Livingston manager David Martindale is one of those people opposition fans find it easy to parody. When he claimed to have ‘pound-for-pound’ the best team in the league, one online wit called him the best ‘gram-for-gram’ manager. Many of us were grateful when life offered a second (or subsequent) chance, what matters now is that David is an example of what can be, if you make the right decisions.
Admirable, as he undoubtedly is, I don’t like his football, or the pitch it is played on every second game. Livingston would have the game banned, if that was all we could watch. Still, though, what’s he to do?
Tomorrow a group of international footballers, many with Champions League and World Cup experience behind them, arrive at the Plastic Pasta Stadium to face a squad of players who would rather be anywhere else in the football food chain. We have no right to ask them to play any different than how they will.
Martindale knows how to get results. The current FA Premier Manager of the Month left the corresponding fixture at Livi empty handed two years ago. His side were as tight as a drum at the back and waited for an opportunity to present itself. A bounce of the plastic was enough to deceive Stephen Welsh.
It is incredible how momentum builds and falls in football. Brendan Rodgers knows enough about the game to put Tuesday’s result behind him and do whatever necessary to inject confidence and energy into his side. After going out of the League Cup on our only other game on plastic this season, you could suggest it is imperative to show we learned to better prepare for the surface.
While we are in a generous mood to others, imagine a mid-table Premiership side winning in Europe last night! Second bottom of the table almost took a point in Germany too.
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To Get Her
Celtic
Blessed Celtic
Celtic
September, 2023 AD. General Audience, Pope Francis.
https://youtu.be/Q2N_7K09Ej4?si=BzGErPIYOjbJtXrp
Aztec Camera – Good Morning (North) Britain
https://youtu.be/3_QSMTtUQYY?si=-Y3GwcbRJAyUoFd1
BIGRAILROADBLUES on 22ND SEPTEMBER 2023 7:59 PM
Ffs BelmontBrian the toff who went to club de France in Sunnyside. Or was it Downtown Miami?🤔
……………….
You are CORRECT BRRB….
BELMONT BRIAN is so POSH…..He gets the ” BIG ISSUE” delivered to his hoose !
LOL
HH
Good morning CQN from a grey skied but dry Haggerston Caravan park.
Right, breakfast then archery for me and grand kids then Celtic Game.
D :)
Ffs the William Tell of the Garngad. 🙄
Good morning all from Govanhill. Gerrintaethum Celtic!!!!
BIGRAILROADBLUES on 23RD SEPTEMBER 2023 8:08 AM
Ffs the William Tell of the Garngad.
…………..
ARCHERY ?
WEE ARROW PEEPIL ?
LOL
HH
Ya mad bams.
🤣🤣🤣
D :)
Good morning CQN.
A beautiful bright morning.
Hope all or most on here have leisure and pleasure in mind today.
TV remote to feature prominently.
BB from last night about giving BRRB his proper namw of a Cad amongst other things….
Ffs wife just said where are your cloths from last night……eh… she said I got changed outside…I nearly belived her.
Still canny find ma winners and loosers.
D :)
David 66
Fair enough, wasn’t trying to win anything. Enjoy the rest of your weekend 👍☘️
David66
Do they still have Bradley Bear 🐻 for the kids at Haggerston?
David66 shot him.
PP – Yes they do.
D9 – Thank you, It would be good to converse 1 day over a small libation as sometimes this blog exasperates us all, in that some posts do not read right, all of oir intentions will be the same I am suee…The best for Celtic.
D :)
Ffs spelling, please exqueeze me.
🤣
D :)
ALEX’S ANGLE: MARQUEE SIGNINGS AND A LOT OF BALLS
By CQN Magazine on 23rd September 2023 Personally Speaking
A CRYSTAL BALL should be the priority target for every manager about to venture into the transfer market.
Right at the top of the shopping list should be the fabled astrology orb that allows the more gullible to attempt to take a sneak peek into the future.
Some of the stuff I have heard and read over the past few days about Celtic’s inadequacies during their summer recruitment programme would get drivel a bad name.
Folk who really should know better would be advised to mull over their thinking process before firing into print. Alan Stubbs, of course, is more than entitled to his opinion and is better placed than most to air his observations.
The former Celtic central defender, a quality signing from Bolton by Tommy Burns for a-then club record £4.2million in the summer of 1996, surely knows all about trying to eke the last dime out of the pocket of club directors following his managerial stints at Hibs, Rotherham and St Mirren.
Stubbs questions the transfer strategies of his one-time Glasgow employers and insists they should have made “two marquee signings”, especially after the champions announced a £40million profit in their recent annual financial accounts.
Earth to Mr Stubbs: Everyone of a Celtic persuasion would welcome “marquee signings”, but let’s be realistic, please. We are now operating in a market place where clubs are spending £100million on an individual without the blink of an eye.
Chelsea have gone berserk in recent times with so-called “sexy transfers” and are nudging towards a bonkers milestone of £1BILLION spent in little over a year with Todd Boehly at the helm. Over the same period, the London club have outspent the entirety of La Liga.
On January 31 this year, Graham Potter was allowed to splash £106.8million on Benfica midfielder Enzo Fernandez. Eight weeks later, the manager was sacked. Last month, the club topped that with the £115million offer to lure Moises Caicedo, another middle-of-the park operator, from Brighton.
For good measure, the Stamford Bridge outfit parted with £58millon for Southampton’s Romeo Lavia just before the August deadline. Yup, you’ve guessed it, he’s a midfielder. Romeo Who? I confess I had to check. He is 19 years old and has one Belgian cap to his name.
The last I looked Chelsea were 14th in the Premier League with one win in five outings, soaring a whopping five points above rock-bottom Luton Town who have yet to get on board.
So much for “marquee signings”.
In any case, what sort of purchase could Celtic make that would come into this high-falutin’ category? Fans may have thought some shrewd wheeling and dealing had been done in the double move that brought in Vasilis Barkas and Albian Ajeti in the summer of 2020 as Neil Lennon readied his troops in their quest for the historic tenth successive title.
The Hoops hierarchy sanctioned a total of £9.5million on the two recruits. Remember, also, these transfers were carried out in the midst of the Covid pandemic when cash reserves were certain to be severely affected without match day revenue and suchlike.
Take into consideration, too, the fact the club also refused to rake in transfer cash for the likes of Odsonne Edouard, Kristoffer Ajer and Ryan Christie who appeared to be in a rush to play their football elsewhere, a wish granted a year later for all three.
Alas, Barkas and Ajeti turned out to be a colossal waste of money. A goalkeeper who couldn’t keep the ball out of his net and a striker who couldn’t put the spherical object in the opposition’s rigging did little to inspire the team during admittedly straitened times.
Celtic banked a consolation £500,000 for nine-goal Ajeti and zilch for the dodgy custodian who had the final year of his contract put through the shredder.
Back to good, old Stubbsy who informs us Celtic fans are looking for progression on the European stage. Amen to that, my good man.
Brendan Rodgers’ side got off to a faltering start in the 2-0 Champions League loss to Feyenoord in Rotterdam. Endowed with the skills of a Mystic Meg, the Irishman would have, of course, signed at least two more oven-ready centre-backs in the summer market.
But is there any one out there who can put their hands up and say before the injury tsunami they would have predicted Gustaf Lagerbiekle, Liam Scales, Odin Holm, Yang Hyun-gyu, Luis Palma or Paolo Bernardo stepping onto the pitch at De Kuip the other night?
Naturally, they all fall short of the standard required to cope with challenges at this elite level for one very good reason; no-one anticipated the position in which Rodgers found himself as he put his squad jigsaw together and the aforementioned players would be involved at the sharp end so early in their Celtic careers.
Fully-fit, Cameron Carter-Vickers and Maik Nawrocki would have been the central defensive pairing against the Dutch, while an injury-free Liel Abada would have operated on one flank with Daizen Maeda on the other.
The Celtic boss would not have been placed in such an illogical position where he would have been compelled to play a rookie Honduran winger, with precisely one hour of game-time at the club, or an on-loan Portuguese midfielder, with 17 minutes’ worth of first-team experience, in football’s version of The Killing Fields.
It was also clear that Reo Hatate, coming back after injury, didn’t have more than an hour in his legs. Once again, though, it was case of needs must.
I’ll make a quick prediction, if I may?
The individual who is bestowed the gift of clairvoyance will prove to be the most astute manager in the history of world football.
Until this favoured being walks among us, would it be possible to cut some guys over at Celtic Park some slack?
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What an excellent article.
First (domestic) game: v Dundee home 5-2 league cup 23 September 1970
The other important aspect to recall about Paul Wilson was that he played for Celtic in a less enlightened and political correct time than what we live in now. Back then, anything could go for a chant, and racist abuse was often the norm. As he stood out, he easily took the brunt from away supporters but never rose to them. When the opposition fans chanted derogatorily that “Paul Wilson is a darkie“, the Celtic supporters used to retort “I’d rather be a darkie than a Hun“. The Rangers fans used to refer to him as ‘Jungle Fresh‘ or ‘Sabu‘, comically ridiculous & offensive terms, but he had to unfairly endure these remarks. Jock Stein & Paul Wilson devised the best method to tackle it on the pitch:
Jock Stein: “Answer them by scoring.”
Paul Wilson: “How about if I score two?“
https://wikifoundryimages.s3.amazonaws.com/14607e895a3c476246e85841d039413f
https://wikifoundryimages.s3.amazonaws.com/n0xD5mjq-yX0VOW5WF094A699171
https://wikifoundryimages.s3.amazonaws.com/V8U9nijqN9YRXEE4PYImYQ1659557
David 66
Good man, totally agree👍☘️
Scullybhoy @ 09:36
I second that – excellent article 👍
HH
Re : Log-in issues
Had my first bad experience just now. After finding the continual ad popping to be too torturous, I started using Duck Duck Go browser. Hey presto! Problem solved – no issues with ads anymore.
But this morning, I (unusually) was required to log in before posting. After 4 failed attempts, I tried using my default browser on my mobile, and eventually was able to log in and post (whilst trying to navigate and delete numerous pop up ads). 🙈🙈
Diabolical to have such a non- user friendly set up, imo 🤬
HH
ps – back to lurking on DDG
DAVID66 on 23RD SEPTEMBER 2023 9:30 AM
Are you a JOHN JAMES fan. Well read him this morning and you will be.
ScullyBhoy – I agree, a really good article that lays out a much more realistic picture of where we are than some are willing to accept.
We bought two very good CHS in the window. One with plenty of experience to replace Starfelt and the other one with less experience as a back up. This was done with Welsh, Scales and Kobayashi already on the books and Iwata too who often played CH in Japan. When injuries hit, the obvious solution was to get in a loanee with experience. Phillips came to us with a decent CV for the role we required him for. A calm head and top level experience. For goodness sake, he came from Liverpool not Scunthorpe. He trains with some of the best players in the world. For him to roll his ankle in his debut is just unlucky. I don’t see how there can be any criticism aimed at BR or the board for this.
Scales has proven himself much better than most of us thought. He needed chances, he needed experience, he needed to be allowed to make mistakes in the heat of battle so he could learn and develop. Welsh, who would have been in front of him, likewise. In our SPFL world, where a loss is a disaster, youngsters have almost no chance of getting the time to transform from a promising youngster to a polished professional.
Part of the problem, is, of course, the lack of competitive reserve football. But with 5 subs allowed in each game, perhaps there should be more emphasis on giving these guys 20 -30 mins each week rather than making the AJs, CCVs and Calmacs play 90 minutes all the time.
Re. Alex Gordon’s article.
It wasn’t marquee signings we needed.
It was upgrades for 3/4 positions.
That never happened.
A weaker starting 11 and weaker squad.
St Tams,
Well said and we gave a rookie recruitment head £15M+ plus to blow on punts.
As we are in learning mode as club — the obvious move is replace said rookie with a professional.
However that ain’t going to happen with his dads overbearing influence at work.
Celtic PLC indeed.
Celtic: Hart, A Johnston, Lagerbielke, Scales, Taylor, O’Riley, McGregor, Hatate, Maeda, Kyogo, Forrest.
Subs: Bain, Yang, Turnbull, Holm, Oh, Tomoki, Bernardo, Ralston, Palma.
Forrest starts. Probably due to his experience on the surface. His lack of pace shouldn’t be an issue today as they’ll be siting that deep that there’ll be no space to run in behind.
Hope Oh gets 30 minutes today and Kyogo is wearing an air bag.
3-1 to the hoops and James Forrest will be among the goals.
At a wedding today and won’t be able to watch it. So, please keep the GG updates coming on the match thread fholks.
Mon the hoops!!! 😃🇮🇪🏆🍀⚽️
Cheers Scullybhoy
“would it be possible to cut some guys over at Celtic Park some slack?”
Unfortunately not.
The internet age has given the anonymous ignorant the un-God given right to publicly spout our uninformed guff …..
…. Often just seconds after a game, a goal, a free kick or, increasingly, a throw-in on the halfway line is lost.
Connaire12.
Thanks for your reply.👍it was a grand night indeed,and the tea refills just kept on coming :-)
Best wishes in your upcoming trip and thanks for overseeing those visits to Lourdes,your prayers and blessings
Hail Hail
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To work today Celtic,do your best
For us and for each other.
A difficult task on a hard surface.
Hard work will see us through.
HH
GG live updates up
PETERLATCHFORDSBELLY on 22ND SEPTEMBER 2023 4:57 PM
I hear Lawwell definitely got the Res 12 email but regrettably his dog ate it before he got the chance to read it.
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ffs are you now trying to tell us Peter Lawwels dug can read
Heated Drives one thing but a dug that can read?!!