A look at the fixture list will not provide immediate comfort, we have away trips to Sparta and Milan ahead in the next 10 days, both of whom won comfortably at Celtic Park earlier in the campaign. The principle positive is that after the team arrive home in the early hours of 4 December, the farthest we travel from Glasgow for the rest of the month is the 10 miles to Hamilton.
We have a meaningless home game against Lille on 10 December and the Scottish Cup Final 10 days later, but that Hamilton game is the only league match in five away from Celtic Park. This will be our least taxing month of the league campaign. It is an opportunity to get things right ahead of the Ibrox visit on 2 January, but as we saw with Newco last season, even easy looking games can result in defeats when the heads are down.
If arrive at Ibrox solid in defence, controlling I midfield with an additional 15 points and a fourth consecutive Scottish Cup win, it is game on again, but I doubt any of us are complacent about those 15 points.
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Uly
I think most teams would prefer to possess the ball to a greater extent, but there are ways to win without it.
There was no “rope-a dope” master tactician move from Jack Ross; it was Celtic players who controlled the ball and Hibs players who could not get it off them as they would have liked to. It does not serve the legitimate argument (that Celtic are not playing well enough) any better to see our excellent play as “just what we should expect”, or our good play as mediocre and our bad play as disastrous.
Ryan Christie, who played in the game, feels much the same as I did and most contemporary commentators did i.e- we were well on top but it was not reflected in the scoreline.
Jack Ross and the Hibs rode out this period of pressure and struck first with a soft, but justifiable penalty, caused by the cuteness of Boyle and the rashness of Scott Brown. That changed the game, as goals always do. Lots of posts appeared claiming that they saw this coming but they came from people who had failed to predict it ahead of the event.
But , all that analysis of what happened first or what happened when is just so much fluff. In the end, it was 2 dropped points and 2 points we could not afford to drop.
We can indulge ourselves in fantasies of Pocchetino or Benitez – they’re no coming.
We can cause ourselves angst about the threat of O’Neill and/or Strachan returning but these are short term measures.
I haven’t given up on 10 but I recognise the enormity of what lies ahead.
I hope there are still a few clear heads around CP who can do the right thing, based on the information they can see that we cannot.
Aff oot for an hour
SETTING FREE THE BEARS FOR RES. 12 & OSCAR KNOX on 23RD NOVEMBER 2020 12:46 PM
dearie dearie
You do realise that both statements can be true, don’t you?
I know one thing it’s definitely not yours.
ah weel…..time to get the finger oot…bit of work to be done …..nice of the Huns to rip up the Dandys before our final….lovely quadruple treble to look forward to…
smiley no titles decided in November thing
Braw
smiley bedwetters do what they do…much like the scorpion and the frog thing
come on the Celtic …..win lose or draw
DB- I agree with you, yet an extraordinary achievement is 90 minutes away.
So, in your world, Boyle did not jump into Brown’s path?
I’ll leave the video to decide
A nearly perfect summation of total head-in-the-sand thinking, dripping with complacency, avoiding the real issues, deflecting from the actual problems facing the club in the here and now. For all those who were hoping for a change in the dugout this week – or at least prior to Prague – you can stop indulging in that thinking, because this is it. Cross our fingers that December is not a catastrophe.
I said the other week after we beat Motherwell than any euphoria at that result would be entirely misplaced, and I can only repeat that here. If we somehow scrape through December without conceding points we will nevertheless go to Ibrox 14 behind them if they keep on winning.
The real catastrophe will be waiting for us there, under this manager.
The longer we put off what has to be done the more likely it is that we’ll do it too late … the end of December is waaaay too late with that game looming on 2 January. This club is floundering. Lennon has lost control of this … we’re a runaway train pounding towards disaster.
Consider this Word Of God. No decision on Lennon until things are worse.
I actually laughed just then writing that. Until things are worse.
Jesus Christ, what a mess.
ffs sake we have the wee Hearts …
hahahahaha
Braw
A thread we should all read, Swiss Rambles in depth analysis of Celtics finances.
https://twitter.com/SwissRamble/status/1330769256947048449
https://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/we-are-always-going-to-keep-fighting-christie/
the irony ryan, the irony
a guy who falls over as soon as an opponent comes anywhere near him is talking about fighting
as was said in an earlier post- we have the softest team in the league
‘If we arrive at Ibrox ”solid in defence, controlling I midfield” with an additional 15 points and a fourth consecutive Scottish Cup win, it is game on again’
Paul 67
How much deludamol had you taken before you wrote the blog?
Boyle did what most players do they got in between the opposition player and the ball ( used to be deemed obstruction and a foul awarded) and our captain now had a decision to make he choose to barge Boyle out the way and gave the official an easy call.
Pingback: December fixtures when it all needs to resolve Paul67 - Celtic FC News Aggregation
get
Ta NOTTHEBUS – the Swissramble stuff is informative and alarming. As in…
#CelticFC have enjoyed a substantial revenue advantage over their rivals Rangers in recent times, but the gap has narrowed over the last three years from £69m in 2018 to £11m in 2020.
Still, if we arrive…with 15 points…etc etc…
Baldrick-style advantage management ffs.
I posted this on the last blog in case anyone hasn’t see it. It is another clear example that there is something badly wrong behind the scenes. Okoflex, signed as a great young prospect, has obviously gone past the stage of giving a feck.
– – – –
The most interesting thing in the ETims piece on MoN and Keane was the video from social media posted by Armstrong Okoflex.
http://etims.net/?p=16337
Paul 67
Rather than just doing a solitary blog like today which is a message from his masters voice,
why don’t you man up and do a further blog with your own opinion?
Taking the wrap for todays Lawwell offering just makes you sound laughable.
Changing manager is the lesser problem.
Rooting out the metaphorical tumour at the club is even more important.
Lawwell, the accountant who didn’t sign the players that Rodgers wanted, and signed players he didn’t want.
Until that happens and we bring in a forward thinking CEO and manager who will be allowed to bring in his own assistants then we will never realise our potential.
In the same way Jock Stein told the board when he was appointed that he was taking control from meddling and interference, and look at the way the club improved out of sight.
re the video from Okoflex I’m sure their are plenty of signed/loan players over the last couple of seasons have been asking themselves the same question ‘ why did I come here’
Yon wee Gillian Smart,could be a contender…😎🌤
Paul67. You are running parallel to NL. You are now living on past glories.
This once brilliant blog has fallen to being a message board for PL
Read the messages from the majority that post on your blog
Change is the request of your readers Feeding the good celtic support a wait and see message from Peter is a poor reflection on you’re once magnificent blog
Your historical reporting your brilliant updates in 2012 your understanding of the people who read CQN religiously your contribution to everything Celtic is being diluted on a daily basis with Peter’s feed them this to calm things down messages
FFS level with your audience
My respect for you continues my interest in your work is only slightly above the Daily Ranger
67ECW
Too many over paid over hyped players not giving a toss on the field of play is for me the biggest problem. At Mordor they’ve got a well drilled bunch of nobodies, with actually a decent manager in gerrard and that’s what gets results for them. What have we got guys on 30/40k a week, some of them disgruntled cause they want 80 a week in the premiership and Lawell has probably told them he would let them go, which hasn’t materialised. Same happened with big moussa when he fell out with Rodgers. How does a new manager sort that one out? Players have got all the power, not the manager and some of them are a disgrace.
Btw anyone saying that we were much better under Rodgers short memories …just before he left we got schooled off the hun at Mordor, and played off the park in a Europa league match at Celtic park with a full house.
Easy looking games can result in defeats (and draws) when the heads are down . Quite so Paul . Except I think we need to redefine ‘easy’ games in light of our current acute problems . Even thinking back to the game in Dingwall , where Ross Co could easily have scored three goals , we are no certs for the league cup game never mind taking 15 points from the 5 league games .
I don’t think many of us are confident of a magical turnaround while the chemistry between manager , players and club is in it’s present toxic state.
So really what your saying Paul is tha no one wants the job and we just need to pray for a miracle.
How far we have fallen
Paul67
70 points to play for and five very winnable league games but this team still looks shot, aside from another win over Hearts, it’s been written all over the managers face since Ferencvaros.
Poor buys have stitched Celtic up like a kipper, players that are already away on loan or languishing at Lennoxtown, with no hope of breaking into a faltering side. Want away ‘stars’ that have already did it all before warming the bench or in the old guard of Bain, Bitton, Brown, Rogic, MacGregor, Christie.
Frimpong a spectator at every disaster, put the ball in behind or over him and it’s chaos. Duffy, Bitton, Jullien, and Ajer, all dragged wide and exposed trying to plug gaping holes in the weekly sieve. Give Diego Laxalt player of the year he’s won it, already.
It’ll take more than a caretaker manager to move Celtic to the next chapter, besides the races are shut, it’ll depend on who Dermot Desmond Zooms into, before Poundland.
Hope Neil rides it out, for his sake and ours.
If there is a cost attached to removing Neil Lennon
and the Board have chucked the League then nothing will
happen – and that’s exactly what I expect.
Wee Frimpong is starting to resemble what Josh Thompson was to Mowbray.
Desperately in need of a prolonged spell on the sidelines.
Ram it.
Gifted to The Rangers.
Well done.
Watched the game Saturday and thought we played well enough to win comfortably. Hibs deserved nothing from the game. Brown was stupid to make the challenge he did, but the ref was conned by the Hibs player who stepped in front of Brown to block him. Wouldn’t be surprised to see Brown on the bench next league game. The goal from the penalty would have been disallowed with a competent refereeing crew. The scorer was well inside the box before the penalty was taken and how 4 officials between them cannot watch for that is just plain incompetence. Perhaps they were too focused on wanting the ball to hit the back of the net.
The second goal was exploitation of us playing a 5ft tall player at right back. This is down to the manager and he needs to make sure this does not happen again.
Apart from that, we controlled the game and could have scored 6 on another day.
The first names on the team sheet for the next 20 games, fitness permitting, should be Barkas, ElHamed, Julienne, Ayer, Laxalt; McGregor, Christie; Griff, Eddy. This leaves 2 slots that should be filled from Rogic, Ntcham, Turnball, Forrest, Ely, Brown. In order of my personal preference.
Neil needs to use Thursday’s game to start to get this playing group settled.
P67 getting a bit of a doing today, in relation to other recent blogs I thought this was better, at least he didn’t blame the government.
Small mercies.
If it is M O’N with Keane or WGS with whoever we have to get behind them. The two of them did really good jobs with Celtic in the past but I agree, whether they can hack it now is open to question. At this moment Lawell and Desmond are between a rock and a hard place, some would say of their own making although if they’ve made mistakes it wasn’t down to the biscuit tin, they’ve spent money this season and didn’t sell any of our so called star players which seems to have backfired big time. We have a manager who seems to have lost the confidence of the dressing room, a group of players who can’t defend and find it hard to turn lots of possession into goals and a coaching staff who look devoid of Ideas, in other words a recipe for disaster. Anyone out their with any Ideas of an up and coming younger manager who could come and would be available right now, lets hear it. But just remember he would be entering the mad house of this season with no time to acclimatise. If there is a change of manager as I’ve already stated the support have to get behind him.
Interesting to see that none of the Buns’ Board receive any remuneration for their services including the Chairman. Our Chairman collects over £11k for each Board meeting he chairs where his only meaningful contribution is to the pass the water jug when requested. Provision 19 of UK Corporate Governance Code states that the chair should not remain in office for more than nine years from their first appointment to the board. Bankier (aged 68) was appointed in June 2011 and therefore under the code his time should be up. I see from the AGM papers that he has again put himself up for re-appointment but there is no comment why the provision of the Code should not be respected.
Also from the AGM papers I see that re-election is sought for both Brian Wilson (aged 71) appointed in 2005 and Tom Allison (aged 72) appointed 2001. Why give it up £25kpa? Match tickets and hospitality. I, like many would do it for free.
It is worth highlighting that the most recent Board appointment Sharon Brown in December 2016 was only made as a consequence of a question on diversity put to the Board at the AGM in November 2016.
I could go on, at great length, about our CEO and his may failures but it is worth remembering that Lawwell was appointed in October 2003 a mere 5 months after Seville. Since then he has extracted c£20m for his efforts. In the latest annual report he has the audacity to claim, in bold, that “we believe that we have built a modern internationally recognised football club”. Not sure many would currently agree with him on that one.
Is it fair to say that (I think) Back 2 Basics’ “if you’re going to panic, panic early” comment has expired?
Hearts got hundreds of applications for their managerial vacancy. Some of a very high pedigree.
We have more money to offer, more prestige, realistic chance of multiple silverware, European football, first class training facilities and the best atmosphere in football.
Be ambitious Celtic and look forward if and when a vacancy comes up.
Majestic Hartson
Yes – by about 2 months
HOTEL DE PARIS on 23RD NOVEMBER 2020 2:29 PM
‘ Since then he has extracted c£20m for his efforts. In the latest annual report he has the audacity to claim, in bold, that “we believe that we have built a modern internationally recognised football club”. Not sure many would currently agree with him on that one.
###
Maybe he’s referring to the huns?
If you add the newclub’s losses to their revenue the gap is even closer. £9m of which is owed to the taxpayer.
What do you do in Tier 4.?
Mrs GP wants the Christmas deccies up.
Tier 4 same here
Make sure you have the 6ft Christmas Crackers below the tree – to stay socially distanced !