BARCABHOY started CQN’s new series of features last night where he analysed the new season with a particular interest in how last season’s Championship winners will cope playing in the Scottish Premiership alongside – for the first time ever – clubs like 5 in a row Champions Celtic, last year’s runners up Aberdeen and a Hearts side that comprehensively bossed the new Ibrox club in the season before last.
If you missed his analysis please check the link below before reading on here.
https://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/the-floor-the-ceiling-and-why-the-rangers-will-struggle-to-compete-in-the-premiership/
Part 2 of this series, which aims to do the job that the mainstream media will ignore, was meant to come from respected Celtic campaigner Auldheid.
However today we received an additional feature from a CQNer by the name of vfr800. We thought we’d offer his piece tonight and hold Auldheid’s conclusions over to tomorrow night.
Here is what vfr800 has to say…
It has long irked me just how the SMSM fawned over and glorified the magnificent former City Trader and slaughtered the incompetent Norwegian football coach who were respective winners of the SPFL Championship and SPFL Premiership last season.
Fans of the Championship winning club lauded their team as magnificent, playing a wonderful attacking, flowing football and pointed at the Scottish Cup semi-final draw as proof they were the best team in the land; yes, it WAS a draw after extra-time and they won on penalties, not the perceived 3 goal margin that they and the SMSM would have you believe. On any other day and with average luck, Celtic would have won the game:
• Roberts doesn’t do a van Vossen and actually scores
• Griffiths’ free kick doesn’t hit the bar and goes in
• Griffiths’ free kick does hit the bar and goes in off the keeper
• The ref doesn’t “over-rule” the linesman and gives Celtic the throw-in that led to the Rangers goal
• The ball doesn’t move slightly for the Rogic penalty miss
Need I go on?
That was the final nail in Ronny Deila’s coffin as Celtic manager and was the last in a series of big games he couldn’t win. Celtic fans were rightly furious over both the performance and the result. SMSM media used it to show just how poor the Celtic team were in comparison to the blue Galacticos from Govan. Celtic had performed somewhere between poor and mediocre for the best part of the season and we were rightly criticised at times; however, some of that criticism was over the top. So just how bad were Celtic and how good were Sevco?
Both were in a position to massively outspend the league rivals and were expected to win their respective leagues, and both duly delivered.
For my own amusement at the end of last season, I set up a simple spreadsheet to dissect just how each team had performed (on average) over the league season. I was satisfied with the results and left it at that. However, an article from Ibrox Noise on News Now Celtic (Three reasons why Rangers can win the SPL) prompted me to revisit these stats and respond to the writer to give him the actual facts.
So what did the statistics say? If you want to look at stats from last season, here they are:
• Points per game: Celtic 2.263, Rangers 2.250
• Goals for per game: Celtic 2.447, Rangers 2.444
• Goals against per game: Celtic 0.816, Rangers 0.944
• Goal difference per game: Celtic 1.632, Rangers 1.500
• Points dropped per game: Celtic 0.737, Rangers 0.750
• League winning margin per game: Celtic 0.395 (15 points), Rangers 0.306 (11 points)
So no matter what statistic you use from last season, Celtic as SPL Champions (despite being universally seen as pretty poor and only winning the league by a margin of 15 points) out-performed The Rangers as Championship winners (despite being seen as magnificent and romping the league by a massive 11 points). So if you apply the stats to this coming season and Celtic are equally as poor as they were last season and The Rangers are as equally wonderful as they were last season, Celtic will still come out on top.
So what does this actually mean? In reality, nothing; both teams have strengthened to a degree; Celtic will bring in more quality during the transfer window and have a much better manager than they had last season. I did like Ronny the man, but he wasn’t up to the task; I think Rodgers is.
However, what is does show (not that we needed reminded) is the warped bias of SMSM and the fantasy land the deluded are still living in. The press (sic) are desperate for The Rangers to win the SPL this season and for Celtic to crash and burn, not only at home, but in Europe as well.
We currently have (by a margin) the best squad and manager in the SPL – Toure will bring massive experience (and skill), Dembele and Ajer are 2 very highly rated young players and Rodgers is seen as a top class manager; we will add quality in the next 5 weeks or so (Sinclair and Bamford would do for a start) and I am sure that there are more targets being pursued. So the future is bright and it isn’t orange!
There are still faults at Celtic Park in terms of Res 12, liaison with fans, challenging Sevco presence on the professional game Board etc., BUT the playing side is getting there. We should have enough to overcome Astana and whoever else we get in the play-off round for the CL.
The performance against Leicester on Saturday was positive against a more than decent team and we can build on that.
Saturday against Barcelona will be a lesson on how we should aspire to play football so let’s not go over the top if we get beat by 3 or 4 – Man U got beat 4-1 by Dortmund last week, so a similar score won’t be the end of the world.
So whilst it was pretty poor fare in many of the games last season and the fans were rightly disgruntled, we have sold in the region of 52,000 season tickets so we will have great backing for the team and a great atmosphere – I’m in the standing section this season and I can’t wait! We are on the right road and we need to pull together and makes sure, as the song says, we are on the one road (singing a song).
We WILL win the SPL; we should aim for the treble and expect Group Stages of the CL. Aberdeen and Hearts will provide decent competition and The Rangers will be somewhere in the top 4 I reckon.
However, I will give you 3 reasons why the WON’T win the SPL this season:
NOT. GOOD. ENOUGH!
Once Upon a Time in the Kingdom of Govania is the hilarious new book from CQN laughing at the demise of Rangers and the pretendy new tribute act playing in the big boys league for the first time this season.
UEFA have confirmed in writing that they are a new club and CQN has been inundated by ZERO journalist’s enquiries from the Scottish MSM asking for sight of this definitive and conclusive letter. Not that we’re bothered.
While waiting on what’s coming next why not enjoy the laugh at both Govania clubs – the dead one and the one with five stars on their shirts – one for every year come the end of the season.
If you don’t laugh your socks off we’ll be surprised! Get your copy exclusively at www.cqnbookstore.com now for only £9.99.
