Trying so hard not to get drawn in to transfer window nonsense but our old pal Chris Sutton got the better of me last night on BT Sport. He has been assured Moussa is happy to stay at Celtic this window (presumably by the player himself, or his agent), so concludes that somehow Chris Davies is undermining the player by suggesting he is not playing due to transfer speculation around him.
I have not spoken to Moussa’s agent but I have heard lots about him. He is thoroughly professional and if Chris Sutton did manage to get a word from him, he is likely to have been 100% on-message. There have been no amateur dramatics from Moussa’s side, but that doesn’t mean the world and Own Coyle’s auntie doesn’t want to sign him.
January is famously a rubbish month to sign players, so if anyone wants to acquire Moussa, Celtic will hold out for top price. The same is true for our signing targets. Brendan has significant funds to spend, but the last thing he needs is to load the squad with more of the same.
When the manager arrived 18 months ago, improving results was a fairly straightforward proposition. Now, after twice qualifying for the Champions League and winning all four domestic trophies available to him, the job of improving Celtic is considerably more difficult. These are the joys of planning for successive trebles and a third consecutive season of Champions League football.
We are a week away from the window closing and the ball is in play, but you will not receive a bling hit this month, just to keep everyone happy. We will do the right deals or no deal, like it, or, express mild frustration, followed by a cognitive alignment indicating acceptance of the inherent wisdom. Or just lump it.
Being able to hold your nerve is another joy of planning for a successive treble.
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SFTB @ 10 47
” The loss in 75 was not a predictable one ” .
I only managed to see Celtic twice in season 74 -75 ..( I was a student in the Good Ole USA and could only, very occasionally , visit home ). A 1-1 with a 10 man Olympiakos and a 3-0 loss to the Deady Bears at New Year . Both games could have / should have been victories but profligacy and defensive mistakes cost Celtic big time .
I used to phone my old man from a phone box in Haight Ashbury to learn the score etc after each Celtic game . He regularly moaned re how tired they seemed , how profligate they were and how prone they were to costly defensive errors .He regularly predicted that there would be no 10 in a row
.
GARY67
I was reading the other day about the qualifying process for 2020. My brain fried,I still don’t understand it.
GO TELL THE SPARTIM on 24TH JANUARY 2018 11:15 AM
For a club like Celtic finding some solid centre backs should not the the issue it has become. Granted the game has changed now whereby when we land a really good one, if hes young the chances are we wont have him longer than 2 seasons.
But in reality the role is one where you have to stop the really good players from doing what they do. We don’t need a clumsy CB of our own adding to the confusion, which is what we have in Boyata. Ajer is already a much more calming influence though evidently has lots still to learn. Bitton will never be a CB.
For example, Hearts, at their level, have realised this and not lost a goal for 8 games. No one is saying Souttar and Berra are the answer to our problems but lets get defenders who know how to defend. As a general rule if opponents can’t wait to play against them and at age 27 their game intelligence renders them a liability they really shouldn’t be in our team in such a critical, influential position.
TRADITIONALIST88
Hearts not lost a goal for eight games? That’s some going,definitely.
Pity they’re not playing the huns tonight,innit?
From previous blog
BIG-CUP-WINNERS on 24th January 2018 8:59 am
Yes I do attend home games (ST), why do you ask?
Possession
Home34%Away66%
Shots
Home7Away28
Shots on Target
Home3Away10
Corners
Home3Away7
Fouls
Home9Away5
View Comments 93
The above stats were from our game last night against a Thistle team who have won, I think, five of their last six Home games. Perhaps we wern`t as bad as many have claimed.
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on 24TH JANUARY 2018 11:39 AM
GARY67
I was reading the other day about the qualifying process for 2020. My brain fried,I still don’t understand it.
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Yeah it seems pretty intricate and there are two possible ways to qualify for Euro 2020, through the traditional group and through the Nations League. The simplest way to understand it is that Scotland will probably fail via both!
HH
TRADITIONALIST88
Aye. Saves a lot of time,that.
But it’s not half convoluted. As if Sandy Bryson had somehow got involved,and introduced imperfect qualification processes.
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on 24TH JANUARY 2018 11:43 AM
TRADITIONALIST88
Hearts not lost a goal for eight games? That’s some going,definitely.
Pity they’re not playing the huns tonight,innit?
========
Yep! Ironically, they play Hamilton tonight, who were the last team to score against them (on 2nd Dec, when Hearts were down to 10 men, incidentally).
HH
What do I know !!! But this is what I think
At some point MD will leave possibly this week if not in the summer – an absolute financial windfall for Celtic (well done PL and BR)
We will replace him – the big question is with who ?????
At the moment BR is analysing O Edouard (BR knows about LG) is OE capable of filling MD boots ???
Now I think we all know he is not !!! the question is – is he a keeper or do we send him back to PSG
If we keep him then BR will buy a certain player to fit in with LG and OE (3 attacking options)
BUT if we do not keep OE then we need two strikers a top one (MD level) plus another up and coming player
This could happen this week or it could happen in the summer
IMHO thats why Moussa is not playing and BR is picking OE
Chris Sutton (who I love) will probably know this but he does like a bit of a headline so goes with the “I can’t understand why MD is not playing”
BR has not made many mistakes so far – so I am comfortable leaving it to him to sort
67ECW
Take the lock picking skills of Rogic, the penetrating runs of a fit Armstrong and the mesmerising trickery of Roberts from the squad, then perhaps we get some clue as to why we are not as electrifying as we were last year.
Traditionalist 88
Its a problem of Celtics own making, but some cant fill the jersey once they get here. comparing us with Hearts is a totally different matter, like comparing apples with oranges, different styles of play and different expectations.
forget about MD and focus on the major issue , get the back 5 sorted.
Sorry if already posted.
Ibrox money man Douglas Park is also a substantial shareholder in Hamilton Accies.
According to Hamilton’s most recent statement, in June 2016 96% of the club is owned by a company called Edencrest with Park the single most significant shareholder after that.
In December 2014 Park, along-with George Taylor and George Letham bought a 16% stake in the Ibrox club from Laxey Partners who had rejected an offer from Dave King.
The breakdown of that deal was that Park owned 6.14% of the club. When he stepped down as a director in June 2015 his son Graeme was fitted out with an extra large blazer as he took his daddies seat on the board.
Along-with Taylor and Letham, Park has provided much of the soft loans that have kept Sevco afloat with Metro Bank refusing to provide overdraft facilities.
SFA and SPFL rules prohibit anyone from having a stake in more than one member club with that rule also applying to family members.
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Former SFA President Campbell Ogilvie retained a shareholding in Rangers (IL) despite becoming a director of Hearts two months after leaving Ibrox, a breakfast table sale to his wife made no difference to his rule breaking although no action was ever taken.
In a list of Hamilton shareholders published in June 2016 Douglas Park is listed as Shareholding 14 with 5000 Ordinary shares in the club. Accies director Leslie Gray is listed as having 100 shares- a fiftieth of Park’s stake.
Former Accies secretary Scott Struthers has 300 shares in the club, the President of the Hamilton Academical Supporters Society has 3,000 shares.
In July of this year Gray was voted onto the board of the SPFL alongside Stewart Robertson of Sevco by the top flight clubs.
Yesterday Hamilton confirmed that they have been the victims of an online fraud believed to be in the region of £750,000.
Park made his fortune from Parks of Hamilton and the Park’s Motor Group and was a director of Hearts when Wallace Mercer was in charge of the Edinburgh club.
Last post from video celts.
GO TELL THE SPARTIM on 24TH JANUARY 2018 12:03 PM
Absolutely, hence the reason I mentioned no one is saying Berra/Souttar are the answer to our problems, but they do play in the same league against the same opposition, thats all, and they’re looking pretty solid. The rest of their team is not as strong as ours and their defence gets tested more than ours, so to have such a record is pretty impressive, all the same.
Now watch them lose 3-0 tonight…
HH
Good Afternoon.
I really enjoyed the second half last night. What a player LG is! But I shall never speak of the first half again… Meanwhile, here is a call for Stewart Regan to resign. He has finally gone too far… https://theclumpany.wordpress.com/2018/01/23/stewart-regan-its-time-to-go/
HOT SMOKED @ 11:50 AM,
That’s what I was thinking…
Our finishing was a bit off, Cerny had a good game but most of the shots were right at him.
Took Griff to show a bit of creativity and dink it over him.
PT did cause us problems but I think the boy Storey? Did well and Conor Sammon used his experience.
Sure we could improve but if Forrest and N’cham had their shooting boots on it could have been a different story.
Why some Celtic supporters expect SPL games to be a walk in the park I don’t know.
Think we finished very strongly and looked in very fit – obviously the squad conditioning going well.
Hail Hail
TRADITIONALIST88
Aye they are Kev Jingle suggested we buy Soutar last night:))
HENR1K
Nothing to see here,Timmy. Move on.
F…..g disgrace.
I’m very ambivalent on Dembele. If he stays great, he’s useful in Europe. If he goes great we’ll make a massive profit. Win win for me.
One thing for sure in my mind is he’s not ahead of Griffiths.
I’ve also no doubt Brendan has a replacement lined up. I hope it isn’t Eduard.
All good in the hood for me. Double treble a real possibility. What’s not to like?
What’s the point,in paying,,2+million pounds,for a player,then loan him out,can’t understand Celtic at times,and they will rue,the day they got rid of Liam Henderson,and that’s what they did to the Bhoy,face didn’t fit,simple as.
Why some Celtic supporters expect SPL games to be a walk in the park I don’t know.
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Chairbhoy, agree this is unrealistic to expect every game to be a canter but I think the frustration stems from the unforced errors and breakdown of buildup play because of poor decision making and/or control. We all want to improve in European terms but the matches against Anderlecht and Sevco at home are evidence that things are not clicking the way we thought they were.
HH
Wee article from Phil.
Reagan will be glad he was wearing that cricket box thing from his past,cos Phil’s not half booted him right in the hawmaws.
https://philmacgiollabhain.ie/2018/01/23/why-it-is-too-late-to-be-concerned-about-stewart-regan-at-the-sfa/
STARRY PLOUGH on 24TH JANUARY 2018 12:13 PM
TRADITIONALIST88
Aye they are Kev Jingle suggested we buy Soutar last night:))
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Haha I should have know :)
HH
SOUTHOFTUNIS
Re Davis,here’s a wee but obviously not exclusive reminder of his blunders.
And they’re only the ones he’s made today!
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/jan/24/david-davis-brexit-select-committee-appearance-twelve-awkward-moments
No problem in people having opinions on players. But I’d be more inclined to listen to those opinions if they were accompanied by facts.
For example, I note that Boyata is being mentioned as a problem. Some are of the opinion he is a liability and some praise him yet go on to mention his poor passing. (I’m paraphrasing)
Celtic By Numbers will have the facts.
Until then, my opinion is that Boyata is excellent in most respects. Some of the passes he makes through to the midfield are lovely. And sometimes it doesn’t hit its target. But then, I’ve seen some very high priced EPL players doing worse. Much worse.
How many goals have we lost due to Boyata’s poor passing. Or in fact, due to anything which can be attributed directly to Boyata.
Remember, there are only 19 to choose from for this season in the SPFL.
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS
That’s it in an absolute nutshell from Phil..
Regan will use this issue to slope off quietly after having played his huge part in destroying our national game..
HH
While I’m on a roll a lot of folk seem to have difficulty in accepting that Boyata is Brendan’s no 1:)))
Well it’s been a while since Efe left us..
STARRYPLOUGH
I loved Efe to bits,but he went to The Cup of Nations and never came back.
He had a medal to die for,but it killed his career with us.
Shame.
ron67 on 24th January 2018 10:31 am
my concern with our play is how long we take to get the ball forward from the back , currently 4 out of 5 don’t appear to be up to the task causing panic /anxiety on and off the field, we overplay the ball at the back to keep possession but opposition teams are happy for us to do that all day as you can’t score on your own 18 yard line.
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Whilst I agree there are times when we need to move the ball quicker to get in behind teams following them pressing us, there is a reason possession goes across the back four for lengthy periods of time.
This tires out the opposition team immensely and changes their defensive shape. The reason we do this isn’t due to the lack of movement from our forward players, it is to create space when eventually one of the opposing players loses their positional sense and therefore their man.
See LG’s goal away in Brussels. We kept the ball across the back four for about 3 minutes before Ntcham played the killer pass to KT who had exploited space we created and lost his man.
BMCUW @ 12 29 .
Thanks for that link – I’ll read it tonight
Brexit isn’t big news in this bit of Europaland .. What there is tends to be a very bored – Go if your going ,get on with it , stop wasting our time .
Some political commentators make an exception for the buffoon that is David Davis . I liked this from a political chat show last weekend —
” It must be very problematic negotiating with the likes of David Davis . A man who appears to have absolutely no knowledge of the very thing he is The Minister for .-“
Albert Kidd CSC
Though rather less tiring when shadowing us we pass it around with so little pace of zing.
HH jamesgang
TRADITIONALIST88 @ 12:19 PM,
Well agreed, my analysis of the modern game is not strong enough to determine why we are making, what could be looked at as basic errors.
Brendan wants us to play a certain way, he wants the Development team and the youth teams to play the same way.
Problem is we are not executing it well enough. We are certainly getting found out in Europe and struggling in some domestic matches, unnecessarily.
Now some say we should change our formation and tactics say 4 4 2.
Others say we need better (pacier, technically superior) players to play the system.
I would tend to go with the latter, our only hope of improving and competing in the medium to long term is to use this system, buy better players and supplement our squad from Lennoxtown.
At the moment though, one thing I don’t get is why are we moving backwards. We were playing quicker and more accurately a year ago, a real joy to watch. Hopefully it’s down to injuries but it doesn’t seem to be the full story, certainly in defence at any rate.
Hail Hail
Lunch break over -back to work — bit of tidying up in the garden beckons .
Wee choon to get me off my ass and oot –
https://youtu.be/JH1C_9H4GlA
Never one to let Hot Smoked down.
This is really a joke from Paul isn’t it? A parody? Its got to be.
What happened to Celtic doing their business quietly. Seems that the celtic manager and assistant manager want to shout from the rooftops regarding Dembele?
Ah expectations management. Aint it great? This time, alongside the usual January is a rubbish transfer window you have an aggressive tone of if we don’t get a superstar in (tee hee) then you will just have to shut up and lump it.
Watching the normally surefooted Brendan struggling to maintain his composure and, frankly, talk a bit like Pedro should raise alarm bells with you all. He isn’t happy. I wonder why? We are still winning, just. Paul tells us success gets harder (the same success) – but its clear we aren’t progressing – we are regressing.
So the word on everyone’s lips should be ambition.
The usual lack of it in the boardroom
And Brendan’s response to it.
Or is it all just about money and Paul essentially telling anyone who wants to see progress you can like it or lump it sit well with you?
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS
I was thinking more in his escape goat duties:)))
Gerrrrituppppthepark!! CSC
Beat it Neg2
I won the mineshafter podium this time mhate.
Anyway you’ve got loads already!!
;-)
HH jamesgang