On his third appearance back after injury, James Forrest pulled-up in the dying moments of Saturday’s game clutching his hamstring. The player will be devastated but the mood was no better among those walking away from the stadium minutes later. Just as James was back and planning for what looked like an important season in his Celtic career, fundamental questions were being asked about his fitness viability.
We’ve seen this before. Shaun Maloney was forever breaking down, sometimes minutes after returning from injury. Shaun was a different type of player from James, he had a speed on the turn which made him a valuable asset, but likely contributed to his fragility.
The other pace player in the squad at the moment, Derk Boerrigter, has similarly fragile muscles. I hear the same about Aleks Tonev, currently injured. One of England’s greatest hopes of the last 20 years, Michael Owen was another member of the Fast and Fragile club. There seems to be a link between speed and injury.
There’s good news for James, and Derk too. After leaving so many regrets on the Celtic treatment table, Shaun’s limbs matured and stabilised. Michael Owen can tell a similar story, both players found their bodies vastly more robust from the middle part of their careers onwards.
James has to stick with it, continue to work on strengthening his muscles, and try to find what’s causing the problems, which can often be obscure. After a run of inexplicable injuries, AC Milan discovered that poor teeth were afflicting their athletes. Apparently your bite affects your running gate. Owen eventually found that his choice of cars (more specifically, sports clutches), was putting enough regular strain on the wrong muscles to leave him exposed to tears.
James’ and Derk’s bodies will continue to mature, to the benefit of the second half of their careers.
Not that Ronny is short of cover for James, having signed wide players Jo Inge Berget and Aleks Tonev we now have Ghanian Walaso Mubarak going through a medical.
The squad is becoming wing-heavy. It remains striker-light.
Greatest Irony
Do you know what would produce the greatest irony in sporting history? If Efe Ambrose came on as a late substitute tomorrow night, and we later discovered a rule deep in Uefa’s Articles that forfeit matches don’t count for suspensions. Forfeit matches are so rare no one will be familiar with the rules concerning them. Should we check? Oh yes.
James Alexander Gordon
It was the way he told them. Every week the man would uniquely intone the football results, you knew the outcome of each game, home win, away win or draw, before he read second number.
Maestro Match
Really delighted Celtic FC Foundation have nominated Unicef and War Child as their beneficiaries from the Maestro match next month, where we will “assist in their humanitarian work in a number of current Middle East countries”.
Foundation cheif exec, Tony Hamilton, said, “From our living rooms we have all witnessed some of the terrible vivid horror of conflict in recent days and the particular effects that these events have had on children.
“The work of UNICEF and War Child takes no sides but simply cares for all the innocent victims of conflict on a humanitarian level. The match in September will bring together some great names in football who want to make a difference.
“We hope as many supporters as possible can join us to assist children and their families who so desperately need our help.”
I know Celtic fans will want to support this enormously important cause. Read more and book tickets here.
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A Balinese waiter asking me if Celtic or rangers?
I had to put him in the picture that there is no rangers anymore.
He didn’t seem that surprised when I told him that that they went out of business after cheating football.
One at a time……
NegAnon2
12:05 on
19 August, 2014
i see many on the blog are now praising our new strategy of only bringing in loan players……
Maybe Celtic should go the whole hog on this and adopt a strategy where you can pay to play for the club.
Its a winner for the club and a winner for those who pay.
Of course we wont win football games but that doesnt seem our objective in any case.
Nothing new in pay to play.
didn’t THEY and a chap called Aluko indulge in a version of this.
“Anyone who strives for an always happy blog probably needs to acquire more life contentment in general.”
I’m no psychothingymajig but imo folks who moan less are generally happier and more content.
Regarding hamstring injuries ,I said on here before,why don’t we have the subs.,using exercise bikes as they get prepared to come on,instead of sitting on their backsides.
I am sure they are used in International Rugby.
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS
13:55 on
19 August, 2014
NATKNOW
It takes you up to BLOOD ON THE TRACKS. Surprising,maybe,as I reckon STREET LEGAL would be a better time to finish.
He became Born-again after that,so maybe a good time to draw a line.
Blood on the tracks is one of my all-time favourite albums by any artist.
Biased due to my long love of his music,of course. But the emotions he was experiencing as he wrote and recorded it are obvious.
His own fault,mind.
How he thought he would get away wi asking Sara if it was ok if his girlfriend moved in,aye right!
—————————————————-
I think it might be my favourite LP by any artist. I love Desire too but Blood On The Tracks is wonderful. The book looks interesting – let you know how I get on. Need to buy reading glasses, having glanced at the size of the text!
I just read James Forrest’s article there. You hit the nail on the head. Celtic have done nothing but ask that the rules be applied fairly, something Keith Jackson can’t get his around. Guidi also has a problem with it. When the Huns were going down the toilet, him, Traynor, Jackson etc wanted every rule bent or broken to get the newco into the top league.
I picked up a “journo” on Saturday and asked him “in the past the media as a whole believed no sporting advantage was gained by Rangers using EBT’s and dual contracts. If in the future the only way Rangers could be competitive was to use a tax avoidance scheme and /or dual contracts and they ultimately went on to win the league, would that be unfair?” “Yes it would be unfair but I never said it was fair in the past” I had a wry smile on my face when he answered. Not my recollection of his comments at all.
setting free the bears for Res. 12 & Oscar Knox but saying no to CQN racists
14:15 on 19 August, 2014
Bada Bing
I have posted the Forrest figures often enough:-
2010-11- 25 apps.
2011-12- 43
2012-13- 29
2013-14 – 27
In the last 2 years he has appeared in over 40% of our league matches and has managed 11 European ties too in that time. The perma-injured label is much exaggerated.
Adam’s appearances figures for the last 3 years are :-
League Total
27 38
22 39
23 31
Again, he makes a valuable percentage of our teams, especially when you consider he has two rivals for his position.
………………………………………
An important statistic might also be how many of these games were the subbed due to injury?
the = they
Who wants to come on a blog to be depressed?!
I come on cos im at work…. bored
I demand to be entertained!!
SFTB
Why was it the right thing to do?
The offensive attitudes/comments were made long before she was selected to present her political opinion by Better Together. When her previous comments etc came to light, Better Together acted quickly to dissociate their campaign from her social views and removed all reference to her in their material.
Personally, I have no idea why they felt the need to remove her blog posting and edit her out of their campaign video. Surely if her views on the Referendum were valid on Sunday night, they remain valid today?
The fact that she holds other views considered to be offensive and intolerant doesn’t invalidate her point. She’s voting No because she doesn’t want ginger bottles for a currency or VAT to be charged on children’s clothes. She’s concerned that her tax credits might be at risk in an independent Scotland, and she considers the UK provides strength and security for people like her.
Come 19th September, her vote in the referendum will be consigned to history, but her social attitudes will remain. Come December, her Christmas lights will still be just like Catholics: twisted, half don’t work, and look better hanging from a tree.
Like fellow travellers in the Orange Order and other marginal political/social movements, Better Together strives to keep them all at a distance from the campaign, while recognising that the outcome of the vote might very well turn on their support.
Seems quite disingenuous to me. There is a sizeable and politically valuable IndyRef constituency in the margins of political and social opinion. I see no reason why we need to hide or airbrush the reality that a considerable number of people who are motivated to actively campaign for the No vote hold unpleasant and intolerant social views, such views cultured largely within the development of the Union over the past centuries. Their views are woven into the warp and weft of the Union after all.
Given the behaviour of the Better Together campaign, one might reasonably infer that, despite welcoming such support at the voting booth, Better Together thinks the campaign will be negatively impacted by any association with people who hold such historically quintessential British attitudes.
Why would that be?
I suppose politics make strange bedfellows, eh.
TBB
BMCUW
An excuse to delay working ———Thanks
Blood on the Tracks
John Wesley Harding
Blonde on Blonde
The Basement Tapes
Highway 61 Revisted .
Plus -some 45s –
Subterranean Homesick Blues
Like a Rolling Stone
Hurricane .
Lay lady lay
If You Gotta Go, Go now .
Off oot -unfortunately !
trad 88
You asked about starts to sub appearances.
I found last year where he started 10 league games and 3 CL ties and made a sub appearance on 6 and 1 occasions respectively. Don’t know minutes played but it remains a valuable contribution in even his worst year as he scored the goal that got us to CL stage.
South Of Tunis
14:15 on
19 August, 2014
BMCUW @ 13 55 .
” But the emotions he was experiencing as he wrote and recorded it were obvious ” .
I remember a San Francisco radio interview with the man shortly after the Lp was released . He denied that the songs were personal and added that he had been reading a lot of Anton Cechov ..
I like the Lp a lot . One of the 5 Dylan Lps I liked enough to buy .
Definitely off oot now – cant put work off any longer !
——————————–
Yes – as the Guardian book reviewer points out, that was Bob’s take on the matter. All the books written about him point to the split with his wife as the source of inspiration.
What’s your other 4 out of interest?
Bhoylo,
Snap.
Come on Bsr and Tsoal. Finger oot :)
fanadpatriot
14:52 on 19 August, 2014
Regarding hamstring injuries ,I said on here before,why don’t we have the subs.,using exercise bikes as they get prepared to come on,instead of sitting on their backsides.
I am sure they are used in International Rugby.
********
I had that discussion with my brother last night.
I can’t see any reason why we don ‘t have a couple of those bikes at the mouth of the tunnel and the subs use them in rotation.
No doubt there may be a clinical reason for not having them and perhaps if there are any retired medical men hanging around, we nay get a but of insight.
Jamesgang and bankiebhoy are above average too imo.
NATKNOW
Cracking taste,bud.
At least I know you won’t nick my record collection.
Having seen one example,it would cost you a fortune in replacement styluses.
Scared to look at the rest of them that are still up the road after that.
Still,my own fault.
I’ll probably get the book too. Chronicles Vol 1 was excellent,still waiting for Vol 2!
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS
14:41 on
19 August, 2014
SOUTH OF TUNIS
Correct,he did say that.
He then said that he could never understand why anyone could listen to the album,bearing in mind the pain it expresses.
If you don’t consider it too rude,can I have a guess at your five?
Which are probably my top five,but heyho….
Blood on the tracks,Freewheelin’,Highway 61,Nashville Skyline,Desire.
Maybe I would have picked Infidels and Time out of Mind.
Depends on my mood,of course!
————————————————
Mostly agree. I’d replace Nashville Skyline with Oh Mercy. Controversial, I know! :-)))
Martin Odegaard Stavanger 7 days from now
*we may even get a bit of insight.
On the one hand we are up against a small scale outfit who are perennial failures at this CL qualification game.On the other hand we have the LW horror story to overcome and a football reputation to repair.
Consequently we should be strong favourites to go through.
Even if only on the basis we cannot be that bad again.
LW — We were over trained and under confident.
Hopefully another two weeks will have given us our legs and our self belief back.
We are much better than them just a case we are in transition at every level.
Hopefully the squad is more settled with fewer playing with a price on their shorts.
One issue I am concerned about is this mad dash to sigh someone / anyone.
Even if it all goes smoothly in SPFA Towers — unlikely I know on a Ludge night I believe — the player will not be played tomorrow and would only have an emergency role next week.
Better to go with what we have got.
Games under their belt and better cohesion should make all the difference.
Tough games coming up but please don’t try and turn these Central European CL minnows into something they are not.
Finally the joys of the long distance supporter.
Just where are the CFC friendly pubs in Shanghai?
Managed to get 15 mins of the poor Betfair stream before it froze and I missed the KC goal.
Help needed urgently or it will be The All Blacks again this Saturday.
NATKNOW
Trying to pick yer five favourite Dylan albums is like trying to pick yer five favourite ex-girlfriends.
Subjective to yer mood at the time.
But with the added bonus that they are largely as you remember them!
Len Brennan
Rules Efe out the 2nd leg though.
LB
setting free the bears
Sorry, don’t really buy into the point that its great he’s featured in many of the Euro ties and that this means there is no issue there, or the perceived issue is overblown.
You don’t pick and choose when you get injured.
The league is our bread and butter and to feature in only around ~40% of league matches in the last 2 years is worse than I thought.
We play way more league matches than Euro matches so I’d say the league matches give a better indication of a players injury record.
A much bigger pool of data to analyse and reach a conclusion.
Plus I wonder how many of those league matches he contributed to were a short run out following an injury to ease him back in.
HH
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS
15:06 on
19 August, 2014
NATKNOW
Trying to pick yer five favourite Dylan albums is like trying to pick yer five favourite ex-girlfriends.
Subjective to yer mood at the time.
But with the added bonus that they are largely as you remember them!
—————————————
Five ex-girlfiriends?
You get about, ya gadabout! ;-)))
Tall ships?
Home
News Shipyards
Bus tycoons Sandy and James Easdale in talks to strike deal to save Ferguson Shipbuilders
Aug 19, 2014 00:01 By Stephen Stewart 0 Comments
ACCOUNTANTS for Rangers directors Sandy and James, who own McGill’s Buses, contacted administrators KPMG as a taskforce was being set up to try to save Ferguson’s.
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Craig Williamson/SNS GroupJames Easdale and his brother Sandy are in talks with Ferguson shipbuilders
BUS tycoons Sandy and James Easdale are trying to save Ferguson Shipbuilders.
The Greenock-based brothers have contacted administrators for the firm, which went into receivership last week with the loss of 70 jobs.
Sandy said: “This is a highly skilled workforce and it is a vital business for our area.
“With Government assistance, both in Edinburgh and London, I am sure we can secure orders.”
Accountants for Rangers directors Sandy and James, who own McGill’s Buses, contacted administrators KPMG as a taskforce was being set up to try to save Ferguson’s, who are the last commercial shipyard on the Clyde.
Scots Finance Secretary John Swinney said: “We remain hopeful that a new owner can be found to continue the proud tradition and innovative engineering of Ferguson Shipbuilders.”
The GMB union said workers at the Port Glasgow yard were told they were being made redundant
with immediate effect when they turned up for work last Friday.
Only seven workers have been retained as a skeleton staff while the receivers try to find a buyer.
Jim Moohan, of the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions in Scotland, said the Scottish Government should have done more to safeguard the yard’s future.
He said: “The yard has struggled for work for a number of years and the Scottish Government gave us an assurance that the work would be there and the yard would survive.
“There was a personal commitment from the First Minister that the workforce would be protected.
“Alex Salmond should deliver a personal apology to each and every one of these men today.”
Swinney said: “Over the past two-and-a-half years, we have supported Ferguson Shipbuilders with contracts worth more than £20million for two new hybrid ferries.”
PROMOTED STORIES
TBB
“Like fellow travellers in the Orange Order and other marginal political/social movements, Better Together strives to keep them all at a distance from the campaign, while recognising that the outcome of the vote might very well turn on their support. ”
You are not so naive as you are pretending to be.
It was the right thing to do because they had accepted her uncontroversial and unoffensive comments on why she intended to vote no, without knowing what her controversial and offensive tweeting history was.
Talking of strange bedfellows.
For similar reasons, the Independence debate had featured input from Bill Walker, ex- MSP but he stopped appearing in the Yes campaign’s literature sometime early in 2013. We are, likewise, being denied his views on how to promote increased marital harmony in a new Scotland.
There is also a dearth of comments openly expressing the view that it is “all the fault of thae English Basturks” but it is a common enough, albeit minority, view among the Yessers.
It’s just the old political game of “You be honest about your misdemeanours and past mistakes while we bury ours”.
So, yes it remains the right thing to do to distance yourself from people who want the same outcome as you but for different reasons. I believe that both Sinn Fein and UKIP are opposed to the EEC, is that not true?
setting free the bears for Res. 12 & Oscar Knox but saying no to CQN racists
14:56 on
19 August, 2014
trad 88
You asked about starts to sub appearances.
I found last year where he started 10 league games and 3 CL ties and made a sub appearance on 6 and 1 occasions respectively. Don’t know minutes played but it remains a valuable contribution in even his worst year as he scored the goal that got us to CL stage.
=====
Sorry just caught this.
Yes I know he is influential but 6 is a lot of sub appearances for a young guy who would be considered first choice.
For the benefit of everyone I think we need to get to the bottom of the issue asap.
Any player can get injured but some are more prone than others, and Forrest is one.
Worryingly I don’t think we have an answer at the moment.
I just don’t think we can rely on someone who is going to be fit less than 50% of the time.
HH
BMCUW .
Ooops ——–I forgot that I have this and had to come back in and tell you -any excuse .
EP ——–Dylan
Dont think twice / Blowin in the Wind // Corrina Corrina / When the ship comes in .
Bought from a flea market in Enna – 1 euro. Keep meaning to punt it on Ebay.
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS
15:00 on
19 August, 2014
NATKNOW
Cracking taste,bud.
At least I know you won’t nick my record collection.
Having seen one example,it would cost you a fortune in replacement styluses.
Scared to look at the rest of them that are still up the road after that.
Still,my own fault.
I’ll probably get the book too. Chronicles Vol 1 was excellent,still waiting for Vol 2!
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Chronicles Vol.2 – we might be waiting a while…
:-(
Madmitch
Strong favourites we are not for all the reasons you’ve pointed out. Whilst I agree that we shouldn’t be painting Maribor as Bayern Munich neither should we throwing the pendulum our way too much either.
It could go either way and my therapist has told me that the Legia performances will take at least 6 months to wash out of my memory banks. I hope the players are a bit more reliant than me.
trad 88
Fair enough.
For pure entertainment value, it would, of course, be better if more of the home support got to see James play more regularly as he did 3 seasons ago. But that very overplaying of young players can contribute to the potential future injury issue. You cannot schedule your injuries but James has made a valuable contribution to our past 3 European campaigns despite the view that he has been absent most of the time.
We probably overdid the continuity of player selection thing last year because of the clean sheet and then the unbeaten record thing. It would probably have helped Efe and others to get more of a rest than they did.
You can try and get the stats yourself on sub appearances and what minutes playing time he had. I have made my case, such as it is.
James remains, for me, the best player we have and the biggest game changer (now that Fraser has gone)
Moonbeams WD. Wee Oscar’s our Bhoy and Kano’s our mhan.
14:19 on 19 August, 2014
‘don’t go worrying about that. Only an Independent Scotchland will be bigoted!!!’
####
The point is that the bigots would have more say in a separate Scotland.
South Of Tunis
15:15 on
19 August, 2014
I liked the 45s got most of them at the time. I would have added ‘Positively 4th Street’ to your list, which had terrific lyrics. I think he might have been a wee bit annoyed with someone when he wrote it!
ernie lynch
15:24 on
19 August, 2014
Ahem. We’re not allowed to talk in absolutes when talking about a future independent Scotland.
big wavy .
Maribor are certainly not Bayern Munich but they aint St Johnstone or Dundee United either.
setting free the bears for Res. 12 & Oscar Knox but saying no to CQN racists
I think you are under estimating the impact of our captain. He is a huge player for Celtic.
I think Scott Brown is more important than Jamesie but Forrest has done his bit in Europe of that there is no doubt. A fully fit James Forrest is a huge asset.
LB
Bob Dylan.
The early stuff is more inspired.
The later stuff is more crafted.
According to the man himself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKkZcgrec8A