Tucked in nicely behind Bayern Munich in second place in the Bundesliga, above Dortmund and comfortably ahead of Leipzig, Bayer Leverkusen are in the kind of form that they have not known in 20 years. It is safe to say their trip to Glasgow this week will not cause them sleepless nights.
On returning to Germany, they have a trip to winless, 16th placed, Arminia, on Sunday. Leverkusen will doubtlessly have a sense of security about this week’s fixtures; one that few would suggest is false.
Celtic could see tomorrow’s Europa League encounter far enough. Having shipped five Premiership points in a week, domestic form is the only priority, an exhausting encounter against a top German side before Sunday’s trip to Aberdeen can only multiply Ange Postecoglou’s problems.
If anything, I could make a case for Celtic resting players ahead of Pittodrie, but that’s not how European football works. We will attempt to reestablish the form we showed early in Seville two weeks ago; that two goal lead seems a long time ago.
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Seismic shifts in football power. Spanish football will take years to come back from the shock waves
We’re lucky to have such rock solid fundamentals at Celtic
TONTINE TIM
Could you explain to me how Celtic winning the title last season would have resulted in Rangers going out of business?
SAINT STIVS
Thanks for posting stuff about Knightswood.
Moved there in1962, when I was 2., until 1984.
The picture of the shops were on Knightswood rood beside St Ninians
Can ah change ma mind inquisitouv the Sheriff post was original :-))) (jj:-)
Have you ever let Celtic ‘the company’ define you ?°
Na me neither.
Rancid capitalism eh.
It allows for you to suggest such rancid capitalists define Celtic who would allow their feral rancid capitalists rfc/trfc to reincarnate.
No surprise.
It is not me.not you either I suspect.
I suppose its down to us how we interact with it.
Soz will chat again.need to go.its our Celtic.
HH
Ronaldo Is a fairytale, he deserves everything he gets ,his workrate ,fitness, teamwork, ability, is phenomenal.
The sheer repetitiveness of the anti-board polemics can be quite tedious.
For those who clearly despise the board
(quite a few on here and “despise” is not too strong a word)
… the anger often seems to spawn “scorched earth” level suggestions for getting back at them?
“Boycott season tickets”
“Boycott merchandising”
These hurt the club not the board.
And the essence of the club is the fans and the team on the pitch (not the board)
Let’s assume for a moment that the estimations of the board by those that despise them are correct …
– stale
– unaccountable
– disconnected from true fans
– lazy and complacent
Why don’t you tackle them head on?
The Celtic Trust reckon 24% of shares are held by small shareholders who’ve made an emotional investment?
A 5% shareholding group can call an EGM
So ….
– Get just 21% of that 24% signed up
– Then call an EGM every month !
I suspect you’d get the board’s attention
And that would be another 12 meetings a year they’d HAVE TO attend
🤔
Gold Coast Tom, their fan base would have bailed out on them plus the riches they so obviously need would no longer be available, they could possibly have turned intae a modern day Third Lanarkshire.
BACK TO BASICS – GLASS HALF FULL on 29TH SEPTEMBER 2021 11:08 PM
Who’d have to pay the costs for all these EGMs?*
And is it not 10% rather than 5% required?
*To save you having to check, it would be the requisitioners. Not sure if the costs would include a private jet from Barbados, assuming he could tear himself away from the golf course.
Ernie Lynch …
Cheers
I’ll take that as a “No” from you then?
🤭
It’s not just the anti-Board attacks and rages that are repetitive on here.
Many posters are so wedded to their own brain farts, fears and opinions that I know what I’ll get if I read right through their posts b4 I even do. That’s okay when I see names I guess will post fairly or at least objectively.
A lesser number on here seem to evolve or show flexibility in how they perceive the world of all things Celtic.
Mibby a lot of this is ego-driven (I see it in the way some continue to use the pet-phrases they think makes them sound clever, savvy or scathing). God knows, I might be one of them in the way I post. It’s very possible.
Being un-shakably welded and wedded to a point of view can be an asset in some aspects of our lives.
But I’ve been listening to/reading about Stoicism recently, which is about much more than ‘stiff upper lip’.
Its four pillars/virtues are:
WISDOM is your ability to define what is good, what is not good, and what is indifferent.
COURAGE is acting in the right way despite your fear, desire and anxieties.
JUSTICE is our duty to our fellow man, and to our society.
TEMPERANCE/moderation relates to self-discipline and our ability to choose long term well-being over short term satisfaction.
Stoic tenets and tendencies are reflected in the work of Buddhists, St Thomas Aquinas and Reinhold Niebuhr. As somebody often guided by the Serenity Prayer (for my own sanity in all truth) I like the idea of Stoicism.
The motto/ethos even helps me enjoy being a Celtic fan (a Western United fan too) a wee bit more.
So sorry that I go over MY same ground here; i.e. trying to be one of them ‘let’s get some perspective’ types.
That itself doubtless bores some and washes over a huge majority, too.
Do I think the Board get/got a huge amount of things wrong in how they run a team I identify with? Yep.
Do I think they’re some cabal of cold, predatory, uber-capitalist super-villains? Nah.
It’s only my feeling, opinion, thoughts and they in themselves are not that significant just becos I have them.
“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.”
Playing for a win, accepting of a draw, philosophical and accepting of a doing. HH
QUADROPHENIAN @ 12:23AM
A very good post, mate. I’m not looking for an argument but I have a couple of comments:
“The anti-Board posts are repetitive on here.”
As long as the Board repeatedly and blatantly lie to shareholders on an annual basis at AGMs, I think these posts will inevitably continue.
“…….philosophical and accepting of a doing.”
Well, how about several doings, or multiple doings? How about doings every away game? How about multiple successive doings from the Undead? We haven’t beaten them since big Forster saved us from an absolute doing in the LCF of 2019. When do we say enough is enough? The Board is so passive and complacent, having previously colluded in the revival of the Undead, they do not act antithetical at all to Sevco gaining direct CL Group access next season. Bankier says we have completely revamped the squad. Doesn’t augur well for the January window, does it?
I guess I’m arguing that we can’t just serenely accept doings because of a belief we can’t change things. Let’s believe we can, starting by all shareholders getting behind a pending resolution by the CST at the next AGM. If you know shareholders who don’t read CQN, get the message to them to join the CST and make their votes count.
IniquitousIV
INIQUITOUSIV – ta for your take.
I didn’t decry or defend the anti-Board attacks but I certainly did agree on their regularity.
The serenity and stoic ethos is just as much about courage and wisdom as it is about passivity or acceptance – but it often gets misinterpreted to the implied character of its name (the ‘serene’ bit).
Both approaches say we can each be brave and take action when we feel it’s smart and just to do so. Fine.
Re on-field doings; we have assembled a big and richly paid squad and – at times of depletion – it’s up to our second choices to step up and perform at their peak – as real Celts should surely do. Only they can get us a result on the grass and – just for today – my mind is easy with the possibility that they may just do exactly that.
I may be disappointed if we get gubbed. We may pull a surprise and sneak a win or draw. Either way, I’m not about to let the result dictate my happiness or outlook on life. If I do that, I’m signing up for my own misery.
For me, Serenity or Stoicism is about appropriate ‘agency’ in each of our lives; not just about accepting anything and everything that comes our way. What self-respecting rebel does the latter anyway ;)
Didn’t it start with the magnificent, Stan Petrov, sign a contract extension then leave not long after?
But kudos to Stan when he left us to rejoin MON at Aston Villa, as Celtic got £6 million? I think, which was good money after many great years of service from Stan, and he made sure we’d be financially reimbursed.
I don’t think it would’ve been any other way with MON involved.
Maybe Callum will be next? 👇
https://celtic.vitalfootball.co.uk/london-news-source-reveals-shock-german-link-for-hoops-star/
If he is then he should be celebrated.
if he leaves it’ll be next window I think.
Maybe not?
We’ll soon see.
BACK TO BASICS – GLASS HALF FULL on 29TH SEPTEMBER 2021 11:08 PM
The sheer repetitiveness of the anti-board polemics can be quite tedious.
For those who clearly despise the board
(quite a few on here and “despise” is not too strong a word)
… the anger often seems to spawn “scorched earth” level suggestions for getting back at them?
“Boycott season tickets”
“Boycott merchandising”
These hurt the club not the board.
~
So how do fans challenge the rich board bosses?
Hold up banners in the car park?
Withdraw their finance which goes to the rich board bosses first…then the club?
Buy shares? Then the board of millionaires and the well heeled will buy more shares.
Then what? Ask fans to buy more shares?
When does it stop? When fans lose their money? Their cars? Their homes?
Its like the fans are the workers, and the board are the rich bosses.
How can the workers challenge the rich bosses? By withdrawing their labour.
So all Celtic fans can do is the CST method of building their share base? Really?
How long will that take to challenge the rich board bosses? A decade? At least?
So buying shares is to play the rich board bosses game. Which fans will never win. imho.
So why don’t the fans do something less petulant than protesting in the car park for six months like last season?
Something unscripted. Like the only route to power for fans.
By not playing the rich board bosses game ie stop making them richer!
Its all about the pain threshold.
Losing one title in a decade didn’t hurt fans enough to make them think like screwed workers, and withdraw their labour like screwed workers would do.
So selling out tickets after protesting for six months in the car park, kinda makes fans look silly, especially in the eyes of the rich board bosses, don’t you think?
To say “we were only supporting Ange, not the rich board bosses” kinda looks silly when you’ve just handed £600 each to the rich board bosses, then claim you don’t support them?
That seems a bit sevconian, or cake and eat it?
To say you only support the team, after handing £600 each to the rich board bosses, sounds dishonest, or weak!
Maybe both?
But if its dishonesty, therefore lying. Who are you lying to? The rich board bosses? Yourselves?
It sounds to me that the Celtic protestors are weak.
Weak because you are using your love of the team and Ange, as an excuse not to do what the workers did and withdraw their labour from the rich bosses, and fans [money] from the rich board bosses.
But I must have sympathy with ordinary fans. Because they’ve no leaders.
The Celtic Trust are full of toothless ‘holy Joes/jeanettes’ the Green Brigade are all talk no action.
The CSA are invisible because their in the rich board bosses pockets.
So the only way that the rich board bosses will feel any financial pain, will I’m afraid be more pain on the pitch.
One horrible season obviously didn’t hurt fans enough to make them grow a pair, so how many bad seasons will it take? 2? 3? 4? 5? Who knows.
What I suspect will happen will be the falling of attendance’s like when the huns were no longer in the top Scottish league for five years and, apathy set in leading to rows of empty seats.
The Celtic rich board bosses know fine well that the fans are all over the place.
And these same rich board bosses know that Celtic fans are emotionally weak.
And rich board bosses don’t sympathise with [emotional] weaknesses.
They just see – weak people to be removed from their £600.
Only fans getting organized will effect the relationship with the rich board bosses.
So, “Back To Basics” I don’t think you’ll have to worry too much about the rich board bosses upheaval for at least another few years, until a sufficient period of torturous on field agonies have had to be endured by the rich board bosses paying supporters.
Good morning cqn from a very, very wet Garngad
Let’s see which players are left to get a jersey for tonight.
Oh aye and sack the Board, Until that shower of charlatans are gone I will never stop shouting for them to go.
Is it repetitive? You bet it is. Exact same as those board members, repetitively neglecting their duty’s.
SO SACK THEM ALL AND START A FRESH.
Come on the leather belts.
I bet each board member doesn’t even know there’s a game until someone reminds them and they will be in that lounge faster than a rat up a drainpipe.
D :)
I had a look at the free transfer list that spidey posted the other day surely there is a striker in there who could do a job for us on a pay per play basis.
Again probably does not fit our boards business model or their agents are not friends with Liewell.
D :)
On the Board they have no credibility.
The sooner Bankier, Lawwell and the puppets are cleared out the better.
Structurally the club is broken and they do not have the ambition or capability to fix it.
Desmond also has to accept he is taking the club backwards —- he seems to have lost all interest apart from some tinkering now and again.
Tonight wouldn’t risk our captain we need him for Sunday.
I see sevco are against racism again today.
That’s nice
So many monikers……..
A good read over the morning’s coffee
HH
………………………………………………………………………………………………….
TONTINE TIM on 29TH SEPTEMBER 2021 10:21 PM
I realised I would take a lot of flak for my Double L comment about our previous manager and thought long and hard about it, but the astonishing news that he was given a pay off even though he got the tin tack made me rethink my view.
On May 4 2011 we headed up tae Culloden to play our final game in hand, we were in good form having taken 7 points off the deid team, they were not sevco yet, and were only 1 point behind them.
They had won the last two titles but at what price, they were going belly up and everyone and their granny knew it, we win that night we were 2 points ahead and a superior GD with only 3 games left, which we would win, 2 at the templar zone and swinecastle respectively and one at Parkheid scoring 9 goals, conceding zero.
Unfortunately a lackluster second half saw us perform no better than Bonnie Prince Charlie’s army almost 266 years before almost to the date and so give nasesurname a treble of titles, we would win the SC though but who really cared.
It was a wee while before the realisation that we might have deliberately capitulated to allow them access tae the Big Cup money. Unfortunately for them they were out of both European competitions before the end of August.
Naesurname was gone and his successor, who they proudly would unveil a banner stating his loyalty would never be forgotten, was financially taking them tae the cleaners, he was also one of the worst managers the country has ever seen.
They would also exit the LC early doors tae lowly falkirk but fortunately their League form wisnae too bad including beating us 4-2 at hades while he shed the routine phony tears.
However it all came unstuck on October 15 when in the early kick off game Anthony Stokes and the much maligned James Forrest saved their managers career by hauling back a 3 goal deficit to gives us a point.
Later that afternoon a last minute buddies goal meant deidco would also drop 2 points followed up before the year was out by the dropping of 9 points all away at Rugby Park, New Love Street and Parkheid. The rest as we know is history as Scottish fitba saw a plethora of cups being shared by the fringe sides, the fun was back in the game.
Like most if not all on here I was gutted that we failed tae clinch the ten, now several months later I’m not just upset or disappointed but angry in fact seethin.
Also, the latest comments that it may take 2 tae 3 seasons before we bounce back are just pure unadulterated scheitd.
As a club we are light years ahead of all others in the country including the 9 year and 7 month old one.
There is no way we should have been humiliated like we did last season and should be on our way tae 11IAR right now.
I have said on more than one occasion last season was all about saving them and I firmly believe that the owners of the other teams as well as the scottish freemason association including their mitb were in on it, the key word here is the free one.
That mob are absolutely rotten as was proven in Europe and the domestic cups, and so the word was out to save them by allowing them a free run for the title, it was all about UEFA and the benefits that entailed, ironically just as before they are single fish.
Where we really fell down was in the cups but in winning any of them we might have let the genie out of the bottle.
I know I have been disparaged in the past over my claims that the fix, not a conspiracy I hasten tae add, was in but we have a history of this, as noted above with the same manager, CEO and largest shareholder.
Going further back the wee mhan fae Croy, our wee saviour, refused tae bow tae public pressure by throwing money at saving our honest nine preferring tae build a new stadium, that’s a typical business move, records are not as important as progress, he has been proven right though.
Now it’s easy tae say why we didnae let them win the title between naesurnames last one and slippy’s first, the obvious answer is they were boggin, in fact they still are but if we had won the 10 it was all over for them, they would have went breest up.
Now they are empowered and the whole country is paying for it, riots at George Square, increased “walks” which although the lol do not have the membership but the hanger’s on are out in full force, we truly effed up here. That genie is definitely out of that bottle and there’s no way of putting it back in again.
If we had let them sink other clubs as we are now witnessing would have picked up the slack and mibbees just mibbees we as a country would have once again become a power in Europe.
For me it was painful watching our previous manager coming back after the Covid break overweight, slouching on seats, not conversing with his coaching staff who looked totally scunnered, in fact the only time he was animated was after we won the penalty shoot out against the calvinists and that was for a trophy that belonged to the preceding season.
He wanted the jolly in Dubai which wasn’t deserved, took along a player who was seriously injured only for him to catch Covid which pretty much ended our season with a whole slew of players being quarantined, and sat round the pool guzzling pints.
In the past I have stuck up for DD as he underwrote shares and helped bankroll the club, big Peter tae as he kept us on the straight and narrow and was known in the football world as no pushover as he drove a hard bargain and wee Lenny for the abuse he took and also stuck up for the club on and off the field.
Yet the manager who returned after the fraud bailed oot was not the same one. Did he make a deal with the devil, we’ll never know, however, according to our recent audit it seems he was healthily paid even though he got the sugar lump.
Mibbees just mibbees that’s why Eddie Howe mysteriously decided not tae come citing personal reasons, that might have been his reputation being in tatters in no winning a one horse race in a mickey mouse league, could also be the reason the Dominator left tae for those mysterious personal reasons.
I have followed the bhoys for around 70 years now, seen the good, the bad and the ugly, as for the latter just have a wee look at the Bear’s comments on how bad the club was before the return of the Latter Day Christ, even the wee mhan was thinking of jacking it in and going back tae Blantyre Celtic, that’s how bad it was.
Yet the support, although they were a bit sparse by this time, was still there it has tae be said.
Players, coaches, managers and board members come and go but as the late great Tommy Burns once said “they’re there and they’re always there, and God bless every one of them.”
So where do we go from here, possibly like the times Yogi was talking about I reckon we will come out with a feasible performance tomorrow night, as for up at the pen on Sunday, I wouldn’t be surprised if the sheep break their duck with our former captain being awarded MOTM, either that or we gub them and he is given a card the colour of his current strip, who knows with madhun in the middle.
Finally, I make no apology for the Double L quote, its how I feel right now, I won’t use it again but I’ll still be thinking of Celtic when I first wake in the morning until I retire for the evening.
No expectations for tonight. Maybe playing against a team that doesn’t put 10 men behind the ball will allow Ange’s playing style to succeed. Except we are missing so many key players, not sure the remainder can execute it.
A big night for Joe Hart required I think.
Is Frimpong injured? He would be if he was still playing for us.
Uncle Jimmy on 30th September 2021 7:15AM
On a similar theme of hate symbols, was the graffiti painter at St Albert’s school a dyslexic Nazi or a devout Buddhist? I think the Daily Record should be told.
——————————————————————————
It was very sad news to read about Delaneys Dunky this week.
In Clydebank, men are not great at completing the allotted three score years and ten. Those who arrive there, even in this 21st Century, are battling the odds. From reading his posts and subsequent tributes on this blog, Garry crammed one hundred and seventy years of fun into his lifespan.
He was one of the few who engaged with me here without trading insults which I appreciated. Prayers and masses for the repose of his soul will be offered at St Patrick’s Family Old Kilpatrick, St Joseph’s Faifley, St Mary’s Duntocher and I’m sure every other Catholic church in West Dunbartonshire.
TT,
what does the double L actually mean ?
Tontine Tom / Quadrophenian
A couple of great and very different thought provoking posts last night and through the night. Thank you both.
SAINT STIVS/DAVID 66 on 29TH SEPTEMBER 2021 8:17 PM
Follow on to your posts on Knightswood.
McCaff posted this on SC last night…
https://blueskyscotland.blogspot.com/2014/05/great-western-road-glasgows-golden.html
Hopefully no schoolboy errors tonight. Leverkusen are more than good enough to score of their own steam so let’s not help them out.
Any points tonight would be big result and set us up nicely for the remainder of the group.
I expect us to be sitting bottom of the group tonight though.
The next two games in the group will decide if we have European football after Christmas.
TONTINE TIM
Thanks for your response.
Just as I suspected.
HH
I gave up on the rag when Hugh MacDonald stopped writing for the Herlad……/.but a headline from a Neil Mackay piece caught the eye…………something on Anti-Irishness in Scotland.
While the headline is promising the blurb does not hint at the writer’s conclusions.
If anyone has access to the full piece beyond the paywall would they consider posting it here?
No worries if not.
HH.
I’ve been very busy for the past few days and haven’t been on the blog.
I’m absolutely shocked to read of the very sad passing of Garry Duncan, alias Delaney’s Dunky. Garry was part of the furniture on here. I enjoyed reading his posts. I didn’t know him personally, though his niece and nephew were former pupils of mine.
My condolences to this family. May Garry’s soul Rest In Peace, Amen. 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
YNWA Garry
SS , the Lurgen lout , but you knew that
18 Yard man – thanks that was a good read.
D :)
no I dint, I was trying to work it out.
thought it might be Living Legend.
QUADROPHENIAN @ 12:23 AM
Thought provoking stuff.
Superb.
Respect.
BURNLEY78 and BACKTOBASICS – thanks, bhoys. HH
Have we signed Stephen Appiah yet?
I have just been in the ‘Japan Today’ website and can confirm that our hero Kyogo Furuhashi is NOT in the Japan squad for next week’s World Cup qualifiers.
SS could also be Lenny Loser ( of the ten
Tom Great the bhoy can concentrate on his Celtic career and recovery.
D :)