Optimism among the Celtic support is tangible right now. For much of last year the league title remained in the balance, but today, despite being promised a more taxing season, we’re miles ahead. You can get odds of over 40-1 on second favourites to win the title; the definition of No Contest.
As I noted yesterday, the transformation goes deeper than the heroics of Scott Sinclair and Moussa Dembele, neither of whom were material in the level of performance shown against Barcelona.
Achievements are often subject to reassessment at a later date and Celtic’s progress or otherwise over the last two years fall into this category.
A year ago, with a faltering Craig, Emilio, Efe, Dedryk, Stuart, Gary, James and others, we looked miles away from being a Champions League team. It turns out, we have a squad full of Champions League players.
Youth development hit the jackpot with Kieran Tierney, while John Park’s swansong signings, Erik Sviatchenko and Moussa Dembele, saw a return to form for our recently departed chief scout.
Money isn’t everything. Since 2004 it’s been clear on CQN that many Celtic fans have no interest in the game’s finances, all they are interested in is seeing an improving team on the park, but for the rest of us, the financial consequence of simply getting to the group stage this season is enormous. It makes accession to the same level next season so much more achievable.
None of that matters right now as we have the first cup final of the season coming up on Sunday. The litany of underachievement in this tournament stretches back to Jock Stein, who qualified for ever League Cup final during his 13 years in charge of Celtic, but after winning the first five, contrived to lose seven of the next eight.
I’ve seen a lot worse teams than Aberdeen knock us out of the League Cup, I hope nothing is taken for granted in the dressing room.
I’ve no idea what happened at the Newco AGM this morning but you’ll remember we discussed here the wisdom of launching a hostile takeover bid while a company is being driven into the sea by boycotts? More precisely, Newco was driven into the arms of the lender of last resort – Sports Direct. Sports Direct provided the cash that kept the lights on and picked up various rights and properties in compensation.
Offering a lender a shop at a rental of £1 per year for a decade seems harsh, but if the alternative is administration, there isn’t really an alternative. We didn’t know what the quid-pro-quo was for Ashley at the time, but we knew there had to be one.
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CRC
Didn’t know you had a Bishopbriggs connection.
Anyhow, still to react to your Twitter fund raiser . Hat doffed
Wil contribute when sober
If our attitude is right we win. To all attending enjoy.
FTSFA
????
As a Catholic I was encouraged to believe that often the end does justify the means.
????
16 ROADS
Aye,I replied to that. He says it couldn’t go to a better fella.
First pint,down the ages-man,I could have cried.
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on 27TH NOVEMBER 2016 1:22 AM
Tax evasion.
Spoken about as if it is the preserve of the wealthy .
We both know it`s not.
The black economy. Ever paid cash for a service ?
Careful now . :-)
It is as you say about trickle down.
The more that are down , the less amount of the trickle.
What to do.
Reduce the number who have to rely on trickle down.
Reduce immigration numbers.
300,000 homeless ?
180,000 immigrants per annum ?
Madness.
Probably a major factor in Brexit.
PETEC on 27TH NOVEMBER 2016 1:39 AM
VIZ 1759
http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s1c1a4.htm
macjay1,
I offered him a route out.
Ridiculous stuff.
I really didn’t expect it from Chris.
Kojo.CSC
PETEC on 27TH NOVEMBER 2016 1:56 AM
Sorry , pal.
I wasn`t making any comment whatsoever about that issue.
anyway.
G’night Celts.
Right Winders and Left Hum Dingers.
Broonie to lift that Cup TODAY.
CQN is going to be Magical Tonight.
Mondayoff.CSC
macjay1,
Sorry, my misunderstanding.
HH
PETEC on 27TH NOVEMBER 2016 2:00 AM
Sleep well , pal.
Monet Selleck
PETEC on 27TH NOVEMBER 2016 1:39 AM
Yes, but as Catholics we also have moral absolutes which cannot be compromised in any way. So in those situations the end does not justify the means when transgressions of moral absolutes occur.
Erik Sviatchenko: The current Celtic team is a completely different world to the one last season
ERIK Sviatchenko might be softly spoken and an awfully nice man but his words sure carry a bite.
Celtic’s Danish defender didn’t, probably, mean to fillet Ronny Deila, John Collins and the previous coaching regime at the club as he heaped praise on what Brendan Rodgers has done for Celtic since June.
“I think it is two (different) worlds,” said Sviatchenko when asked how things at the club compared now to what it was like before the Northern Irishman took over six months ago.
And there you have it.
The players might have liked Deila as a man – Collins was always a more divisive character – but since the Norwegian decided enough was enough, it is if the Celtic’s players have shut Pandora’s box and been opened up to how football should be approached on the field of play and when away from the club.
“One thing is how we play but also socially people are really helping each other off the pitch, they are getting close to one another and that is a really important thing the manager did when he came in,” said Sviatchenko
“He has combined everything, brought everyone together and people now want to do the best for each other. The positivity in the squad shines from everyone – that has been a big change.
“And it’s the way we play as well. We are the best team when we go on the pitch now, when last season we could lose a game and struggle after 70 minutes.
“I feel we are much less vulnerable now. We know our shape, fitness-wise it is so good that we can bomb on for 90 minutes and sometimes the opponent will maybe tire after 70-75 minutes. That’s where we need to be the best team.”
Good news for Celtic but bad news for Aberdeen at Hampden today, a ground which has not been a happy hunting ground for the Glasgow club until the recent Betfred League Cup semi-final win over Rangers.
Sviatchenko made his debut as a substitute last season in the semi-final defeat in this competition to Ross County, he was thrown on after Efe Ambrose’s red card. He then scored in the Old Firm Scottish Cup semi-final two months later which resulted in a Rangers win on penalties.
“It was a bit embarrassing, especially with it being my first game,” said the man who has become his side’s No 1 central defender when recalling his first outing. “I knew already then the expectation levels are so huge. So it was a massive disappointment.
“But it’s like night and day now between then and our current situation. I can’t even remember what happened back then because since then there have been so many great things. It’s just so much different now.”
OK, Erik, we get it.
A Celtic win would secure the 100th trophy for the club, which would mean a great deal to a player who wants to know the history, as a certain song would say.
“It would be really big,” he admitted: “To be a part of club history is something that always means a lot to a player. I was part of five in a row and for me it was quite big to be a part of that.
“If I were to be a part of the 100th trophy that would be something I’d always remember. It would be big to achieve that.
“I still want to know something about Celtic, there are a lot of things I don’t know. I think it’s important to know about your club and I actually just got a book about the Celtic history. When I have time I will try to read it. But, again, it’s just more of respect for the club.”
Sunday could be the first trophy of a clean sweep, something which has been spoken about a lot – actually too much – since Rangers ceased to be a challenge.
Whenever anyone from Celtic has spoken of a Treble, it’s almost as if it would be wrong if such an achievement wasn’t attained. That’s a nonsense and Sviatchenko knows it.
He said: “The most important at this stage is securing one. There is a long way to go, and a long way to the last trophy in May.
“So at this stage the focus is around the one. And if we have that in our hands then we’ll go again. At this stage we are not talking about it, or focusing on it but it is always lying there because everyone around us has an expectation.
“That doesn’t mean we don’t have the expectation ourselves but we don’t think about it. For the mental aspect, it is one at a time.”
BABASONIC Just watching the huddle on CTV big Erik giving a good account of himself on there also.
Made the train!
Part 1 of my journey: train from Bury St Edmunds to Cambridge
Part 2: Cambridge to Kings Cross
Part 3: underground from Kings Cross to Waterloo
Part 4: Waterloo to Wimbledon
There may be refreshment breaks somewhere on the route.
Mon the Hoops (and the hopes)
All this happy talk regarding Erik got me thinking, 1st goalscorer, he’s got form at Hampden, so there yet have it, 40/1 with Bet Fred… Fill yer boots! HH.
40/1 is great odds, I got 25/1 PP, big difference.
What is it with the Littlewoods ad coming up on here all the time? A canny get rid of the forking thing, pain in the arse so it is.
Morning all. Happy Cup Final Day. The closer it get to kick off the more I fret about the game. Just as well I am about to have dinner and head for bed.Back up at 2 am.
Match the efforts of our opponents and we will win the game. Here are my thoughts on the game.
https://stayinguplateblog.wordpress.com/2016/11/27/celtic-up-for-the-cup-yes-in-many-ways/
Come on Celtic!!
League Cup final day
Gwan the Celts
Go on
HY
Good Morning Bhoys from a fairly bright Central Scotland well a big game today and if we are to do the treble it is yet another must win game.Aberdeen will be well up for it and Celtic may be a bit leggy after Wednesdays game so it will in my opinion be a tight affair. I think Brendan may freshen up the team a little and we may see Sparkies return if Sinclair is unfit young Paddy will come in along with Jamesie it should be a good game with I hope a narrow hoops win say 2-1.H.H.
Tony67
You could turn off javascript via your settings
It may inhibit access to some sites, phil etc.but you can turn it on again
So far I am immune to ad bombardment.
HH
Big day today. Dull and damp here but I am cautiously optimistic for today.
It wil not be easy and I will be praying for no extra time.
The MIB will take some watching.
Half nine Mass, quick gym session then home to collect the lhad and off to Hampden.
Here’s to all of us
Hail! Hail!
The League Cup final being played this early in the season has brought back memories of my first league cup final. The Skol Cup final against the Deed Team in 1990. As a 15 year old getting dropped off at Belfast airport to get the British Airways shuttle to Glasgow on my own was quite dawnting. I was greeted at Glasgow airport by my cousin who lived in Motherwell at the time. Went to the Carfin supporters club the next day where my cousin was a member, travelled on their bus to Hampden, Think a bloke called Boggie ran the bus. Got soaked on a miserable afternoon at a roofless Hampden with big Paul Elliot scoring a header that was two foot off the ground. To compound a miserable Sunday, on the Monday morning the flight back to Glasgow was full of drunken Huns who were treating everyone to their full song book, much to the disgust of the staff and ordinary people on the flight. To make matters worse the flight was delayed due to a technical fault so we had to sit at Glasgow for quite a while. Was one my first encounters with those animals and as a 15 year showed me them in a light that 25 years later today has not changed and sadly don’t think ever will. Highlight of that weekend, Buying a black Umbro Celtic managers coat in the Celtic shop!!!
Oops, nearly took the train to Kings Lynn instead of Kings Cross. Caffeine, must have caffeine!
Good morning and Happy Cup Final Sunday from a slightly damp, calm and cold (but not freezing) East Kilbride, 7.7 miles from where the trophy will be lifted aloft in just 7½ hours.
JOBO BALDIE
And it’s 7 degree here in Englandshire. Magnificent 7’s :D
I think BR will only make the one (enforced) change from Wedenesday. Forrest will replace Sinclair, he’ll be on the right and McGregor will switch to the left to give Izaguirre, the weak link in the defence who they will target, some help/protection.
Morning all…
Looking forward to a good match today.
Though, Mr McInnis is not renowned for his execution of the beautiful game, outwith his toiling, turgid, tactics, that can be murder to watch.
Still luckily we have Mr Rodgers who as well as playing the beautiful game, unlike most of his predecessors, has an awesome record at Hampden;)
Still, our grueling Season thus far has taken it’s toll in fittness and injuries.
So a few changes and a tight game the way I sees it.
Celtic 2-1 Aberdeen
Hope we all have a grand day…
Hail Hail
A wee bit cloudy but the sky is clearing. Forecast to be a bright, clear afternoon in Glasgow and very little wind.
However, Celtic and the fans will kick up a storm at Hampden and the Dandies won’t be able to cope with it. Celtic 3 or 4 to 1!
KTF
BURGAS…
Big Erik’s the type you’d want with you in a crisis,he has that Scandi calm about him.
Future captain if he stays long enough.
HAIL! HAIL!
Not that i’m on this twitter thing much but it seems the sheep have some sort of banner for our eyes today.
You can well imagine what it is about, so if true i hope we hammer them into pulp at hampdump today and they have the worst journey home imaginable.
Just pure scum !!!!!
BABASONIC
Possibly mate, as i said he has got some Celtic books and wants to read more about our past history, and he knows this will be our 100th trophy so you can imagine he’s right up for this one :-)
Mon the HOOOOOPS!!!!
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on 27TH NOVEMBER 2016 1:12 AM:
Your post at 12:33 in support of Iki’s views is till there mate, it was not deleted.
Am rubbish at flouncing !
On way to 10am mass at my chapel
Still think moderator is a Hun word
Fellow Celtic fans enjoy your day, we live in good TIMes
Dallas hope young Dallas has a great day
Hail Hail
Anyone looking for a good wee read should check out Nutmeg magazine, a quarterly publication on Scottish football, just recently published it’s first edition.
Good story on the Furuz Islam situation and several others all worthy of a read.
BIG PEAT OF ISLAY. LAWWELL’S GRAVY TRAIN HAS LEFT THE SAPS AT THE STATION. on 27TH NOVEMBER 2016 6:24 AM
PETEC on 27TH NOVEMBER 2016 1:39 AM
Yes, but as Catholics we also have moral absolutes which cannot be compromised in any way. So in those situations the end does not justify the means when transgressions of moral absolutes occur.
###
And that, boys and girls, is why all Catholics are pacifists and oppose capital punishment.
Great wee article on Res12: http://twohundredpercent.net/resolution-12-proving-resolve/?
KTF