So are we surprised at last nights’ defeat? There’s some surprise that we scored three goals away from home, which if we count Moscow, is becoming a habit, if an incredibly lax one, but I’m less surprised we shipped four, again. Even at full strength, we are several players short of being able to play Ronny Deila’s high-energy pressing game, so when the squad is further depleted by rest, injury and the like, we cannot expect to play an expansive game and come away with a result.
Fortunately the outcome didn’t matter, but it will next time out in this competition. I’m very supportive of Ronny and think we have not even begun to see the real benefits of his work, but he got it wrong when he opened up a game which did matter in Warsaw. We’ll need to see if he decides to play this way, with many of these players, in the Round of 32. For then we either need to add appropriate players or change tactics.
There’s been a bit of chat on how attendance figures are reported. Football clubs report paid seat sales, which baselines attendance at season ticket sales, but the ‘bums on seats’ figure is usually far lower.
The showbiz side of the game will always want to report the higher figure: see – our fans are faithful through and through, and all that. Only Manchester United and Arsenal report higher average league attendance figures than Celtic in British football. This claim maybe reliant on ticket sales, but it is an important indicator of the size, and therefore potential of our club in the right environment. Not to mention the efforts many thousands go to in order to financially support the club, in sunshine or in shadow.
It was still somewhat refreshing to hear the new newco director inform the media that his club attracted less than 16,000 people for a recent home game. The cynic would point out that if newco fall into insolvency, the excuses are already established – fans are not as loyal as they claim, blame then, not their unfortunate execs.
Many thanks for all the feedback on the 2015 CQN Annual. You can order yours here, or get a special Annual-DVD bundle here.
As a special offer, everyone who buys an Annual, or bundle, before Christmas will be entered into a prize draw for a VIP Meal of 4 at a Celtic Park restaurant on a match day. One entry for each Annual bought; pile in.
Our friends Magners, who I increasingly think get what this club is all about, have offered us another pair of Premium Tickets for the Jock Stein Stand on Sunday. It’s a great way to watch football, especially on a winter’s day. To enter the competition, email me celticquicknews@gmail.com with the name of the team Celtic play on Sunday in the subject line of your message. Competition closes at 22:00 tonight, winners will be informed by email tomorrow, so check your inbox!
The deal I have with Magners is that when we make this offer, we ask you to consider making a £1 (or more) donation to our Mary’s Meals Appeal. We are working towards building a kitchen at Chibwata Priimary School in Dowa, Malawi, which has 909 pupils and does not have food preparation facilities.
With a kitchen – and Mary’s Meals providing food – they will be able to provide primary school kids with what is often their only square meal of the day. This work cuts infant mortality, improves school attendance by an average of 30%, and increases life chances exponentially.
No matter what you do today, this £1 will do things you cannot imagine. It will make your day worthwhile.
I’ll be out with my boys on the bucket collection for the Foundation before kick off on Sunday. If I’ve not coaxed your last £1 out of you, bring another one along to the game. The spirit of Celtic needs to take care of those in our own community, as well as in one of the world’s poorest countries.
Sorry for all the calls to action todaym in summary:
The Annual, with a VIP Meal for 4 competition.
The Magners’ competition, email celticquicknews@gmail.com
The Mary’s Meals £1.
See you at the bucket collection on Sunday!
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Lol.
Gary67 Jim Murphy is an excellent politician and I believe he has the ability to fix a broken labour party. If you firmly believe I’m social justice (as yes campaigners claimed whilst ignoring the fact that thenSNP were bribing us all) then you should be pleased about that.
But of course as Jim Murphy was instrumental in the no campaign then he is to be demonised. As he was during the independence campaign.
Take a long and hard look in the mirror.
It’s still wrong.
Great weather forecast though.
Murphy is my constituency MP. A good man and a hard worker.
I see the oil price is now $65 per barrel, barely more than half of what the SNP based their independence plans on.
Bullet well and truly dodged there…
Jim Murphy. Denim jaisket soup taking horrid hun singers acceptance person.
Aye that league cup final. Sitting two seats down from me.
Did he ever say anything about the bombs and bullets.
Did he
Maybe the bold Jim is out walking with his no mates.
Pass the flute
I didn’t realise how much of a hand up the tribute act where getting in the championship.
Winner of 3rd v 4th plays 2nd and the winner of that plays the 2nd last SPFL club.
I’m actually quite happy that they might need to play QoS and or Hibs prior to getting a bi against Killie.
Anyone who thinks Super Salary is daft isnae quite thinking.
He knows where the bodies are buried?
I think he is being manipulative as he absolutely can.
The fear ties still banging on even after winning the referendum.
Still scared.
Jim Murphy is a self serving Westminster career politician, the type who has turned off a huge section of people who previously voted Labour. He’s the Westminster party’s placeman and that’s the last thing they need in Scotland at the moment. They just do not get it. Scottish Labour need to break free from Milliband and his assorted clowns.
Gray, Lamont, Murphy, it’s a list worse than Hibs managers over the last few years.
As a constituent of Murphy he’s as useful as a chocolate teapot.
sixtaeseven @21.43 .
Partick Thistle 2 -Celtic 4 @ 12 12 64 .
I was there . A 5 minute walk from the hoose . One of the goals was a long distance screamer from Charlie Gallacher .. Game was played shortly after a 0-0 with Barcelona in that Inter Cities Cup thing . Masterclass in keep ball / pass and move from the excellent Koscis .
Jim Murphy – great Labour man – Great Tim
Forza Jim – Forza Celtic – Forza Labour – the ONLY party EVER to help the working people of this country.
Oh how deluded some of our CQNers are – myopic with short memories.
SNP who have voted with the Tories so many times – collaborated in coalition with the Tories…..and facilitated the rise and rise of Maggie.
YESNP – liars and Scotland’s shame!!!!
One for the medical types here.
I have had this flu type virus for nearly 10 days now and am only getting about 2% better each day.
Does anybody know if there’s something going around atm ?
I might get a cold once a year for a couple of days and that’s it but this is the worst I’ve ever had.
Higgie, a can visage you sitting there banging on they keys, chill mhan its way to early for ranting.
NegAnon2
Dont think I’m bullying the no voters I was just responding to Horrid Henry who launched into a morning tirade againgst the brave and intelligent yes voters.
Hopfully labour and the warmongering Murphy will get their a***s firmly booted in the coming elections.
Lol.
I ain’t.
I like a wee squeeze on the clowns noses.
pete,
look on the bright side, if it’s what I had you only have 20 to go. hang in there
It was 20 years ago today….
From the masterful NTV, a wee rewind back to the 90’s……
Brings back all kinds of conflicting emotions.
don’t look back in anger celtic in the 90s
season 94-95: part 5
(relax, we win this time).
The recovery from the 1994 League Cup final defeat was to be long and slow. McStay himself described his penalty miss as ‘the worst moment of my career’. The following Wednesday we played Hibs at Easter Road and the team ran out for the game to find the fans holding up a banner with the message ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone Paul’. The players seemed to respond – we were a goal up within a minute. But it didn’t last. With a cruel inevitability we conceded a penalty with only 10 minutes to go and the game finished 1:1.
The next two league fixtures were also drawn. A two goal advantage was thrown away against Motherwell. We had taken the lead thanks to a Willie Falconer wonder goal – and there’s four words you don’t see grouped together every day – and that was followed by a Tosh McKinlay cross that was helpfully punted into the net by a hapless ‘Well defender. After that Motherwell turned nasty and began kicking the ball towards our goal. The Sieve duly sprang into action and allowed former Celt Tommy Coyne to display his finishing prowess with two excellently taken goals.
Yet, for a four goal thriller the highlight of the game was still the sight of a Motherwell midfielder lining up to take a corner. Having placed the ball he began backing away while at the same time indicating where his corner would shortly be landing with all the pinpoint accuracy you would expect of a Motherwell player about to strike a dead ball. Concentrating on this he forgot to check his step and promptly disappeared backwards over one of the advertising boards. The name of this Chaplin-esque midfielder? One Paul Lambert.
That draw at Fir Park was followed by a hopeless 0:0 against Aberdeen where mild comas were the order of the day for the poor souls who gave up their Boxing Day to watch this lame excuse for a football match.
Between these games we played Liverpool as part of Ian Rush’s testimonial. The less said about a shocking 6:0 defeat the better.
New Year’s Eve brought a late present from Santa – a league win! Our first since September! Hallelujah! 1994 was bid good riddance along with Falkirk thanks to goals from Grant and Walker. Grant’s first half goal proved awkward given that the half-time quiz contained a question about the last time he’d scored.
The next fixture was approached with nothing short of terror. We were back at Ibrox. Not only were we back at the scene of Raithgate, but Rangers were also in the middle of a strong run, already 10 points clear at the top of the league. To make matters worse Celtic were without a number of players. Tosh McKinlay and Peter Grant were both injured and Tony Mowbray had far more serious matters to deal with. Three days previously his wife, Bernadette, had finally lost her five year long battle with cancer. In place of these stalwarts came Stuart Gray at left back, Brian McLaughlin on the left wing and Mike Galloway at right back. Included in the starting line up was Paul Byrne, who had faded almost completely from the first team since the last Old Firm game.
A serious gubbing was on the cards. The main concern was that, for all his capabilities distributing the ball, Brian O’Neil was still far too delicate for a centre half, not really able for the more robust side of that role. The game was something like 20 seconds old when O’Neil ploughed into Durie, nearly knocking him straight into the Govan stand. He had served notice that he was more than prepared to mix it.
This game was important because it was the first Old Firm game picked up live by the satellite TV broadcaster Sky. The whole nation would be watching, so it was doubly important that the Celts produce a performance. But the first 25 minutes did not go well. We just could not get out of our own half. Thanks largely to the outstanding Laudrup we were completely pinned back. Nevertheless, gradually the Hoops worked their way into the game. McLaughlin started to run at McLaren, and we even won a corner. Then the sucker punch was dutifully sucked. McCall knocked an innocuous high ball into the box. Stuart Gray made a feeble attempt to swing his left foot at it only for it to fall to the cloven hoof of Ion Fearguson and they were a goal ahead. It was a shocking goal to lose, and we lost it because Stuart Gray had no idea how to kick a football with his right foot.
The second half was a different story.The players emerged believing in themselves, passing the ball on the ground and running at their opponents with supreme confidence. Phil O’Donnell started making dangerous runs into the box and, most importantly of all, McStay took hold of the midfield. Some people will still try and peddle the myth that McStay was a ‘crab’, a player who only moved from side to side. These people should be banned from football grounds. One moment in this game perfectly sums up Paul McStay; he ran back to his defence and took the ball. Laudrup ran up in an attempt to win it. McStay feinted to go left and wheeled away to the right. Laudrup, completely wrong footed simply looked to the heavens, and the viewers on Sky heard Martin Tyler call the Maestro ‘the Rolls Royce of football’.
Our control of this game was now complete, and our equaliser duly arrived. Rangers’ defending had become increasingly desperate. Every player in blue was behind the ball and the only clearance being considered was the wild hack away. Gray collected one of these close to the dugouts on the halfway line. He slipped the ball to Collins who evaded a wild tackle, cut in and crossed to the far side of the box where Paul Byrne caught it perfectly with the outside of his right boot. The ball curled beautifully round the Rangers goalie and in to the far corner of the net. A brief Rangers flurry followed but, that apart, the game was ours. That we didn’t win was down to the greed of O’Donnell and Walker; both had chances to play in team mates, both decided to go it alone to no great effect. Infuriating in the extreme.
This left us a whopping 17 points behind Rangers.
I’ve no opinion on Jim Murphy (or rather I’ll keep it to myself). I merely note if you are attracting a smaller share of the vote than another party then you should find someone to lead you who might appeal to the other party voters… there’s more of them.
neg2.
I hate politix.
a guy I know, who sees through the sh!te, he voted Yes.
Jim really stepped in and helped him and his Family at a personal level. Bill has helped me on a personal level when Isolated.
NegAnon, If you have a political vision or if you believe passionately in an ideal such as Scottish Independence, you don’t just give up because you lose a vote. You continue to work within the democratic system to persuade those who previously disagreed with you.
I look forward to Scottish Independence in my lifetime, and if I’m still taking a peep at CQN at the time of the next vote, I look forward to seeing your name change to NegAnon says Aye.
Horrid Henry
What the unionists and their fellow self serving travelers thought would happen was SNP implosion and now all they talk about is the destruction of that party.
They failed.
Just as Obi Wan Kenobi told Darth Vader that by striking him down he would be more powerful than he could imagine so Alex Salmond has played his cards and now we see unionists on TELEVISION saying they wish he would just DIE. Yeah, they actually want him to die.
Classy.
More people got their eyes opened thanks to the referendum and the SNP (but not solely) and almost 100,000 people have ensured the party will survive for a long time yet.
2015 and 2016 are going to be very interesting.
If the polls are right, Labour face potential wipeout and the likes of Michael Kelly urging people to tactically vote to keep Alex Salmond out says it all.
The no vote may have won this time through fear and along age and class lines but Scotland has not gone back to bed as Labour wanted and that is what they cannot stand and their partnership with the Tories is not going to be forgotten quickly. No intelligent person believes the old Labour lie about voting for them to keep out the Tories anymore – history has proved it doesn’t work and they’ll get the biggest slap in the face of all time if they go to the red Tories in May.
Now we see the side who kicked the SNP for a decade or more about ‘letting Thatcher in’ advocating letting Tories and Lib Dems in to keep the SNP out even if it is to the detriment of the people of Scotland as it has been for the last 4 years.
You played that card yourself rather predictably.
The Labour party (Office Branch North Britain) are no longer driven by the things it was created for but for an irrational, willful and vindictive desire to kill the SNP because they had the audacity to govern Scotland instead of them and they want the parliament in Edinburgh to be more than grandiose talking shop where Labour administrations SEND MONEY BACK to Westminster because they couldn’t think what to do with it.
Scotland is breaking free of the mental shackles which have held its people back but it has not managed to break completely at present. That will take more time.
They eleceted Westminster’s boy.
Neg anon2
If you think Murphy was instrumental in anything apart from his bid for the leadership then you’re a trumpet.
They’ve elected a Blairite, career politician, a trident enthusiast, an Iraq War supporter and a man who supports no one but himself.
Sturgeon will deal with him easily.
He’s got the BBC and the others to trumpet his every lie and fake anti-SNP outrage, he’ll last a bit longer than Lamont but he’s London Labour’s man in Scotland.
Already I can hear the but he’s a Celtic man pish.
He went to the banks for Rangers BEFORE the SNP said a thing about it.
Funny how that never gets moaned about.
I AM DELIGHTED they have been stupid enough to elect that man. He will be more of the same while saying he is not like those other leaders.
He says there wil not be another referendum in his lifetime – wanna bet Jim?
Petec that’s the sad thing about the referendum. It has left a divided nation and very bitter emotions between what should be friends.
Electing him is like a one armed man hanging from a cliff for dear life then deciding to scratch his A***.
These closed minded no voters should look across to our neighbors Norway and compare the standard of living between them and Scotland. Scotland could and should be enjoying a similar standard of living. Why anyone would want to be part of the London centered Westminster set-up is beyond me.
People didn’t vote yes because they wanted more shortbread. The snp may well have had designs on a control after the yes vote via a Christian Democratic Party but their success on ge 18th sept was underpinned by a traditional labour vote. It was only the self interested labour party members and brainwashed that would not take a sensible option.
Your telling me the likes of Jim Murphy wouldn’t have gone for leader had it been a yes? Give me peace.
This contry badly needs to find a way to fund public services to bridge the poverty gap. Control from west monster will only result in that gap widening. Unless the Smith commission and a sensible Labour Party can harness the lessons of the 18th of Sept we are facing a poverty holocaust.
Corkcelt I completely agree. I would not expect independence campaigners to give up. But instead of using the energy to answer questions on currency etc etc what we see is childish anger towards no voters, treating us with contempt and mad rants like horrid Henry.
A friend of mine is now an ex friend. He was a passionate independence supporter and had been for years. We had many debates where I like to think we both learned a lot. However shortly before the vote he started telling me I was just like the Orange order. Needless to say I took exception and we habpvent spoken since.
I feel bad about it but what worries me is how quickly people abandoned any semblance of thought for blind patriotism.
That continues to this day.
Scotland may vote for independence but it should be done when we have answers to all the hard questions and know what we are getting into. All the pretence about oil funds and having no debt and keeping the pound and the monarchy etc all needs to be dealt with seriously.
Until then it’s all brave heart nonsense.
dontbrattbakkinanger
10:17 on 13 December, 2014many happy returns to wee Taylor Swift.I probably spend too much time thinking about her for my own good…
i’m sure you will shake it off….
hat,coat,gloves,scarf…
petethebeat
Don’t buy any LPs.
Snake, no offence but your analysis is ludicrous.
For a start, the SNP were in alliance with the Tories when they were a minority government. They relied on Tory votes to pass their budgets.
Funny how that has been conveniently forgotten, eh?
As for Queen Nicola’s stadium tour… They are playing you, my friend. Think about it.
Sturgeon ran the Yes campaign. She and Salmond chose the timing, the question, changed the franchise. At a time of a deeply unpopular (southern) Tory government, and with the Liberals (traditionally a strong voice in Scotland) deeply compromised, they had everything in their favour to win their own referendum.
Despite all these advantages they failed, miserably, persuading only 37% of the electorate to put a cross in the Yes box.
In those circumstances, you would expect the leader of that campaign to be facing some pretty strident questions. But the SNP didn’t want that, so they immediately created this impression that they had “won”.
The stadium tour, the tartan foam fingers and ludicrous Saltire-waving are the political equivalent of forcing your people to drink vats and vats of Kool Aid.
Look at the shiny lights, people, whatever you do, don’t ask any questions of the leadership! We are the 45! The future is ours! Whooooo!
Stunned that so many of you are falling for it. Then again, looking at the fantasies of the White Paper, maybe I shouldn’t be…
Have a goooooooooooood day all whether you be yae or nae
as Tims we need to be united
If Murphy is based in Scotland now,at least we will save on his £180,000 a year Westminster expenses…..
Bamboo now you are getting silly. Instead of shouting at no voters why don’t you get on with answering the hard questions?
The Labour Party are now an irrelevance in Scotland. Never thought I’d ever be able to say that.
tom mclaughlin
11:21 on 13 December, 2014
The Labour Party are now an irrelevance in Scotland. Never thought I’d ever be able to say that.
Correct. Sad but true.
Tom,
i like a wee disagreement with yourself, but on your last line i am 100% with you.
now can we find something to fall out about.
Bamboo I think horrid Henry has somewhat lost the plot. As indeed has snake (never thought I’d see myself saying that). But patriotism makes fools of us all, including me.
Cowdenbeath v Hearts postponed due to the SPFL not wanting the most competitive league in the world to have a team 12 points clear.