Celtic are arguably better off for players for the No. 10 role than any other position. David Turnbull is the current preferred occupant, but Ryan Christie was the man in possession before he was moved to the right, while Tom Rogic got the nod on Monday and Olivier Ntcham has played there before. This almost certainly explains why we have seen so little of Ewan Henderson, a player who has never let us down and provided a memorable start to the second Neil Lennon era at Tynecastle two years ago.
One of the truisms in football is that you learn more from bad times than good. This season’s big lesson was delivered during a dead rubber Europa League game, moving David Turnbull and Ismaila Soro from the stand to the pitch transformed Celtic.
Ewan is no more a right sided midfielder than David Turnbull, but his substation into the action on Monday, allowed David to move into the middle, where he created and converted the chance Celtic scored from. Both must start against Livingston.
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Gene…I wasn’t on a downer. A quadruple treble, a once in a lifetime achievement could never leave me on a downer…regardless. It is something you can bring up time and time again. The huns will never get tired of hearing about our invincible season and quadruple treble. You’ll eventually get over losing out on the 10. It’s up there with 67…
RC on 13TH JANUARY 2021 1:45 PM
why must Ewan start and in what position, in place of whom.
– – – – –
Against Hibs, DT was pushed out right to let Rogic play centre/front of diamond. So Paul means play Henderson out right to let DT play in the centre and drop Rogic.
Ewan Murray is sleekit…
If Paul puts up a Leader article and posters find it inadequate they are entitled to critique it. provided, they follow his sparse rules re no bad language, racism or slander (though that gets a wide berth when it comes to personal insult)
What I don’t get is the attitude displayed by several posters already who argue
“This is no good, Paul, you need to write us something that we believe in!”
Well, here’s a suggestion- “Why don’t you write it yourself! It’s not Paul’s job to write your truth. He gives a very free reign to everyone on here and the place is dominated by negative commments , unsurprisingly in our current condition. The Blog Article Leader is just the opening post; it is no more important than that.
So, why the Trumpian desire for Victimhood status with ” You can’t say anything bad about Celtic without people disagreeing with you”, appearing alongside the criticism of Paul for failing to be insufficiently critical of Celtic. The number of such post hinting at censorship reminds me of the ld shopkeeper joke who tells customers “We are constantly telling people that there’s no demand for that sort of thing”
Fill your boots with any critical thoughts you can muster but, if you cannot face a contrary opinion, then just add on a tag- “please do not reply to this post unless you are in 1000% agreement with me as my fragile ego cannot take into account an alternative view”.
The Celtic blogosphere is absolutely dominated by fans who think the Board have messed up and need to go (and that’s the polite end of the argument). You already have the comfort of majority opinion- why do you want to characterise the minority opinion as “cliques” and censors?
The alternative is disappearing furhter and further into your own echo chambers, sharing space with people who think the same as you, until you end up in an echo chamber of one.
Whiny double standards abound
M67 @ 2.28
A house divided will fall — CFC summer 2018 edition.
What you say is an often told tale from that day to the next / now.
The issue for me is that the exec level would actively scheme to stop the recruitment of players to improve the squad.
That the manager was considering other offers should never have came into it — it should always be about the club / the squad / the football on the park.
Hubris would be one way to look at it.
An absentee landlord — based on 37% share ownership — taking the huff because his ego had been punctured would be another less charitable view.
The Irish Raj was cute — BR my friend until he thinks for himself.
Then it was a case of taking out his old mucker — the bean counting gimp in the box — giving him his old responsibiliies and levers and then standing back to watch his ego do the rest.
DD — Organ grinder.
PL — Monkey
Us — Casualties.
By the way, on Rogic – what exactly is his fitness problem? At 28 years old what is it that limits his time on the park so much? He signed for us in 2013. he is still only 28 and should be at the peak of his physical abilities.
Really frustrates me to see him struggling to play more than 45 minutes. Maybe he should be on half a salary too.
ONENIGHTINLISBON on 13TH JANUARY 2021 2:50 PM
The “Keep The Faith” brigade would have happily allowed Celtic to play their matches in Cambuslang…sleekit or what?
Absolute nonsense.
You should try having some faith in Celtic
Read what greenpinata posted earlier.its important and true
Cliques ,preferential nonsense is only in your head.chin up and keep postin
HH
SFTB @ 3.50
In the middle of this huge — internally generated — crisis all you want to do is split hairs and polish your ego for dreaming up tautogical wonders to reduce the scrutiny of the exec level and the manager in our present shambles.
This disaster has been 30 months in the making and all you offer is support to those in power by way of suggesting that it is God’s will that we do not have a defence or any coaching talent and we should be grateful for what we have and change will be risky and it will fail just before the sky falls down.
Not SFTB more like ChLiCSC.
JG
“If the sentence was completed honestly with, ‘following their liquidation & reformation as a new club’….would you accept the wider analysis?”
If Ewan Murray was stating that I would be wondering which hallucenogenic rabbit hole I had wandered into. Show me a sing;e press or media man willing to use the term Liquidation now in relation to Sevco! Even Andy Walker, who was one of the few willing to say so back in 2012/13, quoting his background as a C.A., no longer has the courage to do so.
To answer your question directly, rather than ducking behind the “hypotheticals” defence, as one of our more prolific communicators did recently, the answer is broadly NO but I have a few caveats
I don’t think it was wrong to go to a warm weather training camp in Dubai.
I don’t think we have to apologise for contracting one Covid case- even if it did occur there or even if there are one or two more than Jullien who contract the disese over the next day or so.
I do think we have the responsibility to preserve the social bubble at the training camp and should not have been drinking in public. A couple of Villas with pools so the squad and travelling party could preserve their bubble, even with an occasional pint, would have been acceptable to me.
I would be equally happy if the Government exercised their own responsibilities and cancelled all unnecessary flight for leisure , sport, business or political conference- all of which, just like a training camp, can be done in this country or via Zoom/Teams etc;
So long as the Government is unwilling to institute rules to prevent breaches, they lose the moral authority to comment effectively on the breahes they allow.
Cektic have taken a kicking far in excess of the crime. A few fans are willing to be honest about this and state that it is largely because of their failure to achieve the 10 and for losing at Ibrox that they should not have travelled.
That is the scenario that fits the lack of outrage about this before and during the trip compared with the outrage that ocured after the loss at Ibrox and the appearance of the poolside pics
Onenightinbed…who exactly are the ‘keep the faith’ brigade? Are they ‘sleekit’ as well?
It takes one to……..
MadMitch
Forget your consistently mistaken readings of my motivations for having a different viewpoint from you, and just address any points you want to make directly. I am always willing to engage in a debate but it gets tiring with you as it quickly degenerates into an “And yir maw!” level, which we should both be too old for, even if it is occasionally funny to see other posters do it.
Your interpretation of my position is equally strange. I don’t seek to defend the Board; I am just less hysterical and persistant than some in their faxcination with that part of football.
And as for the overuse of intials and today’s “ChLiCSC.”, you would do well to recognise that what seems obvious to you may not be obvious to others.
I can guess the CSC but Ch Li???
Is it a mispelling of Charlie Nick?
a misabbreviation of Chick Lit
Choreography Light?
Chosen Lithograph?
Chronic Liver?
Charismatic & Lissome- that must be it! :-)
I’ve enjoyed reading P67’s blog for a number of years now.
Really though, what is the point of these articles ?
Totally agree paul67; why is it though that we need accidents/happenstance to discover talented players can contribute to the season. WHat is it about our culture which doesn’t allow risk taking?
SFTB
Just admit it you’ve backed the wrong horses in Lennon and Lawwell, even Bournesouprecipe has done a silent unannounced u turn but credit where credit is due the penny eventually dropped.
Hold your hands up it’s ok we are all human.
Nightmare in Paradise, it’s as if are old friend Freddie is prowling the corridors of Celtic Park hell bent on reeking as much havoc on the club as he possibly can. Players downed with covid on International duty, Dubai and more covid, mass quarantiens, suspensions, match postponements is there a limit yet to be reached in ’21.
So there is still a lot of football to be played although we can forget the 10 but at least we did the 9 twice, not bad eh. So what’s left? the Cup, Champions league qualification, carrying on where we left off a couple of weeks ago and this time beating Rangers on the double. Interesting to see what the future path of the club will be.
SFTB
Many thanks for your considered response.
The main focus of my question was about the wider loss of a position of unprecedented dominance and opportunity.
Apols if I was vague in how I conveyed it.
HH jg
BRING ON THE YOUNG GUNS
I am old enough to remember when the Lions were coming to an end, and Celtic began playing young guys. My mate and I were horrified at the likes of Wallace, Chalmers, Gemmel and Murdoch were replaced bt=y, Macari, Dalglish, Hay and McGrain. My mate said, these guys will never replace or be good enough. Aye, so it was to be,eh.
So, my messaage to the club is play our young talent, they are the future for sure,
SCHUMMI
https://twitter.com/wetheirishpod/status/1348715262552510465?s=24
Richard Harris….
AN TEARMANN on 13TH JANUARY 2021 3:55 PM
Thanks for your interesting synopsis of my thoughts and musings.
We are all entitled to our opinions and I would not use the term absolute nonsense to describe those you hold….
To date I have not heard Bolingoli’s side of the story.
We were oh so quick to fling this boy under the proverbial bus. Maybe this was warranted, maybe not.
I am not saying this is the case with Bolingoli, but some footballers have their brains in their feet. It’s not as if he is a CEO or management is it.
HH.
Thought for the day
Why on celtics most prominent blog are we discussing Ewen Henderson playing against Livingston (No harm intended to the young lad good luck to him)
But with the greatest respect to young Ewen he is not the hot issue at the moment
We need to speak about Peter!!
The fact that we are not speaking about Peter raises a few questions (in my mind anyway)
Last night there was one or two writing with passion about our CEO it clearly generates debate
So why is our host not leading with the hot issue ??
Is our host deflecting the issue
Has our host been “advised” by PL to change the subject
Is our host delusional and is not aware we are in freefall
I do not know the answer
But I find it fascinating that its not the lead article
For me that’s just as big a question as we need to speak about Peter ?
hey ho i am sure Paul67 has his reasons (but i do not expect him to share them)
67ECW
Robert Ressell 1.25 pm
Or anyone else.
What did Andy Walker say about young Cameron Harper?
TT
Bada Bing ………… Richard has some powerful delivery.
!!BADA BING!! on 13TH JANUARY 2021 4:46 PM
https://twitter.com/wetheirishpod/status/1348715262552510465?s=24
Richard Harris….
===================================
That was brilliant – what a man!!!
Favourite Uncle.
Happy Birthday, and may you have many more.
HH
SID on 13TH JANUARY 2021 4:28 PM
Bournesouprecipe is still sitting on the fence ??
i have exchanged a few messages with him he was always pleasant but he was convinced the current management team would win the league
i admired his loyalty to NL and PL
Yes it transpires i was right he was wrong (I wish it was the other way)
But i have not see him acknowledge the error of his thinking
I think its Humble Pie time Bourne
Hail Hail my friend
67ECW
Sid
Thanks for the offer but I’ve kind of made my position clear on here over the past 17 years on here.
I don’t accept the framing of your representation of me.
I don’t “Back” Lawwell, I merely refuse to spend as much time focusing on Board issues that I cannot influence; most of it is wasted breath (or ink) to be just as imprecise. I am fully critical of him and the board on general social matters- Res 12, the ObAF Act, 5 way Agreement, and their patronising atiitude towards fan behaviour. I am less bothered or convinced re the football dealings issue and I am never taking up a pitchfork to demand a higher transfer fee is paid by us or to delude myself about the long term willingness of superstar coaches to slum it with Celtic.
I did back Neil Lennon and I still do. I accept that the lost 10 means he will have to go but I will take no part in kicking him as he goes. He provided 5 of our 9iar titles and he contributed greatly to our acccumulation of Trebles. He has enough enemies outwith Celtic and it is truly sad to see the terms and descriptions used about him by the Celtic support. I am sad to see Neil depart and he will always be welcome back here, untarnished in my mind and I daresay a few others. I still assert that in 3 or 4 years time, few posters will recall or will actively deny what they were saying about him these past 5 months or so.
But, as I said, my position is clear and on record. I have stated for a number of years on here that we can lose leagues and cups as well as win them. From the days of KevJ, Neganon and Donegal Danny there have been people saying we were getting it wrong in the post MON period. We should be spending bigger, reducing our squad depth and just going for quality and , well, just do things better.
In the course of arguments and debates with them and many others we have won 12 league titles, 7 Scottish Cups and 7 League Cups, since MON left. Paul 67’s GOD is here and we blinked and moaned our way through it. No generation of Celtic fans with the exception of 66-74, where we were a competitive world class team, before Bosman, TV money and CL glasss ceiling distorted the competitive football market everyhwere, have ever been as privileged nor as unappreciative as ours.
During those 17 years of debating, I felt we could win the league each year and I still feel we can win it next year. I was wrong on 4 occasions already about the league outcome- 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2021 but most of the post-MON side of the argument were wrong on 12 occasions, including the past 9 years. I told all of them , including yourself, that one day your predictions will come true and we will lose a league. I did not say it would be this year but nobody, literally nobody, did until the results started going awry in the Autumn. I told all those pining after MON or BR that one day they would be proven right and we will lose a league but don’t expect me to salute the “I told you so” Cassandras and Nostradamuses that had so spectacularly gotten so much wrong in their predictions.
I am happy to own the 5 occasions I got it wrong. I don’t expect the negativists to own up to the 12 they called wrong, or whatever number you were around for.
The league table does not lie. I called this year wrong but I knew this day was coming. The loss of 3 leagues in 2009-2011 did not break our trend of domination and neither will the loss of this league. Not unless, every one who has thrreatened to do so, decides to harm Celtic by actually going through with SB withdrawal; I remain deeply scetical as to the number that will do so and more positive that our fans will rally in the adversity of losing one league and show, at least as much faith and resilience as that Sevco crowd who stayed with them through thin and thin.
Hope that answers your question.
See Pedro’s up
Greenpinta
Totally agree, Bolingoli is hardly the only person in football who has commited a Covid faux-pas.
We paid 3 million for him so lets not throw the baby out with the bathwater.
New manager and everyone brought back, then a clean slate for everyone and move on.
We must have about 10 million quids worth of transfers out on loan.
Bhoy’s
Has anyone given any thought as to what would happen if both PL and Lenny resigned with immediate effect?
I suggest that as bad as things are ,it would be considerably worse.
Infact I think it is possible that we have asked Lenny to stay to steady the ship ,until a replacement of the standard required is found.
Did,PL and Lenny are responsible for the mess that we are in.
Out of loyalty to DD,PL and the club.
I think Lenny has decided to stay ,knowing that further damage to his legacy at the club is very possible.
We have to give him until the summer.
Support him and hope that we can finish second and win the Scottish Cup.
PL needs to find a top notch replacement.
The ones that he will want ,will be in a good job ,doing well elsewhere.
The Celtic job may be seen as a poisoned chalice .
One not to touch .
Getting a top notch coach to come to Scotland .
To a club in turmoil .
Will not be easy .
PL needs to steady the ship.
If he achieves all of that .
He will most likely go.
God knows .
He doesn’t need the money.
He is staying put to try and clear up his own mess IMHO.
No matter what he does ,unless we win a European trophy ( stop laughing at the back) he will be known as the man who ruined the 10.
He will want to try and recover some of the damage done to his legacy.
We need to be patient and hope that he gets it right.
I fully understand how many will disagree with my point of view.
TT
SFTB
“I don’t think it was wrong to go to a warm weather training camp in Dubai.”
It wasn’t wrong, in the sense that it was permitted and sanctioned by SFA and government.
But it was crass in the sense that it gave footballers a pleasant wee bit of “R&R” at the very moment the Covid surge locked the rest of us down.
And it was stupid in the sense that it exposed the playing squad to a wholly unnecessary and greatly enhanced risk of infection.
“I don’t think we have to apologise for contracting one Covid case- even if it did occur there or even if there are one or two more than Jullien who contract the disease over the next day or so.”
I don’t know the Celtic testing schedule, but there’s an equal chance that Jullien acquired the infection before he travelled. See above re unnecessary risk.
In terms of apologies, I think it would be in order for the leadership of the club to acknowledge that whatever slim hopes of retaining the title remained before the trip, they were comprehensively squished as a consequence of it. That’s worth at the very least an apology to the support.
I’d also point out that should a footballer contract Covid and it infects his lungs, the fibrotic damage will compromise his career prospects, let alone if he suffers subsequent myocarditis or other major organ damage. This aspect of the risk is little acknowledged in and around sport generally, and football specifically.
If nothing else, there is surely an obligation on employers to prevent players being exposed to unnecessary risks. Did I already mention unnecessary risk?
“I do think we have the responsibility to preserve the social bubble at the training camp and should not have been drinking in public. A couple of Villas with pools so the squad and travelling party could preserve their bubble, even with an occasional pint, would have been acceptable to me.”
The club failed to maintain social distancing measures during the trip. See above re unnecessary risks.
“I would be equally happy if the Government exercised their own responsibilities and cancelled all unnecessary flight for leisure , sport, business or political conference- all of which, just like a training camp, can be done in this country or via Zoom/Teams etc;”
Of the few things we know of the virus, we know that it is spread by people. When people travel, so does the virus. Out of area travel should have been stopped at the outset, whether footballers, business travellers or holiday makers. But we wanted our holidays. We wanted our European football. We wanted our business trips. See above re unnecessary risks.
“So long as the Government is unwilling to institute rules to prevent breaches, they lose the moral authority to comment effectively on the breahes they allow.”
That seems like something of a paradox. One cannot breach a rule that hasn’t been instituted, and perhaps that’s your point. Granted though, the ScotGov reaction to Celtic taking the trip, even at the very moment they were announcing tighter restrictions, highlighted ScotGov shortcomings on the matter every bit as much as Celtic’s.
“Cektic have taken a kicking far in excess of the crime. A few fans are willing to be honest about this and state that it is largely because of their failure to achieve the 10 and for losing at Ibrox that they should not have travelled.
That is the scenario that fits the lack of outrage about this before and during the trip compared with the outrage that ocured after the loss at Ibrox and the appearance of the poolside pics”
I think I’ve been pretty consistent on this for many months. Football’s continuing operation in the midst of the pandemic is precarious. Dead rubber international fixtures, cross border friendly matches, scheduling of all domestic competitions without mitigation for inevitable covid-related interruptions. From the demand to let fans back in stadiums to the (sorry again) repeated unnecessary risks taken with players’ health, football generally has had its head up its backside.
That in the midst of this Celtic have blown a once-only chance to write new history it is a huge regret. It’s difficult to conceive them doing so more thoroughly if they tried. The Dubai fiasco simply puts the tin lid on it. A sorry, meek capitulation on the field accompanied by walloping stupidity off it. What a strapline for the season.
TBB
Peter apologises …..
https://twitter.com/CelticFC/status/1349404014853709829
https://youtu.be/GWr9o2bS5sw
Lawwell kidding nobody…
Still backing NL , that says it all
PL’s message
We need to Stick together to Maximise our potential
Ehhh, maximise who’s potential directly ??
How about the board sticks together with its fan base and shareholders in challenging Res12 issues, 5WA, Nimmo smith judgement etc
Oh thats time for the board to go it alone on its own course
Arsehole
Another link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWr9o2bS5sw
The Peter has spoken…..nothing to see here….move on…
SFTB
Sorry I have an issue with your answer.
” I am happy to own the 5 occasions I got it wrong. I don’t expect the negativists to own up to the 12 they called wrong, or whatever number you were around for.”
Are you trying to say I’ve been predicting we lose the league every year? That’s preposterous. I’ve said it one year, this year. That’s how your post reads, please retract that.
I always struggle to know what you think tbh you dodge a lot of the main issues just like P67 who wants to concentrate on a team sheet for a game on a Saturday on a Wednesday.
Do you think our CEO should be sacked travelling in a pandemic when fans are locked in their homes resulting in our squad being decimated and 2 points (so far) being dropped?
Just interested, should the CEO be sacked, in your opinion, yes or no?