
If MON is going to take a year out Paul would the board keep the door open for him, and pass the reigns to tommy burns in the meantime.
But MON does not to give us an answer though.
Great post San Miguel agreed with some of it but not all.
MON will not want to go out like this.
As a club we will learn from this and come back stronger than ever.
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Lucky run to Seville?, meaningless CL games? Things are bad enough this morning without this kind of crap.
Mark-F
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10:42
BOBO, was not a Bosman. The only reason we didn`t have to pay for hom is because Toulouse went into liquidation the initial fee was supposed to be 1 million +.
beetljuice
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Bhoys, always see the positive. If we had have won the league and cup double we would have papered over huge cracks in the Celtic wall. Yesterday has exposed the cracks so wide that even the board will see that some serious money needs to be spent to repair the old crumbling bricks. Yesterdays result and the seasons performance on a whole is now written in history for all to see. It is not appropriate now 24 hours or so on to start slagging all in sundry. If by the start of next season we take the field with bascially the same squad then "PANIC" but for the moment sit on your hands and "keep the faith" The future in GREEN. Hail, hail.
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Am I the only one that thinks Strachan for MON the right move ?
MON, although we love him dearly, is responsible for the recent decline in the team, for yesterday's result - and by extension, ruining completely my day /week...!
Strachan is a clever student of the game. I for one would be very content with him as manager.
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Regarding Strachan. I really don't think he'd be as bad as many imagine. Granted his final year at Coventry was bad, he took over the Southampton job when they were struggling near the foot of the table and managed to finish 11th that year without a great spend.
Following year he got them to a very respectable 8th in the league and the FA Cup Final.
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I thought you had the inside track......How come you don't know about Strachan?? Seems you've had the wool pulled over your eyes
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If it is Strachan it will be interesting to see how he is treated by the chip wrappers. He might be in for a wee shock. Having previously been able to shake off any negative comments with a humorous one-liner I predict he might not get it so easy up here.
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If MON is taking time out to care for his wife will this mean his inevitable return?. If this is the scenario then I for one would prefer tommy burns to take over the mantle untill that day.
Tommy would introduce some of the younger players to the squad giving them an extended run. We would be in the position of not expecting to win trophies so any cup or the title would be a bonus.
MON could spend his time scouring the planet for new players whilst knowing the younger players were being blooded.
I fear however that MON is not just taking a season out but turning his back on football till his personal situation is hopefully succesfully sorted out.
Gordan strachan is not in my opinon the man for the job give it to tommy and come back asap MON.
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I agree with the last post, seems as though you`ve had the wool pulled over your eyes Paul67. This wont have been decided over the last few day`s, which then makes me believe that the board have had adequit time draw up a shortlist of candidate`s, but then it`s the Celtic board were talking about, how long were they aware that King Henke was leaving but did nothing to try and replace him. This may also explain the big push to get the season ticket renewals in early? Seems to me we`ve all had the wool pulled over our eye`s,
I`l give the new manager a chance , but i`d be dissapointed with Strachan.
beetlejuice
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So, I take it from reading the latest posts on here, that MO’N has left the building and confirmed to you all personally that what the media has been speculating on these last few days is 100% true.
Paul67 – Please print your BIG STORY sooner rather than later.
dialupcelt
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Hedman
Douglas
Marshall
Agathe
Varga
Balde
Valgaeren
Laursen
Macnamara
Henchov
Kennedy
Macmanus
Wallace
Lennon
Petrov
Thompson
Sutton
Mcgeady
Pearson
Bellamy
Beattie
Hartson
How many should be at the club next year?. Who should go and who should stay.
If Strachan comes you can be sure that Bellamy will go.
For me
Hedman
Douglas
Varga
joos
Laursen
sylla
fernandez
lennon
thompson
hartson
lambert
can all go
Maloney
Pearson
Macmanus
Wallace
Kennedy
Mcgeady
Beattie
All have to take their chance now or maybe it wont come, but all should be retained to augment the squad. This leaves
Marshall
Agathe
Balde
Macnamara
petrov
sutton
bellamy ,
supported by the above . We need to spend big to bring in apart from Bellamy 4-5 qaulity players.
In esscence its time for lenny hartson thommo to move on would we really miss the others highlighted.
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Hi folks yesterday was 86 in reverse now feel how the jambos felt. I gave my ticket to my brother as a surprise bet he hates me now. So had to watch it in a bar in edinburgh but was glad the place was full of tims. The reality is celtic is a family and this was reinforced when i looked around and saw mates from all the buses i travlled on and even old school mates all gathered to will an ageing stuttering and lets be honest very average celtic team over the winning line. 88 minutes and during a chorus of we shall not be moved and then the seive leaked. Our hearts broke and the league flew away. The man unt trip cancelled the delights of milan given a bye and a dodgy trip to a an unreconstructed commie dictatorship to look forward to.
The board, MON but mostly the cowards in the green and white hoops let us all down badly. Sorry for the word coward but if these highly paid millionaires cant even beat motherwell then words escape me.
Bring on august i cant even be bothered with the scottish cup means nothing to anyone me brother can have that ticket awwell
Come on the hoops
JJ
p.s strachan is a joke and a bad one at that
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dialupacelt,
I would love it if MON stayed but when i read this morning that even Billy Mcneil is saying he`s away, then you`ve got to start believing it. You can`t accuse him of creating negative spin.
beetlejuice
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I walked out the back of my mates house wi' 15mins to go yesterday.....defending on our 18 yard line....couldn't believe whit I was seeing!
However, it's gone and we move on. It's in defeat that we show why we're the best fans in the world, not in victory.
As for MON, if he goes I say thanks for everything it's been the most successful time to be a Celtic fan in my lifetime....thanks MON and our prayers are with you and your family.
Looking forward I'd take Gordon Strachan as he's very intelligent, a good motivator, and sounds as well rounded as MON in his thinking about the game.
Wouldn't mind TB either all the same, reckon he'd be good middle ground between MON's style and TB's previous style. Think he will have learned from his last stint.....mind you that's also some of the best football I've seen from a Celtic team in my lifetime.
Been impressed with the comments on this site since the game. It's a bloody sore one but its been like a big support group on here.
Hail! Hail!
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Gordon strachan no way lads he's not a great manager and would not bring us to the next level.
Aim high pull out all the stops get Gus Hiddink or Diedier Deschamps. Both top class managers who have progressed in the CL with relative little money.
I hope MON stays though and if he is given the right backing he will turn it around.
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We wait with baited breath to here the future of oor esteemed manager Martin Oneill. I for one would prefer for Robbo and Thommo to continue being the coaches with Tommy burns standing in as caretaker manager till Martins situation is resolved. Martin could step down and then be used in a consultive role till his return. Dermmott Desmond has to have a re - think a 15 million pound share issue is not going to cut it. I believe he should use his influence to get magnier and co on board and take the share issue up to the 30 million mark.
Paul has eluded to the fact celtic would be in a position to spend 15-20 million pounds due to the amorisation payments coming to an end.
Our club can run with the debt levels it has even a bit more. We need to spend big to replace the ageing squad. We need to cut out all the dead wood who are not delivering and who are on big wages. We need to cut out the players who augment the squad and replace them with younger ones coming through the ranks.
If Dermott can see a share issue through that can bring more than 15 million into the club which we need now not tomorrow or next season but now then we could
A/ give the management team money to do so {under the consultants role of MON}.
B/ Build the facilities that the players and youth team deserve.
and still have money in the pot. Go on Dermott go for it Burns robbo and thommo with MON in a consultancy role. Think big spend big and forget about strachan.
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Paul67 I hope to see your big story as soon as possible to lift the heart. The people that it may affect don't deserve the opportunity to be forewarned of its imminent publishment, get it out there and let us the fans see what the biiger plan is.
Secondly, I won't believe a word about MON until I hear it from the man himself or from a trusted source, so Paul if you have anything concrete on this let us know. Strachan doesn't even warrant comment, there is someone inside parkheads walls with little or no regard for the club if any of these leaks come to fruition, the person responsible for the leaks if proved correct derserve to be shown the door in the most public manner possible, they have played into the press' hands and are not worthy of a position in Celtic Football club be they janitor or Chairman they are paid by celtic fans and I for one refuse to pay the wage of a person with no regard for the club.
I am gutted this morning and am trying to avoid reading about yesterday, needless to say coming on here helps a great deal as I can see I'm not alone, as others have said Scottish Cup final will be hollow regardless, but it needs to be won, I can't wait for this season to be put to bed.
Celtic have to look hard at themselves, we went into the season hoping to make an impression on Ac Milan and Barcelona and ended up getting wiped out by Motherwell in a game we should have wrapped up early doors, we should have had the experience to close the game out but alywas left the door open and there always was the nagging suspicion that we were going to throw it all away.
Anyway Paul lets have you.
Celtic through and through
KerryTim
Kerry for Sam... it's all i have to look forward to over the summer ;-)
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RE:Jeromek
Didn't Co Adranse state recently that Celtic had contacted him with a view to take over from Martin?
If this was the case does that mean that this has been in the pipe line for a wee while?
My main gripe is HOW did this information manage to get leaked to the press just before the game??
Knew it would happen but heard Murray spouting his usual tosh
"I feel we have maintained our dignity and got our rewards. We now look forward to the future together."
Rangers chief executive Martin Bain believes the SPL title win "vindicates" the club's faith in McLeish.
Aye right!! we gave them the league and now ere going to have this rammed down our throats.
Had agreed with my mates that WHEN we won the league it would be another nail in the huns coffin, but then...
It would seem that the name of Gordon Strachan is being punted (well on the internet anyway) I would think that this would be a bad move. A foregin coach isn't a prerequisite for success but someone who has a track record of success AND can play good football.
Hear was i pondering how retaining the title could affect the huns and with the added revenue propel Celtic forward.
Now I'm thinking that the next several weeks could become a watershed our actions must be correct. If we get a new manager he must hit the ground running.
We have given the huns the title twice and now Eck has won the same amount of cups as MON?
God Sake!!
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I take it there will be no Tour to the states then this year. Please please martin go upstairs till your wife s health improves.
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It`s in defeat that we show were the best fans in the world? THAT`S ALOT OF PISH. Do you go to game`s? We are THE BEST FANS IN THE WORLD but in the odd time we are defeated i`ve seen a lot of fighting between ourselves and yesterday leaving fir park some celtic fans behavouir was deplorable, innocent Motherwell fans being punched and headutted for no reason, yes i agree the majority of motherwell fans were goading us al day and waving ther union jack`s but the unfortunate motherwell fans i saw get ruffed up were just tryin to pass through the celtic fans to get to there cars or home`s, they werent loud or laughing just walking with there head`s down. I think it wasn`t just the team that let us down yesterday, some of the fans did as well!
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A sense of detachment is the dominant feeling this morning. I’m really only going through the motions of the very basics that keep body and soul together and doing the absolutely mandatory work related activities which will ensure that if nothing else I will still be able to afford my season book for the coming year.
‘We are Celtic supporters faithful through and through……………’
I left the Gorbals yesterday at just gone 12.00, the sky was a light azure and the sun was beaming down.
As I turned onto the M74 the atmosphere became dark, dank, doomladen, and a feeling of foreboding crept upon me as I switched on the windscreen wipers and switched off the beechgrove potting shed.
Having parked up at about 12.30, just a short walk from the ground the weather relented and cleared and once again the green and white favours of the Celtic diaspora regained there freshness as they glistened and sparkled ,and the songs of hope and glory resounded and echoed through the courts and alleys of the oddly beige coloured multi-story flats.
‘We don’t care if we win lose or draw……….’
And then the skies opened again and the rain came down not so much in stair-rods, but more in a primordial flood reminiscent of Noah and his ark. Cats and dogs, rats and mice, sparrows and pigeons all flew around in pairs looking for sanctuary from the deluge while that more resilient species the greater green white and gold Celticus Timus draped in declarative banners literally walked on water and defiantly continued on our expectant odyssey.
‘This land is your land, this land is my land……….’
The south stand at Fir Park was a throwback to those terraces of yore as we stood, swayed, sang, and huddled throughout the game. Just on the half hour we scored through our best player on the day and took what any observer would admit was a well deserved lead. Worryingly however as the game proceeded we missed chance after chance. As each one was spurned and the news of the score-line filtered through from Easter road, two things started to happen. Firstly that paranoia that always accompanies a game refereed by Hugh Dallas started to encroach on my thoughts, and secondly an edginess bordering on panic began to infect the vast majority of the team.
Chris dropped back from patrolling the hole to almost a libero role and we allowed Motherwell to rain in crosses and shots. There was always a chance that one break would come their way and the race was on to beat the clock.
‘For ever and ever we’ll follow the bhoys…………………’
I won’t dwell on the events of the last few minutes other than to say how unsurprised I was at the outcome. We’ve played like this for the majority of the season and the hearts and lungs of a group of Celtic heroes who will forever have a special place in my heart, finally succumbed.
Martin came down and waved to us. Robbo cried. And I stood and applauded, a lump as large as Stan Petrov’s heart welling up in my throat and my eyes brimming with a moist and stinging sadness.
‘By a lonely harbour wall she watched the last star falling…………………..’
It was now that our own mettle and true measure of being Celtic supporters was tested and with only a few exceptions we came up to the mark.
Those who left in disgust at something or other, well good riddance to you.
Those few who kicked and broke the seats, shame on you and don’t come back.
But to those who stayed and clapped and cried with our team, who felt part of our team, who were as one with our team, those who will be there next week at Hampden, those who sang with me in Sharkey’s last night, those who continue to hope and laugh and sing dream, as I promised I raised a drink to all you last night and without doubt you are not only the best fans in the world but undoubtedly
‘You’ll never walk alone…………..’
C’mon the hoops
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is a press con being held at CP today?
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Yes Strachan is a good motivator but does he like to play football on the deck...NO!!..Has he got European Experience- NO!!
Yesterday is what we get from playing into Big Fecks hands with our long ball style..we dont need more of the same...
As for all those taking a dig at Bellamy not being the answer...have they forgot the Dundee Utd hat-trick, Ibrox and Aberdeen winners...
Anon 11.37 if your brother doesnt want your ticket I'll have it.....MON deserves a good send off....
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Anon 11:56am
Unfortunatley, no I can't afford to go to the games these days...does that mean I can't comment on Celtic and Celtic fans....NO!
It's harder to show you're a decent fan when you've just got beat than when you've just won....the fans who attacked Motherwell fans are not fans...they're hooligans and we'd be well rid of them.
'A lot of pish....?' Try and make you're point sir but I'm as entitled to my comments on here as you are...keep it respectful if you don't mind.
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I think we need to be shown some leadership from the board right now and to tell us of our plans for next season.
hope the MON story is a load of crap
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I feel empty today, but in part it might be a good thing. The atmosphere at CP for the last 2 seasons has being nothing short of disgusting. Even the CL games are watched in silence.
During NIAR we sang and danced and supported in defiance and our crowd grew threw the bad times. When we have a a period of reasonable success we sit like dummies waiting on the team to lift us instead of the other way around. Why has our away form been better than our home, because it is the die-hards that go to away games and cheer on the team. That didn't happen as much this weekend because the corporate lot took up the allocation that they don't normally.
Something needs to change. If that is MON's swansong then I wish him and his wife all the best. He took us from a very low point and gave us back pride and success. We need to make some sweeping changes in that team. Only Bellamy can cross a ball from open play. Thompson can do it but hasn't kicked his arse all season. I know what you think of him Paul and I think he has been fantastic for us, but he should have been dropped before Christmas. He might have fought to get back into the team.
The cup will be scant consolation, but we must still win it. Saving grace is we are still in the CL.
Excuse the random nature of this, it's just as feeling and thoughts come as I type.
On a more sombre note, my friend saw MON at Glasgow Airport this morning with his wife. He said she looks really ill. Keep them both in your prayers.
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Exile in Holland...
One thing for sure, the next manager (IF Martin leaves) won't be Co Adriaans. He'll be joining either Porto or Shaktar according to the Dutch media....
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