I thought it was the emerging influence of Nir Biton as a central midfield influence who transformed Celtic against Hearts on Sunday; he looked that good. If anything, Celtic were better in his absence last night, more fluid, more incisive, against a better team.
It’s all about shape. The correct shape gives players time on the ball when they need it, allows them to look industrious, not static, and makes them difficult to counteract. The only two questions are: can we maintain it, and when was the last time a Celtic team controlled the ball like this?
Forget about trying to maintain this in Barcelona, that’s far too risky, but if we can play like this at Tynecastle and Fir Park we can do so anywhere else in Scotland. Don’t think we’ve played like this since the Centenary Season.
It’s difficult to interpret the vandalism at Fir Park last night. As Celtic fans we don’t have a point of reference for this stuff. “Had enough. Won’t be back at another away game”, was the verdict of a friend I spoke to, who has probably missed no more than 40 domestic away games in the last 40 years. The proportion of Celtic fans who would never vandalise seats is well above 99%, but there’s a new and unwelcome phenomenon in British football and Celtic have the best views in the country.
Getting back to more familiar ground, The Kano Foundation asked me to pass on this message:
“The Kano Foundation World Cup 2014 Predictor
Friends,
2013 has been a world class year for The Kano Foundation. We’ve had our first ever bucket collection, held our 3rd annual dance, welcomed groups from across Scotland, England and Ireland, and last but by no means least we will welcome our 2000th child to Celtic Park. All this would not be possible without your unwavering support.
As we move towards the new year, The Kano Foundation are always keen to continue our work while bringing you the fans new and exciting ways to support us. The fabulous prizes on offer at our Golf Day in September are just one example.
To keep up this form, we are delighted to announce a very special competition ahead of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
We will be running a predictor competition unlike many others. At first reading our two part predictor is very similar to others where you enter the scores and winners for the 72 games.
However, we are also offering an unbelievable bonus prize fund of £10,000 for anyone who can correctly predict the outcome of all 48 group games . Yes, that’s correct – £10,000 to be shared amongst all entrants who can correctly predict the general outcome (winner or draw) for the all the group games.
In order to run both competitions we are asking entrants to make a one-off donation of £10. From the funds raised 50% will go as a donation to TKF with the remaining 50% available for prizes.
With just 100 entrants, not only can we raise a £500 prize fund for the predictor, we can also take over 200 kids to a game at Celtic Park. A tidy reward for a just few minutes brain effort!
All you need to do to enter is register you interest by email at:
wcpredictor@thekanofoundation.com Please include TKFWCPred as the email/paypal subject and tell us your user/team name so we can verify your entry. If you’ve not got enough room, enter as much detail as you can and tell us what you’ve done so we help.
Then make your payment into The Kano Foundation bank account (30-13-01 00989961 through Paypal or by sms by texting KANO11 £10 to 70070 – remember to include your name/email address.
Visit our predictor webpage (coming soon) to find more details and follow your progress
Once again, we hope we can rely on your support to make this predictor a success for us in terms of fundraising and for potentially making one of you £10,000 richer!
Thank You
The Kano Foundation”
Congratulations to the Celtic fans who run and support The Kano Foundation, our community is rightly proud of the. Register your interest by emailing: wcpredictor@thekanofoundation.com.
Less than one day to bid on bid on the charity auction for lunch at Cinc Sentis in Barcelona. Another bounty from the excellent reputation Celtic fans have. If you’re going out next week, treat yourself………
Order your CQN Annual here:
Order Sean Fallon, Celtics’ Iron Man, here:
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delaneys dunky
00:55 on 9 December, 2013
There’s some on here who want him jailed band from CP and tarred and feathered so tell him to hide :-) HH
Is he in that big bad GB ?
DD,
You brought your bhoy up well. No pun intended.HH
HS
No but his two mates are. Both at Glasgow Uni, studying Law and Medecine. I blame the Catholic schools. St Thomas Aquinas is turning out educated neds. What an oxymoron. ;))
Night Night Timland, up early, hens are starting to lay again, Hallellua. :)
Weefra HH supporting Wee Oscar.
delaneys dunky
01:09 on 9 December, 2013
If his mates are so is he, tie him to a chair and pull his finger nails out until he confesses then phone the police and make sure you tell CQN because some on here will phone the police aswell just to make sure, it’s the only way to weed out these Ned’s :-) HH
Time for bed till the next time HH
UTLR
The weekend’s over.
Haven’t had a wink of sleep sinceThursday night.
Every time I close my eyes all I can picture is those poor wee plastic arse-chillers being mercilessly pulverised by the leering monsters of the Green Brigade.
Dear God, the suffering, the humanity. Will this torment ever end?
Save us, Mr.Salmond. Save us with a summit. This evil must be stopped lest the unseen fenian hand will smother the righteous as they sleep and cast their progeny into concentration camps.
The seats are just the start. Get on the streets, mobilise. Carry pictures of those twisted plastic victims’ smashed yellow and burgundy (or some weird hue) corpses upon banners, placards; hoist them high, let the cry be, ‘Enough! Enough! for the sake of generations to come, enough!’
And fall on your knees and pray audibly to the Lord in Heaven for deliverance from the shroud of malevolence that sweeps the land ‘neath the crest of La Brigada Verde. PRAY for your souls!
——
The above should provide a moderately proportionate response to the SMSM and assorted moonhowlers measured reaction to Friday’s kerfuffle…
sipsini
23:06 on 8 December, 2013
Stephebhoy1,
No prob, just watched us giving the well a football education.
Looking forward to the game on Saturday as we are playing our best football I’ve watched in a long time.HH
Hopefully Nfl has unlocked the chains..I’d like to see us play a bit in barcelona the result doesn’t bother me too much…our recent encounters have been defense orientated,, but I’d like to see us a bit more positive. The pressure is off.
Sipsini
Thanks but all credit to my pride and joy. He has more brains than his old man, and is about to graduate from his apprenticeship in a Celtic friendly firm in Cambuslang. :)
Macjay:
There was a simple point to my intentionally obnoxious post regards Celtic Park being closed for a month because of pro-nazi singing. Knowledge, certifiable knowledge, is a more potent weapon than crude lies. Celtic Park was closed but it nothing to do with singing and much to do with the crowds reaction to brutal and dangerous Rangers play, and a referee whose favours did not lean to Celtic.
Tom Campbell writes well about it in his chapter ‘Days of Infamy’ in the book Celtic Paranoia – All in the Mind. Page 67 is a good read.
But just like other much vaunted myths, they are often dismissed without argument or explanation of recorded facts. A wee bit of ‘know your history’ would work a wonder in such instances.
There are so many hun yarns that abound on the internet. When the truth counters the fallacy, the huns deny the truth and revel in their ignorance and stupidity.
German planes did not follow a lit railway track from Dublin to Belfast. No such lighting existed. Neither did they follow a lit up train. When the train stopped at the stations did the German bombers patiently circle overhead waiting for their pathfinder to get underway again?
De Valera did not ‘order’ fire fighters north. All those that went north volunteered.
Kitalba,
I’d just say yer one of my favourite posters on here, propositions from facts obviously mined from many books. Frenzied, at times, but that’s what a blog needs. HH to you.
Been dipping in, and sad to see some of the best posters on this blog fallin a wee bit out of love with it. I understand the sentiments, but reconsider, this place will go grey without you. BT… just don’t. HT, ever the gentleman… I’m sure you’re no like that in real life ;)
You, along with BSR and DBBIA, and their chronic patter, Ernie with his cold logic, KK and many others
Don’t give up on it
That is all
Nighty night
Tom English is an Irish scum bag.
M McGill
What has the silly wee leprachaun written this time?
And Estadio, I miss um
Over n oot
http://www.scotsman.com/news/tom-english-the-damage-done-at-fir-park-1-3224571
last week flares were set off at Falkirk and 10 arrests. I am not condoning the GB but its the usual double standards.
kitalba
02:13 on 9 December, 2013
I hadn’t heard that one before.
I have heard the oft repeated accusation that we left the floodlights on at Celtic Park to guide the German bombers to the shipyards during the Clydebank blitz.
I’m sure it happened due to a split in the space time continuum, which caused the transportation of the floodlights from 1959 back to 1941. In fact I have it on good authority that a flight of bombers had to take evasive action as the pylons were directly on the flight path.
I know. My tongue is firmly lodged in my cheek.
M McGill
Media House release, c&p by English.
Roll on the AGM farce and we can get on with fitba, without the shame.
You anti GB’rs read it and weep
http://forum.celtictalk.org/topic/25212-green-brigade/
check the bottom and click on the link..even from the illustrious hypocritical Irish Scottish MSM tit himself!
When Allied bombers returned damaged from their German bombing raids the allies re-inforced those areas on the bomber that were damaged.
When german bombers returned damaged the germans reinforced those areas on the plane that were not damaged.
its a bit like damaged seats at football grounds.
margaret mcgill
02:30 on 9 December, 2013
Tom English is an Irish scum bag.
————————————–
Big time.
Tom English is a scumbag would have been sufficient enough though.
That is the lost post from me.
I will see out the tipping competition,and if God spares me,I will wish you all a happy Christmas on the 25th.
Sin e.
Kit
All I was suggesting was that his MAY have been the source of the nonsense about the floodlights at Celtic Park.
I was wrong,btw.De Valera made no apology over this issue.
Recriminations[edit]
The people of Northern Ireland tended to blame their government for inadequate precautions. Tommy Henderson, an Independent Unionist MP in the House of Commons of Northern Ireland, summed up their feelings when he invited the Minister of Home Affairs to Hannahstown and the Falls Road, saying “The Catholics and the Protestants are going up there mixed and they are talking to one another. They are sleeping in the same sheugh (ditch), below the same tree or in the same barn. They all say the same thing, that the government is no good.”
A map showing the location of Belfast Lough
At night Dublin was the only city without a blackout between New York and Moscow, and between Lisbon and Sweden; German bombers often flew overhead to check their bearings using its lights, angering the British.[16] One widespread criticism was that the Germans located Belfast by heading for Dublin and following the railway lines north. In The Blitz: Belfast in the War Years, Brian Barton wrote: “Government Ministers felt with justification, that the Germans were able to use the unblacked out lights in the south to guide them to their targets in the North.” Barton insisted that Belfast was “too far north” to use radio guidance.
Other writers, such as Tony Gray in The Lost Years state that the Germans did follow their radio guidance beams. Several accounts point out that Belfast, standing at the end of the long inlet of Belfast Lough, would be easily located.
Another claim was that the Catholic population in general and the IRA in particular guided the bombers. Barton wrote: “the Catholic population was much more strongly opposed to conscription, was inclined to sympathise with Germany”, “…there were suspicions that the Germans were assisted in identifying targets, held by the Unionist population.”
This view was probably influenced by the decision of the IRA Army Council to support Germany. However they were not in a position to communicate with the Germans. Information recovered from Germany after the war showed that the planning of the blitz was based entirely on their own aerial reconnaissance.
weebobbycollins @ 17:38 7th
Nice but sad post. Hail! Hail!
kitalba @ 10:44 8th
“Celtic Park was closed down in the autumn of 1941 because of pro-nazi chants from the Celtic support.”
No it wasn’t:
http://www.thecelticwiki.com/page/1941+-+Celtic+Park+closed+for+a+month
http://i55.tinypic.com/4vo5lt.jpg
Somesaythedevilisdead @ 16:20 8th
http://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/?p=14304&cpage=22#comment-2019484
Interesting post.
AN Old Firm legends match ended in chaos yesterday after the REF was punched during a bust-up between players.
The Celtic v Rangers charity showdown was abandoned in the 85th minute when two punters who’d paid to play alongside their heroes began scrapping.
When the referee stepped in to separate them he was hit.
One spectator at the game — where strike ace Frank McAvennie skippered Hoops and goalie Andy Goram was Gers captain — said: “A Celtic guy punched the Rangers player. It was shocking — there were parents and kids there.” Frank McGarvey had just put Celtic 5-2 up when trouble flared at the fun fixture in Carluke, Lanarkshire.
Ex-Hoops fans’ chief Matt McGlone tweeted: “Match abandoned due to punch-up. Ref also gubbed.” The match organiser was not available for comment.
HE’S back home in a nation which worships Neymar.
But Juninho still confesses to a deep love for Celtic and will tune in as the Hoops end their Euro season against Neymar’s Barcelona on Wednesday night.
On one hand, he will be excited to watch former team-mate Neil Lennon try to end the Group H campaign on a high.
But on the other he will nurse a sense of grievance that his own Celts career never took off.
After starring for Middlesbrough and Atletico Madrid, it all fell flat at Parkhead.
And the one-time Brazil star lays the blame for his failure squarely at the door of Lenny’s mentor Martin O’Neill.
Speaking exclusively to SunSport from a nation already in the grip of World Cup fever, Juninho said: “Martin was the man to blame.
“Things didn’t work out for me with him as a coach.
“I thought O’Neill wanted me to play the way I had always played football. Everybody knows that I always played behind the strikers and more in the middle.
“He put me in places where I couldn’t play.
“He put me in a wide midfield role and a lot of the time I was facing two defenders.
“He was obsessed with forcing me to go back to defend and mark people.
“People know that in a team you have players who can tackle, others to create and others who score the goals.
“It wasn’t a situation where I didn’t want to do it or couldn’t do it. It was that I was brought to do completely different things on the pitch from what I was best at.”
Juninho wore the iconic No7 Hoops shirt and made his debut in an Old Firm clash with Rangers.
KEITH LASLEY has warned the rest of the Premiership that Celtic are going to dish out beatings on a regular basis.
Motherwell were battered 5-0 as the Hoops ran riot at Fir Park on Friday night, following their 7-0 Scottish Cup thumping of Hearts.
Well midfielder Lasley believes the fact that Celtic have no more European games after the Barcelona trip on Wednesday, means they’re going to hammer everyone.
He said: “I think they are going to do that to everyone to be honest.
“It’s not what you like to hear as you want the league to be as competitive as possible but it is the brutal truth.
“Certainly as you look at their squad, even though they have injuries, they put out a pretty good side.
LUST FOR LIFE … Lustig rushed to congratulate Efe Ambrose
“It’s about getting in front and being organised. I thought we got the organised bit right in the first half but didn’t have the quality.
“When we turned over the ball, they punished us. That’s why it’s so vital against Celtic to keep the ball.
“It’s not so much what you do against them it’s when you get hold of that ball you’ve got to be at your best and we weren’t quite that against them.”
Hoops skipper Scott Brown also reckons the signs are ominous for the rest as the confidence surges through the team.
Neil Lennon’s side have rattled in 19 goals in their last four domestic games and Broony insists there is more to come. He said: “The confidence is unbelievable right now and we feel like we are going to get a performance like that every time we go out there.
“The lads are enjoying playing just now and we are creating chances. We always knew we could create chances, it was just about putting them in the net.
“We seem to be doing that willy nilly just now — it is good to watch and it is good to play in.”
It did take them 43 minutes to break down the Steelmen, when Kris Commons opened the scoring, but after that they were relentless.
COMMONS TOUCH … Lustig and Brown hails Kris
Brown said: “We have shown a real ruthless streak from start to finish and that is what we have had to do.
“We knew we were out the Champions League and now we can firmly focus on the league.
“The main aim now is to try and go as many games as possible unbeaten this season. We are definitely putting our stamp on things now.”
And Brown reckons there’s no disputing the hidings are down to the fact they no longer have Champions League football to worry about.
He added: “There has been an element of holding back when we have gone two or three goals in front to preserve ourselves for the Champions League. Everyone is firing on all cylinders now and I think the pace in the team is incredible.
“We are putting teams under pressure and they have not been dealing with it.
“I think before we were just sitting back and trying to keep the ball and play nice football. But now we are playing very direct and in their faces.”
And Brown believes they are going into the final group game at the Nou Camp with the perfect preparation.
He said: “It is good to get a couple of wins going into the Barcelona game and confidence will be flying high.
“We are going to go there and try and play the same way.
“We will go there trying to pass the ball and to create chances. Hopefully, we can get a few goals.”
Brown will play his first European match since his three-match suspension for a petulant kick at Neymar — and the Hoops captain is determined to prove the doubters wrong.
He said: “I am itching to get a game at that level again, especially against Barcelona. They are a great team, they move the ball really well and you want to play against the best players like Iniesta and Xavi.
“You want to play against them and show that you can compete. There are always regrets — but that is in the past.”
When asked about coming up against Brazilian striker Neymar however, Brown took the huff and walked off.
For Motherwell, it has been an awful week as the rout followed on from their shock Scottish Cup exit to minnows Albion Rovers which saw some fans question manager Stuart McCall’s position.
But Lasley can’t fathom why the some punters have been giving the boss stick.
He said: “You shake your head at that. When you think of the job overall that the manager has done here, we’ve not had many times like this.
“We’ve not had many weeks like this and it becomes magnified when you do have a couple of really bad results. He deserves a bit more than that.
“Certainly, he’s shown he is more than capable of getting us to where we want to be in the league and our focus now is to try and emulate what we’ve done in recent seasons.
“It’s a poor week for everyone connected with the club.
“We were all downbut football gives you that next game to try and turn things round — we look forward to Ross County.”
THE BIRTH of his baby daughter in the morning.
A World Cup draw pitting him up against Lionel Messi in the afternoon.
And a goal in the 5-0 rout of Motherwell at night.
Carslberg don’t do Fridays. But if even they did they’d still struggle to beat an incredible 24 hours for Efe Ambrose.
The Celtic star understandably walked out of Fir Park with a huge smile.
He played his part in another stunning performance from Neil Lennon’s Hoops.
And the Nigerian ace also knew he was going home to see a baby bundle of joy.
But before he did Ambrose took time out to give special praise to his Parkhead team-mates.
He said: “It’s been one of the best days with my daughter, the World Cup draw, the victory.
“It’s something magical and a day I find difficult to express in words.
HIGH FIVE … Stokes congratulates Efe as Celts romp to big win
“I can only express my joy and thank my team-mates for the support they have shown to me, my family and throughout my career. Without them I would not be here today.
“As a collective I have to thank them. As a team they have played a big part in giving me the greatest day of my life.
“I feel at home here. When I signed for Celtic it immediately felt like a home from home.
“And I have enjoyed everything about it. I’m still enjoying my time here.
“And now with the arrival of a ‘Scottish’ baby it just confirms that feeling!
“Everything was calm in the morning — it’s our second child so we knew what to expect.
Next up for Ambrose and Celtic are Barcelona in the Nou Camp On Wednesday.
The defender admits he feels bad about leaving home for Spain so soon after the birth.
But he revealed wife Adenike actually urged him to play against Well on Friday night. He is looking forward to pitting his pits against the Calatan giants.
He said: “I didn’t feel like going, but this is my job and I have to help my team. Adenike understands I play football and she deals with the situation back home.
“You could say it’s not the worst time to be going away from home either!
“But seriously, playing and scoring as a I did at Motherwell is a fantastic gift to give my daughter.
“It’s a day I’ll never forget. When she is old enough I will tell her about what happened on her birthday.
“The first time I signed for Celtic my wife stayed behind in Israel to have our daughter.
“Now we have a second child and it’s been a great time for us.”
Barcelona megastar Messi will be missing on Wednesday as he recovers from a muscle tear.
But Ambrose will meet up with him once more next summer after Nigeria and Argentina were drawn in the same World Cup group.
He said: “I managed to watch the draw in the team hotel with my team-mates.
“It always seems to be Messi, but I think we can stop him again.”
macjay1:
Yeah I know where you were coming from, I wasn’t having a pop at you or what you posted either.
What I was trying, very poorly, to get across, was even although I find their promotion of fantastic fallacies hilarious, others who are not of our family are often taken in by their tosh. The ramifications of that gullibility cannot be measured.
What the hell is going on here?
16 ROADS at the flouncing now?
I’ve told you guys before…..
NAE FLOUNCING UNLESS YER WEARING A TUTU!!!!
And photographic evidence is required,btw.
FFS,there’ll soon not be anyone left on here with whom to have a decent argument. So,flouncers,get yerselves back on here pronto!
(Please…..)
TWISTS N TURNS
I’ll forward you a mail I got from my sis,give me fifteen minutes to get home.
It’s a belter!
Bobby
Look forward to it. Will be heading to work shortly and will get it on arrival. Leg strapped from thigh to toes yet I’ve got to go try and shower now. Should be fun :-)
twists n turns
04:38 on
9 December, 2013
Twisty, Martin signed the wrong Junihno.
kitalba
04:42 on
9 December, 2013
Same page.
I have a naive,perhaps, hope that someday there may be some understanding.
haha just read that super salary is still not walking away from ripping off the sevco’s. He was taught by Sir Spiv the cardigan.
Are we all Celtic today ? I hear that the fitba is pretty good these days. Neil must be doing something right, last fortnight at least.
hail hail
DELANEYS DUNKY 0043
Do they still do Chicken in a Basket?
TAURANGABHOY
I think I preferred the arguments about the fitba!
I blame Neil Lennon. What was he thinking about,letting the troops score twelve goals in less than a week. He should have known how that would pan out.
Just in to say….
_____________
Taurangabhoy
05:17 on 9 December, 2013
“Are we all Celtic today ? I hear that the fitba is pretty good these days. Neil must be doing something right, last fortnight at least.”
_______________________________
Yer right fella – the fitba is pretty good these days – hopefully it’ll stay that way ?
Ye see – this is what annoys me about the manager – if he reverts to the watching paint drying type of stuff that has been on show for the recent period – then he’ll empty the park. imo I’m not saying that he should play the same way as the last two games v’s Barcelona(would he ?) but, then again…would we catch out FCB playing the way of the recent two weeks ? I think we would – and give the lucky Tims who are going over there – a night to remember. imo
I think the fans who broke the seats the other night were sending a message to the authorities to – get their bahookies into gear and get the terracings istalled ! Pronto !
I’m only kidding about that last bit – before awe the ‘usual’ lampooners start to appear on here :)
Was talking to a Well fan at work last night(main stand SB holder) who said that, some drunken Cellic fans were in the Well-end of the Main Stand – giving it oot, before they were chased oot – he also saw the running battles ootside but, like me – he thinks that the GB are being set-up !!!
Only saying.
Hail Hail – Take Care Tims – Off oot.
The media died when Gerry McNee hung up his pen – CSC
BMCUWP what was he thinking haha a few hoops with big odds must have been happy.
Kev Jungle might be less of a set up and more guilty by association but at the end of the day up to the GB to respond in the direction that they will end up in. Hope they choose Celtic.
Stands for the standers are going to be a bit further off after this one, must try harder eh.
Now who is next for a right doin. Can’t be rangerstwo because they can only get drawn against the lowest rankin team , to match.
Kev to paraphrase aff oot, the missus is taking me for a walk .
Hail Hail
TAURANGABHOY
I heard she keeps you on a tight leash!
You know that story I posted earlier from the morning papers, you know the one, where the charity game was abandoned due to the fight?, well, should I be feeling guilty that the Tim smacked the currant yet I feel happy about it? Should I feel guilty? Eh? Cos I’m no, in fact, I found myself quite pleased that the bhun got a slapping.
Is that wrong? :-)