Games come thick and fast when you remain in all competitions in late October. The Allianz Arena got your heart beating on Wednesday, but much more is on the line at Hampden Park tomorrow: the first trophy of the season.
While our unbeaten domestic run goes on the line every game we play in Scotland, I wish we were not facing an occasion as important as a cup semi-final immediately after such a huge Champions League occasion. The timing of this game contributes towards Hibernian’s chances of success.
Neil Lennon’s Hibs have already won at Ibrox and drawn at Celtic Park this season. They genuinely have no fears about making the trip along the M8 to face Celtic at the national stadium. While Celtic players were draining every muscle of energy on Wednesday, Hibs players were resting in front of the television. They would have been tucked up in bed before Scott Brown and his team-mates got to Munich Airport and have enjoyed the benefit of a week’s uninterrupted training.
For Brendan Rodgers, the challenge is to pick a team with sufficient energy and ability to ensure a cup final appearance next month. He is able to make changes, which I expect to happen.
Moussa Dembele and Tom Rogic should start. Callum McGregor enjoys the Hamden stage and I would give him the nod ahead of Olivier Ntcham or Stuart Armstrong in the central mid berth, although Brendan will think otherwise.
We are the champions and treble winners for a reason: that we have unerringly raised our standards to meet every challenge presented. Tomorrow is another occasion when our deep reserved will be called upon.
Enjoy your day at Hampden.
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Big Packy:8.40pm
‘I have heard the mavis singing his love song to the morn,’
I learned the Bonnie Mary song from my Dad although I don’t know if I could remember it all now(couldn’t sing it even then!)
Another song I was taught was on Victoria… Skibereen
Brought up in the faith were we :) :).
TET.
Sorry I never realised you had bet Cork or I wouldn’t have posted that it was 2.2. Seems crass. Apologies.
Gambling wise, I had a sore on Wed. I done one of those karmic and match bets. Teams to win, both teams to score, handicap etc.
Anyway Barca -2 done me for a near 4 figure sum.
It was a real dagger when it went 3.1as everything was up. I was just hoping for full time whistle, c’est la vie, it won’t stop me having another wee dabble tomorrow.
Hail Hail
The manager is the defensive coach…..toure. Jk etc are defenders coachs..to. Work with defenders…you defend ss a team
Surely the West Ham job will be too good an opportunity for Rodgers to turn down.
Especially now that the support has turned against him over the Heidi Klum fall out !!!
Karmic?????
Should read mix and match bets!!!!
COSY CORNER BHOY we are blessed with the faith of our fathers .not even the establishment can take that awayktf.
Celtic Management Team…
Position Name
Manager Brendan Rodgers
Assistant Manager Chris Davies
First Team Coach John Kennedy
Technical Assistant Kolo Touré
Goalkeeping Coach Stevie Woods
Head of Recruitment Lee Congerton
Head of Performance Glen Driscoll
Head of Youth and Academy Chris McCart
Under 20 Coach Tommy McIntyre
Head of Sports Science Jack Nayler
Starry Plough
Why isn’t Heidi Klum on that list
since RC isn’t in the house yet, and I wanted to hear some music …
how about Edwyn Collins’ You’ll Never Know…
I know he’s from Edinburgh, so perhaps not the day to play this … but it is such a great song…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ml5us48pnY
and something about this song always makes me smile every time I hear it … brilliant … and pretty sure the singer is a tim (not sure about the other two) …
Fratellis … Whistle for the Choir
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1oKBbReaOs
BIG PACKY on 20TH OCTOBER 2017 7:53 PM
if gerryfaethebrig is lurking i know this was before youyr time. but as a kid iloved to collect celtic songs. one album i had was the coatbridge accordian band and thats the band that went round the pitch with the european cup if i remember.
Will be surprised if GFTB has not at least seen this Album.I think everyone in Coatbridge had a copy.A great friend of mine,and a guy that GFTB knew,Wee Billy Davidson on the cover,giving it laldy on the accordion.
Sadly Billy no longer with us.
MIKE IN TORONTO. havent you heard tokoloshe man by john kongos. hail hail.
MIT. 9.06.
Whistle for the choir,thats bringing it all back for me.
I wrote a song for my girlfriend, now wife, to that tune.
My own lyrics, but plagiarized the music :-))
I had truly forgotten that, what a guy for reminding me.
Hail Hail
TURKEYBHOY .thanks for sharing the memories hail hail.
Big Packy … Haven’t heard that, but will give it a listen. Cheers
JNP … you must be quite the poet if it convinced her to marry you! so silver tongued devil you!
:)
WHAT IS THE STARS
She said she didn’t want a conflict of interest, her being your house guest ‘n all:))
Late to the party re Wednesday but a huge vote of thanks to the fans who travelled to Germany.
Epitomised everything about us.
Unfortunately couldn’t go due to school holiday family commitments but have been in Germany countless times and really like the people and the culture.
They are true football fans and they will have loved the passion and singing.
I’m sure we have made Bavarian friends for life.
MIKE IN TORONTO. please forgive thats a song from my era the seventies. young chap like you would not have heard of it hail hail.
TET- I should have cashed out after 15 mins mate…:)
Caixinha for West Ham ??
THETIMREAPER
They need a Mascot???
Timreaper
Why would Pedro leave the most successful team in the world for West Ham ??
Get with the programme son!!!
Jimmynotpaul, your trip to Dortmund in 1987 is legendary.
It was my first trip to Germany and was Fantastiche along with a hell of a hangover on the day of our game at the Westfalen.
Here we , here we, here we f@##ing go…. as the chant goes.
Big 7 days , again, picking up the lhad at 6.40 tomorrow as he arrives overnight from London as a stop over from Munich
God bless the Celtic family, the team will
deliver tomorrow and then on to Pittodrie on Wednesday.
Testing times but great times for our club: can you imagine what the Orcs fans have to look forward to?
Take care everyone, HH
Big Packy … one of my favourite things about CQN is the new music that other posters have turned me on to … I have learned about some great music on CQN that I would never otherwise have learned about, so, I appreciate any suggestions.
And, sadly, 70’s isn’t really before my time …I would have been 6 when that song came out … but a lot of my favourite stuff (Nat King Cole, Miles Davis, etc.) are much older …. I was always told that I am an old soul … now, the rest of me is catching up!
from bbc
‘Celtic, who also failed to progress from their group, were paid 31.7m euros (£28m).’
not a bad fail
Dallas
Dortmund 87 was my first Celtic trip abroad.
Brilliant memories with 5 of my mates and far too much alcohol for what was then a young team.
Went by bus though and the journey home was a nightmare but loved it nonetheless.
interesting article on CL money …
because of TV payments, from last year’s CL, Leicester made more money that Man U who won the EL, and more than Real Madrid who won it!
CQN Coupon for tomorrow:
TET – Shrewsbury
BMCUW – Exeter
JOBO – Ross County
LB – Sheffield Utd.
GFTB – Southampton
AWATR – Southend
Pog – Bristol City
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
Dallas. 9.48
Thanks, I think :-))))
Leaving aside football, I think Germany is fab. The people make it.
One of daughters shares my love of it, she got engaged there last year ( Berlin).
She goes, at least once a year, she has been to most of Germany now.
A wee daft story, a wee guy I used to work with was very careful with his money. When BSB/Sky came out he quickly realised that with a different dish he could get all sports for free but they were all in German.
He started teaching himself the lingo and went there on holiday to improve his vocabulary. He now only holidays in Germany. He must have found free beer !!!!
Hail Hail
I think there have been lots of Captain Hindsights reporting for duty in the aftermath of the Bayern defeat. Several Celtic “invincibles” have been declared ready for the Knackers Yard and the Manager has been given the “No Plan B” jibe by saying he is thrawn to his own principles and not prepared to set out Celtic the way they, as critics, would want him to. But no-one was ever daft enough to place those critics in charge of serious professional players.
And, before the cries of “you are stifling my right to express an opinion” are heard, let me be clear- it is not the right to express an opinion that I have an issue with, it is the seriousness with which some treat their own opinion and the accompanying view that the serious professionals at Celtic Park have never considered the points that they are making. Seriously some of you would have us believe that they spend all day at Lennoxtown playing dominoes.
So here’s my thrawn take on some of the points made.
Lustig is not past it- he just had a so:so game. He’s had them before and he’ll have them again because form fluctuates- his legs have not gone; they are still there- both of them.
Simunovic is not a sicknote: he played 25 games last year and 5 times so far this year. He is not an ever present or likely to be but he plays enough games at a level that our other CBs cannot match (not even Boyata yet though he had a good-ish game against Munich). So Brendan will ignore the cry to get rid of him until he has better CBs who have better injury-free records to consider. Just playing poorer players at the expense of better players because you resent them being injured is a recipe for reducing quality in the team. We could develop a partnership of Dominic Ball and Ash Taylor- they are rarely injured- they just have the troubling habit of being regularly crap.
The subs on Tuesday did not drag us into the game. There were wee flashes from all 3 of them but Bayern had the game put to sleep by then and were less concentratd than they had been for the first hour of the match. If we had fluked a goal to get back to 3:1 you would get long odds against the next strike being anything other than a Bayern goal to restore a 3 goal gap. I am James Forrest’s biggest fan on this blog but I also know how good Pat Roberts is and, having been bought for £12m or so as a teenager, he has the potential to exlipse even the standard of play that Jamesie is showing this year. It is great to have them both available.
And, finally, my sober, realistic approach to judging how good Bayern and PSG (2 of the top 4 favourites to win the CL outright) are, has the square root of beggar all to do with the “Scottish Cringe”. The gap is real and not imagined. Whatever effect “Scottish Cringe” has it could only target 5 of our starters. What made Gamboa, Lustig, Sinclair, Roberts and N’tcham struggle? Cringe by Osmosis? I have seen Celtic teams lose in Europe with barely a Scot in the line up and I’ve seen 11 Scots win the European Cup outright for us. The Cringe would appear to be either a seasonal effect or a convenient attribution for a scapegoat,we’d be as well blaming the Moon.
Disappointment at Celtic losing and losing heavily is understandable and it is shared by all of us. But no matter how much you toughen up psychologically, if the skill gap is too wide, and the money available to hire those skills certainly is, then you will still struggle to get more than the occasional good result against the top 10 elite teams. Citing Quarabag’s home result against Atletico Madrid as an example to us is the equivalent of citing a 40 a day smoker who lived into his 80th year as a disproof of the smoking causes cancer hypothesis. It is an outlier result, like our home win vs Barca or our 2 draws with Man City, but it is neither a patern nor a template. The same Qarabag, being held up as an example this week, lost 6:0 to Chelsea just 5 weeks ago and also lost at home to Roma, parked bus or no.
Tomorrow we get back to an important fixture in keeping treble hopes alive and on Wednesday, we play our real rivals in this league, not the ersatz mob we beat 4 weeks ago. If we get two favourable results in these two big games, Brendan’s newly lost reputation might get temporarily restored (at least till we face Bayern or PSG again) and there will be new candidates placed on and off the numpties and past-it lists.
Celtic, under Brendan, realy are doing the best they can, in present circumstances, to keep us on the coat tails of the elite clubs. Any aspiration for sustained success beyond that level, without a sea-change in the finances of this game, is just wishful thinking. Nobody really believes that any of us on here can do a better job than Brendan. Indeed, many of us would struggle to operate at Pedro level.
Rant Over :-)
MIKE IN TORONTO didnt realise you were a pensioner like me lol. hope to meet you at the cn tower.ktf.
Socrates Mulligan, you are a legend, don’t forget to tell the lads to click on the link that will be sent to their emails, it’s only when the link is clicked that the vote counts.
P.S. Now that you’ve broken the ice why not keep posting, we need new posters.
I’VEHADTOCHANGEMYNAME on 20TH OCTOBER 2017 9:57 PM
from bbc
‘Celtic, who also failed to progress from their group, were paid 31.7m euros (£28m).’
not a bad fail
The Shortbread mob have their own anti Celtic filter for any story….
Night all.
Enjoy.
Hail Hail
SETTING FREE THE BEARS FOR RES. 12 & OSCAR KNOX
One of the most cool headed and reasoned rants I’ve read on here for a long time.
Far too sensible to qualify as a real rant I’m afraid.
first celtic trip abroad 1980 March 19 Real Madrid 3 Celtic 0 Champions Cup, great memories, pity about score.
Of the 3 big games starting with Wednesday’s, the order of importance is quite clear – Hibees, Dons then Bayern.
Only one of them can hurt our trophy ambitions.