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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Paul67
Great leader and what a dedicated pro our FF is, I wish him all the best, tell the wee Mhan to KTF.
HX2
Jinky bhoy, good news for the 13th Oct (thumbs up)
Hx2
The relationship between fans and the team on the park is what distinguishes Celtic from most other teams. Ask opposition players like Messi, Xavi and even managers like Ferguson and Mourhino. There is an emotional bond which on the great occasions can lift the team and produce exceptional performances and results.
The team can go on to the park knowing that the fans are like an extra man.
Imagine if the team go out full of negativity and dissenting views, thinking that it’s all about PL’s bonus and boosting the balance sheet.
There are mistakes being made because every human being makes them. Running an institution like CFC is a complex, demanding task and many errors will be made, but all in all, we are still the premier team in our little country despite the best efforts of the establishment to ensure that their team be pre-eminent. The bank which tried to bury us for £9m debt subsidised our former rivals to the tune of at least £100m and still they went bust, trying to emulate our achievements.
Our little blog is a great forum for Celtic fans to discuss,and criticise players, directors, the club’s structure etc etc. and it has led to friendships being made and increased many fans’ knowledge and awareness of what’s going on. The charity work is simply jaw dropping and highlights the basic goodness of so many people on here and reinforces the original ethos of our founders.
The constant negativity of the sneering, superior naysayers implying that eg PL is deliberately weakening the team to boost his bonus, that DD loves the huns etc, undermines all this great work. They impute motives on certain individuals, make up facts and figures to prop up their opinions and generally spread doom and gloom.
Be unhappy guys if you want, and voice your opinions but don’t insult the rest of us for daring to have a more positive outlook than your miserable selves.
We were all gutted following the two shocking performances against Legia but I’m not going to sit quiet while a depressive has the gall to say it was the fault of bloggers on here that caused the poor results. No, it’s you the negatonians, taking your cue from the MSM who put unnecessary pressure on our team.
Get behind the team and our new manager. If we lose,so be it. It’s sport, it’s supporting Celtic, win, lose or draw.
HH
the_huddle
16:09 on
9 August, 2014
A miserable million more than Hearts got for Craig Gordon in 2007.
This was at a time the much derided Campbell Ogilvie was pulling the strings at Tynecastle.
Did Celtic tell FF to complete now although he was happy to stay for the Maribor qualifier?
If this new rumour is true then I expect a significant signing before Monday.
W @ 16.02
That is the dichotomy of the UK football market.
That is the teason for my comments about DM and his potential transfer value.
FF is probably the exception that proves some kind of rule.
Better we trumpet the fact that ee took a third string Geordie GK to a world cup.
The fact that a past it closet racist prefered a make up model to a proper shot stopper is nothing to do with us.
A million more though, is it a British record for a keeper? Trying to think of other transfers but most go for cheap.
Inverness 2 nil up, some achievement that they do this every year.
On thinking about what went wrong in the games against Legia and whether some of these problems can be corrected, it occurred to me that the answers to these issues will both define the coach and determine his future.
In particular, the shape of the teams that he put out in both games was wrong. largely because he played several players out of their “normal” positions and inserted a player who had just signed for the club. Why did he do that? He did it in both games against the Poles. Is it that he didn’t learn from his first mistake, or is there something else at play?
If he thinks that either of the teams that he selected can function given more time, that is one thing…and is a great worry, casting doubt on his abilities. On the other hand, if he selected players out of position because he felt he had no viable alternatives for these positions, then that is a different matter. For example, he persisted with Mulgrew as a creative midfielder in both matches. Even against Reykavik in the second game, he consistently gave the ball away in dangerous positions. Yet Charlie stayed in that position throughout the Legia series. Was it give him a chance to come good, or was it a case of there is no alternative?
The fact that there seems to be attempts to bring in new players suggests that the club has bought into the latter option. However, even if we are successful in recruitment, I am not convinced that the coach knows what type of team he wants to create.
Finally, the Maribor test will come too soon to be able to judge the coach’s efforts unless we skelp them…. something that appears very unlikely.
We live in interesting times indeed,
Rebus
NFL commentating on Five Live with intelligence and insight .
Remarked on Troy Deeney after scoring at Watford.
“I would have loved to have had him at Celtic”
No doubt fee and wages put it out our reach.
Watford??????mmmmm
Vmhan
On the drive back to Glasgow on Wednesday night I was trying to think of the positives – one I came up with was : At least I will not be in India this year when we play the Big Team in our CL group at Celtic Park .
Maybe I will after all :)
My apologies if it has already been posted etc, but this piece from Celtic Journal clarified any remaining fudging over Uefa’s Legia decision.
http://celticjournal.org/5996/the-difference-between-punishment-and-consequence/
“The difference between punishment and consequence…
0 Posted by Kieran Caw – 09/08/2014 – The Journal
UEFA awarded Celtic with a 3-0 victory over Legia Warsaw after the Polish side mistakenly fielded a suspended player with just a few minutes to go of the second leg tie.
As a consequence of, as Henning Berg called it, Legia’s “small administrative error”, Celtic have progressed to the play-off round of the Champions League.
The punishment itself was a match forfeit, meaning that Celtic – no matter the score – would have been awarded with a standard 3-0 win.
Legia were not ‘thrown out’ of the Champions League, contrary to what Sky Sports News have repeatedly reported since the verdict was announced.
If, for example, Ivica Vrdoljak had scored one of his two missed penalties in Warsaw, Legia will have still been in the Champions League – despite breaking the rules.
UEFA had no other option but to forfeit the tie. The rule book, however harsh it may seem, is clear and precedents had been set in the past.
Their rules state: “A match is declared forfeit if a player who has been suspended following a disciplinary decision participates in the match.”
The rule of fielding an ineligible player is worded with slight differences, although significantly different in terms of punishment. In these cases, UEFA can only act following a protest from the opposing team and will punish teams on a case-by-case basis.
This is where Legia’s defence falls apart.
Henning Berg cited the Debrecen incident in 2010, whereby UEFA fined the Hungarian side £15,000 after concluding that it was a genuine mistake and the player made no direct impact on the outcome of the match.
Although similar to Legia’s case, the Debrecen player was not serving a suspension.
A comparison that can be drawn to that of the Hungarians’ is when Celtic were reinstated into the Europa League after UEFA found FC Sion to be guilty of registering six ineligible players and, as they did so despite a transfer ban, both matches involving the Swiss club were forfeited and 3-0 victories were awarded to Celtic.
It is important to note that Pascal Feindouno, one of Sion’s ineligible players, scored against Celtic and therefore had a considerable impact on the tie. Whereas Debrecen’s error was minor and genuine, FC Sion knowingly played players signed during a transfer ban.
There are three separate cases in which UEFA awarded a 3-0 victory to teams after their opponents fielded a suspended player (as Legia did).
1. In 2004, Maccabi Tel Aviv were awarded a 3-0 victory in the first leg for their Champions League third qualifying round after PAOK fielded a suspended player.
The player in question, Laisis Louca, was supposed to be serving his two-match ban given four years previously in the UEFA Intertoto Cup with his previous team, Nea Salamis.
2. NK Zepce were punished with the same severity in 2005 as they fielded a player who should have been serving his suspension, again given in the Intertoto Cup two years previously, played in the first half of their 0-0 draw with FK Baskimi.
3. Most recently in 2012, Arsenal Kyiv suffered after it was brought to UEFA’s attention that Eric Matoukou, the scorer of their third goal in a 3-0 victory over NK Mura, should have been serving a two-game suspension.
The Cameroonian was red carded in Genk’s first leg of their 2010 Europa League qualifier against FC Porto. Although he sat out of the return leg, he was not registered by Genk one year later in the same competition and it was deemed that he hadn’t yet served the second part of his suspension, resulting in a forfeit and a 3-0 victory awarded to NK Mura.
In all cases similar to that of Legia Warsaw’s, UEFA have been consistent in their punishment.
It is simply unfortunate for Legia that they failed to win by more goals during both legs against Celtic as, if they did, playing Bartosz Bereszynski for four minutes would not have made a difference.
No matter the impact of Bereszynski’s substitution, nothing less than a match forfeit could have been given as Legia’s punishment.
If a fine had been given, what’s to stop, for example, Barcelona from playing Luis Suarez for the final four minutes in one of his suspended games and afterwards declaring it as an ‘administrative error’?
However genuine Legia’s mistake was, UEFA cannot tinker with their rules as it would allow other clubs to use the same excuse if the only punishment would be a small fine, or anything less than a 3-0 victory to their opponents (which could potentially jeopardise their future in the competition).
Legia’s punishment for fielding a suspended player was forfeiting the match. The consequence of Bereszynski’s inclusion resulted in Legia dropping into the Europa League.
Article written by Kieran Caw (@Kieran_Celtic)”
HH
Setting free the bears
Martin Livingstone.rip.Thoughts and prayers in support of family & friends for their loss
HH
“Diedbrox up next for us, so we’ve prepared for ten v eleven”
Robbie Neilson
All this talk about who we can and cant afford appears to be a never ending cycle of frustration for the support, is there really no players who will come to us and improve us, if Lennoxtown is the answer in breeding our own where is the evidence of its success, despite the costs of the whole youth programme year on year,we have to go out to the market and at best bring moderate players in ,setting aside the obvious successes Vic Ki Hooper. Is this worth the costs? Maybe a squad of 25 supplemented by good prospects may bring better value for money
Jim Goodwin red-carded for St Mirren. Neil Lennon was right!
Stupid stupid zombies
Stupid Stupid Warsawers
And now
Stupider and stupidest Jim Goodwin – what a f@nny
Moral high ground?
Ask the Huns how much Airdrie owed them before they put them out of business?
So Fraser is away. Good luck to him and he has been top class. A real professional in every way. He deserves to be England number 1 and he will be.
Now way off line, some advice from the Celtic family please. My amazing wife hits 60 in a coupla yrs and we should hit New York again. Did it 20 yrs ago when we had money and both loved it.
Would love to be able to go for 2-3 weeks if we could but how do you do that? Don’t need to be central, looking for a base where we could get back by midnightish most nights. Self-catering? Any ideas appreciated.
Can’t get my head around big Lurch signing for Southampton.
Artur Boruc was,is,and will be a far better goalie than FF,and I would imagine will be Koeman’s first choice between the sticks.
10 million seems a lot of money for a back up keeper.
Unless the Holy a Goalie is moving on, it doesn’t make sense.
Yes..indeedy!
Leonardo… is a Fine Prospect.
Ah hiv known aboot him..fur.. Years.
Long story.
Anyway.. Leonardo.. (Ah alwiz call him That).. wid dae a Great Joab.
IF…n Ah say.. IF..
Fur Ah don’t really know IF.. Leonardo,wull get his Chance ..
Ah simply do not know if Ronny wull turn oot tae be The Manager, that Ah hiv bin Pinin’ Fur..( Ah am Hopin’ he is, though..)
A Manager..
Who Brooks nae Lollygangers..nor Stands oan Ceremony..
n… Lives by the Motto..
“IF…they be good Enuff.. Why.. then… Why no Play ’em?”
We are in the state.. that..well.. We Are in..
Chiefly, because..
we hid a Former Manager..
Who Lived by the Motto..
“Why Mak Chinges? Don’t Rock the Ship… Records, ur the Bhoys,,, so..let’s Collect as miny as We kin.. Besides.. they wull Look so Fine,, in ma Resum-ay.. when Ah move oan.”
Well.. Lenny, goat his Records..awe Right..
but..
Like Ollie said tae Stan..
“This Is ANITHER FINE MESS..that ye Hiv Goat Us Intae!”
Yes, Neil wiz Successful..
But..
At whit Coast?
He left us wi..
Not ONE Creditable Striker..oan oor Books..
n..
This State of Affairs ,which we Find oorsels..
Wiz..
NOT the Fault of Peter the Great..
Na..
Neil, wiz the Manager…
that Says it All.( Well..it Diz.. tae Me.)
n.. is case ye wid wanna know..
Neil, Left us..
Because.. HE DIDNAE GET THAT BIG RAISE…that He Felt he Wiz Entitled tae..
and..may Add..
In High Dudgeon~… some may hiv said.. Pique.. but , Ah say.. Dudgeon.
Yes,my deah… Virginia.
It is.. “ALWIZ, aboot the Money, Honey.”
Kojo
Still,Laughin’
timgreen
——–
Can’t really offer any advice sure others will, but had a few mates do New York and renting an apartment seemed to be the way to go.
NFL was also asked to name the first St.Mirren player to be booked for foul play.
“Jim Goodwin” he quickly replied.
ryecatcher
—
Maybe Koeman sees FF as better than Boruc, breath now :o)
David Currie is a horrible hurtin hun!!!!!
Apologies for my use of the four letter expletive….I think its about 4 times in 5 years?…….if only we could check our posts? All under the same name too I might add…mmmm.
Nothing I have ever posted about PL/DD et al has been factually incorrect though….they can always sue for libel if that were to be proved the case?
Soooo……Off to Egypt again next week for work/business with my Celtic top as usual………in a country where 10M are under 15 years of age….I think you would call that Strategic Marketing ;)
A couple of things have occurred to me over the years and that is namely that the Hoops are instantly recognisable wherever I am and the recurring central question is asked as to why such a BIG team like Celtic invariably do not get BIG results or success in Europe…….always out with Lisbon of course.
An hours worth of explanation on Scotlands demographics, the SPL, lack of SKY TV revenue…..yada yada later offers no satisfaction to them…..
They are as perplexed as ever……..
Perhaps some of the Moneyball adherents and/or exponents could formulate a plausible explanation for me to offer them?
the_huddle – thanks pal. Just thought of the idea so need to do research re self-catering around NY. Would be great.
tbj says wee oscar knox is in heaven with the angels
16:38 on 9 August, 2014
Stupid stupid zombies
Stupid Stupid Warsawers
And now
Stupider and stupidest Jim Goodwin – what a f@nny
………………
NFL was laughing when he heard he was booked.
He will giggling now.
ryecatcher, THG is supposed to be going to Germany (Bayern I think) so it would be a straight replacement with FF coming in.
HH
/Bishop B
Bayern have signed Pepe Reina as back up for the big German so no way Boruc is going there.
timgreen
the_huddle – thanks pal. Just thought of the idea so need to do research re self-catering around NY. Would be great.
———
I’ll text my mate to see where he stayed, costs etc
Madmitch,
Could you provide evidence that RH is a closet racist? If not, you should consider not denigrating a man in such a way. Hodgson is a decent guy.
Nye Bevans’ rebel soldier
16:45 on 9 August, 2014
‘David Currie is a horrible hurtin hun!!!!!’
####
???????
http://www.sconews.co.uk/news/28888/caritas-winners-on-lifelong-journey-but-two-2013-awards-were-granted-posthumously/
Zombies in acrylic marching through city centre…commonwealth feel good factor oot the windae…..
Rebus67
at 16.25
Wonderful… Surmise… Pal.
Yes.. You are Perfectly Correct.
Ronny, has Not Shown.. Me.. anyway..
That He is Playing wi a Full Deck..
Ah hiv or should that no be…”Hid”.?… High Hopes fur Him..
But…
so far.
He seems Hell bent…
Tae Crush ‘Em!
Time wull Tell..
Ah keep reminding Masel.. that Ronny..is New.. n..
He still Has a Brainfu’ o’ Porridge!
Like Ah hid.. when Ah wiz A Stranger in a Strange Land.
Ah Know the Feelin’!
Nice chatting,pal. Ah like Ye aloater.
Kojo
Still,Laughin’…though!
MadMitch
16:14 on 9 August, 2014
You referring to the monkey joke?
You have to ask why players go home after lunch.
Turn your tv screens to sky sports 3 and look at the physique and fitness of men who have full time jobs, play for their clubs and county and train more than professional football players.
Fitness wise, strength wise these amatuers put professionals to shame.
Begs the question of why, when more can be done
I work with an old Masonic geezer who has always stated ” I hate Neil Lennon ”
I asked him yesterday if he still hated Neil ….. Definitely was his reply
Again I asked him … Why do you hate him ?
Same ole answer … I just do :)