It was (honestly) a complete coincidence that at the start of last week I wrote that football clubs need “people who can say to the manager, “A club in Romania is doing something really clever, we should try it”, without being frog-marched off the premises”, a few days before Celtic employed a GAA coach as a performance consultant.
Organisations who succeed actively look for development ideas from unusual sources. If you are fishing in the same pond as everyone else, you’ll not find a strategy that will allow you to over-perform. Jim McGuinness, coach at Donegal GAA, will work with Neil Lennon’s technical team two days per week.
McGuinness had transformed Gaelic football, since taking control of unfancied Donegal they have been described as “virtually unbeatable”, provoking astonishment and some hostility from those close to the game as a result of his tactical revolution, known as ‘The System’. For his sport, he has found the ‘Moneyball code’ and the metaphorical answer to ‘Why England lose’, which we have discussed here for a number of years.
In short, Jim McGuinness sees things that others don’t and Celtic know the value of new ideas. I’m pleased at both.
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Oldtim
I think they should just make the players drink Guiness
Betting odds for our next 2 matches
Aberdeen 5/1 Celtic 8/15 Draw 3/1
Benfica 1/2 Celtic 11/2 Draw 31/10
I hope RTC can drop a wee bomb on the cardigan’s return to Poundland
I went to the Catania Juve game .
A mate couldn’t go so he gave me his Season Ticket / Smart Card .
Smart Card wouldn’t work so I had to go the ticket office .
Ticket Office gave me a ticket for the game .
Price printed on the ticket was 0.00 Euros..
THE EXILED TIM
14:33 on 12 November, 2012
What a rabble ffs a load of huns in uniform walking about aimlessly.
Could have been another one of those walk thingys they like so much
IKE IN TORONTO
I take your point,but many of the best attacking players played negative football,while defenders made great attacking coaches.
And the converse was frequently true too.
It’s not that long ago we were gaun ballistic about the number of goals we lost,that there was a panic whenever the ball was in our half,etc.
Neil has a dearth of talent up front at the moment-Hoops is injured,Stokes is injures,Miku is playing himself into the team,Nouioui is off the radar,and Sami is far from fit.
On top of that,our midfield is suffering the same problem.
Ledley is playing an unfamiliar role,Kayal is working his way back,Forrest is out,Commons is shouldering more creative responsibility than he can carry all the time.
Need I go on?
We kept going on about getting rid of the deadwood but,well,some of them might have been handy to have around at the moment.
Loovens for one,as it would have freed Efe to move into midfield,as an example.
For arguments sake let’s say you have a football stadium. Lets say it has 45,000 seats. Now you can name your attendance to be the actual amount of tickets issued for the game. Let’s say you sold 30,000 tickets. Let’s also say you print 45,000 tickets all with a face value of £0. These tickets are given to people who have bought tickets aswell as given away free, or stuck in a drawer.
If you were to be audited, or any scrutiny placed upon the income for said ticket sales, how could you guarantee how much money came into the club for ticket sales for each game if all the seats in the stadium had a ticket printed, for each game, with a £0 face value?
Why would anyone wish to disguise the real amount of income generated by ticket sales?
Some things to chew over…..
SoT
Oddly enough i just watched the highlights of the last few weeks Serie A action
The decisions for Juve in the Catania game bordered on blatant cheating. Ditto their opening goal against Inter
Seems old habits die hard amongst the ‘friends’ of La Vecchia Signora
IKE,blinkin’ flip.
Sorry,MIKE IN TORONTO.
I just made you POTUS.
Sadly,you’ve been dead for years.
I hope you get over it quicker than I learn to proof-read!
79caps,
Not one of the teams you mention in your last post won on cl duty.
And to say they all faced teams of higher quality than st j is all well and good but let’s be honest here all the teams you mentioned are a wee bit better than our beloved hoops.
The shape of those “soldiers” in that clip from Ibrox would be an embarrassment to any kinda army. They look like a crowd of UDA louts out on a jolly….oh wait a minute….
Marti
I hope we keep having these champions league hangover games for many months to come
Paul67 et al
Which team, of the two that played at Parkhead on Wednesday is capable of the most improvement? Not the losers! If Jim McGuinness can bring some of the lessons from Gaelic Sports, then every Celtic player will benefit. Football has been professional for a long long time, well at Celtic Park anyway, but Scotland has not always kept pace with advances made in other team sports. Is it really over 20 years since Joe Venglos was nicknamed Dr. No down at Villa Park? Yes it is!
ROGUE LEADER
Is tax payable on comps as a benefit in kind?
Sorry is this now the start of a “Neil can’t win any small games…”?
Not many people know it, but the Führer was a terrific dancer.
Franz Liebkind
BMCW
I get your point, and I hope that you are right… I agree that we did need to sort out the defence first … (on that note, some of the players that were let go… Hoiveld, even Darren O’Dea… I really rated, and think they could have blossomed under NFL given time … I know it doesn’t always work out…and there are always things going on that guys like me wont hear about – attitude stuff, or whatever – but I rated those two)
And the defensive performance on Wed. was not the old Celtic back against the wall, diving in to make a block type of defensive… I thought it was a mature performance against one of the greatest club sides we will ever see… so no mean feat.
I just hope now that NFL can work his magic at the other end of the park…. even looking at the guys around him… big Johan (If I was going to war, would want him beside me)… no real attacking guys there … just think NFL could do with a bit of help there… none of us have every arrow in our quiver…) and I’m just not sure that this is NFL’s strong suit.
Ultimately, I would like NFL in a director of football operation …. with a great first team coach is a much more canny savy person than I had ever given him credit for… and, although he is sometimes quiet on certain issues (e.g., the GB), I think it is clear where his heart is (and I think it is in the right place)….
And I think NFL is putting together a team/club that some greats are, in the future, want to coach… (personally, I always wanted Lambert back… reminds me of Big Jock… even looks like him!)… NFL and PL… we’d be unbeatable!
Cheers
re dropping points in SPL after playing midweek in Europe.
Celtic have played 12 SPL games this season and dropped 14 points (4 draws and 2 defeats)
Half of those points have been dropped in the weekend after playing midweek in Europe.
…meaning also that half have not – it should be noted that our first domestic defeat when St Johnstone beat us 2-1, came fully two and a half weeks after our game v Helsingborg.
We have played 8 games in Europe this season.
7 of those having an SPL match at the weekend after (we were due to play Utd after the away leg to HJK)
We have picked up 14 points from a possible 21 (or 66%) from those 7 games.
We have played 5 games clear of a preceding European fixture
We have picked up 8 points from a possible 15 (or 53%).
Statistically, we perform better after a European game.
Teams played after Europe: Aberdeen (home), Inverness CT (caley), Hibernian (home), Dundee (home), Hearts (home), Kilmarnock (home), St Johnstone (home).
Only once have we scored more than two goals after playing in Europe (ICT away: 2-4). Similarly, we’ve only scored more than two goals once after not playing in Europe (St Mirren away: 0-5).
Perhaps tellingly, we’ve failed to score more than 2 at home all season, with the exception of the two League Cup ties, where we bagged 9 in total.
I think the only thing lacking is plain consistency; there’s not a real hangover per se, just inconsistent form, or even just general poor play and an inability to finish teams off.
btw, Celtic scored more than two in 11 matches in the SPL last season, including 5 games where we scored 5 or more.
bobby we agree again I would not have allowed glen loovens to leave parkhead after a long settling in period he was finding his feet and had he been offered a contract i feel sure he would have stayed
Celtic have had the biggest attendance in Scotland this season and the 2nd the 3rd & the 4th
Wedon’tdobraggingaway CSC
Mike in Toronto….
Good post.
Neil has made some huge improvements. The job isn’t finished. On the positive front, we have players playing closer to each other. 10 yard passes rather than trying to find Aiden and Shaun out on the touchlines. Rarely do we get outnumbered 5 to 2 in midfield as happened with our previous 2 coaches.
That being said, what we are missing, is a creative link between our workmanlike midfield, and our strikers. Commons can do this, but not on his own, and not when he is stuck out wide.
This ‘missing link…:)’ causes us to keep recycling across the field. This kind of player won’t come cheap. However, if we can get a creative spark who can work close passes with Commons, or just nutmeg his marker, this team will go places.
I believe…..
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS – No, much simpler than that and not to do with tax. Think about making it difficult to verify how much cash a business is taking in.
Yorkbhoy, brilliant.
I have a mate who spouted the crap about big games last season.
Geordie Munro @ 15.36
ManU, Juventus, Bayern and Benfica among others won their CL match and then their domestic league match. I don’t think that is the point, however. A CL match can be draining irrespective of the result. Perhaps Lenny should have freshened the team up a bit (e.g. start with Kayal, Watt, McGeoch …). But something also has to be done about the attitude of the players.
Yorkbhoy
Let downs are unavoidable.. but, when you are playing for Celtic, there are no small games.
With the advantage we have over other SPL teams (money, training, fitness, skill), we should be winning at a canter… while we are getting good value for money from our investment (players) in Europe, the ROI in the SPL isn’t at the same level…
ROI?! … Damn you phivis and KOJO… you’ve got me sounding like a Tory! AARRGGH!!!
Ten Men Won The League .
Catania —- Juve was a classic example of the luck that Juve enjoy with result deciding decisions .
The Referee and the Linesmen were escorted out of the stadium by armed polis whilst a baying mob chanted ——- Bet your cars are Fiat.
goldstar10 @ 15:11
* Agrees with this *
Many thanks dirtymac
RogueLeader
There was a good discussion about it on TSFM.
I don’t have a clue, but smoke and fire spring to mind.
Why else would they be doing ti ? to throw money away on printing costs :>)
ROGUE LEADER
Dunno what yer talking about,mate-canny get a wash done in this weather……….
mike in toronto I also have reservations about Neil Lennon’s coaching ability but was unable to articulate them as well as you but we are a bit short of strikers at the moment
we do seem to suffer a lot of niggling injuries
is this because the MIBS allow our players to be fouled with impunity
are our players overcoached
do they lack basic fitness
i seem to remember in the WGS era celtic were one of the fittest teams in the SPL
we do lack a creative first team coach
and have done so since hun skelper alan thompson parted ways at the end of last season
could the king of kings provide some much needed attacking nous or am i clutching at straws
after all too many cooks spoil the broth
Weeron
Thank you… and now to bite the hand that feeds me… not sure I agree.
I think the problem is we, too often, look for the ‘player’ and then try to play around them… but, I still dont know what ‘system’ NFL wants to employ going forward… I think we get the system right, and get the players to buy into it, the ‘right’ players will find their role…. we wont need to go and find the players.
Sorry… after sounding like Philvis… I had to get back to the system over the individual… sorry, feel much better now!
HH
Lenny trimmed his squad aggressively pre-season. perhaps with the demise of the Orcs the powers that be felt we could operate at this level. The fact is unless we delve into the under 20 squad we now have 17 fit outfield players. These include Paddy who many on here feel should never play for us again, Imbrahim who is an unknown quantity and young Twardzik. Accordingly there is no room to rest tired players or lads who have a drop in form. In the circumstances I think we are doing well, if after our next 2 Euro games, we are (A) In the last 16 and (B) within a point or two of the top of the SPL then Happy Days. However we may need to bring in one or two re-inforcements next transfer window.
THE EXILED TIM – maybe the printing costs are tax deductable? :) Mind you everything has been tax deductable at that midden recently
Dropping points after a mid week European game ? ——- Serie A style
Juve won
AC Milan lost .
Inter lost
Lazio won
Napoli won .
Udinese drew.
JAMES McCLEAN’S poppy-less Sunderland shirt is up for grabs as the Republic of Ireland star weighed in behind a fund-raising drive for a Dublin children’s charity.
McClean was on the receiving end of some more unwanted attention over the weekend after the Derry-born player refused to wear a shirt which featured a poppy during Sunderland’s Premier League game against Everton on Saturday.
Ireland boss Giovanni Trapattoni has since joined in the debate, defending McClean’s decision not to wear the poppy, but the jersey itself is up for sale.
McClean’s former team-mate at Derry, current St Pat’s star Ger O’Brien, is helping to raise funds for the Crumlin Cancer Ward appeal and McClean handed the controversial jersey over to O’Brien for auction.
“James has given me his shirt from yesterday, the genuine one he wore in the game, signed by him,” O’Brien said on Twitter.
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS – I hear you. Nightmare getting anything washed in this weather.
79caps.
And again the teams you mention are a different class to us. Maybe benfica a bit closer to us.
The ‘freshen it up’ is a tough call.
Many suggested we play the same team as they will be flying.
I personally wished we were a litter more clear of the rest and change the entire 11.
Whats the worst that could happen? ;)