Shakhter seem convinced they will eliminate Celtic tomorrow. Their friendly journalist explained why to Kazak readers today:
“Despite winning comfortably enough in the capital last Tuesday, Celtic remain confident of overturning the deficit in Albion (sic). Getting to the group stage is not a forbidden dream for Shakhter, it is their right as a result of recent domestic success.
“Shakhter have the mining spirit of resilience, respect and strict discipline. Glasgow also has a long mining tradition but Margaret Thatcher closed the mines in the 1980s (!). Since then, Glasgow people lost their previous spirit once and for all.
“Neil Lennon was unprepared and the Celtic defenders unable to do the job in Astana. Just like BATE Borisov, they think they will overcome the result in the second leg. Just like BATE they are still unprepared for Shakhter.
“Albion’s (sic) best managers are from Glasgow, Busby, Ferguson, Stein, Shankley, Dalglish, Moyes, but the current Celtic leadership chose a man from Ireland, Neil Lennon, who is permanently under fire from fans of the “Celts”.
“Celtic have an epidemic of injuries. Stokes, Commons, Forrest, Boerrigter, Kayal and Samaras.
“The referee is from Norway. Scandinavians appreciate a tough fight. The game is a very sensitive, contact, martial arts sport. Svein Moen will understand.
“Before the game in Astana Neil Lennon said Shakhter play a very British style. Why wasn’t he able to find an antidote to this? Maybe he got Shakhter completely wrong.
“Karagandy’s three central defenders are impenetrable. They close down space and do not interfere with each other.
“The “Catholics” refuse to acknowledge that Shakhter did not miss a ball against them in the first leg. They think that because they can from 0-2 down against Inverness they can do the same against Shakhter. This is unacceptable. It will seem more absurd if the Miners open their account in Glasgow.
“In defeating BATE, Shakhter have already eliminated a higher seed than Celtic.”
Leave nothing in the dressing room, Celtic.
Charlotte Fakes
When I started Celtic Quick News in 2004 I had neither contacts nor inside information. I started writing about the accounts, which was hugely consequential but, at the time, largely ignored public information. Soon after the blog gained some momentum this changed. People would come to me with information and views which were used to direct articles.
It only took a matter of weeks to go from zero contacts to having a network of people feeding into the blog.
I have no idea how Charlotte Fakes acquired some of her early information but, with doubts over the matter, it is understandable that the media was hesitant at touching it under the shadow of Leveson.
The Charlotte Fakes story has moved on, recent revelations have nothing whatsoever to do with Mr Whyte’s mailbox. We are now in the territory of cast iron whistle-blower information. She has her own network of people feeding legally acquired information, which the whistle-blower believes is in the public interest to reveal.
Some people in the game have had their snouts in the trough for so many decades a reservoir of resentment has built up against them among those who were once collaborators but are now cast aside. You are reading the fruits of this on Charlotte Fakes.
The only question is, while the rest of the world has a new-found appreciation of the value of whistle-blowers, are ‘all the president’s men’ still prepared to look the other way in Scotland?
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Neil Lennon should take time tomorrow to make the team watch a re-run of the game v Barcelona last November to remind them what Champions League at Paradise means to those who pay their wages.
Fire them up Lenny and put the Kazakhs to the sword.
BJMac – belated birthday wishes. I will toast you and the Bhoys tomorrow
I did it for the Lulz
Hail Hail
.
Well worth a read..
Link to bbc Site..http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23680545
Magic numbers: How Uefa’s seeding system helps Arsenal & hinders Celtic
By Chris Bevan
BBC Sport
Safely into the group stage of the Champions League for a 16th straight season, having outclassed Fulham in the Premier League on Saturday, for Arsenal the immediate crisis is over.
Uefa’s club coefficient
Champions League trophy
Leading clubs 2013/14
1. Barcelona (Spa)
157.605
2. Bayern Munich (Ger)
146.922
3. Chelsea (Eng)
137.592
4. Real Madrid (Spa)
136.605
5. Man Utd (Eng)
130.592
6. Arsenal (Eng)
113.592
7. Inter Milan (Ita)
105.829
8. FC Porto
104.833
But are they really one of the best six sides in Europe, as Uefa’s seeding system would have us believe?
You might question why a team that have not got beyond the last 16 of the Champions League in the past three seasons or finished higher than third in their own domestic league since 2005 – the last year the Gunners won a trophy – are still ranked as one of the heavyweights, and given a more favourable draw because of it.
But the more closely you look at how Uefa calculates the coefficient from which it ranks and then seeds clubs, the more clear it becomes that it is likely to preserve the status quo.
Every club’s results in European competition over the past five years are counted equally, with no weighting to favour the most recent seasons – so the seeding reflects long-term consistency, rather than rewarding recent excellence.
Whether you think it is fair probably depends on which club you support and which country you come from.
Although domestic results are not part of the calculation, the national coefficient counts towards each team’s total too – so it is better to come from a country with a stronger record in Europe.
Who benefits?
Arsenal’s coefficient puts them in pot one with the top seeds for the Champions League group stage draw in Monaco on Thursday, alongside holders Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Barcelona, who are ranked first.
The seeding means Arsenal – like Manchester United and Chelsea – automatically avoid some of the biggest and best teams in Europe and increase their chances of meeting some of the weaker sides in the draw.
Seeding pots for Champions League group stage
1:
Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Man Utd, Arsenal, FC Porto, Benfica
2:
Atletico Madrid, Shakhtar Donetsk, Marseille, CSKA Moscow, Paris St-Germain, Schalke
2/3:
Juventus and Manchester City
3:
Borussia Dortmund, Olympiakos, Galatasaray, FC Basel and Ajax
3/4:
Bayer Leverkusen, Copenhagen, Anderlecht
4:
Anderlecht, Austria Vienna, Napoli and Steaua Bucharest
Pots will be confirmed when final five teams come through play-off round on Wednesday night.
This is particularly important for Arsenal if you study their recent results in the competition.
The Gunners, who have finished fourth in the Premier League in five of the past eight seasons, have got out of the first group stage 14 times out of 15 since 1998-99, reaching one final, one semi-final and four quarter-finals, but their best recent run being to the last eight in 2010.
They have been a pot one (or top-eight ranked) team in each of the past 10 campaigns, but have not beaten another top-ranked side since they eliminated AC Milan in the last 16 in 2007-08.
Arsenal became the first English team to win at the San Siro when they beat AC Milan in 2008
Their only aggregate wins over a team ranked in the top 15 since then were over Villarreal (ranked 12th) in 2008-09, and Porto (15th) in 2009-10, the last time they won a knockout match in the competition proper.
How to earn coefficient points
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE GROUP STAGE
4 pts for being in group stage 2 pts for every win 1 pt for a draw
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE KNOCKOUT STAGE
5 pts for reaching last 16, 1 pt for each extra round. 2 pts for a win. 1 pt for a draw
* Teams also get 20% of their national coefficient (the total coefficient earned by a country’s teams divided by their number of teams in Europe)
In comparison, last season’s runners-up, Borussia Dortmund, were ranked joint 65th (five places above Bolton) when they reached the final as a pot four team. The German side are still only ranked 31st this campaign (with a coefficient of 61.922) and will be in pot three, along with Manchester City (70.592).
City had a disastrous European campaign last season, finishing bottom of Dortmund’s group without winning a game, yet their ranking actually went up – from 28th to 22nd – because they still picked up more coefficient points than teams around them.
The only way for your coefficient to fall significantly and quickly is to be out of Europe altogether, as Liverpool are finding out.
The Reds were ranked second in 2009-10 but are currently 17th (78.592) and are likely to fall out of the top 30 by next season.
Maintaining the status quo
Given a favourable draw – which for Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea probably means avoiding the likes of PSG, Dortmund or Napoli this time around – it is possible for pot one teams to maintain a coefficient high enough to keep them there solely through good results against lower-ranked teams in their group.
Arsenal are a prime example of this sort of ‘flat-track bully’.
In the past five seasons, the average rankings of the other teams in the Gunners’ group has been 55, and they have not even had any dark horses like Dortmund to deal with – in fact, the furthest any of their group rivals has got in that time is the quarter-finals. That happened three times, and the teams involved (Marseille, Shakhtar Donetsk and Porto) lost by a 13-3 aggregate scoreline.
The Gunners, who have had an average ranking of five in the same period, still only topped their group twice, but qualified for the last 16 on each occasion, for which they received five bonus coefficient points to go with the ones they picked up for their results.
So they got an easier group because of their seeding, and consequently qualified from it to get bonus points that gave them an extremely good chance of the same thing happening again the following season. Which it did.
No wonder Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger said on the eve of last season’s draw: “It is important to be seeded.”
Possible best/worst case group stage scenario
Chelsea/Man Utd/Arsenal:
Best case: Marseille, FC Copenhagen, Austria Vienna
Worst case: Paris St-Germain, Borussia Dortmund, Napoli
Man City:
Best case: Benfica, Marseille and Austria Vienna
Worst case: Bayern Munich, PSG and Napoli
Celtic:
Best case: Benfica, Marseille, FC Copenhagen
Worst case: Barcelona, PSG and Borussia Dortmund
Who loses?
Not everybody is so lucky – and Celtic fans should probably look away now.
Uefa’s country coefficient
England and Scotland fans
Leading countries 2013/14
1. Spain
77.141
2. England
70.320
3. Germany
68.998
4. Italy
54.688
5. Portugal
54.299
*24. Scotland
14.816
Top three countries get four teams in the Champions League
The system is stacked in the favour of teams from stronger nations, with each club picking up a fixed percentage – 20% – of their nation’s overall coefficient to add to their own. That does not add up to much if you are Scottish.
The top leagues see varying numbers of their clubs qualify automatically for the group stages of the Champions League in the first place – Spain, Germany and England get three, and another in the final qualifying round.
Being in the group stage not only guarantees you vast financial reward (£7.4m basic, plus £850k for every win and £425k for every draw), it immediately gives you four coefficient points before you start, and six games to earn more with your results. The party continues even if you finish third and are parachuted into the Europa League.
That happened to Chelsea last season, when they actually earned more coefficient points for winning the Europa League (27) than Real did for reaching the Champions League semi-finals (26), which kept them above the Spanish giants at number three in the 2013 rankings.
By reaching the last 16, Celtic went as far as Arsenal and Manchester United, and further than Chelsea and Manchester City. They also pulled off one of the biggest upsets of last year’s competition when they beat Barcelona in the group stage – not that it helped them much.
It’s very, very harsh. I suppose that’s the rules and you have to accept it but I don’t think it is fair
”
Celtic boss Neil Lennon on the Champions League qualifying system
At the time, Neil Lennon’s side were ranked 63rd and Barca were number one but, unlike Fifa’s ranking system, Uefa awards teams the same number of points for a win, no matter who the opposition are and how far they are above or below the victors.
So, Celtic received two points for beating a Barca side 62 places above them in Group G, as did Chelsea, ranked third, for beating Danish minnows FC Nordsjaelland, ranked 168 places below them, in Group E.
And the Bhoys’ reward for reaching the knockout stage for the first time in five years was for their ranking to improve by only one place for this season, because the points they picked up on that occasion, in 2007-08, no longer count.
In terms of qualifying, they took one step backwards, entering in the second qualifying round rather than the third and starting their Champions League campaign only 10 days after Andy Murray provided Scottish sport with one of its finest hours by winning Wimbledon.
That was because of Scotland’s plummeting national coefficient, a situation accentuated by the financial crisis at Rangers which saw them fall off the European radar.
Scotland’s coefficient will fall even lower if Celtic, who were the only Scottish team left in European competition by early August, do not overcome a two-goal first-leg deficit in their play-off tie with Kazakhstan’s finest, Shakhter Karagandy, on Wednesday.
Group of death?
Group D containing Borussia Dortmund, Real Madrid, Manchester City and Ajax – the champions of Germany, Spain, England and the Netherlands – was seen as the ‘group of death’ in last year’s Champions League.
However, using Uefa coefficients, the toughest group with the highest average ranking was actually Group G, containing Barcelona, Celtic, Benfica and Spartak Moscow, which had an average ranking of 31 compared with Group D’s 33.
Karagandy, incidentally, are ranked 320th and would become the lowest-ranked club to progress to the group stage of the Champions League.
People panicked about England’s coefficient when no Premier League clubs reached the quarter-finals of last season’s Champions League, but Chelsea’s Europa League success kept England above Germany, in second place.
Rather than catching up with England, Italy, who are fourth, only just avoided being overtaken by Portugal because of their lack of progress in the Europa League.
Only two Serie A clubs have reached the Europa League quarter-finals (Lazio last season and Udinese in 2008-09) in the past five years, despite other Italian clubs giving them financial incentives to take the competition seriously in order to improve the national coefficient.
Changing the system
Celtic boss Lennon said he was “baffled” to find his side having to enter qualifying so early this summer, adding: “It’s very, very harsh. I suppose that’s the rules and you have to accept it but I don’t think it is fair considering the season and the amount of games we have just had in Europe.”
There have been dissenting voices before – Jose Mourinho could not believe why Chelsea, as English champions, were only in pot two in 2006, ditto Roberto Mancini as Manchester City boss in 2012.
Ajax head coach Frank de Boer
Is the system fair? “It reflects the strength in the leagues, so I have no problem with it. We have to get on with it – there is not much you can do about it, other than get some good results in the Champions League of course.
On the draw: “It cannot get any harder than last year! That was unbelievable and hopefully this time we will get a little bit of luck and we can look hopefully to go to the second round. That is our goal and hopefully more.”
But there has been no collective or official complaint. The only changes to the system in the past decade have seen the percentage awarded to each club of their country’s coefficient drop from 50% to 33% in 2004, and then to 20% in 2008.
Uefa told BBC Sport that requests for any alterations or alternatives come through its Club Competitions Committee, which includes representation from the European Club Association, formed to replace the G-14 group in 2008 and currently representing 204 clubs from 53 national associations, including all but three of the 37 clubs still in the Champions League as of Wednesday morning.
Only Karagandy, Spanish side Real Sociedad and Pacos de Ferreira of Portugal are not members. The vast majority are, and nobody seems too keen to rock the boat.
An ECA spokesman said: “The ECA supports the current coefficient system used for the seedings. These changes have been discussed a couple times in the past, but the current system is considered as satisfying in general.
“It might be that some individual clubs sometimes feel somehow disadvantaged by the system, but these are isolated cases and can for sure not be generalised.”
In any case, the seeding system will not change for the next six years. The regulations for the next cycle of Uefa club competitions, from 2015 to 2019, were agreed in May.
That means Arsenal fans can rest easy and continue to celebrate their coefficient – they might even have won a trophy by then too.
Summa
Celtic First
The questions could only have been put to the SFA.
Celtic could not have answered any of them and had they been put to Celtic they would, quite rightly referred Phil to the SFA.
What Phil did was two things.
a) made a lot more people aware of the true circumstances surrounding the wee tax case .
His timing in respect of CF revealing CO knew what the DOS scheme was about was spot on because the SFA have never made it clear that the bill in question was not disputed, yet CO at least was in a position to know that DOS was a separate tax matter from the EBTs. Yet Regan conflated both and in so doing camouflaged the DOS case to look like its EBT partner when it was not the same.
b) in getting a response that was a stonewall one it allowed Phil to pose his own thoughts on what Celtic’s position would be once they were aware of the SFA’s response to him. He basically said what do you make of this? A question he could put given the SFA’s refusal to answer.
What has happened is everybody’s awareness of the goings on has gone up a significant notch.
The SFA know more must be in the public domain to have framed those questions which makes them look again at their stonewalling strategy.
Celtic know more than they did before or if they already knew the details know the support are more informed than they were before Phil blogged. That gives them something to ponder.
What keeps the lid on the pot is a lack of knowing what really went on. CF stuff tells anyone who wants to look what went on but it is being ignored to keep folk ignorant.
The more the ignorance is lifted the greater the chance of removing those in whose interests it was to keep us in that state. Phil reduced the ignorance level, perhaps significantly, as a result of his blog.
That might help folk to decide just how much they are prepared to take before they make their concerns about the SFA more actively known.
Canalamar might get the required number of sigs for example.
mncelt, I saw your post about your trip to Scotland but I don’t know if you posted where you played. I hope you took my advice and played gods holy turf in Angus and were lucky enough to find benign conditions.
More likely it was windy and raining……………………..real links golf.
I’m sure your pals had a blast.
HH
.
Packie Bonnar:
“The fans can be a real help,” he said. “I remember playing against Sporting Lisbon in the Uefa Cup in 1983 and we were 2-0 down from the first leg.
“We just went out and absolutely walked over the top of them; everybody was ‘tuned-in’ that night. We all played exceptionally well, both in an attacking sense and defensively.
“I don’t think Sporting Lisbon knew what had hit them, plus we had the crowd on our side and they can prove a real asset.”
Summa
.
Celtic comebacks from 2-down in first leg in Europe
1968-69 European Cup 4-0 v St Etienne
1983-84 Uefa Cup 5-0 v Sporting Lisbon
1992-93 Uefa Cup 3-0 v Cologne
Summa
“We could have asked Kelvin to stay for a few more weeks, but I don’t think that would have happened. I didn’t really want to sell Hooper but we had no alternative in the end.
It’s just one of those things where in the space of a month we have lost three valuable assets to the squad.
Every situation is avoidable, but I don’t think there is a lot more we could have done.
I don’t feel short-changed, but I think the squad is short.
Seven players have gone out the door, four have come in and out of those seven we lost three very important players. We have tried to bring players in and that has not been forthcoming.
But we still have a game to retrieve it all. I’m not saying it’s over. It’s not. I think we’re still very much in this tie.”
Neil Lennon
Kelvin was a tube get over it.
Hail Hail
Morning Campers,
I am convinced the Bhoys will be right up for this tonight however still not sure whether we will get over the finish line.
I feel there will be many fouls and very likely a red card (hopefully that KAZA mob).
I think this is going to be an emotional affair..
I will be lying in my scratcher (0245hrs) kick off kicking and heading every ball.
CELTIC – DO US JUSTICE!!
C’mon you BHOYS in GREEN!!
GAME ON!!!!
Hail Hail
SPC
Also if they want to slaughter sheep direct them to Pittodrie….
SPC
ACGR – We had an unbelievable golfing trip to Scotland. Some of the courses we played were Gleneagles PGA, Kingsbarns, St Andrews (Castle & Jubilee), Machrihanish, North Berwick and Renaissance. We were joined on some of the courses by Rubicon, BlantyreKev, Eurochamps67, BJMac and Goldstar.
Toughest course was Machrihanish Dunes where we had sunshine, gale force winds, rain and driving hail, all in a 4 hour span. Despite that it was a magical course and highly recommended.
The Scots won the Ryder cup challenge against the Yanks which at least for me was down to some questionable handicaps. BJMac ? :)
All in all we had great weather and great courses and hotels, all of which came from recommendations from friends here on CQN.
Interesting statement from NFL ~
Having sold key players, Neil says none of the new signings targeted have insisted on Champions League football before putting pen to paper.
‘But I think it would make life a lot easier,’ he conceded.
Neil Lennon & McCartney, Celtic could have dealt with this situation with a little more business acumen.
The club could have incentivised the players to stay until tomorrow and then bid them farewell on excellent terms. It happens all the time in my sphere of business. Three months from the end of a contract my Client knows I’m ready to move on but there’s unfinished business that was outside of my original contract. They offer me a deal to stay to complete that work and if the incentive is there I’ll take it or leave it.
I’m sure a more proactive approach coupled with a looser grip on the purse strings would not only have seen hooper and Wanyama play tomorrow night but would have seen them play out of their skins for their bonuses. Then we all part company happy, just like it happens in the real world.
Then again I’m just a diddy fan who wants the best from my team.
I’m off for my botox session (couple of smokes) then bed before my stair lift breaks down again.
We Are Celtic.
ACGR,
good points, fully understood, but football is not really the “real world”, is it?
HH
Aff oot for a walk on the beach.
mncelt, sounds like you and your crew had a fantastic time at the sclaffbaw.
One question though, are you saving the man’s course for your next visit or what …………….:-)
Glad you enjoyed the old Scottish fare. It can be a great place at times if you’re not subjected to huns or hunnishness, and I doubt you were.
Hail Hail mncelt
NL&McC – The players signed so far were probably the lower tier of who we were after. The top players that Neil really wants will not sign before the CL play-offs are complete and they can assess all the options open to them.
A Ceiler Gonof Rust –
The only problem with that is that the transfer window overlaps the start of the football season in both England and Scotland, so when an English club wants a player from Celtic, they are unlikely to be willing to wait until they are facing their third or fourth league game.
Maybe there is a case for the transfer window closing before the domestic leagues kick-off, although that might be a problem across different nations.
Also, clubs generally want their new players in as early as possible to allow them to gel with their new team mates and get used to a new environment and regime.
So I guess there is no easy answer.
Having said that, maybe the answer was for Celtic to simply dig in their heels and say . . . you cannot have our players until after our CL qualifiers, like it or lump it.
Hi Tom,
I think NL was quoted a week ago or so that all 3 players wanted to leave…… Personally I think we were between a rock and a hard place.
As you know I want new faces, we had some dialogue last week on this subject. I still want and wish we had however we are where we are….
Hopefully we navigate this qualifier and then “hopefully” see a flurry of signings…
Hail Hail
SPC
Tom McLaughlin, of course your “like it or lump it” statement is correct with my incentivistaion blurb. Don’t you think if these diddy teams like Southampton and Norwich who want our players so badly wouldn’t be prepared to wait?
These players already knew their worth and could have had jam on top if it wasn’t for the greedy bastard agents ruining it for both them and the players.
I really don’t get your league overlap point. It’s moot, given an open window that allows our players to play tomorrow and still move on freely afterword’s for the final few days of that window.
Enjoy the day Tom, I’m off to my chariot as I’ve a long Celtic focussed day ahead.
HH
53 – But claimed to be over 60 tae get the cheap green fee seniors rate at the sclafbaw this morning $20:) another trip tae the confessional beckons.
ACGR – Glass raised pal; get the onsie day arranged I might try and make it; hitting the wee baw decent; trying to remember TET’s advice which works well but is as boring as fek:)
slainte
tony
Greenwells Glory, enjoy your day buddy. This is for you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIil8k5QnFU
I hope you’ve a full catch and we pump the karagandy’s rotten.
.
Tony, you’re on pal :-)))
Offski n bed, n Celtic.
Celtic
Nearly 9pm west coast USA. The butterflies are settling in, not much sleep for me tonight.
5:30 am …. cl qualifier matchday
Given the fact we had to play 3 qualifying rounds. .. would any of us have settled for our position tonight 6 weeks ago.
Kicking off in front of a near full house … 0-2 down against the kazak champions.
Is this better than starting against arsenal on 0-1 …
If bate borisov had defeated karagandy .. would we have expected an easy tie with them
Suppose its all irrelevant now.
We can win this tie. . Weve beaten much bigger and better teams at celtic park
And the fans had a massive part to play… so if you can get along tonight… make plenty of noise for the team.
Come on you bhoys in green
C’mon The Celtic – tear into them from the off.
Excellent article on UEFA co-efficients and how they work for Arsenal and against Celtic.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23680545
NEIL Lennon does not believe he has been let down by Celtic’s summer transfer dealings, despite them weakening his resources for the bid to reach the Champions League group stage.
The Scottish champions will attempt to recover from a 2-0 first leg defeat in their play-off round tie against Shakhter Karagandy at Celtic Park tonight, with Lennon upbeat about his team’s prospects against opponents he believes have been disrespectful towards them since their surprise victory in Kazakhstan last week.
But while Lennon has no doubts his players are capable of reversing the deficit, he admits he is currently having to perform a “patch-up job” with the squad at his disposal.
Celtic have sold three of the men who shone in their memorable Champions League campaign last season – Victor Wanyama, Gary Hooper and Kelvin Wilson – for combined fees of the £20.5 million. Four other senior players – Thomas Rogne, Paddy McCourt, Lassad Nouioui and Miku – also left during the close season.
So far, Lennon has been able to spend £7m on Amido Balde, Virgil van Dijk and Derk Boerrigter, while also snapping up Steven Mouyokolo on a free transfer. The capture of other targets, such as Finnish striker Teemu Pukki and Israeli midfielder Nir Biton, may depend on whether Celtic secure a place in tomorrow’s Champions League group stage draw in Monaco.
The Celtic manager has no issues with the way his club’s board have conducted their transfer business so far, however, and is firmly focused on overseeing an aggregate victory over Shakhter which he says would be as satisfying as any in his managerial tenure so far.
“I don’t feel short-changed, but I think the squad is short,” said Lennon.
“Seven players have gone out the door, four have come in and, out of those seven, we lost three very important players. We have tried to bring players in and that has not been forthcoming. I don’t feel short-changed by anybody – it’s just the way the circumstances have thrown themselves at us.
“We could have asked Kelvin to stay until this tie was over, but I don’t think that would have happened.
“I didn’t really want to sell Hooper when we did, but we had no alternative in the end. It’s just one of those things where, in the space of a month, we have lost three valuable assets to the squad. Every situation is avoidable, but I don’t think there is a lot more we could have done.
“But we still have a game to retrieve it all. I’m not saying it’s over. It’s not. I think we are still very much in this tie. Yeah, it would be as sweet as any victory I’ve had as manager. It would be, considering everything that has gone on in the last six or seven weeks, the amount of qualification games we have had to play and off the back of what happened last week as well.
“The squad is really stretched at the minute so we are trying to do the best patch-up job we possibly can. These things happen – so I am not putting my excuses forward before the end. We are a bit stretched but I think we will prevail.
“There’s a lot riding on the game. It’s so early in the season and we have always maintained that these games are the hardest for us to overcome for varying reasons.
“But I think the players are still angry from last week. There is always a fall-out after these games and things get said, so they will be very motivated to play in it and to prevail.”
Lennon has been personally irked by comments from his opposite number Viktor Kumykov. Skakhter’s Russian manager has been quoted as saying his team will repeat their two-goal display in Glasgow and has also claimed Celtic make the same fundamental defensive mistake in every game.
“He should tell me what it is, I would cut it out,” said Lennon. “Every team has a weakness, otherwise you would be keeping clean sheets in every single game.
“I don’t know where he is coming from on that one. There is no need for him to talk about my team – I haven’t talked about his that way. Sometimes you can set yourself up for things that come back to bite you.
“I don’t think Shakhter have been very respectful. I don’t know if it’s a new thing for them or not. But if they say they will score two, then we will just have to score five. It’s a very dangerous thing for them to think the job is done, because 2-0 is not a massive deficit to overturn. The performance in the first leg, the result and the things that have been said after the game – that’s all the motivation our players need. They will be up for the game, there’s no doubt about that. Since the final whistle went over there, they couldn’t wait to play the return game so we are really looking forward to starting the game on Wednesday night.”
Lennon had generally positive news to report on the injury front, with Georgios Samaras, Anthony Stokes, James Forrest and Derk Boerrigter all back in training yesterday. He is also hopeful Kris Commons will recover in time, but midfielder Beram Kayal will be sidelined for two weeks by the groin strain which forced him to limp out of Saturday’s 2-2 draw against Inverness.
“Our attacking options are greatly increased from the weekend,” added Lennon. “They are all desperate to play. If they are only 50-50, it might be detrimental to us and to themselves individually. We have to gauge that over the next 24 hours.”
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GEORGIOS Samaras has revealed he is angrier than he has been at any time in his career about the position Celtic have put themselves in against Shakhter Karagandy.
Celtic’s season hinges on whether they overcome a 2-0 first-leg deficit in what will be a tense and highly-charged Champions League match at Parkhead tonight. Neil Lennon did his best to mobilise the supporters by insisting the Kazakhstan champions had been “disrespectful” since the first leg. The manager also spoke of the anger in the Celtic dressing room about the outcome of last week’s first leg, a view which was confirmed by Samaras.
The usually laconic Greek spoke with undisguised disgust about how vulnerable Celtic’s position was against such modest opposition. “I don’t remember ever being this angry going into a game,” he said. “Not angry as in going to kick people, but angry because it’s a game I want a lot. It is one of these games that you cannot lose. It’s the whole season for us and I don’t want a team from Kazakhstan to ruin that for us.
“The first leg was one of those games when I was really angry. Why? Because it was one of those when you believe you are going win. We weren’t great but we didn’t deserve to lose, and it leaves you angry. If you play against a better team and you don’t have the quality, that’s one thing. You are going to lose some of those games. But this was not one of those. It was a game we shouldn’t have lost.”
Samaras was asked if he thought Shakhter would challenge Celtic for the title if they were in the SPFL Premiership. “No. They would not be up there. They’re not Rangers, I’ll say it like that. They’re not Rangers . . .”
Kris Commons did not take part in training yesterday but Lennon said he expected him to be fit. Samaras, James Forrest, Anthony Stokes and Derk Boerrigter are ready but Biram Kayal will be out for a fortnight.
Lennon was unimpressed by Viktor Kumykov, the Shakhter coach, saying his side will score another two goals at Parkhead. Some of their players’ comments had caused upset, too. “I don’t think they have been very respectful,” Lennon said.
Kumykov had also claimed to have noticed Celtic’s defence tend to make the same mistake in every game, and concede because of it. “He should tell me what it is; I would cut it out,” said Lennon. “I don’t know where he is coming from on that one. There is no need for him to talk about my team, I haven’t talked about his. Sometimes you can set yourself up for things that come back to bite you.”
Samaras used Celtic’s experience at the hands of Utrecht in the Europa League qualifiers three years ago as an illustration of how a tie can be reversed over two legs. Celtic won 2-0 at Parkhead but collapsed 4-0 in the Netherlands. “We are a better team [than Shakhter],” Samaras said. “We fully respect them but we know that, at Celtic Park, with our fans behind us, we can do this. I think, if we score an early goal, anything can happen. It is psychology. If we get one goal at half-time, the second half will bring a lot of pressure on them.”
If Celtic prevail, they will be in the Champions League group draw, which begins at 4.45pm tomorrow. If they fail, they will be in the Europa League draw at noon on Friday.
“This is a game we really want,” Samaras said. “It is a game that is for our club, our team-mates, our careers. To be in the group stages of the Champions League and create those great nights this year: that’s what we want. We enjoyed those Champions League nights so much last year and will do everything to get back there.”
Good morning friends from a dry but cloudy East Kilbride.
Well, 13 hours from now I’ll be bidding farewell to my fellow Gazeebonians and taking my seat in FS2 to roar my head off in support of the Bhoys in Green. 1-0 at half time will do me fine. But won’t be able to really relax until our 4th goal goes in on the 79th minute….
We will rejoice and be glad in it.
Enjoy the build up during the day. Positive thoughts, now!
Jobo
Gazeebonians???
Is that a religion?
A word from call my bluff?
Some sort of foot affliction?
A Paul Gascoigne fan club?
Or just the result of drink being taken this early in the morning?
I am happy to go with 4-0 too.
HH
BRTH –
The original founders of the famous Gazebo will be able to answer that far better than I, a relatively recent recruit. You should pop in sometime for the pre-match chat. It’s lovely inside. I think BSR or DBBIA might have some photos…
Off oot (tae work…)
Good morning nerves kicking in will try to keep busy until kick off. Feeling better about the match as kick off time approaches. We can do this positive posts only today bhoys.
By the looks of things everyone on here qualifies for a pre match sherbert so enjoy if you are.
Not standing outside the pub with a packet of crisps CSC 42
I remember returning home after the Basle result in the 2003/04 season and the feeling of utter despair that we hadn’t qualified for the CL.
Please God we don’t have to endure that this evening, I think the emotions would be far worse this time around given the standard of opponents.
Just go out and do it Celtic!
Fifty years ago,Martin Luther King announced
“I have a dream!”
Tonight,so do Celtic supporters everywhere.
You can do it,you bhoys in green….
Celtic. … celtic. .. thats the team for me