How Stein managed big game weeks
I asked Archie Macpherson to speak about Jock Stein at CQN11, to mark the 50th anniversary of Jock’s appointment as Celtic manager, and then stayed quiet as he spoke. One of the points he made was that Jock would have a news plan ahead of a big game.
Good news would be held back until a few days before the game, giving fans and players a lift, to ensure maximum impact. Bad news could break at any time, but it would have to fight for column inches. As an operator, he is still worth studying. Celtic should plan to dominate this week’s news accordingly.
Apart from that horrible game away to Legia, Ronny Deila has not been to a sell-out Celtic game in a large stadium, and even that was only 30,000. It’s possible he’s never even played before a large sell-out crowd, so you can be sure he’ll not be short of people telling him what to expect, and how to prepare for Hampden on Sunday.
There are some obvious pitfalls for him to avoid, in particular to ensure his players are not provoked into retaliation, but taking too much advice would be a mistake (will not stop us offering plenty advice). He’s spent all season playing and preparing one way, anything which gets in the way of this will only put him off his game. The manager needs to employ a filter this week, tell everyone he’s got the situation covered and get on with the game.
Loving the way recipients of Rangers EBT loans have been asked about an advert dealing with the consequences of their loans, but are not actually asked about the loans themselves. These guys only agree speak on the understanding they are not asked about their loans, none of which are or will be repaid.
I accept that if the loan recipient is being asked about yesterday’s charity match, or some other football game, there’s no place to ask him about his loan, but these guys are regularly commenting on the consequences of their loans, without ever having to deal with the awkward question.
Book your tickets for CQN 11 St Patrick’s Day dinner extravaganza through the items at the bottom of this page, or email me, celticquicknews@gmail.com