O’Neill’s Celtic’s GOAT claim and persisting core attributes

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If Shane Duffy wanted to whet the appetite of supporters after securing his loan move to Celtic, scoring a 93rd minute equaliser for Ireland in their Nations Cup game in Bulgaria last night was the way to achieve it.  Those who know the player told us he was a commanding presence and the manner in which he powered home his header from a corner kick backed this up.

When you watch how teams defend set-pieces against Celtic, you will note their key defensive resources concentrate on Christopher Jullien.  He also appears to be the man other Celtic players try to provide space for, by stopping opponents getting a block on him.

Jullien is a better set-piece target than we have had in many years, but this makes us predictable to defend against.  Duffy will make Celtic significantly less easy to stop on these occasions.

If there was a Greatest Set-Piece Team of All Time table, Martin O’Neill’s Celtic would sit top.  Bobo Balde, Chris Sutton, Joos Valgaeren, Johan Mjallby and John Hartson were five absolute mountains.  Defenders seldom knew who to cover.  As a consequence, Henrik Larsson did as much damage in the air as any of them.

Football has changed greatly in the years since that team rose to prominence, it was a thing of its time, but defending and attacking at set-pieces requires the same core attributes.

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  1. CELTIC MAC on 6TH SEPTEMBER 2020 12:21 PM

     

     

    I see the Troll Hunter C.S.C has a rival – splitter :-)

  2. This article is more than 1 year old

     

    Glasgow honours Matt McGinn, folk hero who was once bigger than Dylan

     

    This article is more than 1 year old

     

    Blue plaque for influential Scots singer-songwriter unveiled three decades after his death

     

    Matt McGinn (1928-77) in the Gorbals district of Glasgow in 1967.

     

    Matt McGinn (1928-77) in the Gorbals district of Glasgow in 1967. Photograph: Brian Shuel/Redferns

     

    Kevin McKenna

     

    Sun 20 Jan 2019 09.00 GMT

     

     

    233

     

    For years James Scott was frustrated by the lack of recognition given to one of his favourite musicians, the folk singer and songwriter Matt McGinn, who died in 1977. Although he was feted in radical folk circles, McGinn’s name was largely unknown and his talents overlooked. Scott decided that needed to change, and set about raising £1,000 for a memorial.

     

     

    “I did this because I am a great McGinn fan and I think he has just been totally ignored,” he told the Glasgow Evening Times. “It’s a great shame. He wrote all those great songs and he is in the Robert Burns category as far as I am concerned. Only Burns, as regards Scotland, has written so many songs and poems. We raised the money for the tribute very easily.”

     

     

    On Saturday, in the Calton district of Glasgow’s East End, the fruit of Scott’s labours paid off as fans gathered once more to salute someone they regard as one of Britain’s most influential folk artists. Since his death aged 48, after a fire in his home, there have been anniversary tributes here and there for a man who wrote prolifically and who launched Billy Connolly – one of his early backing musicians – on the road to worldwide fame. But the extent of McGinn’s talent and achievements has been strangely forgotten in a country that specialises in garlanding its popular heroes. Aficionados now have a permanent memorial – a plaque – to remember him by, unveiled just yards from where McGinn was born, the eighth of nine children in an Irish-Catholic household.

     

     

    Further along this road is Celtic Park, home of Celtic FC, while the once-vivid Barras market, now emasculated, is its other famous tenant.

     

     

    McGinn giving an evening class at East Kilbride high school, 1972.

     

    McGinn giving an evening class at East Kilbride high school, 1972.

     

    Photograph: Mirrorpix/Alamy

     

    Most of what is known about McGinn of the Calton, as they called him, comes from those who saw him in concert. His singing was untutored and he didn’t play an instrument, but the word “gravelly” pops up often in contemporary reports. His songs were vibrant portrayals of working-class life in Glasgow and scabrous reflections on social issues. They were drenched in a rude wit that meant he rarely featured on the TV shows that made household names of much lesser talents.

     

     

    Advertisement

     

    Willy Maley, writer and professor of renaissance studies at Glasgow University, said: “He is the missing link between two other great Scots, James Connolly and Billy Connolly. He was a campaigning cultural figure who combined political protest, socialism and trade unionism with earthy humour and a terrific line in Glasgow patter.

     

     

    “He was a stalwart of the 1960s folk scene and shared a stage with the likes of Pete Seeger, yet for all this he deserves to be better known and more widely marked than he is, in all his creative guises: writer, poet, actor, performer. He should be celebrated as one of Scotland’s greats. The Calton district of Glasgow gave rise to some tremendous characters and McGinn exemplifies the type – resourceful, inventive, ingenious and brilliantly witty.”

     

     

    One of McGinn’s crowning achievements was appearing near the top of the bill at Carnegie Hall in New York at the invitation of Seeger. There he encountered Bob Dylan, who sought out his advice about touring the UK. McGinn wrote afterwards: “It was almost my first paid engagement at a fee of 200 dollars against Bob Dylan’s 60 dollars.”

     

     

    After studying at Ruskin College, Oxford on a trade union scholarship, McGinn had his folk epiphany when he won a local newspaper competition in Huddersfield for a song called The Foreman O’Rourke, about a factory worker who flushes his boss down a toilet. His best-known works include The Red Yo-yo, The Rolling Hills of the Border, Skinny Malinky Longlegs, The Ballad of the Q4 and The Ibrox Disaster.

     

     

    Writing in 1964 in the journal Folklore, Hamish Henderson, the Scottish poet, songwriter and fellow communist, said of McGinn: “Nearly all his songs have merit, as well as high entertainment value. He was born in the Gallowgate district of Glasgow and his songs have the gallus sardonic verve of that area. I’d back at least half a dozen of them to ‘bide’ – for a while, at least.”

     

     

    https://pbs.twimg.com/card_img/1301636355089457154/zbJ5EZY6?format=jpg&name=small

  3. christmas pressie

     

     

    —————-

     

     

    St.Anthony

     

    @Stephen4_2

     

    ·

     

    Aug 25

     

    For anyone keen on Celtic history there is much anticipated book due 7 September which contains 300 rare/unseen Celtic photos from 1950’s onward. These are taken from DC Thomson archives. Looking forward to seeing it.

     

     

    That Jimmy Johnstone pic looks like Govan at Prince’s dock ?

     

     

    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EgTANzyXsAA8SXG?format=jpg&name=large

  4. Jamaican Celt Flag of Jamaica

     

    @JohnHig39262633

     

    ·

     

    Sep 3

     

    Bob Marley Oh, you know I’m a big Celtic fan. I would love to go to Scotland to see Celtic Park and maybe even kick a few balls there. I know all about Jock Stein. I love reading about British football teams and #Celtic has always been my team. And now it is my son Rohan’s team”

     

     

    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EhBOXoaU8AEjiMu?format=jpg&name=medium

  5. Mad Mitch

     

     

    The fact is Bomber Broon’s doomed campaign in 2010 (doomed ah tell ye) rendered the worst result for Labour, in terms of votes, I think, since the early days of the Party, the 1920s. Overall turnout was low to be fair. New Labour lost over five million votes since the victory of 1997, leaving Gordy like the victim of a Greek Tragedy.

  6. SOUTH OF TUNIS

     

    SORRY TO SHOUT BUT LET’S HEAR FROM YOU AND GET SOME OF YOUR REGGAE STUFF BACK ON.

     

    IF YOU DON’T , I KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE AND I WILL SEND ROUND THE BOYS- – – NUFF SAID.

     

     

    KINGLuBO

  7. For those that might have missed it the Lisbon Lions victory in 1967 is/was commemorated in the 60th anniversary edition (2020) of the ‘World Soccer’ magazine. We are in good company there, Brazil, Benfica, Manchester United, Ajax, AC Milan, Real Madrid et al.

  8. Does embdy remember this song…i’m sure we had it on a ‘B’ side to a Matt McGinn single

     

    THE JUNIOR CUP FINAL

     

     

    The day of the Junior Cup Final, is a day I’ll never forget

     

    The other side’s goalie was famous, he hidnae let wan past him yet

     

    And on me my team wis depending, as the centre tae lead the attack

     

    Oor manager say nae defending, jist git in there an nae hodding back

     

     

    Fae the kick off a toor down the middle, an my wingers baeth matched me wi speed

     

    A passed it oot left fae a dribble, he lobbed and a nodded ma heid

     

    Wan nil that wis just the beginning, for it aw went accordin to plan

     

    There wis never nae doot wha wis winning, for it hauf time we had them 10-1

     

     

    I’ll tell yi that goalie wis full of defection, for we kept oan increasing oor lead

     

    He aye dived the other direction, as a nodded in wi ma heid

     

    I’ll tell yi that goalie wis greetin, for he never had no chance at all

     

    20 goals that’s how he was beatin, awe by me and my nodding the ball

     

     

    Well ah met that poor goalie this morning

     

    And ah thought, hey ah hope there’s nae fuss

     

    So ah nodded ma heid in the passin

     

    An he went and dived under a bus

  9. Could only happen with us.Yesterday we were getting regaled with talk of signing Bakker from PSG.Today its Alfie Doughty,( sounds like someone out of Dads Army ) of Charlton,who Hammond was down watching.Can play,left back,or left midfield.Yep,another one of those.

     

    I will now give up on getting my hopes raised in the rest of this window,unless Bakker lands for a medical.

     

     

    Visitors over,so not spending too much time on the blog.Reading back,probably just as well.Ernie Lynch seems to only appear on here,regularly,when politics are the topic.

  10. BIG JIMMY 6 43am

     

     

    There is a fella called Vance Hollinger who lives in Dumfries area ,

     

    he came doon here in the 80’s and still works for the same firm

     

    i am told , guy mibees now around 55 to early 60’s , came

     

    from Glasgow area , same fella i presume .

  11. AIPPLE

     

    Thanks for the clip. Some beautiful curving crosses and corners, including combinations of short corners and curving crosses, helped Duffy score a bunch of these. He does seem to have a nose for goal, given both his shooting with both feet, and athleticism. Now we just need someone to take the corners!

  12. TB 2.47pm

     

     

    Greg Taylor isn’t as bad as some make out … probably they listen to big Sutton too much :-)

     

     

    Greg Taylor is our left back and I for one appreciate the bhoy … he will only improve

  13. St Stivs , the author of the Celtic black and white years, Steve Finan is on a Celtic Underground podcast with St Anthony. I listened to it last week, it was very good.

  14. St Stivs,

     

    In the passing…..

     

     

    I had the honour of backing Matt McGinn for his performance one night in the early 70s.

     

     

    HH

  15. ART OF WAR on 6TH SEPTEMBER 2020 10:18 AM

     

     

    Anyhoo, has anyone done the Three Isles tour? Mull, Staffa & Iona. Just checking if anyone has some tips on what to look out for.

     

     

    hi mate

     

    a few years back I had a new year over in Mull.you get the boat over fro. Oban that takes you over to the isle and drops you at Craignure.From there it is a drive along the road to Tobermory..

     

    Tobermory is where you will get the tour boats that take you( weather permitting) to Staffa. They sometimes hold recitals on Staffa.again weather permitting

     

    you can check all this at the local tourist board.Tobermorys pub is the mishnish.a good pub.weans like The balamory stuff.

     

    There is cracking beaches following the road north at Calgary bay and Dervaig.

     

     

    There is also the Ben More mull mountain range if you like the hills

     

    if you are travelling down to Iona it is a long drive to Fionnphort where you catch the boat to Iona.(it’s were a wee local boy from the parish brought Christianity to the hordes :-)

     

     

    it is a stunning drive down along the string road(with parking places) so watch out my friend as it will have got busier over the years.

     

     

    I hope you enjoy it my friend,a stunning isle whose colour changes by the second/in between showers.hope your crowd enjoy :-)

     

     

    https://www.tobermory.co.uk/shops-and-services/explore-mull-visitor-and-information-centre/

     

     

    https://www.tobermory.co.uk/shops-and-services/explore-mull-visitor-and-information-centre/visitor-information-centre/

     

     

    I think also they do the glass bottomed keel on a boat for dolphin and basking shark watching

     

    if your a bird watcher (no they kind) there are centres for eagles and osprey watching.i had the majestic experience of seeing one of the eagles swoop kill and claw a writhing fish on the road round to Iona via Salen.

     

     

    enjoy mate.

     

     

    hh

  16. Good Afternoon,

     

     

    Is the St Anthony, the same chap who used to post here? Think he did the quiz at one time.

     

     

    For some reason, I din’t know why, I’m intigued by the fiscal debate vis~a~vis an independent Scotland.

     

     

    It’s always struck me that the English are saying the Scots are so well of because of them. Yet Scotland seem to be running a deficit and have huge balance of payments problem.

     

     

    Surely it’s one or the other? No!!

     

     

    Hail Hail

  17. Turkeybhoy 2.47

     

     

    it just shows you the distinction between a Celtic target- bakker, who we have been trailing for a while..and who our sportsdesk/Huns with crayons suggest we should get for their clickbait.

     

    :-)

     

    keep on keeping on TB

     

     

    HH

  18. Scroll by if not interested in betting or horses …

     

     

    Big Jimmy

     

     

    Hope you were on the winner in the 2.30pm at York

     

     

    Lennys Spirit at 22/1

     

     

    I wasn’t on it myself but hope you were big J … I try to stick to the fitba bets and thank f..rance… Wales just scored in injury time

  19. Chairbhoy

     

     

    alas you pinpoint the divide

     

     

    we have figures that at the moment are soaring due to covid.

     

    rightly so in my opinion.

     

    one side interprets figures for their side

     

    and the other side have their interpretation too.

     

    alas both sides can be broken down and analysed.

     

    politicians breaking down figures is altogether

     

    a different kettle of fish as confidence in those figures has bias.

     

    billions have been ploughed in to keep a closed economy going,The danger is that it is turning into the welfare state for the private sector.more support demanded as a right to keep going while the foodbanks/poverty side is still the pre and post covid.

     

     

    The investigations into exactly what we spent the money has still to come.it is there we will see just how much has been syphoned by the trough/establishment be it Edinburgh or London while the poor weak and excluded still queue for food banks.

     

     

    keep smiling Chairbhoy hope all is good down your way my friend

     

     

    HH

  20. I asked a Brighton ST holder ( Whose opinion I value)what he thought of Duffy. This was his reply:

     

     

    “Fantastic signing. Sorry to see him go as he’s been brilliant for us. Unfortunately he just doesn’t quite suit the new manager’s style.”

  21. troll who doesnt

     

     

    Our resident Tiny Trot / Micro Marxist was also at it again last night with some more anti Lab stuff straight from the Forger’s Gazette — it must be cold under that bridge.

     

     

    – anti lab FACTS. run along now and learn that your ‘party’ has form in overtheclifftop driving.betraying and defecating on the poor weak and needy.so no apologies there.

     

     

    – “forgers gazette” is that the same Murdoch owned “populist” press your cult war leader “handled”(both hands, is that a firm enough grip rupert)? if I have the owner wrong in our

     

    so called “free but owned” press

     

     

    och it disnae matter now the war criminal says we are all middle class now.naebdi telt the pollok district tho.lol

     

     

    I am enjoying your box fitting,it is always good to know a wrong categorisation you always get that of you.

  22. “PHILBHOY on 6TH SEPTEMBER 2020 11:08 AM

     

    WEEBOBBYCOLLINS

     

     

    He did disappear for a while.

     

     

    When he (ernie lynch) came back on he seemed different to me.

     

     

    Like it wasn’t the original ERNIE who was posting.”

     

     

    I had the same feeling. Mind you, I often felt the posts of the `real ernie` were not the output of just one person.

  23. and typical of you media desk Huns

     

    pretending to protect the poor and weak

     

     

    start of with a homeless slur!

     

     

    I would prefer the company of one of the many individuals I have met who due to whatever chaos comes on them they are living under a bridge

     

     

    they have more integrity in one of their blood cells than aspiring middle class fakes like yourself have it is just a given.so on their behalf can you chase yirsel.

     

     

    irony is you can categorize everything except yourself.

     

     

    hh

  24. hot smoked

     

     

    I think the general say bout Shane is

     

    a good defender

     

    a good headerer of the ball

     

     

    maybe not as pacey as we think

     

     

    suffice to say the “updates” will provide the full moan

     

    give it a few weeks and he will be unwanted

     

     

    lol

     

    me,I think he is a good signing.solid defender

     

    and I hope he goes on to make history.Get in there Shane

     

     

    HH

  25. I have not saw Shane playing never mind defending … but for some reason I think of Mick McCarthy … not sure if it’s through their Derry or Barnsley upbringing :-)

     

     

    I am delighted he has signed for us …

     

    mainly due to what others and Brighton have said about him

  26. Hot Smoked 5.08pm

     

     

    Hopefully Neil will highlight that Shane should be reffed the same as Goldson & co … highlight the cheats, only way to beat them :-)

  27. Alright troops, been out in the gerdin for a few beers

     

     

    Now watching big shane and the bhoys.

     

     

    The bhoy Egan looks a big unit as well.

     

     

    D :)