While these pages were full of “I hope we never play them” comments in the years immediately after 2012, Neil Lennon wanted his Celtic team to face Newco. Neil foresaw what a well-organised Celtic machine would do before results like 5-1, 5-0, 4-0, 1-5 poured down on top of the Ibrox side. He has waited over six years, but on Sunday, Celtic’s interim boss gets his chance.
A significant part of the reason Neil was so loved at Hibernian was because of his record in Edinburgh derbies, as well as against Celtic and Newco. Hibs over-achieved in these games because Neil is a master of this kind of sporting conflict. When there is a real edge to the occasion, there is no one better than Neil Lennon.
He will be counting down the hours until noon on Sunday. The players will be more focussed and prepared than they have ever been, not one of them will be in any doubt of the outcome as they leave the tunnel. They will be determined, full of the confidence of being at home, but most importantly, will know the boundaries they need to respect to deliver a great performance.
For all that he has gone through, Neil deserves this chance. I can’t wait to see him take it.
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Awwww, just their 6th time at Celtic Park, poor wee newbies.
Hate heights anyway.
No doubt they’ll mention that in the match day programme.
When Neil’s team at Hibs were flying, it was because Barker and Boyle were 1 on 1 with opposing full backs, we need to create this on Sunday, with Sinclair, Forrest and Burke,their FBs are hopeless defenders.
Aye, Boaby’s no bad, intae no, Clint?
Play on, shake heid, cross and open erms multiple times, and run in opposite direction.
If you blow the whistle by accident, point away from the penalty area, award free-kick to defender, ye can always explain it at the post-match presser.
Oh, wait…..
Even better!
Cool is the rule, Lenny!
You’ve beaten Sevco with a much less powerful array of weapons than you have now at your disposal.
The fact we don’t need to win, while they do, should also help with adopting a confident approach to the match.
Hail! Hail!
With all the insider information regarding BR leaving and transfer targets contacts, do we have the real reason why BR chose to start CalMac at LB for the December match?
Peter Lawwell wanted to have Jonny Hayes school daze, at left back.
It all went nipples north and he who remains nameless headed south, just in time for Swinecastle.
Ex-pat
I reckon it was a combination of
1) a lack of trust in Izaguirre & Hayes
2) misplaced confidence that other centre mids could step in and do the job calmac does
IMO
HH
T7- what part of Malta you going to?
Chairbhoy @ 9.43 AM,
Thank you for clarifying the timescales etc regarding the China Crisis… It appears in all versions of happening after we signed Edouard (mid- June) – yet you had stated we went on to win the treble anyway, which would put it before May…
I can only speak to my own hearing of the rumour. Even then, as I did not understand its importance at the time, these are best approximates. However, whether it WAS mid-June or not that BR disclosed to the club that he wanted to go, you can add on a period of time before that where he had been thinking about or planning to go. The China offer did not seem to come through official channels as BR must have known what he was getting as pay and inducement before telling Celtic he wanted to leave them.
Now something else to clarify, the inner sanctum blogger I was referring to as far as I’m aware has nothing to do with CQN, many years ago when he started his blog he came on here – no idea if he still does or what his nome de plume might be if he does – he does podcasts an awe.
You have still not named him so I remain in the dark but, at least, my suspicion that you were targeting a stand-up CQNr who posted similar news on the same day, was unfounded.
EddieinKirkmichael thinks you might be referring to James Forrest the blogger, so you can see that he and I are still guessing as to who you mean. For the record, if PL had tried to spin to bloggers, I doubt he would have targettted e-Tims or James Forrest as sites favourable to his line. Sometimes, you have to accept that people arrive at their own views on their own reading of events. Yes, we are all influencable but James Forrest and e-Tims and others are just as capable of seeing through malicious spin as you are. They were no more towing a party line on BR than you are of towing a Level 5 line. Your view is your own, honestly obtained. Please give them the credit of being able to do likewise.
Most of the people citing dissatisfaction with Brendan did so giving their reasons as:-
i) He left us suddenly in mid-season, risking 8iar and a treble treble.
ii) He had been disingenuous in his professed love of the club when he left for a mid table but moneyed EPL club. Though he will have increased his wealth , he will not have enjoyed the multi-factorial leap in wages enjoyed by players like Virgil and Stuart, but he will be better off, even though he is already a rich man.
To these 2 reasons, people hit out, in anger and disgust, at many things, some legitimate, some just examples of hitting out. He got criticised for his betrayal of his wife, and for his cosmetic enhancements as well as for the quality of his European nous and his intransigence on faffing about at the back in domestic matches.
The one reason absent from most criticism of Brendan on this blog and elsewhere was about last summer and the China job. I was one of the few to mention it and I did so, more in sorrow than in anger. I would have preferred BR to stay and not to have to throw Lenny back into the limelight.
I have no hatred for BR, just disappointment. I have no great criticism of his coaching; he got us double trebles, after all. I just don’t happen to believe that he left because PL pushed him out, that’s all.
My take on life is holistic, in my mind the malicious briefing against Brendan Rodgers and the subsequent reaction of folk are not disconnected, far from it.
Ouch you used the “holistic” word; that presses my buttons as it is one of the most mis-used words in the English language. Most people mis-use it by meaning, they have taken a vaguely comprehensive look at all factors. Very rarely do I find that they have included all factors, (organic, physical, spiritual, religious, internal, external, sensory, financial, rational, irrational, emotional etc;) into account in their calculations. It is a boastful wee word and like the word “creative” , it is owned lock, stock and barrel by the more pretentious fringes of the advertising world and management consultancy. Rant over :-)
If you mean it as having tried to take all aspects into account , then I make the same claim. I believe the posittion I arrived at is also the Best Fit of known facts and speculation and it is my own view, beholden to no-one, not even the person who made me aware of the rumour.
I do not believe that the people who are closer to my opinion are any better informed or less gullible than the people who are closer to your viewpoint or to the several positions in between. I believe most hatred and vitriol (and more moderate criticism) directed at BR was spontaneous, heartfelt and reinforced by fellow Celts they talked to. I seriously doubt more than a handful paid a blind bit of attention to PL’s utterances or to bloggers, influential or not.
We live in a bit of a bubble here. Most Celtic fans don’t regularly read blogs. Most get their views by talking with mates and families. Very few bother what PL says and many just assume it will be lies anyway before he opens his mouth.
Celtic has been devoid of leadership and transparency since Lord Reid left and has not had true leadership, courage and purpose since Fergus.
It is sadly missed.
I think Lord Reid gets too easy a ride here. He made a few sounbites and he got out of Dodge before he could be asked to do something about what he said. Fergus did take actions and is a huge figure in our history, though still a controversial one who can generate contrary opinions. He was a bit of a capricious spokesman for the Celtic Support and he certainly got a lot of criticism for intransigence in focusing more on Celtic’s long term future and not doing enough to stop 9iar by the deid club, though he stopped the 10 alright. In his time, Fergus was as derided as a brake on the “speculate to accumulate” thinking as PL is nowadays. Maybe we need a hate figure in a suit (bunnet optional) to act as a lightning rod for our frustrations.
Anyway, lunch break over- I might want to leave this issue now as fitba is coming back tis weekend and it is a biggie.
Good Luck to us all!
Celtic fans settle for referee who has only denied one stone waller.
Howdy bhoys,,
Just a quick question please.
Can anyone confirm if Vfr is ok?
Ain’t heard from him or seen him around any blogs. Just checking.
Hope alls well
Hail Hail
Manchester United have appointed Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as permanent manager on a three-year contract.
There can be little doubt now ( despite all the spin being sent out by his well paid bloggers and spies) that Peter Lawwell is in fact the Devil.
no other possible logical outcome can be arrived at on any objective study of all the evidence available.
Its well known that Lawwell was one of the spies who informed on Robert Emmet ( thats been established by credible sources )
Skipping forward a couple of hundred years there is now mounting evidence that the Global warming/climate change crisis was engineered by well paid Lawwell lackeys (stooges) in the media to create a smokescreen so that his constant siphoning off of funds from Celtics biscuit tin to keep The Rangers afloat would go unnoticed.
In a last desperate throw of the dice to prevent exposure as the Cad that he is,he approved the hiring of Brendan Rodgers to keep the fans happy while he worked on his dastardly plan .But Rodgers walked into his office one day unannounced and found him drinking whisky ( look No E in Whiskey,did ye ever hear the like) with Donald Trump and Dave King….this was the last straw for Brendan
Lawwell Out
“A significant part of the reason Neil was so loved at Hibernian was because of his record in Edinburgh derbies, as well as against Celtic and Newco. over-achieved in these games because Neil is a master of this kind of sporting conflict. When there is a real edge to the occasion, there is no one better than Neil Lennon.”
Not sure what the point of this is.
BR went 2 1/2 years without losing a domestic game of any real consequence. NFL’s record at Celtic was not bad at all, but, domestically, at least, NFL’s record at Celtic simply doesnt compare to BR’s. in NFL’s last season as manager, did we not lose to Morton and Aberdeen in the cups? surely, the prospect of being knocked out of the cups would have added an edge to those occasions, yet we were still knocked out..
Looking at NFL’s record at Hibs, he did well…. but, as pointed out, this is when he is the underdog…. so, little pressure or expectation…
so, unless CQN is calling Sevco the favourites for this weekend, I’m not sure that I see NFL as better suited to this game than BR.
https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics/winter-olympics/team-gb-bobsleigh-win-bronze-medal-sochi-2014-russian-drugs-athletes-banned-five-years-later-a8843416.html
and Margarita
Mahe
He is too busy planning breakfast in Coias pre Sevco mailing on Sunday
I’ll let him know you where asking for him..
Mauling even, although sending them back to hell recorded delivery with proof of delivery would be more appropriate ??
BOURNESOUPRECIPE on 28TH MARCH 2019 1:36 PM
Celtic fans settle for referee who has only denied one stone waller.
The auld orange sash doesn’t shrink to fit inferior referees.
http://www.celticfc.net/news/15931
Information for Sunday
http://www.celticfc.net/news/15934
Finance on season tickets in doubt….
blantyretim is praying for the Knox family on 28th March 2019 10:47 am
BT from earlier thanks I’ll give it a go.
!!Bada Bing!! on 28th March 2019 1:30 pm
I’ve never been there before just looking to get some sun and a little break from work, we are staying here:
http://www.marinahotel.com.mt/en/location
Come to Munchies,Tourist St.Bugibba and we will see you there.☘☘
Took this from FB TIMMY7__NOTED
posted only yesterday to a guy who is moving out to Malta
Big Eck favourite for the Celtic job ??HH
BT thanks again.
ECK BAGGED??….https://thecelticblog.com/2019/03/blogs/mcleishs-rift-with-the-celtic-players-meant-there-was-no-coming-back-for-him/
MAHE
I have enquired re VFR. Now, what about BMCUW?
He has been away long enough.
JJ
Good afternoon; as Mark Twain famously didn’t say, “rumours of my demise have been greatly exaggerated”. ??????
I know a few people have (strangely) missed my presence and asked after me. Truth is I have been extremely busy with work and 2 new puppies (the canine type ACGR!). I will be finishing a big migration for a client over the weekend so normal (sic) service will be resumed early next week!
KTF
PS breakfast at 10 in Coias – there are a few of us going so anyone else interested?
VFR
HuH ! you make the effort to reassure and you are ignored :-))
I MIGHT visit Coia`s on Sunday. I will text you if I am going.
JJ
T7- will ask a pal..
The ole Coia’s breakfast conundrum…… how to say two rolls n square in Italian?
Grazzi Mille CSC
Hot Smoked
BMCUWP has retained me as his agent to handle any potential transfer.
What kind of signing bonus did you have in mind for BMCUWP?
And, of course, you will have to negotiate the transfer fee with Mahe directly. Mahe may be prepared to consider a poster and cash deal in exchange for BMCUWP… but I think it would have to be a fairly illustrious poster to get Mahe to consider ….
I dont want to speak for Mahe, but I dont think he is expecting Ronaldo type money for BMCUWP’s release … perhaps a loan deal with an option to purchase, if BMCUWP behaves himself.
Vfr,,had us worried bro. Glad alls good.
Hot Smoked,,will pass on message but wouldn’t dare speak for him. Take it easy pal.
Hail Hail
BSR
More your steak, poached eggs and Tottie Scones in that fine establishment.
JJ
MiT. ;)
Petec alone is a dream for those seeking hits.
Covers the cost of the blog alone !
Hail Hail