I indulged in a bit of radio call-in listening last night to hear how the other side are dealing with their recent implosion. Blame flows in all directions when aspirational clubs win nothing and perspective is difficult to find.
Steven Gerrard is in his second season as a manager, most of his players have won little or nothing in their careers. As a club, this is only their second season playing two games a week for months on end. Contrast this to Celtic, which has years of corporate learning ingrained into the fabric of Lennoxtown.
Celtic know what work to do at the margins to ensure players can deliver at the weekend as well as on European duty. They learned this through many seasons of fine-tuning. They know what training and rest is required, what nutrition works best and how to motivate players to continue to achieve.
It is usually fans who have not kicked a ball for decades that accuse players of not trying or caring enough when they suffer a bad result against a weaker team. In fact, football is far more nuanced. Players are not machines and never will be. Get the preparation 10% wrong and even the best are liable to lose.
It is the manager’s job to know this and to find the words to explain what went wrong, while keeping an eye on the next challenge. Steven Gerrard is not alone in expressing his despair at players’ inconsistencies, but in doing so, he is building his own gallows. Leave that chat to those who only know how to shout from this sides, but know nothing about dominating an opponent on the field.
It has been a while, but you and I have seen things go wrong at Celtic, as they will do again. When it happens, don’t be like Steven and his ‘The players are not good enough” fans. Newco players are, in fact, performing well above reasonable expectations. That they will forever struggle to win a trophy is not their fault.
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SOUTH OF TUNIS on 3RD MARCH 2020 11:04 PM
I was at Anfield .Officiating was dreadful..Never a free kick.Not offside .Ref was the epitome of a homer.
*I had a ticket and a lift doon on a CSC bus, was all set tae go after the 1st leg on the Thursday night. As the game was on the following Tuesday I would get my mother tae phone me in sick.
The Friday after our win I was called intae the office, “congratulations you have just won the apprentice of the year award and with it goes a tenure in head office with the engineers, report there on Monday morning”.
Got home that night all excited and my mother says “right up tae Bremners tomorrow and get some office attire”, my da “gi’es that ticket cause yer no going tae Liverpool now”.
Tuesday morning as I’m walking through Queen Street I spot the Tim my da “gave” the ticket tae.
BTW the mitb admitted later on the Kop had him terrified and it was a goal. Lots of Scottish speaking “Germans” at the final.
Elland Rd?
George Connelly had a goal ruled offside early in the second half .He wasnt but Jinky might have been.Fine night in a Jamaican shebeen after the game.A hungover starry eyed and laughing hitch to London the following morning.
AN TEARMANN on 3RD MARCH 2020 5:26 PM
A wee montage of Bobby Lennox goals Courtesy @Celticlisboaa Made his debut, today v Dundee
*I was at that game, this was an excellent Dundee side who would be champions at the end of the season and get to the semis of the Big Cup the following season beating Cologne, Sporting Lisbon and Anderlecht on route while losing to eventual winners Milan in the semis.
A couple of months previous to this game they went tae hades, although still at school I was supposed tae play a secondary juvenile game at Giffnock that day, a real pea souper so we headed back tae the Bonnie Banks as games all over the West of Scotland were called off including ours against St Mirren which would be played the following Wednesday where we won 7-1.
The Dundee SC busses were also turned back but with half an hour tae kick off the fog lifted and the game somehow went ahead. Good at having games on that may suit their agenda, let’s not forget they were on an unbeaten run of 21 games had already won the LC and had a side laden with internationals.
However as their favourite brither this side of hiram abiff once said “the best laid schemes o’mice an’men gang aft agley” and it came tae the fore that dreich day.
Big Alan Gilzean ran amok in the 2nd half scoring 4 goals in a 5-1 victory to give Dundee their greatest ever league result.
So here we were on a frosty day playing the future champions that had 5 internationals including the veteran Gordon Smith, no not wiggie but a good player, who had already won the League with Hibs and Hearts and also played in the Big Cup with them.
While we had new signings, especially after losing tae the Pars the year before in the SC Final including new signing Tarbolton born Billy Price brought in tae replace Bertie Peacock and who allegedly inspired the Celtic Cha Cha Cha chant as well as youngsters Bobby Lennox and Frank Brogan.
In a typical Celtic bizarre selection left winger Frank was played on the right and top Junior goalscorer, Scottish Junior Cup winner and Junior international right winger Bobby Carroll was out on the left.
If the truth be told us wee St Pats bhoys were there not just tae see the Celts but also a team that had humphed the newly christened, nae pun intended, huns
Our wee debut fae Saltcoats had a goal chalked off for an imaginary hand ball in the first half and John Divers also had a headed goal chalked off for another honest mistake against Lemon, we would see plenty of those in the future, which led tae the obligatory hooliganism on the terracing with an invasion of the park by the wee bhoys down the front.
However Celtic have always been famous for their never say die spirit and we kept going, and with 10 minutes tae go a cross come shot by the much maligned Frank Brogan that should have been easily covered by the big brute at centre half for the Dens Park side who at the last minute decided tae dummy it without informing goalie Pat Liney, mibbees he had trouble saying his name lol, and it managed tae sail into the net.
Five minutes later big Billy, a player kept out of the national side by that big numpty in blue, showed us a sneak preview of what was to come by running 20 yards to get onto a Frank Brogan corner and bulleting a heider intae the back of the net.
Billy was not done and in the final minute on a by now as the frost came down slippy surface managed tae chase back and force Alan Cousins, with big Frank at his mercy, wide. All in all a great day out for us wee Tradamus Lampada bhoys.
Ironically a year later the same wee schoolboys all amassed in the Celtic end tae watch the same high flying European challengers, this time with new goalie Bert Slater signed by manager Bob Shankly fae his brother Bill at Anfield, give us a masterful display until the Bear outpaced big useless puting us in the lead which by half time we were 3 up, we eventually gubbed them 4-1 one of our goals scored by my hero at the time Frank Brogan who also contributed tae future deidco coach seith’s og.
PictureThis Scotland
@74frankfurt
·
Feb 21
The Celtic management team of Sean Fallon and Jock Stein. European Cup winners in 1967.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ERTu6fzXUAAmkF2?format=jpg&name=small
tontine tim
Yet another great post. Enhanced only by the fact that you managed to gie Tarbolton a mention!
From Murdoch’s loo roll
AN SFA decision on whether or not to take the matter of Rangers’ 2011-12 European licence to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) could finally come in a matter of weeks, SunSport understands.
It will be two years this May since then compliance officer Tony McGlennan issued a fresh notice of complaint against Rangers for alleged breaches of Uefa’s rules relating to their application to play European football that season.
Tony McGlennan issued the notice of complaint against Rangers shortly before standing downCredit: Scottish News and Sport
Rangers refused to accept the two charges, which accused them of failing to observe the principles of sportsmanship and “behaving towards the Scottish FA and other members with the utmost good faith”.
The Ibrox side’s legal team successfully argued back in a preliminary hearing in June 2018 that – due to the terms of the five-way agreement between the SFA, SPL, SFL, Rangers (in administration) and Sevco which allowed the Ibrox side to restart in Scotland’s bottom tier – the matter must be referred to the Swiss-based court.
Clauses in that document defined exactly what alleged misdemeanours of the Craig Whyte era the new entity can and cannot be held liable for.
And this is where the issue has sat for the last 20 months, with a number of differing legal opinions being sought on the wisdom of referring the case to CAS.
SFA chief executive Ian Maxwell with Steve ClarkeCredit: Kenny Ramsay – The Sun Glasgow
There are no shortage of other serious matters for the association’s hierarchy to be concerning itself with right now, not least the serious threat of match cancellations due to the ongoing coronavirus threat.
HH
HAMILTONTIM on 3RD MARCH 2020 7:04 PM
TUESDAY 3RD MAY 1981
I’m feeling exceptionally well today. (It’s only the third day, I know, but all the same I’m feeling great.) I had a visit this morning with two reporters, David Beresford of The Guardian and Brendan O Cathaoir of The Irish Times. Couldn’t quite get my flow of thoughts together. I could have said more in a better fashion.
63 kgs today, so what?
A priest was in. Feel he’s weighing me up psychologically for a later date. If I’m wrong I’m sorry — but I think he is. So I tried to defuse any notion of that tonight. I think he may have taken the point. But whether he accepts it, will be seen. He could not defend my onslaught on Bishop Daly — or at least he did not try.
I wrote some notes to my mother and to Mary Doyle in Armagh; and will write more tomorrow. The boys are now all washed. But I didn’t get washed today. They were still trying to get men their first wash.
I smoked some ‘bog-rolled blows’ today, the luxury of the Block!
They put a table in my cell and are now placing my food on it in front of my eyes. I honestly couldn’t give a damn if they placed it on my knee. They still keep asking me silly questions like, ‘Are you still not eating?’
I never got started on my poem today, but I’ll maybe do it tomorrow. The trouble is I now have more ideas.
Got papers and a book today. The book was Kipling’s Short Stories with an introduction of some length by W. Somerset Maugham. I took an instant dislike to the latter on reading his comment on the Irish people during Kipling’s prime as a writer: ‘It is true that the Irish were making a nuisance of themselves.’ Damned too bad, I thought, and bigger the pity it wasn’t a bigger nuisance! Kipling I know of, and his Ulster connection. I’ll read his stories tomorrow.
Ag rá an phaidrín faoi dhó achan lá atá na buachaillí anois. Níl aon rud eile agam anocht. Sin sin. (Translated this reads as follows: The boys are now saying the rosary twice every day. I have nothing else tonight. That’s all.)
Thank you Hamilton Tim
HAMILTONTIM on 3RD MARCH 2020 7:04 PM
TUESDAY 3RD MAY 1981
I’m feeling exceptionally well today. (It’s only the third day, I know, but all the same I’m feeling great.) I had a visit this morning with two reporters, David Beresford of The Guardian and Brendan O Cathaoir of The Irish Times. Couldn’t quite get my flow of thoughts together. I could have said more in a better fashion.
63 kgs today, so what?
A priest was in. Feel he’s weighing me up psychologically for a later date. If I’m wrong I’m sorry — but I think he is. So I tried to defuse any notion of that tonight. I think he may have taken the point. But whether he accepts it, will be seen. He could not defend my onslaught on Bishop Daly — or at least he did not try.
I wrote some notes to my mother and to Mary Doyle in Armagh; and will write more tomorrow. The boys are now all washed. But I didn’t get washed today. They were still trying to get men their first wash.
I smoked some ‘bog-rolled blows’ today, the luxury of the Block!
They put a table in my cell and are now placing my food on it in front of my eyes. I honestly couldn’t give a damn if they placed it on my knee. They still keep asking me silly questions like, ‘Are you still not eating?’
I never got started on my poem today, but I’ll maybe do it tomorrow. The trouble is I now have more ideas.
Got papers and a book today. The book was Kipling’s Short Stories with an introduction of some length by W. Somerset Maugham. I took an instant dislike to the latter on reading his comment on the Irish people during Kipling’s prime as a writer: ‘It is true that the Irish were making a nuisance of themselves.’ Damned too bad, I thought, and bigger the pity it wasn’t a bigger nuisance! Kipling I know of, and his Ulster connection. I’ll read his stories tomorrow.
Ag rá an phaidrín faoi dhó achan lá atá na buachaillí anois. Níl aon rud eile agam anocht. Sin sin. (Translated this reads as follows: The boys are now saying the rosary twice every day. I have nothing else tonight. That’s all.)
Thank you Hamilton Tim
……………..
a braw wee poem ..
There’s an inner thing in every man,
Do you know this thing my friend?
It has withstood the blows of a million years,
And will do so to the end.
It was born when time did not exist,
And it grew up out of life,
It cut down evil’s strangling vines,
Like a slashing searing knife.
It lit fires when fires were not,
And burnt the mind of man,
Tempering leadened hearts to steel,
From the time that time began.
It wept by the waters of Babylon,
And when all men were a loss,
It screeched in writhing agony,
And it hung bleeding from the Cross.
It died in Rome by lion and sword,
And in defiant cruel array,
When the deathly word was ‘Spartacus’
Along the Appian Way.
It marched with Wat the Tyler’s poor,
And frightened lord and king,
And it was emblazoned in their deathly stare,
As e’er a living thing.
It smiled in holy innocence,
Before conquistadors of old,
So meek and tame and unaware,
Of the deathly power of gold.
It burst forth through pitiful Paris streets,
And stormed the old Bastille,
And marched upon the serpent’s head,
And crushed it ‘neath its heel.
It died in blood on Buffalo Plains,
And starved by moons of rain,
Its heart was buried in Wounded Knee,
But it will come to rise again.
It screamed aloud by Kerry lakes,
As it was knelt upon the ground,
And it died in great defiance,
As they coldly shot it down.
It is found in every light of hope,
It knows no bounds nor space
It has risen in red and black and white,
It is there in every race.
It lies in the hearts of heroes dead,
It screams in tyrants’ eyes,
It has reached the peak of mountains high,
It comes searing ‘cross the skies.
It lights the dark of this prison cell,
It thunders forth its might,
It is ‘the undauntable thought’, my friend,
That thought that says ‘I’m right!’
Braw
That’s braw
Good morning CQN from a freezing (but sunny) Garngad 😂
Well that was a Braw read back, some wonderful, wonderful posts.
So we move onto league game 29 a win tonight leaves 9 games left for Sevco to try and catch us.
Their window is closing on them, but this is the most important game of the season for us so far.
We need full concentration from Lenny’s Lions.
COYBIG
D. :)
Braw nae very braw indeed Neustadt.
😊
HH
Canamalar
‘re Assange
Check out @CraigMurrayorg on Twitter.
He is going thro a bit of state harassment in that being able to retweet his blogs from the trial are being hampered.
He has done a good daily blog from the trial,trying to retweet or cop and paste from his blog is difficult
He has also done a blog looking at the interference from ¿? on social media
HH
Thank you Fergus McCann.
HH
“I’m just a footnote in the grand scheme of things. Brother Walfrid was the visionary who started things and his is a name that should stay in people’s minds.
F.McCann
Good morning, friends from a gorgeously clear skied Playa Blanca. Is today the anniversary of the rebels winning?
Irish Times
” Adams assailed by father of IRA victim ”
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/adams-assailed-by-father-of-ira-victim-1.156151
As suggested by the estimable SFTB , no apology required .
I look forward to reading HamiltonTim’s posts at this time every year.
Unlike most stories, the fact that you already know the ending actually amplifies the impact as it unfolds.
Human life is sacred. So too is freedom. They can be combined in a delicate balance. I’m always struck however that those who affiliate themselves with nations and regimes of utter power and indiscriminate killings are so quick to condemn the oppressed when they fight back.
My brother in law for example, when Palestinian teenagers took up knives against Israelis whose state had used F16s, Hellfires, guns and bulldozers, while stealing homes from under them. ‘Palestinians, why can’t they stop causing trouble?’ he mused.
HH jg
“Celtic are reportedly set to sign a Scottish record kit deal with Adidas.
The Premiership champions’ current £25million contract with New Balance expires this summer.
But it’s claimed the club are “on the verge” of striking an agreement worth even more with the world’s second largest sports manufacturer”.
Mornin all – big night tonight
Whit happened tae the Adidas money?
Where will they put the 3 stripes?
£30m in the bank
£30m for Eddie
£30m aff Adidas
= £90m
Take away Peter’s bonus, leaves £2.50
PHILBHOY on 4TH MARCH 2020 8:31 AM
Where will they put the 3 stripes?
Under the erums.
JAMESGANG on 4TH MARCH 2020 8:18 AM
Completely agree.
An equal opportunity blog for Celtic supporters .
Others mourn their dead heroes on CQN .
I`m entitled to mourn mine . Who , believe it or not , include theirs .
MACJAY1 FOR NEIL LENNON on 4TH MARCH 2020 8:59 AM
‘Subtle’ difference is that commemorating the oppressor out of a misguided sense of loyalty does not sit well for obvious reasons.
HH
PHILBHOY on 4TH MARCH 2020 8:31 AM
Where will they put the 3 stripes?
___
Ideally, we wouldn’t have the three stripes on the hoops.
However, it wouldn’t be too bad if it runs along the shoulder but stops at the sleeve. Like the current Arsenal strip etc.
SIEMPRE CELTIC (FORMERLY TRADITIONALIST88) on 4TH MARCH 2020 9:11 AM
‘Subtle’ difference is that commemorating the oppressor out of a misguided sense of loyalty does not sit well for obvious reasons.
HH
=========================================================================
Who were the oppressors in the Birmingham pub bombings in `74 ?
The slaughter of innocent people mostly young people out having a drink .
Who was the oppressor in the murder last year of Lyra Mc Kee ?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-48018615
Nothing ” subtle ” there.
Are you comfortable that the murders of these innocents are being imposed on Celtic, who have repeatedly indicated that they have no wish to be associated with them ?
Maybe the Adidas stripes could feature on the Collar and Cuffs of the Hoops Jersey….maybe also on the shorts and socks ?
Maybe the Celtic squad would be all wearing Adidas boots ?
Whit do I know LOL ?
HH
MACJAY1 FOR NEIL LENNON on 4TH MARCH 2020 9:37 AM
Who were the oppressors in the Birmingham pub bombings in `74 ?
Who was the oppressor in the murder last year of Lyra Mc Kee ?
=====================
Not Bobby Sands.
HH
Seeing this is a time for nòn Celtic posts : Agree or disagree with Ayn Rand, her quotes are food for thought.
” The most profound breach is not between rich and poor, but between the people and the intellectuals ”
Would maybe explain the unexpected vote for Brexit.
” Fascism and communism are not two opposites, but two rival gangs fighting over the same territory– both are variants of Statism, based on the collective principle that man is the weightless slave of the state.
I have always thought that both extremes are actually very similar.
Not an endorsement but food for thought.
HH. Until the football.
Although we are red hot favourites to win the league, I am still nervous of any slip ups before we play them on the 15th. The what if scenario . . . a draw tonight, and it could be 10 points, a loss to them in Govan, 7 points, they win their game in hand 4 pts . . . . and then it would be squeeky bum time.
The main factor on our side is that they do not look like they are likely to win all their games. But it’s football. Stranger things have happened.
If we are still 12 points clear after the 15th, then I will relax.
SIEMPRE CELTIC (FORMERLY TRADITIONALIST88) on 4TH MARCH 2020 9:49 AM
Smart , glib response.
None too ” subtly ” avoiding the issue .
I asked who who was , not who wasn`t .
macjay1 for Neil Lennon on 3rd March 2020 9:44 pm
‘Catholics believe that the end never justifies the means.’
####
And presumably that’s the reason why the Catholics are required to be pacifists.
Or are things not as simple as that?
GREENPINATA on 4TH MARCH 2020 9:52 AM
I have always thought that both extremes are actually very similar.
===================================================
Absolutely.
Stalin was Hitler .
In spite of what it says on their respective boxes .
Extremism is the enemy .
Centrism is the friend .
BIG JIMMY on 4TH MARCH 2020 9:44 AM
Addidas have definitely released kits without the three stripes before.
GREENPINATA
Ayn Rand is complete fraud. And also a plagiarist who had the cheek to accuse Orwell of the the same.
The unexpected vote for Brexit was about the a rich elite abusing their power to misinform the people – I mean who the hell is going to vote for something that makes them poorer and less in control of their lives unless they are lied to? Unless of of course you are an amoral millionaire or a racist, those groups will be delighted with the way Brexit is going. Everyone else is going to pay.
ERNIE LYNCH on 4TH MARCH 2020 9:59 AM
I give you the fact.
Interpret however you wish .
OK
And now the fitba `.