There is usually a fair amount of hysteria after a Celtic defeat, sometimes after a draw, but the reaction since Saturday has largely been grounded in measured concern. Even in the darkest days of the 90s, when Oldco Rangers were at their peak, we could always lay a glove on them. It was bad.
The question is, what now? We won eight out of nine domestic games going into the weekend but the manner tightness of several of those wins did not inspire, were it not for late goals against St Johnstone and Dundee United, your worries would be significantly greater today.
Priority when you suffer a bad defeat is to stop things from getting worse. That means going to Aberdeen on Sunday and winning. It is not self-flagellation to say we need this game at Pittodrie. We need to go to one of the best teams in the league and get a win.
We endured many bad results in the 90s, but, if you are old enough, you will remember how there would usually be a backlash to a Celtic defeat. Whoever we played next saw the consequences of all that pain. We need to get in touch with that sentiment on Sunday. Use the pain.
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“Besting them is fine as an additional benefit from building your successful business but we seem to have squandered 9 years of breathing space despite all the talk by Paul of Generations of Domination.”
People put their own meaning on that phrase BUT….
In this century we have 15 league titles (them’s have 5)
we have 9 SCs (them’s have 4)
We have 9 LCs (them’s have 6)
There has never been a more successful era apart from 66 to 74 for our club.
Every other generation of Celtic fan would see this as damn near domination.
Certainly Sevco fans know they were dominated.
But every Empire has its day- who knows when ours will fall?
I like Barkas. He certainly comes for crosses more than FF did.
SFTB – But every Empire has its day- who knows when ours will fall?
Me, me, me….me sir. I know when.
:)
Cor … @ 5.01
Interesting stuff — too much of what you say is evident all across the club.
A bureaucracy of fans on low wages where loyalty and deference is more important than performance.
I fear that at all levels we are a poorly performing organisation with no great desire for improvement.
The situation with the academy coming through St Ninians is another area of concern.
The current vibe is more High School Musical than the Quality Street Gang.
At least they have their uses — providing my cousin’s daughters with an inexhaustible stream of boyfriends.
The PL bonus situation tells us far too much about how unsophisticated we are.
He hoovers up huge amount of resources and yet little comment is made.
The Scottish cringe in full bloom — if he has more than us then he must be better than us.
Consequently at every level CP has the appearance of being a cosy wee club with no vision.
Interesting that when we need vision and leadership we have to go elsewhere.
Too many see our future in the excuses of the management / executives.
Celtic Coaches need to give these players more first team appearances,like Turnbull ,Soro,O,Conner ,Dembela,Alofobi no sense in paying big bucks on players and for them just left to rot in the reserves,personally I think the invisible man the first team coach up at Lennoxtown sitting in his office all day,really needs to go on the pitch now and again rather than relying on his coaches who is good or not so good,as for Robertson and Henderson I can’t see them making into the first team.
I am going to say my piece then hold my peace.
This is not a knee jerk reaction to the loss on Saturday.
WE WILL NOT WIN THE LEAGUE WITH NEIL LENNON IN CHARGE. Hope to be proven wrong.
The evidence has been there but we tend to overlook it.
Neil Lennon is not tactically astute, any manager with a good tactics and half a decent squad will give him a hard time. how many teams have papped us out of Europe even though they have a squad that is less than a tenth of what we spend on players? So the answer is not spend more money. It is being able to organise the players available to function as a team rather than a set of expensive individuals. As a team we need to be greater than the sum total of our parts, but we don’t even reach the baseline based on the resource we deploy on the park, never mind being greater than the sum.
We have the best squad in Scotland and yet it appears that whoever is pulling the tactical strings at Ibrox has got Neil Lennon’s number.
A look at England and around the world will tell you that the days of the old fashioned manager is past, football has moved on. Lennon is cut off the same cloth as Martin O’Neil, who he learnt most of his management style from.
Can anyone tell me exactly what our playing style is, we do not seem to have one. Today in modern football everyone on the pitch should know what they should be doing at every stage of the game, where they should be with and without the ball, I do not get the impression that our players are coached to the same level.
That was Rodgers forte, attention to detail and every one knows their job.
Buying good players and just throwing them on the pitch with a rousing speech no longer cuts it in today’s world.
That is it off my chest, I have had this concern since Lennon was appointed a full time manager on the strength that we fluked a cup game, yet time and time again we loose to teams who are put together with less that £10M in Europe. [When that happens some people believe that it is because we are not spending enough!!!? At what point do we start questioning if the manager is getting the best of the resources at his disposal?].
Lennon will always be a hero to me and a great Celtic supporter, but that is no reason to give him the reigns of Celtic part especially in this season. We will never have another opportunity in our life time to do the 10 in a row.
not long ago I was roaring laughing at us being able to play through them like they weren’t there, them not able to find a pass and my favourite-passing the ball straight into touch and now it’s us doing that – what a weird turnaround. I know Turnbull could have been here a year earlier but we are asking a helluva lot to mesh 1:installing a new spine to the team and 2: rationing broonie’s appearance and 3: finding a settled 11 out of many long term and new players and 4: managing the unique season cos of 10iar
SFTB @ 7.13
Blow it oot yer erse — football is not the mixer it was in the 50’s and 60’s.
You are excusing mediocrity where the resources of the fan base are being wasted on executive bonuses and agent friendly transfers while the performance on the field diminishes towards embarrassment.
Twenty years ago is history — 2 days ago is a public humiliation.
I fear you are a middle aged history teacher trying to show off.
P01 @ 7.23
The TFOD2 tactics for Saturday — pretty weak team but they knew their limitations — involved crabbing up the touchlines looking to put us under pressure when we took the resulting throw in like a second rate bunch of egg chasers with a 1D stand off.
There other tactic was to make moves into our half — after 10M it was a case of throw themselves to the ground and wait for the MIB to do his bit.
After 60 odd minutes I was shocked that when they had worked the free kick they took it short instead of putting into the box — they had got what they wanted and now it was all about running down the clock.
DESSYBHOY on 19TH OCTOBER 2020 1:28 PM
Perhaps some serious revisionism here on Nir Bitton’s situation methinks…
My recollection is that Nir Bitton got injured and fearing the worst, and being professional, signalled to be taken off. A good decision. Then he starts to recover to the point where he indicates that he can play the International fixture against Scotland. Another good professional decision given that he plays, and plays very well, for 120 minutes.
His tongue-in-cheek and humorous comments afterwards were that Neil Lennon would likely be unhappy with him IF he wasn’t fit and available to play in Celtic’s next match. He wasn’t then available to play in Celtic’s next match, but this was nothing to do with his injury flaring up, and everything to do with Nir Bitton contracting Covid-19!
I for one will give Nir Bitton a break; I wish him a full and speedy recovery and I look forward to seeing him recovered from Covid-19 and playing in the hoops once more! 😊
Take Care, Keep Safe and Hail Hail,
TB&F. 😊
P01 @ 7.23 — Part 2
We sack PL and use his bonus money to clear out the coaching staff.
Spend some real money and bring in some real quality.
All across the patch — age groups / reserves / 1st team.
ONENIGHTINLISBON on 19TH OCTOBER 2020 3:30 PM
SETTING FREE THE BEARS FOR RES. 12 & OSCAR KNOX on 19TH OCTOBER 2020 2:20 PM
Advert for new Celtic Manager
Come and join us but lose one league game to them in any season and we’ll call for you to be sacked.
Simplistic and silly comment and you know it.
===================
it is easy to join the bandwagon of random typery and change all in front of us.at mo?
no thanks.we gather,we review and we work.we work hard.As a supporter i back sftb and his comment which slices “our support” for our manager and our club.reading back tis hard to distinguish between us(Celtic fans)and(cellik)customer rants.
hh
I also will give Neil Lennon a break and lend him my full support! 😊 This man deserves our and the Clubs fullest support! 😊
Take Care, Keep Safe and Hail Hail,
TB&F.
…there’s that “urgency” agin……
:0
SFTB
The real question for me is not what bling we’ve amassed in a one horse race.
It’s where are we now at the end of that bling fest?
Are we stronger?
Are we better placed for the next level?
Have we laid the groundwork for more success?
I delighted in their demise & knew that we’d likely gather league titles with them out of the picture but is that it? We win when they’re a shadow of their former selves but otherwise just wait for them to rebuild so we can have 4 bun fights per season & hope we prevail?
No vision but keep things as they are.
We meekly tried a managerial experiment with Ronny Deila but the infrastructure at the club was so ill suited to a professional football managerial approach that he walked away, beaten after 2 seasons of success that was achieved without his changes being implemented.
No vision but keep things as they are.
Desmond’s ego led to Rodgers who had the clout to insist on those very same changes that Deila was denied & we went on a treble feast. Still, in Europe he was a failure with embarrassing defeats almost guaranteed. We know that his attempts to improve the quality of player to achieve more in Europe were rejected & his frustration only grew so that his departure was inevitable.
No vision but keep things as they are.
We are not a professionally run organisation.
If we were professional, we’d be where Ferencvaros are & not scrambling in every league game for shape, tactics & personnel to meet our league opposition.
No vision just keep things as they are.
As we stand still, others who we were repeatedly assured were one wage bill away from a second financial implosion, are looking like the one’s with vision. To dismiss such a scenario as a temporary blip & early in the season etc is to continue to have no vision – for me anyway.
Love the trophies but would like to feel we were on a clear track to sustained success.
I don’t get that feeling.
http://etims.net/?p=16152
PHIL01
Sadly but regrettably I agree with your post. Probably the best post of the entire weekend.
With the calibre of our squad, we should be be beating Sevco while wearing waistcoats and smoking cigars. The irony is we know we can play like that.
Hail Hail
Stay Safe
Bada
A lot of good points made there.
My friends in Celtic,
If we want to attract the likes of Eddie Howe and quality foreign players we need European football.
And if I may point out, the huns are not a bad team . Circa 3 defeats out of 25 European games under SG testify to that.
It does us no favours peddling the myth that they are only average at best.
We cannot let the huns be the only Euro competitors in Scotland. They will not squander any status and financial advantage the way we have.
HH .
SFTB @ 7.13
Just to be absolutely clear
We have the trophies quoted since the year 2000
An old club called Rangers have some trophies
A current club Sevco or The Rangers Ltd, have won a Ramsden Cup – I think
They have absolutely No Premier League titles, Scottish Cup Wins or League Cup wins
They are legally a new club, the old one is currently still being liquidated
Only in Scotland does liquidation mean something different
Please do Not Forget that
I would add, the malaise I have watched this past 10 game season & European games, and for large part of last season, is seriously worrying
We are going backwards at an alarming rate
No idea on team structure, tactics etc, just superior quality winning games
We are really struggling against any well structured team
£35m spend is being quoted ( we did also get over £35m in sales when including our 100% professional previous coaching set up)
I do not have the answers, though I am worried
I believe we have the best squad of players in FtSPFL
This is not showing
We should also be doing significantly better in Europe ??
Again any decently coached team is showing us up
From a business perspective, our Board should be worried
Like SydneyTim, I have little faith in our coaching set up
We need to accept Lenny is a Manager, he should be therefore Demanding a supportive Coaching set up
Rodgers took another 3 of his backroom coaching set up, team
Lenny has had Damien Duff, and now Gavin Strachan to support John Kennedy & Stevie Woods, who were also part of Brendan’s coaching set up
For me we are still 2 coaches short for the first team ??
Is Lenny calling out for this level of support ??
Hail Hail
Kennedy and Strachan ……….. NO WAY!!!
I still cannot believe the manager said we played well in the first half on Saturday?
PS
Have the columbian Sevco player
The one that had an ateempted slap at Scott Brown
& kick at Shane Duffy
Has n
He been cited by the compliance officer ?
Or is this being ignored
Our club needs to be highlighting this
We should have given half the Duffy wages to Steven Fletcher for a year, the Duffy loan fee to Motherwell for Declan Gallagher and given the Ajeti transfer fee to Fraser Forster for the next 3 years.
if Lenny wants to save his job he has to grow a pair batter on whoever’s door and demand that the coaching staff he inherited have to go or he goes.
TBF
Think what you want at face value or revised, I will do the same.
Great article Cornelius. Unfortunately for most of us we’re a business that runs a football club and I have no doubt a cost benefit analysis has taken place indicating the consequences of nae sevco.
I’ve been in that world as well as at the coal face and sitting here 9 years retired I still shake my heid at some of the decisions that took place round the board room table after another fckn power point presentation.
Yes we almost went tae the wall but that was 26 year ago and that was due tae the avarice of a burd man, or as the yanks call a grifter, we were almost relegated 72 year ago and that was never allowed tae happen again, naw no even during the years in the wilderness, when we threatened tae move the club tae Ireland rather than take the tricolour down it was deidco who stood by us, money will always talk.
Parsimony is fine but let’s not allow it tae take over our very existence. We loosened the purse strings tae get MON who incidentally turned down the old board, we did it again tae get a manager who couldnae buy a job at the time and then bailed oot on us.
I’m not advocating a manager change right now but something has tae give before the horse is half way doon London Road.
and told CG to grow a goatee and saved a fortune on the greek goalie
It’s clear from the discussions that we need to start this climb back to the top with 3, 4 or 5 at the back, the same for the midfield and 1,2 or 3 up front. Clearly we need to have at least one goalkeeper…I think we should stick to that. As far as manager/coach and coaching staff goes we should either keep what we’ve got or change one or possibly all of them.
Now, being an expert in cultural and organizational change, I think we should start with a baby step, somethin really simple, yet somethin proven to achieve a miraculous turn-round in performance.
SPINACH!
It worked for popeye…or as he was known in Rome – Pope Ye!
Dan
After feeling a bit pessimistic the last couple of days, one thing did cross my mind.
We were looking pretty stale and predictable last season, we were beaten at home by Rangers and our title defence was looking shaky.
Lennon comes across 3-5-2 with Griff and Eddie up front and we played some of the nicest stuff of Lennon’s reign. The two strikers gave defences more to think about and they both had a great understanding.
We’ve been deprived of that this season and indeed of an Eddie/Ajeti strike-partnership. For all Klimala’s running, he’s a work in progress and clearly, Christie doesn’t work as a striker. Moi doesn’t work anywhere.
Would it be overly optimistic bordering on delusional to hope that when Eddie comes back for Aberdeen with a fit Griff/Ajeti, we might start seeing a bit more of the old Celtic?
Not sure what NL was doing on Saturday,
but sitting there in the dugout ,arms folded ,no passion,
while we were outplayed completely did not inspire confidence.
GEEBEE
For whatever reason , Eddy has looked a shadow of himself recently . What can’t have helped , and what he will probably have not enjoyed is playing without a strike partner. Having the ball lumped into him with his back to goal and 2/3 defenders stuck to him with velcro . A top quality striker nullified and rendered impotent by our tactics.
GEEBEE1978 on 19TH OCTOBER 2020 8:44 PM
Yes
GLENDALYSTONSILS
Exactly. But my point is, it may be more to do with the personnel.
Hopefully, now we have Griff and Ajetic to choose from to partner him, we might see some slightly more fluid football.
GORDYBHOY64 on 19TH OCTOBER 2020 8:54 PM
Not sure what NL was doing on Saturday,
but sitting there in the dugout ,arms folded ,no passion,
—————-
Couldn’t agree more, his body language suggested he didn’t know a plan B.
Only voice I heard was Gerrard.
Aberdeen v Celtic
Ref
William Collum
AR1
Dougie Potter
AR2
Calum Spence
Fourth Official
Andrew Dallas
GEEBEE
Agreed . Surely , even if not fully fit , Ajeti and Griff could manage 45 mins each? It would transform our goal threat
Sipsini,
unfortunately his lack of a plan B has been evident in a number of games this season