Negatives out of the way first: we’re not good enough, this is a low achievement by a Celtic team who have reached a group stage. There’s no disputing that, but amid the predictable ‘Throw them all overboard’ reaction, I know I’m not the only one who is not panicking right now.
When I heard we were playing three wingers (Forrest, Mackay-Steven, McGregor) I anticipated a thrashing. Gordon Strachan would often drop all his craft players for the more industrial types in European football, with good reason.
As it turned out, we had the majority of the chances, and all the better ones, as we spent most of the second half pushing for a winner.
No arguments with Leigh Griffiths assessment immediately after the game, that was his worst performance in a Celtic shirt. Nor is there dispute in Ronny Deila’s retort that he’s scored plenty for us before and will continue to do so. Even the greats have days like that, including the Swede.
The midfield formation was fluid throughout the game. Tom Rogic initially played as a defensive mid, before moving in front of Stuart Armstrong (who moved everywhere) and Callum McGregor. The defensive mid role Rogic played isn’t one carried out by either Nir Bitton or Scott Brown. We’ve not had anyone in this role since the departure of Victor Wanyama (still pining) and it remains a large gap in the offering.
Lesson: we need a defensive mid. The deep lying playmaker + box-to-box player isn’t robust enough in Europe.
Callum McGregor carried possibly the lowest expectations of everyone in a Celtic shirt but he put in an excellent shift. His goal was outstanding, losing possession immediately before Ajax equalised took the shine off things a bit, but it was still a strong performance.
Do you know the last time McGregor started a game? October 2014. Under those circumstances that was a remarkable performance.
General consensus is that the defence played well. Kieran Tierney is as good a left back as we’ve had in years. Had he not gone off with an injury the result might have been different.
Jozo Simunovic is clearly out best central defender. I know I’m not setting the bar too high with that statement, but he’s a move in the right direction. He’s also young, still working on his fitness, and will continue to progress.
A week ago Celtic Underground’s Harry Brady suggested Dedryck Boyata plays better alongside Simunovic than without him. Dedryck still has a long way to go but the evidence suggests partnered with a game-reader like Jozo has helped him. Let’s see where he is at the end of the season.
And Craig Gordon? He could have stopped both Ajax goals. That’s not to say he was to blame for either, he wasn’t, but these were the kind of stops he was making in last season’s Europa League.
Ronny is 18 months into the job and has contributed to the situation we find ourselves in (tactical mistakes in both Molde games), but this is not the time to lurch off plan. We’re not good enough largely because we’ve recruited too few players since 2012 who have improved the team.
We need to continue to develop players like Tierney and we need to recruit better. Get this right in January, and again in the summer, and we will be vastly better. The alternative is likely to be to pick up a best from the SPFL pool, or someone from the English circuit who cannot get a better paid gig. And then it would take until November 2017 before we could assess them properly.
Return of the Bampots
Tonight, for one night onlyt, Phil Mac Giolla Bháin, John Fallon and myself are in the Hibs Club, Carfin, for a Q&A in aid of Mary’s Meals, with Phil Agnew hosting. The event starts at 7:30, £5 entry, can pay at the door.
Looking forward to seeing you there.
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BT
__
I love you…you should know that.
But, writing lettters etc…a drop in the ocean.
The biggest problem that Celtic supporters have right now….imho…is, that their viewed as mugs coz, they get treated like mugs / fools and, keep coming back for more.
Celtic supporters need to support a club run by CELTIC supporters, for CELTIC supporters….imho.
Till that happens….yeez are sitting ducks.
It’s scandalous what happened in the ‘bar’ but….the point being missed here is….what happened in the ‘bar’ is a mere symptom of the Celtic supporters being sold-out when the board skipped along to the Govt Summit after the Shame Game.
Since then, Celtic supporters have been like bugs in bell jars.
Who put you there?
HH
Kev J
Ooor Tam, it’s always his fault
Take care my fellow tyre reb
I agree with you of course , some just can’t stay away because the have unconditional love for the Celtic
JINKYREDSTAR on 29TH NOVEMBER 2015 8:29 AM
I should add that individual fans and groups have been a lot more up front with the authorities but – the powers that be are letting us down.
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Exactly.
So….get rid of them then…dont give them yer money and…they’ll be gone.
Every AGM…the Celtic supporters get their dinner aff the board.
FUCK the AGM….copy the Dons fans and get the banners oot.
Stay OOT the stadium and dont give them yer money.
HH
Good morning CQN, Excellent read as usual from Kevin McKenna
I despair at Celtic’s antics over the living wage
Kevin McKenna
Celtic FC is wonderful, but the club needs to rethink its wage policy
Celtic FC fans showing their support.
Celtic FC fans showing their support. Photograph: EuroFootball/Getty Images
Saturday 28 November 2015 18.02 GMT Last modified on Saturday 28 November 2015 22.44 GMT
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The football column I turn to first on a Sunday morning resides in the Observer’s sports section, tucked away beneath the fold, often on a left-hand page and after the main business of reporting on the Saturday matches has been disposed of.
It’s called Said and Done and it’s a witty and excoriating compendium of the corruption, hypocrisy and exploitation that underpins the global business of football. In here are chronicled, among other things, the routine backhanders and casual money laundering that a shady cast of chisellers, under the auspices of Fifa and assorted national football associations, deploy to line their pockets with millions of pounds.
The narrative underpinning all these snapshots of routine casuistry in the Beautiful Game is a simple one: football is the most popular game on the planet and still offers the opportunity for poor people to fight their way out of poverty or simply to be transported from the struggles of their daily lives, but too often this emotional fervour is exploited by football administrator and club officials. Any week now I expect to see some of the recent pantomime antics at Celtic FC, the club that I follow, featuring in the Said and Done column.
Celtic, for those unfamiliar with them, were the first British club to win the European Champions cup. It is also the only club ever to have achieved this gargantuan feat with players solely from the districts that surround its ground. The club was founded exclusively to help the poor Irish peasantry who fled their homeland in the 19th century following the ravages of an Gorta Mór, the Great Famine, which ravaged the land.
The descendants of these people still form the core of the Celtic support and many are also to be found working for the club on low wages or in a part-time capacity. Their love of Celtic and what they think the club represents play a major role in their job satisfaction and loyalty to their employers. For many of the supporters, poverty, multi-deprivation and health inequality remain significant factors in their day-to-day existence.
Presumably that is why more than 10,000 recently signed a petition seeking the removal of Ian Livingston from Celtic’s board of directors. I know people who have dealt with Livingston, a successful businessman, and they describe him as decent, honest and thoroughly likable. He is also a lord of the realm who sits in the Upper House as a representative of the Conservative party. Earlier this month, he voted in that chamber to support the government’s plans to end family tax credits, a measure that would have increased the economic hardship being experienced by tens of thousands of families who support Celtic.
There was another perverse irony suffusing this: Livingston’s official title when he attends the House of Lords is Lord Livingston of Parkhead, this being the fabled East End district of Glasgow from which Celtic was sprung and where it yet resides.
Parkhead is also one of the five poorest neighbourhoods in the United Kingdom, where male life expectancy is barely 60 years and where the rates of heart disease, unemployment, poor academic achievement and fuel poverty are scandalously high. Celtic, as a club, has grown successful and its players very rich on generations of support from Parkhead and many other districts like it.
When the issue of Lord Livingston’s future as a Celtic director was aired at the club’s AGM earlier this month it elicited a bizarre tirade from the chairman, Ian Bankier. He railed against those who were seeking his lordship’s removal and described them as “criminally racist”. A few days later, he “clarified” these remarks by claiming that they were aimed at some social media chatter in which the issue of Lord Livingston’s faith (he is Jewish) was raised. Yet neither he nor his fellow directors appeared to acknowledge that his original wild remarks seemed to besmirch all those who had signed the original petition.
Bankier, of course, is the man who defended Celtic’s refusal to pay the living wage to its lowest-paid employees at the 2013 AGM. As well as that, he asserted inexplicably that Celtic did not recognise any trade unions and that to pay the living wage to all of its employees would cost the club around £500k a year. £500k wouldn’t cover the bonuses of several of the current first team whose record of failure in European football these last two seasons is the worst in the club’s history.
Since then, Celtic has modified its position by stating that it will pay the living wage to its full-time staff. Troublingly, though, I have been approached by one of its employees who is distressed that in exchange for paying him the living wage the club is asking him and others to forfeit their annual bonus. Celtic is concerned that by signing up to the living wage set by the Living Wage Foundation it is ceding some control of its remuneration policy to an outside agency. What it fails to recognise is that there would be no requirement for the Living Wage Foundation to exist if rich organisations such as Celtic FC paid all of its employees a wage that gave them an opportunity to raise a family, feed and heat them and maintain a roof over all of their heads.
I have no objection to Lord Livingston of Parkhead continuing to serve on the board of my club. He is a man of integrity and rare commercial expertise. He and his fellow directors, though, need to realise that the petition to remove him was really a cri de coeur from their core support at what they regard as the continuing betrayal of the club’s founding principles.
Celtic FC is a wonderful organisation, loved by millions, which gives generously to good causes all over the world. It also undertakes valuable social initiatives within its own community. As such, the club likes to think of itself as “more than just a football club”. Yet, by adhering to the socially irresponsible philosophy of the Conservative party in its wage policy it risks inflicting irreparable damage to this jealously guarded reputation. I am making an impassioned plea to the board of directors to think again on the living wage issue.
Blantyretim
_________
Oh for the days when, the JUNGLE was filled wi your ‘Tams’…
BT, I hope yer cousins are ok…I’m guessing that the Ajax scum were given a guided-tour of the Gallowgate by their, hun scum pals?
God Bless your Thomas and all the rest of yer Celtic-Rebel family
Hail Hail – You’ll Never Walk Alone.
kevj,
just a wee point of information, the Aberdeen fans have turned up in record numbers for the last few seasons but because they held up a banner we should chuck in everything else we are doing, turn up in our droves to fill the pockets of the people you want us to starve out. We should follow the example of the Aberdeen support and hold up banners because banners change everything so they do, ffs, Is that what you want, is it ? is it ? cause that’s what’ll happen, away and blie yer heed ya nugget. holding up banners does nothing absolutely nothing except get ignored.
KevJ
On the Aberdeen supporters. I don’t think you should push that line too hard.
Nod nod wink wink.
KEVJUNGLE on 29TH NOVEMBER 2015 8:39 AM
BT
Celtic supporters need to support a club run by CELTIC supporters, for CELTIC supporters….imho.
================================================
Morning,Kevin.
Can you provide any examples in wide world of football where this has been successful?
–
The club need to think about today’s team, and pick a winning one, feck the wage policy, .
And ffs someone call nurse Crachet for Kevjungle, he’s due is meds.
Can you provide any examples in wide world of football where this has been successful? –
http://www.theguardian.com/football/david-conn-inside-sport-blog/2012/dec/01/german-fan-owned-clubs-bundesliga
From the Celtic Footsoldiers, not to be mistaken for Gintys Storm Troopers.
The dust has just begun to settle on a disappointing week for the club, a dull uninspiring display against Kilmarnock on Saturday 21 st Nov seen the club draw 0-0 and fail to capitalise on Aberdeen and hearts also dropping points,the bad news continued into the week with the news scott brown will be out for a couple of months…..
with the true extent of the damage still to be clarified it’s clear we will miss our captains drive in midfield ,and that was evident last Thursday against ajax , the team didn’t play that badly and first half was probably the best they had played in a disappointing euro campaign , mcgregors early goal had Celtic setup to take the bull by the horns and drive on for the win but defensive frailtys again spoiled what could have been a great night….
apart from the 2 molde games we should have won all 3 games against fenerbache and ajax, conceding silly goals when we were in the lead and in control, it’s time for the fans to put Europe to bed again for another year and unite behind the club , the board the manager and coaching staff down to the players are showing the battle scars , none more than Ronnie deila who’s treatment this season in particular has been a disgrace, his close to tears interview Thursday night on bt sports is all the proof you need that it’s out of order
Msm and social media and groups off fans have took it upon themselves to start a vendetta. Against the man , I as a fan of 40 odd yrs am disgusted by the treatment 1 man is getting for the problems of the entire club, it’s clear the rebuild has to start from the top and the board need to invest in the team nxt season or in January , of course fans have been asking for this for yrs and I feel there frustrations are aimed at deila as a easy target , the players have let the club down this season too and we don’t see them being berated….
it’s time to unite as one not splinter , it’s always been the Celtic way in the past , but I’m seeing a section of fans both at games and on social media look for any excuse to criticise , I feel myself going over old ground and I’ve expressed my opinion on Europe many times , so to avoid conflict il reserve my opinion for another post, we have a decent lead in the premier league the entire focus of all envolved with Celtic should be to win the league and at least a cup , and let’s reunite the fans with the club because it benefits no one our in fighting other than our opponents , we go into the lunchtime game on Sunday against Inverness on a low , the players Chins need to be lifted off the floor , I feel that can only be achieved with a non negative build up and a vocal support come the weekend HH
“it’s clear the rebuild has to start from the top and the board need to invest in the team nxt season or in January”
yep agreed its the boards fault :)
Interesting comment from a poster, that Negnon, Latchford are ‘businessmen’. And no doubt there are others who contribute to this blog, who either have personal wealth or have access to outside finance: namely banks. Matt Mcglone and others formed a group Celts For Change, as history as shown us, these guys did something not just bemoaned the incumbent board. They mobilised the ‘green collar’ Celtic supporters, into affirmative action, which resulted in their aim, to remove the Boatd. As ‘businessmen’ NegAnon etc, why can’t you and your white collar cohorts, do the same?Namely raise finance to buy out DD’s share holding, which is approx 39%. Then it’s a head shot, isn’t it?
Auld Bertie,
do you think DD would sell up ?
AuldBertie
How much did it cost Fergus to buy control of Celtic? 7m?
How much would it cost to buy out DD?
Canamalar
__________
Morning…nugget.
Yeah, dont put the banner up ‘inside’ the stadium…coz, to do that…ye have to give the board yer money to get in..right.
Trick is, and….the old ones are best(1994)….stay outside the front door with the banners and, the boards ‘needed’ money in yer pocket and…tick, tock…game, set and match!
Even a prominent simple Simon would know that eh?
Morning Bhoys I am very surprised to see the game is still on.H.H.
Kev Jungle-
I agree with a lot of what you say but i think you’re off-beam on the Aberdeen fans;
If i read your points right then your main beef is that we are all being cheated by the SFA/ Huns yet the fans still pay for their season tickets etc and so are fools
But Aberdeen fans have turned up in even greater numbers over the last few years since all the cheating became widely known. Shouldn’t they be boycotting like you propose for Celtic fans?
The Aberdeen fans who took the banner to hampden then paid their way into new Douglas park, continuing to bankroll a bent sport
They can do what they like outside hampden as far as the suits care as long as the money continues to roll in.
Hail hail fella and ignore the sociopathic troll.
LIONROARS67 on 29TH NOVEMBER 2015 9:02 AM
Seifert argues that the “50% plus one” rule helps keep the clubs supporting the national team and grounded, focused on the football and fans, not just on the money, in their priorities. The rule was introduced in 2001 when the 36 clubs in the two divisions of the Bundesliga broke away from the DFB, partly to strike more commercial deals, just as the Premier League’s income was soaring.
==========================================================
Thanks for that.
Very interesting.
I still doubt if Sottish teams would be prepared to take that particular plunge.
Nevertheless ,it is a precedent.
Blantyretim
_________
The tick is…ye dont buy out DD…ye call his bluff!
Tell the board that the only way that Celtic supporters season-book money will be going into the club will be in exchange for control of the club.
If he refuses?….Then, step back and let him run Celtic with his own money.
How long do ye think that would last?
Here’s a clue….not as long as this dreamers-charter-res-12-pish!
Auldheid – Hail Hail:)
trick
Good morning friends from a very wet, blustery, horrible looking East Kilbride. But on the plus side we hav entertainment at lunchtime to look forward to.
My Bhoy’s travelling back from Luss late morning and looking for any Celtic friendly bars en route, Dumbarton, Erskine, Paisley, etc. Said I’d ask the experts…
Peter 1.36
Especially for you Auldheid. Contemplate, even start to realise you have been Deceived beyond Belief.
===========
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B62m3ggkEX2RemVBMFhqOGtudk0/view?usp=docslist_api
I don’t remember asking you for an opinion but thanks for the laugh.
IMO the assessment of the system deployed in Europe by Collins is in itself fatally flawed, doesn’t give me much hope for any future success in Europe the article is a good read though
ttp://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/teams/celtic/john-collins-system-not-to-blame-for-celtic-woes-1-3961490
Boycotting Celtic games? Lol, it gets better every day, away I go ya crackpot., the games and officials in this country have been bent for over 100 years, keep up ffs,
Good morning CQN, another wet one as well!
****Wee Shay Auction Update closes 6pm today****
The current highest bid is now £500. WOW!!!!!!
———————————
We are delighted to offer you the chance to bid on a very special single cask bottle of Bowmore 3 Elements Single Malt Whisky.
This is bottle No 1 in the collection of 251 produced and has a cask strength of 59.4% (normal strength is 40%).
This bottle, an 8 year old Islay malt, was bottled on 26 June 2009, was previously donated by our good friend ACGR, to raise funds for the WeeOscar4Life campaign and raised a staggering £1901 for our wee green and white hero.
Now the bottle is now back to help raise funds for another deserving and worthy cause and another wee Green and White hero, Shay
This bottle is believed to be only 3 of this cask collection now left, so the current value of this bottle is around £200
https://www.facebook.com/celticrollercoaster/posts/10206420451763327?notif_t=like
The auction will close at 6pm on Sunday 29th November
Submit your bids and any questions to : cqnlastmanstanding@gmail.com
HH and good luck
CRC
The glorious balance sheet
_____________________
You’ve got me the wrong way round.
Celtic supporters aer being cheated by, the SFA / The Huns…this is true.
But, our most ‘immediate’ cheat is…The Celtic Board…who are in the same bed as, The SFA / The Huns.
If their not….then, let them come out and prove it.
Take a stand and, represent the ‘biggest’ victims in all of this cheating-scandal…the Celtic supporters.
Never mind all of the narrative that…”…it’s not a Celtic issue.”
That is a conveniently contrived cop-out for the Celtic hierarchy who, are either complicit or, incompetent or both. I think that it’s time we found out…don’t you?
HH
kevj,
but your telling us to emulate the aberdeen support, remind us where they displayed their silence banner ?
How much more money do you think has been raised by the higher crowds attending pittodrie ?
Your rants are about us lining the pockets of the board who betray us, yet the aberdeen board has sat silent on all the Scottish football corruption issues but somehow they are getting a better treatment than we are, how does that work ?
Celtic
Hoops set to sign La Liga star in January!
Celtic are keen on to sign Villarreal center back who is currently loaned to Eibar; Panic’s deal with Villarreal is up in the summer of 2016, and Hoops boss could try to sign him in January as Spain club will try to cash in on him rather losing the player as a free agent.
Celtic representatives took flight in Spain watching Villarreal’s 1-1 draw with Eibar at El Madrigal at the weekend monitoring youngster who has been tipped to have a bright future in football.
In 2013, Pantić signed a three-year deal with La Liga side Villarreal but failed to breakthrough in the first team and probably he will be keen on to make a move to Scotland where he can get first team minutes and be regular for Ronny Deila team.
Source : scotsman.com
Celtic boss could be sacked even if he wins Domestic treble!
Last time when the Hoops bagged a treble was back in 2001 and if Ronny Deila will repeat that record he could still face to be sacked due to failure at Champions League and Europe League failure says Hoops assistant manager John Collins.
Collins sees progress of the team. he believes he and Ronny Deila can get Celtic back among Europe’s elite but he isn’t sure if they will be given one more chance.
Deila assistant added that Hoops are team that don’t spent a huge amount of money of buying a top-class players and its not easy for them to play in Champions League.
“That’s not easy for new players, young players. Like any situation, the only way you learn and get better is through the experience.
“If you are Real Madrid, PSG or Manchester United, you go and buy £30 million players. Everyone knows we can’t do that. But we can try to develop players. You can’t think it is guaranteed when you are changing players all the time.
“That’s never going to change, the expectations at a massive club. Everyone wants us to be in the Champions League.
“But we are still sitting at the top of the Premiership, scoring goals most weeks and entertaining. We are in the semi-final of the League Cup and still in the Scottish Cup”
Source : dailyrecord.co.uk
“We learn from mistakes” insists Celtic boss!
Celtic Boss Ronny Deila has being disappointed after a Europe League defeat 1-2 against Ajax at Celtic park but he has been optimistic and saying that they are learning from their mistakes and next year they will perform better at European competitions.
“I see that we are younger and there are a lot of players that haven’t played so much at this level,” the Celtic manager said.
“I see a lot of talent that will develop and learn from these games, but if you see the results it’s not the same as last year.
“Having said that, the group is better this year than last year and we deserved more this year than last year, but in the Inter Milan games (last season) we were a little bit better and that’s the level we have to get up to next year.
“It is small details that will get us through and next year everybody knows what we want – to get into the Champions League.
“We buy talent and players who can be Champions League players. Nobody comes in and is a Champions League player in the first game. You have to develop them through time and we’re going to be ready next year.
“That’s the message to all the fans and that’s the task I have and everyone at the club has.”
Source : HITC
Tonydonnelly67
_________________
Nobodies talking about the officials….everybody know’s about them.
But, a lot of Celtic supporters are…worryingly…still wet behind the ears ie: the duplicitous-convenient-conceited-easy-bedfellows that your pals in the Celtic board room can be.
HH
——————Gordon
Lustig– Boyata– Simunovic– Izzy
Forrest– Bitton– Allan– McGregor
————–Cole— Griffiths.
About as much chance as me winning the Lotto the night (3M btw) -)))
Kev J
You say that our board are in the same bed as the SFA/Huns. I can’t disagree with that, our board are represented on the SFA board yet kept their mouth shut when Campbell Ogilvie was re-elected unopposed as SFA president in 2013 despite his shady involvement in the Huns being well known at this time (that was at the same time that Stewart Regan referred to Ogilvie as being “heavily conflicted”)
On the Huns,well we all know what Dermot Desmond thinks of them: “great club, great fans” and “rangers and Celtic would enhance the premiership”
So I think we will both be waiting a long time for them to robustly challenge the cheating. Lets see after the appeal deadline has passed.
The thing is though that waving banners like the Aberdeen fans do doesn’t solve this issue (assuming our club stays silent on the cheating).
And it wasn’t just Celtic that stayed silent when Ogilvie was re-elected either.
Not much sporting integrity to be found in scottish football when it comes at the cost of the bigot pound.
Following Celtic is becoming more difficult there is more and more politics becoming involved there is more decisions to be made such as should I follow a corrupt game ? or does it become more difficult because of being on CQN and reading everyones point of view? Before the internet I naively believed all Celtic supporters were 100% behind the club but I now understand that some of our support is very discontented now wither this group could ever be happy with our club I do not know.However,for me it is about the football and the team I dont want to change the board or the manager or the league we play in I just want to enjoy watching the Bhoys and I understand there will be good times and there will be bad times that is the nature of the game.So Come on you Bhoys in Green. H.H.
Jobo
The horse and barge next to dalmuir station is good Clydebank Celtic pub
Sure there is a cCeltic club in Dumbarton but no idea where
LionRoars67
That article can be summed up in two words: ‘More leeches.’
BT,
Dumbarton is a Celtic club. Dumbarton is green and white :)
Will DD sellout? Did Michael Kelly etc want to go? DD would not welcome a well funded consortium ‘offering ‘ to buy his shareholding, but pressure from the consortium, outlying his failure to advance the Club in football and commercial terms, I can’t see a multitude of CSCs congregating in the Celtic Way, demanding he stays in situ. Can’t see Lord Tax Credit on the steps at the entrance either can you? Pointless complaint on a blog, that probably only 5% of Celtic supporters read, contribute or are even aware of CQN. You’re aware Scotland’s richest businessman is Wullie Haughey , is he happy with the PLC? Think NegAnon & Latchford could / should arrange an informal meeting with Lord Haughey, to see if it’s feasible, I am sure it is. DD does not like distractions from his core business. Coming on here,moaning inevery post achieves zilch. Extracting himself from a keyboard to form/ initiate similar affluent fans’ to do some positive has more chance of success.