A few hours of optimism

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You and I are both optimistic types.  So every year on this day, we remind ourselves that ‘these things even themselves out’, and after a run of difficult group stage draws, we expect Celtic to get a favourable Champions League draw this evening.

Pot 3 could make or break the draw.  Celtic are in this pot and it is undoubtedly weaker than Pot 4; Pot 3 has only one club from a ‘big five’ league, whereas Pot 4 has six.  Drop your cynicism and allow me a few more hours optimism before Uefa’s new computer system determines our fate.

Earlier this week we discussed that Matt O’Riley will become a case study in how to recruit, manage and sell a football player.  Within a few days, Matt is subject to another case study.  He was injured after six minutes football for Brighton.  Today it was confirmed the injury is serious and will require surgery.

This is football.  At any point, your biggest asset can be a second away from being finished in the game (not that Matt is in this situation).  When you are sitting on an offer for a player, but have a game to play against an ‘industrious’ St Mirren, the potential for things to go wrong is a consideration.

In 2010, Andreas Hinkel was subject to a £1m offer to return to Germany.  Celtic were keen to get him off the payroll and recoup some of the outlay on him.  Andreas suffered a crucial injury in a reserve game and was ruled out for the entire season.  That injury cost Celtic £2.5m (wages and lost fee).  Michael Nicolson would have been happy at fulltime on Sunday at more than just the result.

Best wishes to Matt, he will hopefully return for the Paradise Windfall Draw during his convalescence.  At least £4m of his fee is performance related; the chances of collecting this portion took a hit today.

I’m also sitting on a lot of optimism for what the next 35 hours will bring.  Looking forward to seeing Young Boys and Red Star!

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  1. Always remember that it is a League. We are up against 35 other teams, and our position will change from match to match. The quicker we pick up points the better obviously. Six points could get us in the play-offs, and I am confident we will pick up more than that at home alone. Anything away will be a bonus.

     

    Allons Y

     

     

    HomeAloneCSC

  2. Perspective we need reinforcement in defence for away days and when of were winning narrowly in the home ties.

  3. Good draw and can recoup the spend on quality with key wins in CL

     

     

     

    “Let’s go all in ” make CP a fortress again.

  4. ffs caller to clyde i am worried already we havnt strenghted enough.

     

     

    media in yir heid eejit

  5. Tom McLaughlin on

    I remember my dad taking me to Celtic v Slovan Bratislava in 1964/65 ECWC quarter-final. Murdoch scored in 1-0 victory. Celtic won 1-0 in 2nd leg away.

  6. Big Jimmy

     

    That isn’t the order of the games we could be in Birmingham first, fixture dates are out on Saturday.

  7. Am I right in thinking that the last time we faced an English team captained by a Celtic minded player, the great Billy Bremner, in the Big Cup, we were written off by the English media? We hammered them, home and away. Hope we do the same to McGinn’s Villa.

  8. I was very impressed watching young boys against Galatasary last week thought they were fast and very strong….underestimate them at our peril…easier other pot 3s…but all in all could have been much worse

  9. Scullybhoy, you must ve gappy with that! Five of your eight preferred fixtures coming up!

     

     

    Honestly don’t think we could have hand-picked a draw that would afford us a better opportunity to progress past January.

     

     

    I think we’ll take 10 points, which should be enough to finish in the middle third!

     

     

    Three more in including Engles should dj it!

  10. Evening all from the Ben Nevis whisky bar in Fort William.

     

     

    Good draw, IF we realize our potential.

     

     

    Flew overnight with the good lady and connected to GLA where we squeezed in a swift at The Pot Still before our train at Queens St.

     

     

    Feeling a wee bit jet lagged but I hear there’s a hill nearby we can climb tomorrow to get the cobwebs out before Paradise for the Huns game, Sunday. Hail hail🍀

  11. If I understand the UEFA CL payments protocol correctly we will receive a down payment of 17.8 million Euro on Sept 20, which will of course be just after our first game 17-19 September.

     

     

    we’reinthemoneycsc

  12. Takes a while to get used to the format. Here’s Villa’s games:

     

     

    Aston Villa v Bayern Munich

     

    RB Leipzig v Aston Villa

     

    Club Brugge v Aston Villa

     

    Aston Villa v Juventus

     

    Young Boys v Aston Villa

     

    Aston Villa v Celtic

     

    Aston Villa v Bologna

     

    AS Monaco v Aston Villa

     

     

    They play three of the teams we face but I think they have tougher games.

  13. I think that’s a very reasonable draw. There’s a lot of 50-50 games in there, which is all you can ask for at champions league level. Should be a good watch. Mon the Hoops!

  14. Bruge draw really tough. We’ve done well with this. Of course, others will have an easier path.

     

     

    HOME

     

     

    Club – B. Dortmund

     

    Club – Juventus

     

    Club – Sporting CP

     

    Club – Aston Villa

     

    AWAY

     

     

    Manchester City – Club

     

    AC Milan – Club

     

    Celtic – Club

     

    Sturm Graz – Club

  15. lets all do the huddle on

    Looks as if we met Robert Johnson’s mate at the crossroads this time instead of sevco

     

     

     

    is this the first Delta Blues pun ever on CQN?

  16. AuroraBorealis79 on

    Auston trustey seems to like a pass. In a game where Sheffield United had a pass completion rate of just 67%, trusty had completed 84 passes.

  17. glendalystonsils on

    LETS ALL DO THE HUDDLE on 29TH AUGUST 2024 7:13 PM

     

     

    Not sure but there used to be a poster on here called ‘Blind Lemon’…… something or other.

  18. Celtic must register our squad for the league phase by 3rd September. If we make the knockout stage we could add 3 new players. However, despite the last games taking place in January, we couldn’t use any new January signings until after the league phase is done.

  19. AuroraBorealis79 on

    I am happy ro see galatasary did not make it. Their fans are huns. Young boys are powerful & petulant. Plastic glasses being thrown at the 2 subs warming up & they use it as an excuse to walk on the pitch & run down time

  20. THE LONG WAIT IS OVER on 29TH AUGUST 2024 6:17 PM

     

    SAINT STIVS on 29TH AUGUST 2024 6:07 PM

     

     

    I might phone clyde and ask them who rangers got in the draw.

     

     

     

    ======

     

     

     

    You could ask Mrs EKBhoy.

     

     

     

    She sounds as knowledgeable as the most of the callers to that show

     

     

    ….

     

     

    To be fair to Mrs EKBhoy ( which is one of my key functions) she knew she messed up straight away , first mistake of the day

     

     

    HH

  21. 24 hours ago, we were bemoaning our lack of signings and fretting about the inevitable doom we’ll be facing in the CL, thanks to thae erseholes inside the Celtic Board.

     

     

    Now we’re gleefully planning trips to witness that doom.

     

     

    “As consistent as a football fan” is a saying used nowhere in the known world😀

  22. The maths suggest 8 points is all that will be needed not 10. That makes sense. The bottom 3rd drop out. The big test is 11 which gets a top 16 place and would assure a home second leg in last 16. Play off.

     

     

    Just getting through would be fantastic though. 2 wins and 2 draws possible from home ties. Anything from Zagreb and Atalanta a bonus. Expecting nothing from Dortmund or Villa but it does depend on how the games fall.

  23. Young Boys did well in turkey but usually their good results are on their home plastic pitch.

  24. Ziggy

     

     

    Agree comparing us us to Brugge.

     

     

    Far easier to have Leipzig Brugge and Young Boys at home. All of them have great home records.

  25. Talking about strengthening, we need to be conscious that too much change too soon can be counter productive.

     

     

    We have a decent team at the moment who are used to each other’s game, if the 3 Bhoys we are expecting to finalise all hit the ground running and show up well in games then The Barca kid in for Taylor, Trustey for Scales and Engels for Bernardo would look obvious moves.

     

     

    To be honest I would think 3 changes should be the maximum, anyway Brendan will be all over that and I’m confident he will get it right.

     

     

    Must admit I was starting to panic a couple of days ago, absolutely buzzing right now.

  26. armsrong buy and eddie loan rumours bubbling up,

     

     

    and ben doak

     

     

    if eddie/doak are coming it suggest to me that kyogo is going in to fix his shoulder.

     

     

    stuart and ben also satisfy thesquad quota rules being former academy players in scotland

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