Celtic have lost in the game immediately after three of their previous four European games, shipping nine points which could be crucial in determining the destination of the championship, so it was not surprising they were below par for much of the game yesterday. Fortunately, the Aberdeen goal came early enough to allow Celtic time to raise their game and respond.
How Celtic respond after European games will become even more crucial in the weeks ahead as they have visits to Motherwell, Dundee United and St Johnstone due after our next three Europa League games. Any slim championship aspirations will be extinguished in these games if Celtic are unable to improve performance for the league challenge.
Ally McCoist is defying early predictions and grinding out impressive results for Rangers, who will seldom have started the league with such an impressive defensive record. Six away wins from six games without conceding a goal is the kind of form it takes to win leagues.
Our more immediate challengers, Motherwell, dropped two points on Saturday, meaning we can go two points clear of them if we win our game in hand, however, the teams meet at Fir Park a week on Sunday (three days after Celtic play Rennes), in what looks like being a key game in our season.
980 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- ...
- 25
- »
The Jury’s Out says:
24 October, 2011 at 12:41
So, let’s see where we are today.
Oh, yes. Got a squad of about 400, give or take, of which 4, maybe 5, are fairly decent.
Got a guy in charge who’s team selection, tactics, substitutions and general motivational ability are all constantly called into question here and many other places.
So, a few average players led by a guy who cannot manage.
And that, my friends, is why Rangers will have the league wrapped up before the Xmas presents.
Still, as long as we can enjoy their financial trials and tribulations, eh ?
They could go into admin, get docked 10 points and still win the league at a canter !
Things need to change at CP fast or we’ll be re-defining ‘embarrassment’.
share
Every Celtic fan will be delighted to see Neil in charge when they go under as he was when the SFA capitulaled and the piece de resitance is the fat le guen will in charge of them – A perfect storm!!!
The reason Rangers are ahead of us has nothing to with ability or skill levels and everything to do with heart and desire. Without the last two you don’t get the chance to use the first two. For all Scott Brown is something of a whipping boy for many of the Celtic support we could do with him just now.
LivornoBhoy-stands by Neil Lennon says:
24 October, 2011 at 12:43
They need to gauge whether commercial income would drop more than ST income. As it stands I think the biggest drop would come from the latter, so don’t so sure that they’d be that quick to vote for then staying in.
I currently feel it’s far more likely that it would be seen as the perfect opportunity for league restructuring with them starting in the bottom of a two tier set-up, thus only having 1 season on the wilderness rather than 3. Our board don’t have to deal with having voted them straight back in, and they (and sponsors) can probably cope with that one season away from the top flight.
Hail hail
Just got back from Rennes. What a fantastic trip.
Celtic fans superb as usual, from the party at Place de Parliament to the Stade-bound bus journey and during the game. Many new Celtic fans were converted by the experience. All the Rennes locals that I spoke to were in awe of our support.
I felt that we had many positives to take from the game, a few crazy mistakes but we had chances to win the game. I get the feeling that our team are making games more difficult than they need to be at the moment. They need to snap out of it.
I headed for a road trip, the day after the game and encountered and had a chat with various Celtic fans on the way. Within the walls of St Malo, to the Abbey at the top of Mont Saint Michel, our fans were still walking with a spring in their step a few days after the game.
A great experience. Thank you Celtic.
Hail hail.
angelfc67 – More stick = Lots of red cards.
That depends on your definition of “stick”. (thumbsup)
Joe Filippis Haircut – Agreed. There is a frailty to Celtic at the moment, which seems as much mental as it is physical.
We need to recover the form that terrorised the SPL for most of last season. The ability is there, for some reason at the moment the belief and commitment seems a little shaky. (thumbsup)
greenjedi
You hit the nail on the head re application and commitment of our team just now. There is a lack of fighting spirit which is concerning.
People talking about going to the English championship but with things as they are now we would get steamrollered by big physical sides that run , fight any play for 90mins.
greenjedi says:
24 October, 2011 at 12:46
angelfc67 says:
24 October, 2011 at 12:42
Philvis,
I agree with what you say. Only problem with your formula:
More stick = Lots of red cards.
……………………………..
Why, they just have to show the same commitment/urgency they did yesterday to get back in front. No need to go flying into tackles.
Talent and ability only beats hard work when talent and ability work hard!
……………………………………………….
I wholeheartedly agree,
It’s the referees in this country i worry about. They will flash the cards like confetti!
I know Hooper provided the pass for our first goal yesterday, but if he had as poor a game as some have claimed, can we revert to the line-up of Thursday night.
I think we played well against a side, who would beat most of the SPL teams most of the time. Stokesy seems to have learned how to play the lone striker role.
His confidence would be boosted by such a move.
Árd Macha
Paul67
Few days ago I said that Celtic defensive players have problems with communication. Maybe on Thursday Forster shouted “mine” , Cha heard “swine” and scored own goal. I know, maybe stupid joke. I was happy to see that defense line yesterday without Cha, Majstorovic , El Kaddouri. Expect none of them will be Celtic palyer after January.
I thought Celtic defense played well until Loovens came off and Majstorovic came in.
The question is: don’t you have another Adam Matthews in the team background? Somebody who is probably young but who deserves a chance in the first squad. I would really give a chance to somebody new instead of those three above who are in my opinion results of very passive scouting.
philvisreturns says:
24 October, 2011 at 12:32
Anybody heard from Gordon_J lately? (thumbsup
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Gordon was on blog yesterday,seemed in good spirits.
philvisreturns, indeed.
angelfc67, it sure is.
Henrik’s Golden Boot, I’m sure teams try to score against Rangers.
Hamiltontim, take care.
Árd Macha, yes, 2008 was a lesson never to write Celtic off, but 2009/10/11 offered other lessons. I hope I’m wrong too, but the omens are not good.
Big two weeks coming up.
TTTT, not yet.
Zbyszek, yes, I hear you.
voguepunter – Thanks. Hope he’s OK. (thumbsup)
From Matt McGlone’s twitter: “Although at the match it looked like Mulgrew was booked for celebrating, he wasn’t, the ref held up a yellow, it seems for Aberdeen player!”
That would explain the lack of mention on the bbc and sky websites, but not why the referee was showing someone else’s card to Charlie in Paddimir’s photo.
Twilight zone indeed where I agree with Paw Broon about needing consistency.
The Jury’s Out says:
24 October, 2011 at 12:41
Mind put your mortgage on ‘them’
Probably shouldn’t laugh but anyways ………….
Quote from a trial in Belfast transcribed in this morning’s Irish News.
” ………………. doesn’t get out with his health. But his nephew was home from Australia and they were having Christmas early with a tree.”
Lads,
The six teams the horribles have faced away from home so far are:
St Johnstone
Inverness
Motherwell
Dundee utd
Dunfermline
Hearts
I’m really gutted the way the season has gone so far, we can all blame PL and the board, but i think we have to question the attitude of the players and this is where the manager comes in, we have no room for error now. In the next few games we play Hibs twice then onto Fir park and Inverness our two bogey away grounds if you like, failure to gain 9 points in the three league games will spell the end for Neil i’m sad to say.
HGB
Grand Larcenist
Listening to this STV stuff from Whyte and reading the old media it appears that there’s something more heinous going on here than even we expected. Craig Whyte’s game plan now appears to have been to go to administration from day 1. He is making noises to the contrary yes if we avoid liquidation I will personally stand the outstanding debt and not dilute the minority shareholder’s blah blah. But his real motive and it seems expectation of the outcome appears to be betrayed by his response to the administration question. He seems to be preparing the ground for that more likely outcome by saying he will not necessarily fight it because that could go on for years which would not be good for the club but at the same time stating that liquidation is not possible……
“There is no chance of Rangers going out of existence. I’m the owner of Rangers. I’m the chairman of Rangers and I have done a lot more successful deals than deals that haven’t worked out.
I think that ultimately speaks for itself.”
The questions then are why is liquidation not possible and how can he be so sure?
The answers appear to be that he really has structured his ‘deal’ to be the preferential creditor so he can gazump the tax man and take such assets as are left when administration shakes down and then use this ‘1st charge’ on his own to restructure the business just as he wants and put Rangers 2 on the park if not the following week pretty soon thereafter.
It seems therefore that his ‘payment’ of the debt has permitted him to ‘cheat’ the revenue.
It looks like grand larceny by any measure and he may just pull it off. Especially if the ‘authorities’, that’s the establishment to you, are inclined to, quite literally, play ball.
He presents himself so damn smugly as well. Makes you feel quite nauseous.
So now the new questions: are we just going to sit back and accept this; and if not what can we do?
Let me start by saying that I am no lawyer and that maybe from a strict legal perspective there is nothing wrong here. Somehow I doubt it however. It seems to me that taking an action which in itself is legal (purchasing the club with this deal structure) but which is intended from the outset to negate in the future a legitimate debt especially one owed to the crown is at the very least suspect from a legal perspective. Further if that’s being done by a venture capitalist, a professional deal maker, one could reasonably assume that the intent to negate the legitimate crown debt was already in place when the deal was struck.
As I say I’m no lawyer ………but I do wonder what Paul McBride QC would make of it all. I also wonder if a group of us should ‘pitch in’ to put up the cash to find out.
Next thought is Phil Mac Giolla Bhain in particular and Ranger’s Tax Case, admittedly to a lesser extent, seem to have retired from the fray now everything is at last in the public domain. But getting the case to the court does not get it prosecuted. Surely we need these same skills and intellects working on how to ‘make it stick’. These guys and their supporters are ideally placed to investigate the legality of the deal and find out if Lloyds really were paid and if so by whom and was the charge on assets released and if so who took it up and using what sort of vehicle and if not what bearing that should have on the outcome of any court case. I’m sure the debts don’t exist in the same form but would it not be interesting to learn paid by whom exactly and was it payment in full or was there a discount agreed because perhaps if not the deal could not be concluded because of the structure and the likely impact of the implicit future actions? Surely Rangers did not collude with a High Street Bank to cheat the taxman?
Gentlemen. if Craig Whyte gets away with this action, and it appears for the moment that’s more likely than not, the ‘illegitimate’ titles will be forgotten. The minor inconvenience of administration will be overcome in months not years. Worse still Rangers will emerge stronger than they are now with a businessman who’s smart enough to cheat the tax man leading them for the foreseeable future.
Is that what we want and if not what are you prepared to do about it.
Come on bhoys let’s go pick a fight.
I know there was a photo posted earlier but WAS CHARLIE OFFICIALLY BOOKED OR NOT?
JJ
.
PhilVis..
GordonJ is Recovering in a Liverpool Hospital after a Health Scare.. Hoping to get Out this Week..
Summa ft TheRoyalCSC
ArdMacha, hows it going? To be honest, although we played well against Rennes with 1 up top we must have 2 up front in most SPL matches.
Was at the game yesterday and some of the play was great but most of the time far too pedestrian and slow.
Hooper wasnt great but assisted the 1st goal and won the foul for the second and red card was for a foul on him. Aberdeen were very physical and were allowed to be by a very poor referee.
GB were very noisy yesterday and their song for Mulgrew was great!
SFFS
warszawabhoy and Everyone else
I have removed the long link from your comment. Since last week’s episode I don’t have the facility in place to prevent links and long words from stretching the page. Please use the Link Creator in the left margin, which prevents this problem and helps users on mobile platforms.
Thanks.
The sad news about Joe O’Neill confirmed.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-15433519
Árd Macha
Vmhan who Supports Neil Lennon says:
24 October, 2011 at 08
I’m devestated to hear about Wee Joe. May he rest in peace.
I go to Madden’s Bar every WEdnesday night for Set Dancing and traditional music. There is no TV there so If Celtic have a midweek game I would go to John Lennon’s bar (Cosgrove’s) beforehand to watch the game. Scotch Joe was often on duty. He was respected and revered by all, friendly and professional, a perfect gentleman.
Go ndéanfaidh Dia trócaire ar a anam uasal
Seven Fishes Four Steaks says:
24 October, 2011 at 13:05
Doing fine thanks. I’m heading over to next week’s game.
The one up front is not a cautious approach, we can be very attack-minded with this.
I’m thinking that more possession will improve the players’ confidence all over the team.
Árd Macha
Ard Macha.
Just heard that on the news.
Terrible.
Those guilty won’t be far away.
The lack of any decent movement from the team whilst in possession of the ball has been a major negative this season and can only lead to the conclusion that the root cause is ineffective coaching.
Most of you know this already, but like me you probably don’t want to accept it.
We owe Neil the time to try and turn this season around, but it’s already a big ask.
I really hope that the return of Izzy provides the catalyst we need to re-ignite our title challenge.
TTTT
Lurgan 53,
Indeed. I’m already wondering if this is related.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-15430405
Árd Macha
Paul
A quick word about your problems with F***hosts.
You must have been tearing your hair out for 48 hours. I know I was. My own hair, that is and not….
Anyway! I whiled away some time on other blogs while CQN was down. I think Exiled Tim did the same. I agree with him that the standard of many other blogs comes nowhere near to this one. In particular, I found some of the, ahem, language unfit for younger bloggers. As for the humour…….
You seem to have had a number of changes recently although I am not sure if this has all been because of problems with servers. Is cost an issue and, if so, how can we help?
I am sure that many of us found the “downtime” was like a lost weekend. If there is something we can do, please let us know.
New SPL game of “spot the booked player”
So if it wasn’t Charlie getting booked, who was it, and why.
Answers on a postcard to @StewartRegan.
Premier League footballer Barry Bannan has been arrested on suspicion of drink driving and failing to stop after a car crash on the M1 in Nottinghamshire.
The 21-year-old Aston Villa and Scotland midfielder was arrested along with Shrewsbury Town striker James Collins on Sunday morning.
A Range Rover travelling south hit the central reservation near junction 26 at 05:30 BST, Nottinghamshire Police said.
The motorway was closed for a short time following the crash.
No other vehicles were reported to be involved.
Derby defeat
A Nottinghamshire Police spokesman said: “Two men from the West Midlands area have been bailed after being arrested in connection with a road traffic collision on the southbound M1 on Sunday morning.
“The M1 had to be closed for a short time while the vehicle was recovered.
“Two men, aged 20 and 21, were arrested in Bulwell, near Nottingham, shortly after 7am on suspicion of drink driving and failing to stop at the scene of an accident.
“Both have been bailed pending further inquiries and will return at a date in December.”
Aston Villa declined to comment.
Summa of Sammi…. – Thanks mate, hope he’s back to his best soon. (thumbsup)
Who do rangers play this midweek? ;)
warszawabhoy says:
24 October, 2011 at 13:00
How do you think they emerge from administration and why do you think they will emerge stronger?
First up how do they generate cash to clear even the £18M? Player sales, stadium sale and leaseback? Player sales, leave them weaker. Stadium sales and leaseback leaves them with increased fixed costs meaning they have to scale back elsewhere ie player wages.
Craig Whyte has already stated that they need to trim wages by £7M/season, if their costs go up more then that figure will need to increase accordingly. How do Rangers emerge stronger by trimming the wage bill by at least £7M/season.
If you can come up with concrete answers to that, can you please put yourself forward for PL’s job.
Zbyszek @ 12 53 —–
” passive scouting ” —– that , unfortunately , does seem to be the case..
As for scouting —–
I heard a radio interview with the owner of Udinese —– A – Hey -little Udinese top of Serie A -how come ?- thing .
He attributed Udinese’s ” success ” to being able to spot a good player before anybody else did. He said that Udinese employ 50 scouts worldwide and have hundreds of ” freelance scouts ” across the world. He stated that since 2001 Udinese have made a profit of @ 112 million players from buying players ” cheap ” and selling them ” dear “. Such money enables Udinese to pay relatively high wages.
He confirmed that he is likely to sell Handanovic in the next transfer window — ” for much, much more than I paid for him and his wages “
weeminger says:
24 October, 2011 at 12:21
What do you expect the club to do? Drop our ST prices because you can get an EPL one for the same cost but the quality of football is higher?
No – but I would like the CEO to be more reactionary in marketing ST sales particularly to the benefit of those that renew year in year out and are seldom acknowledged or enjoy discounted schemes that are regularly on offer.
Alarmingly our CEO boasted at the AGM that 25% of our ST sales are youngsters – great if they are converted to Adult STs in later years (it guarantees continuity of the ethos of being a Celtic supporter for life) but it represents a serious drop in annual ST sales turnover. IMHO we now have probably no more than 30-35K hardcore ST holders who are signing-up at the start of a season.
I have purchased a ST for 25 years (my daughter 15 years) – not once in that period have the Club made me a benefit offer that would help market additional ST sales. There must be plenty like me who would willing take up an additional discounted option and make use of it for family and friends – those we know that with a little encouragement could be converted to going on a more regular basis.
Since Seville the CFC wage bill has been cut by approx 50% – but in the same period the ST cost has increased by 50% (my rough figures) and ST holders have gone from 50K+ (with a waiting list) to the current situation of 30-35K hardcore ST holders and various incentives; half-season books and numerous discounted ticket sales for less popular fixtures (backed by advertising campaigns).
I am well aware that this is not the EPL but IMHO our STs are overpriced in today’s market – high time we looked at reducing the basic cost and concentrated our efforts on increasing overall take-up at the start of a season. Maybe a 20% reduction in cost might attract a 20%+ increase in sales plus the associated benefits of merchandise, catering sales etc.
Time for radical marketing!
I’ve had the misfortune to watch most of their games on tv this season and apart from teams sitting back against them the biggest difference is that they are more direct than us. In most cases we take about 10 to 15 passes to get up the pitch. They play the obligatory 5-6 passes and the ball over the top. Not the most attractive but very effective in the spl. I think if we were more direct we wouldn’t be where we are.
P.s does anyone know how to get a baby back to sleep at 3am?
Hail hail
Sadly i agree with Paul67 comments about our SLIM championship chances. We have changed nothing despite having a failing coaching/fitness system. There is something quite wrong in our injury list. There i also something wrong in our fitness regimes. To suceed we need rapid change in coaching, training, science. None of this will happen until we fail – sadly SLIM – is about best description on us having a turnaround this season unless changes made now. We won this weekend so cracks covered.
praecepta – Time for radical marketing!
Print a picture of Thomas Muir of Huntershill on all tickets? (thumbsup)