After a defeat like last night’s a generation ago, the English media would be limited to a handful of hacks destroying the reputation and social life of the national team manager. What they did to one of their own, like Graham Taylor and Bobby Robson was bad enough, what they would have done to a German coach is unimaginable.
Today, while Tuchel is getting the blame for England’s second half capitulation, there is a wider ecosystem in journalism and another theme has emerged. You can change the players, coaches and manager, but some teams are culturally compelled to win when things are tight, and some continually blow it. Argentina, Spain and France win, England and a host of gifted smaller nations don’t.
Last night was a carbon copy of Celtic’s final league game of the season against Hearts. Just like England when they needed to hold what they had, Hearts sat ever-deeper as the game went on, Celtic hit the post and relentlessly prodded for an opening.
We will wonder how we won that league for the rest of our lives. Martin O’Neill’s run-in saw us 2-0 down at Kilmarnock and Ibrox, going behind at home to Newco and then at Motherwell, and that finale against Hearts. 15 points won from losing positions across the last 13 games – 15 points! It was statistically unlikely, achieved by the weakest Celtic title winning squad this century, but they are winners.
Some teams in football have a winners’ mentality, while some are cursed to be losers, who can get results under no pressure but will bottle it when they come up against a genuine challenge.
139 Comments- Pages:
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- »
Viva Argentina.
Spot on Pablo.
👏👏👏
Shat, cracker and I’m yer mawn
Next thing you know, they’ll be wanting the Malvinas back.
And still Hearts (after many months) are top of the CQN SPL league, albeit on 67 points
Martin O’Neill twice took a dejected, dispirited group and got 2.57 points per game return out of them
A few days ago Paul you queried our lack of football identity.
I Assume you meant the identity of our Football CLUB ?
The identity of our team under MON is simple.
We win football matches.
BBC radio all morning running with the Malvinas flag story as their headline .
Hilarious and sad at the same time, anything to avoid the reality of a familiar defeat.
Just as well BBC Scotland aren’t like that 😜
Valid points but Argentina also have good footballers. Will we be signing any?
HH
Commiserations to any English Tims.
I think your manager fecked it.
Readback from last night was excellent*; civil, constructive, informative and enlightening. The spirit of SFTB lives on.
* canine pursuers of automobiles apart.
Vale bhoy
As English Tims my sons were absolutely gutted
Argentina are a team filled with fearless skilled workhorses.
But with insidious backdoors to genocide land.
like a Celtic team made up of tough workhorses and geniuses.
1. Foster
2. Sneddon
3. Mahe
4. Mjallby
5 Balde
6. Lennon
7. Larsson
8. Burley
9. Sutton
10. Lubo
11. Maeda
Parkheadcumsalford on 16th July 2026 11:11 am
Craig Gordon has announced his retirement. Great goalkeeper for us, even if he supports Hearts. Thanks for your contribution to Celtic’s history.
Best of luck in retirement Craig.
HH
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/celtic-fan-group-thai-tims-37434236
Such sad news – Celtic fan group Thai Tims founder diagnosed with incurable brain tumour
Hrvatski Jim on 16th July 2026 12:44 pm
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/celtic-fan-group-thai-tims-37434236
Such sad news – Celtic fan group Thai Tims founder diagnosed with incurable brain tumour
How awful. Heart goes out to him and his 💚
BBC running with the Malvinas flag story as their headline .
Wonder what the ‘Butchers Apron’ still means to a lot of people round the world.
An interesting analogy that I agree with, but what happened to the Germans, Dutch and Italians (who didn’t even qualify!).
For me and for whatever reason (maybe it’s media pressure/fan expectations), England’s problem is the opposite of what makes a great team – their sum-of-the-parts seems less than the whole.
Long may it continue.
p.s. thank you for the reminder of last season. Thinking about it always brings a big smile to my face.
It is unforgettable for so many reasons.
Delicious.
Sorry,not falling for this MON shit any longer.3 weeks ago,he said we would be signing players very soon.One through the door,and he has cost us nothing.He wanted Iheanacho,but let the Board run his contract down,same with Chamberlain.What does that say about him?Just another stooge being used by this depicable Board to gaslight the support.
FFS,man.Grow a set.Stop giving out the party line.Stop covering for them.The latest,” We hope to get a couple in”.Are you on this planet? A couple in,while 3 go the other way !!!!!!.
We will walk out on Saturday,to a dead stadium.Is this OK with you?
From hero to zero now in my book.Still time ,but I doubt it,to reverse that.
Not angry any more at the imbeciles who run our club shamefully,angry that you seem to have become aquiescent to that..
Very good analogy
I’m sure i read somewhere (so it must be true) that England haven’t beaten a top 10 ranked team in a knockout for xx years
Wil try to locate and reference properly
As has been said already, England simply less than their sum total and not as good as they think
Will admit to being somewhat neutral on last night’s game
Hrvatski Jim on 16th July 2026 11:46 am
Thank you for posting ,very sad..love to all concerned 💚 🍀
Hrvatski Jim on 16th July 2026 12:44 pm
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/celtic-fan-group-thai-tims-37434236
Such sad news – Celtic fan group Thai Tims founder diagnosed with incurable brain tumour
^^
It is a great shame to read this.
All strength to his suffering family as well as the fantastic Thai Tims.
It is also a great shame that we now live in a world were the likelihood outcome is that 2 out of every 3 people will get Cancer, probably of the stage 4 incurable type.
It is also shameful that we now live in a world were even mentioning, or trying to warn against the likely cause of these now incurable Cancer’s, can lead to people being banned from social media, or losing their jobs for the crime of trying to help by whistle blowing..
Since 2020, mRNA Technology filled Vaccines have been deceitfully pushed onto the World’s population of 8 Billion People.
There have sadly been 6+ Billion People who have fallen for the “safe and effective” propaganda narrative.
https://x.com/robinmonotti/status/2077334424211902531
Turkeybhoy…all that anger can’t be good for your health. Perhaps you should stay away from the Record, the Sun and the Holy Ghost…try the People’s Friend.
100% correct. Parallels were clear and almost as joyous. On the Malvinas thing, having travelled across Argentina earlier this year there are memorials and street names in every town, large and small. It’s massive for them. Great country, people and football culture. Loved it last night.
A dialogue sequence from the terrific 1997 movie, L.A. Confidential
… that always makes me chuckle
Captain Dudley Smith: “It’s best to stay away from a man when his blood is up”
Ed Exley: “His blood is always up”
Captain Dudley Smith: “Then perhaps you should stay away from him altogether”
🤣🤣🤣
PS – IMHO? The book is even better.
Back to Basics – Glass Half Full
Thanks for the regular posting of ‘that goal’, and in such a delightful, humorous way, throughout the summer.
Such joy – loved it, loving it.
MON must feel shafted by Desmond and his puppets especially after delivering the sweetest title of all with a double.
Come across many Celtic fans from all over UK and Ireland and they are sick to the back teeth of the Celtic board & Exec who have sucked all the positive energy of the euphoria of the double win.
Let’s see how it plays out however, in the meantime not a penny more. Although renewed our season tickets continuing with the ban on any discretionary spend on all things Celtic — so all pre season friendliest giving a miss. We don’t have a team anyway…..
The club is rudderless at the top. Interim chair by his sell by date, invisible mute CEO, No DOF, No Head of Recruitment. No vision , strategy , comms (apart from flogging discounted stock). All overseen by an absentee shareholder who appears to have lost all interest and is now damaging Celtic more than the old Board.
Something has to change …
PLP…” Great country, people and football culture.”
Fair enough! But you won’t see many black faces there. There may be a few more these days because of the arrival of fleeing Venezuelans but not many. I get the Malvinas thing, when I was there I was constantly asked about the subject. The other common question was, how did I feel living with so many blacks in Venezuela.
There you go! Your experience was obviously different and it was a few years ago I was there.
The media and the formal political establishment (how can you tell them apart these days)
Might as well go the whole hog and throw Argentina out of the tournament … with England advancing to the final.
Better still, Spain’s position on Gibraltar is wholly unsatisfactory.
Throw them out too …
… and award the trophy to you know who.
Carbon copy of the Shortbread – R2ngers “sour the milk” playbook.
😭😭😭😭😭😭
As far as England go, a bit of advice for them. Less arrogance, more humility
All I want from our board is communication. Eg, We are currently negotiating a deal for4 players. Talks are ongoing, will advise in due course . Not too difficult surely
kingLUBO
Likea dog chasing cars,.Agree.
What sickens me more than anything is the adulterated food we consume, ultra processed, cancer containing drugs ,artificial this, and that, flavourings, colourings, shelf life extenders, the list goes on, yet the government does nothing. Just check out the ingredients of the food you buy, scary stuff indeed
kinglubo
Good afternoon all from Shawlands. Hot rails to hell!😉
ABA, for my money.
As a Celtic fan I just never liked Argentine fitba.
Racing Club v Jinky. Started there. Say no more.
Hey Viva Espana !!
quadrophenian
Atletico Madrid v jinky?
Racing Club (and the Argentinians who played for Atletico) must be among the dirtiest we have ever played against.
PCS
The Argentinian ‘go to’ tactics is to play on the edge, plenty of fouling – winding up the opposition and downright cheating. Of course after they conceded last night they decided to play football, some of it brilliant. England couldn’t cope.
We seem to have a few players in the departure lounge and not so many in arrivals.
Argentina has a great football culture?
No thanks
Racing Club spat, kicked and cheated the Lions out of the World Club Championship in 1967.
Not forgetting Ronnie Simpson being seriously injured by object thrown from the stands prematch.
Or the urine poured on the watching Celtic party, who literally feared for their lives.
It’s a joy to see what football can mean to people. Pure passion winning over fear of losing