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Discipline, provocation and a place in the semis

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By on CQN BLOG & Comments

There will be no one better prepared to take a team to Easter Road tomorrow than Neil Lennon, but while Hibernian fans are likely to feel generously to their former manager, by all accounts there is little love lost between him and the Hibs players.  They will give everything for a place in the Scottish Cup semi-final.

Neil has only had a few days with the players and I doubt he will have changed anything.  John Kennedy is his assistant specifically to ensure continuity at this time.

If our reception at Tynecastle is any kind of weathervane on how we will be received tomorrow (I suspect it is), the most important quality we will need is discipline.  Our treble treble could go on the line through rashness, provoked or otherwise.    Remain composed, pass the ball and get forward with the pace we possess, and a place in the semi-final is ours.

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  2. !!Bada Bing!! on

    79 Caps- the huns are picking referees, if they say they don’t want Collum,and that’s what happens……

  3. fairhill bhoy on

    BADA BING-just because PL has poodle doesn’t make this any less shocking ?

     

    We can only go on what we hear or read but to be honest it doesn’t look good regarding BR

  4. beatbhoy on

    79 CAPS

     

     

    “Juventus were relegated and stripped of league titles for influencing the choice of their match officials”

     

     

    *****

     

     

    Neither of which occurrences happened to the Deidclub,of course. The former couldn’t have due to the ‘L’ word that dare not speak its name in the SMSM, the latter most definitely should have.

  8. fairhill bhoy on

    I still don’t know how to post music ?

     

    Karma Chameleon

     

    Culture club ??

  13. setting free the bears for Res. 12 & Oscar Knox on

    Chairbhoy

     

     

    Half of our first team players are out of contract for the beginning of next Season. The rebuild for that, in and of itself is phenomenal. The fact is we have to rebuild our Football managerial functions at the same time.

     

     

    We could have lost 8 players we owned but that figure is down to 7 now that the captain re-signed. We will probably lose our 3 loanees (Benkovic, Weah and Burke) but they will have done the job they were brought in for if they get us over the line in a tight race and Olly is an outside bet to get signed if WBA want to cut their losses and get money to sign a different player to help them in the EPL next year. We will lose 2 first teamers in Lustig and Boyata; the latteris in a strong position to go after we took a bath on him last summer and it is probably the right time to let Officer Lustig go as he only has a declining year ahead of him. The others, De Vries, Gamboa , Izzy and Allen are well worth losing from a squad that needs to create room.

     

     

    We also might lose players we’d rather not lose to bids- Tierney, Gordon, N’tcham, Edouard, Sinclair (?) or McGregor. The good news is we have re-signed so many so we get top buck for them if they go.

     

     

    The only way to avoid this constant squad re-building is to recruit players that no one else wants- otherwise this is unavoidable. AND- so many of our fans live for the Transfer windows so why should we deprive them of this excitement?

     

     

    Our management only has to be re-built if Neil is assessed as a failure or inadequate. The job is now his to lose. Most Man U fans thought it was beneath them to be looking to recruit the manager of Molde. Most Leicester fans thought Ranieri had a job for life.

     

     

    Football fans are pretty fickle by any standards and today’s God is tomorrow’s Devil. Most decisions and planning in football are as bound up with haste and stupidity as is Politics. That will happen when you try to appease people with conflicting and volatile, changeable viewpoints. Best you can do is to follow your own instincts and hope to last for 3-4 years till we get fed up with you and demand new bling.

     

     

     

     

     

    Our domestic rivals are closer to us than they have been in the last six Seasons.

     

     

    Not a bad thing of itself, provided we win. A series of big-margin won leagues can lead to complacency and a drop in standards. Our original 9iar was won against several quality teams. We have had tight leagues in the past only for us to motor away to a big win in the final 3 or 4 months. It might happen again but I won’t fret if it remains close. A league win is no better for being won by 30 points or by 3. In fact, we remember Helicopter Thursday and 10 men won the league with more affection than those leagues won by March.

     

     

     

     

     

     

    We have failed to make the quatum leap, to be competitive in Europe.

     

     

    We have- and I fear the bad news is that it is only going to get harder. We have tried hard to find a true comparator club that has done better than us. One good season by Qarabag or Apoel Limassol and we ask- why can’t we be like that- only for their supporters t be asking why can’t we get the consistent success of Celtic. We look at unrealistic comparators like Ajax, Olympiacos and Benfica who have bigger populations, more TV money and have bigger fees paid to their players. Realistic comparators like Anderlecht, Dinamo Zagreb and Legia are doing no better than us and look enviously at us. We are left quoting 2 clubs only- Basel and Salzburg as evidence of our “failure”; that’s like criticising Murray for being behind Federer and Nadal.

     

     

     

     

     

    We have engendered animosity throughout the team, the coaching staff, the Board and most importantly the Supporters.

     

     

    That animosity is always there. Peter Lawwell is facing nothing different than Desmond White, Jock Brown and Michael Kelly faced. Dermot Desmond is facing nothing more than Robert Kelly and Fergus faced.

     

     

    The coaching staff will face criticism for every dropped point domestically and every Euro defeat. MON got it, so did Jock, so did Brendan- so will Neil. Our supporters were much more split at the time of Celts for Change than they are now- who knows- maybe the recent increase in asshole behaviour by our minority might even unify us further.

     

     

    Much as we like to think that we live in unique times with challenges our parents and predecessors cannot understand, there is little knew under the sun.

     

     

    Well, apart from a dead club rising back into “life” – and, even that, seems to be a delusion lots are willing to buy into.

  18. Chairbhoy on

    CORKCELT @ 8:07 PM,

     

     

    Well, yes, the fact is Celtic managed to sign up, a lot of the guys we wanted to keep in the last eighteen months is a tribute to the team work we needed to embrace and enhance.

     

     

    The point is the loanees that have become a mainstay e.g. Burke, some quality players that we could have handled better e.g. Boyata and some good aul bhoys e.g. Lustig are going. It will leave gaps…

     

     

    Now I get you point on Gamboa, Allen etc…

     

     

    We have long waited until we can get our squad culled in the manner it will be in the summer but why have we not bought replacements early and instead biughr half a dozen projects in the last two windows!? We just continually add to the problem.

     

     

    But to my main point.

     

     

    Let me give you an example

     

     

    Benkovic is a loan, Boyata is out of contract. Our best CHs. Our mainstay RB is going his underachieving back up is going also.

     

     

    If we were serious about excellence and UCL Qualification this would have been seriously addressing this over the last two transfer windows.

     

     

    Still having said all that, I’m becoming circumspect… We have no European ambitions and we don’t need to win the SPL by 20 + points.

     

     

    I was a Jock Stein Bairn, I’ll always expect Celtic to be the best they possibly can…

     

     

    The reality is it is run on a business risk benefit analysis basis… I don’t understand it but I’ll have to live with it… mediocrity it is…

     

     

    !!BADA BING!! @ 8:41 PM

     

     

    PL’s poodle in the press is McGowan at the Mail…

     

     

    & DAVID17 @ 8:07 PM,

     

     

    Well that doesn’t surprise me. Now his personal reputation is taking a pounding he gets the SMSM into full flow.

     

     

    How did he utilise them when…

     

     

    The refs were cheating

     

     

    Lenny was the subject of hate campaigns

     

     

    The Five way agreement was hatched

     

     

    The LNS Commision was riding ruff-shod over the rules

     

     

    An eastern European Celtic player was accused of racism

     

     

    The Celtic Support was kettled

     

     

    Ajax came to Glasgow

     

     

    The Res12 campaign needed backing

     

     

    Etcetera, etcetra, etcetra…

     

     

    Hail Hail

  27. GreeninbingleyinOslo on

    Tell you what – if Ollie was playing for West Brom tonight the scoreline wouldn’t be 3-0 to Leeds.

  30. Gutenberg on

    Loved BR’s time at Celtic, his arrival, his philosophy and his professionalism. He gave us some fantastic moments and memories.

     

    Disliked his stubbornness and ego, and the way he left, through the back door, was fitting due to the timing and selfishness of his act.

     

    He will be a footnote in our history when he could have been a legend.

     

    His loss, not ours.

  31. beatbhoy on

    Just heard Murderwell have leapt to 7th in the table above St Johnstone. Apparently, after the fog cleared around Midnight, they re-emerged from the dressing rooms and stuck the ball into the net without a Killie player touching it.

  34. Hamiltontim on

    I’ve no doubt thousands of words have been played out on these pages since BR’s departure on Tuesday, some sympathic, some critical, some scathing, some excusing and even some indifference. Most of us will be somewhat intransigent regarding our emotional response to Brendan and the timing of his leaving. That’s natural, it’s Celtic, the longest, most enduring love affair most of us have had or will ever have. The danger is that we then refuse to accept facts, opinions and statistical analysis.

     

     

    Personally, the past two and a bit years have been amongst my happiest following Celtic. The fact that it coincided with the 50th anniversary of Lisbon only heightened the euphoria I experienced. Brendan Rodgers is a massive part of my incredible joy when following Celtic from the summer of 2017.

     

     

    Yet in spite all of those incredible times during the historic invincible season, the determination and sweat to achieve a double treble and ultimately the cheating and corruption of the football authorities in Scotland throughout this season which were all designed to thwart his efforts to achieve the unprecedented treble treble, I’m now left with nothing but utter contempt and loathing for the man.

     

     

    I won’t be whitewashing his achievements, like I’ve seen and heard many do in the past few days. I won’t belittle how special it was to watch a Celtic team go an entire season without losing a domestic game and be there for every one of them. And I cannot forget the experiences at Hampden, Tynecastle and Parkhead when we won each of the last 7 trophies. Seven trophies conservatively.

     

     

    Brendan, thank you.

     

     

    Now a new king wears the clothes and I pray that he displays a decency, an honesty, an integrity and a genuine love for our club which you could and can only ever dream of.

  35. Melbourne Mick on

    Hello again all you young rebels.

     

     

    Another blistering sunny morning here in Oz, 37 degs expected.

     

    Our young team here have a preseason game today against a

     

    Chelsea seniors reserve side, despite the heat they will be well up

     

    for it.

     

    It’s the auld tim putting up the nets i’m worried about, need to

     

    make sure there’s plenty of refreshments in my coolbag 8-))

     

    H.H Mick

  37. Almore on

    Gutenberg & HamiltonTim:

     

     

    Very hard to disagree with either of you.

     

     

    Managers come and go.

     

     

    Our love of Celtic endures.

  38. voguepunter on

    HT

     

     

    I’m with you ,Brendan is an arsehole…but you cannot forget what the arsehole did for us.hh

  40. Asupporterwhogotlucky on

    Sure he gave us some good days, but don’t ever overlook the teams effort, it’s _not_ all about him.

     

     

    I don’t think anyone should overlook what the bhoys achieved on Wednesday at the mini huns place.

     

     

    No matter what anyone says i believe they must have been hurting at the way the moonlighter left them out to dry, and they gave a battling performance.

     

     

    While he sat smirkly at king stadium, his face as usual tanned up with a jar of Nutella, and bleeched teeth.

     

     

    Well done bhoys true grit

     

    HH

  42. Hrvatski Jim on

    Brendan Rodgers had a pool table in his house with a Celtic crest embossed on it

     

     

    Earlier this week he phoned the person who had supplied it and asked him recover it with a Leicester crest.

     

     

    He was met with 3 sounds.

     

     

    2 words

     

     

    1 click of the phone.

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