A year ago you and I discussed Scott Brown’s fitness with some concern for the season ahead. Since then the captain has not skipped a beat, his form and availability for selection have been without question.
It is clear he can cope with a Scotland game this weekend, and no doubt finish the season untroubled, but Scotland have an international against England on 10 June, two weeks after the Scottish Cup final, and four weeks before Celtic’s Champions League qualification campaign gets underway.
If Scott is to participate in all games, he will have a week off after the Scottish Cup final before being called into the Scotland squad, then two weeks before Celtic’s preseason training starts. For a player of his age, with his injury profile, this schedule would not allow sufficient recuperation ahead of a new season.
Selfishly, the most important thing to you and I, and to Celtic, is Champions League qualification, more so than the Scottish Cup, or than a season of invincibility, delightful, though both would be. What Brendan Rodgers backroom team need to do is prepare Scott as thoroughly as possible for the middle of July. Planning should start now.
If there’s another player in the Celtic squad who I would also like to ration his football it’s Mikael Lustig. The Sweden international is likely to be involved in both their international squad in June; a World Cup qualifier against France and a derby against Norway.
If Scotland fail to get a positive result against Slovenia on Sunday, Scott might consider it best to retire from the international stage, again. He and Mikael could do with a few weeks on the beach at the end of the season.
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My daft hound has dug a hole under the garden fence.
Down with digging. ( archaeologists excepted )
HH.
My son and I went to Scotland games regularly between 2006 to 2012 and in general, very little antagonism shown towards our players which pleasantly surprised me.
The impression I got was most regular attenders at Scotland home games were either Scotland fans only or were supporters of clubs like Thistle , Ayr, for example.
The huns/ sevs were very few and far between around which ever part of the ground we were in. Sevs I work with cant stand the Tartan Army , one called them Scottish fenians as they hated God save the queen and Westminster rule.
I’m so happy for Efe getting praised for his displays for Hibs. He is a good man , honourable and with great dignity. Its very galling the level of grief he has received on social media from some of our support.
DALLAS DALLAS WHERE THE HECK IS DALLAS on 26TH MARCH 2017 1:27 PM
My son and I went to Scotland games regularly between 2006 to 2012 and in general, very little antagonism shown towards our players which pleasantly surprised me.
______________
Great to hear firsthand that attitudes seem to be changing at long last…
One for our Australian posters.
Nerang Eagles have announced they will become a feeder club for Celtic.
Hail Hail.
I hope Scotland win tonight.
I understand the reservations many celtic fans have about supporting Scotland, but for me who has only experienced good times and enormous generosity and kindness from Scottish friends and relatives ,I always cheer for them.
Paul67’s article touches on the fitness and conditioning levels of 2 players who form the back bone of Rodgers’ team. There is no doubt that the last 3 performances have been patchy and sometimes even poor.
Is there evidence that the squad who started playing competitively on 12th July 2016, and are about to enter their 10th month of the season, are burning out?
Frankly, with 26 players having played the equivalent of 30 full matches or less, that seems risible. But what about the back bone players who are 1st picks every week?
Celtic By Numbers looks at the performance data for signs of fatigue. Are certain key players running to stand still?
http://celticbynumberscom.ipage.com/running-to-stand-still/
HH
PARKHEADCUMSALFORD on 26TH MARCH 2017 11:43 AM
Great to see Efe playing as he can once again.
Thankfully, too, under Neil Lennon’s tutelage, as, imo, it was Neil’s foolish decision to play him in the CL so soon after playing in Africa that destroyed his confidence.
_________
PCS
I think that’s a wee bit harsh on Lenny.
Most people I spoke to were 50/50 re Efe playing after the afcon such was his form/importance to the team at the time. Think we had a couple of injuries in defence too if memory serves.
No doubt it was a gamble that backfired but hindsight’s a wonderful thing.
Ps I agree it’s great to see him back doing well
Dbhoy, my dad always wanted Scotland to lose, even to England . He was born in1926 and throughout the next fifty years , he saw many instances of our better players not being selected , being abused if they were and basically getting treated unfairly.
He told me he was one of a number of Celtic supporters outside the SFA offices at Park Gardens shouting at the SFA after Jimmy Delaney was not selected and a player not as gos as Jimmy was .
I always want Scotland to win and if I went a game at Hampden , it was the Celtic End I went to.
Some pals and I went to the Scotland v Bulgaria match at Hampden in 1978. It was chucking it down and we ended up in the aptly named Rangers End. One of my pals was close to getting a knuckle sandwich from a disgruntled hun for calling Derek Johnstone a useless fat b@@@@@d . Mind you, 39 years on the term still applies to BFDJ.
I then discovered the anti Celtic attitude in some Scotland fans.
!!BADA BING!! @ 11:44 AM,
Sure hope so…
It could be the reason we “experimented” against Canada… These players know each other and how they play.
A Celtic Backbone with some very experienced Internationalists. It’s a must win, so I’m sure WAS isn’t too interested in what the Ibrox/Hampden or Tartan Army contingent think about so many Celtic players.
He’ll be playing the best and looking for the points.
Scotland 3-1 Slovenia
Hail Hail
Was having a read at this page that id saved………heres the link……
http://inbedwithmaradona.com/journal/2012/5/25/remembering-the-lisbon-lions.html
For those of you watching in blue and white this is what the European Cup looks like. So reads the banner, regularly displayed by fans at Celtic Park, which references a time when commentators announced the colours of each team’s strip for those with black and white televisions whilst also drawing the attention of visiting Rangers fans to, arguably, the single greatest Scottish sporting achievement of all time.
Forty five years ago today Celtic Football Club, from the East End of Glasgow, reached the final of the European Cup, the precursor to the modern day Champions League, meeting Milan giants Internazionale in the Estádio Nacional in the Portuguese capital. The crowd in Lisbon that day may have considered a Celtic victory a possibility but that was in contrast to the pervading view across Europe that Inter would give Celtic a footballing lesson. As it happened the opposite occurred and Celtic became the first Scottish, first British and even first non-Latin winner of the European Cup which prior to this match had only ever been won by Real Madrid, Benfica, Inter Milan and AC Milan.
Celtic had gone into the game as underdogs partly because of Inter’s previous two European Cup successes but also because the Inter manager of the day, Helanio Herrera, was considered one of the greatest managers on earth at the time. Under Herrera Inter were famous for playing a very defensive style of counter attacking football christened the “Catenaccio”. Catenaccio translates as “Door Bolt” from Italian to English and so this tactic was seen as shutting the door in the opponent’s face having already taken a lead in the match. Herrera’s tactics had been responsible for turning the side into European Cup winners in 1964 and 1965 and it was widely held that if Inter took the lead they were almost impossible to beat. As a result of these immense successes in the European Cup and in winning successive Italian league titles in 1965 and 1966 the Inter Milan players were household names across Europe, whilst the Celtic players were largely anonymous to their European audience.
Despite the stellar makeup of the Inter sidethe Celtic players were able to match them on the field. In the tunnel, feeling perhaps self-conscious about their pasty white skin and more diminutive stature, the Celtic players stood silently showing clear signs of nerves. Jimmy Johnstone later said, “I thought we’d get a right gubbin’. I can see them yet standing alongside us in the tunnel waiting to go out on the pitch: Facchetti, Domenghini, Mazzola, Cappellini, all six-footers wi’ Ambre Solaire suntans, Colgate smiles and slicked-back hair. Each and every wan o’ them looked like yon film star Cesar Romero. They even smelt beautiful.”
Whilst some Celtic players were nervous Bertie Auld, the tough tackling midfield ball winner, helped to dispel those nerves by singing a rendition of “The Celtic Song” as the teams stood side by side. The other players joined in and the incident has become Celtic folkloregoing down in the history books as an unforgettable part of an unforgettable day for the football club.
Whilst the players may have allowed the occasion, their first European final, to intimidate them there was no way that Celtic were ever going to allow the Inter players to cause them fear. Growing up in 1950’s Glasgow was a tough task in itself and the entire Celtic eleven that day were born within or close to the city. It is widely recognised that Celtic’s European Cup win sets a record for proximity that will likely never be beaten with all players born and raised within a 30 mile radius of Parkhead, the home of Celtic FC.
When the eleven Scots took to the field, mindful of the success of Inter’s defensive style, they would have hoped to have made a good start and to prevent Inter from taking a lead however on the day it took just seven minutes for Italian Sandro Mazzola to convert a penalty past Scottish footballer of the year for 1967 Ronnie Simpson in the Celtic goal. The penalty had been given away by full back Jim Craig for a foul on Cappellini however Craig remains adamant to this day that he did not foul the Italian claiming in an interview years later that, “I knew their player was good on his left side and anticipated he was going to put the ball across to that foot. So, I ran across his path and there was contact. But there was no way in the world I expected the referee to award a penalty.”
Regardless of the validity of the penalty claim the fact was that Celtic had fallen behind to a side famous for maintaining slender leads for long periods. Over the remaining 38 minutes of the first half Celtic would press and attack in waves however the Inter defence forced them to shoot from far out and as a consequence Celtic went in at half time a goal down.
In the second half Celtic maintained their pressure and their attacking play. The official match statistics for the final record that Inter Milan managed just five shots to Celtic’s forty two clearly highlighting where the balance of power lay for most of the match. Celtic took sixty three minutes to breach the meanest defence in Europe and when they did it was through a thunderous drive from the left back Tommy Gemmell. For the next twenty one minutes the game was balanced in score but far from even in terms of play. Celtic continued to press and the crowd sensed a Celtic victory with Inter unable to change their style adequately to cope with the pressure.
It was not only the fans who sensed a Celtic win. Inter Milan defender Tarcisio Burgnich would later recall in the book Inverting the Pyramid – a History of Football Tacticsby Jonathan Wilson, “I remember at one point Picchi turned to the goalkeeper and said ‘Giuliano, let it go, just let it go. Sooner or later they’ll get the winner’. I never thought I would hear those words. I never imagined my captain would tell our keeper to throw in the towel. But that shows how destroyed we were at that point.”
Picchi and his colleagues were put out of their misery in the 84th minute when a Bobby Murdoch shot was turned into the net by striker Stevie Chalmers, without doubt the single most important goal ever scored for the club. In a glorious history which has spread to what is about to become 125 years Lisbon stands alongside winning nine titles in a row and the run to two other European Finals, the 1970 European Cup and 2003 UEFA Cup, as Celtic’s proudest and most illustrious achievements.
The side who delivered the European Cup that day in Lisbon have been immortalised by the club and have been given the name “The Lisbon Lions” by the fans. Celtic have marked their achievements by placing a star above the club crest, by naming one of the stands at Celtic Park “The Lisbon Lion Stand” and by naming another “The Jock Stein Stand” in honour of the manager who assembled this historic side. A bust of Stein and a statue of Jimmy Johnstone decorate the front entrance of Celtic Park and the DVD of the final itself, produced in colour, remains a popular choice in the Celtic Superstore.
Celtic fans generally have an intrinsic and innate respect for their history and the fans regularly display banners and flags at games which glorify former players and legends all the way back to founder Brother Walfrid himself who began the club from a church hall in the Calton in November 1887, playing their first game in the following year. With this in mind alongside the celebrations of the 45th anniversary of the Lisbon triumph Celtic supporters will be using this day as a way to remember the lives of those “Lions” who are no longer alive.
Bobby Murdoch, often considered one of the best central midfielders of his generation, was the first Lion to die when he suffered a stroke and passed away on the 15th of May 2001. Three years later on the 19th of April 2004 goalkeeper Ronnie Simpson died following a heart attack and Jimmy “Jinky” Johnstone, voted Celtic’s greatest ever player, died on the 13th of March 2006 following a battle with Motor Neurone Disease.
With three of the eleven who played that day dead the occasions to mark the anniversary of the success become more poignant reminding fans that one day the Lions will be gone and the only evidence of the success will be the history books and museum pieces that belong to the club. Despite these earthly truths the Lisbon Lions have taken on an unearthly characteristic as whilst they may simply be eleven Scots who won a European Cup to the Celtic fans they are immortal and will never be forgotten.
……..the thing is…….after Bobby, Ronnie and Jinky had passed away in what was quite a short period of time, it had then been a considerable number of years before Tommy went, however i was wondering if enough had been done in that time for the remaining Lions and whether as a support we should really get together somehow to make sure the remaining members are taken care of.
I am aware to a certain extent from what Winning Captains posted here that some were doing what they could to help and theres probably a lot that im ignorant about.
If there is something in place to perhaps make a donation to a fund for them could someone please point me in the right direction and if theres not…….is it time now that there was something?
Paul67 et al
Just heard that Kieran will be playing right back for Scotland this evening. Thought Andy Robertson would get the shout at left back, on account of his extra overall experience, with Kieran on the bench. Obviously hope he does well, wouldn’t put it beyond him to be able to play well on the right, still a bit of a surprise mind you.
Every time I log on to this page an see those children sitting next to the Celtic crest I think that Bro Walfrid would never have dreamt that his initiative would reach out to feed young people in that continent. At times we all have different points of view on here. But one thing keeps us united…to carry out the task of the founding fathers.
!!Bada Bing!!, Macjay1 and DBHOY…
The Scotland team which played the Soviet Union in a friendly at Hampden on 10 May 1967 was :-
1. Simpson 2. Gemmell 3. McCreadie 4. Clark 5. McNeill and 6. Baxter 7. Johnstone 8. McLintock 9. McCalliog 10. Law 11. Lennox. Willie Wallace cam on a sub for Law.
7 Lisbon Lions and 2 Gorbals Celts.
Tommy Gemmell beat Ronnie Simpson with an exquisite chip for the first goal !
Scotland 0 Soviet Union 2
Good luck to Gordon Strachan and Scotland tonight.
A new beer down Govan way………..
https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/three-floyds-zombie-dust/135404/
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/26/64228/
The DALLAS DALLAS WHERE THE HECK IS DALLAS
I think the SFA’s continued mistreatment of Celtic alligned with it’s blatant favouritism of anything masquerading as a football club in govan still rankles a lot of us. It makes it hard for a section of our support to get behind the Scotland team. Some still don’t care/want Scotland to win.
It’s understandable but we are playing into their hands if we do it IMO.
Glad to hear it hasn’t deterred you or your boy.
Ps prophetical words indeed from your pal in 78
__Interesting read from the Guardian. Last Paragraph may be of interest
____________________
If the sophistication of the 2015 campaign was not widely known, that was by design: the Conservative Home website, a meeting place for party loyalists, called the victory a “stealth win”. But over the last few months, another story has emerged – an account that is told in a paper trail of hotel bills, emails and witness statements that has led to a year-long investigation by the Electoral Commission and the police.
The startling evidence, first unearthed by Channel 4 News and confirmed in a condemnatory report released last week by the Electoral Commission – the independent body that oversees election law and regulates political finance in the UK – suggests that the Conservative party gained an advantage by breaching election spending laws during the 2015 election. This allowed the party to send its most dedicated volunteers into key seats, in which data had identified specific voters whose turnout could swing the contest. Some of this spending was not properly declared, and some of it was entirely off the books. The sums involved are deceptively small, but the impact may have been decisive.
Are British elections being stolen?
Michael Crick
Read more
At present, up to 20 sitting Conservative MPs are the subject of criminal investigation by 16 police forces. If any of the candidates are charged and found guilty of an election offence, they could be barred from political office for three years or spend up to a year in prison. The whole case is unprecedented: this is the largest number of MPs ever to be investigated for violations of electoral law. In the past, cases of alleged election fraud have usually focused on a single MP. This time, there are so many cases that police forces across England have taken the unusual step of coordinating their investigations.
The release of last week’s 38-page Electoral Commission report produced a minor political earthquake: as a result of the biggest investigation the commission has ever undertaken, it levied its largest-ever fine against the Conservative party and referred the case of the party’s treasurer, Simon Day, to the Metropolitan police for further criminal investigation. “There was a realistic prospect,” the report said, that the undeclared spending by the party had “enabled its candidates to gain a financial advantage over opponents.”
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/mar/23/conservative-election-scandal-victory-2015-expenses
Dallas Dallas where the heck is Dallas
Fully agree with your father ….. they detested all things Celtic, and still do….SFA included ….. haven’t been anywhere near Scotland. games for 45 years now ….. and all the better for it ….
GORDON on 26TH MARCH 2017 2:45 PM
Ssssssh Macjay will hear you :-)
DBHOY,
Imo, Neil Lennon should never have picked Efe against Juve, as he couldn’t have been anything but exhausted. There may well have been extenuating circumstances and Efe may have agreed to play (he did rush straight back) but the manager shouldn’t have picked him. It was his decision and, again imo, the wrong one.
Couldn’t care less about the Scotland football team, just look how many Caps the Lions won, Danny McGrain being played out of position to accommodate Jardine, disgraceful.
Dbhoy, I haven’t been to a Scotland home game for five years now , mainly for financial reasons plus my son has lost interest also. He never asks me if we are going to thei next home.
My main focus for football is Celtic and renewing my season ticket for as many years as I can afford to. If we are not playing at home , I sometimes go to Junior games , Clydebank and Pollok .
I lived near Clydebank growing up and enjoyed going to Kilbowie if I wasn’t at one of our games. Clydebank went bust and became Airdrie United. I have so much respect for The Clydebank fans who persevered and got a Clydebank junior team up and running something those of unsurpassed dignity never done.
The Pollok manager used to work with me and we get on very well .
Good Afternoon.
Here is something new…
“How It All Went Wrong For Mike Ashley”
https://theclumpany.wordpress.com/2017/03/26/how-it-all-went-wrong-for-mike-ashley/
IanBhoy929 on 26th March 2017 3:17 pm
Couldn’t care less about the Scotland football team, just look how many Caps the Lions won, Danny McGrain being played out of position to accommodate Jardine, disgraceful.
I think it was a huge compliment for Danny to play LB to accommodate Jardine, who was a great player IMO.
IanBhoy929- i can’t be ar$#d with internationals either, by the look of it a lot of players feel the same.I have a wee bet on Slovenia at 12/5…
67heaven, I fully understand plus see your and my dad’s reason for having no interest in the Scotland team. The SFA and their cronies have stitched us up so often .
One of the reasons I did go to the games was to see oppsition players who I might never get to see playing against us.
MIT:
I will be at TFC games this year but only sporadically. It’s my younger and smarter brother who has the tickets. I am at his mercy. When I know I’m attending I’ll be in touch.
How’s the trumpet coming? Is it Lee Morgan who’s your inspiration; played with Art Blakey for a bunch of years? Somehow I’ve gotten into a hard bop groove and I think it leads back to some of your posts from last year. Cool Struttin’
T
Never felt any obligation to support the Scotland team.
They are not Scotland’s team, they are the SFA’s team.
Just because you stick a label on something, in this case a football team, it doesn’t mean that anyone owes a national allegiance to it.
If so, then are we also obliged to support the Scottish Nationalist Party?
“The Scottish fans are the best in the world, I love them,” he said.
“In one way it would be nice to see Celtic and Rangers in the Premier League, but I don’t think it will ever happen because it would also be the end of Scottish football.
“I want to add one thing.
“If Celtic were to build a team strong enough to regularly compete in the Champions League, I might decide to manage them one day.
“For me, that is the next step for them, and one which I believe they are trying to take.
“Winning the league has become normal for them. They have the fans and the history. Now they have to strive to become an important player at the top level in Europe.”
Roberto Mancini in today’s Sunday post.
Shades of cqns pedro c in that article :-)
JIMMYNOTPAUL –
Very interesting.
My son played two seasons for Nerang Eagles and was player of the year twice.
A great community club, well run and with excellent facilities.
Re Askit powders
Thanks to all for info, appreciated.
KINGLuBO
THOMTHETHIM FOR OSCAR OK on 26TH MARCH 2017 4:03 PM
Never felt any obligation to support the Scotland team.
They are not Scotland’s team, they are the SFA’s team.
Just because you stick a label on something, in this case a football team, it doesn’t mean that anyone owes a national allegiance to it.
If so, then are we also obliged to support the Scottish Nationalist Party?
————————————–
If that is indeed a real questIon then Yes according to some in that party.
HH.
Celtic Mac,
No surprises here, WGS was clear that KT was by far the best defender on n the country, the only surprise is how long it’s taken to give him a jersey
Delighted Jermaine Defoe scored, touching wee story about his mascot today, wee Sunderland fan who is terminally ill, looked like the wee boy & Defoe have a great bond…….
Puts the old football into perspective
Greenpinata,
…..or the Scottish National Orchestra, for that matter.
Or the Church of Scotland…..or any other body that had the name “Scotland” stuck in front of it.
Looking for some help re the value of the Celtic shares I bought when Saint Fergus arrived. No intention to sell but passing them on to someone and have to give an amount. Not sure if there were different types of shares?
1night
http://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/prices-and-markets/stocks/summary/company-summary/GB0004339189GBGBXAIMI.html
ONIL
Try the corporate part of the club website, it will give a valuation.
CANAMALAR IT LOOKS LIKE OCD OBSESSION
Many thanks. I did see them listed but had no idea what I had? Ordinary/Preference? Ignorant about it I’m afraid!