Shortly after Elfsborg cracked one against the crossbar last night I quickly scanned the Celtic team and had a thought. For the second season in a row we are taking on the Swedish champions but we’re missing two of last season’s big performers and none of this season’s new signings were ready for action. In short, this was Celtic 2012 minus Wanyama and Hooper. No wonder we looked unstructured.
Joe Ledley brought some vision to central midfield when he arrived, hopefully banishing the Brown-Kayal partnership to hidden corners of our mind once and for all. Anthony Stokes playing at the front of a wide diamond was equally effective. With the signing of Amido Balde, bids in for Kevin Doyle, and the addition of a wide-delivery-expert Derk Boerrigter, clearly Neil Lennon has a different plan for the months to come….. so there’s no real need for me to state the obvious.
Defensively we looked solid after a shaky opening few minutes. I’m not the only one who was a bit nervous about Efe Ambrose after he was (again) caught underneath a long ball, but he settled quickly. As we know to our cost, being great for 87 minutes is not how Champions League reputations are made, you are judged on your how vulnerable you become in your weak moments.
I said yesterday that Samaras and Commons were the two players who could cope at this level, which became plainly obvious during the game. Georgios was the one player who frightened Elfsborg, they either swamped him with four defenders or fouled him before he got near goal.
Kris is simply the most intelligent footballer we have. He is not the fastest, will never have the best stats, but he understands how games are won and is able to act accordingly. Without these two players Celtic would be distinctly vanilla.
Thanks to those who sent over their 1254125 Great Scottish Run details, I’ll have them on the page later.
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yorkbhoy
09:13 on
2 August, 2013
Yorkbhoy….. rgds Rogne, heard he injured already……..
and not kicked ball in serious competition yet……
normanstreet49
08:30 on
2 August, 2013
It has been pointed out on here and indeed by Neil Lennon that UEFA does not allow such restrictions in cross border loans so no blame to anyone please. Elfsborg did what was right for Elfsborg whilst Mo did as any professional would – hope to prove to Celtic that they were wrong and hope to show Elfsborg he’s worth a permanent spot with them. Thought booing him was unworthy of Celtic supporters.
Whither the cash strapped scrofulous hillbillies the day?
Well done St Johnstone…and well done the Australian batsmen for finally finding some form yesterday.
bamboo
Interested to find the BBC haven’t opened a comments section on the Sevco’s lame attempt to compare their transfer embargo with others.
…although the DRS system seems to stand for ‘Decisions Re-calibrated in Sevconia’.
DBBIA
Is there a standard scale of Scrofularity?
.
Only in Australia..
A 82 Yr old Cockatoo called Robbo stolen from Melbourne and Found in Sydney is to be Identified via Skype..Not for his Looks..Police say..
But for his Colourful Language..
During the Police Line-Up-Skype Video..
The Owner Just said..”Robbo?” to Which Robbo Replied..”Get F@cked”.. Ha Ha..
Summa
RANGERS GO TO WAR WITH RADIO CLYDE http://t.co/j45QV4D40X #GersFamily
Disgrace what’s going on in this country with that lot and it needs to STOP.
Morning all. Wild and bright here at the moment.
Any good news today?
Butler: I have profound memories of Parkhead
(FIFA.com) Monday 19 November 2012
Not only is Gerard Butler an ‘A-list’ Hollywood actor, starring in the likes of 300, Law Abiding Citizen and The Bounty Hunter, the proud Scotsman is also a passionate Celtic fan.
In his latest film, ‘Playing for Keeps’, he takes on the role of George Dryer, a former Celtic and Liverpool star who has fallen on hard times and aims to get his life back on track in American suburbia.
FIFA.com caught up exclusively with the leading man to talk Celtic past and present, his memories of standing on the terraces and Old Firm games, as well as what it was like seeing himself depicted as a star for the Hoops and Reds when shooting his latest movie.
FIFA.com:
As a die-hard fan it must have been a bit of a dream come true to get to appear as a Celtic former player?
Gerard Butler: Yeah I guess it was. There are many things in life I’m not very good at, so if I get to pretend to be good at them – especially if they are a dream – then I’ll take that. When I get to put on the Celtic strip, and Liverpool strip too, we actually filmed the opening scenes of the movie in a studio, using footage from original games, and I replicated parts from them. So I got to play and run around in Celtic and Liverpool shirts and score goals for them, diving headers, bicycle kicks. It was hard for me to believe it was me doing it in front of 60,000-70,000 people!
You got to do something a bit similar in real life too, appearing in a charity game at Celtic Park alongside some club legends.
If I was to look back on my whole career that would possibly be the highlight, just for me emotionally, for the fun and for the excitement, it was amazing. I went to many Celtic games when I was growing up, cup games, European matches and Old Firm games and it’s your life. I think that’s why it hits you more profoundly than something like standing at a Hollywood premiere. It brings back everything you were steeped in, your history, your passion, your family’s passion and all those memories you have in that stadium, the times where you’re literally about to explode with excitement, passion, anger or joy. All you and the thousands around you wanted to be doing was to be out on that field playing. To be on that field, playing, warming up, shouting to the crowd and then kicking off and playing that game, it was indescribable. All I could think at the time was ‘be cool’, but I knew I was taking the experience to the grave.
Gerard Butler on his memories of watching Celtic
“A lot of my most powerful memories were standing at Parkhead in the Jungle.”
What are your earliest memories as a Celtic fan?
I used to support St Mirren when I was a kid – until I was about 6 or 7 – because I was from Paisley, and my brother still is a diehard fan. However, I lived in an area where Celtic and Rangers were a big influence on people and I was just charmed by them as a team. I have earlier memories of watching Scotland, such as in the 1978 World Cup when Archie Gemmill scored against the Netherlands. My strongest memories however were of watching Celtic when they played Real Madrid when they won 2-0 at Celtic Park, Johnny Doyle scored a header. I remember then listening to the away match on the radio, on my own back in Paisley, with Real Madrid 2-0 up and then scoring a third goal just before the final whistle so we went out. So my most profound memories are probably going from the high of beating Real Madrid to the low of losing to them a fortnight later.
How about the experience of going to games?
My cousin Billy used to take me, and we’d go with a big crowd of people on the supporters’ bus. These were real working-class folks with a lot of ‘colourful language’ and songs to be sung [laughs]; I just remember being crowded out by these big, over-weight guys who love to shout! Some of those games could get long and cold, and would be tough during a Scottish winter, but generally the excitement overcame it.
Old Firm games in particular, the atmosphere there was indescribable. It’s sad to say that a lot of it came from not just competition, but almost a cultural hatred of each other, but they’d lead to such an incredible, tangible atmosphere that was like a mass hysteria at times. Sometimes you’d go home and you’d be buzzing for days after those games, you’d literally feel like you could fly off with your wings. It was an immense experience and that also went on on the field too, so you knew you were going to get some incredible games. Something was always going to happen, normally there were going to be sendings off, often there were fights, people might even go to prison! [Laughs] You didn’t know if you were going to get out alive! But for an adventure that was more than just a soccer game, a lot of my most powerful memories were standing at Parkhead in the Jungle (nickname for the old northern terrace).
Butler on Celtic’s 2-1 win over Barcelona
“Without a doubt it was the most exciting moment I can remember watching Celtic in… forever.”
Were there any players that particularly inspired you?
Without a doubt Kenny Dalglish was the man. He managed me in a charity game I recently played in between England and the Rest of the World, and he was my biggest hero, so that was pretty incredible. Dalglish was pretty unbeatable, but there was Billy McNeill and Roy Aitken. Aitken was like the white version of Didier Drogba, he just had so much force, strength and passion that he could drag a whole team anywhere. He’d just pull them up and get them these incredible results that they didn’t always deserve. Johnny Doyle, just because he’d always score a winning goal in the nick of time, Charlie Nicholas, I could go on forever.
No doubt the Lisbon Lions were mythologised during your childhood too.
For sure. It’s pretty much what all the songs were sung about at Parkhead and in the family, there were stories about all of them. The Lisbon Lions were at a time when Scotland were even beating the English and they were such a skilful team. Celtic won nine championships in a row from 1965 to 74.
They had a fairly impressive result in beating Barcelona a fortnight ago too, did you get to see the game?
I was working in Dubai and I was at this dinner with some people, and I made 90 per cent of them leave this swanky restaurant to go to this little Irish bar to watch the game. At one point I didn’t think we were going to get there as I couldn’t get a car the car to come and get us, but we managed to make it and it brought back memories of those victories – but what a game!
This will be remembered for almost the opposite reason to the Lisbon Lions in the sense that they were an immense team and a terrifying sight to come up against. However the reason we are talking about this today is because we came up against Barcelona and managed to pull off this one victory. They also played a great game at the Nou Camp, but this is not something we do week-in, week-out, so they have a few more to go before they’re up there with the Lisbon Lions. Without a doubt it was the most exciting moment I can remember watching Celtic in… forever.
Butler on playing in a Celtic legends charity match
“If I was to look back on my whole career that would possibly be the highlight, just for me emotionally, for the fun and for the excitement, it was amazing.”
In ‘Playing for Keeps’ you appear as a player having trouble dealing with life after football. How did you go about capturing that?
When George comes into this town he’s not just lost his football career but he’s lost his business opportunities, he’s lost his money, he’s lost his family, so he is just generally down on his luck. When you show things like him seeing his son who he hasn’t seen for a while, selling all his football memorabilia, you get the chance to show very obviously the humiliation, the quiet sadness and turmoil that goes with that. You’ve seen plenty of players’ lives unravel as their careers come to an end. He’s also coming to a whole new country, so he’s not just wrapping up his soccer career, but he’s also coming into a small town where nobody even knows who Celtic and Liverpool are, so these people don’t really get who he was anyway, so it just made the idea even funnier and slightly more tragic.
hen1rik- We know what happened in Germany in the 1930’s to news organisations who did not toe the party line.
Maybe wee Jack’s influence down Clydebank way is not quite so acutely felt, and cheerleader D. King is now in the good ole US of A.
TBB- there is indeed a scale, but their current activities are way off it, at ‘another world record’ level.
..the default scrofularity setting these days is of course ’11’.
Maybe wee Judith could give us a daily ‘scrofularity index’ as well as the ole pollen count.
Why is Craig Mather so worried about administration rules? His club has never been in administration – or does he think that the situation might arise soon??
Just to start the day off then, I’d rather have Bangura than Doyle. Imo, Bangura looked the best CF on the park on Wednesday night. I was a bit embarassed by the booing of him but I think to some extent it was tongue in cheek, like when Henrik was greeted with chants of “Bobo’s goona get you”.
A Stor Mo Chroi
That article is totally misleading – on what planet is Gerard Butler an A-list Hollywood star?
He makes really really bad films
Hee hee
I would rather have signed Johnny Russell from Dundee United to be honest, but, there must have been reasons why NFL didn’t….
THEY complain about anomalies..
There sure are when it comes to football administrations
ParkheadcumSalford, sorry mate, it wasn’t, I boo’d Bangura when he went down clutching his face, not because he is a Celtic Player, because he cheated.
Gerard Butler:
Can’t head the ball
Can’t trap the ball
Can’t control the ball
Panics in front of goal
Believes the press hype about himself.
Could this be our new centre forward?
Doc
Next Thursday or Friday good for me if your on site?
I wonder if Hearts will end up with a 5 way secret agreement out of this, but we had better not talk about that, shhhhhhhhh.
So the bottom line is we have sold gems and bought dumplin’s?
Top of the morning to you all from a warm but cloudy Fife.
Tax tribunal members and jurors swayed by fraternal bias?
Sound familiar?
A public petition, PE01491: Secret society membership declaration by decision makers is now open for support signatures/comments.
The petition can be summarised as seeking to have our decision makers (judges, juries, tax tribunal members) declare whether they are members of the Masons or similar fraternal societies which demand that their members treat fellow brethren differently from non-brethren.
Please read the details here: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/gettinginvolved/petitions/judgesmasonregister
If you agree with the petition terms, consider supporting it, and passing on to anyone who might think they have, or could be, disadvantaged by rulings of tribunals that are tainted by the old-boy network.
..
“I’ll get You Butler..”
A Stor Mo Chroi
09:32 on
2 August, 2013
Butler…….
Top man…..
He knows whats its about…..
HH
Big Nan
That’s Tam’s petition signed!
HH
.
Can someone tell me Who Lola Commons is and what is SiMBA..?
TIA
Summa
Snake Plissken
Blame FIFA. I’m just the pastor.
Gerard Butler fails to register on the Standard Scale of Scrofularity, but is off the scale of Scoffularity.
Summa of Sammi….
FYI
http://celtsarehere.com/lola-commons-fund-simba/
big nan
Thanks for posting link. Undue influence in public life is something I have strong feelings about. I’d like to go even further and ban these people from public life but maybe next time although I won’t hold my breath.
We have watched some of the most perverse decisions over the last 12 months and there can be no other explanation.
Petition signed btw
For years we were calling out for steel in the middle of the park .we finally found it in wanyama . Now a couple of seasons down the line were back to square one . Same with a top goal scorer . Celtic knew these two guys were leaving, replacements should have been sought and bought but hey , this is celtic were talking about .
Big Nan. Tam’s petition signed.
Shine a light on their murky world!
HH. BGFC
Twitter.
@SayNoToSameClub @spflofficial Under Airdire Football Club it shows formerly Clydebank – http://t.co/5mfXoLwo2g
@RhebelRhebel @SayNoToSameClub @spflofficial So are new Airdrie claiming Clydebanks history now. this is embarassing & a scandal
.
Can someone tell me what FYI Means..?
Summa