Anybody who would like to discuss the STUC´s directive can call Dave Moxham: Deputy General Secretary 0141 337 8100. Please no more tonight it´s boring the teats off of me
interesting article in the spanish sports press today on Naka......he hasn't settled, performances have been less than expected, family back in Japan.....but Espanyol aren't giving up on him, not least because of the commercial contracts that he has brought with him
Paul67's last article hit the nail on the head for me - play to the whistle, AKA one game at a time.
At the moment it looks pretty impossible that we will have any chance of qualifying from our group. However, I don't think it's that impossible for the 2 results to go the right way tonight. It'd be good for us to at least have a meaningful final fixture, unlike our friends from across the city.
I hope there's just 1 change from Saturday's starting line up.
Looks pretty cold outside tonight so plenty of layers on bhoys.
notoneofthepeepil - Really ?
By Mac1888 on December 2, 2009 12:46 AM
My prediction for tomorrow 3 - 1 , McDonald to get another brace and Fortune the other.;)
"Jim Gannon has refused to back down in his row with referee’s chief Hugh Dallas, launching another broadside against the former whistler. The Motherwell manager has accused Dallas of questioning his “honesty and integrity” in an argument over refereeing performances in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League.
After referee Alan Muir was criticised by both Gannon and Dundee United boss Craig Levein following their 2-2 draw last weekend, the ‘Well boss claimed that he had wrote twice to Dallas with his concerns over the standard of SPL refs without reply.
Dallas – who is the Scottish Football Association’s head of referees development – denied those claims, saying that Gannon had only written once and was replied to immediately.
That response has angered Gannon though and he has stood by his original comments, adding that he has now written again to Dallas and to the SFA’s chief executive Gordon Smith to “seek clarity”.
Gannon said: "I am disappointed by the comments made by Mr Hugh Dallas of the Scottish Football Association and an unnamed spokesman representing the SFA, in which they question the honesty and integrity of my post match statements on Saturday November 28.
"I have written to Mr Hugh Dallas and Mr Gordon Smith, as the chief executive of the Scottish Football Association, to seek some clarity on this matter.
"I once again reiterate that two separate letters of complaint regarding the standard of referees were sent to Mr Hugh Dallas, in his role as head of referee department of the SFA, dated September 21 and November 19.
"Both parties have been furnished with a copy of each of the two letters for their records. I will await their explanation, and any evidence they have to support their position, before further public comment."
Narrowboat
Just getting back to you ( in a non smeato way)
Judy Dyble did record I Talk to the Wind with Giles Giles and Fripp in 1968 - I don't have it but it may be on
A Young Person's Guide to King Crimson
More about Judy here- www.judydyble.com
Anyway back to the football:
Celtic win 3-0
Rapid win 1-0
Awe_Naw........ don't hold yer breath mate. THE biggest problem at our club (and has been for far too long) is their relutance to "get involved" and tell it like it is. Until their collective attitude changes, we're donald ducked.
Can you imagine if the Bunnet was still here and what he would have said/done about all the crap that's went off these last couplea years ?
We should have a full time high profile lawyer fully involved in engaging the processes.
Their reluctance to take it on defies their title of custodians as far as I am concerned and leaves their lack of action open to the only the worst kind on interpretation.
GrieveRdCSC - noticed that too, did you also note that stoopit commentator, even after watching the replay, still asked how did the goalkeeper stay on the park? Dumplin'.
Yes I use to have A Young Person Guide to King Crimson on vynal but sadly when I moved back to the UK almost 12 years ago my Ex-Wife made me sell almost a 1000 albums, I cried when they went oot the door, I knew where I was when I bought every album, if there was a tour for that album I put the ticket in the album, off course they were in dust sleeves and alphabetical order. Now I have tons of CDs but they are lying scatterred around out of their cases, souless creatures they are.
Here is the version I was talking about but it turns out it was Giles, Giles, Fripp and Dyble I talk to the wind
I'm off to put Celtic, Man City and the two Estadio Nacional told me to put on
Top news story on BBC Reporting Scotland tonight, a forensic analysis of Celtic's poor attendances this season with a bold prediction that they could fall below 35,000 soon. Many interviews with fans, is it because of the recession? No, its because the manager and team are pish. Thanks for that BBC. A nice wee morale boosting story to get us up for tonight's game. Always support the Scottish team right enough.
Now, the reason there hasnt been a story like this on BBC or STV about Rangers is because Ibrox has been full to the rafters every week this season. Oh no wait...
my recollection which I would not trust by the way was that Murdo was reserve team coach and was asked by Wim to step up to assist him as assistant manager.
Murdo likes to portray it that Celtic & Wim head hunted him for that particular position when in fact it was the most convenient and cheap option.
Wim had a clause in his contract allowing him to walk away leaving Murdo in limbo.
I said last Saturday night after hearing his interview that (to paraphrase myself) I liked the cut of Jim Gannon's jib.
He sounded confident in his views and articulate enough to express them forcibly. Not in the least surprised he is not letting this go.
There is absolutely no reason not to employ the same refereeing monitoring system as in England, it adds just a bit more transparency. (which the dark side would oppose).
Although I share Aw Naw's views that Celtic should demonstrate the same resolve, maybe this is an instance when the issue can best be pursued by proxy.
Agree that we should monitor this by proxy. As soon as Celtic get involved it automatically becomes rampant paranoia and the get out of jail free card is played again. For an added bonus it would being out the CSI Miami-esque scrutiny of any decision that can be perceived to have gone in our favour and influenced the outcome of a match. As if that doesn't happen anyway...
biddulph bhoy - on the contrary, there must be a Florida billionaire angle to drum up some pro-Dark Side propaganda. Mind you half his money going to the missus might take a chunk out of the transfer budget!
tonybananas - something like
Florida Billionairre is involved in hit and run whilst on his way to confirm take over of Glasgow Rangers FC - he told the media that 'i was sitting on this fire hydrant when i was hit by a vehicle which was being chased by a blonde with a 3 iron' - I am now so traumartised i cannot possibly continue with the takeover'
EN
Here's hoping, makes for a more direct and attacking side if wingers can hit the bye-line on their natural side. Like the look of the McGeady/Hinkel combination as well.
I choose not to listen to people or institutions for which I have no respect because I find them either totally biased or just plain incompetent.
I should have started it after the Saddam Hussein / Fergus McCann front page - I did start it after the Thugs & Thieves front page.
Again, not telling anyone what to do - just telling my own experience, in the hope that it may help just one person to improve their quality of life as well...
Remember, just because you are paranoid does not mean they are not out to get you.
biddulph - they could also work something in about a UEFA-FIFA-Fenian hand conspiracy and criticising the heavy-handed policing Mr Woods had to ensure which led directly to his wreckless driving even though it occurred after said incident in the current space-time continuim.
Chaplin - Naw. I'm not sure where you are coming from, but I have been mistaken for the old compere at Celtic Park who still works on the production side as we share the same name. On the other hand if you mean listening to Craig Paterson and co. wetting themselves claiming for a Hapoel penalty, or Traynor branding us as terrorist loving rent-a-protestors, and writing about it then.. aye!
Wonder if the inclusion of Robson will mean the bizarre Tannadice set up, with
McGeady going back to the Left Wing and left footed Robson on the right?
Thats what Im thinking, we played McGeady on the right on Saturday. Everybody saw that Robson wasnt suited to the right in that DU game yet he stayed there for the full game. A simple swap would have made both players more effective.
Wise words. It means I have less to write about as I am not reading them, but every now and again when I can't help come across a belter of a story (like the one PaulMcGrathshouldhavebeenaCelt posted about Craig Paterson in the Evening Times @ 1:34 PM)
I gave up the phone-ins about 10 years ago as they only serve to make halfwit hacks appear intellectually superior to the often nowit fans that call up.
Actually there's a principle (Concision) that Noam Chomsky talks about which illustrates why it is difficult to get messages across that conflict with the accepted propaganda (erroneously referred to as 'Conventional "Wisdom"'. The principle is relevant to football phone-ins "McGeady is a traitor/Artur is a bigot/Minty is untouchable" etc, however given the feeble intellects who host these programmes (DJ,Chick etc) its not such an obstacle in this context. In the political arena it is a potent weapon.
The Huns have willing conspirators all through our game apparently.
Don't know if the hundits on tonight are all in the same place but it all sounds rather jolly and matey across the airwaves.
I expect the Huns BS to mount, and the figures associated with Fleckaldinho et al to escalate as jan draws nearer.
Took a couple of pals to see the game on Saturday. We all had a wee bet. They both bet 3-1 Celtic, MacDonald 1st scorer. Needless to say Ladbrokes credited a McInness own goal. I didn't think that was right. Told pals to hold on to their coupon. Lo and behold, just had a phone call from Celtic Park saying Ladbrokes now crediting MacDonald with the goal and are paying out. Two pals are delighted. Question is, did everybody else hold on to their winning coupon?
I agree with you this it gives me less to write about too. And it has also given me less to talk about to certain extended-family members as some of them are going to have to be parted from the Scottish press by pliars when they die!
Also, I won't lie, when you grow up reading/watching/listening to various media outlets every day for years, then it it tough to break that habit. It is like an addiction. And I'm not being flippant.
However, aside from the calmer mind that I have since I started, I also had a lot more time on my hands. I can read other media outlets (both sport and non-sport); contribute to excellent forums such as this one; and generally have more free time!
Scottish media outlets know:
if they talk bad of us; we tune in.
if they talk good of them; we tune in.
We tune in in the hope that they talk good of us and bad about them.
No other media outlets in any country I have lived or worked in over the last ten years behave like this - or would get away with it.
I watched Disc 3 of the Celtic History at the weekend and Murdo was on saying he had got a phone call from a press man saying Bobby Robson was tipped to be manager and with Murdo in as Reserve coach he would be his assistant if he took over. When that didn't happen he helped Wim on the tour of Germany and was then asked to be assistant. I think you're right that he was the convenient cheap option.
Wim always only wanted a 1 year deal but due to Celtic or Jock Brown's arrogance they got him to sign a 1 year deal with an option of an extra 2 and were then able to spin it that he left early.
Both of them should get a return then we were 2-0 up, probably best to take them to seperate bookies though. Just say you know people who have been payed out on each.
The reason the tickets were £32 is because of the ill conceived 3 match ticket deals that cost £87. Those who bought those at that price would have felt aggrieved at seeing individual match tickets being priced cheaper than that.
For what looks like an attendance less than our last two Euro games it seems like the Green Brigade singing is louder, it sure is a lot clearer than it was in the other two games...
31003
Ahh, I had a a small bet on 3-1, was wasnt too un happy at the penalty miss
Canny believe this, have to miss the game coz of a gymnastics display for mini tokeness and now home to have wife watching Im a feckin celebrity and the mini tokens taking over the front room telly.
Im stuck "watching" the game on CQN.....keep the updates coming please dudes!
Open game, Hi tempo, Celtic positive, direc,t a few long punts, some excellent passes ( see Aidan) some poor passing ( see fox) some good dig from Robson and mcdonald playing like he means it.
Sammi doing the business
Half time Celtic 1 - 0 and pretty good value for it. We could have scored but Hapoel could be dangerous on the break, lets hope TM doesn't make alterations like he did in Israel.
hope its not going to happen again
samaras scores
samaras hits woodwork
we miss chances
have to score 2nd early in second half otherwise risk doing wht we did in tel-aviv
From what I did see we can win this game but now they must go for the kill. No daft substitutions please Tony. Win this and get at the least some pride back and if a result goes our way elsewhere, who knows.
Rapid have had 4 players booked and not a lot else is going on in that game.
Celts have played well without pressing home the advantage, they could have scored on 44 mins, we need an early goal in the 2nd half or we could struggle with our defence.
Good first half. Thought Skippy was a little unlucky with the offsides but good movement from him and Sammi. Both wide men playing well but Hinkle does seem to be struggling. Think N'guemo is really progressing with each game but Crosas a little anonymous
Celts have played well without pressing home the advantage, they could have scored on 44 mins, we need an early goal in the 2nd half or we could struggle with our defence.
Best first half in a while. Good on the ball, especially first 25 minutes, and chased everything. Not sure about Danny-bhoy though! Barry Robson just about getting pass mark.
Glad to be getting proved wrong by Barry Robson. Thought he had a good first half but agree with the pundits that he should have followed the ball when Sammi hit the post rather than putting his hands up suggesting that the ball should have been passed to him.
Would like to see Aiden switch to the right in the second half, I think he could do a bit more damage from there. Let Sammi play on the left a little deeper for the diagonal runs.
We seem to lean a little more to the left and I think teams play us this way
We always seem to struggle for the first 10 mins of the second half in most games. Don't know if it's concentration or......ehrm, ehh....hmmm, I mean..... ehhhh...ahhh right :o)
Top marks for N'Guemo so far, on his night he's like a less scary version of Essien. Oh for Crosas to become the Xabi Alonso type player he keeps hinting at. They really look like they could become a mean midfield pairing given time.
Someone had mentioned the language on FF and when I had a look, that particular post actually made me laugh at how pathetic a senior poster on there could be, so i thought I would share it,
Clearly a mistake although none of the words in the quote were "bad language", only the sentiment.
I apologise for my insensitivity and impulsiveness, which wasn't helped by Hamburg scoring.
It isn't what I'd have done, but Fox looks (marginally) most likely to lead to us conceding, and the weekend is our focus now, so McGeady needs his beauty sleep.
All this result is about is confidence and momentum. A good first half and a poor second half but a victory was all that mattered and it looks like a job done which could have been far more comfortable
Celtic win fairly comfortably against the surprise package of the group. How different our season may have shaped, but for a strange collapse in Tel Aviv.
Glad it's not prolonged bring on Aberdeen and the rest of our season.
We done bhoys. Still a bit wobbly but the bricks are gradually appearing on the foundations. I enjoyed a lot of our play tonight - keep it up through the Aberdeen game and we're back.
Hail hail
2-0 as predicted ....wish I was a gambling man as I've also predicted 2-0 on Saturday.
A reasonable performance with the obligatory dodgy defence moments, but job done and I believe with a large crowd on Saturday there will be a better performance.
quick observation on the game.......thought Hapoel played a continental type game 1st half.......sitting in their own half and only tackling when we were in it.........2nd half, played a SPL type of game, closing us down in our own half....thats when we started to struggle
Aiden MOM for first half, although Skip ran him close, ran all night. If he hadn't had that shocking miss he might have got it. Robson good too. I'm not a massive Crosas fan, but tonight thought a lot better from him. more involved and more forward passing than normal.
N Guemo. An enigma to me. Tackles back well, puts in a lot of effort but his passing is awful at times. Broonie has been rubbish this season, but N Guemo's passing just as bad at times. Jury still out for me.
Sitter by mcdonald but the laddy played his heart out tonight.
On that showing he'd be in my team every week.
At least 8 from 11 played well tonight. N another night we could have won by a fair few more.
Sick sayIng that but that's were we are.
I loved watching us agaIn tonight. Even if just for the first hour. Stuff it the green brigade made it more worthwhile. I want to sit with them!!!!
Mcgeady, robson, mcdonald, sammi, crosas, n'guemo, Caldwell and might I add fortune when he came on all played very well.
Fortune is a player no doubt. Won't be universally received but this lad can lay and will be superb.
Stuff this. No more excuses.
I'll be doing my damnest to go cheer the hoops as soon as I can.
The travel down used to be seen as the build up. Then it became a chore. And not just last season. Some games have been hard to sit through and justify.
If I give my all then the team will give theirs.
Ghod love the sheepies
Good free kick,but I'm bewildered at people wanting Robson as captain.I thought he was very average.Danny Fox deteriorating at a rate of knots.
N'guemo,Mcgeady and Samaras played well.I like Hinkle,but he was poor tonight,hardly got forward at all,don't know if playing with Robson and not Mcgeady was part of it.
best I've seen for a long long long long while. I always bang on about players' touch and decision making. It's been shocking recently, but tonight, both were as good as I've seen since I don't know when. As a result of those 2 factors, passing was crisp and accurate.
Scott McDonald missed the chance late, but those who don't see what a GREAT game he had, know little about this game of football. In the first half especially, his movement, touch, endeavour and general committment to the cause was exceptional.
All about opinions of course but I though N'Guemo was our best player by a country mile. His passing is improving - tonight I thought it was pretty good.Good first half from Aiden but he did disappear in the second.
Acceptable performance. Very good in patches. Work in progress I'd say.
Sitter by mcdonald but the laddy played his heart out tonight.
On that showing he'd be in my team every week.
At least 8 from 11 played well tonight. N another night we could have won by a fair few more.
Sick sayIng that but that's were we are.
I loved watching us agaIn tonight. Even if just for the first hour. Stuff it the green brigade made it more worthwhile. I want to sit with them!!!!
Mcgeady, robson, mcdonald, sammi, crosas, n'guemo, Caldwell and might I add fortune when he came on all played very well.
Fortune is a player no doubt. Won't be universally received but this lad can lay and will be superb.
Stuff this. No more excuses.
I'll be doing my damnest to go cheer the hoops as soon as I can.
The travel down used to be seen as the build up. Then it became a chore. And not just last season. Some games have been hard to sit through and justify.
If I give my all then the team will give theirs.
Ghod love the sheepies
Hope Ben gts his Christmas wish. I'd rather have someone to put the ball in the net though!
Couldnae make it on Saturday but was told our future number 7 got 2.
In the first half, I saw Sammi's head connect with the ball, which ended up in the net. Otherwise, a very poor performance from the Greek.
Also poor were Fox (hoof!), Naylor (the usual, please, guv) and N'Guemo, who looked out of sorts in a game where he was given so much space.
Hinkel had a bad first half, but rallied a bit in the second. Caldwell had a decent game, as did Crosas. Skippy worked his socks off and earns pass marks for that alone, despite fluffing his effort late on.
Mcgeady looked certain as MOTM in the first half. However, he did what he has been doing a lot recently - had a lousy second half. This can be explained by the fact that he was double-marked in the second, but he can't use that as an excuse. He needs to find the man in space or play a simple pass. Good game from Aiden, though.
Zaluska looked solid in goal, although his kicking - eeeeek! Did well to block the shot in the second half.
Fortune did well. Yes, he didn't score another one, but I can excuse him for it as he worked well, won the ball in lots of dangerous positions, one of which led to our second goal.
Barry Robson had a good game - took his free kick with aplomb and won the ball all night for the team he adores. Overall, he edges it as our best midfielder on the night - not bad for an old carthorse, eh Kojo?
MOTM for me, however, goes to Glenn Loovens. He did nearly everything right, and looks a solid, reassuring presence for us in defence. Don't forget this is a team who were scoring for fun in the Europa league, and Loovens cut the ball out on numerous occasions.
Overall, then, a difficult game to judge, considering the winning team knew they were out while the losing team knew they'd qualified. The last third of the game looked like a training exercise. But the players did what was asked of them.
Central midfield, however, still isn't right. Against a higher calibre team, N'Guemo didn't look comfortable, and it remains to be seen whether he and Crosas are locked in for the season. Personally, I'd go for Robson and Crosas, but I've been saying that for the last couple of months.
Wan good thing...........if we win our game against Rabid (sic) we will finish third in the group and will drop into the mini euro continental super duper league badge copper 8th place trophy shield where the group stages have already been drawn and we will be up against Floyby FC from the Faroe Islands, Pollok Juniors from the Shawlands Principality and "Five Poofs and a Ba'" fae the Kicks Sunday Five a side league. Finish 3rd in that and the world's our lobster
Lurgan 53 fair do's mate, and it seems a lot agree with you. I can't see it myself yet but as I say jury's still out, quite prepared to give him more time to convince me! No doubting his effort in a defensive sense, just think for a CM he gives the ball away a lot and doesn't really create anything. Thouhgt as I say Crosas out the two was better.
Blantyretim you do know I was joking? I don't think you've seen me swearing on here, for the reason you gave earlier, light up.
Anybody ken whit happened to the Stupid TUC sponsored demo in our house? did I blink and miss it.
A great flag display by the Green Brigada at the start of the match, while the orange card society were waiting to see if their plan worked.
MESSAGE TO THE BOARD...... Can we please have standing room behind both goals and let the GB provide the atmosphere, at any other gig you'd have to pay them to sing for 90 mins.
Agree with earlier posters. Mcdonald was the player for me tonight. With a few others we looked a team with a bit of belief. Isn't that what we asked for prematch?
Just back in.......were BBC at their usual negative slant on Celtic tonight again, or did they actually watch the game.....I've got a good feeling about BTM......his transformation of the team is starting to bear fruit...
My first look at a Celtic performance in the Mowbray era.
Overwhelming impression is that we have a lot of bad players in a very disunited team; it's clear that a lot of the players want or expect to be on their way shortly. To judge as charitably as possible, we had four decent outfield players - N'guemo, Samaras, Robson and McGeady. I saw NO outfield players one would categorise as 'very good'.
I'd like to see the back of Scott MacDonald: whatever he once had to offer has run out, or he's not prepared to give it to this manager. I genuinely, I mean genuinely, believe he deliberately missed that chance to go 3-0: I'd bet there are hard looks and hard words being directed at him, and from him, in the dressing room as I write this. Whoever told Fortune he was a centre-forward should invest in a white stick. Caldwell lacks any qualities that make a competent defender; really, he has none of the instincts of even a moderate professional footballer. And so on.
I have seen three EPL games this season, and one top-level Championship match. The four players named above would have a chance, but no certainty, of a place in the squad of any of the teams I saw (and one of the teams I saw was hapless Portsmouth).
I'd like to see what keen young Scottish players Celtic can put into the first team, both from our reserves and from provincial Scottish clubs.
N'Guemo the stand out for me. McGeady was great in the first half but didn't get on the ball much in the second. Robson on the right just doesn't work, but he battled as always and took his free kick very well.
Hinkel didn't get forward as much as usual. Would have thought that Robson coming inside would have left him space. He did have a difficult night defensively though.
crosas was way better than robson tonight in my view, and your comments on caldwell, based on his game tonight, are very harsh
as far as the championship goes, you must have been incredibly lucky to see a good game there....it is a very poor league, with very average players....which is the view of many of the english media pundits who have been slaughtering it this year....the epl is also very very average once you get past the top 10 teams.....a collection of hugely overpaid individuals .....we might have a way to go, and we do...but our aspirations are much higher than dross like portsmouth and anybody in the championship
Is anyone watching Sky sports News just now.....did you see the wee clip on Peter Reid watching the MC v Arsenal.....he dosed off and the camera caught him wakening up with a 'start' ......absolutely brilliantly hilarious......THAT will be shown on the Saturday morning football show......
Great first half performance, not so good in the second. The midfield 4 all played very well, especially in the first half. The Crosas/N'Guemo partnership in the middle should be kept with Aiden on one of the wings, the other position should be horses for courses, likewise the front 2. Defence generally solid tonight and Zaluska did what he had to do, although he needs to practice his kicking.
Overall Celtic played well and we are creating chances. Fortune gets himself into good scoring positons and sooner or later will start hitting the back of the net.
N'Guemo breaks up opposition play very well but needs to work on his passing.
Both full-backs were shocking and we need to replace both. Hinkel my be ok going forward but , similar to last season, we look very weak defensively down his side of the park.
Enjoyed the win tonight and there seemed to be some confidence building after Saturday's game.
A couple of points on some of the performances. Crosas and N'Guemo again looked as though they work well together in the middle. N'Guemo in particular seemed to always turn up where someone else had missed their tackle.
Aiden was great first half and looked as though he would beat his man every time he took him on.
Thought Loovens physically dominated the player he was marking right from the word go which hasn't happened for some time.
Finally, after all the stick he gets, I agree with Abmucker that McDonald gave absolutely everything for the team tonight. His movement; his tracking back; and (who would believe it?) his first touch were all excellent tonight. I was gutted for him that he didn't stick his chance away at the end as his performance deserved a goal.
A similar performance on Saturday and we might just be getting somewhere...
********************************************
When wee Derryghirl and I were up for the KANO do a few weeks ago, we went into the superstore to look at some of the items she liked in the catalogue, the girl we spoke to said the catalogue stuff was separate from the shop and some of the items were "on line exclusives", this would mean the wife would have to return to engerlund, buy on-line and then (as has happened often before) if/ when the clothes don't fit we have to pay YET AGAIN for the postage.......what a waste of money, all of the other firms/ people my wife deals with for on-line goods accept goods back with free postage, I mean why pay twice if
1) the goods are not fit for purpose or
2) the garment doesn't fit (after travelling into a Celtic shop to view the garment and the shopdoesn't stock the item).
I have also had troubles with on- line going back to the 1990's when people living in the south of engerlund were let down at Christmas after ordering the goods in Nov.... thought they'd improved since then?
Happy bhoy here but still concerned with Danny Fox. Everytime someone attacks him he seems to get beaten easily. If i could get one thing for my christmas it would be a new left back for Celtic.
The team worked very hard closing Hapoel down and still had energy to play some nice passing football in particually the 1st half. So good team performance...well done bhoys!!
The stand outs for me were McGeady and N'Guemo. They both worked their socks off, McGeady creating chances and running at players. N'Guemo must have covered every blade of grass....keep it up!!
What worries me most (apart from our second half disappearing act nd the fact that only 2 goals were scored when it could have been 5 or 6) is that Caldwell was our best defender........!!!!!!!. Both full backs poor and Loovens not strong enough. Promising signs though. Hapoel not a great team but a much stronger test than yer St. Mirrens. Roll on Aberdeen.
Dragon Riley.....a very good assessment of progress.......once the crowds build up, we will move forward ...no doubt about it......crowds seem to be down at all games these days, but BBC seem to think our crowds are lower than normal for different reasons to the other teams/games.....funny that, eh !!!????
Fortune reminds me of Brattbakk.I guess if he bangs in the goal that wins us the league I wont be complaining too much. I thought the first half tonight was the best we have played all season and I feel a lot more confident about the rest of the campaign now. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvTvWJWeQ2g
Keep winning like ye ur daeing, Mr.Mowbray's Eleven..and.
Ah Guarantee, ye wullnae hear a chirp of complaint,oota me.
Twice.. that's Two times in a Row, Celtic hiv won,, Noo, Ah'll hiv ye!(Whit?..ed)(Ah know ,"Ah' ll hiv ye"(?)... Everyboady, says it,but naebuddy knows whit it means.. Ah'm nae exception!)
McGeady wisnae too bad thenight but apart fae that ah widnae be on a knicker wettin exercise....Sheep United will be more of a game...... "he's fat, he's round, he's worth a million pound Mark McGhee, Mark McGhee " will dae us nae favours....
I may be wrong but I think I saw Scott McDonald put his hand up to acknowledge a pass he should have made when a teammate was better positioned. Has the "Moaning Marsupial" (c)001Bhoy (?) turned the corner?
1st Half Aiden was superb, 2nd half the ball went wide right to Barry Robson who did not have the beating of his man that Aiden had. Barry's game was the all action tackling we saw in the 1st half. Job done he did not need to do it in the 2nd but we would have had more joy in using Aiden rather than Barry.
Landry N'Guemo stand up son you are a Celtic player. Covered every inch of that pitch, if he gave the ball away, which can happen to any player, he hunted it and the player down and got it back.
No complaints tonight. Decent performance and a win.
Just wish I lived close enough to Celtic park to have been there.
p.s. Did enjoy Jim Beglin correcting Tyldlesy who called it a "clumsy tackle" by saying, after the dive, " The important point is he got the ball though"
Re the BBC, I saw their preview of tonight's game on Reporting Scotland before I left for the game and, with little to no mention of the game itself, they had a reporter roaming around the stadium finding a couple of fans to give them the quotes they were looking for about the team being poor, Tony Mowbray being poor etc.
Get a grip boys. Read any honest pro football memoir and you'll come across worse actions - Andy Cole and Teddy Sheringham would be a good place to start. Or McDonald's fellow Aussie at half-time against ICT...
Of course, if it had been nil-nil MacDonald wouldn't have done it, but the game was dead by the time the chance came.
67 heaven
I was working so had to listen to the game on BBCS .I can't stand them ,the commentator again seems overjoyed whenever the opposition gets close to scoring against us .
67heaven I should say, that was my experience from ages ago on-line, which I mentioned at the end of my post, my wife normally purchases items and if they don't fit, has to return them at a cost to her, not CFC, that must have been you're experience if you return goods?
TSoAL ha ha I could reduce my spending by about 80% for Celtic goods if I wanted to purchase in Blackpool, I like the real stuff from Asia :¬)
Not long back from the game. Another decent performance. Thought N'Guemo was our best player overall but also feel that Zaluska, Heid, Loovens, McGeady and (even) McDonald did well. Skippy tried to be more involved and his movement was a bit better. But what a miss in the second half! Robson put in a shift but has no pace at all and even less when he's on the right hand side.
Looking forward to the weekend. Could be a Carlsberg Saturday with Rangers ending up 4th in the league by 5.00.
Regards the STUC organised event - kind of a damp suib in the end, but I realised that with all the publicity they got before-hand ot was probably a success from their point of view.
And just to spite Ernie Lynch I did make my feelings known to a couple of the flag handers out, one of whom was a little confrontational. We all shook hands and wished each other well in the end.
bournesouprecipe on December 2, 2009 10:25 PM
Thought the neutral Englaish coverage of the Celtic game was a breath of fresh air, especially Robbie Earle
Cheers for the support. 111 was quite good tonight, plenty of colour pre match and good vocally throughout the game. Also good to see a bit of sensible stewarding.
Sorry, but feel the need to dispel the notion that N'Guemo had a great game. If central midfield were so good today, how come it was 56% possession to Hapoel? At home.
If N'Guemo plays with Crosas at the weekend, I won't be too fussed, but I think Robson is by far the better player.
Best result of the night - A CLEAN SHEET!
Defence looked better tonight and saturday because they didn't try to be the Barcelona backline. They kept it (mostly) simple and hey presto - clean sheet. :)
Second best result - A bit of confidence coming into the team.
Third result - NGuemo and Crosas really starting to get an understanding. Keep it up. :)
Fourth best result - Didn't get too cold, brrr!!
Well done to the Celts for tonights victory. Played well in spells of the game.
Again, I will reiterate: if we had a true goalscorer (or two) we would be beating teams confortably. The chances we miss are what is actually hampering our season thus far. Samaras and MacDonald missed two of the most horrendous chances you will ever see tonight.
We need a striker who can score a goal per game, and I hope we can get someone in the January transfer window that fits the bill.
So now lets forget about Europe this season and focus on bringing the title back to Paradise!
Jobo Baldie evening to you amigo, two things:
1) A Carlsberg Saturday with a crowd of over 50,000 at CP methinks and
2) Whit happened to you're EK forecasts? you've been sacked at a secret meeting of the CQN weather forecasting clique club.
"Overwhelming impression is that we have a lot of bad players in a very disunited team..."
My overwhelming impression was that we won and won fairly comfortably, must have been hallucinogenic coffee I had before I went to game, thought everything looked very rosy in the garden, though McDs miss at the end even managed to penetrate my befuddled state of mind - absolute shocker!
Only saw one Palestinian flag been waggled apologetically, be a lot of unhappy hacks the night drowning their sorrows.
Liked the Halpoel 'Smash Fascism' banner - STUC should hang their heads, should be supporting that support, not protesting against them.
UTLR you're welcome amigo, it was all good stuff, which can only encourage the board to engage in creating a better atmosphere at CP..back to the old days of scaring the beejeezus out of the visiting team, and encouraging more fans to join up and visit CP for the unique atmosphere.
Other than a win and a clean sheet , I can't find much to be excited about over tonight. We beat a fairly mediocre Israeli side at home, are we meant to celebrate that ?
At the start of season 2000/2001 we were ranked 95th in Europe, even after beating the mighty Hapoel Tel Aviv home and away the previous season.
Five years later before we flew off to Bratislava, we were ranked 22nd in Europe, (Chelsea were 20th) after a 5 year period that had seen us beat the likes of Valencia, Juventus, Porto & Lyon at Parkhead, and knock teams such as Ajax, Barcelona and Liverpool out of Europe in 2 legged competition. We spent money on quality players, then we went out and earned that money back. Fans put their hands in their pockets and we done our bit. We had heroes to watch.
Now here we are after a second season in a row where our final match in Europe will be no more than a dead rubber, and this time it's even in the consolation cup. We started this season ranked in 48th position, our co-efficient propped up by those 2 historic seasons in the Champions League last 16 but losing those points we gained in the run to Seville. Our efforts this season will likely see us drop further down leaving us with more dodgy qualifiers in July in future years.
There's been too much discussion and debate on here already about the merits of our previous 2 managers, and I won't go over old ground, it's fair to say that both over achieved in Europe in comparison to our history from the 80s and 90s.
Managers aside, it is clear that we have downsized the quality of our first team pool to such an extent that teams such as Rapid Vienna, Aalborg and Hamburg can come to Parkhead expecting to take home points. (And before anyone points out what a great side Hamburg are, remember they lost 5 of their last 6 Champions League matches when they last qualified. )
Our board constantly remind us how difficult it is to match the income levels of the big boys down south, and how we need to boost our revenue streams. Other than their favoured route of an invitation to the SKY bonanza, the best chance we have to generate more income is from European competition yet we are unable or unwilling to improve the squad to allow us to do that. Instead we are left with empty seats, unwanted season tickets and yet more new jerseys to fill the gap.
Sorry for the rant, but I am scunnered with the hard luck stories, and arguing how good or bad Barry Robson was tonight. In the words of our chairman, we are not fit for purpose.
Celtic win 3.1
Time to start re-building 'Fortress Celtic Park'
3-1 to the super hoops tonight!!
You heard it here first
Rambo - First Blood, is on straight after the match.
Result
UC
Anybody who would like to discuss the STUC´s directive can call Dave Moxham: Deputy General Secretary 0141 337 8100. Please no more tonight it´s boring the teats off of me
Hail Hail
If you hadn't just heard it from Awe Naw first :)
interesting article in the spanish sports press today on Naka......he hasn't settled, performances have been less than expected, family back in Japan.....but Espanyol aren't giving up on him, not least because of the commercial contracts that he has brought with him
Zaluska
Hinkel
Caldwell
Loovens
Fox
McGeady
N'Guemo
Crosas
Robson
Skippy
Sammi
HH
notoneofthepeepil
sorry to steal your thunder there !!
PodiumCSC :-)
Paul67's last article hit the nail on the head for me - play to the whistle, AKA one game at a time.
At the moment it looks pretty impossible that we will have any chance of qualifying from our group. However, I don't think it's that impossible for the 2 results to go the right way tonight. It'd be good for us to at least have a meaningful final fixture, unlike our friends from across the city.
I hope there's just 1 change from Saturday's starting line up.
Looks pretty cold outside tonight so plenty of layers on bhoys.
2 nil Celtic. A goal in each half by Skippy.
Jobo
After winning its just as important to keep a clean sheet tonight -we need to get into that habit.
here's to 3-0
notoneofthepeepil - Really ?
By Mac1888 on December 2, 2009 12:46 AM
My prediction for tomorrow 3 - 1 , McDonald to get another brace and Fortune the other.;)
Sit Paul
Nutsy, backing Celtic with a Straight Win.
Which is a Foist.. as he always hedges his bets,by also maaking a Tie Bet.
Alyss, comments..
"I see a victory for the Team that fields the One Single Player,
who breakfasted ,this Morn, oan a Heaping Helping of Wheaties!"
Inside Joke?
Ah predict that Celtic wull No be Beat.
Kojo.
"Jim Gannon has refused to back down in his row with referee’s chief Hugh Dallas, launching another broadside against the former whistler. The Motherwell manager has accused Dallas of questioning his “honesty and integrity” in an argument over refereeing performances in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League.
After referee Alan Muir was criticised by both Gannon and Dundee United boss Craig Levein following their 2-2 draw last weekend, the ‘Well boss claimed that he had wrote twice to Dallas with his concerns over the standard of SPL refs without reply.
Dallas – who is the Scottish Football Association’s head of referees development – denied those claims, saying that Gannon had only written once and was replied to immediately.
That response has angered Gannon though and he has stood by his original comments, adding that he has now written again to Dallas and to the SFA’s chief executive Gordon Smith to “seek clarity”.
Gannon said: "I am disappointed by the comments made by Mr Hugh Dallas of the Scottish Football Association and an unnamed spokesman representing the SFA, in which they question the honesty and integrity of my post match statements on Saturday November 28.
"I have written to Mr Hugh Dallas and Mr Gordon Smith, as the chief executive of the Scottish Football Association, to seek some clarity on this matter.
"I once again reiterate that two separate letters of complaint regarding the standard of referees were sent to Mr Hugh Dallas, in his role as head of referee department of the SFA, dated September 21 and November 19.
"Both parties have been furnished with a copy of each of the two letters for their records. I will await their explanation, and any evidence they have to support their position, before further public comment."
Full article here.
pablophanque
Narrowboat
Just getting back to you ( in a non smeato way)
Judy Dyble did record I Talk to the Wind with Giles Giles and Fripp in 1968 - I don't have it but it may be on
A Young Person's Guide to King Crimson
More about Judy here- www.judydyble.com
Anyway back to the football:
Celtic win 3-0
Rapid win 1-0
Now that really would Rake The Biscuit!
Hail hail
Pablo,
I read that earlier.
Hugh Dallas was pretty quick in getting an unnamed SFA spokesperson to deny this. Lets see how quick he is this time.
For the record well done Jim Gannon - Celtic Chairman please take note
Hail Hail
Mac1888
Okay, so if you hadn't already heard it from Mac1888 and Awe Naw first :)it will be 3-1,
Samaras, McGeady and Robson to get the 3
Watching Red Bull Salzburg v Lazio on ITV 4. The guy Janko just went down like Lafferty, disgrace.
Awe_Naw........ don't hold yer breath mate. THE biggest problem at our club (and has been for far too long) is their relutance to "get involved" and tell it like it is. Until their collective attitude changes, we're donald ducked.
Can you imagine if the Bunnet was still here and what he would have said/done about all the crap that's went off these last couplea years ?
pablophanque
Consistent team selection please Tony. Lets build partnerships and understanding.
2-0 Celtic McGeady and Sammy
.
Could This Catch on in Sconnie Botland....?
Watching the Boxing Tonight....Just before the Bout Started....
The Ref Said to The Opponents....
"Right the Fans are Here to See You Boxing....NOT To See Me Refereeing...."
Naw thought Not....
SoS
Team
Zaluska
Hinkel Caldwell Loovens Fox
McGinn NGuemo Crosas McGeady
Samaras Fortune
pablophanque on December 2, 2009 6:48 PM
100% agree.
We should have a full time high profile lawyer fully involved in engaging the processes.
Their reluctance to take it on defies their title of custodians as far as I am concerned and leaves their lack of action open to the only the worst kind on interpretation.
Hail hail
GrieveRdCSC - noticed that too, did you also note that stoopit commentator, even after watching the replay, still asked how did the goalkeeper stay on the park? Dumplin'.
Pre match positive vibes. I'm predicting a 2-0 win and think Caldwell may get a goal.
Our normal 55 seater bus has less than 30 folk on it tho. Oh dear.
Murdo McLeod on Radio Scotland just announced he was sacked from his management role with Celtic, I thought he and Wim resigned?
Yeah Cathal commentator did get overly excited about it all.
whose on the bench?
jinkyredstar
Yes I use to have A Young Person Guide to King Crimson on vynal but sadly when I moved back to the UK almost 12 years ago my Ex-Wife made me sell almost a 1000 albums, I cried when they went oot the door, I knew where I was when I bought every album, if there was a tour for that album I put the ticket in the album, off course they were in dust sleeves and alphabetical order. Now I have tons of CDs but they are lying scatterred around out of their cases, souless creatures they are.
Here is the version I was talking about but it turns out it was Giles, Giles, Fripp and Dyble
I talk to the wind
I'm off to put Celtic, Man City and the two Estadio Nacional told me to put on
Hail Hail
Celtic 3-0
Confirmed the team as bournesouprecipe posted earlier, same as Saturday with Robson for ZZ.
Zaluska
Hinkel
Caldwell
Loovens
Fox
McGeady
N'Guemo
Crosas
Robson
Skippy
Sammi
Subs
Boruc,
Naylor
McManus
Fortuné
McGinn
McCourt
Wilson
OnThe3-1BandwagonCSC
Top news story on BBC Reporting Scotland tonight, a forensic analysis of Celtic's poor attendances this season with a bold prediction that they could fall below 35,000 soon. Many interviews with fans, is it because of the recession? No, its because the manager and team are pish. Thanks for that BBC. A nice wee morale boosting story to get us up for tonight's game. Always support the Scottish team right enough.
Now, the reason there hasnt been a story like this on BBC or STV about Rangers is because Ibrox has been full to the rafters every week this season. Oh no wait...
Don't share the optimism of most on here.
A Huns defeat in the league and a win over St Mirren does not automatically make us a good team.
I fancy HTV to get a couple of goals tonight.
I reckon a 2-2 draw. :-(
notoneofthepeepil,
my recollection which I would not trust by the way was that Murdo was reserve team coach and was asked by Wim to step up to assist him as assistant manager.
Murdo likes to portray it that Celtic & Wim head hunted him for that particular position when in fact it was the most convenient and cheap option.
Wim had a clause in his contract allowing him to walk away leaving Murdo in limbo.
Murdo is in danger of becoming the new Tony Adams
Hail hail
By pablophanque on December 2, 2009 6:40 PM
I said last Saturday night after hearing his interview that (to paraphrase myself) I liked the cut of Jim Gannon's jib.
He sounded confident in his views and articulate enough to express them forcibly. Not in the least surprised he is not letting this go.
There is absolutely no reason not to employ the same refereeing monitoring system as in England, it adds just a bit more transparency. (which the dark side would oppose).
Although I share Aw Naw's views that Celtic should demonstrate the same resolve, maybe this is an instance when the issue can best be pursued by proxy.
tonybananas
i am surprised they havent worked us into the Tiger Wood Story mind you there is still time.
can't make it tonight. pesky friends-round-for-dinner arrangement.
good luck tony and the bhoys.
Auldheid 7:07 PM
Agree that we should monitor this by proxy. As soon as Celtic get involved it automatically becomes rampant paranoia and the get out of jail free card is played again. For an added bonus it would being out the CSI Miami-esque scrutiny of any decision that can be perceived to have gone in our favour and influenced the outcome of a match. As if that doesn't happen anyway...
NBT,
How quickly did she become your Ex after flexing those muscles ? ;-)
biddulph bhoy - on the contrary, there must be a Florida billionaire angle to drum up some pro-Dark Side propaganda. Mind you half his money going to the missus might take a chunk out of the transfer budget!
tonybananas - something like
Florida Billionairre is involved in hit and run whilst on his way to confirm take over of Glasgow Rangers FC - he told the media that 'i was sitting on this fire hydrant when i was hit by a vehicle which was being chased by a blonde with a 3 iron' - I am now so traumartised i cannot possibly continue with the takeover'
John Reid declined to comment
By The Narrowbhoat Tim on December 2, 2009 7:01 PM
i understand why she's your EX wife. nobody messes with a man's vinyl.
Got to hope its Robson on the left McGeady on the right, not the opposite way round like we had in the Dundee United game.
Did anyone see Scotland today Last night ?
What was story concerning Celtic ? Supposidly i was in some of the footage used. I have had numerous emails today.
Going to follow game for first time ever on CQN tonight as i am
FAR away from home hope i am not disappointed.
tonybananas
Should you no be workin tonight ?
Hun Media Monitor -
Keech Jackson on BBC Radio Scotland.
Hun succession planning. Fat Traynor must be having his red wine colonic therapy.
Wee Chick talks at length about his favourite team.
Sumbdy said 7/8 million for "Greegs".( think they meant pounds sterling)
Keech trying to punt Aiden.
Wee Chick acting de facto as Danny Wilson's agent / press agent.
I find John Collins difficult.
I find John Collins difficult to understand.
C'mon Hoops good performance will shut them up.
EN
Here's hoping, makes for a more direct and attacking side if wingers can hit the bye-line on their natural side. Like the look of the McGeady/Hinkel combination as well.
Bankiebhoy
Thanks other night for advice for airport
ended up watching (as i predicted) some EGG chasers.
any copenhagen bhoys out there.
where can i watch the game here
according to celticbars.com
DENMARK - THE SHAMROCK INN, JERNBANEGADE, COPENHAGEN
DENMARK - THE DUBLINER, AMARGERTOV 5, 1160 COPENHAGEN (Tel: 3332 2226)
Lads,
please believe this is not an attempt to tell anyone else what to do...
rather I just thought I would share how happier my life has become since I started my boycott of the Scottish Media - in ALL it's forms.
Television, Radio, Newspapers, Magazines, Websites...
I choose not to listen to people or institutions for which I have no respect because I find them either totally biased or just plain incompetent.
I should have started it after the Saddam Hussein / Fergus McCann front page - I did start it after the Thugs & Thieves front page.
Again, not telling anyone what to do - just telling my own experience, in the hope that it may help just one person to improve their quality of life as well...
Remember, just because you are paranoid does not mean they are not out to get you.
TLOPG
bankiebhoy1
Was it not jingle jangle whom John Collins accused of tapping up Thomson for the huns, and had a little spat over the issue.
Is the game on the telly tonight?
Which Channel??
Thanks,
Lubo.
ITV 4 channel 120
biddulph - they could also work something in about a UEFA-FIFA-Fenian hand conspiracy and criticising the heavy-handed policing Mr Woods had to ensure which led directly to his wreckless driving even though it occurred after said incident in the current space-time continuim.
Chaplin - Naw. I'm not sure where you are coming from, but I have been mistaken for the old compere at Celtic Park who still works on the production side as we share the same name. On the other hand if you mean listening to Craig Paterson and co. wetting themselves claiming for a Hapoel penalty, or Traynor branding us as terrorist loving rent-a-protestors, and writing about it then.. aye!
But I am a bit lazy.
biddulph bhoy,
Thank You.
Lubo.
Jc2
No bother mate.
I prefer Newark to JFK anyday.
HH.
GrieveRdCSC
I take it you're a member of the GreenockQuicknews CSC?
2-0
HH
Wonder if the inclusion of Robson will mean the bizarre Tannadice set up, with
McGeady going back to the Left Wing and left footed Robson on the right?
HH
allrighty vmnahn, you enjoy the pics of the Shammy and the 85 cup final ?
Narrowboat
great link - thank you
tears in my eyes thinking about your vinyl - some of mine still have price stickers
from Listen in Byres Road
Right Celtic let's do it
hail hail
Keyser_Soze & Bournesouprecipe
Thats what Im thinking, we played McGeady on the right on Saturday. Everybody saw that Robson wasnt suited to the right in that DU game yet he stayed there for the full game. A simple swap would have made both players more effective.
EN
The Legend of Peter Grant 7:35 PM
Wise words. It means I have less to write about as I am not reading them, but every now and again when I can't help come across a belter of a story (like the one PaulMcGrathshouldhavebeenaCelt posted about Craig Paterson in the Evening Times @ 1:34 PM)
I gave up the phone-ins about 10 years ago as they only serve to make halfwit hacks appear intellectually superior to the often nowit fans that call up.
Actually there's a principle (Concision) that Noam Chomsky talks about which illustrates why it is difficult to get messages across that conflict with the accepted propaganda (erroneously referred to as 'Conventional "Wisdom"'. The principle is relevant to football phone-ins "McGeady is a traitor/Artur is a bigot/Minty is untouchable" etc, however given the feeble intellects who host these programmes (DJ,Chick etc) its not such an obstacle in this context. In the political arena it is a potent weapon.
Notoneofthepeepil
The very same.
The Huns have willing conspirators all through our game apparently.
Don't know if the hundits on tonight are all in the same place but it all sounds rather jolly and matey across the airwaves.
I expect the Huns BS to mount, and the figures associated with Fleckaldinho et al to escalate as jan draws nearer.
Mrs Biddulph's gone late night shopping with daughter Biddulph - few cans of Stella - bring it on!
thankgoodnessfordebenhamsCSC
How long to kick off?
I think I'm first in the ground. Oh wait, there's a few folk waiting on pies .
c'mon the hoops
er.........good news and bad news
Took a couple of pals to see the game on Saturday. We all had a wee bet. They both bet 3-1 Celtic, MacDonald 1st scorer. Needless to say Ladbrokes credited a McInness own goal. I didn't think that was right. Told pals to hold on to their coupon. Lo and behold, just had a phone call from Celtic Park saying Ladbrokes now crediting MacDonald with the goal and are paying out. Two pals are delighted. Question is, did everybody else hold on to their winning coupon?
C'Mon the HOOPS!
oh my god,no fans- well nearly no fans
tonybananas
Thank you.
I agree with you this it gives me less to write about too. And it has also given me less to talk about to certain extended-family members as some of them are going to have to be parted from the Scottish press by pliars when they die!
Also, I won't lie, when you grow up reading/watching/listening to various media outlets every day for years, then it it tough to break that habit. It is like an addiction. And I'm not being flippant.
However, aside from the calmer mind that I have since I started, I also had a lot more time on my hands. I can read other media outlets (both sport and non-sport); contribute to excellent forums such as this one; and generally have more free time!
Scottish media outlets know:
if they talk bad of us; we tune in.
if they talk good of them; we tune in.
We tune in in the hope that they talk good of us and bad about them.
No other media outlets in any country I have lived or worked in over the last ten years behave like this - or would get away with it.
TLOPG
oh no, just the studio angle about 30,000
31003
Good shout. I remember Celtic fans that bet John Hartson first goal at Ibrox, bookies
said it was A Khisnasveli (spelling?) - own goal.
StillthinkthatwasaconspiracyCSC
31003
Brilliant news. My local Ladbrokes paid me yesterday on Samaras for the first, paid for my weekend.
Samaras will score the first tonight.
EN
bourne......saw a few unhappy fans givin the Ladbrokes lassie a hard time at the final whistle.....they must have bowed to the pressure
Awe-Naw
I watched Disc 3 of the Celtic History at the weekend and Murdo was on saying he had got a phone call from a press man saying Bobby Robson was tipped to be manager and with Murdo in as Reserve coach he would be his assistant if he took over. When that didn't happen he helped Wim on the tour of Germany and was then asked to be assistant. I think you're right that he was the convenient cheap option.
Wim always only wanted a 1 year deal but due to Celtic or Jock Brown's arrogance they got him to sign a 1 year deal with an option of an extra 2 and were then able to spin it that he left early.
Mort
Robson starting on the right.
Baffled.
Hamburg under the cosh. Corner to Rapid 30 seconds played.
Are we supporting Rapid tonight ?
Really ?
Hail Hail
Looks like the Flag protest was a non event
Oh wait - they may have cameras outside the ground
HH
side just as predicted
zaluska
hinkil
loovens
caldwell
fox
robson
mcgeady
crosas
nguemo
samaras
mcdonald
McGeady on the left?
Why in the name of all that is good is Barry (no right foot) Robson playing on the right.
Mort
EN
Unbeleivable?
HH
Estadio Nacional.........I had two bets......MacDonald & Sammy 1st goal scorer......didny think we'd let wan in though..........DOH!
nice little move - weak shot from ngeomo - good start
Awe_Naw
Naw Hamburg
HH
robson played there against D.Utd
mcdonald offside
Good up tempo start by Celtic.
Ball in the bet, Skippy flagged offside. Looked kinda marginal, I thought
Bournesouprecipe & Mort
McGeady was man of the match on the right at the weekend after a few games where he wasnt at his best.
Why change it to bring in a left footer on the right? A player who is uncomfortable in that position.
EN
Looked OK to me.
Official attendance............63,432
just offside - need more stella
Bourne,
good to know !
I couldn´t bring myself to hope for them.
Hail hail
Patrick27
Yeah and was woeful. Watch him turn consistently onto his left side.
Mort
31003
cant be 63,432 its only 2 thirds full
good start from Aiden
mort
no robson didnt look comfortable at all
.
31003....
Estadio Nat....Bet Sammi to Score First and Got Paid Out....
001
31003
Both of them should get a return then we were 2-0 up, probably best to take them to seperate bookies though. Just say you know people who have been payed out on each.
EN
cant beleive the tickets were 32 quid for tonights game! Look at the stadium, says it all really.
EN
I actually don't mind Aiden on the left. He is equally adept on either side but with him on left we should have went for McGinn on right.
Mort
saint stivs fp aye brilliant photies, those were the days mate.
You should have contacted Bhoysrus fae the Port, who has been out there for 20 odd yrs I think.
HH
good tackle from nguemo
what is caldwell doing, letting the guy run about 20 yards with noo pressure
Beglin quickly corrects Tyldesley - penalty drama queen
as N'guemo tackles cleanly in the box
Patrick27..........I can see the empty seats as well..........but our esteemed board don't
31003
aye they dont
Mort / EN
Aiden anywhere - sure but Robson wide right was widely criticised.
HH
EN...................I bet 3-0........hence the DOH!
RATM
The reason the tickets were £32 is because of the ill conceived 3 match ticket deals that cost £87. Those who bought those at that price would have felt aggrieved at seeing individual match tickets being priced cheaper than that.
Mort
just noticing white nets- dont we usally have green nets???
For what looks like an attendance less than our last two Euro games it seems like the Green Brigade singing is louder, it sure is a lot clearer than it was in the other two games...
31003
Ahh, I had a a small bet on 3-1, was wasnt too un happy at the penalty miss
sammy was onside
Whits happened tae the nice 1-2 passes from back tae front we were playing at the start of the season, all ah see here is long ba's
re season ticket prices v matchdays etc
you can buy a telly for £800 and within 2 months the same telly is £650 - its market forces.
Tin hat on here.
Sometimes, I wish the GB would take a break
Scuddin some Sol at the minute........2 cases fur £10 last week in Sainsburys........330ml bottles as well
Great play McGeady - shot Skippy saved
gr8 play from mcgeady, skippy unlucky good save
Good run by Aiden into the box, keeper saves Skippy s shot,
Rapid 0 Hamburg 0 20mins played
Fox...
aye bushy tail....
c'mon celtic wake up hapeol should score
Real Chance missed By Hapoel slack marking up
We were lucky not to be a goal down
Sleeping as Hapoel take a quick free kick
yeeha
sammmiiiiiiiii
sammi
Sammi yes
SAMMI BABYYYYYYYYY
Sammmmiii
GOAL :) Samaras gr8 play skippy quick free kick mcgeady crosses sammy heads
Aiden builds a goal, Samaras pulls the trigger.
1-0 Celtic
Who could have seen that coming...........
Yes Sammi scores the first goal again. 11/2.
Great cross from McGeady on his weaker foot.
quick free kick from skippy excellent cross from aiden - header from sammi
simples
Ah absolutely, unoquivically hate quick free kicks as well.........
Sorry
Kinda mixing metaphors there, who cares we are 1 up
Yaaaasssss!!!
Was screaming at Skippy for taking the free kick too quickly.
Now. "Quick thinking Skippy, me oul mate!"
I can do that can't I?
EN-
I was reading your comment as the goal went in. Any chance you could post our second scorer?
gotta say zaluska's kicks arent great
why take a quick free kick? why...
poor foxy
good play from sammy
Game has opened up!
Aidens lookin good yet again.......
Bhoys playing well.
robson good determination
....so is big Sammi when it comes to it.......
great play aiden - again
Quizzler
McDonald will get the second.
EN
good play from mcgeady maybe should have made it 2-0!
Some of the sweary words on FF are scary right now
tonybananas, sorry for the misunderstanding earlier, do you read 'The Bear Pit' at all ?
Aiden great chance, bit selfish, but symptomatic of the good play so far.
The pieces have fallen together well so far tonight.
.........so is this Sol when it comes to it.......
Him AGAIN. Final ball PLEASE. He did it on Saturday - great now he is back to his old self
best i've seen skippy play this season
robson unlucky good spell
Mcdonald and mcgeady sticking out as playing well. Robson and sammi playing well along with crosas and n'guemo.
Israeli good play from Celtic.
Aiden is flying tonight.
Free kick Celtic just outside their box
Don't shoot
Okay EN, my pound is in your hands (stuck one on Robson too, he's having a stormer)...
Free Kick
Robson not far off
crosas great ball sammy wins free kick
looks like robson is having it...
Clips the wall, just wide
Damn..........didny hear me
Top notch swearing by Robson there after the free kick
'Yaaa baaaandit.'
Double miss Sammi - Robson
should score sammy off post
robson denied by save
Canny believe this, have to miss the game coz of a gymnastics display for mini tokeness and now home to have wife watching Im a feckin celebrity and the mini tokens taking over the front room telly.
Im stuck "watching" the game on CQN.....keep the updates coming please dudes!
EN,
You have Sammi 1st scorer??
HAIL! HAIL!
Token
Sammi hits the post
TTT...........use the 50" plasma in yer toilet
THAT is why Samaras is so frustrating!!
TLOPG
No guile from robson - as usual batters it against his opponent, wee bit of intelligence that's 2-0
token
put your foot down - but ask permission first
.
The Georgious Samaras Story....Yom Kippur....
Summa of Sammi
Its good we're making chances but we must take some of them.
HH
TTT
you lucky
im home...0#)
The Token Tim
Yip, main bet on the game at 11/2, same bet again on McDonald 9/2 for the next.
3-1CSC
TTT
You deserve better - only wan telly
HH
TTT
ITV web site had a stream for the game last time?
EN
Morning aussietims
TTT
Open game, Hi tempo, Celtic positive, direc,t a few long punts, some excellent passes ( see Aidan) some poor passing ( see fox) some good dig from Robson and mcdonald playing like he means it.
Sammi doing the business
31003,
i smashed it when I came home blootered on Sat night :-)
HAIL! HAIL!
Token
TTt
it's live on the itv website
cmon skippy stay onside
Chip from Aiden catches Skippy offside - unlucky
Lads,
sensory overload.....thanks for all the advice/info/slagging
:-)
4orme,
cheers mate, about to hit itv.com
HAIL! HAIL!
Token
hapoel should score again
playing much better tonight
middle to front we look not bad
hopefully the sieve holds up
Mazy
HT fairly comfortable so far.
Half time Celtic 1 - 0 and pretty good value for it. We could have scored but Hapoel could be dangerous on the break, lets hope TM doesn't make alterations like he did in Israel.
HH
Okay guys....quiz relating to this game............I'll start off with this one..........."He learned to play football on his fathers farm"
.
VMhan....
Not been to Bed Yet....I Will Need to Get Some Sleep before February though....As l Have a Meeting in the City....
BeachBumCSC
Skippy offside. Where have I heard that before???
Grr
Playing well tonight, the whole team.
0-0 at halftime in Germany
31003
Sammi
hope its not going to happen again
samaras scores
samaras hits woodwork
we miss chances
have to score 2nd early in second half otherwise risk doing wht we did in tel-aviv
31003
Young "McDonald" !!!???
;)
By 31003 on December 2, 2009 8:52 PM
Old McDonald
0 0 in Germany
Where have we heard that ;0)
bourne....naw
I had a stream and now I don't oh well.
From what I did see we can win this game but now they must go for the kill. No daft substitutions please Tony. Win this and get at the least some pride back and if a result goes our way elsewhere, who knows.
Rapid have had 4 players booked and not a lot else is going on in that game.
deserved lead - good high tempo play - danger from them comes down their LHS - more of the same and we should get another.
Celts have played well without pressing home the advantage, they could have scored on 44 mins, we need an early goal in the 2nd half or we could struggle with our defence.
2-0 is still on.
Also well done the GB
HH
Heres another.."you could say he's a cool geezer"
Game is on itv4 website.
EN,
well done mate. 2IAR from big Sammi for you then after Sat.
Good luck on the Skippy bet!
Bankiebhoy,
much obliged for the summation mate.
Succint but informative. Good mhan!
BT,
what happened???
Biddulph,
I tell her aw the time what to do, which she promptly ignores and does what she wants....no arguments from moi!
Bournes,
what can one say??? :-)
HAIL! HAIL!
Token
31003
Caldwell
Definite improvement in overall play, but still not clinical enough in front of goal.
Should be about 3-0 up.
Decent performance so far, hope the heat doesnt get to us in the second half...
Need to come out and look for the second goal from the start.
Barcelona game just starting on SS2.
And another..........this wans easy............"he can't hit the ball as hard as his big brother Tommy"
think back to september..
1 0 up at half time...
euorpa league is easy...
think about it Celtic,
cmon the hoops
Bourne.....well done for number 2........whit aboot 1 and 3?
Good first half. Thought Skippy was a little unlucky with the offsides but good movement from him and Sammi. Both wide men playing well but Hinkle does seem to be struggling. Think N'guemo is really progressing with each game but Crosas a little anonymous
Celts have played well without pressing home the advantage, they could have scored on 44 mins, we need an early goal in the 2nd half or we could struggle with our defence.
2-0 is still on.
Also well done the GB
HH
haha arsenal losing to man city 1-0 in carling cup
TTT
i had a few shandies (honest)
good bhoy,
well old man let me down..
hoops winning..
31003
Paddy Clancy
At school we used to have a game going to see who get belted the most in any one academic year. Are we doing the same with offsides this season ?
Apart from that and being mentally lazy at their quickly taken free kick. It´s been good.
What was Skippys shove on Sammi all about at the goal celebration ?
Hail Hail
3103
N'Guemo
tsoal.....true........but wrong player
Bourne...spot on No 3......and No 1?
TTT
if you can work that out can you let me know?
Best first half in a while. Good on the ball, especially first 25 minutes, and chased everything. Not sure about Danny-bhoy though! Barry Robson just about getting pass mark.
31003
Liam Clancy
Awe-Naw
Sammy just scored his 3rd euro goal tonight, skippy has scored 2 this year
They were both on 2 at the beginning
Could be that
31003
N'Guemo of course.
EN
SOAL
Thought I'd catch you at the Regina Spektor concert last night. Hung about for ages so I did.
fantastic
tsoal..........you're watchin a different game........good answers though
31003
Jim Mclean
Bankie and Auldheid.......correct...missed your answers earlier
Come on Rapid Vienna......
;¬]
Glad to be getting proved wrong by Barry Robson. Thought he had a good first half but agree with the pundits that he should have followed the ball when Sammi hit the post rather than putting his hands up suggesting that the ball should have been passed to him.
Need to get an early second to quell the nerves.
Mort
hapoel are going for it
We're playing pretty well, but the Hapoel players are giving Celtic so much space it's not true.
Aiden is playing a blinder. Best player on the park in first half.
Loovens and Robson also having very good game.
31003
I am watching Celtic, Man City and Barca and Valenca games
Would like to see Aiden switch to the right in the second half, I think he could do a bit more damage from there. Let Sammi play on the left a little deeper for the diagonal runs.
We seem to lean a little more to the left and I think teams play us this way
gsu
tsoal...........gie wan ae yer tellys tae The Token Tim
1 - 0 Hamburg
Oh well
Anyone know the average age of our 1st team squad thess days?
Hamburg 1-0 up!
aye hamburg 1-0 up oh well just win tonight to have conidenc for league lads
Hamburg 1-0 (Jansen)
Damn..!!
LB
these days. oops.
Richie
Your the same for posting that.GIRUY.
Evening all.
Looking a bit better in this one.
Missing the game tonight due to ill health but getting a wee tonic from watching the Bhoys playing better than they have to date.
Nice to see a bit more movement from Skippy and Sammi than was evidenced last week.
Hail Hail
BT,
Que???? :¬)
31003,
no need Mrs Token decided she wanted a long bath - ive told her to take as long as she needs.
Also got the Kids to their beds.
so in space of 20 odds mins went from nae telly to two telly's
decisions decisions :-)
HAIL! HAIL!
Token
Richie
Do we need that nonsense on here? You wallow away to your heart content regards that bile but please leave the rest of us out of it.
Richie
Under no circumstances would a Celtic supporter post that, on yir bike.
Did a surrogate Celtic come on for the 2nd half?
Midnight has arrived, and Robson has turned back into a pumpkin.
richie
get the comments of them off this site..
this is celtic site read by children.
CQN has got worse and we are allowing the standards to slip, I for one can't take much more of the base language being used in this site now,,,
BT Celtc site or CQN no more
TTT
Choose the wan nearest the fridge.( trust me)
Hamburg 2 up
Barry bhoy's the weak link.......
Hapoel complete change at half time again where they come out and attack in numbers
We always seem to struggle for the first 10 mins of the second half in most games. Don't know if it's concentration or......ehrm, ehh....hmmm, I mean..... ehhhh...ahhh right :o)
They have done what they did in Tel Aviv. They think this mob's easy and now they are making a complete mess of this.
c'mon celtic get a grip of it again
Oh dear the other Celtic have emerged - come on bhoys
31003
Agreed
Mc Ginn on now
Bhoys
Robson on the right with fullback showing him inside at every turn. Question is when/will BTM get McGinn on..??
Hail, hail
LB
2 - 0 Hamburg
Oh well
2-0
never mind 2-0 hamburg win tonight though celtic
2- hamburg
Booger. Still win this one tonight and then again on Saturday and we can start to focus on the real prize for the season.
the goal is comming
We need a 2nd soon.
Hapoel are coming more and more into this game.
Not confident of a 1-0 win
Good save HG2
great save from zaluska
hapoel shot saved by zaluska
Lookin tired now....couple or three changes required
bankiebhoy,
pizza and irn bru just been delivered, fridge no needed....for the time being....but I'll take your word for it mate!
Hmmm some poor decisons made re final ball in last couple mins by the bhoys.
HAIL! HAIL!
Token
Poor from Hinkel under pressure
Personally I'm uninterested in the German result.
A morale lifting performance for all concerned from Celtic is all I'm after.
Another goal please Celtic!
ElDiegoBhoy
Average age of tonight's team - 25.4
Average age of 1st team squad - 25.1
Mort
TTT
sitting here doing the 8 times table ;0)
dreading fractions...
hinkil is not looking right today
getting skinned everytime
loses possession
no support for robson
Whats going on??
Celtic have lost territorial battle, we need to get out of our half
Fortune coming on
Marc Anthony coming on.
Big Marco.........I think he'll score
fortune coming on
Come on ye FORTUNE
Oh dear, looks like another game of two halves. Surely a management thing.
How can we keep going from a good first half to a diabolical second?
This is Tel Aviv for heaven's sake.
like for like..hmmm
take of the goalscorer bring on the mis fortune...
zaluska mis kicks again
too many loose passes
Dammit had actually all but stopped moving before he came off
Suppose BTM knows the ball is on the slates re Europa hence giving big MAF a run oot.
Fairynuff.
Hapoel getting back in the game.
Get McGinn on a.s.a.p.
Mort
jinkyredstar
mcdonald is still playing..;0)
bankiebhoy1
Fairynuff
HH
It' painful watching Robson with that bad leg of his
gsu
Top marks for N'Guemo so far, on his night he's like a less scary version of Essien. Oh for Crosas to become the Xabi Alonso type player he keeps hinting at. They really look like they could become a mean midfield pairing given time.
Roson for the free kick
Free kick Celtic
just outside the box
Barry to score from the free kick.
Mort
Don't shoot
Bring on McGinn ....swear words deleted before they crossed my fingertips.... honest mini :¬)
HH
Free Kick -GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGoal 2-0
fortune wins free kick edge of area
robson too take..............
GOAL!!! Lovely
told ya :-)
Mort
That'll do nicely Barry!
HAIL! HAIL!
Token
Barry Robson makes it two!!!
peachy Robbo!!!!
I'll take that as a no then...
Someone had mentioned the language on FF and when I had a look, that particular post actually made me laugh at how pathetic a senior poster on there could be, so i thought I would share it,
Clearly a mistake although none of the words in the quote were "bad language", only the sentiment.
I apologise for my insensitivity and impulsiveness, which wasn't helped by Hamburg scoring.
Great goal Bazza!
take McGinn Off
HH
.......ah meant shoot
thank you bhoys...
even though i got his name wrong
Barry Robson scores from the free kick
2-0
Game over!
C'Mon The HOOPS!
See me - never had any worries :-)
hailhail
one out of seventy two aint that bad
GGGGGGGGGGGGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLL
Told you guys we should persevere with Robson ;-)
LB
Brilliant from barry Robson
The captain in all but name
2-0
That and the free kick earlier have been the best two we have had all season.
Another would be nice.
A bit of breathing space. Would still take robbo off and let Niall run at their defence.
Mort
jesus foxy what were you doing
well done zaluska
Mea culpa
I was wanting Barry off.
Good blocking save again from Zaluska!!!
C'Mon the Bhoys!!!
Now there’s something you don’t see every day…
C’mon the Celtic!!!
we always knew robson was playing brilliantly, werent we guys....
Clean sheet please bhoys and onwards to the Sheepies on Saturday.
BRING BACK LEE NAYLOR
Fox is neither quick, sly or brown enough tonight
Patrick
gies a break..
thissite is really getting worse...
I despair 0(
Quizzler 8:40
Congrats.
EN
The Spirit of Arthur Lee
Now thats just harsh..... NO Naylors actually coming on for aiden
TSOAL
Say it and it shall be.
Mort
COME ON LEE SHOW FOX HOW IT IS DONE
soal
you get your wish
TSOAL
You septic?
HH
Yet again a completely bizarre substitution - Naylor for Aiden .
Why not bring McGinn on & switch Robson to the left??
LB
EN-
Cheers! £12! Giddy as a schoolgirl, but I won't let it change me.
tsoal's postin fae the dugout
Bourne
;)
blantyretim
so is the spelling of this site....
joking
HH
I hope it's a confidence thing with fox.
I take it all back Barry, nice goal, if only you would have it it wi yer right, then I would have been impressed.
gsu
Unlucky Lee
I must be getting old or am i just trying to keep
this site?
the language used on here over the last few months has really got me so annoyed that I don't allow my 9 yo daughter to read any more.
BT
Tommy Smyth commentating on ESPN mentions Aberdeen.
" That`s who we`re playing next"
:)
nearly a very unfortunate own goal for hapoel that would have been 3-0
McDonald just caught the ball on the bye line to get a cross in for Naylor at the back post, Naylor the only man in the box doesnt quite catch it.
Note to all Celtic's free kick takers:
Thats what happens when you place a free kick UNDER the crossbar.
Lazy Bhoy
It isn't what I'd have done, but Fox looks (marginally) most likely to lead to us conceding, and the weekend is our focus now, so McGeady needs his beauty sleep.
blantyretim
no the language isnt great at all, especially a couple of earlier posts
Poor from Robsons tired legs
Patrick27
i have bein promisd a spellin boak on this syte from paals
obvviously I have none pals or fireends ;¬)
caldwell nearly through!!!
replay shows Heid gaff
By Quizzler on December 2, 2009 9:39 PM
Exactly - get Barry in there to cover Fox on his strong side (left) & McGinn on the right to rip their left back to pieces.
As Kojo would say "makes sense tad me...."
Hail, hail
LB
BT
I have noticed a few words used recently that wouldn't have got past Paul when he had more time to moderate all the comments.
Mort
blantyretim
aye, stick it on your xmas list!
:-)
P27
Naylor reminder of how you don't pass a ball
fortune misses another sitter
Fortune out in front - miss
Marc Anthony comes close.
The nearly man.
31003
unfortunately oor Danny is Brown enough!
I think he has failed his qualie!
On the bright side this has been a good night for most of the bhoys
Fortune
Unfortunate.
fortune slightly better dong wing
Naylor pops up in the insight right channel - miss
OH MY GOOD GOD!!!!
Fortuné gets to the bye line attempt to square it to Naylor rushing in to the six yard box is blocked.
Again, no sign of the other forward.
Skippy total sitter of the night
THATS A SITTER
OH MY GOD
FFS how do you miss that!!!! 3 on 1 and we still can't bury this tie.
skippy misses an absolute sitter
i could have scored that!
3 against 1
McDonald misses a sitter. Poor poor finishing
THATS A SITTER!!!!!!!
OH MY GOD
Ma granny wouldve buried that.
What the hell?
It should be 5 now
jinkyredstar..............ye might be right.......but ah still got all the letters of the alphabet in my post
Scotty boy - how poor
THATS A SITTER!!!!!!!
OH MY GOD
BT if mini BT isny allowed to read the site now ....can we get back to swearing at will? thats if Will is on the site .....
joke BT .... a joke........McDonald you're mince!
N'Guemo great break up - but wasted pass
I could understand if it was a great save by the keeper but he didn't even hit the target!!
made ye look
Celtic are making a meal of this! According to the commentary I'm listening to Hapoel have Nachos and Vermouth in their team!
gsu
31003,
where's the milkman's nemesis tonight then????
HAIL! HAIL!
Token
All this result is about is confidence and momentum. A good first half and a poor second half but a victory was all that mattered and it looks like a job done which could have been far more comfortable
TTT....he's sittin in the padded seats
2-0 FT
Good one!
now for Saturday and the dons.
C'Mon The HOOPS!
Celtic win fairly comfortably against the surprise package of the group. How different our season may have shaped, but for a strange collapse in Tel Aviv.
Glad it's not prolonged bring on Aberdeen and the rest of our season.
HH
good victory celtic SPL here we come
MOTM for me NGuemo or Robson
Fair Do's Celtic.
Got the win, lets get on a roll and see the confidence build for our charge to take back OUR title!
HAIL! HAIL!
Token
Oh aye and coefficient.
.......probably gorgin on aw the extra pies
A famous victory.
Fortress Celtic Park is back.
Job Done with plenty in the tank for Aberdeen game!
Job well enough done tonight.
The target still remains, finish in top spot in the league. Every year for me, that's the most important objective.
hunsatleast2ndeveryyear csc
All in all an enjoyable game to watch, clean sheet is always welcome, and hopefully no wee injuries to anyone.
NGuemo man of the match, covered everywhere again
Patrick27 on December 2, 2009 9:54 PM ,
Landry N'Guemo by a mile
gsu
Pretty straightforward win. We played well but I wouldn't say we were fantastic. Shame we didn't beat them in Tel-Aviv.
How that team have beaten Rapid twice and Hamburg once is unfathomable.
Mort
vmhan
do as you wish...
i no longer give, this site has slipped...just like Celtic
31003,
padded seats or walls???
:-)
HAIL! HAIL!
Token
got to go
HH
Could this be the start of our season HOPE SO
Dear Santa
Can i get a real Left back for Celtic this christmas a DSI and an X Box would also be good but a Left back would be the greatest gift ever.
Yours Ben Lee age 5 Fae Wishy
We done bhoys. Still a bit wobbly but the bricks are gradually appearing on the foundations. I enjoyed a lot of our play tonight - keep it up through the Aberdeen game and we're back.
Hail hail
Landry MOM but we still miss a Lambert Lennon like MF protection aspect.
Definite improvement!
2-0 as predicted ....wish I was a gambling man as I've also predicted 2-0 on Saturday.
A reasonable performance with the obligatory dodgy defence moments, but job done and I believe with a large crowd on Saturday there will be a better performance.
HH
quick observation on the game.......thought Hapoel played a continental type game 1st half.......sitting in their own half and only tackling when we were in it.........2nd half, played a SPL type of game, closing us down in our own half....thats when we started to struggle
Better. Not brilliant, but better.
Aiden MOM for first half, although Skip ran him close, ran all night. If he hadn't had that shocking miss he might have got it. Robson good too. I'm not a massive Crosas fan, but tonight thought a lot better from him. more involved and more forward passing than normal.
N Guemo. An enigma to me. Tackles back well, puts in a lot of effort but his passing is awful at times. Broonie has been rubbish this season, but N Guemo's passing just as bad at times. Jury still out for me.
The Celtic Superstore online is mince.
Well that's that. Let's now push on and win the league.
Hail Hail
Mort
Honest words from Aiden, sayin we havent been good enough n we only has ourselves to blame. Hope this result kickstarts our season.
Landry MOM deffo
HAIL HAIL
BB
Understatement of the year from Robbie Earle:
"Tony is not overwhelming in his interviews"
:-)
HAIL! HAIL!
Token
Sitter by mcdonald but the laddy played his heart out tonight.
On that showing he'd be in my team every week.
At least 8 from 11 played well tonight. N another night we could have won by a fair few more.
Sick sayIng that but that's were we are.
I loved watching us agaIn tonight. Even if just for the first hour. Stuff it the green brigade made it more worthwhile. I want to sit with them!!!!
Mcgeady, robson, mcdonald, sammi, crosas, n'guemo, Caldwell and might I add fortune when he came on all played very well.
Fortune is a player no doubt. Won't be universally received but this lad can lay and will be superb.
Stuff this. No more excuses.
I'll be doing my damnest to go cheer the hoops as soon as I can.
The travel down used to be seen as the build up. Then it became a chore. And not just last season. Some games have been hard to sit through and justify.
If I give my all then the team will give theirs.
Ghod love the sheepies
Mucker
TTT
Wonder what he would say if he saw him after a defeat. Ah actually doubt there would be any difference. :-)
Mort
Anybody figured out how Hapoel hammered Rapid and Hamburg?
HH
Good free kick,but I'm bewildered at people wanting Robson as captain.I thought he was very average.Danny Fox deteriorating at a rate of knots.
N'guemo,Mcgeady and Samaras played well.I like Hinkle,but he was poor tonight,hardly got forward at all,don't know if playing with Robson and not Mcgeady was part of it.
best I've seen for a long long long long while. I always bang on about players' touch and decision making. It's been shocking recently, but tonight, both were as good as I've seen since I don't know when. As a result of those 2 factors, passing was crisp and accurate.
Scott McDonald missed the chance late, but those who don't see what a GREAT game he had, know little about this game of football. In the first half especially, his movement, touch, endeavour and general committment to the cause was exceptional.
Agree that MOTM was N'Guemo. He was everywhere.
LLU
All about opinions of course but I though N'Guemo was our best player by a country mile. His passing is improving - tonight I thought it was pretty good.Good first half from Aiden but he did disappear in the second.
Acceptable performance. Very good in patches. Work in progress I'd say.
Hail! Hail!
Thats two wins on the trot lets keep going and make it nine up to the 3rd of Jan
Happy Bunny tonight.
As someone has mentioned Christmas wish lists, here's mine
- Celtic Selection Box
- Kirsty Gallacher " Body Sculpt" DVD ( Long Play version)
- Deadly First Team Striker for Celtic
C'mon Santa!
Sitter by mcdonald but the laddy played his heart out tonight.
On that showing he'd be in my team every week.
At least 8 from 11 played well tonight. N another night we could have won by a fair few more.
Sick sayIng that but that's were we are.
I loved watching us agaIn tonight. Even if just for the first hour. Stuff it the green brigade made it more worthwhile. I want to sit with them!!!!
Mcgeady, robson, mcdonald, sammi, crosas, n'guemo, Caldwell and might I add fortune when he came on all played very well.
Fortune is a player no doubt. Won't be universally received but this lad can lay and will be superb.
Stuff this. No more excuses.
I'll be doing my damnest to go cheer the hoops as soon as I can.
The travel down used to be seen as the build up. Then it became a chore. And not just last season. Some games have been hard to sit through and justify.
If I give my all then the team will give theirs.
Ghod love the sheepies
Mucker
SOAL,
Hope Ben gts his Christmas wish. I'd rather have someone to put the ball in the net though!
Couldnae make it on Saturday but was told our future number 7 got 2.
Starryhope
In the first half, I saw Sammi's head connect with the ball, which ended up in the net. Otherwise, a very poor performance from the Greek.
Also poor were Fox (hoof!), Naylor (the usual, please, guv) and N'Guemo, who looked out of sorts in a game where he was given so much space.
Hinkel had a bad first half, but rallied a bit in the second. Caldwell had a decent game, as did Crosas. Skippy worked his socks off and earns pass marks for that alone, despite fluffing his effort late on.
Mcgeady looked certain as MOTM in the first half. However, he did what he has been doing a lot recently - had a lousy second half. This can be explained by the fact that he was double-marked in the second, but he can't use that as an excuse. He needs to find the man in space or play a simple pass. Good game from Aiden, though.
Zaluska looked solid in goal, although his kicking - eeeeek! Did well to block the shot in the second half.
Fortune did well. Yes, he didn't score another one, but I can excuse him for it as he worked well, won the ball in lots of dangerous positions, one of which led to our second goal.
Barry Robson had a good game - took his free kick with aplomb and won the ball all night for the team he adores. Overall, he edges it as our best midfielder on the night - not bad for an old carthorse, eh Kojo?
MOTM for me, however, goes to Glenn Loovens. He did nearly everything right, and looks a solid, reassuring presence for us in defence. Don't forget this is a team who were scoring for fun in the Europa league, and Loovens cut the ball out on numerous occasions.
Overall, then, a difficult game to judge, considering the winning team knew they were out while the losing team knew they'd qualified. The last third of the game looked like a training exercise. But the players did what was asked of them.
Central midfield, however, still isn't right. Against a higher calibre team, N'Guemo didn't look comfortable, and it remains to be seen whether he and Crosas are locked in for the season. Personally, I'd go for Robson and Crosas, but I've been saying that for the last couple of months.
Thought Caldwell played well tonight must give credit when credit is due
Wan good thing...........if we win our game against Rabid (sic) we will finish third in the group and will drop into the mini euro continental super duper league badge copper 8th place trophy shield where the group stages have already been drawn and we will be up against Floyby FC from the Faroe Islands, Pollok Juniors from the Shawlands Principality and "Five Poofs and a Ba'" fae the Kicks Sunday Five a side league. Finish 3rd in that and the world's our lobster
Lurgan 53 fair do's mate, and it seems a lot agree with you. I can't see it myself yet but as I say jury's still out, quite prepared to give him more time to convince me! No doubting his effort in a defensive sense, just think for a CM he gives the ball away a lot and doesn't really create anything. Thouhgt as I say Crosas out the two was better.
Video of the goals for anyone who couldn't see them.
Celtic 2-0 Hapoel
Bankiebhoy,
Thon DVD will see you end up wi a forearm like a WWE wrestler!
Starryhope
Night all..
god bless...
BT
Blantyretim you do know I was joking? I don't think you've seen me swearing on here, for the reason you gave earlier, light up.
Anybody ken whit happened to the Stupid TUC sponsored demo in our house? did I blink and miss it.
A great flag display by the Green Brigada at the start of the match, while the orange card society were waiting to see if their plan worked.
MESSAGE TO THE BOARD...... Can we please have standing room behind both goals and let the GB provide the atmosphere, at any other gig you'd have to pay them to sing for 90 mins.
HH
Strarryhope
Tsk, tsk!
;)
31003...
...brilliant :)
.
So That's Sammi Now Got a Better Strike Rate For Games Started in Europe as Well as the SPL....
Than The KoK....
SoS
Sorry fir the double post.
iPhone playing up.
Agree with earlier posters. Mcdonald was the player for me tonight. With a few others we looked a team with a bit of belief. Isn't that what we asked for prematch?
Hail hail
mucker
ps I may be a bit drunk!
Thought the neutral Englaish coverage of the Celtic game was a breath of fresh air, especially Robbie Earle
HH
bankiebhoy,
you do realise that my missus is 32 weeks pregnant don't ye and you go and talk about Kirsty Gallagher DVD's!
Whit ye trying tae dae tae me??????????
:-)
HAIL! HAIL!
Token
Abmucker whit is it, the iPhone or the drunken doire bhoy?
:¬)
Bournesouprecipe.........couldn't agree more
Just back in.......were BBC at their usual negative slant on Celtic tonight again, or did they actually watch the game.....I've got a good feeling about BTM......his transformation of the team is starting to bear fruit...
Abmucker.....spot on !!!
My first look at a Celtic performance in the Mowbray era.
Overwhelming impression is that we have a lot of bad players in a very disunited team; it's clear that a lot of the players want or expect to be on their way shortly. To judge as charitably as possible, we had four decent outfield players - N'guemo, Samaras, Robson and McGeady. I saw NO outfield players one would categorise as 'very good'.
I'd like to see the back of Scott MacDonald: whatever he once had to offer has run out, or he's not prepared to give it to this manager. I genuinely, I mean genuinely, believe he deliberately missed that chance to go 3-0: I'd bet there are hard looks and hard words being directed at him, and from him, in the dressing room as I write this. Whoever told Fortune he was a centre-forward should invest in a white stick. Caldwell lacks any qualities that make a competent defender; really, he has none of the instincts of even a moderate professional footballer. And so on.
I have seen three EPL games this season, and one top-level Championship match. The four players named above would have a chance, but no certainty, of a place in the squad of any of the teams I saw (and one of the teams I saw was hapless Portsmouth).
I'd like to see what keen young Scottish players Celtic can put into the first team, both from our reserves and from provincial Scottish clubs.
BigJie
Cheers for posting the goals again.
Mort,
sorry just saw your reply re. Robbie's comments.
:-)
to be fair we did see a half smile from big Tony tonight so maybe.......
HAIL! HAIL!
Token
TTT
" ...aaaaand strettttttch 2 3 4 and REAAACH 5 6 7 8. Arms Together now and BEND........"
:)
Is Tony's hands stiched to his pockets?
Missed a t
deliasmith....
I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.. there must be alcohol involved in yer post.
Deliasmith,
were you in my cupboard as I seem to have missplaced a bottle of red wine :-)
fair enough if you think we're awful but c'mon. Give them a break.
McDonald played his heart out tonight.
Oh and I've seen more than enough epl games to know alot of their players wouldn't get in our side neither. Never mind make it better.
Mucker
G'night all x
Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
HAIL! HAIL!
Token
Decent performance overall.
N'Guemo the stand out for me. McGeady was great in the first half but didn't get on the ball much in the second. Robson on the right just doesn't work, but he battled as always and took his free kick very well.
Hinkel didn't get forward as much as usual. Would have thought that Robson coming inside would have left him space. He did have a difficult night defensively though.
2 of the 3 home wins accomplished.
deliasmith on December 2, 2009 10:27 PM
crosas was way better than robson tonight in my view, and your comments on caldwell, based on his game tonight, are very harsh
as far as the championship goes, you must have been incredibly lucky to see a good game there....it is a very poor league, with very average players....which is the view of many of the english media pundits who have been slaughtering it this year....the epl is also very very average once you get past the top 10 teams.....a collection of hugely overpaid individuals .....we might have a way to go, and we do...but our aspirations are much higher than dross like portsmouth and anybody in the championship
The Celts played well tonight, notably the lad N'Geumo , Robson and McGeady which was great to see.
The first half performance - if repeated consistently will wipe the floor with the rest of the spl. No doubt.
need ma kip now.
:-)
Night all.
HAIL! HAIL!
Token
Cheers 67heaven.
I didn't know anyone cared.
Mucker
Seriously that's me for the night. X
Is anyone watching Sky sports News just now.....did you see the wee clip on Peter Reid watching the MC v Arsenal.....he dosed off and the camera caught him wakening up with a 'start' ......absolutely brilliantly hilarious......THAT will be shown on the Saturday morning football show......
Just a quick question, were Radio Scotland talking down Scottish football and willing on an Israeli team tonight? If so hahahahahahahahaha.
Not the best result but here we go and lets hope they keep it up.
Great first half performance, not so good in the second. The midfield 4 all played very well, especially in the first half. The Crosas/N'Guemo partnership in the middle should be kept with Aiden on one of the wings, the other position should be horses for courses, likewise the front 2. Defence generally solid tonight and Zaluska did what he had to do, although he needs to practice his kicking.
Overall Celtic played well and we are creating chances. Fortune gets himself into good scoring positons and sooner or later will start hitting the back of the net.
N'Guemo breaks up opposition play very well but needs to work on his passing.
Both full-backs were shocking and we need to replace both. Hinkel my be ok going forward but , similar to last season, we look very weak defensively down his side of the park.
Enjoyed the win tonight and there seemed to be some confidence building after Saturday's game.
A couple of points on some of the performances. Crosas and N'Guemo again looked as though they work well together in the middle. N'Guemo in particular seemed to always turn up where someone else had missed their tackle.
Aiden was great first half and looked as though he would beat his man every time he took him on.
Thought Loovens physically dominated the player he was marking right from the word go which hasn't happened for some time.
Finally, after all the stick he gets, I agree with Abmucker that McDonald gave absolutely everything for the team tonight. His movement; his tracking back; and (who would believe it?) his first touch were all excellent tonight. I was gutted for him that he didn't stick his chance away at the end as his performance deserved a goal.
A similar performance on Saturday and we might just be getting somewhere...
Delia Smith
"I genuinely, I mean genuinely, believe he deliberately missed that chance to go 3-0"
We have a winner for most ridiculous thing written this year on CQN.
Bradford Bhoy on December 2, 2009 10:04 PM
The Celtic Superstore online is mince.
********************************************
When wee Derryghirl and I were up for the KANO do a few weeks ago, we went into the superstore to look at some of the items she liked in the catalogue, the girl we spoke to said the catalogue stuff was separate from the shop and some of the items were "on line exclusives", this would mean the wife would have to return to engerlund, buy on-line and then (as has happened often before) if/ when the clothes don't fit we have to pay YET AGAIN for the postage.......what a waste of money, all of the other firms/ people my wife deals with for on-line goods accept goods back with free postage, I mean why pay twice if
1) the goods are not fit for purpose or
2) the garment doesn't fit (after travelling into a Celtic shop to view the garment and the shopdoesn't stock the item).
I have also had troubles with on- line going back to the 1990's when people living in the south of engerlund were let down at Christmas after ordering the goods in Nov.... thought they'd improved since then?
HH
Hey Spot, we seen off the bad guys, now I'm away to read my Hong Kong Book of Kung Fu and see of them bad sheep in a few days.......
HenrythemildmanneredjanitorCSC
vmhan......Have to say , that's not my experience online....!!!!
vmhan
The goods are despatched from Manchester ( no the pub in Blackpool)
Love
Michael Collins.......aren't emotions great little things....!! He He
Happy bhoy here but still concerned with Danny Fox. Everytime someone attacks him he seems to get beaten easily. If i could get one thing for my christmas it would be a new left back for Celtic.
The team worked very hard closing Hapoel down and still had energy to play some nice passing football in particually the 1st half. So good team performance...well done bhoys!!
The stand outs for me were McGeady and N'Guemo. They both worked their socks off, McGeady creating chances and running at players. N'Guemo must have covered every blade of grass....keep it up!!
Hail hail
What worries me most (apart from our second half disappearing act nd the fact that only 2 goals were scored when it could have been 5 or 6) is that Caldwell was our best defender........!!!!!!!. Both full backs poor and Loovens not strong enough. Promising signs though. Hapoel not a great team but a much stronger test than yer St. Mirrens. Roll on Aberdeen.
Dragon Riley.....a very good assessment of progress.......once the crowds build up, we will move forward ...no doubt about it......crowds seem to be down at all games these days, but BBC seem to think our crowds are lower than normal for different reasons to the other teams/games.....funny that, eh !!!????
skottybhoy1888
Welcome to the real world
Fox is no any better than Naylor.
Fortune reminds me of Brattbakk.I guess if he bangs in the goal that wins us the league I wont be complaining too much. I thought the first half tonight was the best we have played all season and I feel a lot more confident about the rest of the campaign now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvTvWJWeQ2g
Done in
Ghoodnight ;)
Great Game.
We won.
All the Players were magnificent.
Hivnae wan bad thing tae say aboot ANY o' them.
Or the Manager!
Keep winning like ye ur daeing, Mr.Mowbray's Eleven..and.
Ah Guarantee, ye wullnae hear a chirp of complaint,oota me.
Twice.. that's Two times in a Row, Celtic hiv won,, Noo, Ah'll hiv ye!(Whit?..ed)(Ah know ,"Ah' ll hiv ye"(?)... Everyboady, says it,but naebuddy knows whit it means.. Ah'm nae exception!)
Feeling No Pain!
Kojo... Happy.
Good Night Scotland.
McGeady wisnae too bad thenight but apart fae that ah widnae be on a knicker wettin exercise....Sheep United will be more of a game...... "he's fat, he's round, he's worth a million pound Mark McGhee, Mark McGhee " will dae us nae favours....
LambsforthechopCSC
Well quite content with that performance.
I may be wrong but I think I saw Scott McDonald put his hand up to acknowledge a pass he should have made when a teammate was better positioned. Has the "Moaning Marsupial" (c)001Bhoy (?) turned the corner?
1st Half Aiden was superb, 2nd half the ball went wide right to Barry Robson who did not have the beating of his man that Aiden had. Barry's game was the all action tackling we saw in the 1st half. Job done he did not need to do it in the 2nd but we would have had more joy in using Aiden rather than Barry.
Landry N'Guemo stand up son you are a Celtic player. Covered every inch of that pitch, if he gave the ball away, which can happen to any player, he hunted it and the player down and got it back.
No complaints tonight. Decent performance and a win.
Just wish I lived close enough to Celtic park to have been there.
p.s. Did enjoy Jim Beglin correcting Tyldlesy who called it a "clumsy tackle" by saying, after the dive, " The important point is he got the ball though"
67heaven
Re the BBC, I saw their preview of tonight's game on Reporting Scotland before I left for the game and, with little to no mention of the game itself, they had a reporter roaming around the stadium finding a couple of fans to give them the quotes they were looking for about the team being poor, Tony Mowbray being poor etc.
A win is a win is a win.
Played well enough in first half.
Two great goals.
MWD
I am quite sure McDonald did it on purpose.
Get a grip boys. Read any honest pro football memoir and you'll come across worse actions - Andy Cole and Teddy Sheringham would be a good place to start. Or McDonald's fellow Aussie at half-time against ICT...
Of course, if it had been nil-nil MacDonald wouldn't have done it, but the game was dead by the time the chance came.
67 heaven
I was working so had to listen to the game on BBCS .I can't stand them ,the commentator again seems overjoyed whenever the opposition gets close to scoring against us .
67heaven I should say, that was my experience from ages ago on-line, which I mentioned at the end of my post, my wife normally purchases items and if they don't fit, has to return them at a cost to her, not CFC, that must have been you're experience if you return goods?
TSoAL ha ha I could reduce my spending by about 80% for Celtic goods if I wanted to purchase in Blackpool, I like the real stuff from Asia :¬)
HH
Evening all.
Not long back from the game. Another decent performance. Thought N'Guemo was our best player overall but also feel that Zaluska, Heid, Loovens, McGeady and (even) McDonald did well. Skippy tried to be more involved and his movement was a bit better. But what a miss in the second half! Robson put in a shift but has no pace at all and even less when he's on the right hand side.
Looking forward to the weekend. Could be a Carlsberg Saturday with Rangers ending up 4th in the league by 5.00.
Jobo
deliasmith - did he miss deliberately because:
a) he didn't want his goal bonus;
b) because he wants to make sure he doesn't get a transfer to a better salary or;
c) because he had a bet on?
Be careful which answer you gve.
Conclusion of Harry's game on Sky Arts 1 right now.
I read the book years ago, never saw the screen version before.
Chaplin
I bet you spurs got beat
Wee minger:
d) pure malice
e) dislike of the manager, club, situation, some, most or all team-mates
f) infantile spite.
There's a lot of it about, a lot of all three in this case.
SOAL
LOL
Different 'Arry
Regards the STUC organised event - kind of a damp suib in the end, but I realised that with all the publicity they got before-hand ot was probably a success from their point of view.
And just to spite Ernie Lynch I did make my feelings known to a couple of the flag handers out, one of whom was a little confrontational. We all shook hands and wished each other well in the end.
Delian
g) just no gettin enough pastry roon the pie....
cookinwigasinnorwichCSC
bournesouprecipe on December 2, 2009 10:25 PM
Thought the neutral Englaish coverage of the Celtic game was a breath of fresh air, especially Robbie Earle
----------------------------------------------------------
Spot on - great to hear guys with no agenda.
vhman 10.18pm
Cheers for the support. 111 was quite good tonight, plenty of colour pre match and good vocally throughout the game. Also good to see a bit of sensible stewarding.
Sorry, but feel the need to dispel the notion that N'Guemo had a great game. If central midfield were so good today, how come it was 56% possession to Hapoel? At home.
If N'Guemo plays with Crosas at the weekend, I won't be too fussed, but I think Robson is by far the better player.
anyone got a link to the goals
hail hail
Best result of the night - A CLEAN SHEET!
Defence looked better tonight and saturday because they didn't try to be the Barcelona backline. They kept it (mostly) simple and hey presto - clean sheet. :)
Second best result - A bit of confidence coming into the team.
Third result - NGuemo and Crosas really starting to get an understanding. Keep it up. :)
Fourth best result - Didn't get too cold, brrr!!
One Content Fan
TLV :)
Well done to the Celts for tonights victory. Played well in spells of the game.
Again, I will reiterate: if we had a true goalscorer (or two) we would be beating teams confortably. The chances we miss are what is actually hampering our season thus far. Samaras and MacDonald missed two of the most horrendous chances you will ever see tonight.
We need a striker who can score a goal per game, and I hope we can get someone in the January transfer window that fits the bill.
So now lets forget about Europe this season and focus on bringing the title back to Paradise!
Hail Hail
Jobo Baldie evening to you amigo, two things:
1) A Carlsberg Saturday with a crowd of over 50,000 at CP methinks and
2) Whit happened to you're EK forecasts? you've been sacked at a secret meeting of the CQN weather forecasting clique club.
:¬)
HH
Chaplin
What about this Harry
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2xdCvhvyqY
Love and Goodnight from me and Ben aged 5
Hey Santa Claus ye C*** where is our left back.
Fergus
www.linktothegoals.com
deliasmith on December 2, 2009 10:27 PM
"Overwhelming impression is that we have a lot of bad players in a very disunited team..."
My overwhelming impression was that we won and won fairly comfortably, must have been hallucinogenic coffee I had before I went to game, thought everything looked very rosy in the garden, though McDs miss at the end even managed to penetrate my befuddled state of mind - absolute shocker!
Only saw one Palestinian flag been waggled apologetically, be a lot of unhappy hacks the night drowning their sorrows.
Liked the Halpoel 'Smash Fascism' banner - STUC should hang their heads, should be supporting that support, not protesting against them.
I was expecting a clip of Dirty harry with 'make my day, Punk'
wasn't far wrong
UTLR you're welcome amigo, it was all good stuff, which can only encourage the board to engage in creating a better atmosphere at CP..back to the old days of scaring the beejeezus out of the visiting team, and encouraging more fans to join up and visit CP for the unique atmosphere.
night all, up in 5.5 hrs
BringingKANOhomeCSC
HH
new article posted.
only thing wee take from tonights game is pride,bring on the dons
Other than a win and a clean sheet , I can't find much to be excited about over tonight. We beat a fairly mediocre Israeli side at home, are we meant to celebrate that ?
At the start of season 2000/2001 we were ranked 95th in Europe, even after beating the mighty Hapoel Tel Aviv home and away the previous season.
Five years later before we flew off to Bratislava, we were ranked 22nd in Europe, (Chelsea were 20th) after a 5 year period that had seen us beat the likes of Valencia, Juventus, Porto & Lyon at Parkhead, and knock teams such as Ajax, Barcelona and Liverpool out of Europe in 2 legged competition. We spent money on quality players, then we went out and earned that money back. Fans put their hands in their pockets and we done our bit. We had heroes to watch.
Now here we are after a second season in a row where our final match in Europe will be no more than a dead rubber, and this time it's even in the consolation cup. We started this season ranked in 48th position, our co-efficient propped up by those 2 historic seasons in the Champions League last 16 but losing those points we gained in the run to Seville. Our efforts this season will likely see us drop further down leaving us with more dodgy qualifiers in July in future years.
There's been too much discussion and debate on here already about the merits of our previous 2 managers, and I won't go over old ground, it's fair to say that both over achieved in Europe in comparison to our history from the 80s and 90s.
Managers aside, it is clear that we have downsized the quality of our first team pool to such an extent that teams such as Rapid Vienna, Aalborg and Hamburg can come to Parkhead expecting to take home points. (And before anyone points out what a great side Hamburg are, remember they lost 5 of their last 6 Champions League matches when they last qualified. )
Our board constantly remind us how difficult it is to match the income levels of the big boys down south, and how we need to boost our revenue streams. Other than their favoured route of an invitation to the SKY bonanza, the best chance we have to generate more income is from European competition yet we are unable or unwilling to improve the squad to allow us to do that. Instead we are left with empty seats, unwanted season tickets and yet more new jerseys to fill the gap.
Sorry for the rant, but I am scunnered with the hard luck stories, and arguing how good or bad Barry Robson was tonight. In the words of our chairman, we are not fit for purpose.
Delia--fancy a pint in the Loudon? Anyone else you know has a clue about football?