I like Scott Brown and Leigh Griffiths’ reactions to our recent adversity. It says a lot about them. They both personalise responsibility for what happens next, this is an important part of recovery – and success.
A week ago I wrote that the League Cup semi against Ross County was the biggest game in the rest of our season, and that it wasn’t a game I’d bet on. It provided the toxicity cup football can generate, creating a crisis mentality which rolled into Aberdeen on Wednesday.
This psychological phenomenon has to end now. Feel free to put a date in June in the diary to get back to it. We are in a genuine league title contest, something you and I talked about as a great thing for Scottish football not so long ago. We have no God given right to be miles ahead of anyone. We are here because we’ve made mistakes and an opponent stepped up. Welcome to Celtic.
If you want to open an inquest when the patient catches a cold, knock yourself out, but I’m not up for it. If we want this title, we circle the wagons and give the manager and players the encouragement they need to get the job done (and, erm, that includes you, ‘Phyllis’). You can be sure Aberdeen fans will do nothing less.
Tomorrow the focus switches to Perth, where Aberdeen take on St Johnstone. They won their first 8 league games this season, but the wheels came off the tractor immediately after their most important victory away from home – at Tynecastle. Next up was a League Cup game against Hibs, the loss of which plunged them into a five-week chasm.
They are a team who get notoriously nervous just when they begin to think they are in with a chance. We’ll see what Tommy Wright does with them tomorrow.
Enjoy your football. Enjoy this league race, the challenge and the disappointments. Enjoy that thrill when a goal goes against Aberdeen, or the downer when they score. It will make the finale all the more rewarding, I promise you.
1,334 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- ...
- 36
- »
bigchipsuk
who are you to question my support of celtic?
Ive never questioned yours or anyone elses?
I watch the games I buy the strips…whats that to do with you?
my support of celtic will be with me till the day I die…ahh do you want me to boo at games? I leave that to fanbhoys who didnt watch thru the macari and brady years and the
huns blatant cheating 9iar.
we have a title challenge at the moment
because we are worse not because Aberdeen
are better…thats the bottom line here.
and its not acceptable.
If thats the way you want the league to be
more competative then say goodbye forever
to taking part (not even competing) in Europe.
we are worse due to the boards nonsensical
downsizing and an inept managerial team.
Sorry Paul, that’s a disappointing article.
You’re “not up for” an inquest? Well, lots of fans are and I am really not sure why we have to wait till June to have one.
Consistently, you have extolled the virtues of forward planning. Waiting till June to deal with our obvious problems would seem to me to delay solving anything until well into next season – and writing off Europe once again as we desperately try to sort ourselves out.
Don’t take this the wrong way, but I can’t help feeling your desire to put off discussion till June has quite a lot to do with the increasing fire being directed at PL – of whom you have been supportive in the past.
I’m not suggesting wholesale change now would be the best solution, but we can’t duck the big questions. That a debate about how Celtic is managed, from the largest shareholder down, is necessary, is screamingly obvious, and is already happening in supporters’ clubs across the country.
Circling the wagons as a means of shutting down debate has never worked for anyone, anywhere, ever.
The sevconians will be delighted with PL and RD.
They will be hoping that both keep doing what they are doing.
You would think that Celtic being downsized…..will be to somebody else’s advantage….and you would be right.
And we all know who that is.
We should have been so far in front of thems….but watching the team against Aberdeen…we are not.
Terrible direction from the weak, weak board….and a manager who thinks he is a tactical genius, but keeps getting humped.
Shambles….They will be rubbing their hooves with glee.
HH
There are a handful of tickets left for the EKFC end for Sunday’s match.
K Park ticket office is open ’til 6pm tonight if you want to go.
i expect a comfortable win tomorrow but it might be a smart bet to go for EK to notch one from a corner!
5-1 I think
Belfastbhoy0 on 5th February 2016 12:26 pm
Paul, if we were up and running we would be enjoying the race, –
————–
BB –
With respect, if we were up and running there would be no race…
A few points – Players talking the next day after a bad result ” We will get it right!” Shut up!!! Just f**ck*ng do it on park. EK game,, I forecast a tight 3-1 victory. But i would not bet one penny on it. we are that bad at the moment. any attacker will feel they could run through our team.. no need to avoid a tackle..we never make any.
Sorry if posted earlier (just looked up after a long morning at the computer screen)
NEWS | Lubomir Moravčík will help conduct Monday’s @WillHillBet Scottish Cup quarter-final draw at Hampden Park.
Will he draw East Kilbride against Kilmarnock?
a few years after the Huns died we should have had a goosd team of home grown players.. we didn’t even try.. No young players given a chane even when 15 point s clear in the league and even if 3-4 goals up. Instead we bought mainly dross. somne of whom were so bad it was frightening, Bangura being the worst..or was it balde..Or Boerigter. Players on loan….. why.. we now have 3 CFs out on loan … adn still have a completely unfit VCarlton Cole getting a wage fir the next 18 months
To many of our players like to tell us in what they are going to do . It would be nice if they kept their mouths closed and started doing it on the pitch.
As for Ronny he will get my support as long as he is still manager, although i feel he should be long gone by now.
Even if he does win the league, there is no way he can be risked leading us into Europe next season.
The money that has been thrown away on duds alone….should have seen someone relieved of their duties.
What gets me…is how nobody on the PLC is ever held responsible for the mismanagement….Ciftci, is a case in point.
That was just throwing money away….a decision by someone with too much power, who knows feck all about football.
No wonder we havent got a decent budget….some fool keeps throwing it away on numpties.
Its time there was a bit of explanation.
Cant go on like this….hiding wont solve anything.
HH
With respect, I’d say Aberdeen are better this Season because they have shown some mental toughness.
I obviously think Celtic will win by a good few points, I’m heartened that the Tribute Act will get it tight at more than a few grounds, well if the John Flemings of this World ain’t levelling the playing field across the Board.
You got to fight, for the right, to Party.
Maybe im wrong but if you cant win the treble in Scotland we are very unlikely to qualify for the CL.That is my opinion we have seen last season and again this season we are unable to win the domestic treble.Winning in Scotland is the foundation we need to build from and at the moment our foundation is very shaky. As we are at the moment we would be very unlikely to get through the qualifyers so lets sort out Scotland first. H.H.
Aberdeen have got better of that there is no doubt. Also of no doubt is the fact that we have made mistakes.
I mentioned the physiological harm the sequence of events could have on this blog right after the match on Wednesday. I agree that there could be a malaise that sets in but it is more of a continuance of the 90 min behaviours of our players setting into their training and daily lives. The inability to recover from any adversity, the inability to concentrate early in matches or after we score, the lack of leadership and encouragement on the pitch.
Aberdeen put their bodies on the line because they wanted it more. We only had instances of griffiths fighting for a lost cause out on the wing or Brown going in hard on a couple of occasions. Those behaviours were missing at both goals we lost and there only looked to be shock in reaction to the ball hitting our net, not revulsion, blame or an immediate inquest… No fight no shouting … Just lame acceptance. At no point did we see a loan hooped jersey go into a hard tackle win it and a subsequent shout of encouragement to team mates to do the same. At no point did a Celtic player throw his body in front of a shot. Instead backs were turned. Think back a few years to Stan Petrov diving in front of shots then picking himself up to do the same again.
These are positive things and skills players need. Be up for it right in the oppositions face all the time every time.
There has been no evidence of that in 18 months since Deila arrived. To compound matters we play wide open with players who apparently can’t play the system.
Why wait till June when the evidence points to a huge risk of failure?
I knew the bhoys from not the view in the late 80’s. Proud Celtic fans who wanted change they did not ” knock themselves out “. This is just not this season. Ronny or the rubber plant in the foyer could win the league this year and to be honest , there is no Celtic fan out there who thinks we won’t
Paul 67 your last few posts are classic celtic view editorials from those days
You said in about 2006, our way forward was to cut costs and play youths with a sprinklings of experience , which is what we should be doing today
That has failed due to a CEO who has no idea how a football club should be Run
Here are the facts paul. If tomorrow, Peter Lawell was sacked , we would have a chance at CL thus year with its 20milion income
With PL still in place , we have none
Make your mind up paul
The ira, even the dogs in the street know it’s a joke…….
The famine song, it’s just banter…………..
now who do you think your looking like, and sounding like, and behaving like?
Yup, you got it, it’s despicable, that so called Celtic supporters come away with this rubbish, all for an agenda, makes me physically sick to even think how low our fans have sunk, it’s a terrible day when your no better than a Hun, because that’s the label we all wear now.
GB, Left Wing Socialist, and Splinter Groups, take a bow, a job well done.
Play the man and not the ball people say about me?
They REALY need to think about that one, just because someone said it you have to say it,?
Let me help you out here, playing R D is fair? This has to go down in all my years as a Celtic supporter as the most easily led fans I’v ever known, yes even thems, all to get a fan on the board, watching and supporting Celtic now puts me in the Minority,,
You need to be an activists these days, protest this, protest that, get him out, get them out, pay this, pay that, we want a meeting with the board, it’s getting to the stage now that it’s almost beyond repair.
My activist days are over as I was one all my working days, and I mean heavy, but never at any time where CFC involved, that was my club, my first love, my weekend outlet, through good and bad times they where and still are.
It’s a different supporter now and in my opinion not a good one, the kids are not allowed to have fun at games now, back in the day, we went 5,6,7,15, of us to games home and away, had a few minor scrimmages, nothing serious but generally just got on with it, supporting Celtic all through my teens, now a days you have be in a group when your a teen, yes..the GB…. Kids being groomed for political agendas, now even I know that’s not right, I’v seen them at work, as I’v said just take a for instance case like this, a kid goes along with others, or is holding a banner, he gets lifted, charged, and has an offence against him, ten years down the road, he’s settled married, got a couple of kids he decides to emigrate to the US Canada, SA, well he ain’t getting in, because some adult gave him a banner to hold IE because the adult knows what’s going to happen, so the kids done, life ruined, this is a reality believe me, it’s what goes on, I’v been to a couple Of meetings where the GB have attended, and I can assure you they are far from being teenagers.
Parents are even calling CFC to ask them to ban there kid from attending Celtic Park because of these groups they’r children are associating with, and all for politics,.
I’m not the flavour of the month with them and I couldent REALY care either, but those kids getting into trouble need more looked into than RD job does, and the bottom line is as I’v said, they don’t care about the kids either, ohhh they’ll make a big Bru ha about it bumping they’r gums, petitions here, petitions there, meetings with CFC, police Scotland, have a Wee jolly through to edinburough with a several students with them who get the day off for work study ( or what ever it is they call it)
Doesent matter the kids been done, that’s what matters.
That’s the reason they do it, using kids, it gets the story.
It’s not about RD or Efe getting sent off, or the Griff. Missing a penalty, all this is about is POLITICS, nothing more nothing less, people who just follow the protesters will always be there and the head hunters know it, that to me is what all this is about, and I wouldent see any of them in my way, to either debat on it or prove it, it’s what I know and believe , the rest of you it’s up to yourself .
Ronny D.
Nice Guy, no clue.
Exhibits the classic Scandanavian sporting mentality that produces competitive teams with no real bite.
Maxim: ‘It’s more important to play the game than win’.
We’ve seen it for decades – tricky, useful teams from the North making life difficult for bigger European sides but never excelling; usually hitting a wall at some point after lavish praise has been thrown their way and expectations raised.
We’re in that mould exactly now. But we’re even slipping, failing to best Scandanavia’s finest, failing to turn up even in domestic crunch games.
We lack winners.
Broon, Gordon, maybe Griffiths because he shows a lot of dig – but they’re about the only ‘winners’ that come to mind when considering this squad’s ability to dig it out psychologically when needed. The only guys you ever see gritting their teeth, growling at the heads-down around them. Sviatchenko maybe looks someone you can rely on in the trenches but time will tell.
As for the rest? Nice guys, good ability, wouldn’t say boo to a moose; Not the kind with antlers, either – the field type, anxiety-ridden quick to hide. Like most of our current bhoys.
Every time this season : Malmo. Molde. Ross County. Aberdeen.
Physically, we have the most talented squad in the country. Mentally, we have proven only that to date we do not have the steel required to win when it matters.
Where does the buck stop?
Does anyone feel that Ronny has too many choices for midfield and that is why we always play 5?
If he could make his mind up and have his best 11 in his head, stick to it and only change when needs must due to injury etc. then he would help himself a lot.
The bench can be a great tool for plan B but you need a plan B if that is the case.
Out of all our players who would be your most consistent 11 to build a team around?
Kevin Costner isn’t everyone’ s cup of darjeeling but he managed to make a mighty fine movie in ‘Field of Dreams’, without trampling all over the book on which it was based.
I love redemption.
DBBIA/ShoelessJoeCSC
Joe filippis I hear ya bud. I haven’t even though about who to bring in. I would love for ronny to do well, I just don’t think he has what it takes to have us winning trebles
BigChipsUK
Optimism is good:)
HH
Apologies to cleverclogs Phil Alden Robinson, who both directed and wrote the movie.
Paul,
Maith thú!!
Árd Macha
Long Wait, i’ll expand that point a little then, in full what I meant was if we were where we are supposed to be in the plan – remember the whole Generation of Domination/ spending the few years of relative comfort league wise to actively blood in youngsters (at teh time I thought that meant our youngsters) and having an unassailable position when the NEW SITH join us for the first time , we MAY still be ahead of them but we are certainly nowhere near where we should be – and Aberdeen were 3-6 points behind us still (ie both of us having about 10 more points than we currently do) then we’d enjoy the race – a few home drubbings of other teams have masked a few things
This isn’t the same kind of competition we faced from Aberdeen and Dundee Utd in the early eighties. Back then it was more about home grown players and fair play to them, they both more than held their own against us for a few years. That was good competition. Now we’re watching too many players not interested in playing for the jersey, and too many that don’t have a clue about our club. I genuinely feel sorry for our young support just now, we’re winning the League every year but the atmosphere has gone completely. I can see more of them drifting away
HH
We have no God given right to be ahead of anyone but we do have the resources to justify it. Aberdeen winning the league would be on our failure.
Massive massive odds stacked in Celtics favour yet we contrive to make stupid mistakes that look so bad they could be deliberate.
A managerial appointment that meandered for months before we had one faction of our leadership force the hands on operation. The Keane saga was a farce that still sits illustrates the open sore of poor decision making within our club. We wait till June we could lose the league and access to Europe.
It makes no sense whatsoever to wait until June to review the coaches position. What is there to review?
This tells me the decision has been made to part company with Deila and all we are doing is giving a dead man walking a chance to walk away with his integrity and us to keep some more money in the bank.
Serious misunderstanding of Risks and reality at Celtic Park.
tonydonnelly67 on 5th February 2016 1:41 pm
Respect.
MINCEYHEIDMAN
This what id right now.
Drop Craig Gordon….Not a confident player.
Id play KT and IZZY at Full Back
Shievchenko and Lustig…..centre halfs
Then…key move…Id play Scott Brown directly in front of the centre halfs….playing deep, and not centre-mid.
Midfield…Biton Allan Roberts
Leigh Griff and Kris C up front.
HH
Scott Brown was imperious on Wednesday….for the first 20 minutes.
His fitness will get better and so will we. I liked the look of Kazim-Richards and Sviatchenko again.
Árd Macha
Aberdeen’s points total and 2 early cup exits tell you they are much the same as last season
TD67 An interesting post fella and something I had not considered at all I dont know anything about how the Green Brigade are run. I just thought they were a group of younger Celtic fans with the fire of youth in there bellies.If it as you say run by Elder guys with political motives I can see how it would be a dangerous group for the youngsters concerned and any trouble with the law could be a problem for them in the future I worked in an Industry where any trouble with the law was a complete NO NO. H.H.
TD67
If you are making references to me have the decency to address me.
You really don’t have a fecking clue do you.
I said the stuff in the papers was a joke, just like the post was a joke, and the stuff about the famine song, wtf are you on about, I wasn’t the first on here to mention it, why no take it up with them, but no, you are as usual having an unwarented dig, and you have the nerve to mention playing the man and ball.
You really should get a life, or an education would be more appropriate.
Few Horses to consider
Third Act 3.15 Chepstow
Harley Rebel 3.50 Chepstow
Jintshi 7.15 Wolves
Shalaman 8.30 Dundalk
And may the lord have mercy on your souls.
Bhoys. In last 3 years we have struggled against clubs in Europe with far far less resources than us It’s getting worse year on year
Now we struggle against teams in Scotland with far far far less resources
Time for a change
MINCEYHEIDMAN
You really think we have too many midfielders ? Only have about 15 at my last count,.
Great post Paul and needed to be said.
Amongst all the doom and gloom of the last couple of days there’s a bit of good news that needs sharing. Clydesdale Bank along with its sister bank the Yorkshire floated on the Stock Exchange on Tuesday under the name Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank Group.
So the good news is that we can now trade in shares in CYBG or Come on You Bhoys in Green!
Need to get out more.
Paul67’s title suggests humility as does “….no God given…”, sadly everything else in the article smacks of the levels of arrogance that would gocompare, gocompare with SDM.
Unfortunately, its a quality he shares with many posters on here and the Celtic players, management and boardroom and is a primary criteria why we’re doing so poorly despite having such superior resources.
It’s encapsulated in the final paragraph. CQN has many good qualities but its achilles heel is that level of presumptuousness that the league is there for the taking, and only crap refereeing decisions stand in the way.
That has been one of the key raison d’etre since CQN’s formation.
On the flip side, there are those who would prefer to see hard work rewarded rather than Ronny-speak-bullshit-a-minute which seems to have many on here in rapture.
No for me, shut up, work hard behind the scenes, say nothing except in the patch of grass known as the fitba pitch.
I have avoided the blog as much as possible since the Aberdeen game, I am simply not interested in accusations and recriminations, I don’t want to discuss who should be sacked or who is to blame for us losing the last couple of games, I just want to see our Bhoys rally, the players the fans everyone, we are all Celtic lets act like it.
I believe in these players, I think we have the best squad in Scotland I think we play the best brand of football in Scotland and I still believe we have the best support in Scotland, lets kick the shit out of this league and win it again. I know that we can.
Hail Hail.