Astra started their season on a historical high, eliminating Lyon from European competition, but their 8 games since August have brought five defeats, two draws and a solitary win against opponents currently 14th place in the Romanian league.
On paper this sounds as straightforward as previous European ties did against teams from Karagandy or Maribor but as we found out on those occasions, European ties are seldom straightforward.
The cynic in me suggests there is more going on at Astra than meets the eye. Any team who can win in Lyon would be heavy odds against shipping three goals in the cup to lower league opponents a few weeks later, which Astra did. They then turned up away to league leaders Steaua Bucharest to keep their only clean sheet since August. Another coupon buster.
Astra, it would seem, are a gift to those who bet outsiders. They are long odds tomorrow, so I’d caution against backing Celtic for a comfortable win. The visitors will apply themselves, just as they did earlier this month against Salzburg, who won by a single goal.
The Celtic books we have published in recent years have been a real labour of love. After a biography of Willie Wallace and a football journey from Tommy Gemmell, we published your story of Seville, a record of its impact on the Celtic Movement.
Today we launch Caesar & the Assassin, the accounts of Billy McNeill and Davie Hay as Celtic managers, told in their own words. It documents the period of our history from when Billy took over from Jock Stein in 1978, through to the end of his era 13 years later, including Davie Hay’s four years in charge.
Most of us lived experienced that period first-hand but it has been an absolute education to read about the games and events which we watched as spectators from the managers in charge. It’s the best CQN book yet.
The first batch of orders will receive a copy signed by Billy and Davie, more here.
If you fancy watching Sunday’s game against Kilmarnock in comfort…….. We have secured another pair of Premium Seat tickets for the Jock Stein Stand from Celtic sponsor Magners. To win the tickets answer the following question:
Which country do Thursday’s opponents FC Astra come from?
Optionally, if you have £1 available, please donate it to Mary’s Meals at this MyDonate page, which will send your £1 straight to Mary’s Meals, then send me your contact details (with or without donation confirmation) to celticquicknews@gmail.com
Competition closes tonight (Wednesday) at 10pm, so get your entries in now and watch your inbox Thursday morning. You can donate more than £1 if you like, of course. Terms and conditions are available here.
688 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- ...
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
- 16
- 17
- 18
- 19
- »
D D
Extra prayer at vespers tonight!!!
Marrakesh express
Don’t get me started on them……
Only joshin, love the Fab Four also.
DD, only kidding:)
I know the feeling Christmas wise, when the kids were younger it was a nightmare making sure they didn’t miss out.
Thank god they are older now and realise how much stress it puts people under.
I’ll catch up for a beer well before then with you and hopefully Petec. HH
ohits
Snap! What was I thinking, (when I was sitting there thinking), relying on Juventus?
And I backed off one of the great CL teams of recent times, Borussia Dortmund!
Apologies if previously posted and also the length, but an excellent article.
+++++++
What draws English fans to Dortmund?
15 October 2014 Updated 01:16
By Ben Smith – BBC Sport
‘In Germany, the fan is king’
Borussia Dortmund’s slogan “echte liebe” – or “true love” – says it all. The final whistle goes at the majestic Westfalenstadion. Dortmund have lost at home.
And yet none of the players disappear down the tunnel. None of the fans leave the ground. Defiant, determined, the 25,000 fans who religiously flock to the mythical south stand continue to serenade their team.
Manager Jurgen Klopp joins his players on the edge of the penalty area, where they stand for five minutes in awe, gazing up at one of European football’s great sights, the “Gelbe Wand” (Yellow Wall), a sea of luminous shirts, scarves and flags. Towers of smoke rise from pockets of fans and waves of noise cascades down the steep terrace and onto the players.
This love is unconditional.
Moments such as this are why Dortmund are one of the last great romantic clubs. The tickets – and beer – are cheap, the atmosphere is raw and seductive and fans, not finance, come first.
When Dortmund reached the 2013 Champions League final, the club received 502,567 applications for 24,042 tickets. The entire city has a population of 580,956. True love, indeed.
Football is all encompassing here, it reaches ever facet of life. One fan even leaves the club shop having just bought a Borussia Dortmund-branded lawn mower. The chance to experience this love affair is attracting more than 1,000 fans from England to every home match.
The scene in the Westfalenstadion after Dortmund’s defeat by Hamburg
It is a scarcely believable figure, but walk around the stadium and British accents are audible among the 80,000 at Signal Iduna Park. “We jump on the Channel Tunnel train,” says Matthew Gerrard, from Kent.
“We make a weekend of it. With tickets, accommodation, transport, this trip will cost £65. When you think it cost me £51 to see the Arsenal game last season, you can see the benefits.”
Another group soaking up the beer and bratwurst outside the stadium are wearing Stoke shirts, while there are also fans from Aston Villa, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Port Vale. When you discover that the majority of Dortmund’s 55,000 season-ticket holders have paid an average of £9 to see this match, this influx begins to make perfect sense.
Jack, a Chelsea fan, is here with two of his friends from London.
“Prices are too high in England,” he says. “But here, everything is cheap. It’s a better experience for the fan and the atmosphere is incredible.”
Dortmund are increasingly aware of the English invasion. The club has even begun to conduct stadium tours in English. “It’s amazing,” says marketing director Carsten Cramer. “It’s always nice when English fans tell me that including the cost of a flight, two beers and a ticket, they do not pay more than a match in England.
“Why are tickets cheap? Football is part of people’s lives and we want to open the doors for all of society. We need the people, they spend their hearts, their emotions with us. They are the club’s most important asset.”
It is a phrase that many clubs use, but two stories demonstrate why it is, perhaps, far more than words here in Dortmund. In recent months, the club’s caterers asked them to increase beer prices for the first time in three years. But Dortmund said no.
“What is the economic sense for the club to increase the price by 10 cents?” Cramer added. “For the overall economic success of the club it is not important to increase the price of a litre of a beer. It is still money, but not a lot to the club. But it does affect our fans, if they are spending their money match after match.”
The Gelbe Wand/The Yellow Wall
Bayern Munich and Germany midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger was recently asked whether he feared Dortmund’s players or their manager, more. He responded by saying: “It is the Yellow Wall that scares me the most.” The sudtribune, or south stand, has the capacity to assault the senses with its raw passion and noise. More than 25,000 people stand on the terrace during Bundesliga games. For European games, safe standing rails are replaced by seats.
Puma, the club’s shirt manufacturer, also urged them to increase the price of the kit after three seasons at the same figure. Dortmund, once again, said no.
“We try to be as fair as possible. It is easier to ask sponsors for cash than the fans,” Cramer says.
Dortmund plan to introduce free wifi to all fans inside the stadium from January. Other clubs are doing the same, but not quite in the way that Dortmund are.
While the club want to encourage fans to engage with them online, order food and send tweets, once the match starts, they want their fans to put their phones down, use their hands to clap, their eyes to watch and the voices to sing.
And to ensure that remains the case, the club are discussing plans to dip the wifi signal once the match begins. Supporting the team is the be all and end all.
Borussia Dortmund have the highest average attendance in the world
It is why Dortmund do not sell drinks in their corporate boxes during the game. It is why the stadium announcer demands fans return to their seats in time for the start of the second half. The club could allow fans to spend more money buying food and drink. But not at Dortmund.
“We are a football club,” Cramer adds. “If the football doesn’t run properly, the rest of the business would not work. The business is part of a train, but not the engine.”
Cramer arrives in the room having spent much of the past 15 minutes on the phone to a fan with a complaint – yes, they do exist.
“It is important that the fans know that their concerns are being listened to, that as a club we have a feeling for what they want,” he says.
“Our CEO is in a deep conversation with the fans, we have five guys who just work for our supporters. Our fans know we care about what they think.”
Dortmund fan Marc Quambusch, from Kein Zwanni (external) (Not Twenty), a supporter campaign to keep tickets cheap, admits he is proud of what Dortmund has become, having grown up looking to England as the home of football’s soul.
Dortmund stats – the club:
Season ticket holders: 55,000
Waiting list for season ticket: 30,000
Stadium capacity: 80,645
Average home attendance: 80,291 (highest in the world)
Number of fans attending in 2013-14 season: 1.855 million
“When I was young, we all watched English football, the Kop and said ‘yes, that is what football is all about’,” he says.
“Now, when we go to English football, the stadiums are quiet and we say that it is actually quite boring. If you price people out, you change the atmosphere. If you price people out, it isn’t the people’s game anymore.”
Dortmund’s fervent atmosphere is the envy of Europe but it is not there by accident.
The club keeps prices low precisely to ensure all areas of society are represented in the crowd. There is no such thing as the ‘prawn sandwich brigade’ (external) in these parts.
“Prices are also going up here and have gone up in recent seasons. But Dortmund is one of the homes of fan culture now, every type of person in this city can afford to go to the stadium,” Quambusch adds.
“Not just the old people or the rich. That isn’t the case in England.”
It is important to remember this is a club run by the fans, for the fans. The Bundesliga’s (external) “50% plus one” rule requires clubs to be owned by their members. All but three of the 36 Bundesliga clubs are owned or controlled by their members, with Wolfsburg, Bayer Leverkeusen and Hoffenheim the exceptions.
It is a model that is the envy of many in Europe, especially when it is so successful, as Dortmund have been since 2010, winning two Bundesligas and reaching the Champions League final.
“You have to find your own way,” Cramer says. “I am not that arrogant to think that our way might be the right way for all clubs.
Visit the Price of Football calculator to see how much you spend supporting your team.
“This way fits to the core values of our club. We are a very, very down to earth club.
“If you know what your club stands for, it helps you know how to act. But I could put the figures to other clubs and say there you go. It is the Dortmund way, and for us, it is most certainly the right way.”
The Dortmund model may not, though, be as attractive for those clubs determined to make money above all else. The amount of money Arsenal generate on match days dwarfs those of the German club, despite having 20,000 less seats.
“This is impressive,” Cramer added. “But if we were to ask for prices like this, we would lose the people. And the people are one of the most important assets for our club.”
English fans will continue to flock to this unglamorous corner of Germany. It is an intoxicating experience, it is cheap and the football is among the best in Europe. What is not to like? Perhaps it is that Germany reminds English football fans of something they think the game in this country has forgotten.
Modern football may be the land of the sporting superstar, but in Germany the fan is king.
Related to this story
‘In Germany, the fan is king’
Ticket prices outstrip cost of living
Price of Football calculator 2014
How many pies pay for Falcao’s wage?
About the price of football calculator
Featured in this story
Uefa (external)
Sipsini
Fancy a pint post match on Sunday?
If the Ayrshire wrong wans show?
So when and where is the Belfast gig happening?
B-)
Foghorn
Copy and paste that and send it to him…..an while yer at it, tell him “roon ye” fae me :-)
Bhoylo83
22:20 on
22 October, 2014
So when and where is the Belfast gig happening?
—————————
You tell us …you’re organising it.
bhoylo83
22:20 on 22 October, 2014
St. Valentine’s Day next year, you’ve answered the where…:)
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
Dallas
I made that very point to a tim workmate from Clarkston today.
He suggested that people from the leafy suburbs tend not to get caught up in the bigotry culture. I said that growing up in Castlemilk with a 50-50 split of mates meant that I didnt encounter real bigotry till I started work. The Mearns and Clarkston to my knowledge did not have an RC school until the 70s, could be wrong though. What they did have though were bowling, golf and tennis clubs where Catholics were like hens teeth.
For me its a myth that the bigot culture is fostered in the socially deprived areas. Its probably more institutionalised and upheld in the suburbs. Plenty of the suits in Milan that night singing banned songs would have went home to run businesses and live in Whitecraigs.
Now Larkhall, thats another story.
HT
Not at all, it’s his blue eyes an Northumberland charm….
Wumin urnae that shallow !!!
Got to say that in case my missus Ernie Lynch is lurkin ;-)
Pedro
Wee ratty will be quiet for a few weeks till the pool or villa or whomever he’s supporting
win a game.
fek the wee liar.
Ah
A Valentine’s Day Massacre on the cards then
Im a Derry man (although lived in Belfast for a number of years) but i dont think the hallions on here would last 5 mins in the establishments i would frequented..
B-)
For anyone who did not read my post in the Morning. After yesterday’s leader I was almost hundred percent sure rumours about Polish player from Dundee involved in assault on Zaluska were not true.
I decided to check it.
Not 99,9 percent sure. I’m 100 percent sure. Polish player from Dundee was not there and the accident had nothing to do with Legia or Legia v Celtic competition. Can’t say more.
Zybszek
Received a call from Oldtim.
Hope things work out and soon…
much ratcatcherness,
much much ratcatcherness
BT
Yes, I asked him to inform you. Thank you both.
naw
i got that wrong
its
muchratcatcherLESSness
baws man
VP
His posts on Saturday were shocking, but I did laugh when he said : that’s it, I’m off finished wi this blog, no even gonnae lurk, there are better blogs….then proceeded to post choons for about an hour or so….
Total Lon Chaney.
marrakesh express
22:26 on 22 October, 2014
Bigotry in whitecraigs? Shooorly not. Definitely no Jews allowed in the golf club.
som mes que un club,
I read the link last week, but it is always worth a repost.
The Dortmand board seem to understand their fans a lot more than our board. Yes, they do get a lot from tv revenue and can afford to subsidise the tickets, to a certain extent I suppose our board do too.
Maybe, the time of the season book mentality is coming to an end… The standing areas would bring back supporters that meet up and rather than stand in a pub having banter, stand with their mates at the game.
Some season book supporters will see the buy one get one free that the board has adopted, as a slap in the face, I can see were they are coming from, but personally I understand it’s the only way some can afford to take their family to watch Celtic.
Anyways, 2-0 tomorrow.
Winning captains
22:09 on 22 October, 2014
Bournemouth you say? :-)
Pedro67
You smooth talking, silver tongued devil!!
Zbyszek @ 21.55
I was referring to your post………
zbyszek
20:58 on 21 October, 2014
I may have got the wrong end of the stick and have learned your post may have been in jest
However it would appear from other forums that the players may have been out celebrating the birthday of the Legia Ultra that you mention. Some posters go as far as saying he may be one of the assailants
As it is…..it’s all conjecture what has been posted on here and in other forums
Well done to all the -2rs :)) especially Bada Bing who flagged it up on Sunday after watching Liverpool struggle against QPR,
Good night all
1hr 25 mins till the Hooooooooooooops K.O.
anytype of win will do but hopefully a good show thrown in
Sipsini
Fair point.
The major selling point of recent times was CL qualification and the fact you “Guaranteed” your seat at these games providing you had a season book.
You are quite correct in that many don’t see the benefit now, more so if BOGOF is the next move.
Liverpool should go get the current Bournemouth keeper.
The holy goalie has been playing well.
FFS 21hrs :((
new keyboard required me thinks :))))
Night all Night wee Oscar my hero. God bless x x
1 hr 25 mins???? Jings is better leave now Leftie :-)
marrakesh express,
Spot on mate, like yourself, it wasn’t until I went to work that i came across bigotry and by feck, I had to learn quick.
I found the older bigots were the worst, they couldn’t comprehend a catholic getting an apprenticeship.
leftclicktic
22:42 on 22 October, 2014
See you in the Scrapyard about 18:30
Until we meet again…
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
Bhoylo
Sussed the flights to Belfast. Just need a Belfast cheap bed, unless it is a Scottish invasion of 24 Hour Party Tims?
Righty ho ghuys, had a long and tiring day. Cot is calling. See you “usuals” at the corner tomorrow night. Night Night Timland. KTF.
Weefra HH praying to Wee Osca.
When I was looking for work many moons ago, I bought a permanent marker and coloured in the bit of skin between my eyebrows….bingo, got a job nae bother !!
Marrakesh Express
21:53 on
22 October, 2014
Pedro
Just as well you didnt mention the Beatles. I”ve have been roon at yer hoose.
————-
now here is a question – who did the 4 four support
who did best support ?
and who did cilla and bobby support ?
and given the docu drama on miss white were they divided on religious grounds ?
interested to know
DD,
I’ll more than likely take the car on Sunday as I’ll be going with my daughter.
Plenty more nights ahead. HH
leftclicktic-cheers,Hull 15/2 at Anfield on Saturday.Will try Celtic -3 @ 14/1 tomorrow,might get a few if we can score early.