I know we all liked big Erik. He brought instant calm to Ronny Delia’s team when he arrived two years ago today. But, while 2016 started authoritatively for the central defender, it ended with him looking pensive and out of his depth at Ibrox, albeit in a Celtic win.
2017 has been largely forgettable for the player. This season has effectively been a write-off for him, after an injury in the Champions League qualifiers. It would have been better for all if he got a permanent deal elsewhere but at least a loan return to Midtjylland will afford him time to regain his confidence, hopefully leading to a new deal elsewhere in the summer.
I am sure we are still looking at the central defensive space for this month. There could be more in and out.
NEW CQN PODCAST OUT NOW FEATURING TOMMY SHERIDAN
A Celtic State of Mind presents its 30th instalment of insightful discussion around the culture of Celtic Football Club, the city of Glasgow, and fans of the reigning treble-winning Scottish champions.
Kevin Graham is joined by Scotty Alcroft to interview Scottish pro-independence politician, Tommy Sheridan, at The Penalty Spot in Glasgow.
The interview took place as part of A Celtic State of Mind’s first live event – Five-a-sides at The Penalty Spot – and, as such, there is some background noise (including mobile interference – apologies) from the audience.
The other voice you may hear throughout this episode is that of former Celtic striker, Frank McGarvey, who is a friend of Tommy’s, and who was also interviewed separately that day for a future show.
You are sure to enjoy Tommy’s eclectic input, as he discusses everything from Catalan independence to Coolio, with a constant undercurrent of that thing called Celtic.
Order Jim Craig’s new Lisbon Lion Diary – Right Back to 67 from CQNBookstore.co.uk and you will receive a signed copy from the man himself plus a FREE copy of That Season in Paradise – Ten Months of Celtic Heaven signed by fellow Lisbon Lion Bertie Auld! Simply order Jim Craig – Right Back to 67 and the second book will be sent automatically. Stocks are running very low so hurry!
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They won nowt:
Barcelona SC, from Ecuador, won by one goal, don’t know if there was a cup.
Atletico Nacional and Legia Warsaw have still to play each other – Sat 20th. So, a wee 4-0 win for Atletico will put the Huns into their new, and for ever in the future place, THIRD :-)))
Bet this table below is all over the place :-)
Pos Team Pld W PW PL L GF GA GD Pts
1 Barcelona S.C. 2 2 0 0 0 6 3 +3 6
2 Rangers 2 2 0 0 0 5 2 +3 6
3 Atlético Nacional 1 1 0 0 0 2 0 +2 3
4 PSV Eindhoven 2 0 1 1 0 2 2 0 3
5 Corinthians 2 0 1 0 1 3 5 −2 2
6 Fluminense 2 0 0 1 1 2 4 −2 1
7 Legia Warsaw 1 0 0 0 1 2 3 −1 0
8 Atlético Mineiro 2 0 0 0 2 0 3 −3 0
Then again if Atletico win 4-0 they’ll win it.
Ralph Topping was on the SFA Board, or similar, me neither, was William Hills top man in Scotland.We shouldn’t be surprised he sat and said hee haw.
Sevco are new champions of Brazil
Now I’m the king of the spinners, oh
The jungle VIP
I’ve reached the top and had to stop
And that’ Bobby’s botherin” me
Won’t let me in the CQN manclub
cos ah tell them what’s goin’ down
I won’t be like the other men
an ah’m not foolin around.
Oh Scooby Do oo oo….
I want Pyjamas like you oo oo…
wee song for Kev an Bobby ;-)
BARNEY67
Superb ☺️
Barney67
.. :~)
B67- VG
Erik is a better defender than DB and NB both of whom are ahead of him in the queue. When fit JS is the best defender at the club but his lack of availability is worrying.
We need a first choice CD to play alongside MC with DB and KA as back up.
A first choice number 10 plus cover at LB and that would complete the squad.
Yeez know its stuck in yer heids all day now, ;-)
CHARLIE72 on 16TH JANUARY 2018 1:50 PM
I can’t decide if I agree on the other CB needed or not. On the face of it that seems like the right move. However Centre Backs work in pairs so part of me thinks (with a trust that Compper is the real deal) that having him in beside a Boyata or Ajer will bring them on to a better level. Neither of them are perfect but neither of them are miles away either so a really good partner might make all the difference.
I would however argue that we already have a first choice number 10. I know he has been injured but no question Tommy Rogic is the real deal. If we put him up for sale I’d bet there would be a host of clubs of a very good standard desperate to take him.
Put it this way, if TR was a player for another club and Celtic were linked with him would you be happy with that as signing based on his performances and contributions? and what transfer value would you be placing on him in order to get him out of this other club?
Charlie72
Aye, but thats in your wee Celtic. BR thinks DB and NB are better fitter and more available than Erik
– thats why he’s in Denmark.
You haven’t even seen MC ( like the rest of us ) yet he’s first pick, and we need another player you’ve haven’t named, never mind seen, never mind signed.
WOW csc
BMCUWP
Aye it was great to hear her good news. Lovely wee girl is Bee.
Like you I’m not much of a drinker, aye pull the other one it has bells on as my mum used to say, but can feel a few scoops being taken tonight as I’ve no work tomorrow.
Anyway remember my old school motto “Nil Illegitimus Carborundum” :-)
Nup! Naw administration yet. Well surprise my colourations.
MWD
I’m more hopeful of a couple more quaaaaaliteeeeee signings from us than a Sevco admin. That is saying something!
Are we looking stronger now than what we were before the tranny sat in the windae? It’s close but maybe just.
MWD wants quaaaaaliteeeee
Perplexed by the whole Sviatchenko situation. He was our best defender. Had a poor spell but surely the manager works with him to improve? I believe he’s better with the ball than the other two, not as tall or as quick but reads the game better and less prone to mistakes than Boyata. Always felt he talked at the back as well which I don’t see from DB or JS.
Reply received from Neil Bibby MSP.
“I can confirm that I will be voting to repeal the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act 2012.”
Good song Barney, made me smile.
God how this Winter Break is dragging, & to make things worse I’m going to be airborne for the duration of the Brechin tie so my Winter Break is extended until the Maryhill Magyars game.
Who would win in a fight between Barcelona and Barcelona?
For EK bhoys even the main roads bad here, still snowing with more on the way
BOURNESOUPRECIPE on 16TH JANUARY 2018 2:23 PM
“The RANJURS GOAN FUR FUFTY FIVE”
obviously
CORKCELT
It’s excruciating every year since MON,
Bloggers that know better than the Celtic manager, invincible 69 , ” but ma favourite isnae playing
so I might not renew Celtic TV or buy the new strip yada yada yada ”
Zzzzzz CSC
There is no requirement for Celtic to enter the Scottish Cup Competition
OWEN
And that’s the only Latin I understand!!!!!
Hi Bhoys,
The truth about Erik is that in the eyes of the medical people and physios, he has been fit for some time now, but kept saying he “didn’t feel right”. It was not that Brendan didn’t pick him for the squad, but that he continually made himself unavailable for selection. I’m not surprised that he has gone on loan.
HH
Yogihughes
You base that on what mhate?
Asking to understand, not having a go.
HH jamesgang
YOGIHUGHES
Touch of the Shaun Maloney’s then?
BARNEY67
Cap doffed,mate. That was outstanding!!!
reading some of the comments last night, and auldheid’s comment and M6bhoy’s response today …. have to say, I am, in the main, in agreement with M6bhoy …
as some of you will be aware, it was MLKJr. day in America this week, so got me thinking … …. now, AND I CANT STRESS THIS ENOUGH… i am not suggesting an equivalence between what happened in America and what Celtic fans have endured …. but, it got me thinking ….
Dr. MLK said that ‘human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable. every step towards the goal of justice requires … (you guessed it) SACRIFICE, suffering and struggle….” *
As Celtic supporters, we cant expect real change without sacrifice, suffering and struggle …. so, what are we prepared to do to bring about change?
Another great agent for change, Bobby Sands said ‘ our revenge will be the laughter of our children’…
Both of these men knew that change would not happen overnight, and would not happen unless the present generation were prepared to give up something now, so that the future generations would not have to go through the same struggles ….
“a boycott could be self-harming ” …. boycotts usually involve some element of risk and some self-sacrifice … short term pain for, hopefully, long term gain ….
in my experience, indirect, third party boycotts tend to be less effective …
and, most importantly, unlike many who are victimized, but have no one to stand up for them, and so, have to resort to third party boycotting, Celtic supporters do have a voice, and a representative …our Board is our representative … it is up to our Board to protect the interest of our club and our fans … and our Board are supposed to represent the interests of the shareholders …
that is not William Hill’s job ….. so, why are we letting our Board skate through this, and asking Will Hill to go and force a clean up of the SFA/SFPL?
I am paraphrasing, but last night GFTB said (and I am not picking on him, it has been said by others, but he is the most recent person that I remember saying it) ‘if Celtic say something, it will be seen as a Celtic problem’ (as opposed to a scottish football problem”.
While the problem is with scottish football (and in that sense it is a scotttish foorball problem), Celtic are the team that have been most directly impacted by this (except, arguably R*** who were liquidated); Celtic were the ones cheated out of titles and millions of pounds in Euro money. We were the most injured, and so should be the most aggrieved, and should be the ones leading the charge. In that sense, it is a Celtic problem.
Expecting the SFA/SPFL to do so is like expecting turkeys to vote for thanksgiving… it just isnt going to happen.
I suppose that is the point of the proposed boycott …
but, why are people not looking at our Board and asking the same questions?
If we want the game in scotland to change, that drive has to come from Celtic … and, it seems (based on the last 6 years), that means it has to come from Celtic supporters compelling our Board to act …. and, as suggested above, the only way to get attention is to withhold funds (as I have been saying all along) ….
if Celtic dont do the right thing, dont reward them …dont give them your money …. yes, there is sacrifice involved …
The justification for doing nothing seems to be that a Celtic boycott would not be successful….I dont accept that.
if even half of the say 60,000 regular supporters (and countless others who, like myself, followed through Celtic TV) refused to renew, something would happen…. of that, I have no doubt …maybe not today, but soon ..
sure, times are good right now (we are winning, and the zombies are shite) and some people would take up tickets …. but, will those people be there when times are not so good? I dont think so … and sales, and revenue will eventually dwindle … if players think the SPL is a joke, good players wont sign, and that jeopardizes our place in europe….. which will inevitably mean reduced revenue, which means ever poorer players for Scotland …
Celtic, at present, is like a lovely house, built on a foundation (the SPFL) of sand …. eventually, the foundation will crack, and will bring our house down with it …
I agree that a boycott is the only way … money is what these people know, and what they respond to (and I include those that run Celtic in ‘those people’) …. but William hILL? Not the way; if we want change, tell our Board that you wont renew unless they grow a pair …
I think Celtic fans do have the power to effect real change, within their hands …. the question is whether there is the will to do so
* I know Gandhi took a different view on struggle (“the sacrifice which causes distress to the doer is not real sacrifice. Real sacrifice lightens the mind of the doer”), but that is a different discussion, for a different day, I think
MiT
I love the views and oratory of MLK though had I been a young African American I would likely have been a Malcolm X adherent.
However, in the context of boycotts, etc I’m going to hit you with the old adage about politics being the art of the possible.
Most members of the Scottish public have no idea about OBAF, for example, but would instinctively support it simply given its title.
Most who know about the rainjurs think they were demoted.
A tiny % of the 60k have heard of Res12. Most think ‘rangers are back’ albeit in impoverished form.
A boycott won’t work imho. The threat not to renew that was evident among many clubs’ supporters at the prospect of ‘Phoenix rangers’ won’t easily or likely be repeated.
I have most all of my eggs of faith in the basket led by our very own Columbo (aka Auldheid) and Kojak (BRTH) and Harry Callaghan (Neganon)!!!
HH jamesgang
Oul Chinese proverb never eat yellow snow HH
James Gang,
It’s who you know!
HH
Yogihughes
As in ‘who i (me) know’ or ‘who one knows’ ???
CrypticCSC
HH jamesgang
With the talk of administration of Sevco which seems to be contradicted by their transfer activity, if they were to go into Administration could this be kept under wraps by their current board as their main creditors appear to be directors? Or is there some other procedures that must be followed if administration happens and this would become common knowledge?
Who I know.
Gotcha!
For what it’s worth I thought Erik seemed a very classy, cultured cosmopolitan European gentleman.
But ideally (I know…. Cannavaro proved height wasn’t everything!) 2 inches too short and certainly 2 yards too slow.
HH jamesgang
Jamesgang ..
I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Glasgow… but there are a few regrets … one, certainly, was not getting the chance to sit down and have a drink and chat with yourself … From your blog personna, and the many nice things your friends on here have said to me about you, I think I would have really enjoyed that.
I have to go into a meeting shortly …. and want to give your comments some though before replying …. serious comments deserve more than a flippant off the cuff response … but I will definitely get back to you .
ps … like you, I am a huge Malcolm X fan … less a fan of the autobiography (Mr. Haley inserts himself into the writing a bit too much for my liking) … but I reread Manning Marable’s excellent work every so often. …. see, one more reason I would have enjoyed having a pint with you.