Back in the 80s I had a soft spot for Porto. Their 2-1 1987 European Cup final win over Bayern Munich, coming from behind in the last 15 minutes and scoring with a back-heel, against a vastly better resourced opponent, was something Celtic fans could relate to.
A decade later I followed Porto’s tribulations as they tried to recapture those heights in the Champions League with a new team. They remained an engaging team but when it came to the big clubs there was always one who would wipe the floor with them. Manchester United scored four without reply in the 1997 quarter finals. The following season Real Madrid hit six over two games without conceding as Porto exited at the group stage.
It was a group stage exit the next season, before Bayern Munich took them in the 2000 quarter final. Then what looked like a significant reversal as they failed to qualify for Europe’s top tournament, settling for Uefa Cup football instead in season 2000-01. They eliminated Celtic from the group stage in 2001-02 but were taken home and away by Real Madrid in the last sixteen.
All this time they were fine-tuning player development and recruitment strategy; buying marginally better players and selling for ever-increasing money. Real Madrid may have wiped the floor with them but Porto’s business model was fine-tuned by 2002. Real won their last European trophy that season but the gap with Porto was closed in an instant.
Celtic are less than two years into their current strategy and we’re miles ahead of where we should be. It will be extremely difficult to match this season’s on-field achievements next season, but the stage you exit the Champions League is only one yardstick available. It took Porto years of slow and meandering progress to learn what it took to reach the highest level. This is our task.
On Friday 1 March the Lisbon Lions will be at the Kerrydale Suite providing commentary and answering questions on their magnificent European Cup final win in 1967. This has never happened in 46 years since that game, to say it is a unique opportunity fails to tell the whole story.
The event is part of our 125 4 125 campaign – central to reinvigorating the charitable spirit which is part of the club we love. It will be a family occasions, tickets are available at £10 for adults and £5 for children. The night has been organised by several fans working in conjunction with the people at Celtic Charity, so please do your best to support this great occasion. Individual tickets or tables are available, details here.
[calameo code=000390171980e8545b80a lang=en page=10 hidelinks=1 width=100% height=500]
758 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- ...
- 20
- »
Charlie bhoy
Agree completely. My 11 yr old seems to have a far better balance so far than his father. If I get stressed during a match or down after one, hes the one who acts like the parent in explaining as only a child can that its only a game and its not only about winning. Works on me every time :)
Corkcelt… congrats and thanks
tictaewin
13:07 on
14 February, 2013
Quite agree with this.
There seems to be an assumption that the obvious progression that celtic has made over the last 2 seasons will automatically be continued over the coming seasons. If only that were true!
We will probably sell Hooper and Wanyama and be well paid for them. There’s is absolutely no guarantee that players coming thru or players brought in will be just as good.If not then we have’nt progressed.
Samaras didn’t make the Juve game and many on this site thought if he had played we would have won. So one player would have made all the difference and we will probably lose 2 in the summer.
BRTH
A balanced piece, looking at the longer term career options for certain players, but for me the Champions league Qualification, or Group stage and maybe even last 16 might not be enough to compete against the lure of the EPL.
For example, would we consider competitive home and away games against
Man Utd, Man City, Chelski and Arsenal
As better than this seasons home and away matches vs
Moscow, Benfica, Barca and Juve
Then when the Celtic payers are off to the likes of inverness and Hamilton, the EPL players still have home and away games against the likes of Liverpool, Everton, Spurs, Newcastle etc and surely even a game against reading beats a game against Dundee (no disrespect being singled out there btw)
So speaking as a fan I personally have greatly enjoyed our success this season, but would still rather see Celtic play in the EPL than the CL. Even putting EPL wages to the side for a moment, I feel that as a player too I just might chose the same.
118th
They are still dead
Happy administration day :))
Charliebhoy
Would never pressure him into supporting celtic either. I even redecorated his celtic bedroom 4 years ago when he decidied he wanted to follow man utd like most of his friends. Thankfully he has found his own way back to paradise
31003 @ 13 37 .
If you get your sounds thing off the ground and onto the blog –I want to be —-
Willie Mitchell —– The Champion [ Part One ] [London USA ]
Late 60s Northern Soul for an aging man –way down south
rebelbhoy72
Welcome aboard
Roses are red
Violets are blue
Don’t you think Kenny McDowall
Looks like Mr Magoo
http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/9255/1360853948021.jpg
A year today the news was a must,
All about Rangers and would they go bust,
Administration, they said would never be,
The big hoose must stay open, was the cry from thee.
As the news sank in, that they had no money,
All The Celtic fans laughed as it was so funny,
The cheats were finally caught with their trousers down,
Shafted by Craigy for the price of a pound.
Hector was adamant that administration would not last,
Liquidation was looming and coming fast,
No way said the huns A CVA will be done,
For we cannot let our History crash and burn.
On the 14th of June, their fate was sealed,
Oh how the bluenoses everywhere squealed,
We are the people, they cried and cried,
But the plug was pulled and they later died.
Now a year later on, they say sevco 5088 are the same,
Even if they did have to change their name
But we all know better, as we know the truth,
Deep down so do the Huns, and even the Zombie Bill Struth.
So dry your eyes zombies, and get on with life,
And maybe the beatings will stop on your wife,
Give up, Give up for the old Club is dead and gone,
For the war is over, the Rhebels have won.
In Memory of RFC1872IL
corkcelt
14:43 on
14 February, 2013
nice one !congrats to all
miki67
14:32 on 14 February, 2013
Good news and hope your progress and recovery continue.
LALDY is such a fine word :))
corkcelt
Magic :))
You cant say the word Glasgow in our house without the weeman (two ) attempting to say GREEN & WHITE :))
grandkidsaremagiccsc
Very depressing loggng on today ………. to see the bloody place being taken over by Cork Men
Ban them paul before its too late and this turns into stfinbarrshurlingglenroversquacknews
Up the Dubs
traditionalist88
You quite rightly make the point that qualification for the Champions league is the level of ambition for most teams in the English premier league and that is a factor in why Man United continue to win title after title keeping at bay challengers like Arsenal, Chelsea and Man City.
These teams have all had reasonable success but in Arsenal’s case in particular, don’t think the title is attainable and so have been going for a “top 4” finish.
This attitude that, its ok if we get CL football brings about mediocrity among these teams.
Liverpool are another example of a club who didn’t think they could win the league and focussed on a top 4 finish. The problem is, when you don’t get that top 4 finish, you start falling down the league.
Mort
Wonder what Roy Hodgson would have thought after his scouting mission to watch Gary Hooper and Fraser Forster, step backwards for the both of them I fear.
31003 @13:37
Not Fair! Why should Kojo get 3 Sounds when the rest of us only get 1?
Off topic so apologies.
Need to replace my printer. Any recommendations for a wireless one that’s good for printing off photographs. Been caught before and bought a modestly priced printer only to find the ink price is extortionate.
Jobo
According to FF there’s a plant in the ticket office at Snake Mountain”
‘Talking about jobs at Ibrox.
I just phoned the ticket office and spoke to Johanna.
My first question was, “Are you a Rangers supporter”? after a delayed silence I said ” obviously not”.
Then asked her what team she supported. Her reply was that “she thought it better not to tell me”.
IMHO Equal opportunities seems to be a one way street these days. ‘
Roses are red
with stems green and thorny
Jim Traynor in stockings
makes me feel….
Wooah! enough!
Interview with Craigy Bhoy coming up on SSN.
South of Tunis the champion by Willie Mitchell is my ringtone. Also worth listening to is that driving beat.
Good to see that some are beginning to see that the SPL is not the rubbish that the MSM incessantly claim it to be ( except when THEIR team was winning it). I am not certain why so many of the SPL teams do so badly in Europe but it may be a combination of qualifying rounds being too early and a lack of belief. If the MSN then the easily led continue to disparage the SPL, it is only to be expected that players will feel inferior to other teams.
JJ
Quite an interesting view from Tom English
Published on Thursday 14 February 2013 00:00
“Not that anybody needs to look at a calendar to check, but today marks the first anniversary of Rangers entering administration.
To mark the event, there have been various retellings of this grim story in the media this week, Rangers getting in on the act themselves with a documentary – The Rising – airing tonight.
The in-house version of events might be worth a look if only to figure out how they managed to dress up the humiliation of their recent past and turn it into a positive. The Rising? It’s a little too early to say, don’t you think?
While we’re in reflective mood, this is my take on one aspect of what has happened at Rangers. Some wish to call them Sevco, but I don’t. They play in blue, they play at Ibrox, they draw massive crowds, they are the source of the same kind of obsession from across the city as they always have been, so they are Rangers. If they were a new club, then Celtic people would ignore them, but they don’t and they can’t and they never will.
But here’s the thing about acknowledging them as Rangers. Same club, same history, but same unpaid debt and, therefore, same disgrace. That hasn’t gone away. That stays. Charles Green takes the good stuff and torches the bad, he walks away from millions of pounds worth of debt (newco when it suits him) and then acclaims Rangers’ supposed newfound wealth.
One year has passed since they went into administration and nobody should forget why it happened. It happened because Rangers brazenly refused to pay a bill to the taxman of upwards of £15 million and there is no amount of Green bluster that will wipe that from the record”
Apologies if already posted
Just watched McCoist getting interviewed on SSN, what a load of crap that man talks.
Long may he continue to manage them.
Roses are red
Violets are blue
You wouldn’t want your weans watched
By charlie mulgrew!
(Only kiddin Chico !! Hh)
Administration was the beginning of the end ….. It led to liquidation ….. A minor fact that they seem to have missed. Chico green should be having his analysis of what liquidation meant for them…. The end.
Is being in Liquidation the same as been Liquidated?
If there is a difference, does it mean that , technically, they are still alive?
BDO haven’t produced anything, so,I assume the L process hasn’t been completed.
Any clarification will be most welcome.
Mort
Exactly – as I said yesterday, football and attitudes amongst fans can change so quickly. One minute we were considered also rans in an average league, before you know it we are at the top table again when clubs with great history like Liverpool aren’t.
As if that wasn’t enough, the SPL leaders will still be performing in the competition in March, long after the English champions put their passports away.
HH
Test
A year on and I can remember the excitement very clearly, where they really going to have to flog all their player? (still don’t understand why that never happened) and the thought of them being gone forever and ever, wow, what a fantastic prospect. For the rest of the year I was completely addicted to bad news about rangers, couldn’t get enough of it, logging on every minute I could night and day. At the end all we got was them being reincarnated in div 3 as a newco, better than nothing I suppose, and for a while there I didn’t think we were going to get even that.
We just need to keep raising our sights for new talent, not that long ago many were delighted with the captures of N’Guemo, Crosas, Juarez. I’d be looking closely at the Italian market. As they don’t have reserve sides many talented young players are shunted out on loan. Inter team we played in Dublin had a few excellent players, I’m sure more would jump at the chance to shine in CL company.
Cork v Dublin?!
Make mine a Murphy’s!
Tin hat on!
… and running away…….!!
HH!!
Phil MacGiollaBhain@Pmacgiollabhain
I just heard a well placed little whisper that the LNS inquiry is nearing a verdict.
Looks like ther may be more trouble for Sevco coming up
Shame that……………………..
BigJoelovingTHIS
Roses are red
f*** the huns.
It’s the best I can do.
Big Joe – remind us please – LNS enqury – which one was that again?
Reading between the lines,i can see the Liverpool team walking off when the Zenit scumbags start their nonsense.
Thought I would add my effort to poetry corner.
Roses are red
Sevco’s a sham
Traynor got a job there
For the succulent lamb
LB
Lol what is the stars ! Altogether now ! How oft do my thoughts in my fancy take flight to the home of my childhood away ……… On the banks of my own lovely lee !!!!!!!!