I could make a case that the Hibs dressing room has a feeling of empowerment that belies their lowly position. Whatever happened when Leeann Dempster and Neil Lennon agreed the latter would leave his position as Hibs manager, the dressing room was almost certainly an active component in the process. The same players now have Paul Heckingbottom to contend with, and you do not need prophesising skills to know that Paul will soon leave in a similar manner to Neil Lennon.
When players have an influence on the manager’s position, they also decide when they want to put a shift in. A home game against Livingston might not get the juices flowing, until embarrassment kicks in, but a Hampden semi-final will. Hibs players are choosing their battles.
Tomorrow is a big test for Celtic, the 30th domestic cup game since our last elimination. Sure, we are better than the rest, but still, the uneven distribution of chances, goals, red cards, freak events and honest mistakes, means that such runs are statistically very unlikely.
I would rather be cautious than flamboyant tomorrow. Get through the game without tackles that risk a Christie-Livingston-type red card, or that denies Hibs space inside our box that can result in an Inverness or Ross County-type semi-final penalty.
We have won 12 games at Hampden on the bounce, without the need for extra-time or penalties. It is our home-from-home, we have the game intelligence succeed, so let’s get to the final.
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Hot Smoked.
So far. That can change especially if it is their interests to do so. Supporters can make that happen the more the penny drops.
HOT SMOKED
I remember pitching up for Freshers Week at a down south Uni in 68 . I learned that it was possible to join something the Tiddlywinks Club – inducement in the form of tea and toasted crumpet. . I resisted .
Sadly there was no Goldwax Records Appreciation Society .-
https://youtu.be/26vhWEbRz6A.
Off oot to Palermo
Scottish football reminds me of WWE Wrestling
You have the Baby Faces – Celtic
You have the Heels – Sevco Rangers
Celtic tend to only lose when there is some sort of outside interference i.e bad decisions from the refs, or foul play (players getting injured and not getting any protection from the officials)
It also means the Heels – Sevco Rangers – are ‘in bed’ with the authorities. They can do what they want and get away with it because they are all on the same team, they are corrupt and rig the game in their favour and to hell with the rest
The Heels generally win matches by foul play – outside interference, the refs giving penalties, sending opposition players off, at the same time allowing the Heels to get away with whatever they want
Since i was a child I have been fascinated with watching Celtic and watching wrestling
Maybe because there is very little difference…
I opened my personal emails to find this irresistible offer from Hawes and Curtis.
HALF TIME.. HALF PRICE
GET YOUR ENGLAND WORLD CUP WINNERS TEASHIRT
CLICK HERE
BHOYLO83 ….
smiley Lenny as Les Kellet,,taking all the low blows ,laughing it off and winning thing
Braw.
Hun Mcmanus ?
HS
Go and read what I’ve written again, your ‘written and interpretation’ has scored a E. !😱
Celtic board impersonating George Kidd…
smiley wrapped into a ball with its head up its erchie thing
Braw
up the Resorevolution
Visiting friends o/n and picked up their Herald for the first time in years and was reminded why I dumped it.
Very first paragraph: “Rangers boosted their books to the tune of £14m thanks to their Europa League run.” Second paragraph: “The annual report for RIFCplc shows a loss of £11.3m which is down £3m on the figures from the 12 months previously”.
Wow how positive! And here was me thinking these are worrying figures for any Scottish football club?
Then there was a cracker of a quote from the Lying King: “Our club has the highest expectations within the economic sphere that we operate and this requires the appropriate strategy, resources and operational capability. For the first time in many years we have all three of these at every level within the club”.
Where do you start with that? Certainly the Herald didn’t bother commenting of stuff that would have stumped Bletchley Park staffers.
Neustadt
Yes, if you like, i think you are maybe a little bit older than me with those names tho
😉
ma dad always called The Royal brothers …The Alexander brothers ….
smiley where is Pat Roach when you need him thing
Braw
Reading back, I see some posts about Shanklands. I have been saying on here for the last two years we should buy him. Could not for the life of me understand why he was not playing at least for Hibs or Hearts rather than Ayr.
There is maybe an arrogance amongst some in our support that believes a lower league player can’t step up, or that we are going to keep finding Dembele and Edouard class strikers ad infinitum.
For chomp change we could have had a natural striker to give us badly needed cover. He has scored 65 goals in 71 games since season 2017, he’s Still only 24 years old and at 1.85 mtrs tall, is a different option to Griff.
Big oversight in my opinion.
Melbourne Mick – Great news about Paddymacoz, may his recovery continue unabated, I keep him in my prayers.
PHILBHOY on 2ND NOVEMBER 2019 11:03 AM
I remember our one bed flat in Edmiston Street (next to the LL Stand.
———————————————————————————————————–
My Gran had a similar flat, top floor of a tenement in Abercorn St, just off of New City Road, shared
toilet on the landing, great memories of happy times spent there.
HH
I want to see the best mid of last season calmac, rogic and christie they ripped every other team they played a now hole
DeniaBhoy on 2nd November 2019 12:25 pm
Reading back, I see some posts about Shanklands. I have been saying on here for the last two years we should buy him. Could not for the life of me understand why he was not playing at least for Hibs or Hearts rather than Ayr.
Big oversight in my opinion.
———-
There’s maybe reasons why Hibs and Hearts (Aberdeen etc) haven’t gone for him.
Mangle as far as I knees was what happened to your fingers if they got caught in the wringer
Cantheman
smiley now your talking thing
anything”new” on the Geordie Kidd front?
hahahaha
Braw
Knew as well as knees 😃
The old Rangers had some great Heels…
Hurlock, Souness, Gough, Goram, Hately, Albertz etc.
Sevco have had a few decent ones…
Barton, Halliday, Morelos.
But you need to be good at what you do to be a proper Heel and these guys arent very good
Celtic have had some proper Faces throughout the years…
Jinky, Murdoch, Auld, Dalglish, McStay, Larsson, Naka latterly Dembele, Tierney, Edouard
Sorry just bored today 😂
AULDHEID on 2ND NOVEMBER 2019 11:27 AM
Dan 9.02
Spot on.
Celtic cannot stay silent on SFA governance.
________________________________________________________________________________
Thank you AULDHEID.
Been a few years since I regularly posted on here. Seems like old times, Newco being allowed to rack up debts and live outwith their financial means. Most of the Scottish media putting their “positive” spin on it as only they can. The SFA not holding them to account.
The difference this time is we already know what happened the last time. The true facts are out there for all to see, thanks to the “Internet Bampots” Celtic know what happened regarding the UEFA licence thanks to you and the rest of the Resolution 12 guys. As yourself, BRTH and many more folks have said, the most important question is “why are Celtic putting their faith in the SFA Governance procedures to take this forward” We know they are unfit for purpose. This is most important question that must be answered by Celtic as soon as possible in my humble opinion.
Dan
ONEMALLOY
Paddy still punchin away, not out of the woods yet but promising.
PHILBHOY
Edmiston st, did you ever have a kickabout in the school ground across
from debtdome? my mates all huge tims lived in Rhyne Drv. (spl ) and
the wine alley, John O’Brien, Tam McCabe ring any bells?
H.H . Mick
https://celtsarehere.com/peter-lawwell-18-19-wages-and-bonus-revealed/
A couple of Celtic scarves at Union Berlin piece on Football Focus
Doing the Mangle — there was several at the Lambhill Steamie .
https://youtu.be/BNrGdTkczVo
Well played South Africa. A happy outcome from my first look at RWC2019. Rugby Union is even more garbage than international football breaks.
I remember George Kidd as the great escaper. No matter what fiendish killer hold his opponent forced on him, a twist, a turn and a spin led to his graceful roll-out milking the crowd’s cheers. The baddie got progressively madder, adding to everybody’s entertainment.
Football compares to horse-racing not wrestling. I see footballers as the horses whose honest efforts are undermined by corrupt jockeys, trainers, owners and authorities.
————————————————————————————————-
All good luck to the Celts today. Fingers crossed for 30 not out.
Braw..,
Need a reminder on the Geordie kidd
oops -that should be were not was –
Was Not Was –
https://youtu.be/wguF9N0x9do
MELBOURNE MICK
Edmiston Street next to Celtic Park!
You’re thinking of Edmiston Drive near Ibrox.
Good news about Paddy!
ONE MALLOY
Yes, remember the outside toilet! Many a time there was a queue, Now that wasn’t a nice memory!
THE HUDDLE – if so, I wish someone would explain it to me. No hints of scandal that I am aware of or dodgy injuries. He has played for Scotland U21s and scored and now Steve Clarke wants him in the Scotland team as he says he is a “natural finisher who scores goals with his head, left foot, right foot”.
Maybe when he was a bit younger he didn’t train hard enough, who knows? But I would bet a wager he will end up at Ibrox or at CP sooner or later. For a small fee,he could have been sitting on our bench for the next 7 weeks ready to relieve Edouard of being flogged to death.
Not just speaking in hindsight either, we have badly needed back up up front for the last two seasons.
PHILBHOY
Got it… back to the rid biddy lol.
H.H . Mick
my analogy at NEUSTADT-BRAW on 2ND NOVEMBER 2019 12:12 PM
Celtic board impersonating George Kidd…
smiley wrapped into a ball with its head up its erchie thing
Braw
up the Resorevolution
a wee wrestler who used to thwart his opponents by curling into a ball…so creating a stalemate…
smiley its how ma wee heid tick tocks thing
Braw
hope your doing brawily
Has Shankland views on ever ( or was that never) playing for Celtic changed ?
DeniaBhoy on 2nd November 2019 12:54 pm
THE HUDDLE – if so, I wish someone would explain it to me. No hints of scandal that I am aware of or dodgy injuries. He has played for Scotland U21s and scored and now Steve Clarke wants him in the Scotland team as he says he is a “natural finisher who scores goals with his head, left foot, right foot”.
Maybe when he was a bit younger he didn’t train hard enough, who knows? But I would bet a wager he will end up at Ibrox or at CP sooner or later. For a small fee,he could have been sitting on our bench for the next 7 weeks ready to relieve Edouard of being flogged to death.
—————
Apparently he’s not very professional off the pitch
It’s clear they’re heading once again towards a big cliff. We should also be clear that right now we’re up against a club that has spent 30 million in two years on players. While they’re heading towards admin, they also pose a credible threat to our league ambitions. They’re throwing absolutely everything at us and we should not underestimate them.
Bada Bing,
Enjoyed the piece on Union Berlin, and clocked the Celtic scarves. Great wee stadium and fans, best gloss over the pre-season friendly though, entirely unmemorable match, and result!
HH
Newco Rangers have existential issues, they are trying to be something they are not. Their supporters have bought this narrative hook, line and sinker. But the version of Rangers they have bought into doesn’t exist. All of their eggs are in the stop the 10 basket. They may well stop the 10 but this period in their existence will pass quickly. I suspect the PLC Board are looking at the medium and longer term. Newco will implode trying to keep pace with Celtic. Generations of Celtic dominance will follow. The big questions are can they stop the 10 and have we done enough to get it.
Informative Tweet From an Accountant Fans Without Scarves
It can be read with graphics in support beginning at
https://twitter.com/FansScarves/status/1190590288194101250?s=20
but you can get gist from this if not on Twitter.
@FansScarves
Had a bit of a mooch at the Rangers accounts this morning. Here’s some thoughts on the picture it paints and what it means for Scottish football. The first thing that catches the eye is the £11.6m loss. Privately I’d been expecting £9m so it’s a little worse than I feared /1
That loss brings the total accumulated losses to an eye watering £46.8m around half of which relates to the last 2 years. That’s not sustainable long term which means tough decisions need to be made and the crunch time is approaching. There’s a little good news too though /2
Revenue is up considerably by £20.5m (around 63%) largely boosted by a decent Euro campaign and around 12 more matches than in previous season. It must be disappointing that hasn’t translated to the bottom line though. That increase in revenue could’ve turned losses to profits /3
Turning to what happened with it, the major extra expenses were operating costs and finance costs. Of the OC it’s clear staff costs are up by around £9m to £22m (about 69%) meaning substantially increased spending on employees helped drive that 63% turnover increase. /4
Despite that the wages to turnover ratios look a lot better. Down to 65% which isn’t really that far from 60% that is seen as sustainable. The “bang for buck” is probably facing a steep drop off though. It’s tougher to make revenue gains at the sharp end of Europe /5
It’s clear from the previous figures for example that every 1% extra spent on wages isn’t proving a 1% turnover increase. Beyond current levels better performance very hard to achieve consistently and costly to improve the chances. It becomes even more risky /6
There’s also about an extra £9m in other operating costs. I’d assume that the costs of the SDI action are in here. Provision has been made though they won’t say how much. There’s also an extra 12 matches or so /7
It seems that the quantum’s provided are substantially less than the £10m reported by media. It’s an estimate of course which might be wrong. The accruals would suggest substantially less /8
The finance costs are also worth a look. The notional interest on player payables tells that there are increasing amounts due to be paid for players currently on the books. It’s not real interest but tells that there’s substantial deferred payments within the trade payables /9
So turning to what those payables mean for liquidity risk it’s really quite concerning. A massive £26m needing to be found within a year with £10m needing to come from external sources /10
Of this quantum Dave King through Laird is providing the £5m short term relief this month according to the accounts. It would seem that it is hoped the remainder would be from player sales in January. That’d give Wilson’s arrival context. Anything over £5m plugs the gap /11
That suggests to me either Tavernier or Morelos will be actively tried to be sold. Whether King will be repaid from any excess or it’ll go toward forecast future losses is unclear. It isn’t sustainable to keep running losses like this again. /12
It’s also worth considering the operating cash flows. This kind of highlights the cash burned up from ordinary operations. It’s interesting that it’s positive despite a big loss. On closer examination it’s the high amortisation and increase in payables figures that jump out. /13
This says that the reason cash isn’t being burned up is that the payments have been kicked down the road a bit. You can kind of see the same picture emerge from the cash flows on investing. This points to a need to downsize operations /14
This year will be all out “stop the 10” thereafter it needs financial sense to return regardless of how this season pans out. Revenue won’t see these sort of jumps again so to get on an even foot expenses need to be under control – another 5% reduction in wages:turnover /15
So in summary this is going to be a hell of a season and I’d be lying if I said it didn’t add a little je ne sais quoi to the season. But it’s very risky and likely to be followed by austerity as the balance sheet is tapped out. It’s now all about how much King will fund /16
(at this point I expanded –
I’ll name the je ne sois quoi. Its called moral hazard celticquicknews.co.uk/game-intelligence-to-succeed-in-30-successive-cup-games/comment-page-4/#comment-3416137… and it is beyond negligence that clubs have walked back into the conditions that let Green dictate rescue terms.)
And that’s not a situation I’m comfortable with. He’s just been cold shouldered by the city and has a string of dishonesty convictions. His fit and proper status is up for reconsideration and football finances of all clubs are balanced on his munificence. We’ve been here /17
When we rely on Milestons and Romanovs it brings risks. In 2012 unsustainable models we’re brutally exposed. It caused the SFA and SPL/SFL to have to make decisions based on disaster recovery rather than sporting fairness. It put Green in a favourable negotiating position /18
We will never know whether any sporting penalties should have been applied to Rangers Oldco because the 5 way fixed Greens liabilities on admission. No further penalty was then possible. What we could do was ensure sport never again got sacrificed on a mercantile altar /19
Yet here we are again. Dundee United running wage:turnover ratios of over 130% on a shaky capital base. Rangers walking the same path that brought disaster before. Dumbarton, Falkirk, Livingston all in difficulty and nothing being done to mitigate risks /20
I asked the SPFL to consider changing things to ensure clubs didn’t risk their very existence chasing on the field success. They wouldn’t even put it to clubs to decide /21
https://twitter.com/FansScarves/status/1190603267996295169/photo/1
South of Tunis, I’ve just seen footage of Michael Kiwanuka when he was on Jools Holland’s Later doing You ain’t the problem. Very impressive. The footage was on you tube.
Will Greg Taylor or Bolingoli start today ?
Elyanoussi drifts inside more often than not leaving space on our left . I think Bolingoli will start with Taylor hopefully on the bench.
And on the moral hazard angle:-
Fans Without Scarves
@FansScarves
Replying to
@Auldheid
Think it all comes back to club ownership in the end. Most are owned by investors not fans. The SFA and SPFL only listens to club voices. The SPFL aren’t going to set rules that impose new conditions on clubs even to protect them. The SFA needs a mandate to do it
Auldheid
@Auldheid
Replying to
@FansScarves
From where? We know the problem. All the foxes are in the same hen house. ALL of them and supporters are the chickens.
Fans Without Scarves
@FansScarves
Replying to
@Auldheid
Pretty sure that Celtic fans know by now that PL isn’t working for them. He’s Desmond’s man. Res12 legacy is that the myth supporters matter is exposed. It’s all about the Benjamins. Changing that matters
(Fans is a Falkirk supporter)