It is difficult to overstate the importance of Sunday’s cup final to Motherwell. They have won as many major trophies in the last 65 years as Celtic have won European Cups in the same period. What an opportunity they have.
Sunday might be just another final to you and me, or more importantly, to the Celtic players, but it is a date with destiny for all at Motherwell.
Right now, Celtic players will still be de-escalating emotions from Wednesday night. It is difficult to switch from one emotional peak straight into an equally intense state, but if we do not find our sharpness or thought and body, the Invincible trail will end this weekend.
I don’t think that will happen; there should be a backlash from Celtic. The open wounds from Wednesday will be used as fuel. The players have been slapped about by the hurt of defeat and will want to avoid a repeat on a national cup final. If Motherwell want to win, score a goal, or if they even want to pass the ball, they will have to operate at a level they have only attained for seconds this season.
The stakes are as high for both teams. Let’s hope the matter is decided without controversy.
Have a great and memorable day at Hampden.
FRIDAY NIGHT, NEW CQN PODCAST featuring Lisbon Lion Jim Craig, UNMISSABLE!
ORDER YOUR SIGNED COPY OF JIM CRAIG – RIGHT BACK TO 67, A LISBON LION DIARY TODAY!
SIGNED COPY!
833 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- ...
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- ...
- 22
- »
GLENDALYSTONSILS on 24TH NOVEMBER 2017 11:57 PM
Don’t worry Sevconians……….a big name manager with a humungous warchest is riding in on King Billy’s big white horse to take you back to the top.
….honest………..
Aye….and Kylie Minogue is gonny be the next MRS Big Jimmy !
HH
Today I am gonna watch Scotland and Aussie players…Rugby tackling each other….tomorrow I think I maybe watching Mudderwell players RUGBY TACKLING Celtic fitba players…this feckin Ref Thomson better be on the mark and protect The Bhoys from serious injury..
I saw Murtys post match interview…now…there lies a broken man….he was nearly greetin !
he better get himself oot of there…that job will put him in an early grave…he looks feckin ill.
COYBIG !
HH
Simon Donnelly interview coming up at 9am on CQN.
He talks about Phil O’Donnell and previews tonorrow’s Final.
Don’t miss the Jim Craig podcast, when he gets emotional talking about the Lions, that is a very special moment on the podcast. It tells you what the Lions mean to each other.
Paul Dykes and Kevin Graham ( Giggsy of this parish) deserve huge praise for their work on the podcast.
Brendan Rodgers:
“Can I be totally honest?” he said. “I haven’t seen one word. I’ve learned through experience to not listen. After the game my focus was on just making sure the players were OK, which they were, absolutely fine.
“I’m not on social media. I haven’t actually seen one letter that has been written or heard one word that has been spoken. Because it’s normally by people who don’t have any commitment to anything. They speak, they talk, they get paid, obviously, for an opinion, but it doesn’t bother me.
“I don’t listen to the phone-ins, It’s all about confirming their bias. It might be a bias towards a players, or a even manager.”
“I’m beyond worrying. I’m here to do the best for Celtic and I’ll do what I think is the best thing for the club. Hopefully up until this point it has been OK. I continue to work that way, to be better, to improve the club in as many ways as I can.”
http://www.thenational.scot/news/15683443.Critics_won___t_change_me__says_Celtic__39_s_Brendan_Rodgers/
THERE is never a bad time to sit down for a blether with one of Scottish football’s all-time great characters. The legend who is John ‘Dixie’ Deans.
Now 71, can you believe that, those eyes still sparkle as if anticipating a bit mischief which he was known and loved for back in the day, and I’m happy to report he remains terrific company.
However, this of all weeks was perhaps the best to grab an hour or so with the bold Dixie, given that the two clubs he is most closely associated with, Motherwell and Celtic, meet in Sunday’s League Cup final, an occasion in which this incredible goalscorer notched one of his two Hampden hat-tricks.
Mention Deans to a certain generation of football supporter, and this doesn’t necessarily mean a fan of the teams he played for, and it’s guaranteed to raise a smile. He played for the people, still does to an extent, he could be a rascal, a wind-up merchant and, boy did he know how to play.
He said. “I got 91 goals for Motherwell, which was not a bad record, but here’s a thing about Celtic. I have read so many times that I scored 124 goals for the club when it was actually 132 (in 184 games). Get that in.”
Deans was some centre-forward even if St Mirren, the club this Linwood lad supported, allowed him to slip past. He did get a trial “the night before my mother died” but it was in Lanarkshire where it began for him.
“I loved Motherwell,” he recalled. “It was a great club. I signed at 19 after one trial with them. We had a good, consistent team, and I had wonderful five-and-half years there.
“Bobby Howitt was manager and we had players such as Tam Forsyth, who was a Motherwell boy, and he was better to play with than against. Tam was a hard man.”
Deans would have been described as a controversial player during his Fir Park days.
For a striker, and one on the small side, he was of the ‘retaliate first’ school of footballers who in those days got far less protection than any of their predecessors who will strut their stuff on Sunday.
That he had an eye for a goal was no mystery; however, eyebrows were raised when Jock Stein spent £17,500 on the 25-year-olfdin 1971, especially as the new Celtic man was in the middle of a six-week suspension.
So, Dixie, reminds us, what was all that about?
“Ach, what happened was I was wanting away. There were clubs down south, Newcastle being one, interested, they had come directly to me, so I knew this fine well. But Motherwell didn’t tell me a thing. I was getting frustrated.
“I spoke to the club and made the point I had been approached. The frustration got to me and I picked up a couple of sending offs.”
All unjust, or course.
“When I signed for Celtic, I was sent off only one. And that was in a reserve game. So that showed I could control my temper.
“If a defender kicked me, I’d have a go back. In saying that, a few of the referees didn’t do me any favours. Honest.”
Then Celtic made their move. It was to be life-changing for Deans.
“I wasn’t surprised Celtic came in for me. I was scoring all the time. I always had that confidence within me, I felt I was going to get a goal in every game. This was not a bad way to think about yourself.
“Big Jock was magnificent. He honestly was like a father to me and the rest of the lads. I couldn’t believe how well he treated me after I signed. I loved my time there.
“I still work with Celtic on the match-day corporate side of things. I love it. To know the fans still talk about you is an amazing thing. But as a player, I loved entertaining. That was my job, to entertain, and I was pretty good at it as far as scoring goals went.”
That he was.
I resisted bringing up the penalty miss against Inter Milan, his career was so, so much more than that, but what cannot be ignored is that Dean remains the only player to score a hat-tricks in two cup finals, both against an outstanding Hibernian side, the 1971/72 Scottish Cup Final and 1974/75 League Cup Final.
His solo goal in the former sits easily in any top ten in Celtic history and in the latter his flying header, when he directed Jimmy Johnstone’s wayward shot into the net, is one of the funniest.
Deans said: “The finals always gets mentioned. When I’m at the matches, I spend proper time with the fans, they deserve it, and we talk about all sorts of things.
“I still go to supporters’ clubs nights and love them, although I need to watch these days because everything goes on social media.
“I was at a night recently, with Bobby Lennox and wee Joe Miller, and the three of us got a standing ovation when we walked in. I was maybe an hour-and-a-half signings stuff and posing for photographs.
“I don’t mind that at all. I will give time to these people who have been wonderful to me.. It’s the same when I go to Motherwell, by the way. I am still looked after when I go to Fir Park. I always enjoy going back there”
So, Sunday, who out of his former teams will triumph?
“It is hard to see past Celtic. Brendan Rodgers is a terrific manager but that 7-1 defeat…a result like that can hurt people. I still call Celtic ‘we’ and ‘us’ when I talk about them. But if anyone was to beat us in a final, I would be happy if it were Motherwell.”
Deans these days is more or less retired. He plays golf, does his Celtic and is a regular visitor to Australia where both sons and his grand-children are based.
“I’ve had a great time in football,” he says. “I played with great clubs and great players, and we knew how to enjoy ourselves. I’ve no regrets.”
Dixie Deans. Brilliant player, good fun and great company. If only all of us could say this.
No wonder he has no regrets.
by Neil Cameron
http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/15682106.The_Big_Interview__Dixie_Deans_on_Motherwell__Celtic_and_a_life_of_no_regrets/
Losing with ‘Dignity’
Today’s CQN Coupon
Jobo Baldie – Blackburn
Lennybhoy – Scunthorpe
Gerryfaethebrig – Fulham
Pogmathonyahun – AFC Wimbledon
The Exiles Tim -Notts County
Awalkacrosstherooftops – Elgin
Bobby Murdoch’s Curled Up Winkelpickers – Shrewsbury
When the horribles wake up this morning and realise it wasn’t a nightmare, they really are that bad.
A last wee point on Wednesday night, obviously would rather avoid a hammering but a sliver lining is that Brendan’s rep took another wee hit and the should keep him off the minds of some of the bigger Clubs in Europe, particularly down south.
I found myself sharing the same space as a rather posh and well off sevco supporter the other day. He was as deluded as the biggest bampot pure ragin’ knuckledragger that we come across from time to time.
I quickly realised I was was wasting my breath about living within your means and getting rid of king etc, as he droned on about the AGM , getting huge investment from somewhere and all being fine in 24 months..
The weird thing was that other than football we got on really well and was a decent bloke. Still can’t get my head around it.
THETIMREAPER – I posted the same thing after the game. Going by the English/French/Spanish media reports & comments after the game, Celtic are considered cannon fodder and BR is considered tactically naive. Our domestic dominance is explained away by it simply reflecting how poor Scottish football is.
In particular, there have been lots of references to BR’s CL record with Liverpool as well to back up the views that he is not able to do it on the big stage.
From my perspective, I agree with Peter Lawell, Celtic could not have a better manager than BR, he is the best manager we could hope to have and far superior to any other manager we could hope to attract to the SPFL.
Like everyone else, I wish he could make us harder to beat in Europe and I hope he and the players will learn lessons from these thrashings. In the meantime I’ll be more than delighted with another treble.
Brendan on the radar of other clubs ? I heard one of his interviews and he mentioned being sacked at Reading more than Liverpool and appreciating what he has now, hope he stays for many many seasons
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Wee BGFC ! Have a good one !!! HH !
Good morning from a white over North Staffs – turning to rain later.
GG – thanks for the links looks interesting – will have a good look at them later
Park Road 67 – hope to spend a few days in Boston – thanks for the recommendations
Hoopy Birthday – Wee BGFC
mon the wbgfc
HAPPY. HOOOOOOPY BIRTHDAY to
Notsowee BGFC!!!!!!
Oh dear. Not going so well for Murtinho now.
And another game without a goal for MoreLoss. Maybe he has been unsettled by those £15m bids from England!
The search for a new manager goes on. Is it taking so long because they want somebody who “knows the club” and there aren’t many of those going around?
Oh well. At least the fabled “gap to Celtic” won’t go up this weekend!
Fascinating final tomorrow and the perfect pick me up for us, Wednesday’s mauling will have given the Celtic squad a new hunger to assist invincibility toward 2018.
This is a game tailor made for ball players Patrick Roberts Scott Sinclair and Stuart Armstrong should all return in part one of a potential double treble at Hamdump.
And it is a dump befitting of the failing corrupt administrators still prepared to fend off criticism whilst drumming up support for more money and the status quo. A roof over their heads and the biggest fraud in world football safely buried along with the perpetrators while tribute act lurch from one pantomime to the next, with all the help they can give.
Infrequent mineshafters and Monday Morning Quarterbacks fill CQN at even the semblance of weakness, so its no wonder another Euro reversal kept them going and turning their noses up at domestic dominance.
Fortunately what some put on the internet isn’t for the Celtic away support who’ll stand by their seats and cheer the bhoys to what will hopefully be another victory for Timdom.
E-Tims good read
:-)
http://etims.net/?p=12249
HH
Looking forward to tomorrow, BR will have the players fired up after that heavy defeat against the planets best team and also the most corrupt.
Looking forward to when Broony,Olly and Eoboue are ready to start together, i feel that our midfield is the main problem at the moment.
Would like to see this team tomorrow.
Gordon
Jozo Dedryck Keiran
Jamsie Olly Broony Eboue Scott
Griff Moussa
Celtic 4 Motherwell 0
KTF
MARSPAPA
Thanks for your very kind words last night. They are much appreciated. This is one of my bad attacks, not the worst, but a bad one all the same. I’m still looking like Jar Jar Binks this morning. Lips, cheeks, eyes, mouth – the lot.
made me smile
https://twitter.com/gibbygibbo1/status/934153378887815169
HH
Bada
You didn’t tell us Judith was a ‘Well supporter.
CQN Saturday Naps Competition
for those in the CQN Naps Competition, please post your Week 17 selection here:
http://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/tactically-abject-we-can-do-better/comment-page-11/#comments
Cheers, fleagle1888
Is there a new blog?
Saturday greetings from an overcast / 7 degrees Paris .
Oot n aboot in St Germain .Pit stop in a bar – guy at the till wearing a natty navy blue with a white pinstripe fitba top — didn’t know the team -so asked the question –Stade Saint Germain . One of the clubs which became the Frankenstein called PSG ..
St. Germain
https://youtu.be/yRpKKBmeqV4
Home tomorrow !!!!
Celtic Graves announce a ceremony for Alec Collins,St Kentigerns Lambhill
https://twitter.com/CelticGraves/status/934374792295342080
HH
Looked into RangersMeeja there for a late morning pick-me-up….to find it’s offline.
Crashed. A bit like their team really.
ERNIE LYNCH on 24TH NOVEMBER 2017 3:39 PM
I hear you – but Im not sure its in our DNA
Even if we had the players who were enthusiastic about defending
I admit I did not enjoy getting beat 7-1 by PSG and as you say it would be good to have the option
HH
67ECW
It would be funny if it weren’t so tragic.
Only in the context of Scoddish football can a gaffe like this by Neil Cameron, in his piece on Dixie, actually make sense!
“For a striker, and one on the small side, he was of the ‘retaliate first’ school of footballers who in those days got far less protection than any of their predecessors who will strut their stuff on Sunday”.
After all, according to official Scottish Football records, in that final Celtic will be chasing the record of league cups won, currently held by a club which is only 5 years old, a remarkable, you might say hunbelievable, total of 2, (that’s right, lady,TWENTY!) 7.
These records,of course, remain unchallenged by Celtic, or any other club. If you ask Celtic why, they won’t answer, I’ve tried. Like the Park’s bus issue, they’re above that kind of pettiness, I’d imagine. An intangible asset like the brand being undermined by the league of which we are a member, so what?
Forget A Review Celtic Expects.
A cross tic supporter.
Alisdair Maclean 11.12
its fine mate,been greetin at it aw morning lol :-) literally!!
honestly they are the selfhatcheteers,
hope alls good up your end
HH
Happy birthday wee man….have yourself a braw day…
Braw
Smiley wee BGFC thing
Awfy braw…
Alasdair Maclean 11.12am
Think Chris Eagles could be great signing for County
Beat Bhoy,
The point is, in the past rangers may have won 27 League Cups.
Sevco have won zero!
Eurochamps67
Some team are Dundee and what a manager they have. Must be good to beat the teddies e. Maybe he will be next hunmanager, good fit methinks.
Do not underestimate how “they” are hurtin’. Tomorrow they will do anything to do us down. Sending off, pens against bla bla bla .
My message to the team, keep the heid no matter what, and we will skoosh it.
Prediction 4 – 1 to the good guys
Hail Hail
KINGLuBO
Whit is that Goldstar10 all about.
A walk up from Kirkie to Lennoxtown???
eurochamps67
Your records are correct, but that is very far from the point.