La Gran Muralla, a genuine Celtic hero

1435

Fraser Forster had a daily routine which verged on OCD.  He rose at 6:00, ate his first meal of the day, drove to Lennoxtown (while eating six pancakes, as it happens), then worked-out in the gym.  He stopped for ‘breakfast’ with the rest of the team, his third intake of the day, before training started at 10:00.

After training the players take lunch, then head home.  Fraser stayed, back to the gym, or some specialist work with goalkeeper coach Stevie Woods, before heading home at 16:30.  He was first to arrive and last to leave, every day.

This was his routine, broken only something as rare as a dentist visit.  Every biological and fitness measurement was documented with improvements targeted.

Years ago, he decided he was going to this year’s World Cup.  The personal relationship, which took visits to London to maintain, was put on hold.  The visits interrupted the work schedule for two days, which he couldn’t afford.

There is a reasonable chance that he put more work into his game than any player in Celtic history, the contrast with some would anger you.  The results were remarkable.  Fraser transformed from a rough stone into the only man in the England World Cup squad not to play in their feted league.

Much of this was as a result of the meeting of minds he had with Stevie Woods.  Stevie completely changed Fraser’s game, set career targets with him and planned how to reach them.  I could make a good case that Woods is one of the leading goalkeeping coaches in Europe.  He created one of the greatest keepers in Britain and will do so again.

On a personal level, he is everything you would want a Celtic player to be, had time for kids, time for fans.  He graduates from Celtic as a credit to our club.  We want more like this.

While I’ll have genuine regret if he goes, the axiom of the ages remains true, we manage our assets, or we fail to manage our assets.  If we have £10m to add to or deny the budget, it should not be tied up in a goalkeeper.

So good for Celtic, but it’s left me with a problem.  I’ve a nine-year-old who eats, sleeps, talks and, most of all, dreams, Fraser Forster.  Hero worship has never been so intense, so I’ll delay wishing the big guy well, just in case….

Just so you know, Maribor would put us out if we played them this week.  Don’t go dreaming of Champions League football yet.

Still cannot believe what happened yesterday.

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  1. My Mums Cousin on

    Neganon2

     

     

    ‘So let me get this right. Allowing corruption on a grand scale and getting absolutely horses by a team on half of your turnover is doing a good job is it?’

     

     

    Genuinely don’t know about the alleged corruption you are alluding to. Can you please enlighten?

  2. Part 2

     

     

    You are a coin clipper.

     

    Yuou count in`s and out`s and you balance the.differences.

     

     

    That to me is casino capitalism and with your little vale spectrum you claim our current.board are guys with a fan club.

     

     

    Take That have a fan club and I don`t want them running the club.

     

     

    Back in your box Mr Big Shot.

  3. Pogmathonyahun aka Laird of the Smiles on

    steinreignedsupreme

     

    14:42 on 9 August, 2014

     

    gearoid1998 14:35 on 9 August, 2014

     

    I think ole Darwins had a stinking week.

     

    —————————————————————–

     

    Naw, I think he had a good Wednesday night and most of Thursday but it all went tits up starting on Thursday evening and was completely ruined on Friday.

  4. after the euphoria, the negativity.

     

    I’m not convinced we will be introducing a new player of any merit any time soon.

     

    Either way, say we do manage to get past Maribor. I’m already squirming at the thought of having to play the more well kent teams.

     

    Ultimately, I don’t think its in PL’s game plan to excel in Europe this season. the introduction of a manager of unknown stock, a loan player and a free agent coupled with the exit of at least one big team player is surely evidence of this. Indeed, as I suggested lastnight, his desire is to see out this coming season in anticipation of Sevco’s promotion. By “seeing out”, I suspect he expects falling attendances and therefore has little desire to spend any of the money banked.

     

    Expect a long and uninspiring season….

     

    Of course whether Sevco will exist and whether their promotion makes any difference are other issues altogether.

  5. Nye Bevans' rebel soldier on

    Caught a bit of shortie there,discussing the dark

     

    side, chuckles interview in which George Soros

     

    name was dropped……..is he the guy who floored

     

    pound sterling years ago?

  6. This is more like it – absolutely no football discussion at all, and plenty of personal abuse.

     

     

    Ehm aff, as we say in Dundee. Good luck to FF.

  7. Steinreignedsupreme on

    Pogmathonyahun aka Laird of the Smiles 14:46 on 9 August, 2014

     

    gearoid1998 14:35 on 9 August, 2014

     

     

    I think ole Darwins had a stinking week.

     

    —————————————————————–

     

    “Naw, I think he had a good Wednesday night and most of Thursday but it all went tits up starting on Thursday evening and was completely ruined on Friday.”

     

     

    Ha Ha Ha

     

     

    Aye. But that 24 hours would have seemed like a wet week in Airdrie.

  8. whinhallkev

     

    14:36 on

     

    9 August, 2014

     

    Greendreamz. I saw my first Celtic game in 1971. I am a season ticketholder – overeseas variety. You have referred to our CEO by a term that was coined by the huns. If you have reason to believe that the CEO of CFC PLC is a liar, you – as a shareholder – have legal redress. Avail yourself of it if you will, but for you to post that hun garbage calling the man a liar says more about you than him. It also makes you a hun in my book. Have a nice day! Prick.

     

    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

     

     

    FYI I have never looked at a hun web site and PL has delivered zero but downsizing, underperformance and increased bonuses and share dividends……

     

     

    I as a shareholder do not have enough shares to make any difference at all…..ask the Celtic Trust how far they got with their issues?

     

     

    “……and I repeat…….

     

    Theres no edit facility………theres no post retrieval facility……there no function to check the history of name changes on a given e-mail……..

     

     

    Mmmmm…….”

     

     

    I offered my money to Fergus unconditionally first time around….if I wanted dividends I would own supermarket shares……

     

     

    Have a nice day :)

  9. Bluegrass Celt et al

     

    I’m with you BHOYS Celtic going through for Legia breaking the rules is just soooo unfair and while we are at it Rangers have suffered enough!!!!

     

    What would be unforgivable is not taking advantage of the lifeline that we have been thrown. Peter PLEASE take note.

     

    Given some of the BAD LUCK emanating from both UEFA and the SFA in the past I am still pinching myself at our good fortune.

     

    Battered

     

    Normally agree with your posts but the minimum was a 3-0 defeat for a contravention of the rules (suspended player) in this instance. As per the 3points and £60 fine would you discriminate between 2motorists driving at exactly the same speed over the limit,in the same area with exactly the same circumstances prevailing?

     

    Or because we played so poorly should we not be subject to the same laws as every other team?

     

    HH

  10. My Mums Cousin on

    Madmitch. The trading we do has been moving the worlds commodities from area of surplus to areas of demand for millennia. It’s what makes the world function, and provides us with food and energy. I was just trying to make a point to someone who insinuated my business acumen is below par. Typical internet chat, where they know zero, but that doesn’t matter, just come out with drivel anyway…..

     

     

    And I don’t sit in a box. The main stand to be precise. HH

  11. Serious question, how much money do you think we should spend in this transfer window and also who can we expect to attract to the club after the performances against legia?

  12. Guys, some seriously inappropriate language and keyboard hardmanship going on today.

     

     

    Please refrain from both. Language has been deleted, hardmanship will be too.

  13. Steinreignedsupreme on

    I was speaking to the brother there. He told me one of the local Zombies came over to him last night in the pub looking like he had just lost one of his rotting limbs.

     

     

    Zombie: “I’d be embarrassed if Rangers had to qualify because of a dodgy decision like that.”

     

     

    Bro: “It is a bit embarrassing that we’ve gone through because they stuck a suspended player on, but surely that’s down to them?”

     

     

    Seemingly the Zombie with the big sad expression just rolled his eyes.

     

     

    Bro: “Embarrassment is relative anyway. I never see you blushing when you come out with the ‘same club’ fairytale.”

     

     

    Zombie shuffled off in the huff.

  14. Good shout Paul – there are other (lesser) sites for that language and general low brow approach to discussing Celtic issues

  15. Nye Bevans' rebel soldier on

    Paul67…..well said,I trust you deleted my Betty Davis moment

     

    post the other night.

  16. Paul. Sorry for my part in that. I will go sit in a corner with a well earned self imposed ban.

  17. Stairheedrammy on

    Come ahead any of you farquars, virtual square go. Meet you ootside the Pig and Whistle at 7, access it via Google Maps and I’ll gee ye an online pummelin.

  18. Steinrulledsupreme

     

     

    They will allways think they are the institution and have the moral high ground, you just have to remind them at every opportunity with the biggest smile you can ever see on a face why , where they are at the moment, IN LIQUIDATION.

  19. macjay1 for Neil Lennon on

    tonydonnelly67

     

    15:09 on

     

    9 August, 2014

     

    Hmmmmm no yellows ;)

     

     

    Yer a serious shocker.

     

    Ineligible and oot.

     

    Doin` a Legia.

  20. Good afternoon good people of CQN, I will be grateful if you can indulge me for a few moments as I’d like to share few words on my Auntie Mary, a massive ‘tic fan, with you.

     

     

    Auntie Mary was my dad (God rest him)’s sister. I was always round her place when I was wee and I have a real big soft spot for her. One of the world’s unconscious comedians is how you might describe some of the things she said and did, and the following are a few of those that I hope you’ll enjoy reading. Each one of these makes me smile even reading back through them now.

     

     

    Auntie Mary was a person who had no problem laughing at herself when she unintentionally said something funny. And that was a good thing because she did it a lot. She loved Our Lady of Lourdes, which is why she had a grotto dedicated to her out the back of her house, and St Martin de Porres of whom she kept a statue inside. When the weather was bad she used to turn the statue of St Martin de Porres to look out of the window so he could see it, as a small chastisement to him for not making the weather better.

     

     

    We used to run a shop in Kilwinning, and every year when the Orange Walk went past Auntie Mary used to put the lights out in the shop, close the door, and say the rosary. We were instructed to join in. It was a two-fold celebration of the Holy Rosary really. Firstly to drown out the tunes that she didn’t like to hear, which was why it was the loudest I ever heard the rosary spoken in parts, and secondly the prayers were offered up to Our Blessed Lady to help and enlighten those that didn’t know any better that were battering away outside.

     

     

    I remember on a car journey one summer when my mother (God rest her an’ all) was driving us all down to Southport to Pontin’s for our summer holidays and we were all, Auntie Mary included, packed in the Austin 1300 GT!! for the journey. We were trying to work out where we were and Auntie Mary was looking out the window for road signs and stuff, and said ‘Lay By!’

     

     

    ‘Where in God’s name is Lay By?!’

     

     

    She came down to visit us, along with all the rest of our relatives of that generation, for a weekend a few years ago when we lived in England and we had a great weekend. She was a concerned and caring person which was why, presumably, as we all sat down to dinner on the evening that everyone arrived she asked, ‘Now son, are you keeping regular?’ Of course my chin dropped open and there was a few seconds of silence while we all looked at each other before bursting out laughing. You came all the way down here to check on my toilet habits?

     

     

    I love my Auntie Mary. I saw her three weeks ago when I was visiting back home as I’m away working at the moment, and she was in the hospital, really not well. But still lively and spirited in mind and with all her humour about her, and we talked about all of the above stories and lots more. And then a few days later I was away again to start a new job out here in the back of beyond.

     

     

    She passed away last Sunday and was laid to rest yesterday, and the world for me will now be a slightly sadder place without her. A week after I started a new job and I should have gone home for the funeral but I couldn’t because I would have lost the job, and to be fair Auntie Mary would have been awful upset if she’d found out. Yes I love my Auntie Mary, eternal rest grant unto her and let perpetual light shine upon her. Because if anybody ever deserves it, she does. God rest her wee soul.

     

     

    And Hail Hail,

     

    KevinBhoy.

  21. Nye Bevans' rebel soldier on

    Pogmathonyahun aka Laird of the Smiles

     

     

    Thanks pal, don’t want to seem ungrateful for the link,

     

    but I see Glen Beck’s name there…….hardly a honest

     

    broker or is he?

  22. GC Tim. I’m not supposed to be posting. It is indeed Whinhall in Airdrie. Moss Side Avenue to be precise!

  23. Bhoys own

     

     

    15:07

     

     

    £8m would be what I would say would be needed to bring in some good players (excluding wages of course).

     

     

    If VVD or Commons goes then that would probably move up to £12m.

  24. Me too, Kev. Number 9 Mosside Ave to be precise.

     

     

    I have a 15 foot “Mosside Wranglers CSC” tricolor in my garage here in Dubai. Custom-made for Seville.

     

     

    Would never have guessed you were a Whinhaw man after your earlier outburst!

  25. SRS/Pog

     

    Agreed. Think Darwins had an absolute shockeroooni of a week. Pity the poor mite.

     

    By the way TD noticed you said The Rangers in liquidation this WEEK. Liquidation is not just for Christmas, it’s for EVER.

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