This midweek has gone just about perfectly. Yesterday I asked that we pick a team to win the game, but play Griffiths, Armstrong, Roberts, McGregor, Izaguirre and Gamboa. All played, as did Christie and Henderson. And we recorded a remarkable 0-4 away win.
Meanwhile, in the land of the also-rans, our four nearest ‘challengers’ all dropped points. It’s still early days, but this league’s turning into a procession. Embarrassingly so, for some.
After opening the scoring within three minutes it wasn’t the most fluid of performances from Celtic, but an incredible eight outfield changes will result in a lack of familiarity. What the outfield players lacked, Craig Gordon more than made up for. He made three excellent saves, extending his run of fine performances since returning to the team against Kilmarnock last month.
Will the biggest impact Dorus de Vries has at Celtic be on the form of Craig Gordon? Don’t bet against it.
The Scottish Premiership table is in one of those bizarre states, where the (game-in-hand adjusted) gap between first and second is larger than that between second and second bottom. The transformation which has taken place in a team already five-in-a-row champions is remarkable, eclipsed in recent history only by the turnaround which took place in 2000.
Last night I read a lot of pennies dropping; specifically there was an acceptance that there was a significant financial gap between Celtic and the newly promoted Championship winners. There are a couple of worthwhile observations to make on this issue:
The financial gap which funded this season’s business is a fraction of what it will be next year, when Celtic will have banked circa £50m more than any other Scottish club. That will be around twice the gap they went into the last transfer window with.
Whatever you think about Mark Warburton’s claims that he’s closing the on-field gap, the structural deficit gap is becoming oceanic.
I again read people digging Dave King up about a perceived lack of his promised overinvestment. What’s going on at Ibrox right now IS overinvestment. The signings of Barton, Senderos, Kranjcar, Rossiter, Gilks, Hill, Hodson and Garner were designed to give them the advantage they needed over a team they eliminated from the Scottish Cup last season.
The accounts when published in 2018 will prove this. Or I should say if published. Not every team survives long enough to publish accounts, lest we forget.
For them, winning the league is evidently not going to happen, but if this week’s results teach us anything, it’s that the European qualification places (second and third) are wide open. For a team spending more than their direct rivals combined, that should be an achievable target.
The real problems come when the overinvestment has to stop and budget is cut.
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!!Bada Bing!! on 27th October 2016 3:25 pm
Craig Gordon defending his 18 yard line! . https://t.co/1mwU2qYE7D
____________________________________________
That video should have gone with the line that Monsewer Joey arrives at Sevco HQ!
KTF
Ibrox Noise now calling for Warbuton to go now!
The cracked crest will be getting polished off.
KTF
we are the footballing establishment now
Hebcelt
I believe Matts is now been taken on by trip advisor lol, it was funny.
Hope your good I have bumped into Benny when gettin his prematch bite to eat at the blane valpey.hope your enjoying coming down with the inverness bhoys.
Keep well
HH
THOMTHETHIM FOR OSCAR OK on 27TH OCTOBER 2016 1:02 PM
There was a ManU scout in Dingwall last night, but why is the media, to a person, saying he was there to watch Dembele? He could have been up to watch other players who didn’t play; or even an RC player.
*sir furious sent his former Celtic supporting brother up tae watch a young Belgian lad playing against us in the Champions League, he left suggesting they sign billy miller instead. The player that got away is now the club captain of their cross city rivals.
Those who describe real Celtic fans as haters for posting there dislike of certain players are being a tad ironic.
I am on record as saying I don’t like Nir Bitton in the team.
I give reason based on elements of his play and how that impacts the teams performance so can hardly see how it relates to hating.
He is probably a nice human being and I have no reason to believe otherwise so why would I hate him?
For the record I thought he was detrimental to the teams performance on Sunday but a positive to the same last night.
TONTINE TIM on 27TH OCTOBER 2016 3:56 PM
I was thinking something similar
CRC never any doubt about the accounts but god to see we are keeping our house in order :-))
HH
A big week coming up for the Bhoys with two tough away games. I have no doubt we’ll take care of the sheep on Saturday but the Germans away on Tuesday will be very tough. We realistically need a win over there if we are to be playing European football after Christmas.
On a side-note Bhoys, two of us are going over from Ireland to the Cup Final on November 27. We had originally planned to go to the Celtic v St Johnstone game but that game has subsequently been postponed due our involvement in the final. If any of u Bhoys know where i’d get my hands on two tickets i’d be very grateful if you could let me know. CorkCelt and Almore can vouch for me, I’m a big Celtic fan from the Emerald Isle. HH
Fan-a-tic
Nope. Not buying it. Sorry. But nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. If you dont agree with me, you’re a bad man. A very bad man. Bad, bad man.
:)
BabubhattCSC
AN Tearmann thanks for your kind words, I have finished my treatment and am hopefully on the mend look forward to catching up with the bhoys in the BV H H Hebcelt
I defended Biton against a lot of criticism but have to admit his performances have dipped below acceptable levels this season
He might recover some form. Scott Brown and Kris Commons are examples of good players going off the boil before improving again. Fingers crossed.
Tontine Tim,
…I could have told Vincent, that Old Trafford wasn’t good enough for someone as beautiful as he!
MIKE IN TORONTO.
Touché
How are you buddy?
We are shaping up to be a very fine team under Brendan.
Still one area I’d like to see strengthened in January;-)
That was a brace selection last night.
Would like to see Armstrong have more game time and thought young Henderson is growing into a player.
Enjoying the style and results this season.
jist in ,any news on JOEY.
Good midweek result(s) all round last night. Fair play to Ross Co who gave us more of a test than we got last Sunday. 4 goals was perhaps a tad harsh on them but that’s the unpredictability of League games – sometimes you get a result easily in a difficult game – on other occasions you batter the opposition relentlessly and end up with a draw or worse.
Good to see Brendan;s man-management during games having positive results – his use of subs are becoming pivotal and it looks like the players are buying into it. Still not sure about midfield? Bitton/ Christie/ Henderson/ McGregor have all made cameo contributions but none (individually) seem to be quite the answer to what we’re looking for – an out-and-out DF or playmaker. Despite domestic dominance (so far) – midfield will be key to any future European aspirations.
Could it be an interesting January Window?
Footnote: to Paul67’s leader – for those of you who downloaded ACGR’s Zadok the Priest – you might want to add this ringtone for your text messages:
https://youtu.be/L0otYijxNbc
Fan
When we signed GMS and Armstrong, I thought GMS would become a fan favourite … he’s the sort of player, Celtic fans love…., but I thought Armstrong, although less flashy, would go on to be a future Celtic captain. But you have to enjoy the pressure of playing for a big club, and I wasn’t sure that either did. Although, I always thought that SA was a bit hard-done by …. he is not a left winger, no matter how many times he was shifted out there… and that seemed to knock his confidence a bit.
But I am hearing good things about SA this season …. so I am hoping that he can still turn into the player that I had hoped he would for us.
It is hard for me to say as I’m only watching the CL games …. but, hopefully, he might get a run in one of those, and I can see for myself how much he has improved.
and if not, and we need to solve our midfield problems, maybe we can put in a cheeky wee bid for Joey Barton ….. (JUST JOKING!!!!!!!!!!!)
But, being a fan of SA, doesn’t mean that I have given up hope on NB, and converting you to his cause!
:)
PS …. went to the TFC game last night …. when he was in Italy, I thought Giovinco was overrated …. and still not sure he merits a spot in the Italian national team…. but, he sure is a fun player to watch.
And the standard of football in the MLS is improving all the time …. in some respects, as good as or better than the SPL stuff now …. and it is only going to keep getting better.
See on BBC sport that the “bottle attack Rankers fan” led the team out last night. That’s obviously the Level5 spin machine up to speed so no need to question the dead teams performance on the pitch.
The attack for the avoidance of doubt, whoever carried it out, was abhorrent but if we were to get the Celtic supporters attacked by the Deady bear supporters to lead the team out there would be no room on the pitch for anybody else.
Why does this story take centre stage?
Our PR Dept need to up their game. Look at some of the things that our supporters do for those in need/ less fortunate than themselves. Fat chance of reading about it on BBC or in the Scottish press. The reporting has more to do with getting the boot right into us than about concern for the fan who was injured. Seriously does my napper in.
HH
GEAROID1998 on 27TH OCTOBER 2016 5:03 PM
last paragraph hits the nail on the head
HH
GEAROID1998 on 27TH OCTOBER 2016 5:03 PM
Sometimes I feel that the fantastic work done by the Celtic Foundation, in the name of the club and support, doesn’t even get enough credit from within the support in general, without expecting it from our detractors.
On Joeygate,
Someone was Tweeting that he left the ground still wearing his club tie.
From that, assumed that he was still a Sevconite.
Just stumbled across the bread mans latest musings – ‘if we’d won last night we’d be third. I rest my case’ qoth the warbmeister
In other news Paul Hartley says ‘if we had won more games we’d be way up the league’. Derek mcinnes admits ‘if we’d beat Hamilton and three other teams this season including Celtic we’d be top.
Ronnie Deila has proclaimed ‘if we’d qualified for the champions league I’d be regarded as a top boss’.
And me? Well if my auntie had an appendage of the male variety she’d be my uncle…….
Never a red, that’s the way I saw it, although, he’ll have to be careful .
http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/competitions/premiership/why-craig-gordon-wasn-t-sent-off-against-ross-county-1-4270986
Dena
Hope things well G.
TTT
Think Club/PR should be doing an awful lot more. Make it difficult/impossible to ignore the stuff that the Celtic foundation do. Embarrass them (although you couldn’t burn their necks with a turbo charged blow torch.
HH
Thom
You sure about that ?
https://twitter.com/jamesdoleman/status/791660302903480320
TET … brilliant!
I actually hope he stays … if fit and motivated (those are both big ifs), he is worth a few points to them over the season … but at what cost? they simply cant afford him and Kranjar … and the long term damage that he will do financially (and there is always the chance that he will go and do something daft) is priceless ….
TET,
I saw that.
Must have been a fiery exchange of views!
Gearoid 1998,
I think there is a limit to how far the club can actually go re promoting the work of the Foundation.
Anything beyond publicising the initiatives, could be misinterpreted as boasting, or in the vernacular, bumming themselves up.
Charity is a delicate balance and wherever possible should be discreet, as in, the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing.
I guess what I’m really getting at is the image that some of us try to portray of the Board being bloated, capitalist exploiters .
Personally, I think that there is still a strong Christian ethos running through the club, in which Walfrid would be well pleased.
The news today that the club is kick starting the Christmas Appeal with a cheque for £10,000 is very welcome.
Manchester shitty fans wreck Manchester United’s bogs.
It’s a HUN thing.
MiT
Agree with you 100%, he will also be a bomb always likely to explode and I honestly can’t see him signing a confidentially clause, can you ?
HH
Thom
He did leave by a side door, still suited and booted, he has them by the baws
HH
Bada Bing were you at the wind up last night about the Hogmanay game?HH
F67- no mate i heard the date was up for discussion today.
Borussia certainly have a sense of humour: http://www.talkingbaws.com/2016/10/borussia-monchengladbach-now-selling-a-german-team-scarves-in-club-shop/
KTF
Is the clumpany today satirical or literal ?
BURGAS HOOPS on 27TH OCTOBER 2016 5:46 PM
Manchester shitty fans wreck Manchester United’s bogs.
It’s a HUN thing.
—
Is that not closer to hun on hun action?
MALC
From my own personal experience…. nope
TTT
I get completely the point that you are making but what I am getting at is that there needs to be some sort of counter balance/spin to the incessant negativity about our Club/Support as evidenced in “the bottled Rankers fan leading” them out last night which,as I said, had more to do with hammering our support than any concern for the welfare of said ” bottled” fan.
HH
Monsewer Joey remains suspended.