This time last year the league was in the bag, as it is today, but we had Champions League football to look forward to in the coming days, and would ultimately go on to win the Scottish Cup. The Champions League is always going to be a hard place to measure progress for a club seeded in pot 4, last season it was hard enough to Benfica, a pot 2 team who were eliminated by Celtic but still progressed to the Europa League final.
Domestic cup performances for Celtic is a more accessible measuring tool. After home defeats to Morton (good grief) and now Aberdeen we may well ask, what went wrong?
It was evident from early in the second half that whatever match plan we had was not effective, and despite the introduction of fresh faces, the performance didn’t improve. Aberdeen defended outside their box very effectively, making it difficult for Celtic to play the kind of passes which Samaras released Stokes with to score early in the game. Forrest found red shirts blocking his path whenever he got going. Commons had a day when nothing sparked. Possession was cheaply conceded throughout as Celtic continued to ask the same question of the Aberdeen defence.
While we are playing in in impoverished Scottish football Aberdeen represent the strongest possible opponents. They are second in the league and were the last team to score against us on merit. Yesterday wasn’t a fluke result, it was deserved and marked the progress of Derek McInnes’ team.
So where does this leave us? Celtic remain imperious in the Premiership, the fact that they’ve not tasted defeat against a weaker team there, or conceded in 11 games, is historically impressive, but against the best of the rest, there are question marks, as there will be for Champions League qualifiers.
If you would like to read the new CQN Magazine, GO HERE to read properly, and for FREE, the graphic below is just a taster.
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BIG-CUP-WINNERS
23:21 on 9 February, 2014
Pat Bonner Rudi Vata Tosh McKinlay Mark McNally Van Hoijdonkl Peter Grant Paul McStay Brian McLaughlin John Collins Willie Falconer
Im guessin :)
start with scouts , coaches etc, who is involved with signing players, pl is the last in the chain or not. nfl must have a budget to work with.
CRC:
There’s no real evidence that the pattern is impacting as drastically on Peter as it is the club surely?
Auldheid:
Do Ajax only limit all their signings to the 1 – 2 million mark? I genuinely don’t know.
Would certainly like to the young players gtting the game time I suspect they might at Ajax…
Night…
We were rotten yesterday. Aberdeen after the first 10 minutes were miles better than us.
The fact that 3 of our most consistent performers, Commons, Ambrose and Izzy had possibly their poorest games of the season didn’t help.
Neither did the manager’s decision to play a clearly unfit Matthews, a mental decision considering how well Fisher has been doing.
Concerned at our inability to raise our game in cup competitions. Consistently we’re being out fought by supposedly poorer teams.
anyone, does nfl have any input in who he signs.
The huns are kaput and we are eating ourselves!
These should be the best times of our lives.
Dance on their graves ffs…don’t let them distract us.
Get the Green Brigade back and ramp up the atmosphere.
Our young fans loved the Green Brigade, we are in danger of losing them.
FRED 23.56
Don`t you think they should pay back the 42,000 quid they cost us?
macjay1 for Neil Lennon,
Take it from the money made from the 125 Tifo.
Macjay
That’ll be part of the settlement.
goodnight
macjay1 for Neil Lennon
00:08 on 10 February, 2014
Are you referring to the 10 plastic seats at Fir park?
Mag
The fine imposed by UEFA for the Bobby Sands display.
West Wales Celt
23:42 on
9 February, 2014
The thing is Ajax sometimes do not qualify at all for CL.
2003 – Champions League Quarter-Final
2004 – Champions League 1st Round
2005 – Champions League 1st Round/UEFA Cup 3rd Round
2006 – Champions League 2nd Round
2007 – UEFA Cup 3rd Round
2008 – Champions League 3rd Qualifying Round/UEFA Cup 1st Round
2009 – UEFA Cup 4th Round
2010 – Europa League 3rd Round
2011 – Champions League 1st Round/Europa League 4th Round
2012 – Champions League 1st Round/Europa League 3rd Round
2013 – Champions League 1st Round/Europa League 3rd Round
Our support would not settle for that. My point though is that it is a natural result of a develop your own process, especially if you find diamonds in the dust.
The secrtet is to hold on to as many as possible from one year to the next to keep overall quality up.
In fact there is footballing argument that doing well in the Europa League should be our realistic ambition, so one/two years in that and one in the CL every three years.
Fred C. Dobbs
00:10 on
10 February, 2014
macjay1 for Neil Lennon,
Take it from the money made from the 125 Tifo.
————————————————————————————–
Please specify the amount made and the source of that income.
Did Celtic engage them to provide the display or was this their own decision?
no, i’m neil lennon “i’ll never walk alone” (fourstonecoppi )
23:31 on 9 February, 2014
mick hucknall or charlie drake??????
———
Lol, that brought a smile to my face.
Margaret McGill
23:26 on
9 February, 2014
You are in OZ are you not? So I meant us Scots being an older nation might be taking a different perspective from you young pups.
Ah you mean the William Wallace display?
I see.
Why dont I see you bitch whine and moan about the millions of pounds that Celtic have lost due to CL qualification losses and other massive financial losses associated with the 22 trophies that the huns stole over the last 15 years or so? Not to mention the near billion ponds in real money that rangers “stole” to get one upmanship over Celtic?
Why dont Celtic PLC pursue that instead of (in your mind) a bunch of silly wee boys who unfurled some banners that should have been praised instead of condemned.
You know why?
Because Mcjay Dismay like the rest of your cohorts you fail to distinguish between Celtic FC and the current custodians. Its like the catholic church protecting paedophiles. You are so blind you cannot reason.
There is nothing wrong with the GB and Celtic should have fought for the GB if they are indeed Celtic supporters.
macjay1 for Neil Lennon,
Do you visit Celtic shops? If so point question is moot.
Oops…your point is moot :O(.
macjay1 for Neil Lennon
00:24 on
10 February, 2014
Fred C. Dobbs
00:10 on
10 February, 2014
macjay1 for Neil Lennon,
Take it from the money made from the 125 Tifo.
————————————————————————————–
Please specify the amount made and the source of that income.
Did Celtic engage them to provide the display or was this their own decision?
———————————
The question was put to the GB at the last OM “Was it worth it?”
If I recall correctly the answer was they were aware of the potential UEFA fine but were so frustrated at their treatment by authority they felt they had to draw attention to it.
That is how folk make mistakes, they find ways of justifying it to themselves. It is only afterwards when those affected by the decision who were not consulted ask questions that the full extent of the mistake is realised.
Had they known the decision would result in their being shown the door with no legitimate comeback, perhaps they would have decided otherwise.
Its how things work. Gerry Rafferty sang about it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXW-sL5gzHQ&feature=kp
Morning Timland from a seriously wet hun free mountain valley.
Timmhorton
No, he doesn’t imo.
Why would he buy players and not play them ?
He is given players, as are most managers in the world outwith britland.
HH
Auldheid @ 0:33
Indeed, Gerry Rafferty did sing about it…
Back to Lurking…
Margaret McGill
00:27 on
10 February, 2014
The Wallace display would not have resulted in a fine.
—————————————————————————————————
“Why dont I see you bitch whine and moan about the millions of pounds that Celtic have lost due to CL qualification losses and other massive financial losses associated with the 22 trophies that the huns stole over the last 15 years or so?”
—————————————————————————
Because I expect the hun to cause us financial loss.
I don`t expect our supporters to cause us financial loss.
————————————————————————————
“Why dont Celtic PLC pursue that instead of (in your mind) a bunch of silly wee boys who unfurled some banners that should have been praised instead of condemned.”
——————————————————————————–
How do you know that they are not pursuing that?
Are you privy to Board discussions and resolutions?
macjay1 for Neil Lennon
00:44 on 10 February, 2014
Well thats the Tony Donnellism twatternazi take on reality.
You lot must love it up the arse.
Only logical conclusion. Come on.
West Wales Celt
23:42 on
9 February, 2014
The AJAX Way
Although from 2009 this suggest Ajax are a good comparator. It could be written on CQN re Celtic.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/110783-ajax-transfer-policy-lacks-ambition
but here is an update
http://footballspeak.com/post/2013/04/17/Ajax-The-New-FC-Porto.aspx
which is develop your own home grown but find diamonds in other markets, in their case Scandinavia.
From this you could infer that our model is very similar but we are perhaps failing in making better use of Scottish players, whether we find them and develop ourselves or pay for the Gaulds and McKay Stephens.
I think that might be where our model needs tweaking by doing more local shopping.
In fact a few CQNers have said the guys I mention are a better punt than Balde or Pukki and there is a lot in that.
Auldheid
00:33 on
10 February, 2014
————————————————————————————————–
Thank you.
I absolutely love good sound common sense.
Now.Will the G.B. have learned that lesson ?
Rhetorical question.
macjay1 for Neil Lennon
00:48 on
10 February, 2014
Auldheid
00:33 on
10 February, 2014
————————————————————————————————–
Thank you.
I absolutely love good sound common sense.
Now.Will the G.B. have learned that lesson ?
Rhetorical question
===================
The great thing about the process we call Life is it is self correcting. It just keeps on giving us the chance to get it right. Time after time after time.
The GB tribute act at Ipox are allowed to do as they please…their fans have never turned on them.
Magic
Had the club employed a halfwit trainee lawyer to fight the Bobby Sands banner, we would have never been fined a penny.
They chose not to fight it.
HH
Auldheid good points but as we are seen to compare ourselves to porto ajax etc wonder what the comparison at board level is? Do their chief executives get £1M pounds a year etc etc and if not where’s our bench mark abd value for money have they lost 15k season tickets holders?
macjay1 for Neil Lennon,
You are a scottish medias wet dream.
Get it right into Celtic fans…:O(((
So does co-efficiency not count for CL Qualifiers.
We reached the last 16 of the CL in Season 2012/13
So why do we have to play another three qualifiers considering
we had to play three this season to get into the CL Group Stages
That does not make sense in all fairness we should only be made
to have to play one. (Not 3 or 2 Qualifiers) I’ll be raising this point
with UEFA if we are informed that we have to play 2 or 3 Qualifiers.
As for yesterday’s bad day in the office performance? The bottom
line is we did not perform well yesterday all over the pitch & NFL
made mistakes in his team selection also Cup matches are one
off matches. Excluding the CL Group Stages where in all honesty
in the CL (Big Boys Play Ground) we are punching above our weight.
Referring back to the domestic Cup’s this Season? Yes the Team’s
Selections & Performances have been very poor indeed this Season
But when we win the SPL this Season for the 45 Time as oppose
to that other lot who refuse to understand that when ones Club goes
into Liquidation and out of Business they can’t claim nor do they have
the right to claim Dead FC’s past History end of. Like if one goes onto
Wikipedia & types two words “old firm” it’s all self explanatory.
Anyway, getting back to Scottish Domestic Cup Competitions
As for the League Cup our Club should be seriously considering
playing our Under 20’s players in said competition why? Because
our First Team Squad are not interested in said competition which
is now being reflected in the amount of our support who go along &
watch said Home matches. I was @ the Morton fixture this Season
& The Attendance amount of said match was lucky if there was
10,000 there. Also, @ least the younger players would be more up
for said matches than our first team players and also if they manage
to digress through said competition to the Final then they should be
allowed to play in the Final in other words give them a chance and
a run. As for the Scottish Cup? well yesterday’s Home Attendance
for said Cup Competition was poor the whole of the Top Tier Stands
where all empty the JS/NS/LLS so the attendance would be lucky
if there was 30,000 there yesterday against a side who are @ present
in second place in the SPL in-fact there was a bigger attendance @
the SPL match which we played the same opposition in November 2013
So what does this tell you, that £15 an Adult brief is too expensive or
it goes to show that a lot of our supporters are now losing interest in
domestic cup competitions whatever.
We have won the Scottish Cup now about 36 times in our illustrious
Club history the most recent being last Season so we can’t expect
to win said Trophy every Season also fairs-fair in giving another Club
a chance even if it’s Broke New-Co or whoever after all the Final is
being played @ CP so our Club will get paid for using our Stadium
If my memory serves me right the final of the exact same cup competition
was played @ CP back in 1998 and we did not reach the final that
Season either but hay that’s how these one off cup competitions
go sometimes we are successful and sometimes we are not such
is the Roller-Coaster of life or as tall Cesar once said about our Club
It’s like a Family which has it’s up’s and downs sometimes we are
happy and sometimes we are sad well said Cesar life is not in sweet
mode all the time sometimes we have to accept the bitter pill or as a
wise elder English Woman once informed me:-“These things are sent
to test you” She’s damn tooting that’s life in a nutshell so let us all take
these set-backs as the come every now and then under one word
entitled “Disappointment” and move on yes we will have our set-backs
every now and then but that’s what makes our Club a unique and
colourful Club which will be around after we have all moved over to
the Spiritual Realm so keep the faith Everyone & Remember the
Hoops will never walk alone, Hail – Hail.
Night Bhoys…sad sad times.
Some of our own have swallowed the bait :O(((.
Why was section 112 closed down?
fred c. dobbs
00:52 on 10 February, 2014
The GB tribute act at Ipox are allowed to do as they please…their fans have never turned on them.
———-
Well said, and they accommodate them with relocation in an area that will be viewed on the screen, whereas we alienate our youth…
Big Nan
20:22 on
9 February,
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
You of all people surprise me BN……..why would CFC sign up to focus???
Do you honestly believe there are no high level brown brogues in CFC PLC?
I would bet 100 (charity of your choice) that DD, PL, IB and how many others you care to name all have aprons…..……its almost impossible to be successful in this backwater of a country without advanced level freemasonry supporting you………
You have said this often enough.
To paraphrase you on being invited to join your local lodge…
The proposer…….”you would be surprised who is in it”
You………..”no I wouldn’t”
On a lighter note, some of the wit tonight has been so ascerbic as to be almost rapier like in its ruthlessness…….had me in stitches at times
I still think the Four Horsemen will be up Kerrdale Street at seasons end……not just for the football side of things either……
Enjoy