Our record in qualification campaigns is sufficiently poor that, no matter who we draw next week, none of us will take the prospect lightly. Basel and Sturm Graz are two of five potential prospects and on paper offer the stiffest opposition.
Basel won the Swiss league for the first time in eight years after perennial champions Young Boys’ early season form crashed. YB recovered, staged a late run for the title and only lost at Celtic Park in January to a late own-goal. Memories of that match are sufficiently fresh that I would not like to face the Swiss champions.
Sturm Graz won only three Austrian titles before 2024 but have secured back-to-back wins since, sapping the carbonated fizz from RB Salzburg. They will be difficult opponents for whoever they face.
Dynamo Kyiv beat Newco at Hampden in last season’s qualifiers but finished 34th of 36 teams who reached the Europa League, securing only four points from eight games. Hampered by the war, Dynamo are a shadow of their former self. Overcoming Cypriots Pafos should be the peak of their CL campaign.
Slovan Bratislava could be back, still under manager Vladimir Weiss, who presumably would be less bullish of his chances than before their Celtic Park capitulation last season. They are likely to have enough to eliminate Kazak champions Kairat.
We played Qarabag a decade ago in what turned into a tense second leg. A 0-0 draw in Azerbaijan was followed by a 1-0 win at Celtic Park, in the days when away goals still counted double. It was a long second half. The Azeris have done little to suggest they have progressed since, although a win should be expected against Macedonian champions, Shkëndija.
Bring it on.
179 Comments- Pages:
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- »
Friday eve all!
Act accordingly.
The Tattered Barnet
Still here, still buttered up the wrong way
GlenDaly from last thread
Idah was signed after a loan without an option to buy.
Ahem, away goals never counted double.
It’s a misstatement that I pedantically can never overlook.
Otherwise, howdy y’all!
TEXASTIM
Quite right!
PedantCSC
Who could forget the magnificent transition efforts overseen by our magnificent CEO pre-Artmedia and Midtjylland or the deliberate go-slow on transfer activity to hamstring our prep for Malmo, Maribor, AEK and a host of other brassneck missed opportunities.
Still, at least it’s a new dawn and we’re not making the same mistakes again of consciously leaving ourselves short in advance of these games… King Pete is dead, long live King Pete!
As things stand I think Sturm Graz would beat us over two legs. Basel would be 55/45 in their favour. We would beat any of the others. Odds would be different if we didn’t have a Board that took us from a team including Kyogo, O’Riley and Kuhn to one that can’t afford to let Yang and Tillio go because they may be needed for these games. Then I would have been confident against any of these opponents. The plc has consciously allowed the team to weaken. Feck the fans, this club exists for its shareholders.
Last night moved one step closer to the disaster scenario of the huns qualifying and us not. Low odds but not out with the realms of possibility. Maybe 15-20%.
Report that Well want just over £5m for miller.
If true, that’d be a steal and we must get in there.
Even for future sales value- he’ll make a profit
But, more importantly, he could become our new Calmac/Brown figure in long run.
Please not John McGinn again
Simpson – Craig – Gemmell
Simpson – Pusey – Tierney 🤔
Back to Basics – Glass Half Full @ 11:42 am,
“What does this mean for Dane Murray?
Does promising 22 year old get supplanted by promising 19 year old?
My feelings is the guy looks good, with good physicality for his age and a maturity about him.
It could well be, because of Dane Murray that we went out for a loan.
We heard the Manager rates Dane, he certainly has all the attributes, yet his development has been severely curtailed by injuries.
Dane having a development season with the first team is a win~win in my book.
Hail Hail
Hail Hail
DBP
I think they want maybe £8m and, additionally, it seems that he doesn’t want to stay in Scotland.
Could be wrong.
GGH
Thanks . Forgot about him ! -))))
Bedwetters are up earlier than PaulCQN! Moanin an greetin but mostly wettin the bed. Transfer Windae shuts at 1900HRS, Monday 1 September. Rodgers has already told you thick assimilated-tims,”this is how the market works”!
Ave Ave
Petethebeat – La Gazzetta hello Sport said the other day that Motherwell are looking for €6m for Lennon Miller. Bologna are interested as well as Udinese.
And Milan have told the media that they will have a new striker in August. I have no idea how the Milan fans reacted to that 😁
How does Eldorado compare to Buckie?
The Irishman with the Scottish Tongue
(The Blarney Pilgrims)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KJDEZ_LeXHQ&list=OLAK5uy_lDcgpKpI1-mPWv4MyqvRM2-YkE7NEqQ0A&index=2&pp=8AUB0gcJCccJAYcqIYzv
timmy7_noted on 31st July 2025 6:40 am
Some would have you believe that we can’t afford the players we want and don’t want the players in our price range. They would also have you believe that somehow this issue is unique to Celtic.
You can believe this if you wish, personally I believe it is just about lacking ambition and never having a plan. We want to buy low and sell high again somehow this is unique to Celtic? Well sorry I think its guff. I don’t know why we are so poor at identifying and sourcing players but the evidence is there that we are. Gaping holes in our first eleven with three days before the season starts are there for all to see.
Meekly accepting this as inevitable isn’t the way forward. Always selling before buying leaves us open to dodgy agents and the like. Waiting,waiting and waiting some more is the Celtic mantra and also leaves us open to abuse.
I’ll be there on Sunday but if things on the field go wrong and the atmosphere gets toxic it’s not the supporters fault. We are not entitled, bedwetters or spoiled with success or any of the other garbage thrown our way. We want our focus to be on a successful attractive football team not a money making machine.
We can’t let Tillio go. Just think about that.
Excellent post
Latchford
You really need some help, at least with your history of not anything else.
We had an amazing transition post MON and spending well outwith our means up to 2003/4 when we won 3 leagues out of 5 and never reaching CL knockouts. We transitioned into 3 years in a row winning the league and twice reaching last 16 knockouts into CL and living within our means.
Of course armchair malcontents such as yourself could have done better had you not been overlooked somehow in the recruitment process for the job eh ?
Likewise to go from our only failure in 10 years in 2021 into winning 5 of the next 6 domestic trophies was another disaster which I am sure you could have done so much better with.
Jackiemac
El D owned by rangers supporter family. Buckie made by Monks.
Lowball Lawwell 🤪
I hope the Austrian(?) team who are interested in Tilio weren’t watching the El Ahli game . His lack of awareness of Yamada’s run, waiting until the striker was offside and depriving him of what would have been a very good goal .
Charles Carrigan
(The Blarney Pilgrims)
https://youtu.be/AALoqb2oMpI?si=1novz8CyJ1arS2A1
Timmy7
So why has the manger not bought the players you fail to suggest he should then ?
He has had control of recruitment and the money is there ?
Tell me why ? Is it sabotage and trying to destroy what has taken 22 years or so to build ? Is he trying to do that ?
I would love to hear one good reason why anyone would do this ?
If someone was blatantly taking mo ey out of the club for their own ends on an industrial scale then fine I would get all the sad petty bitterness. There is zero evidence of this. Unlike our Glasgow rivals Celtic is totally transparent.
Can you give me a reason for what you see as so bad ? Also please do give some solutions as to who we should buy. I mean those who would come.
Noticed a fair few posts lately about lack of ambition.
Absolutely no point in bemoaning a lack of ambition on one hand while clinging to the old firm (the very antithesis of ambition) for dear life with the other.
Pick one of the two and make peace with your choice.
i posted this elsewhere, but was quite interesting to me anyway to go back over the reporting of the share issues at their time. and how DD becomes the principal shareholder. Other blogs and posters actually belive thw world 1,600 richest man is in it for the dividens.
——————
From the accounts.
DD has 6.000,000 preferrential shares.
Paying a fixed divided (checks spelling) of £480,000 per financial year. He gets this regardless of plc performance, or as much cash reserves there are.
So £480,000 per annum.
DD investment across the various share issues has been –
1995 – £4,000,000 (approx 10%)
1999 – £7,000,000 (25% of the McCann disposal, now has 14%, 63% fan owned now.)
2001 – £5,000,000 ( 20% shareholding) ).
2005 – £10,000,000 (34% and not having to offer to buy everyones shares).
So, that is £26m invested. To gain principle shareholder status.
If he has had 20 years dividens x £480k that is a £9.6m return.
so, he isnt really in t for returns is he.
Note it is 8 millions shares not 6, typo/eyesight to blame.
Celtic’s accounts are transparent, in what ways are Celtic world class? What is the hold up with Barrowfield? What is world class about the clubs basic communication with the support other than when they want money? Too many want to pat this board on the back for accruing money mostly from the support and not putting it to use.
I found this part interesting – and begs the question then, if it is about the money returns, and it is linked to CL performance, then why wouldnt they want to be in it ?
as to DD comments, doesnt sound like someone aged 75 who is interested in managing the spensing, being the sign-off or worried about players having tatoos.
————–
Celtic kick-off shares offer with wins bonus
NEWSMAKER OF THE WEEK by Cyril Hardiman
Sat 7 Jul 2001 at 00:11
https://www.independent.ie/business/celtic-kick-off-shares-offer-with-wins-bonus/26079471.html
The rights issue also has a few peculiarities that should appeal to hardcore supporters with a minimum £550 to invest. As well as a fixed dividend of 4 per cent on the new stock, there will also be an extra ‘participating dividend’ tied to the club’s success, or failure, in the European champions league which pays out a maximum 6 per cent if the club reaches the semi-finals, and nothing if it fails to qualify. Shareholders will also receive a special-edition certificate featuring the treble winning team.
Desmond, who owns just under 20 per cent of the club, will take up his rights and could see his stake rise to the high twenties depending on how many other shareholders apply. But he is not planning to get more involved. ‘The more successful the club, the more I can step back,’ he says.
I have attended every Celtic V Motherwell match over the last 5 or so years.
I think that FirPark is our biggest away allocation .
I can only remember noticing Lennon Miller’s contribution to Motherwell once .
He struck the post with a decent shot , after we gave away possession in a dangerous area , and handed him a great opportunity, which he failed to convert .
He not as good as any of our current midfield players .
We should be looking for better .
TT
Out of curiosity, who is ‘Mark Hendry on X’?
Miller may become a very good player, he certainly seems to have a very big fan club amongst ex-pros and pundits. He is their captain, their best player and now a Scotland internationalist so Motherwell are right to ask for decent money for him. Money we could easily afford for a top Scottish talent which has other benefits when it comes to European squads,
The downside, for him is he would be a sub for us and, just like McGowan and Bernardo, he would have to live off the occasional appearance while waiting for a run of games to show whether he can make the step up or not.
Like McGinn before him, he is looking to be a first team pick wherever he goes. Even if we wanted him, we clearly wouldn`t give that reassurance so his Dad appears to be advising him not consider us.
The recent success in Italy of other Scottish players shows there is a different path open to them than just crossing the border to England.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyjggjplyqo
Outrageous behaviour.
Shocking.
Tasteless.
Classless.
Abhorrent.
Offensive.
Disgusting
(cont …..)
I wonder why the copyright owners simply don’t enforce their legal rights, demand (not request or ask) their creative output is not used AND then seek redress through the courts? ….
…. Thus strengthening their public proclamations about distancing themselves from this crass outfit?
Oh, that’s right ….
£ $ € ¥
Marco Tillio will need to be kept in the squad and played as needed because we have not signed any wide players,can that wait until the close of the window? His competition is Yang and Forrest who is injured often and cant play 90minutes, not sure Yang can either,Jota has an ACL injury out to 2026 and that leaves us with Maeda on the left side unless Nygren can play off the left. Anyone concerned, we have also lost the goals of Kyogo from this time last year.
those southern softies at goodwood not liking a light rain shower.
pah…
What can Celtic expect?
Predominantly a central defender, Simpson-Pusey can also play at right-back if required.
Man City’s player profile describes him as “a commanding figure in defence” who is “calm, towering and graceful” on the ball.
He’s more than comfortable on the ball, and City add that he fits the club’s philosophy because “he can showcase his strength when defending but also has a sharp eye for initiating attacks with clinical forward passing.”
Simpson Pusey played against us when we beat Man City 4-3 in last season’s friendly in USA.
Brendan gets what he wants 👍
Lanlque Blow the head off you,or V P Cheap potent wine bŕŕrrr.
Did we not have ch dealings with man city before on loan and did we not want to buy him but the man c boss wouldn’t sell him to us .can’t quie remember his name .