Do you remember the Green and Whitewash season? In 2003-04 Celtic dominated the league. After drawing their opening game away to Dunfermline they won their next 25 consecutive league games, beating every team in the league home and away. Across all competitions, they beat Rangers five times in four league and a Scottish Cup meeting.
This was as dominant as a team could get but there were vulnerabilities. Not only was Henrik Larsson out of contract, much of that team were in the twilight of their careers. Paul Lambert, Neil Lennon, Alan Thompson and Chris Sutton would never command the same on-field fear again.
The team that completed nine league wins in a row on Wednesday night could not be more different from the 03-04 vintage in one important aspect; only four are older than 23-years-old and none of them are veterans: Brown, 26, Samaras, 26, Mulgrew, 25 and Ledley, 24.
With an average age of just over 22 years this team will continue to improve for years; we can see evidence of progress. James Forrest has made a huge step up in form from last season. Victor Wanyama is almost unrecognisable from the player who arrived in the summer. Big Fraser, 23, still young for a keeper, inspires a lot more confidence than he did last season, and the baby of the team, Adam Matthews, is a scarcely believable 19-years-old. He’s so new to this environment you have to wonder if even the lad’s father knew he had a performance like Wednesday night’s in him.
Ki, 22, Stokes, 23, Izaguirre, 25, Kelvin Wilson, 26 and Mikael Lustig, 25 all fit the same profile. They are a squad full of improving players with the appetite you only get when your career is in front of you.
Rangers, and the rest, should be very afraid. Wednesday night might be as close as they get to the coattails of the young Celts.
914 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- ...
- 25
- »
hebcelt,
Thanks mate. Great to hear from you, wish I ad been there too. Me and a few other tims recreated McCuills in a pub in St Albans on Wednesday.
Saving up my brownie points for a trip back home. Will let John know when that will be so we can have another beer or two in paradise.
Cheers and have a great new year.
Lubo.
We need to treat EVERY game as if it is a league decider!
No over confidence, no complacency, just go out and work hard, play well and hopefully we will get the breaks and win the game.
One game at a time sweet Jesus as the song goes!
Paul
“Celtic have never signed a player the manager didn’t have final say in, not since Jock Stein arrived”.
Surely that’s not the case, peter Lawell signed Bangura’s cousin by mistake don’t you know.
Its amazing how much guff was discussed openly on these very pages a few short weeks ago by people who should have known better regarding this topic.An yet they happily undermined the manager by stating as “fact” that players were brought in without his say so.
Actually the same posters have been conspicuous by their silence of late..Neg Anon anyone?
There has never been a shred of evidence to suggest anything other than the unequivocal point you make.
I am glad you have nailed it once and for all.
Tim Malone Will Tell
Great post…I particularly like the shareholders approach .
We owe it to those that have gone before us.
Hail Hail
TAL
RobertTressel et al- I lived in the Soo side from 62- 81, went to St Francis and Bosco and moved from Naeburn St to QE Square as the tenements were being cleansed. Always a tim stronghold- Urban Glasgow has loads of pictures of the Gorbals from the 60s and 70s
Mikael Lustig what the hell are you doing Lenny?. The bhoy is clearly too old at 25 and 5 inches too tall at 6ft3. Get a grip Lenny, theres a wee Spanish guy who apparently wants to come back to Scotland up for grabs at 5ft8 and mature at 32.
Feedthebear
If my memory serves me correctly it was a certain MIB (Collum?) who robbed us of two points that night at Hamilton by giving them an offside goal from a free kick and denying us a penalty when McGinn was chopped inthe box. We were poor that night, and I think the important thing is to make sure we are two or three goals better than the likes of Dunfermline so that the MIB can’t influence where the points go.
Greenjedi
You’re a good bit younger than me mate if you were in primary school in 74.Don’t recall these names. Teachers , I remember from St Francis are Jim McCusker, Johnny Farr and Miss kennedy
Stairheedrammy says:
30 December, 2011 at 16:33
RobertTressel et al- I lived in the Soo side from 62- 81, went to St Francis and Bosco and moved from Naeburn St to QE Square as the tenements were being cleansed. Always a tim stronghold- Urban Glasgow has loads of pictures of the Gorbals from the 60s and 70s
….
We moved to QES in 81 until they blew them up!
philhoopylogue – Kano 1000
there was a sizable thread on this on FF yesterday.
Apparently the Blue Order organizers are far from happy regarding the participation of the away fans. They were supposed to hold them up to display a majestic corner of dazzling red,white and blue , however the confused Rangers fans decided to either ignore them,spin them around like scarfs or throw them on to the park.
Alas we will never know what could have been
assetmanager says:
30 December, 2011 at 16:36
Greenjedi
You’re a good bit younger than me mate if you were in primary school in 74.Don’t recall these names. Teachers , I remember from St Francis are Jim McCusker, Johnny Farr and Miss kennedy
………..
Didn’t have those teachers, but Miss Duffy taught in the old St Francis as well as the new one for all her career and she was nearly when she taught me.
Notthebus – amazingly I just logged on to see you trying to belittle my goodself and others. You will find I have popped in here and there and been particularly happy of late – though I would like us to break the habit of not building on success.
Your pal Lawwell has been an abject failure on every level. Telling lies and dehumanising those who you disagree with is not, in my opinion, the behaviour of a Celtic fan.
You are a sad individual notthebus – try and grow up in 2012 eh?
notthebus. While we have seen nothing yet from Bangura we have to live in hope that when he gets his first first team goal he will take off.I would hate to think we have another Rasmussen on our books.Mind you our past record on signing players called Mo has been very poor.H.H.
Joe Filippis Haircut says:
30 December, 2011 at 16:39
notthebus. While we have seen nothing yet from Bangura we have to live in hope that when he gets his first first team goal he will take off.I would hate to think we have another Rasmussen on our books.Mind you our past record on signing players called Mo has been very poor.H.H.
…………
We did have one Mo that scored lots of goals, including mibbie the greatest goal in our history tho!
;-)
The ranjurs tiffo display was a total farce
Money wasted blowing in the wind as one orc put it
I seem to remember Jim McCusker and a Miss Turnbull and MRS McCue at St Francis. I left QE square when my Grandas flat had a fire-moving to opulance of Oatlands
greenjedi The Mo you talk about should never be spoken about by any Celtic supporter remember he changed his name from Mo to Judas.H.H.
Getting really upset with the misrepresentation and objectification of our new defender.
He does not look like Johnny Depp, he is more like Orlando Bloom.
TJ
Stairheedrammy says:
30 December, 2011 at 16:43
I seem to remember Jim McCusker and a Miss Turnbull and MRS McCue at St Francis. I left QE square when my Grandas flat had a fire-moving to opulance of Oatlands
…………..
Mrs McCue playing the piano!
NegAnon2
Yes amazingly you always “pop up” when I mention your name.
Strange you havent “popped up” quite so frequently now that the team is on a winning run.
Miss marples easiest case
notthebus says:
30 December, 2011 at 16:36
Bwahahahah sums them up i suppose. Thanks for the info.
It was Phil MacGiolabhain who said Bangura was a Lawwell signing. As he has been right about a lot, it seems only fair to take him at his word.
Regardless, bangura looks a complete dud and waste of money with no touch to speak of and yet he scores doubles in bounce matches.
Jury most definitely out on the player regardless of who signed him.
Joe F- Spot on,that snake has been airbrushed out of my Celtic history.HH.
This is the weirdest article I’ve ever read – a don complaining about treatment of Rangers and that Chick Young is anti ger !
http://www.afc.co.uk/articles/20111028/chris-crighton-_2260388_2501073
celtic have always been a selling club (in my time) and when that stopped we got ourselves into 30 million pounds worth of debt, enjoyable as it was.
think celtic are doing right thing by bringing in good young players and it makes sense to sell when the right offers comes in and if the timing is right.
but, the scouts need to keep looking for quality young players and at least 1 young player needs to come into first team set up every year with 1 acadamy player as well to ensure a constant flow of new talent.
good young players will sign on at celtic because they know they will get opportunity to play and develop which is an advantage for us.
but, we may not always get to keep our top player, but that is the case the world over, their contribution is giving us the means to, firstly win thing and compete, the second to allow celtic to build this triangle thing and to reinvest
celtic need to step up to the plate and look to increase revenue by giving fans more leisure/ pleasure opportunities, looking after the fans leds to the fans looking after celtic.
celtic could with the help of this system start making strides in the right direction towards higher levels of income to continued to bring in quality players to give the young guys the backing to reach their potential and to help celtic win.
this plan is less risky than spending big and losing big, gambling on CL/ EL income
With thanks tae Brick Top on Celtic minded,fantastic video happy New Year troops, turn the sound up
The Thunder is back
Nothebus – you really cant read can you – go back and you will see I have posted after each victory.
You clearly arent the sharpest tool in the box (but you are one nonetheless).
Make your 2012 resolution to try and make sense.
stephbhoy. Just a question from your interesting post what in your opinion should Celtic be doing to jncrease the leisure/pleasure for the supporters? H.H.
Jackie Mac, that is truly bizarre.
He is also complaining that his club get favourable commentary !
TJ
Noticed some memories of the Gorbals earlier.
Originally from Coatbridge and then for over 3 decades an itinerant jakey to be found wherever there was plague, pestilence, famine or disease (a pal from the Garngad calls me ‘The Fifth Horseman’), I eventually followed the siren call of fate and settled in the Gorbals.
I am trying (in between bouts of succumbing to the joys of Sharkeys) to pen a few words on the west of Scotland – then and now, and The Gorbals with its eclectic dramas of survival, triumph, disaster and resilience has a chapter that bleeds and roars with laughter that only could arise in the black humour and even blacker closes of whispering tenement closes.
And then sometimes the absolutely mundane becomes the icon of the future.
This is then and now.
The original(the’ then’) is from The Glasgow Herald and the ‘now’ took on Christmas night.
Personally I would have made the lights green but like our club, the Gorbals was and is open to all shades of brilliance.
Big Lassies? …..You tell them that!!
Hail hail
Estadio
jackie mac says:
30 December, 2011 at 16:50
– > Dons bloke is being sarcastic I think. Even the BBC Radio Shortbread guys rip the pizz out of Chick Dung with their comments. (Huns – St Mirren is ‘the Chick Young derby’ etc etc).
Happy birthday wishes to Lubo and The Exiled Tim.
Quite a few happy birthday Bhoys on CQN in recent days.
Twas a few lads in the clubs birthday on Wednesday also,
Got a few free jaigermeisters after the game after a heavy lock in.
Still suffering
Onnit tonight again
Hail Hail
The wean called it right when she stated that when the hun are losing a big game they lose their discipline. If you look at the 1 0 cup win and the other night you see them spitting out the dummy.
Had Gollum had the cajones and dished out the reds which were required, would we have been looking at Shame Game II?
As for Gollum, was he marked down for his performance?
Snake Plissken: 30 December, 2011 at 16:47
“It was Phil MacGiolabhain who said Bangura was a Lawwell signing. As he has been right about a lot, it seems only fair to take him at his word.
“Regardless, bangura looks a complete dud and waste of money with no touch to speak of and yet he scores doubles in bounce matches.
“Jury most definitely out on the player regardless of who signed him.”
That’s a bit harsh on Bangura given he has not had a regular run in the team due to the form of Stokes, Hooper and lately Samaras.
It’s very tough to judge any player on 15 minutes here and there. Especially a young player moving to a different culture – remember Ki took time to settle.
But he is a young striker and he may have to wait until pre-season to stake his claim – unless we get injuries before then.
As for Phil Macgiollabhain – I like much of what he does but the guy is not always right. Personally, I think he has better sources at Poundland than he does at Celtic Park and even then he has been wrong. Phil did claim Sleekit boy McCoist would be out of a job before Christmas and that situation would come about regardless of results.
Joe Filippis Haircut says:
30 December, 2011 at 16:56
stephbhoy. Just a question from your interesting post what in your opinion should Celtic be doing to jncrease the leisure/pleasure for the supporters? H.H.
………..
One of the things I’ve been banging on about for the last few year is Celtic Matchday Radio.
A few clubs in England have their own radio station that broadcasts to (I think) an eight mile radius of their ground. we should do the same, offering exclusive interviews, up to the minute team news, traffic, weather and parking reports as well as a few tunes. If we broadcast it on the net, we could also give the overseas fans commentry as well.
We could make money from adverts, but the biggest plus would be interacting with the fans and as a wee bonus taking llistners from the BBC & Clyde!
Snake Plissken
So you dont take Paul 67 at his word?
Anafternoon fellow Tims
Roccobhoy needs help!
Any1 have a log in to Kerrydale Strret? Reason I ask is, I’ve just been on followfollow and they are running a thread about log in’s for other football forums. 1 guy posted that he has a log in for Kerrydale street. He also posted his login name. Now the danger is he could be at it, and could know the person he claims to be on Kerrydale street. In other words he could be wanting to get the person ( a genuine Tim ) who posts under the name he claims to have, into trouble! Alternatively, the bloke could be stupid enough to not realise there are lurking Tims on fascist fascist!
Am obviously reluctant to post his log in name invade he is at it!
Hail Hail
Roccobhoy
HNY Terry bhoy!