I could make the case that Kilmarnock were better against Celtic on Sunday than Hearts were, when the latter won 4-0 at Tynecastle last year. At Rugby Park, Celtic failed to retain possession to anything like an adequate level. The nuances of the pitch were known in advance, I don’t buy it as an excuse.
Players seemed over-anxious to get rid of the ball, most often by sending it forward to players who didn’t have the space necessary to retain possession. A large part of our conventional system relies on passing and movement from central defence. The early loss of Boyata, then Ajer, did Celtic more damage than the pitch.
You know that ominous feeling you get when media and many in the game are uniting behind a candidate for a top job, before the job is even advertised? Leeann Dempster might be the best administrator in Hibs’ and Motherwell’s recent history, but that is modest claim to fame. The job of CEO at the SFA should go through a conventional recruitment process.
As for BBC news this morning that the SFA are considering Walter Smith* as national team manager, a man who walked out on his contract halfway through a qualifying campaign for a club job! This tells you all you need to know about football in Scotland.
*and I didn’t even mention his EBT, because no one ever mentions “Walter’s” EBT, that would just embarrass the man. It must be like a sketch of Monty Python whenever he walks into a room of journalists. Would love to know what it was for……
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ALMORE
Defo looking for a Derry hoot in June,if it suits enough people. I’ll try to get a mail sent out tomorrow and Wednesday to likely interested people.
Pretty sure there’s a bus AND a rail link from Belfast International,so should be fairly straightforward. Might be a bit more difficult from Dublin,bit of a hike!
ALMORE. stand corrected hh.
BIG PACKY on 5TH FEBRUARY 2018 9:33 PM
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS. close bobby it was brian faulkner.hh.
* whata bout carson who was educated at Portarlington School, Wesley College, Dublin, and Trinity College, Dublin, where he read law and was an active member of the College Historical Society. He also played with the college hurling team. Carson graduated BA and MA later admitted “What a fool I was! I was only a puppet, and so was Ulster, and so was Ireland, in the political game that was to get the Conservative Party into Power”.
CLUMPS
Jee-zoh,Smith looks like he’s having an unexpected wet fart.
FU
Thumbs up in Philvis way…
Did manage Celtic game at 7.30 Saturday morning then down to Philadelphia memorial to Irish fame(?sent HT a pic)
Also wee Scottish memorial next th Irish 1
What a fab weekend just proves why I can’t do The full week..
I took 4 bottles of Bucky over to expats
I was their pal for the weekend gg
TONTINETIM
It wasn’t The Irish Free State at the time. Trick question!!!
Conte’s days are numbered.
BLANTYRETIM
They’ll let Bucky in,but bar a decent haggis?
Nutters.
Taxi for Conte, send for Warbiola…
Is an improvement in points gained year-by-year a realistic expectation or a reliable indicator of form or success in the nnext season?
Our 9iar years
1965/66- 57pts won by 2
66/67- 58pts won by 3
67/68- 63pts won by 2
68/69- 54pts won by 5
69/70- 57pts won by 12
70/71- 56pts won by 2
71/72- 60pts won by 10
72/73- 57pts won by 1
73/74- 53pts won by 4
74/75- 45pts lost by 11 – finished 3rd
All these leagues were played with 18 teams and Rangers finished 2nd on 6 occasions, Aberdeen twice (1971 and 1972- their centenary year with a big transfer spend) and Hibs once (1974). Rangers finished 3rd in 1974 and increased their points by 8 pts in their 1975 title win, whereas we had dropped by the same amount, giving a 16 point swing.
In achieving our biggest points haul in 1968(63 pts) we won by a mere 2 points. Our lowest total in 1974(53 pts) saw the league won by double that amount. Our winning margin was narrow in titles 1-3 inclusive, and in 71 and 73, yet we won each of the next titles by an increased margin (with the exception of between 67 and 68).
The point is that, looking at our points total, or our winning gap, in isolation, gives no indication of how easy or how hard the next title race will be. Other more subjective factors (loss of hunger, loss of key players, managerial upheaval, improvement on opposing teams, inprovement in opposing managers, and an aging team that goes to the well once too often) are better but less tangible and measurable indicators. Such explanations are usually proferred only in hindsight when the smoke has cleared.
For anybody who saw 1975 coming, there would have been 10 times more predicting a lost league in 1969 or 1972 or 1973. Those predictions , based on the gap between our rivals, proved unreliable. Similarly, our low points totals in 1969 and 1971did not result in a lost title the following year but the low total in 1974 did. One out of 3 does not a reliable indicator make.
Just joined the thread an BMCUWP is calling out the Mod again….leave it M…..he/she’s no worth it….;-))
OT67, great to meet up again on Fri….same to Richie, Lennybhoy & J…..for the life of me…..I can’t remember leaving the pub…..great memories of hanging about Central for a train…..ooerrr missus…..then blank again till I was on my couch wae a Chinese…..curry ;-))……a blame autopilot….nephew says it’s cause am a lightweight ;-))
FTSFA
H.H.
4-1 now!
THETIMREAPER
Something wrong with that club. Been rotten to the core for too long,the constant-ownership aside-must be the culture in the dressing room.
Bobby: I will walk five hundred miles to FREE Derry:-)
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on 5TH FEBRUARY 2018 9:49 PM
Conte is barely recognisable from the maniac on the touchline we saw last season, he’s chucked it and he’s a dead man walking. Can only assume he doesn’t have the final say on transfers as they haven’t half signed some dross. The Club is rotten.
SETTINGFREETHEBEARS
2 points and 34 games a season. Total available is 68 points.
3 points and 38 games a season. Total available is 114 points.
Therefore you need to adjust all those figures up by 2/3 for a decent comparison. And in none of our 9iar seasons would we have got an average points tally as low as we currently have.
Ps. hope they dont recall Chaly in the summer (:
ALMORE any views on gerry fitt.hh.
Chelski’s biggest mistake the night was equalising, always had a soft spot for Watford but preferred the Toffees in the ’84 Cup Final. Cannae believe I supported a team with 2 bluenose strikers against a team that allegedly had 2 Tim ones, well big George Reilly was one.
THELURKINTIM
Where?
Hello again all you young rebels.
A terrific day spent with BIGYINMILAN in Melbourne, so heartwarming
to hear of things that are going on in the background with Celtic and a
lot of nostalgia when recounting ” the auld days ” it got me thinking on
the train home about stories my wee da used to tell when i was a kid.
He was fond of a wee tale or two and he told me that back in the day
they used to have carrier pigeons ( homers ) they took to all the away
grounds which they sent flying back to Glasgows main news centres with
the latest scores etc. and on one particular occasion after extolling the
prowess of the late great Jimmy McGrory’s heading ability in the last
minute of a game against Falkirk at Brockville the bird was sent flying home
with what was meant to be the full time result when after a last second
corner with a tremendous leap Jimmy sent the ball and the poor bird crashing
into the net and a win for the Celts.
Wide eyed and astonished that anybody could be that good it was down to
the backcourt of the old tenements and spent the rest of the day trying
to header the wee sparrows that were roosting on the wimmens washing
lines.
Oh the innocence of youth (8-))
Can anybody verify the bit about the news pigeons or was my wee da away
with the birds? (8-))))
H.H Mick
Not long home from the Fans Forum, A decent discussion, some good work being done behind the scenes helping disabled fans, improving facilities and such like. Quite a lengthy discussion on ticketing, nothing new or unexpected discussed or planned. The Season Ticket strategy was mentioned for 18/19, nothing confirmed either way but got the feeling from the information provided that the price will get nudged up a little. We shall see.
Almore
Carson was definitely educated in Dublin but there was no NI Prime Minister role for him- he had other positions
BMCUW,
flights from Glasgow to Derry for under £100 in June
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on 5TH FEBRUARY 2018 9:45 PM
TONTINETIM
It wasn’t The Irish Free State at the time. Trick question!!!
*when I applied for Irish citizenship I spoke with a lassie at the consulate in Ottawa, I explained that my granny was born in Connemara and there was difficulty in obtaining a birth certificate (this is a requirement), unfortunately my grampa was born over the border in Fermanagh, the response was “as far as we’re concerned there is no border”, she gave me the address in Dublin for his birth certificate which I still have.
TTR- Ancelotti lined up for Chelsea gig seemingly
Silver City 1888,
110%…..yer demanding afterburners…..if Killie beat us and we played at 100% I’d be concerned…..if we played/had our 1st 11….on that *cough* pitch and still lost….I’d be concerned….we move on…..
H.H.
!!BADA BING!! on 5TH FEBRUARY 2018 10:06 PM
TTR- Ancelotti lined up for Chelsea gig seemingly
——–
What, Murtinho not in the frame??
GORDYBHOY64
The momentum’s building!!!
Will Conte be sacked tonight? Abramovic does not do failure.
terence oneil ,.hh.you would think one of us no way Like all Prime Ministers of Northern Ireland, he was a member of the Orange Order.
Jeebus,
Readin/posting pages 1 & 5…..BMCUWP…..3rd past the post…..agree Moderation on here has got a bit over-zealous…..not oor baw, not oor rules….;-))
H.H.
BMCUW
“Therefore you need to adjust all those figures up by 2/3 for a decent comparison. And in none of our 9iar seasons would we have got an average points tally as low as we currently have.”
I think you have missed my point.
It does not matter if I prorate the current figures by 3/2 or not ( you would in fact only pro-rate the games won as it is still one point for a draw in both eras so you should not pro-rate those points anyway).
All that is moot anyway as what I was showing was that low points total then was not a reliable indicator that a title was about to be lost. Therefore, there is no reason to suspect that it will be now.
You could just as well look at the Rangers 9iar (when 3 points were available for a win) and see if there was any correlation between their winning gaps over 2nd placed teams or the lowness of their totals in predicting the league loss of 1997/98, when we won by 2 points. You can do the donkey work on the complete 9 seasons ( I don’t care to re-visit that time) but I would note that we got fewer points in winning in 1998 than we did in losing in 1997. Was it a poorer team under Wim or were they better because they prevailed? I say the latter as you can only beat what is in front of you. That is why our original 9iar is so great because, regardless of how hard or easy our wins were, we were beating European class teams in Rangers, Hibs, Dunfermline and Killie (and the rest of the league were not bad either).
!!BADA BING!! on 5TH FEBRUARY 2018 10:06 PM
TTR- Ancelotti lined up for Chelsea gig seemingly
——–
He’ll be gone by the weekend.
Big Packy: Gerry Fitt seemed to be a good public representative prior to The Troubles from what I have read. I was in my teens when the 1980 Hunger Strike began and as a representative for West Belfast he did not represent the views of the majority of his local community which is why he lost his Westminster seat eventually to Gerry Adams.
I’ve no doubt he meant well as a politician but he angered his community by not supporting the prisoners’ demands for political status.
Off to mo leaba. Will check back in the morning.
Carpet sweeper required apply within.
TriggersbroomSFA.
Anyone betting on an open honest fair and just administrator being remotely considered?
Tontine Tim , at 10.04.
My maternal grandad was a Fermanagh man from Pettigo . Unfortunately he passed away before I was born so didnt know him.
Well done to our under 20 team beating St Johnstone 3 nil in the youth cup game today.