I know Ronny Deila was delighted Dedryck Boyata pitched up at Glasgow Airport last night. He’s a player the manager has known about for some time and one who was not on the Man City available list when we secured the loan deal for Jason Denayer a year ago.
The mechanics of the deal are interesting. It’s quite possible it wouldn’t have happened at all without the success Jason enjoyed in Glasgow. A year ago Jason was a complete unknown, below the pecking order than Dedryck, but we gave him a platform and now he’s a full Belgian international. The pitch we put to Dedryck was along the lines of “Look what Jason achieved here”. If we’d singed Dedryck instead of Jason a year ago, Jason would still be an unknown and Dedryck would be a Belgian international.
Assuming no late hiccups, Ronny will know his central defensive pairing for the Champions League qualifiers is sorted, allowing him to concentrate on other areas.
There are no guarantees in football, least of all with Champions League qualification, where we have three awkward knock-out rounds, but we’re starting the summer from a good place.
There’s so much to discuss about yesterdays’ Fir Park hilarity, the consequences of which will be profound. More on this later in the week, but a few points on Motherwell. For a team with such glaring shortcomings they deserved the scale of their victory. Barraclough took a squad who finished 11th in the league into two challenging games and out-thought his opponent.
However, if Celtic fans behaved the way Motherwell fans behaved yesterday your Government would be all over it by now. I’ve seen flares thrown onto pitches, I’ve seen pitch invasions (although I don’t remember seeing one congregating in front of opposition fans), but I’ve never seen a player smacked in the face and leg by a spectator’s flag, and I’ve never seen anything close to this entire repertoire from fans at a single game.
Who knows what the score would have been had Newco faced the team who finished 10th in the Premiership! Their attempt to emulate Grenta in winning three successive promotions always sounded like a tall order. They came close, but they’re no Gretna. Not. Nearly. As. Good.
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Baghdad went mad:
https://youtu.be/GRvfPmIBSto
HH.
excathedra44
In fairness to him he may have been focused on the flare at the time. My mates reckons it was just after the first goal.
He is the only man on the bench who actually supports the club. I think that underlines the tension the fans were feeling.
LB
On a bus from Vienna to Bratislava.
Able to connect to WiFi and read all sorts of celticness ripping the p out the zombie monkey huns
Which is nice.
melbourne mick
14:23 on 1 June, 2015
BMCUW
Never got the Stickie result till we were all back home and necking
the hard stuff, then the hilarity started, my wee princess said she
was getting worried that i was laughing so hysterically i sounded
like that wee spanish guy on utube.
H.H Mick
P.S spoke to Paddymacoz about the young lass Grace so he will
speak to our committee and some of the other Oz clubs he has
contacts at. fingers crossed.
~~~~~~~~~~**~~~~~~~~~~
Great,bud. But laughing like the wee Spanish fella,not good for yer health.
Unless there’s a hun in front of you!
Re Grace,thanks very much for assistance on it,mate. It sure seems that her page has stalled,which is a great shame.
I hope for her,but I doubt for her.
http://www.gofundme.com/t57qmy4m
Joe F (earlier),
League cup has never been particularly kind to Celtic. Better memories with the SC. LC is a wast of time.
Saint Stivs
Dis yer bus pass work oot there tae?
:-)
Ralph
…now you mention it!
:)
LiviBhoy
14:56 on
1 June, 2015
East Coast Tom
Hahahahahaaha
Flouncebackability
LB
—————————————
“Flouncebackability”
:-)))) Take a bow…
Would it be putting the boot in to suggest to grievously hurting today that consolation might be found in the words of ‘On The One Road’ that tell us that ‘Night is Darkest Just Before The Dawn’?
LiviBhoy
15:10 on
1 June, 2015
excathedra44
In fairness to him he may have been focused on the flare at the time. My mates reckons it was just after the first goal.
He is the only man on the bench who actually supports the club. I think that underlines the tension the fans were feeling.
LB
==============================================
That’s fair, perhaps as a fan he was concerned if the flare throwing would have ramifications in what was a deserved victory.
Captain Beefheart
15:11 on
1 June, 2015
Joe F (earlier),
League cup has never been particularly kind to Celtic. Better memories with the SC. LC is a wast of time.
Not if you win it as often as you should.
leftclicktic
15:01 on
1 June, 2015
http://viewfromgorgie.co.uk/index.php/articles/youngy-s-view/11-a-slight-concern
****
What a refreshing article from a Jambo.
I inhabit SFM quite a bit and there are a couple of Hearts supporters who are regulars and share a similar viewpoint.
They are amongst the biggest critics of the SFA and their shenanigans.
I dearly wish that next season would be about building sporting rivalries with fellow SPL clubs’ fans, devoid of the stuff that divides.
Only by building bridges and creating a united front, will the SFA be brought to book.
That would be a fitting reward for yesterday’s result.
Something for the CSA, CT and any other organised groups to ponder, perhaps.
We are champions, on and off the park. Let’s show it.
To paraphrase Percy in Blackadder – We’re up to our ears in flouncers and scrollers here.
Should have been knees?
excathedra44
I have known this guy my whole life and his cousin has always been a Motherwell fan.
The photo doesn;t look great right enough but that is a split second.
LB
BMCUW
Just donated!
Poor wee soul!
At least I won’t have TomMcG berating me on here for saying so.
I will remember her in my prayers every day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXl5P2xO9-o
Livibhoy/Captain ….
I suspect that you are both right, and that we will stroll the league next year. Really, there is no team that can compete with us financially, but if we get too complacent …..
And I hope that some of the teams can hold on to their players, as it makes Celtic games more enjoyable to watch. But, as Livi says, money talks….
However, focusing on Celtic for the moment, the test for me on whether we are moving in the right direction is (i) continuing to improve the quality of football, and (ii) qualification for the group stages of the CL.
On the first, we moved the ball much more quickly out the back this year (without as many aimless humps up the park), and a lot less sideways and backwards passing in the middle of the park. Our play got a real injection of pace and energy when SA and GMS joined, but after about February, our play around the box seemed to bog down a bit again.
This is RD’s main project for next season, I think.
Huns say Moshni would have been disciplined but he’s out of contract……no laughing at the back…
McTALL 1451
Always good to hear from you,bud. That must have been some grin,bearing in mind yer nae shrinking violet.
If the missus really wants to put a smile on yer face,ask her to buy you a video of ‘The Journey,Chapter 3,Highlights’
Available on C30,mainly adverts for Sports Direct.
RWE
That was a stag night in Swindon. The photo was a must,but my mate made me promise not to include his face.
Which was a given,bearing in mind his face was the least embarrassing thing about him!
mike in toronto
I think you have made a very good point about pace.
If you watched the play off match the difference in pace between the Championship side and the Premiership side was frightening.
If you go back and watch our matches v Aberdeen last season we killed them off almost every game with pace.
If we then watch our CL exits when we have gone out of the tournament it is usually as a result of the opposing team having superior ability at pace.
Pace is the key.
Top players do things much faster than their rivals and as such are hard to stop legally. This is why Ronny wants a fully fit first team and every percent of advantage through eating and drinking properly matters. If Ronny keeps Jamesy fit for a season not only will he get POTY but it would be an indication of our gaffers ability along with his coaches to train, condition and educate our players on the benefits of proper living as a professional athlete.
LB
Morning Bobby, i’ll maybe ask for that particular video nasty for my christmas stocking. Hope you’re well my friend HH
Didn’t notice the behaviour of the Motherwell fans I was to busy laughing
LiviBhoy
15:17 on
1 June, 2015
excathedra44
I have known this guy my whole life and his cousin has always been a Motherwell fan.
The photo doesn;t look great right enough but that is a split second.
LB
==================================
Never mind, we enjoyed it on his behalf,they got what they deserved.
HH
Here’s yer official statement from the defeated:
“Rangers FC will cooperate fully with investigations following the disgraceful scenes at the Motherwell game yesterday.
“Bilel Mohsni’s behaviour was completely unacceptable and had his contract not now expired, the club would have started disciplinary proceedings.
“The club will also assist with any investigation into the behaviour of Motherwell supporters and we would like to thank the Rangers fans who were excellent in showing admirable restraint despite severe provocation.””
I don’t remember their fans showing restraint. I thought they all left when the second (or s that the fifth?) goal went in.
Are Celtic seeded in the champions route of champions league ?
LEFTCLICKTIC. 1501
Brilliant post from YOUNGY the Jambo.
If I was on Facebook,I would tell him so myself.
Huns using moshni to cover up the fact they were pumped by a team that finished 56 points behind us :-)
A big boy done it and ran away.
lennon’s passion
Yes
!!Bada Bing!!
15:25 on
1 June, 2015
Huns say Moshni would have been disciplined but he’s out of contract……no laughing at the back…
Have THEY who will pay nobody been paying him in advance?
Captain Beefheart
15:11 on
1 June, 2015
Joe F (earlier),
League cup has never been particularly kind to Celtic. Better memories with the SC. LC is a wast of time.
———————————————-
Surely that’s a reason to try harder in the League Cup rather than dismiss it as worthless? I think Joe’s original question was along the lines of Why is the Scottish Cup worthwhile but not the League Cup. If we’re gonna enter a competition we might as well try to win it. Although I get the point about Europe and the League being more important.
First time poster!
How are you chaps doing?
Was he not under contract when he committed the assault? and heaped shame on……oh wait.
Lennons passion
Yes Celtic seeded in champions route – to be honest unless we have several Euro disasters over the next few years we will always be seeded in the champions route for the UCL.
On course to be in Pot 4 if we negotiate qualifiers
current co-efficient of 39. something with 2.2 to be replaced with whatever we manage to get this coming season so hopefully we will be close to or higher than 50.00 which should see us in Pot 3 in season 16/17 if make group stages
Back to business…
I can see no clean solution to the financial shambles that is RIFC.
They can’t trade their way out of the mess, and notwithstanding some high earners leaving at the end of contract, they will need something in the order of a further £5-10M of cash to support working capital in the coming 12 months.
Currently, their only external debt – aside from trade creditors and HMRC – is the £5M owed to Ashley, with a further £3M (perhaps £4.5M now) owed to 3 Bears and King.
*All else being equal, come May 2016 the new regime will have put up £10-15M working capital between March this year and May next year to maintain a team in the 2nd division.
In the meantime, RIFC has next to zero merchandising income. To make it a little more than zero they need to square Ashley up his £5M.
Paying Ashley back gets them control again over the brand, and gets some retail revenue, although Ashley continues with his original 7 year hitch.
*Add another £5M to the £10-15M RIFC needs to find over the next 12 months.
So…
They need to ‘pump’ £10M cash into the business in addition to what they have already.
They should also, as a priority, pay back the Ashley £5M to get the brand back.
We haven’t discussed team building.
We haven’t discussed infrastructure spending.
We haven’t discussed refloating the youth development programme.
We haven’t discussed what comes after May 2016.
We’re led to believe that the onerous contracts will endure an Administration, but not a liquidation.
*While Ashley controls the brand rights, they can’t liquidate and phoenix again, as Ashley owns the rights to the brand name.
In the meantime…
Ashley remains in complete control over the retail business.
Costs cannot be cut to the extent that the business breaks even.
There are no workable options here. King and Co need to pony up something north of £15M to get back to where they were in January this year, and fund a pop at promotion the following season.
With or without promotion, the same underlying problems remain.
It’s a case of good money after bad so far as RIFC’s shareholders are concerned.
I’d be seriously inclined to cut my losses and walk away. Quickly. As I noted last month, a ‘Rangers’ in the Champions League costs £80M. The price just went up.
This isn’t a hobby. It’s a monster that devours wealth.
On Scotland’s UEFA coefficient: I would really like to see Aberdeen and Inverness make the Europa league stages. There’s no point in the media lauding their managers for this years exploits in the League and Scottish cup if they do f##k all in Europe.