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:
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BMCUW
“He dissed them all with that statement.”
So, it is the devil dug statement you are going by?
How hard was that to drag out of you???
Would I be right in thinking that WGS has been back to Paradise more times as a supporter than MON?
He may not have started life out as a Celtic man but he got the club and he loves the club now.
LB
Another quote from WGS re The Press’s right to have an opinion:-
“Last week I was told of the headline that I wished I had David Weir. No way at any time did I say that I wished I had David Weir.
“You people [The Scottish Press] sometimes are like those serial killers you see in films who send out these horrible messages.
“The serial killer who cuts out the words ‘I am going to get you’ or ‘your wife is next’. You are the very same.
“In the 20 minutes that I sat there I’m sure that ‘David Weir’ and ‘wish’ may have been said but at no time did it ever, ever come together.
“That’s my opinion on it. Whether you like it or not it doesn’t matter but that is what it’s like here.”
WGS in Press Conference on the press talking shampoo! (Oct 07)
He was very specific there in who he was targeting. Do you not think that, if he had wanted to slag all Celtic supporters, he would have said so in the devil dug quote?
SFTB
I think his devil dugs statement backs me up.
He had a disregard for the views of Celtic supporters.
Our Glasgow Celtic Way view of how the game should be played wasn’t his.
His other opinions and actions backed this up.
Going back to PAUL67’s leader about Jock’s last season,we were awful,but due to the loss of our star player,then horrendous injuries.
Gordon Strachan drove out our best players.
And still increased the wage bill. Which is always glossed over.
Like I said,if you want to disagree with a post,disagree with it as a whole,not a part.
Phil’s latest:
http://www.philmacgiollabhain.ie/expert-opinion/#more-4460
When is this finish line going to appear?
HH
LiviBhoy @ 1618hrs.
Not sure re MON, but you are dead right about WGS. He really did love it at Celtic Park and I think the European nights especially made such an impact upon him.
I have to admit to being fairly apathetic at his initial appointment as manager.
far from that now. Got a lot of respect for him. He did very well by us.And I for one would be delighted to thank him if im ever lucky enough to meet him.
Separately, Ive never quite understood this whole “need” amongst many Celtic supporters, on CQN especially, to compare and contrast the words and deeds of MON and WGS.
Why not just be happy that both brought us success, and a lot of it, in a decade or so, despite differing circumstances for the 2 of them??
HAIL! HAIL!
Token
yorkbhoy
15:30 on 7 March, 2014
FFM
When a large transfer fee is on the table, does it not mean that the real decision makers are the buyers and sellers? The players would have little say.
If I was managing Vic I would have told him to stay at Celtic for another year and he could have had the pick of teams to sign for.
Celtic do sell players for financial reasons, every team does it, I just think both Hooper and Vic made no secret that they wanted to play in the EPL.
I want Celtic to hang on to FF and VVD but players have the power to sanction a move ( end my —— nightmare and let me go to Ipox )
and there is very little the club can do.
—
But why do we assume now that it was the players who chose to leave Celtic for Norwich, Southampton and Crystal Palace?
Can no one here accept that maybe when there are millions of pounds involved that the Celtic board might have had a reason to swing the decisions of these players in their favour??
ffm – i’m the only conspiracy theorist in the village)
Willie Maley tried to sell Jimmy Mcgrory to arsenal
But Jimmy wouldn’t go
HH
Sftb @1619
That very article sprung to mind when the record ran with the “O’Neill begs to play @Celtic park” guff.
Wgs made a tongue in cheek comment about fans and radio phone ins….many of us make simular comments on here night after night.
BMCUW
I have left the devil dug quote up there for all to read.
Try as I might, I cannot see myself depicted or slagged as a Celtic supporter in there.
I fear, people crossed the road in order to take offence at it.
On the other points about quality of football, we might agree. None of the other points made sense.
Everyone who left us, went into a career nosedive, except Stan, for whom we got good money, and, maybe, Charlie Mulgrew, who took a few detours on the route back out of his career nosedive. We missed none of them, though it was of course, a shame what happened in Chris Sutton’s case.
We did not miss any good football years from McNamara, Agathe, Balde or Thompson.
SFTB,
In the interest of balance (or counter-balance), I’ve never seen you be so specific about what Ian Bankier said about our supporters. Perhaps you’ve been a bit subjective in your usually objective endeavours? :)
Jock was starved of transfer cash in later years,lost macari dalgleish etc and was forced to bring crap like fillippi munro et al,also almost killed in car crash when we were well ahead in the league and caretaker lost it to a piss poor hun team
weet weet weet(GBWO) @ 16:29
But he gave us him, so he was within his rights to sell him if he wanted :)
Rycatcher
The best game I personally was at was at Hampden in the semi final against Leeds.
I didn’t have a ticket and got caught sneaking in with a mate. We went back and eventually got into the South Enclosure.
The Leeds players were gods according to all the media and seeing them close up was magic. I must admit fearing for our chances, especially when they scored. But we were brilliant and wee Jinky destroyed, the so called best left back in the world, Terry Cooper, and then I fully realised how good Bobby Murdoch was.
It was a brilliant game, with an absolutely fantastic atmosphere and I reckon there were 170,000 there.
I often marvel at superb memories of the posters on this site and I wonder how they do it. My memory of that game will never fade so maybe I’m answering my own question.
Billy Bhoy 05
I’ve been baffled by the memory skills of many here as well – in fact, I remember (!) discussing this very issue with BMCUW in a pub in Bath (possibly the Celtic pub there, but I can’t remember…)
Most of my memories are from the 90s, which explains my desire to spread misery wherever I go :))
The Token Tim
Is it really true that you’re being allowed out next week:o)
charlie is back …. c green interview on sky sports news coming up…
Green interview coming up on SSN, should be a laugh :-) HH
FFM
There have not been a lot of statements from Ian Bankier but, what few there have been, I have been very critical of.
I was on here, at the time of his Tartan Army quote, decrying his “tin ear” for the Celtic support and, I recall, but cannot precisely place, one other occasion where his comments upset me.
I would not expect you to remember (especially as I cannot recall the 2nd occasion myself) which posters said what about whom at given points in the past but I’ll refute any suggestion that I’ve never been critical of Mr. Bankier.
So, in defending WGS and attacking Mr. Bankier, I think I have displayed both subjectivity and objectivity. Have there been more than 2 statements or occasions on which I should have reacted?
In my view, one deserved criticism and the other did not.
Now off oot for the messages.
EDB
Please be advised that ….notwithstanding the fact that TTT has been given a pass to attend next week ….one can never be certain of his attendance until he is physically in the premises
:-))
Chuckles is back. 50million fans, adidas’s biggest clients, link up with Dallas cowboys, comedy genius, he’s been sorely missed!!
SSN, 5pm
Chuckles is back.
Think he may have something to say on the “glib & shameless liar”
Kayal33
You missed a 0…
HH
Think Alf knew some thing?
http://youtu.be/-yv4Nmrwtg4
Kayal
At the start of Greengo’s rein I found him intensely irritating …..as I began to realise he was a prize chancer who taken them all in I found him comedy gold ….my only regret is not realising sooner
Wonder how many times he will say Charles Green rather than I.
The ego returns. Talking about yourself in the third person a real no-no for me and usually the mark of a prize one.
Just to drag out further the point I’ve been trying to get across all day:
‘Celtic chairman Ian Bankier says the club’s financial model dictates they will sell Victor Wanyama if they receive the right offer.’ STV Headling of interview with Ian Bankier.
“….what he wants to do is unconfirmed”. Bankier’s own words.
Yet there’s a myth that VW made this choice to go to Southampton all on his dumb lonesome, and the £12.5M fee was just a boon to Celtic as the player had made his own mind up?
If we’re a buy to sell club, does it not stand to reason that we will move players on by hook or by crook, especially when they bring £12.5M to the business?
I think we need to stop calling our squad members mercenary and look at the bigger picture, no?
Or is spin from the corridors of CFC confusing matters on this simple issue?
PFayr
He maybe turns up in his David McCallum guise to escape buying a round so he could be out and about more than we realise:o)
cadizzy
15:25 on
7 March, 2014
Hi There !
Great article, thanks for posting – still running through the comments, and this one stands out for me :-)
—–
John Lambie, Partick Thistle manager when told by the physio that his striker Colin McGlashan had suffered concussion and didn’t know who he was.
“Tell him he’s fucking Pele and get him back on”.
—–
HH
SFTB @ 16:52,
Prove it.
Joking ! I take your word for it.
At last, someone has admitted today that we shouldn’t take everything that comes out of the Celtic Boardroom as gospel. And you did it objectiively :))
billy bhoy 05
16:45 on 7 March, 2014,
Like yourself I’m mystified in the way posters can remember the specifics of so many games.
Reckon I must have went to the games half jaked in the eighties and early nineties most of the time.
I blame my mates for that and the toll it has taken on my memory now…on Friday when meeting posters for the first time I’ve to remember their moniker and jtt and acgr are to remember there names.
Teamworkcfccqn.
Bhoys from previous article Thank you all very much!
HH
sleekit porto bassas, with a bit of help from bobo
Ffm
I take it from bankiers quote you read “unconfirmed” as “wants to stay”?
There goes my issue of the day on CFC, talking about football boards and trust from supporters.
Cheers Chico Green !
Defo a UFH plant :))
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msX-SizUAiQ&feature=youtu.be&t=25s
Geordie Munro @ 17:06
No, I read it as “unconfirmed”. Stupid, I know…. :)
Elena Baltacha diagnosed with liver cancer @ 29.
Full and speedy recovery I hope.
EE bah gumm.
Ah wiz entitle’ te’ severance peh !
Brilliant :))