There are good ways and bad ways to win the League Cup; yesterday was perfect. The atmosphere reminded me of the 1997 final at Ibrox, where a similar result was achieved against Dundee United. That was our first League Cup in 15 years, but there was a more substantial reason to be optimistic then. At that moment, we began to believe that this could be the start of something significant.
Contrast that with the sentiment two seasons later, as we left Hampden having beaten Aberdeen in the same final. We’d won a trophy but celebrations were muted. We were miles behind in the league and that season had splurged significant resources on players who failed to deliver.
Celtic’s performance yesterday was imperious. It was controlled, oozed competence throughout the team and subjugated the second best team in the land with little fuss. Dare we start to believe we are at the start of something significant?
We dare.
The “start” of something significant is an unusual phrase to describe five-in-a-row champions, but having plateaued as merely champions in recent seasons, the Celtic Movement is on the march again.
These are exciting time – enjoy them.
What did you like most about the win yesterday? I’m really pleased at how effective and important our central defenders are becoming. They helped deliver a trophy without the loss of a goal in any round, but, more importantly, Jozo Simunovic and Erik Sviatchenko regularly morph into deep-lying playmakers.
At the opening goal, Simunovic wasn’t so deep-lying. Having carried the ball into the opposition half, he won a tackle 30 yards from goal before feeding Tom Rogic. Can you imagine how disruptive it is for opponents to have to deal with a central defender that high up the field? Who picks him up and what are the subsequent consequences?
Those of you old enough to swoon at the great No. 14 will remember when the world first discovered Total Football. As I watched Scott Brown drop behind his own defensive line to create space for others to move into it all came flooding back. The concept which ‘did for us’ a couple of times in the 70s echoes in what you’re now watching. This is Total Celtic. It’s difficult to get right but if you achieve it, it’s very difficult to play against.
This is why we’ve won a cup without conceding. This is why we plucked a guy from Fulham who appears to have geometrically appreciated in value. This is why a guy who didn’t get a lot of football at Aston Villa last season was given special treatment by Barcelona and Borussia Monchengladbach in the Champions League. This is why Stuart Armstrong and James Forrest are looking like new, better, players. They’re not, they are just working in a vastly better system.
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ALMORE-ha ha no chance we stood on the fly over and took videos of the screaming nutters that were on it-:))))PARK ROAD 67,I keep forgetting the 8hr time difference,as long as we won.BMCUWP thoughtfully put up GG’s link to the highlights:-)))
Celtic 100 Rangers International FC 0.
Lovely boys..
AN TEARMANN on 28TH NOVEMBER 2016 10:24 PM
I note your response, especially in that you discriminate in targets: that is you ignore the uncalled for petec comment to me, out of nowhere and intended to sow discord on this blog.
Exactly the kind of troublemaking that has called for mods to keep the blog running smoothly.
And you support this kind of behaviour.
Seasoning it with your predictably banal nazi comments.
Read back and see if you have an authentic bone in your body to pin down the troublemaker on page 1 of these comments.
Anyway.
I don’t, as a rule, engage with trolls, so I’m going to have to disappoint you.
Wisdom, not just rhetoric.
THOMTHETHIM FOR OSCAR OK on 28TH NOVEMBER 2016 11:04 PM
Mate.
:-)
I don`t remember that .
However , the fact that his Christian name immediately sprang to mind tells me that he was well thought of .
JIMMYNOTPAUL on 27TH NOVEMBER 2016 6:54 PM
SFTB. I’m sure there is a couple of posters who remember being at the 7.1 final.
*while I wasn’t at the game and it was not my first recollection of a cup final and neither was the replay the year before, first cup final I can recall was the first ever televised live in Scotland between us and Clyde when somehow the hero of the Coronation Cup victory Johnny Bonnar contrived tae throw the ball intae the net in the closing minutes tae gift the bully wee the opportunity of a replay which they won 1-0.
Unless my da or an older relative took me tae Parkheid then I had tae be content with watching my fitba at Boagheid or down tae the Millburn tae see the local Junior side and even at that an older relative had tae accompany me.
But thanks tae my Uncle I accompanied him and his 2 sons’ tae the south side of Glasgow to watch the League Cup semis between us and Clyde. I really don’t remember too much about the game other than we were 2 up before Clyde pulled them back only for us to score twice again.
Only other moment of note was the ball going out for a shy and I ran tae kick it tae Willie Fernie it didnae even roll its proverbial 2πR.
That night when I got home I was bouncing up the lobby, “can I go tae the final, can I go tae the final, can I go tae the final” to be met with we’ll see which usually meant naw.
My da who preferred tae work time and a half in the morning and double time in the afternoon that day was sitting in his chair and started tae sing tae the tune of a popular Pat Boone song at the time “on a day like today, we passed the time away watching Celtic from the stand, oh how we laughed and we cried when Clyde equalized watching Celtic from the stand”.
And so 3 weeks later the big day arrived and true tae form I wisnae going neither was my brother who had a bit of talent and usually played on a Saturday afternoon or my older cousins. As my da said at the time he had enough trouble looking after himself than worrying about us youngsters.
So with the super sons playing up at Glebe Park it was down tae the banks of the Leven tae watch the Vale Juniors. I have no idea who they were playing but as the song said “oh hampden in the sun” so it was at the Milburn Park Alexandria, a truly glorious autumn day.
Home internationals back then were played during the season and Wales hosted england at Ninian Park that day. Also as was the custom as well the 2nd half of english games, club and national were broadcast while we peasants up north had to be content with the last half hour of any game.
We were standing on the terracing that backed onto the old Emmett Park and behind us was a bunch of older lads, one with a portable radio, this was pre-transistors so it was huge, similar to the a 80’s version of the “ghetto blaster” , it must have needed the equivalent of a car battery to power it.
So I wandered up after half time tae get the score, 2-0 to the visitors, this was quite impressive as Wales had a decent team then and would qualify for the following summer’s World Cup in Sweden. As soon as the LC came on the Scottish Home Service he turned it over, 3-0 us but they would pull one back almost immediately.
Teasy Weazy would soon add a fourth and back he went tae the Wales game, Gentleman Tom Finney had already added a 3rd , followed up by wee ten thirty’s future sparring partner captain Johnny Haynes bagging his second of the game, oh dear what was a true blue Scotsman to do, aye they supported their native country back then, so it was back tae the LC Final just in time for Smiler tae make it 5-1, five minutes later and Billy had his hatrick before the Juggler header for heaven as he made it number 7.
After each goal I would run down the terracing giving my cousin updates, he told me later he thought the big boys were kidding me on, he wisnae the only one.
As the final whistle blew I heard my mother shouting on me, she had come tae pick me up. “Mammy mammy Celtic won 7-1, Celtic won 7-1”. Is that right she said smiling away and also thinking they big bad Vale Academy boys had been winding me up.
And why not, the team that within 3 years would be called the huns were favourites that day and had unveiled their latest signing dickie valentine who had replaced their veteran captain big corky.
It was alleged at the time that we had coveted him as a replacement for our retired captain the big mhan fae Burnbank. He would never kick another ball for them again, airbrushed fae their history and replaced with 32 year old larkhall native willie telfer from the buddies who was only 3 years younger than the retired corky.
That night was the first time I ever saw my da with a drink in him, he was as high as a kite, we settled down to watch the highlights on Sportsreel, that night the tele nearly landed in the Haldane burn as a smug peter thomps- hun announced that the 2nd half of the game had been lost.
https://mobile.twitter.com/celticfc/status/802956321792278528
You came home to lead the green and white
Tontine Tim,
My father wouldn’t take me to the Coronation Final. He went and came back with bruised ribs, from the crush.
He only had two tickets for the ’55 final, so he took my older brother. I was at the semi.
My first final was v Hearts in ’56.
We were well beaten by a very good Jambo team. with a devastating inside forward trio of Conn, Bauld and Wardhaugh.
Wasn’t at the ’56 LCF.
I have previously told of my 7-1 day experience, A 13-0 Boys Guild hammering from St. Catherine of Labore at Cowlairs.
On the way down Keppochill Rd., we went into an Italian Cafe and when we told the owner the score, he chased us. He thought we were taking a hand at him.
Then came the years of famine.
Tontine Tim,
Magical stuff as per usual.
Great friends of mine doon the Vale.
John Dunlop,Jim Beattie,Tam Baillie amongst many,many more..
Tex O’Hara and Geordie MCCallion fae the Ranton..
THOMTHETHIM FOR OSCAR OK on 29TH NOVEMBER 2016 12:10 AM
Tontine Tim,
On the way down Keppochill Rd., we went into an Italian Cafe and when we told the owner the score, he chased us. He thought we were taking a hand at him.
*A Tim over here who was quite young at the time was at the game, nae colours though. On the way home he jumped on a corpy bus, the clippy asked him if he been at the game, when he replied in the affirmative, she asked him the score, 7-1 the sellick to which he regaled the whole bus with, “that’s the problem with the youth of today, cannae get a civil word out of them”
Goodnight to all Tims worldwide.
Tiocfaidh ar la.
Tontine.
After the game , my bro. ( who stood behind me to protect me from the bottles raining down when Simpson scored ) and I walked back to my uncle`s house in Kingshurst Ave. where we awaited his arrival.
There was a high hedge round his garden so we couldn`t see him coming , but as he approached his house , all we could hear was him laughing away to himself . Unforgettable moments.
My brother`s comment to me was “I`ve waited all my life to see this , but you get it at your first Rangers game.”
How they would both have celebrated our current status.
THOMTHETHIM.
We were well beaten by a very good Jambo team. with a devastating inside forward trio of Conn, Bauld and Wardhaugh.
==========================================================
I saw Celtic beating that team 1-0 ( ? ) at Celtic Park in the final game of the season.
A result which meant the league went to Ibrox rather than Tynecastle.
I hope we`ve learned since then.
Come on bhoys it’s only 6:15pm in Vegas.wakey wakey :-)))))
Fair hill bhoy
Quiet here tonight. Think they are all still recovering from Sunday
MIT- can’t realy blame them,it was a good day & night by the looks of things:-))))))
I find it hard not to warm to this guy.
Mind you , how lucky is he to be part of what we have.
http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/teams/celtic/still-a-lot-to-come-from-this-celtic-team-erik-sviatchenko-1-4303292
Smashing suggestion,lifted from the comments on Phil’s latest article.
~~~~~~~~~~++~~~~~~~~~~
Veritas November 28, 2016 at 11:48 pm
SFA and SPL must be sh#####g themselves now that a second tour of duty round the lower leagues beckons for their pet club and will be doing everything possible a la 2011/ 12 to help save the day .
IF ever an opportunity existed it is now for the CFC board to quietly tell the SFA and SPL that they will call off the RES 12 dogs and SR etc get to keep their jobs …but the quid pro quo is as follows ,
1 you 100% do your duty this time round and enact FFP and tell TRFC in no uncertain terms no Europe for next 2 years at least as they don’t qualify
2 LNS is set aside : IF HMRC finally win big tax case all titles from 98 removed from SFA records
If HMRC lose case All titles removed for wee tax case related years and players
If they don’t play ball they tell them they will back the Requisitioners 100% . SR / ND will get fired and CFC with Aberdeen and Hearts support will force through all the other stuff anyway!
Time to start seriously start squeezing some private parts !
Morning all
I see near the top of the this page a posting by Big Peat of Islay in reply to comments from An Tearmann on a topic which can be traced back to a question posed by Petec relating to BPOI’s actual identity.
I have seen others raising doubts as to BPOI’s identity – specifically ACGR wondering wither BPOI is Alfie Noakes who posted here for a while in 2014/5 and who later appeared under other monikers including Thompson Twin and Mr Pastry ( possibly also Fred Quimby). Nothing wrong with changing monikers – I have done so myself – though it seems to me to be good manners to indicate that you have changed it which Alfie never did. Alfie’s (and aliases) posts were rarely about Celtic – BPOI’s more often are- and usually were political in nature and specifically anti both the SNP government and the wider independence movement. A soothsayer of sorts Alfie predicted that the SNP would make few if any gains in the 2015 UK General Election.
I do not know if BPOI is the same poster -although the frequently condescending tone is not dissimilar there has been far less political talk. There was though this posting last week:-
BIG PEAT OF ISLAY. LAWWELL’S GRAVY TRAIN HAS LEFT THE SAPS AT THE STATION. on 24TH NOVEMBER 2016 8:09 PM
Got to say that complaining about refs is a hiding to nothing. We know the lie of the land so we just have to accept it and play under those conditions.
Your South Americans have always been cheating hollow men, not a moral fibre in their body.
I think we have all written things here we wish we had not but I was surprised that particular remark was not pulled up by more posters far less removed by Moderators who had earlier objected to Neymar being referred to by a word synonymous with one who pleasures himself.
I am away to work but BPOI don’t come on here and effect the wounded soul pose you adopted last evening, Your post of last Thursday tells me exactly what you are like- Alfie or not,
Jimbo67
Bobbys
Wishful thinking. You and I both know that they will never be allowed to die. The Establishment will never allow it. To do so would allow us (me.you and our sort) some sort of equality. Aint gonnae happen, mate.
Jim Payne
Hi. What was your point there? I kinda missed it.
ABURNTOUTCASE
Away and piss on someone else’s chips,you!
Aye,I know what you mean. But Veritas makes the entirely credible point that other teams such as Aberdeen and Hearts are pretty miffed too.
That could be the gamechanger.
ABURNTOUTCASE. 642
I think it dealt mainly with hypocrisy.
Bobbys
You think that the Chairmen of Aberdeen or Hearts will stick their heads above the parapet?,
ABURNTOUTCASE
I think they will look to protect their investment and don’t much appreciate past ways of doing things.
Bobbys
Haven`t I lectured you before about hipocracy. I keep telling you to avoid it.
Oops. Just noticed that spelling error. Sorry.
Good morning friends from a rather dank and gloomy, but calm and dry overhead for now, East Kilbride
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-38140981
This looks bad
Jim Payne29TH NOVEMBER 2016 6:33 AM
_——————-
That’s pretty low stuff. Publicly discussing another poster in negative terms is bullying. Pure and simple.
You ought to be ashamed of yourself. It is Cowardly and spineless.
And i am not who you say I am. What a paranoid and foolish thing to say.
You and people like you who publicly gang up on individuals are the scourge of civil society.
You are Ally McCoist… Demanding to know who I am.
You belong in the gutter Ally Jim Payne.
Word of The Day
Jugulate /ˈdʒʌɡjʊˌleɪt/
verb
1. to cut the throat of; kill.
2. (transitive) ( rare) to check (a disease) by extreme measures or remedies
Derived Forms
jugulation, noun
Word Origin
C17 (in the obsolete sense: kill by cutting the throat of): from Latin jugul ā re, from jugulum throat, from jugum yoke
KTF
ABURNTOUTCASE 654
I don’t recall it,but I rarely listen when I’m being lectured at.
Big Peat of Islay on 29th November 2016 7:22 am
That post seethes of anger and irony!
You have, on more than one occasion, been extremely negative and attacking of posters who don’t share your views and question you.
To lend any credibility to you faux outrage you would be best served constructing a more measured riposte to those who you accuse of bullying!
KTF
VFR800 IS NOW A MONSTER 821 on 29TH NOVEMBER 2016 7:52 AM
You have, on more than one occasion, been extremely negative and attacking of posters who don’t share your views and question you.
———————
Where and when? Please back up with evidence and a link to it.
BPOI
From that riposte,I forecast tomorrow’s VFR800A8 Word of the Day to be irony,or summat similar. You ripped into PETEC last night,as you have frequently done to others.
Nothing wrong wi that-its a blog,and dissent is common-but most of us admit to it.
It’s official,I’ve turned into a soft southerner.
Too cold to go to the pub,never thought I would see the day.
Can anyone please post the details of Sevco’s extraordinary run of home draws in the Scottish Cup and League Cup. This is so obviously NOT coincidence.
79CAPS
Someone earlier said that in their last 22 draws,they’ve had 3 away ties,and we’ve had 15.
Still,it gives us an extra week to get the toilets ready for their next kicking.
79CAPS
…. and what’s the bet the well-timed Robbie Neilson story dies a death on Thursday….