Jock, Martin, Gordon and Neil

1097

You remember Celtic manager, Gordon Stachan, third manager in our history to win three-in-a-row?  Took us to the Champions League knock out stages for the first time, did much of this while comparative economics were moving against us, remember him?  Is he the same Gordon Strachan who has transformed the Scotland national team’s results?

Gordon is unequivocally a successful manager but his Scotland team is performing far better than I thought possible when he took over what looked like a poisoned chalice.  The most stunning fact of his record there is that they have not conceded a goal in three successive away games.  Gordon’s Celtic covered 15 months, across two championship winning seasons, without keeping a single clean sheet away from home, no matter how lowly or distressed the opponent.  Even good, experienced, managers learn, especially from their earlier troubles.

Jock Stein is viewed mostly through the prism of 1967 but during his final season as Celtic manager, 1977-78, the sentiment among many in the support was decidedly downbeat.  Rangers (remember them, played in blue, I think?) would win their third title in four seasons, with two trebles thrown in for good measure.  Celtic finished fifth in the league, Jock’s judgement was widely called into question.

At the time Leeds United were a top club in England and after Celtic sacked Jock they moved to secure him.  Leeds had no doubts as to his abilities.  A little over a month later the SFA offered him the Scotland job, which he took and excelled at, twice succeeding in World Cup qualifying campaigns.  His talents were without question but stood in sharp contrast to how many in the support viewed him a few years earlier.

I don’t know if Jock was a better manager in 1982 and beyond than he was in 1978 but there’s a decent chance his football education didn’t stop when the trophies dried up at Celtic.  Gordon Strachan is, like Jock was until the end, a student of the game.  Neil Lennon is too, he is also receiving some of the reviews his illustrious predecessors would recognise. Gordon was an excellent Celtic manager but he’s better now, perhaps as a result of life’s experiences along the way.

It’ll be really interesting to see how Euro qualifiers reflect on the comparative progress of Gordon and Martin O’Neill, who for my money was a better manager than Mourinho when the latter deployed some of the best players in the world against Celtic in Seville, and needed to deploy every underhand trick in the book to come out on top.

I was blown away by the stunning contributions to our Mary’s Meals campaign yesterday.  First in was an incredible £200 + £50 gift aid donation, followed by others, large and small, every one appreciated.  Ignore those who would tell you society is dead.  You can get involved here.

Seville, The Celtic Movement, launches this month.

“Porto were favourites and would go on to prove how good a team they were by winning the Champions League 12 months later. Their players would demonstrate their prowess across the world for the next decade. They had fabulous talent, so much so, that they should have aspired to better than the gamesmanship used during their run to the UEFA Cup and Champions League wins.”

Order yours below:


Please SelectCorrect Delivery Option



[calameo code=0003901714cb03d5d5808 lang=en page=114 hidelinks=1 width=100% height=500]
Click Here for Comments >
Share.

About Author

1,097 Comments
  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. 6
  8. 7
  9. ...
  10. 29

  1. .

     

    macjay1 for Neil Lennon

     

    13:55 on

     

    7 March, 2014

     

    Finally just seen Leigh`s goals from the weekend on decent quality vision .

     

     

    ..

     

     

    Hey Mac the Knife..

     

     

    Told you to get rid o that Black and Whyte TV..;-)

     

     

    Summa

  2. Gordon Strachan is the 2nd best manager we have ever had,in my humble opinion.

     

     

    Prayed he would follow MON,and the guy upstairs listened to me.

     

     

    Wee guy is a tactical genius.

     

     

    DevildugsandkestrellagerCSC

  3. wed 27th july 2005

     

    champions league 2nd qualifying round

     

    artmedia Bratislava 5-0 celtic

     

    thu 28th july 2005

     

    daily record headline

     

    photo-Gordon Strachan THE MAN WHO LOST CELTIC 10M POUNDS

     

    fast forward-8yrs 7mths 10dys to see what they think of him now

     

    Gordon Strachan career as celtic boss till top date

     

    sat 16th july 2005-friendly Fulham 0-0 celtic

     

    tue 19th july 2005-friendly Leicester city 0-0 celtic

     

    thu 21st july 2005-friendly celtic 2-2 sporting Lisbon

     

    sun 24th july 2005-friendly celtic 0-0 leeds united

  4. Could someone tear themselves away from the good fun but pointless Martin V Gordon debate and tell me if there is any news on Nir Biton and his injury?

     

    Please !

     

     

    JJ

  5. LiviBhoy - God bless wee Oscar on

    Jungle Jim

     

     

    Biton is out for a month I believe but I doubt Celtic will say anything until they assess him themselves.

     

     

    LB

  6. Geordie Munro on

    Ffm,

     

     

    WM didn’t give us james mcgrory or Paul mcstay. ;)

     

     

    Wronglyric csc

  7. I'm Neil Lennon (tamrabam) on

    Jungle jim

     

    surely its better than subjects like cuba and Scottish independence

     

    anyway theres no debate MON rules!

  8. LiviBhoy – God bless wee Oscar

     

     

    13:55 on 7 March, 2014

     

     

    FFM – I’m the only conspiracy theorist in the village)

     

     

    James McGrory and Paul McStay were two players who would have been sold. No doubt about it. Both had been touted by the club to other clubs. Both should have been at the club longer.

     

    These two players did not want to leave.

     

     

    LB

     

     

     

     

    This is one of the main points I’m trying to get at.

     

     

    Paul McStay would have been shoved out of the door no matter how much he wanted to stay, because he’d have commanded too big a transfer fee to ignore.

     

     

    Hooper really wanted to go to Norwich? VW really wanted to go to Southampton? I don’t know, but why are so many here so quick to assume it was all the players’ choices, particularly when you consider the transfer value to Celtic?

  9. macjay1 for Neil Lennon on

    Summa,pal.

     

    How are you?

     

    Seems like our mutual pals in Q`land are edging towards a rejection of hostilities.

     

    Maybe a wee fourball bevy might seal the deal.

     

    I live in hope.

  10. maestro-number8 on

    The email from CQN advertising the Seville book is very clever.

     

     

    Who’s taking the credit ?

  11. Billy Bhoy 05 on

    It’s difficult to compare managers because of the various areas already mentioned such as wages and transfer fees, so I’m looking at it from different angle.

     

    What manager was responsible for the worst result for Celtic?

     

     

    Imo the result on helicopter Sunday is arguably the worst in Celtic’s history.

     

     

    I have never felt so down as I did that day, and the worse was we were leaking goals down the left for weeks before and MON didn’t deal with it.

  12. LiviBhoy - God bless wee Oscar on

    FFM – I’m the only conspiracy theorist in the village)

     

     

    The facts of the matter was there were contracts on the table for both for a very long time and neither wanted to sign and jumped at the first club that came in for them.

     

    Good luck to them.

     

    They were never staying in my opinion.

     

     

    LB

  13. .

     

     

    macjay1 for Neil Lennon

     

    14:08 on

     

    7 March, 2014

     

    Summa,pal.

     

    How are you?

     

    Seems like our mutual pals in Q`land are edging towards a rejection of hostilities.

     

     

    ..

     

     

    Yea..I Had a Private word with the 2 of them..Looks like it Worked..

     

     

    Tho..

     

     

    Don’t think they Listened when l said ‘l Love a Guid Barney on CQN’..;-(

     

     

    Summa

     

     

    Ps..Is Paul67 Flying You in as Well for the CQTEN Gig..?

     

     

    #FeelHounered

     

     

    Summa

  14. LiviBhoy

     

     

    But do you know what was in those contracts?

     

     

    Are you arguing that Celtic did their best to keep both players rather than begrudgingly take the transfer fees?

     

     

    We both know we wanted the transfer money.

     

     

    So why has this attidude been perpertuated here on CQN that both deserted Celtic to pursue careers in England cos they were stupit?

  15. macjay1 for Neil Lennon on

    Summa

     

     

    Ps..Is Paul67 Flying You in as Well for the CQTEN Gig..?

     

    ________________________________________________________________________Nah,mate.

     

    Well outside the inner sanctum ,me ,mate.

     

     

    Private word? Right place is where your heart is.

     

    Respect.

  16. Geordie Munro on

    MON, wgs, Big Jock and hopefully lenny have all left/ will leave Celtic football club in a better state than they arrived.

     

     

    ’nuff said.

  17. LiviBhoy - God bless wee Oscar on

    Billy Bhoy 05

     

     

    The worst result of the run in was losing 3-1 at home to Hibs who then lost to Rangers at Easter Road.

     

    We believed the job was done winning at Ibrox. We had become complacent. I could see in the first half that the league was slipping away. We looked jaded and out of ideas. We missed chances and the more the game went on we were dead on our feet.

     

    Too many players didn’t look 100% fit. The previous season probably took too much out of the squad.

     

    I was dissapointed. We had lost the league but it was not a huge shock. I was much more gutted beating Killie 4-0 the previous season at Rugby Park a bogey ground for us and coming away with nothing for an incredible season. It promised a lot and delivered a great day in Seville and a hell of a hungover.

     

     

    LB

  18. Barry Fannyboz Ferguson…..

     

     

    Paid by EBT at Rangers

     

     

    Paid by Carson Yeung at Birmingham

     

     

    Paid by the Oyston family at Blackpool

     

     

    Should be next Sevco manager.

     

     

    IntegrityandDignityFC

  19. LiviBhoy - God bless wee Oscar on

    FFM – I’m the only conspiracy theorist in the village)

     

     

    I know that both players were not top players when they signed for Celtic. They were when they left.

     

    Celtic offered what they felt they were worth. Both are not exactly setting the heather alight where they are. Maybe they made a mistake. I don’t think Celtic did though.

     

     

    LB

  20. paddybhoy1888 on

    The Beanie factory is now in flatout production to finish off all orders for next Fridays big bash. All orders placed will be there on the night. A big thank you to everybody who ordered.

     

     

    I will still take orders for posting out if you want to have your own personalised CQN beanie

     

    simply tell me what you want inscibed and join the CQN Beanie club.

     

    All profits to Mary’s Meals.

     

     

    HH PB1888

  21. Worst result in Celtic’s recent history was in Amsterdam in my opinion.

     

     

    Beaten by an awful Ajax side.

     

     

    WGS and MON’s teams would have taken 4 or 5 off that lot.

     

     

    Mr Stein’s Bhoys would have been looking at double figures.

     

     

    Just my opinion like.

  22. Fholks at the risk of stepping on Paul67 and WC’s toes , The Kano foundation 4th Annual Dance takes place on Sat 29th March @7pm in the Radisson , Glasgow . Champagne reception , 3 course meal , after-dinner speaker , dj , dancing , auction , raffle – you know the sort of thing .

     

     

    Anyway , this will either be the night we clinch the title (against Ross County) , or maybe have just done so (away to Partick the previous wednesday) or we might still be waiting. Who cares ? It’s the chance for a good night out .

     

     

    We’ve already filled 420+ spaces and i’d love to get some representation from CQN (the founding site for us ) .I know timing hasn’t been great falling , as it does , so close to CQTEN but think of it this way – it’ll come out of a different paycheque !

     

     

    So , if you have a spare £35 , want a good night out (again) and want to celebrate a title win (hopefully) , drop me a line to sannabhoy@thekanofoundation.com

     

     

    Thanks

     

     

    Sanna

  23. LiviBhoy @ 14:28

     

     

    Come on – that’s no argument to defend what happened.

     

     

    Which is:

     

     

    We sold on two of our best players, for good money, but the common census was that they chose to leave.

     

     

    If you think the board did the right thing, just say so.

     

     

    But it’s one of the numerous things in recent years that makes me uncomfortable, that the MSM and the Celtic Board have led us to believe that these players chose to leave, and that they made us upwards of £10M was just an aside.

     

     

    I now consider this when any player leaves Celtic, as I have no trust in this board.

  24. BMCUW

     

     

    “Because,as he (WGS) famously said,we didnae play the game and therefore aren’t entitled to an opinion.”

     

     

     

    You have put that in quotation marks so I assume it was intended to convey it came from a WGS quote. Can you list your source for me as it’s not what I remember as being said.

     

     

    I felt he was placing people’s ability to make constructive criticism as being limited, as opposed to censored or dismissed, because of a lack of inside knowledge. Would we criticise a Heart Surgeon or an Engineer who gave short shrift to lay opinion which betrayed all signs of being unfounded?

  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. 6
  8. 7
  9. ...
  10. 29