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Celtic v Borussia Monchengladbach, Live updates
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ernie lynch
i’d rather have the current board and buisness model any day of the week as to what celtic was in 67
but unfortunately we will never have the same success on the park with 11bhoys from a 30mile radius..real madrid and bayern munich couldnt even do that in the modern era h.h
The interview regarding DD infamous quote referencing Sevco IMO is open to interpretation in terms of DD playing politics with a media he clearly despises
The interview starts with DD waxing lyrical on all things Celtic following that fantastic win in Moscow, he praises the squad, Neil and PL
The SMSM interviewer then steers the interview towards Sevco and the leading questions begin, cue leading question No.1
“I know you are this kind of hands off media shy kind of individual what have you made looking from a distance maybe about the goings on in Scottish football at the moment being no Rangers in the SPL”
DD answers playing safely out the rough, hoping to avoiding any further traps
Our attitude has always been we can only control our own affairs, we concentrate on our own affairs anybody elses affairs is for their own doing and their own making. Celtic football club is what i get up in the morning thinking about and what i go to sleep thinking about
SMSM interviewer clearly disappointed with this answer attempts leading question No.2
“Do you think the SPL itself is a stronger or weaker product without both half of the old firm”
DD clearly has not got out of the rough, decides to write his present position off and plays ultra safe with quote which has been on the blog this morning to hopefully continue his round happily.
.
Hugh Keevins: John Collins and Graeme Souness the perfect double act for our new dawn
HUGH says the SPFL needs an outbreak of really good players who have an understanding of what fitness can do for them, their team and the game in general.
28 Jul 2013 00:01
IT was a stroke of PR genius to bring Graeme Souness and John Collins together as a double act to launch the branding of the SPFL.
Collins was the straight man who made you think about what he was saying concerning the coaching of players.
And Souey took centre stage with a series of one-liners that held the audience in the palm of his hand.
There hasn’t, for instance, been this much fuss over the planting of a flag since Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon and left the Stars and Stripes there.
Of course Souness wouldn’t have run into the centre circle at Celtic Park as Rangers manager and impaled his club’s colours in the ground there on any Old Firm day.
But just threatening that he would have done it, repeating the flag day when he was in charge of Galatasaray and they won the Istanbul derby against Fenerbahce, was the stuff of ready-made headlines.
It got the new SPFL the column inches of free advertising Neil Doncaster and Co were looking for – and wouldn’t have got if they hadn’t hired the PR gurus who sent for the old rascal in the first place.
Souness would never have done it because he was also the one who ended Rangers’ indefensible policy of not signing Catholic players. He had an intimate understanding of the Old Firm rivalry and would never have made ripples in its Sea of Tranquillity with a one-man pitch invasion.
It was only a bit of harmless fun to say he’d have done it. And the hyperactive fell for it. But there was nothing remotely humorous about the photograph seen a few days ago of a seriously bloated Garry O’Connor relaxing during his community service.
O’Connor should still be playing at a decent level, earning well and enjoying the best years of his career. The SPFL could have done with him at a time like this.
Instead, a 16-times capped Scotland player looks to be finished at the age of 30.
Collins, who once endured a player revolt at Easter Road because of his training methods as manager, used to be regarded as a curiosity because of his fanatical dedication to personal fitness.
His philosophy was that you trained for yourself and played for the team.
He didn’t regard training as hard work, he saw it as a pleasure. Too many people saw him as an oddity because of that.
Now he’s part of the coaching set-up with Scotland’s youth teams and getting involved with the SFA’s Performance schools.
And the kids working with him will be all the better for the experience.
The sceptics can say the formation of the SPFL is the equivalent of rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic – but what are the governing body supposed to do?
They can roll over and die or they can dare to be different, starting with the game between Partick Thistle and Dundee United that kicks off the season on Friday.
What we could be doing with most of all is an outbreak of really good players who have an understanding of what fitness can do for them, their team and the game in general.
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail,” is the saying from Benjamin Franklin which hangs in dressing rooms around the country.
But how much do the players in Scotland really believe that?
The country’s No.1 sporting hero isn’t a footballer. It’s Andy Murray, a tennis player whose dedication to fitness is as great as it was for Sir Chris Hoy. He’s the other Scot who brought distinction to the country because he understood he had to work remorselessly to succeed at his chosen sport.
Collins said at Hampden this week: “Players don’t grow on trees. They’re like a seed that’s nurtured. And like a seed they grow into flowers.”
I can imagine players here laughing behind their hands at that poetic interpretation. But Collins was the one who played for Celtic, Monaco, Everton and Scotland during a career in which he turned a low centre of gravity into making him a high achiever.
The ones who are sniggering now have to make the SPFL work. Or else. The least they can do is be fit for purpose.
That would be one small step for man, one giant leap for the SPFL.
Summa
I See Tony Watt Getting Criticism After Yesterday’s Performance….
Suddenly,He’s No Longer A Very Promising Player…..
In The Eyes Of Our Doubting Thomases
Steady On,Compadres..!
This Is A Young Player Who Has Been Overlooked And Sidelined By Our Manager….
And Has Not Been Given The First Team Starts That He Has Deserved….
Over The Last Season….
Seemingly For Reasons Unrelated To Football…
His Confidence Will Have Taken A Blow..
And It Would Not Be Surprising If Degree Of Anxiety Has Crept Into His Play….
It Is All To Easy To Underestimate The Difficulties He Faced Yesterday….
Playing With An Unfamiliar Striking Partner,Who Speaks Little English….
And Has Considerable Difficulty In Controlling The Ball…..
LAY OFF Oor MegaWattie…!
Right got my 5 for the Kano bet,the huddle,patrick27,burghbhoy,Roy croppie and whinhallkev if Balde scores over 15 league goals you all pay £20 oh he doesn’t me and channelislandcelt will put up the. £100, Mon the Balde,cheers bhoys
Kalimera Summa,
Ti Kanis, poo este e?
At Athens Airport about to board my flight home.
EC67
Desybhoy, no worries.
I expect ole Dick has a touch of the Asberger’s.
By Dick I mean Bert, his more handsome and talented brother.
Tom McLaughlin
10:33 on
28 July, 2013
‘Looks like the vultures have got bored with Peter Lawell. Its Dermot Desmond’s turn now.’
###
Peter Lawwell, for all his qualities, is really only The Great Desmondo’s catspaw.
On that basis I think a lot of the criticism he receives is unfair.
I wonder whether you have encountered any Celtic supporters over there in the colonies who share these views about the huns?
Because I sure as hell haven’t over here.
####
“Rangers are a fantastic club with a great history. They will, in not too long a time, be back in the SPL. I have no doubt about that.
“And they’re needed for Scottish football because of their following, the size of the club and especially their history. We certainly would like to contest with them every week. We believe we have a better team and management structure.
“For us, it’s disappointing that they are not there but that’s decisions by the various clubs and leagues and we accept those.
“Rangers are one of the great clubs in Britain and we have to acknowledge that.
“They are a motivation for us to go along and beat them in every Old Firm match, so we miss that opportunity.”
tommysbhoy
10:41 on
28 July, 2013
You support Celtic because you like the board and the current business model?
tonydonnelly67
09:08 on 28 July, 2013
Good post mate,3 in a row on it’s way. Good squad needs a few players that we all hope we get. Money to spend no need to sell anyone unless they don’t want to be at Celtic.
Modern times people want everything yesterday. Mind sitting choked up when it was on the news we were going out of buisness. Following home and away all during the 90s with not much to shout about ( thank god for drink and good banter).
.
‘Poo’ EuroChamps67
Summa
If anyone knows of a way that I can get tickets for the Elfsborg game in Sweden I’d be extremely grateful.
I happen to be over there at the time and would love to drve the 6 hours from where I am to see the bhoys.
Cheers,
Lubo.
gordybhoy64, You don’t have to cover me but if Balde scores 15 League goals, I too will make a donation of 20 pounds and it will be the happiest donation I will ever make.
p.s. How many seasons does he have to get the 15, only joking m8, hope he gets 30 this season and if he does I’ll gladly double the donation.
Can anyone update on Miki 67? I know he had some bad news a while back and haven’t seen him post for some time and he was a regular poster. He was always a good read, sometimes made me smile and loved his rants re Thatcher and Sevco cheating. Not wanting to invade his privacy, but be good if someone could confirm he’s ok? Wish him well. HH
Ernie –
I take it you will be posting Dermot’s quote every half an hour?
Got to keep stoking the fires of negativity eh?
.
EuroChamps67..
Ha Ha..
Just Read Back..
Summa
The Quiet Man
10:58 on
28 July, 2013
I was wondering that myself.
Tom McLaughlin
10:59 on
28 July, 2013
Ernie –
I take it you will be posting Dermot’s quote every half an hour?
Got to keep stoking the fires of negativity eh?
####
I’ll take it that’s a ‘no’ then.
You’re not concerned that the man who owns Celtic is so out of step with the feelings of the rest of us?
Aromananonly1,
The bet is a bit of fun and was aimed at people who have written Balde off already,the original bet the huddle had suggested 10 goals,but I will happily stump up another £20 if he doesn’t score more than Cpmmons,hail hail
The Quiet Man, I would like to commend your post re Miki67. We all said he’d never walk alone and I don’t want him too. He posted about 3 or 4 weeks ago and it didn’t sound too good. Yet, Miki was still a proud defiant Celt. He said he still lurks, so if you are reading Miki a huge Hail Hail to you, we miss you if you are up to it, we’d love to hear from you.
From summer 2011
Legacy of Mowbray’s Hapless Appointment Stalks the Talented Mr Lennon
Tony Mowbray’s peculiar appointment was unusual for Celtic in recent years only insofar as it precipitated a rapid deterioration in the club’s position in all key respects: Football results; financial results; and the expectation of the support. All of these took a hammering during a hapless slapstick in the classic style, unfortunately appropriate for the Keystone role at any football club. It does though provide us with an important perspective as we look ahead to the coming seasons, presenting as it does a clear example of the interdependence between football results and financial performance.
Talent
Tony Mowbray was recruited against Celtic’s by then well established successful ‘Manager Profile’: A British Manager, late 40’s, English Premiership experience. O’Neill had set the mould, and Strachan fitted it in these respects and others, but Tony Mowbray, while presenting many of the requisite face value credentials and experience, lacked one singular quality: Talent.
There is a terrific book published some 10 years ago, but which remains relevant today. First, Break All The Rules was based on a unique survey by GALLUP over 20 years of more than 80,000 business leaders and one million employees, and sought to define the leadership factors that were common amongst the most successful companies and managers.
Amongst other startling results, the analysis demonstrated the folly of recruiting staff based upon qualifications and previous experience. While these are useful, and indeed prerequisite in some jobs, the fundamental difference between the top 10% performing businesses and those hitting run of the mill numbers was a focus on recruiting talent, not profile.
Martin O’Neill and Gordon Strachan may have had similar professional credentials, but the thing they had, which Mowbray lacked, was the intrinsic ability to manage Celtic. Poor old Tony had to muck along as best he could with what the Good Lord had given him, filling in the gaps with sheer hard work and determination. His experience had taught him that when things go wrong, he needed to “take it on the chin”. There was little else for it.
The leadership of the club seemed to recognise this, and tried to compensate by increasing the available budget. Whereas Gordon Strachan took on the remit of matching O’Neill’s achievements with a 20% budget cut, and a flat £4.5M to play with each summer, Mowbray was permitted to spend £12M on his arrival, with assorted sales in January of Strachan’s old guard balancing the books, while wages were found to pay for the likes of Keane, Kamara and Braafheid one mental day in February.
Financial Calamity
Putting a mediocre manager into one of the toughest jobs in European football, and bankrolling him with £12M of free funds, brought us in jig time to crisis, and precipitated a profound change of approach at Celtic. The long established ‘Celtic Manager Profile’ was binned, and instead we embraced precocity. Neil Lennon was offered the job at Celtic with only the thinnest evidence of his credentials: A year coaching the reserves under Mowbray following a year as a first team coach under Strachan. Moreover, Lenny had to live with the consequences of the Board’s Hope Strategy with Mowbray, trying to compensate lack of talent with cash, with the inevitable and entirely predictable outcome: A Championship lost to a Bankrupt Rangers; Humiliation at the hands of assorted lesser clubs; Open hostility towards the club’s Leadership from the support; and a financial legacy that demanded immediate remediation and which continues to constrain Neil Lennon’s efforts two seasons after.
Lenny got the job as the top earners at the club were moved out, when the top players were sold on, when the first team required to be built from scratch on a shoestring, and the biggest single outlay was the settlement of the terms of the dismissed Mowbray team.
That is worth repeating: In Lenny’s first year more was paid to buy out the terms of the previous management than was spent on buying a single player. Mark Venus was more expensive than Biram Kayal. How expensive is mediocrity!
This calamity was reflected in the financial situation, where turnover dropped £10M in the season, the club reported a loss, and debt increased to cover the shortfall.
Gone were the top earners. Boruc, Fortuné and McManus followed the likes of McDonald, Robson and Caldwell out the door 6 months earlier. In came a Gala Day procession of colourfully painted kids from around the world, and within 4 weeks The Neil Lennon Show was pushed onto the stage.
Predictably, they fluffed their opening lines, losing to Braga in the Champions League qualifiers. A dismal loss to Utrecht in the Europa League qualifiers followed. Celtic, with no Euro income to speak of mid August, needed to fill the financial gap. The gap was filled in large part by Aiden McGeady, whose £9M transfer fee was a one off contribution to the financial devastation that was Mowbray’s folly, with a further £4.2M gained on the sale of other players. I don’t doubt that Aiden was bound to leave us sooner or later, but it is hugely frustrating that his sale contributed nothing more to the club than paying the wages for 3 or 4 months.
The Here and Now
In a short number of weeks, Celtic will publish the Annual Report for 2011. While the departing Chairman will doubtless look forward with great expectations, the report will show the worst set of results for over a decade. Turnover will come in below the £57 Million low tide of 2002. The trading losses will be covered only by the sale of McGeady, and debt will inevitably come in around £3M more than last year. You’ve got to hand it to John Reid and his team. From the £75M turnover business he took charge of in 2007, he and his colleagues have managed to drive that down by 25% in only 4 years, the greatest deterioration being in the last 24 months, coinciding with their appointment of Mowbray.
Year £m Turnover £m Profit (loss) Gain on Player Sales £m Debt SPL Position Season Tics
2007 75,237 15,040 9,397 4,990 1 53,040
2008 72,593 4,435 5,695 3,520 1 53,517
2009 72,237 2,003 1,546 1,510 2 54,252
2010 61,715 (2,131) 5,712 5,850 2 50,826
2011 (Est) 55,000 3,000 13,203 7,500 2 50,000
2002 56,892 (3,039) 1,474 16,470 1 53,457
Table: Celtic’s trading figures since 2007, with 2011 estimated in red.
As the figures above indicate, excluding the sale of McGeady and the others, Celtic will be posting a trading loss of some £10 Million, up there with the O’Neill years in terms of losses, but without the deliberate growth strategy that O’Neill’s tenure represented. Looking ahead to the coming season, it is unlikely, even with Europa League football, that the club can much exceed £62M turnover, ensuring the legacy of the Mowbray’s short lived appointment in 2009 extends at least to 2012. Failure to qualify in August will condemn the club to relive the 2011 results, without McGeady to flog.
While every business suffers a periodic bad year, the figures above indicate a sustained and alarming contraction in the business, headlined by exclusion from the Champions League in three successive years, but also indicating an inherent aversion to generating new sources of income. In my view, the failure to capitalise on the demise of Setanta by buying out the club’s overseas rights from the SPL collective deal is but one example of an approach that simply refused to consider innovation outside of the tried and trusted.
Cue Change
The appointment of Neil Lennon last summer was not simply an instinctive punt by a desperate Board, it signalled a profound change of direction by the club. Neil Lennon represents talent, precocious, untempered, and raw. The club’s player recruitment strategy has similarly focussed on young, gifted players. Hooper, Izaguirre, Ki, Kayal, Ledley Stokes and this week Wanyama represent the not only the new first team, but the new strategy. 10 years after Gallup flagged up the secret of the best managers in business, Celtic have at last got with the programme that Wenger introduced when finances demanded at Arsenal, and that Fergusson pioneered at Manchester United.
Celtic of course live in a different environment to these English behemoths, and 10 years after Dermot Desmond made his play to join the ELP, it remains as far out of reach as ever. For the new model Celtic therefore, we need to look a little further abroad, to Italy. Udinese, who despite turning over less than 20% of the big clubs in the North, consistently compete with and profit from a strategy that is built on developing talent and selling it when appropriate. Udinese’s current first team squad of 26 players is drawn from 14 different countries. They have a further 34 players out on loan at other clubs. In the past 5 years they have generated over €60 Million in profits from player sales, and qualified this season for the Champions League ahead of Juventus, Lazio and Roma. All of this in a turnover of £40M.
The new model Celtic is built on the same principles, driving progress on the pitch and stability off it through identifying, developing, utilising, and ultimately selling talent. While it was always unlikely that Lenny and his youngsters would be able to win the league at the first time of asking in the unique season just ended, they came far closer than many expected, and there are positive indications that the right man is at the club in this most challenging period.
Shackled by the financial legacy of Mowbray’s appointment, Celtic turned to Neil Lennon, and Lenny is relying upon his talent, and the talent of his developing team, to create something at Celtic that we haven’t seen before. I am backing him to win the SPL title this coming season, at a stroke validating his approach and his young team’s talent, and gaining direct entry to the Champions League the following year. Indeed, it is remarkable to consider that, for the new model Celtic, winning the league this coming season will be more significant for the test of talent that is the Champions League, than the £18M income that it generates.
Apols for the text box mis-formatting…
Stay in Ayrshire, but no a hun…
Ayrshire is Green and White
HH
tom mclaughlin
10:33 on 28 July, 2013
Looks like the vultures have got bored with Peter Lawell. Its Dermot Desmond’s turn now.
Can you expand a little on your coent above?
The Battered Bunnet
11:07 on
28 July, 2013
‘From summer 2011
Legacy of Mowbray’s Hapless Appointment Stalks the Talented Mr Lennon’
###
And yet it all started out so well, pre season. Great football, great results.
Then something drastic happened. Almost as if BTM felt he’d been conned, lied to and betrayed.
Still. History is written by the victors.
I dont think you need a quote from Desmond to see what Celtic’s position is. I suspect they would have happily seen the Huns “back” in the SPL, though heavily hampered with fines and minus trophies.
When this became impossible, due to fan outrage (the one genuinely positive development in this entire debacle), Celtic’s board acquiesced but essentially drew a line in the sand.
No more investigations or punishments for the now dead club, and an easy ride “back” to the top for the current incarnation.
Hence the farcical signing of “trialists” during a transfer embargo, the acceptance of the Kafka-esque LNS decision, the demurring in the face of an aggressive and dishonest advertising campaign designed to hoodwink the world’s most stupid football fans that liquidation does not actually mean liquidation… and finally, no action on the revelations that RFC (IL) used the country’s most aggressive PR to plant stories painting Celtic and its fans in the worst possible light…
The role that the Kelly family has played in the creation and history of our club from it`s earliest days was fundamental.
I feel a debt of gratitude to them.
Just one fact to consider.
Bob Kelly gave us Jock Stein,manager of Celtic.
Summa
I would like John Collins as part of the coaching team at celtic. … Alan Thomsons place never taken up
Corky
I pledged a lady godivor to the good child foundation for every competitive goal amido scores this season.
I hope im down a ton in may
corkcelt
11:06 on
28 July, 2013
Missed his most recent post.
It would be good to see him posting again.
Italibhoy.
Thats why we need and want them back isn’t it?
The Boy Jinky
11:14 on
28 July, 2013
Summa
‘I would like John Collins as part of the coaching team at celtic. ‘
Please, God, no.
Ok, guys the Cork part of my name is to the fore today. I’m wearing the red jersey and am now off to Thurles for the All Ireland quarter finals. Honestly don’t think we have a chance today against Kilkenny but I’ll be there anyway. See ye ghuys later HH
ItaliaBhoy
11:12 on
28 July, 2013
And yet we have posters insisting that we are currently enjoying the zenith of the Club’s existence.
Fools.
Re DD’s reported statement in the Daily Record.
First it was in the Daily Record who were desperate to keep Rangers in the top tier because they feared the financial consequences for the DR if Rangers were not there. ( Apart from having Jabba The Hun directing policy worked from the back by Jack Irvine).
So the source has motives for presenting as it did.
Then there is the memtion that DD’s view was the opposite of PLs. Think about that. The argument oft put forward is that PL is DDs puppet. So how could a puppet do anything other than the puppet master dictated?
Then there is the absurd illogicality that thinks Celtic would be better off financially with Rangers to compete with than without. Look at the dosh we are pulling in in Rangers absence.
Ticket price down so SB sales up, one CL bonanza in the kitty with at least another 3 years of access to it very likely in Rangers absence, an absence that meant less energy expended in league games before a CL match. A factor that saw poor league performances but higher than average in the CL to reach the last 16.
On that basis the last thing Celtic want is Rangers back in the top tier – ever, but recognise that for the other clubs Rangers are another source of income and other clubs who can outvote Celtic want at that income, limiting Celtic’s power to make real change by official SPFL/ SFA processes. However if Rangers fail to get consecutive promotions the last thing DD will feel is despondency. He will be chortling over his ever mounting pot of gold ( as some see it) whilst expressing crocodile tears for Rangers.
Wisen up lads. Have another look at your core beliefs in deciding Celtic’s motives or attitude and ask yourself why, in light of the foregoing you still cling to them?
They must come from somewhere and I suspect that is a past memory of Celtic that has not moved with the times.
Live in Italy for most of the year – and the rest in Ayrshire – and I am also NOT a hun.
HH!!
Is Alan Thompson’s coaching role still to be filled, or have we actually taken a decision that we don’t need another coach?
Seems to me and remember I am an old bloke so my views may be a bit dated but what does it matter how many huns post on CQN ? as long as they follow the blog etiquette the many different views make the blog interesting.On there grasp of English to be honest my punctuation is not all it should be, there are many Celtic supporters that I know personally who are really poor at English but I would hope that would not put them off posting there point of view.I dont know if it is just joking all this chat about Grammar,punctuation or spelling or it is some type of blog snobbery? I think it is much more of a problem the way we Celtic supporters treat each other when we dont have the same point of view in my opinion at times on CQN it is out of order and shows many Celtic supporters in a bad light.H.H.