Dominate domestic and regular Champions League

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Atletico Madrid arrive at Celtic Park tomorrow on the back of six consecutive wins, a series which started by beating Real in the Madrid derby, and ended with a 0-3 win at Celta Vigo on Saturday.  If they win their game in hand over the teams above them, they will go top of La Liga.  Even by their impressive standards, that is formidable form.

Looking ahead to the game, Brendan Rodgers spoke about the challenge of playing one of the best teams in the world and the need to devise a plan.  The wounds of PSG’s visit to Glasgow the last time Brendan was in charge are still there.  Celtic battled but the visitors left with a 0-5 win, it was a lesson on what can happen when you don’t sufficiently change the plan you had for the previous weekend’s Scottish Premiership game.

“Dominate domestic football and to compete regularly in the Champions League”, objectives Celtic chief executive Michael Nicholson noted in our annual report, published yesterday.  I see comments alleging one is regarded as more important than the other to the club, when it should be patently obvious that gaining either makes achieving the other significantly easier.  Do both or do neither.

There is a world of ways you can go about achieving those objectives, from the David Murray route (spend everything you have, and more, and take tax advice from a porn producer), to just spending everything you have and hoping to always achieve both, to trying to manage though the slings and arrows of football.

We all have a preference but there is no perfect plan for this, although there are clearly some disastrous ones.  Under the current strategy, I think Celtic will continue to dominate domestically for years to come.  We will win the league and gain entry into the new-format Champions League next season.  Thereafter, we can expect the qualification lottery for some seasons, inevitably including some Europa League seasons.  Still, remember when we all wanted to be like Ajax?  Football strategy is easy, just ask anyone who has never had to execute.

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  1. Prestonpans bhoys on

    SS

     

     

    One of thise games against Clydebank was abandoned due to ice before HT. No chance of a refund…..

  2. Trivia

     

    Johnny Doyle had picked up a knock against Hibernian and started on the bench. Andy Lynch was back after his leg strain which had kept him out of the Hibs game. Alfie Conn who was back fit had been in line for a start for this game.

     

    This was an all-ticket game.

     

    This was Celtic’s first ever defeat at Kilbowie Park against the relegation bound Bankies.

     

    Ex Celt Tommy Callaghan is a Clydebank substitute.

     

    Review

     

    Another low point in a disappointing season as Celtic go down to already relegated Clydebank. Youngsters Burns and McCluskey were Celtic’s best players but the more experienced players contributed little. When Roddy MacDonald went off injured the defence collapsed and many saw Colgan’s late winner coming.

     

     

    Teams

     

    Clydebank:

     

    Gallagher, Gourlay, Abel, Fallon, Hall, Houston, O’Brien, McCormack, McColl, Lumsden, Colgan. Subs: Callaghan, McNaughton.

     

    Scorers: McCormack (10), Lumsden (60), Colgan (86)

     

     

    Celtic:

     

    Latchford, Sneddon, Lynch (Doyle), Aitken, MacDonald (Munro), Dowie, Glavin, Edvaldsson, McAdam, G McCluskey, Burns.

     

    Scorers: McCluskey (14), Burns (16)

     

     

    Referee:J Renton (Cowdenbeath)

     

    Attendance: 8,500

     

     

    i fogot we had actully went 2-1 up after only 16 minutes, can now ever recall tb scoing a cracker i thjink.

  3. Prestonpans bhoys on

    “This match was controversially abandoned at half time by referee Douglas Downie with the score 1-1 because areas of the pitch were rock hard with frost.

     

    Pitch looked no worse than it did at kick off.

     

    Fans asked to keep ticket stubs for admission to replayed game. This was an all-ticket game.”

     

     

    I don’t recall being asked to keep a ticket stub😈

  4. PRESTONPANS BHOYS

     

     

    My friends paid for reserved seats and had the tickets to prove it but were split up and moved to accommodate families who had not booked, at check in.

     

     

    So your pre printed ticket stating your side by side seats is no…………guarantee.

  5. PRESTONPANS BHOYS on 24TH OCTOBER 2023 7:51 PM

     

     

    I have a different remembernance.

     

     

    did the steedman fella not say to gain access to the new fixtures fans had to go to kilbowie with thier stubs to get issued a new ticket.

     

     

    i am nearly sure my uncle the bus convenor went over to pick them up,

  6. Prestonpans bhoys on

    SS

     

     

    If you didn’t know you were to keep your stub……

     

     

    Philbhoy

     

    They should have demanded a refund slip!

  7. a different and emotive subject, and something i think on often.

     

     

    The Ibrox Disaster, and there but for the grace of god.

     

     

    The guy was a cousin of a great cqn-er,

     

     

    dont anyone ever make fun of that tragic events.

     

     

    the gibby guy gurney, btw, one of lifes good guys.

     

     

    ——————–

     

     

    Greenock author’s tribute to pal who died in Ibrox Disaster

     

     

    https://www.greenocktelegraph.co.uk/news/23856363.greenock-authors-tribute-pal-died-ibrox-disaster/

     

     

     

    A RETIRED teacher turned author from Greenock has dedicated his new book to his best friend who was killed in the Ibrox Disaster.

     

     

     

    Greenock Telegraph:

     

    In a poignant chapter Joe Gurney, from Gibshill, pays tribute to late school pal and neighbour George Wilson, one of the 66 football fans who tragically lost their lives on January 2 1971.

     

     

    Fifty two years on, in his book ‘Greenock in the 1970s’, he writes about the loss of his 16-year-old friend from Lansbury Street who he will never forget, and the impact his death had on the close-knit east end.

     

     

     

     

    Joe, now 70, who grew up in Cedar Crescent, said: “George and I were inseparable, we went to school together and played football with one another. I was 17 and he was 16.

     

     

    “We always went to Morton games together. But after Morton sold Joe Harper George started going to see Rangers. So we had this arrangement that we would go one week to Ibrox and the other Saturday to Cappielow.

     

     

     

    “The day before the game George wanted to go to see Rangers playing Celtic. But we didn’t have tickets so I decided in the end I would just go to see Morton instead. We were playing St Mirren. George went up to Ibrox on his uncle’s bus, and was getting a ticket up there.

     

     

    “We had arranged to go to the Cragburn for the dancing at night. I was going to go to his house to get him, but my dad told me there had been an accident up at Ibrox.

     

     

    “I knew something wasn’t right as George’s tenement backed on to mine and his mum and dad always had their lights off at night, but they were still switched on. My father said he would go and see what was happening. He never came back home until 2am and I just knew.

     

     

     

    “It was terrible. George’s folks never got over it.”

     

     

    Joe still recalls his friend’s funeral with the streets lined with people and an old style bobby on the beat, an officer who knew every person in the east end, standing to salute as the cortege went past.

     

     

     

    Joe added: “When I think back I can’t help wondering, if I was there and we were together would we have left by another staircase? Would we have missed the crush, or would we both not be here?

     

     

    “George was a lovely, talented boy, he was studying engineering at Reid Kerr. He would have went on to make something of his life, I know he would have gone on to great things. It is so sad.”

     

     

    Joe begins his book with a dedication to George before going on to write about the disaster later on.

     

     

    This is the latest in Joe’s series on Greenock, a labour of love for a man incredibly proud of his town.

     

     

    The Greenock author started writing about the 1920s and has worked way through the decades, with the aim of creating a record and a celebration of Greenock in the 20th century.

     

     

    In his 70s book he takes readers on a journey from the start of the decade, a time of optimism and full employment, to the mid-decade turmoil and then 1979, when everything was about to change for good.

     

     

    Greenock Telegraph:

     

    Joe said: “The 1970s started well, Greenock was booming, there was IBM, there were the shipyards and no one thought the good times would ever end.

     

     

    “But then by the mid-1970s industries began to close and people began to lose their jobs.”

     

     

    Former Gourock High teacher Joe started his working life in the shipyards before going to night school at James Watt College in his 20s.

     

     

    He went on to do teacher training at Jordanhill and spent the next 40 years as a tech and guidance teacher at Gourock High.

     

     

     

    He said: “I started my teaching in 1978. I loved it, Gourock High and the pupils. It was a brilliant school. I stayed there my whole career and loved being a guidance teacher as well.

     

     

    “I take great pride in the fact that I never once had to use the belt. I didn’t believe in it. I was a quiet boy at school but I’d been given the belt for stupid wee things and thought ‘I am not doing that’.”

     

     

    After he retired in 2012 Joe turned his passion for Inverclyde into books writing about his town.

     

     

    He collects many of his stories while travelling around Inverclyde on the bus.

     

     

    He said: “I don’t drive, I love getting the bus and listening to all the stories from the old folks. You meet so many people that way.”

     

     

    *Greenock in the 1970s by Joe Gurney is available to buy by emailing joegurney@live.co.uk

     

     

    —————

  8. David66

     

    Thanks for the response .

     

     

    There must be the potential for a movie to be made about that era and the gangs .

     

     

    Just needs a guy Ritchie type to make it.

     

     

    TT

  9. Hvartski Tim

     

     

    Thanks for sharing that Bayern equaliser.

     

     

    Karma Karma.

     

     

    I watched 25 mins or so of the Semi Final again today. As brutal as I remember it.

     

     

    Pat McLuskey and the much maligned Tommy Callaghan both played great games that night.

     

     

    Kenny actually missed a fair few. That said we also scored a good goal which VAR would have given us in the first minute.

     

     

    Hated not getting the chance for revenge when we played them in an empty stadium in the 80s.

     

     

    It’s a long shot tomorrow of course but maybe our team can inspire our moaning support to get off their fat arses and to really get backing the team to a result tomorrow night.

     

     

    Even the fans over in Govan stand and back their team for the really big games. Hopefully ours do similar tomorrow night and give the dirtiest and nastiest club around a bit of their own medicine.

  10. Tinytim – Re movie, I could play the rugged, tough, handsome Godfather.

     

     

    Ps that cannot spell. BRRB👹

     

     

    D :)🤣

  11. I was at both the Atletico game and the Clydebank game.

     

     

    Sorry HS but I do hold grudge against them because everything they did was fully premeditated right down to picking players who they would not miss in the second leg if they got sent off in the first. I think that you may find that the celtic players from that game are of similar opinion. They could have easily finished Jimmy’s career that night.

     

     

    I have no grudges against recent Atletico teams who have played us.

     

     

    It was actually a pleasant afternoon in Clydebank but below freezing at the start of the game. It was a surprise when it was abandoned but a bit of a relief as the football had not been exhilarating to put it mildly.

     

     

    Onwards to tomorrow night.

  12. GB denied early access to stadium

     

    It’s being reported that Celtic chiefs have taken action because fans ‘broke into’ the stadium before the game against Lazio and they are also being accused of ‘threatening behaviour’ towards club staff.

     

     

    The report goes on to state that the club is increasingly worried about fans taking pictures of police officers in and around the ground, before sharing them on social media in an act known as ‘pig watch’.

     

     

    These issues have prompted club bosses to take further action.

  13. HRVATSKI JIM on 24TH OCTOBER 2023 9:44 PM

     

     

    I was at both the Atletico game and the Clydebank game.

     

     

    Sorry HS but I do hold grudge against them because everything they did was fully premeditated right down to picking players who they would not miss in the second leg if they got sent off in the first. I think that you may find that the celtic players from that game are of similar opinion. They could have easily finished Jimmy’s career that night.

     

     

    *fully concur here Jim and for the life of me I just cannae see how some of the respondents figured that was the end of such a dominant Celtic side, if we had won there we widnae have feared Bayern and could have carried on for a lot longer, what IMHO caused our decline was the Big Mhan’s MVA

  14. another wee thing –

     

     

    how come celtic park always has the 3 empty front rows, behind the goals for CL games but Old trafford does not

     

     

    jordi larsson, that was a crap penalty.

  15. Commentator at Old Trafford, after Onana saved Larsson’s penalty . . .

     

     

    Maybe. Just maybe, someone looking down from above had a hand in that.

     

     

    The definition of insanity right there.

  16. BADA BING

     

     

    You might be right. The only replay of the penalty save was from behind the goal. What are they trying to hide?

     

     

    Update

     

    They’ve just shown the penalty again 4 times, all from behind the goal or behind the ball. Not once from the side.

  17. TT

     

     

    I had a summer job in RS McColl’s at the Odeon cinema in Renfield Street at the time of Jock’s car accident.

     

     

    As such I would be among the first to see the papers as they hit streets. I was in dread of each edition in case it brought the worst news.

     

     

    We all knew that he faced a survival battle and football was insignificant at least until he stabilised.

     

     

    Sean did a good job in the circumstances but Jock was never the same again.

  18. Re earlier messages about seating on a plane, I travelled Easyjet from Malaga on Sunday and announcement was made that unless a couple of folk moved to allow a parent and child to sit together, the plane could not take off

  19. An earlier post mentioned having an eye for a player…

     

     

    I always thought Jullien was a great player (until his attitude was damaged after the run-in with the post)

     

    We let Timo Weah go, who’s now good enuff for Juve

     

    We chose Barkas over Craig Gordon contract extension

     

    Ange let Jenz go becos he was able to bring Kobayashi in.

     

    GG left and Oh came in

     

    We almost let Liam go to Aberdeen before he became one of our most dependables

     

     

    Hard gig, this talent spotting…

  20. The returnof weeron on

    Empty rows, Celtic Park, European nights….

     

     

    This bugged me for many years, so I asked someone at Celtic.

     

     

    The answer was:

     

     

    For European nights, we use bigger advertising boards. This blocks the view for those sitting in these rows…to the extent that they can’t see the goal line.

     

     

    (My own view is that Celtic could probably still sell these seats at a discount).

     

     

    But there you go….

     

     

    Weeron

  21. When you look at the angle of old Trafford seats and Celtic park. A quick matterport scan says they are the same.

     

     

    Anyone in Celtic park ticket office ever challenged this

  22. Ok. Night. I have two offers for tickets tonight. Can I get fit enough to go

     

     

    Can I pass a late fartness test

  23. Getting aware in life is a magical gift that some may never receive:

     

     

    ‘Toxic people defy logic. Some are blissfully unaware of the negative impact that they have on those around them, and others seem to derive satisfaction from creating chaos and pushing other people’s buttons.’

     

     

    So said Travis Bradberry.

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