Interviews have narrowed field

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As had been widely reported, interviews are underway for several positions in the management team.  Feedback has been mixed, I understand all candidates did not convince they were required for the job.

While every agent in the game is throwing a name of two at the club, the field of serious candidates has narrowed from where we were a week ago.

My hunch, is that if the bookies favourite was getting the job, he would already be in place.

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  1. Guys after all consideration we will unvail Mr John Kennedy as manager as he is the best fit, oh and that will be in 4 or 5 weeks.

     

     

    Have a nice day yall

     

     

    D :)

  2. Good morning from a somewhat cloudy North Staffs

     

    It’s obvious that Andy Walker has thrown his hat into the ring for the manager’s job.

  3. Tom McLaughlin on

    BADA BING

     

    Feeling really betrayed by Ange TBH, he had the balls to put his agent on the park on trophy day

     

     

    Correct. That’s what really got to me. Upon seeing Ange celebrate trophy day on the park with his agent, I and many others saw that as a sure sign that he had agreed a new extended contract to be announced at end of season.

     

     

    Little did we know they were celebrating a verbal agreement with Spurs. That really sticks in my throat.

  4. Born this day.

     

     

    “I have been asked to name the best Celtic centre-forward I’ve ever seen play and the man I choose may surprise you. He’s Joe McBride… He was a tremendous headerer of the ball and could take a half-chance on the ground. And his heart was in the right place!”

     

    Jimmy McGrory

     

     

    https://www.thecelticwiki.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Joe-McBride-005.jpg

     

     

    https://www.thecelticwiki.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Joe-McBride-007.jpg

     

     

    https://www.thecelticwiki.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Joe-McBride-015.jpg

  5. In the period between August 1965 and December 1966 Joe score an amazing total of 78 goals for Celtic in all competitions. Mere stats alone cannot describe his contribution to Celtic’s greatest ever side, and yet injury was to sadly deprive Joe of the opportunity of playing in Lisbon.

     

     

    A couple of myths have grown through the years about Joe’s time at Celtic. The first is that Willie Wallace was bought to replace Joe after his injury, which is not correct. Wallace made his debut on December 10th 1966 and Joe’s last game of the season was on Christmas Eve at Pittodrie. Stein’s plan was to team up McBride and Wallace at the expense of Stevie Chalmers, but the knee injury meant that it was Wallace and Chalmers who would eventually pair up.

     

     

    The other myth was that Joe had his leg shattered at Pittodrie and this resulted in him missing the European final. The truth is that Joe had an ongoing knee problem for some time which took a long time to diagnose, and he had bravely played through the pain barrier before the pain became too bad to endure after Aberdeen.

     

     

    (Stolen from The Celtic Underground)

  6. You felt then that every time Joe took the field he was going to score. The nearest to him, again imo, is Kyogo. I believe Joe’s goals gave the team the confidence to become the Lisbon Lions.

  7. He has been proclaimed in the past to have been the “unluckiest Celt in the club’s history” on account of missing out on playing in Lisbon, and even if he did receive a medal for his part played he must have no doubt been devastated to have missed out on the most momentous occasion in our clubs history. But perhaps it is both Celtic and Scotland fans who are the truly unlucky ones as despite his incredible ability the Celtic Park faithful only were able to enjoy three seasons of his goal scoring brilliance and the Scottish fans only saw him don the dark blue on a quite ridiculous two occasions. Jock Stein later admitted that getting rid of McBride had been a big error on his part. Having begun his career with Kilmarnock in 1957 he played until 1972 when he played his last game for Clyde. He is still in the top three goalscorers in the league post WWII on 221 goals behind McCoist and Celtic’s own Willie Wallace, who many believe was signed to cover for McBride in the European Cup winning season, something which Stein denied.

     

     

    Sadly, Joe is no longer with us having passed away in 2012 but in every 67th minute this season we remember and commemorate his and the team’s collective incredible achievement.

     

     

    Hail Hail and God Bless you Joe

     

     

    Kevin John Thompson (@KevinThomson67)

     

     

    (Stolen from The Celts are Here)

  8. Tom McLaughlin on

    I’ll never forget a game on a muddy Easter Road pitch on 8th October 1966.

     

     

    Stevie Chalmers put Celtic ahead early before Hibs equalized just on half-time. Into the second half and Hibs took the lead. With 20 minutes to play, Hibs scored again. 3-1.

     

     

    It looked over for Celtic but Joe McBride had other ideas as he netted 4 times to give Celtic an astonishing 5-3 victory.

     

     

    The excitement among the Celtic support behind the goal as Joe did his thing was a joy to behold. My brother and I could be clearly seen on Sportcene, jumping about like madmen. I was 13.

     

     

    Joe was unstoppable that day.

     

     

    Years later I met Joe on a flight to New York on a St Patrick’s Day trip and he was more than happy to talk Celtic. I mentioned that game and he remembered it well. He told me that after he made it 5-3 Pat Stanton said – Give us a break Joe.

  9. ST TAMS on 10TH JUNE 2023 8:18 AM

     

    DAVID66

     

     

    You forgot to add.

     

     

    There are no other better candidates available.

     

    =================================

     

    Blogs resident johnnythepainter speaks

     

    https://youtu.be/palevTnLiec

     

     

    Yawn

  10. If the new coach goes up to Lennoxtown and Barrowfield will he be satisfied with the training facilities or not??

  11. Celtic:

     

    Simpson, Craig, Gemmell, Murdoch, McNeill, Brogan, Johnstone, Wallace, Chalmers, McBride, Hughes . Subs: Fallon, Clark, O’Neill, Connelly, Lennox

     

    Goals: Gemmell (pen 44), Craig (60), Chalmers (67), McBride (87)

     

     

    St Etienne:

     

    Carnus Durkovic Camerini Mitoraj Bosquier Herbin Fefeu Jacquet Revelli Keita Bereta. Subs: Migeon, Peletier, Polny, N’Dombe, Farnison

     

    Scorers:

     

     

    Referee: Z Vales (Czechoslovakia)

     

    Attendance: 75,000

     

     

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMhYjZmbqQg

  12. Scorcher again over here in ‘the kingdom’.

     

     

    13 days until the first pre season tie for the Pars v St Pauli.

     

     

    Te relationship between these two clubs is not something we have seen much about in the media, strangely.

     

     

    Looking forward to it though. St Pauli end was sold out very quickly. A fair smattering of Celtic fans sneaking into the Pars end.

  13. Timbhoy

     

     

    The facilities are better than many and worse than a few also.

     

     

    Have you been to Lennoxtown ?

  14. Tom Mcl

     

     

    Some great games with Hibs in 60s and 70s.

     

     

    I was sure the game you mentioned was 5-2 not 5-3 but time has dimmed my memory.

     

     

    I saw us lose a year or two later 2-0 when the same Joe McBride scored 2 shooting down the slope in the second half for Hibs.

     

     

    The 6-2 and 6-3 league cup finals and the 6-1 Scottish cup finals were games I loved as a kid. Less so losing 5-3 after extra time in the Dryborough Cup final. Great game though. 3-0 down, Celtic fans riot, 3-3 and then extra time. Alan Gordon got 3 for Hibs that day I think. Great times. They were a good Hibs side at that time.

  15. garcia lorca on

    I just want to add my own vote to Joe McBride as the best Celtic centre forward I have seen – now having watched Celtic for seventy years.

     

    I saw him play against us ( I remember 2-2against M’Well at Hampden in a semi, he scored both Motherwell goals) but his performances for Celtic were consistently exceptional.

     

    For me the Celtic Lisbon team were at their pinnacle with Joe in the side.

     

    Imagining the partnership of Willie Wallace and Joe McBride is mouth watering.

     

    Aside from getting injured at Christmas 1966 Joe’s other regret was not scoring against old Rangers.

  16. 1966-08-23 Rangers 0-4 Celtic, Glasgow Cup

     

     

    Rangers:

     

    Ritchie Johansen Provan Greig McKinnon D Smith Henderson A Smith Forrest Miller Johnston

     

     

    Celtic:

     

    Simpson; Gemmell, O’Neill; Murdoch, McNeill, Clark; Johnstone, Gallacher, McBride, Auld, Lennox

     

    Scorers: McNeill (8), Lennox 3 (32, 81, 83)

     

     

    Attendance: 76,456

     

    Referee: W Syme

     

     

    Joe at number 9 (just an excuse to watch Lemon scoring a hattrick)

     

     

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WEfdK-AIfA

  17. So as we prepare for a EUROPEAN Champions Leafue final between the Emirates owned Manchester City franchise and the Chinese owned Internazionale of Milan, 2 financially doped basket cases, it got me thinking about why do I not give a damn as to which of these outfits win ?

     

     

    Badge kissing and faux passion will be there in spades. Hype and sound bites. Some really good football possibly. A few real fans from each team. Real genuine fans of clubs from before when they sold their souls. Maybe not many mind you.

     

     

    Both clubs had identities. Both long gone though.

     

     

    One has a 31 year old as CEO. A clever lad, a clever lad given the Inter brand as a plaything by his dad.

     

     

    The other is acknowledged as breaking the rules and clever expensive lawyers and accountants are doing their bidding for now.

     

     

    I thought it good to reflect on the final of the same competition 60 years ago. A true European Champions Cup. It produced the 3rd winner. Altafini inspired Milan (the other one) to score 2 and best holders Benfica 2-1 in the final.

     

     

    Milan had beaten Dundee in the semi and Benfica had beaten Feyenoord. Before we belittle Dundee’s achievements we should note they beat Cologne, Andrelecht and Sporting to get to the semis. Anderlecht had beaten Real Madrid and were no slouches.

     

     

    This was a time when football was about football and pride and passion. It was a great time. I am not sure Bob Sankley, the Dundee manager, or Altafini, the Milan legend, or Eusebio, for that matter, kissed a badge ever. They didn’t need to.

     

     

    I will probably not even watch it tonight. Maybe a re run of 62/3 or 66/7 might make better honest viewing.

  18. Joe McBride: Stalwart of Jock Stein’s formidable 1960s Celtic side

     

     

     

    Thursday 12 July 2012 21:51

     

     

     

    Joe McBride was the quintessential striker. Whenever he didn’t know what else to do with the ball, he stuck it in the net. So ran a tribute from the revered Celtic manager Jock Stein to one of his favourite charges during the late 1960s, when the Bhoys were sweeping all before them. Jimmy McGrory, another Celtic legend and the most prolific marksman in the history of the British professional game, reckoned his fellow Glaswegian to be the best centre-forward he’d ever laid eyes on, while Sir Alex Ferguson, who hails from the next street to McBride in Govan, believed that, but for injury, his former neighbour’s final tally would have been of prodigious proportions.

     

     

    As it was, the much-travelled marksman didn’t do badly during a bountiful 16-year career in which he served nine clubs, his aggregate of 221 Scottish League goals bettered only by Ally McCoist and Willie Wallace since the war. Though fans of some of his other employers might beg to differ, McBride is remembered most vividly for his exploits in the green and white hoops, particularly in 1966-67, the season in which Celtic capped their domestic treble by becoming the first British club to lift the European Cup.

     

     

    Agonisingly for the chunky sharp-shooter, he missed the climactic triumph over Internazionale of Milan, and eternal anointment as one of the “Lisbon Lions”, through an injury sustained in a Christmas Eve clash with Aberdeen. A measure of his form at the time is that even though he didn’t play again that season, his tally of 35 goals made him the leading scorer in the land in all competitions.

     

     

    One surprising statistic is that although he was picked four times for the Scottish League, he played only twice for his country, against Wales and Northern Ireland in 1966, the paltry haul of caps the result of being the contemporary of such top-quality operators as Denis Law, Ian St John, Alan Gilzean, Wallace and Colin Stein.

     

     

    McBride was born only some 200 yards from Ibrox, the home of Rangers, but he would never play for Celtic’s great rivals, instead being recruited as a young right winger by Kilmarnock. After being loaned out to a junior club, Kirkintilloch Rob Roy, he turned professional in 1956 and made his senior debut in a top-division encounter with Dundee on Christmas Day 1957.

     

     

    Thereafter he progressed rapidly as a central attacker at Rugby Park, scoring so regularly that he attracted the attention of leading English clubs, eventually joining the reigning champions, Wolverhampton Wanderers, for £12,500 in November 1959.

     

     

    Unexpectedly McBride floundered at Molineux, proving unable to unseat Wolves’ splendid front pair of Jimmy Murray and Bobby Mason, and the Scot was sold to struggling Luton Town for £12,000 in February 1960 without being granted a senior outing in the famous gold shirt.

     

     

    Though he scored six times in 13 games that spring, he could neither prevent the Hatters’ relegation to the second tier, nor settle south of the border, and in November 1960 he was transferred to Partick Thistle. For two years, he flourished at Firhill, which earned him a £5,000 switch to Motherwell in November 1962, and at Fir Park the McBride career really took off as he finished as ‘Well’s leading marksman in three consecutive seasons ahead of his £22,500 move to Celtic as new manager Stein’s first signing in June 1965.

     

     

    It was at Parkhead that McBride became a star. In 1965-66 he was Scottish football’s joint top scorer – along with his old chum Ferguson, then of Dunfermline Athletic – with 31 goals as Celtic were crowned as League champions. He featured in consecutive League Cup final victories over Rangers, and despite his injury he contributed hugely to the retention of the title in 1966-67.

     

     

    McBride cut a powerful, pugnacious figure on the pitch. Quite brilliant in the air for a man of medium height, and packing a fierce shot, he was also deceptively skilful, being adept at controlling long passes out of defence and laying them off to his predatory team-mates, Bobby Lennox and Steve Chalmers.

     

     

    However, despite plundering a hat-trick against Morton at Cappielow in December 1967 in his first full League appearance for a year, McBride was never again central to Stein’s plans. The quicker, slightly younger Wallace had been acquired from Hearts, the veteran Chalmers remained potent and the darting Lennox was in his prime, so in November 1968 – having contributed 86 goals in a mere 94 games for Celtic – McBride was dispatched to Hibernian as a £15,000 replacement for their departing hero Colin Stein.

     

     

    The Easter Road newcomer was an instant sensation, scoring eight times in his first three matches, and continuing to score freely over the next two years. Then, having entered his thirties and cutting a slightly bulkier figure, he was sold to Dunfermline for £4,000 on Christmas Day 1970, thus outraging the Edinburgh fans who had come to adore him.

     

     

    In October 1971 McBride joined his seventh and final Scottish top-flight club, Clyde, serving them for the remainder of that campaign before retiring in April 1972. In recent years he had become a familiar figure at Parkhead once more, working as an ambassador for the club.

     

     

    McBride’s son, also Joe, was a Scottish under-21 international winger who played for Everton and Hibs among others before taking up coaching. He is currently working with the first team at Cardiff.

     

     

    https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2012/07/12/19/46-mcbridge-PA.jpg?quality=75&width=990&crop=4%3A3%2Csmart&auto=webp

  19. Goal Scoring Feat 1966-67

     

    McBride had scored 36 times by Christmas in the 1966-67 season when Celtic won the Treble and the European Cup.

     

    But he was sidelined for the rest of the term with a knee injury.

     

    McBride said: “Gerd Muller won the Golden Boot that season and he admitted at a function that the trophy would have gone to me but for the damage I did to my knee.

     

    “The pain of being denied the opportunity to see what kind of goalscoring figure I could have achieved will live with me until the day I die.

     

    “But 60 goals would have to have been a possibility.

     

    “The doctors thought I needed a cartilage operation but the problem was caused by flaking bone behind my knee and it took a year out of my playing life.”

     

    Of McBride’s goals, 33 were scored in the league and he finished top marksman despite missing the second half of the season.

     

    He scored 86 goals in 94 games for Celtic.

     

     

    >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

     

     

    Bertie Auld tells of how in later years he wound up Jim Craig the Celtic right back that glorious day in Lisbon when discussing Joe’s injury.

     

     

    Jim Craig – “Bertie – Do you really think Big Jock would have played Joe in Lisbon had he been fit”?

     

     

    Bertie Auld (mischieviously) – “Aye, Jim – he would have played him at right back”!!!!!

     

     

    I’ve learned to live with Lisbon Lions heartache

  20. carpe diem 63 on

    Look forward to ramming that protected overrated thug Fergushun’s “ natural order” words down his throat next year…🍀

  21. BURNLEY78 on 10TH JUNE 2023 10:03 AM

     

     

    Your view reflects my own.

     

    I am disappointed that so many people in Scotland talk so enthusiastically about the EPL.

     

    If people just want to see a collection of extremely rich ( and talented) footballers strut their stuff then fine. But to `support` one of those teams from afar shows just how influential the media is.

  22. Joe McBride was my first Celtic hero. In my opinion he’s our greatest No.9 predator since McGrory. Larsson was more than just a number 9.

     

    It’s true that Stein bought Wallace to team up with McBride. No disrespect to Stevie Chalmers, who’s goals record is fantastic, but if Joe played in Lisbon it would have been four or five. He was that good.

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