It will be off to Latvia to face Riga or, assuming they do not unexpectedly lose at home in the second round to Tre Fiori from San Marino. Riga lost their first round Champions League match away to Maccabi Tel-Aviv and went out at the same stage a year ago to Dundalk on penalties, before losing their Europa League play-off tie 3-2 on aggregate to Copenhagen, who went on to eliminate Celtic by a greater margin.
It is a tie we will win if we get everything right and will lose if there is anything remotely half-arsed going on. Riga are 17 games into their domestic season; be prepared, Celtic.
Watching the goals this morning from the 0-2 win at Ibrox a year ago today brought a reminder of where we were the morning of that game. Facing the perennial Summer Cup Champions [no, it’s not wartime] at their own place, having been turfed out of the Champions League by Cluj, we faced the longest odds for a league win in seven years.
That setup what may be become a fourth consecutive treble. Cluj hurt the bank balance but European credentials were restored with wins over Lazio and Rennes. We could do with a big game, a bit win, now.
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Have afraid to make a football related post in case I annoy the Politicians,
However I must say I’m thrilled to see Duffy coming to Celtic.
I love the fact that in this day & age an International Footballer in the prime of his career rejects the all important EPL purely because he loves Celtic & wants to play for us,
Now I know that once he runs out on the field all the love & goodwill will count for nothing.
It will be all down to the impact he has on the pitch.
With a new Player there are never guarantees as to how things will go.
Nevertheless I can’t ever remember being so excited about an incoming Celtic player.
Shane is a big strong physical lad, 6ft 4 , & as brave as a Lion.
A powerful header of the ball both in defence & attack & a huge goal threat from corners & set pieces.
He is also a shouter, an organizer & a Leader.
I think he is perfect for Celtic, just keep Eddie & 10 in a row is on it’s way.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=K7fhnZT9CDo
Good morning time …
In ither news……………
I scanned a wee story about A Dundee Utd player and an issue around Covid………….
Hmmmmmm.
It must just be me, but my first thought was – “Who are Dundee Utd playin’ next?”
Aye…….
lo’ an’ behold – next up The Teddies.
Look out for the campaign to have yer man banned for the huns game!
Aye.
HH.
Dismissing the currency question as a mere detail is unrealistic.
Adopting the EURO effectively turns the economic levers over to the Germans – a big problem when the cultures and economies involved are so diverse (see Greece for example).
If Scotland wants to adopt a Scandi economic model then control over currency is a big issue – the rapid recovery from economic catastrophe in 2008 by Iceland was largely down to the fact that the Icelandics could set their own interest rates and manage their issues largely through letting their currency take its chances on the open market. If they were tied to the Euro, that would not be possible.
I live in England so take little part in the independence debates – but it seems to me that an attitude that its OK to be dictated to by Berlin but not London seems at best hypocritical.
Just remember – it wasn’t ‘the English’ that bombed Clydebank :-)
Good morning time should be good morning tims …
but have a good morning time , tims
Record report we negotiated down from 2 million and 100% of his wage to 1 million and 55% of his wage
I’ll never understand those people who say “just pay it”
k Tim Malone, It wasn’t the Germans who took part in the Bloody Sunday massacre over here but we still have to deal & trade with the Brits.
They also report that you can buy a fredo for 20 millions 😜
Corkcelt,
I think the Irish link is overamplifying big Shane. He plays for an awful irish team that would make your eyes bleed and is use to excelling in a system that will be alien to our play in over 90% of our matches. He’s slow, no great technique or passer on the ground and not as good a offensive player as either Ajer or Julien, the latter equally a leader too.
He’ll play and we’ll go to 3 at the back I suspect but his arrival doesn’t come to close to fixing the true problems we have at the moment – midfield shape, left back and a partnership up front.
HH
http://www.celticfc.net/news/18496
Duffy deal announced
Ah eff it.
Just seen it. Just listened to him. He’s delighted and I’m a miserable ass.
Welcome Shane. Bring home the Ten ya bhoy ye….
:)
HH
Welcome Shane
Independence , Labour ,SNP, Tories . Brexit ,football etc etc.
Whats happening here and round the world right now puts all that completely in the shade.
Democracy the world over is under attack.
Our way of life is disappearing in front of our eyes .
Corkcelt
You’re right I see there was a late night sitting on the blog last night.
:)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
CORKCELT on 2ND SEPTEMBER 2020 8:48 AM
‘I love the fact that in this day & age an International Footballer in the prime of his career rejects the all important EPL purely because he loves Celtic & wants to play for us,’
###
The last player to do so was NFL.
Come to think of it he was probably the only other player to have done so.
Corkcelt,
I breathed a sigh of relief when I read your post this morning.
I don’t know anything of Duffy but if he is able to deal with the likes of forwards like Dykes and the CF of Kilmarnock, unlike our regular CBs, then I for one am happy he’s here.
Welcome Shane.
Just feel the horse has bolted though.
But I suppose we need to look forward. Would still like to see at least one wide man brought in, but pleas not Atsu
CORKCELT on 2ND SEPTEMBER 2020 8:48 AM
Absolutely. I was waiting for the official signing confirmation from Celtic before i issued a groveling apology to yourself and others.
I did not think we would be able to pull off the signing of a current EPL player. Shane was Brighton’s player of the year 2017 /18.
Wow. Just wow and exactly what we need.
What a coup.
HH to all.
ST TAMS on 2ND SEPTEMBER 2020 9:50 AM
Welcome Shane.
Just feel the horse has bolted though.
###
I see what you did there.
Corkcelt
I’m 6’4”, a shouter but no longer nippy on my pins. And Tim to the core.
I could have saved us a fortune if only you had been in charge of recruitment! 🤷🏼♂️😂💚💚
Buying players to be effective on the carpets of Rugby Park and the Tony Macaroni is just weird, especially when our ‘draws’ at those places lie more in our inability to break down the opposition than to lose a tussle with a big haddie.
Just wonderin’ – Is this a ” Liewell ” signin’………..or some other?
Aye.
Askin’ furra wee freen?
ERNIE LYNCH on 2ND SEPTEMBER 2020 9:52 AM
ST TAMS on 2ND SEPTEMBER 2020 9:50 AM
Welcome Shane.
Just feel the horse has bolted though.
###
I see what you did there.
==============
It would have been good if he played for spurs …
I’ll get my Stetson and leather waistcoat …😜
Is Shane 183.88 cm or a sixshooter ?
Great to see some comments about Celtic as opposed to the political stuff, maybe these guys should start up another blog where they can bore each other and leave the rest of us alone…
ONENIGHTINLISBON…………
……………..am wi’ yoo!
JF @ 11.51
Interesting comments regarding the current political landscape.
Pretty much total tripe though — however good data point regarding how some of a progressive political persuasion have been blinded by Nat propaganda and a happy clappy view of life.
I fear that too many progressives — Grauniad middle class luvvies / looking at you JH — in England have had a similar conversion and are now wishing a Nat Scotland on us rather than understanding where Sturgeon want’s to take us and what the fall out will be / who will be the casualties.
Your response regarding the currency question shows you to be a wet behind the ears millennial who thinks that fairy dust and Facebook will save us — the comments about who needs a currency / internet banking will save us are fast becoming the Nat trope of choice to get us out of this sticky situation.
Happy clappy nonsense — we will need a currency to denominate what we have in the bank.
We will start off with GBP and then have to work out what we do next — if we are going to change what are we going to change to and at what rate. Then we have the issue of Scots keeping their savings / pensions / mortgages in GBP accounts either in Scotland or in England — how will this be managed?
Could turn into de facto Sterlingisation no matter what the SG decide — very messy.
Next up would be government debt — especially difficult when we won’t have a currency — because will need funding to keep things going or their will be a very hard stop with all the social dislocation it would entail.
No wages being paid out at Faslane / Dreghorn Barracks / “SAF” Kinloss could cause a few issues and would just be the start of it.
So we will need to sell debt / bonds — in what currency and at what rate of interest?
Looks like a huge issue to me / tough gig that needs thinking about just now.
Will we need to offer up council housing / SG infrastructure / sell passports to make ends meet.
Slightly more complex and involved than internet banking don’t you think?
Starting with setting up a shadow central bank today.
As for your glib assertions that any post indy border concerns will be the stuff of box ticking humdrum-ness given the situation with the border in Ireland — “aye right” would be my most mannerly response.
The situation that BoJo is happy to sign off to keep his Brexit pals happy means that we will now have an internal customs / regulatory border within a sovereign state — total shambles but he / they are happy with it as Brexit must happen at the double and too hell with the details.
BoJo / Brexit = Nats / Independence — we must have it at any price and who cares about the cost.
The border at Gretna — external border between sovereign states plus EU / Non EU — the English establishment through the lens of Brexit will have it pimped up to the max with watchtowers / guard dogs / lorry parks / customs posts just to prove a point and make like as hard as possible for a newly independent Scotland.
The Scottish market / supply chain is not existential to English producers.
Unfortunately the English market / supply chain is existential to the majority of Scottish businesses.
It will be like the old story of “ham and eggs” — the hen is involved but the pig is committed.
We are the pig in this analogy.
It will not be as bad as the border at Gaza but it will not be far off.
So the border in Ireland offers no pointers to what will happen at Gretna / Berwick.
As for your other points — I will not go over ground that others have covered.
Final point __ I now understand how the Darien Project got off the ground and generated so much public support even though it was barking from the off.
Too many people want simple solutions to complex problems and a herd instinct develops that is hard to turn around — however if you see people rushing towards a cliff you have a civic duty to shout a warning / or explain it is going to be sore when you land.
Oh goodness!
;)
Shane Duffy welcome.
I feel that is tremendous signing.
He’s exactly what we need and if the information is true, that he turned turned a much more lucrative offer, then thank you, Shane.
There’s not many in any walk of life who do that.
PHILBHOY on 2ND SEPTEMBER 2020 10:20 AM
Cheers pal, wish more were….
BANKIEBHOY1 at 8:52 a.m.
you’re right….. and it’s that big Mark Connolly who put Eddy out of the CL game. Expect the hordes to be calling for a one game ban. Maybe the taxi driver ( who complained of him not wearing a mask) is a cream bun.
*******
Oh, and Welcome To Celtic, Shane. You’re Some Ghuy.
Not fully engaged with the arrival of SD on a year’s loan.
Seems that PL is playing to the gallery and is using a sticking plaster to cover a deep wound.
It will help over the next season but at what cost?
Where are the 18 / 20 / 22 year olds we need to build for the future?
18 year old to learn their trade.
20 year old to sit on the bench.
22 year old to start in the team — fill a jersey / not star in the team.
Currently we are buying 22 year olds for semi serious money to at best sit on the bench.
Something wrong somewhere.
Also if we are spending big then we are going to sell big.
OE vs KA — surely not both.
ON vs CMcG vs RC — one / two / three … ?
My thoughts are we will sell over the next 4 weeks.
Anyone else getting man utd news and vids at the top of the screen when on CQN this gas just recently started any idea how to shift these adds .
Bankiebhoy1 @ 8.52
Hmmm, Indeed…..
I like the way your mind works – keep efter’ thum pal. 👍
BIG WAVY on 2ND SEPTEMBER 2020 10:02 AM
Buying players to be effective on the carpets of Rugby Park and the Tony Macaroni is just weird, especially when our ‘draws’ at those places lie more in our inability to break down the opposition than to lose a tussle with a big haddie
_______
Everybody seems to forget that Kabamba skinned Jullien with skill. He didn’t knock him into the stand like Dykes did.
Also I am kind of amazed how much people go on about the couple of poor performances Jullien has had.
They all have bad games. Think of Boyata, Sviatchenko, Balde etc.
Welcome indeed to Shane Duffy!
I take it he’s fit and able to play?
With respect to comments suggesting Duffy is not a long term prospect etc. I agree but if him coming brings us the ten then that’s all that matters.