Martin O’Neill is royalty. In his company, everyone is on form. They listen to whatever he says, no one interrupts him, no one contradicts. If you tell Martin a joke, you make sure it’s funny. Even the A-graders watch their words around him.
This kind of respect is hard won. He delivered as a player, possessing two European Cup winner’s medals. As manager of Leicester City, he reached three League Cup finals in four season, winning two.
His arrival in Glasgow in 2000 changed football here forever. Despite winning the league in 1998 Celtic were perennial underdogs for 12 years, forever trying to catch up with their neighbours. We have lost five leagues in the subsequence 18 years, but even during the darkest of those days, we remained a formidable opponent to all in Scotland.
Martin’s formula was straightforward. He liked defenders who would win and clear the ball. He liked wide players who were good at crossing the ball and he liked strikers who scored goals. The recent sequence of hundreds of corner kicks Celtic failed to converted over nine months was unthinkable in Martin’s time. Back then the panic was over how few goals we scored from open play. Send the ball forward, get it into the box, everyone attack the ball.
It worked. Then the (rightly) maligned Alex McLeish arrived at Ibrox, played three up front against Celtic’s three central defenders and won the first five trophies available to him. Alex. McLeish. Celtic responded by winning 25 consecutive league games in season 2003-04, the most dominating champions up until that point, but Larsson left and the stars of Thompson, Sutton and Hartson faded. There was no sustainable strategy.
If Martin O’Neill was sitting beside me right now I would be in awe, but the writing has been on the wall for well over a decade regarding his football management prowess. Martin had the magic potion in the late 90s and early 2000s. He went toe-to-toe with Mourinho – the latter only edged their epic encounter with far better players, but his systems were ineffective against modern players and on modern pitches.
He reached the Euros with Ireland, despite the remarkable (cough) choice of Roy Keane as his assistant, and only a pummelling by Denmark stopped Ireland reaching this year’s World Cup, but the style of football was little changed from his days in Glasgow.
The people of Leicester adored him, then some other guy came along and won the league. He is adored in Glasgow too, but some other guy followed him and took us into the once fabled ‘next stage’ in the Champions League, others beat Barcelona and won double trebles. He was a titan when he left town in 2005, eclipsed only by Jock Stein, but revisionism has not been kind.
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Watching the telly half an hour behind live. Big Judith appealing to a different demographic tonight. A South of the river one.
?⚽️
Almore
:)
MacJay
Where was the Odeon in Scotstoun?
The only cinemas when I was young in that area were on Crow Road Partick and Great Western Road Anniesland. There was a condemned Cinema in Whiteinch near the Clyde Tunnell. Cannae remember a Scotstoun picture house.
YNWA
macjay1 for Neil Lennon.,thanks for the reply macjay ,yes his brother bobby too, and then came as you say Richard millhouse Nixon, he actually was a better piano player than he was a president.hh.
Those who read the blog regularly will know that Paul67 likes to tell us how MON is old news etc etc etc. My guess is that Paul is a disciple of the PL way of doing things and MON wasn’t. Maybe not quite as clear cut as that, but something along those lines. The bottom line is MON was the guy who had the ability and the bottle to put a marker down, he done it with aplomb and we have never looked back. Celtic FC wouldn’t be what it is today without him, the dominant force in Scottish football. He is a pivotal figure in the Clubs history, one of the top handful imo. More respect is due. I guess if Paul runs down MON it makes PL look better, i.e it all started when PL took the reigns.
DD
I went to the Odeon in whiteinch around 1956 not far along from primrose at going towards St Paul’s
Primrose St
Oh god bless the DR, now running with a Skrtel may come to the bigotdome on a free this January . The gullibles will swallow that one for sure?
BP
Do you think that the Vietnam War would have happened if JFK was not assassinated and Johnston was not POTUS?
My dad used to say that.
YNWA
M6Bhoy@12:42
Been in meetings most of the day, so I am not sure if anyone responded to your post.
If not, I wanted to take a moment to do so.
As someone who, a few years ago, got to where you are now, I know how difficult that post must have been to write. So, I wanted to at least acknowledge it.
Even though I no longer fund Celtic, and am not sure if I still support Celtic, I still get enjoyment out of seeing the zombies get humped. And I do get more enjoyment out of the Bhoys humping them, than for example, the Dons….. but mostly because I know that causes the zombies the most anguish.
And, if I am being honest, I still get some enjoyment out of seeing the bhoys play well … but it is tinged with a bit of sadness, as, although they still look like the team I grew up supporting, something has changed; it no longer really feels like the club I grew up supporting. It now just feels like a business, and I am just a customer to them.
It is funny … although I no longer get so stressed if I miss a Celtic game, I still lurk/post on CQN and Sentinel Celts … mostly because there are so many friends and good people that post on them.
I hope that, whatever you decide to do, you will still keep posting. Too many nice people seem to have left already.
Gents, (repost)
I should have done this before now….there is only today left I think to do a favour for a couple of young (ish!) Celtic fans…
If you open question 19 and vote for Project SMOK as the best up and coming trad music band….takes 5 mins..
Also, Laura wilkie at No12.
https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/Scotstrad2018
Gene
Is the new Saint Pauls Primary on Primrose Street, built on the site of the cinema? It must be because all other buildings on Primrose Street are tenements.
YNWA
DELANEYS DUNKY, garry my old man thought the same regarding Johnson, sadly we will never know. but there was something about Johnson my old man didn’t like.hh.?
JAMESGANG on 22ND NOVEMBER 2018 6:09 PM
THOMTHETHIM FOR OSCAR OK on 22ND NOVEMBER 2018 5:27 PM
I can’t recall who said,” All managerial careers end in failure”, but he had a point
——-
That might have been Enoch Powel whole tsking in a footie match, as I believe he said exactly the same ref politicians.
Actually, now you come to mention it, perhaps he posts on here!?!?!
******
I’m sure Canamalar will be flattered at the connection! : > )
HOT SMOKED on 22ND NOVEMBER 2018 10:11 AM
Worthy, IMO, of a repost:
“SETTING FREE THE BEARS FOR RES. 12 & OSCAR KNOX on 22ND NOVEMBER 2018 8:56 AM
Macjay
“Let`s be hearing from members of the CQN fraternity who have run multi million pound organisations.
Your starter for …………………………………..
And forsooth , the punters waited in awe. With bated breath . For the challenge had been laid down.For surely there would be a rush to admit membership of said club
========================================================================
Not sure I get your line of atttack here but I am prepared to reply even if, like you, I do not meet the stringent requirements for comment that you intended to set (BTW- doubt if anyone is in awe waiting for this or has bated their breath). :-
I did not see much criticism for the way Celtic is run commercially yesterday- did you?
What I did see was a lot of criticism about the ethics of the operation over the obscurantist way it dealt with a shareholder led request for clarity on Res 12.
The people who led the complaints against Volkswagen over their falsification of diesel emission data, did not have experience of running companies as large as Volkswagen. Should their complaint have been dis-barred?
Those companies that mis-sold PPI with their products were usually large companies. The people that sought re-dress had had to have recourse to credit facilities, resulting in PPI being offered, so they were unlikely to be captains of industry either. Did they not understand the pressures that lead to unethical behaviour in Boardrooms?
You are a poster that will use the exhortation to “play the ball and not the man” but you have just been guilty of Colonel Jessup type rhetoric in stating “we are not fit to criticise or handle our truth”. You made no comment on the merits of the arguments being put forward in criticism of the Board, you just belittled the right, or expertise, to be exact, of the critics to make their argument.
There is a poster on CQN, Traditionalist88, who regularly states that “We are not allowed to criticise professionals” and claims that there are many posters who are advancing that “straw man” argument. I have often challenged him by asking who is actually saying that as I do not see that argument being madeYour post, about needing credentials and qualifications to be able to criticise, has made my question less telling. There is now one CQN man who has advanced such a view- yourself.
Now, how about starting again and stating your own views about the merits or weaknesses in the criticism leveled against the board.
Don’t worry, I will set a very low barrier for your right to express such views- you just have to attempt to make sense.”
SFTB
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Ah.
Assumption and misunderstanding.
I didn`t attend the AGM and am in no position to make any comment about the proceedings.
My comments at : 22ND NOVEMBER 2018 5:52 AM were in response to this contribution, since unsurprisingly deleted and the post AGM ludicrous threat to sue Celtic FC.
I hope that our moderators do not find the expletive deleted version unacceptable.
If so , please accept my apologies.
on 22ND NOVEMBER 2018 12:43 AM
—– the sad ORANGE ======= ==== The OLD FIRM PLC knew and know how to play the media. Go ==== youreslf Peter Lawell and get the ==== away from my club you cretinous ====! Go save your RANGERS you ====. ==== OFF YESTERDAY. And go ==== any so called TIM who harbours any ounce of respect for that ===== or his BOSS! Pair of OLD FIRM living === punching ======= !
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At this stage , I have to wonder what BMCUW said which caused him to be blackballed.
BIG PACKY 1 on 22ND NOVEMBER 2018 7:25 PM
macjay1 for Neil Lennon.,thanks for the reply macjay ,yes his brother bobby too, and then came as you say Richard millhouse Nixon, he actually was a better piano player than he was a president.hh.
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And he was a lousy piano player.
:-)
MIT
My son just played me the new single by LA band Weezer. ‘Zombie Bastards’
The opening line goes,”Die,Die, You Zombie Bastards.”
The Green Brigade must adopt this song.
Think I will start it at Hamilton on Saturday. ?
YNWA
HUNDERBIRDS
Caught your post, and agreed that Stuart Armstrong was the least effective of the Scottish midfield, way
too often, as such at Celtic.
Your point re Shis fee and the remaining length of contract, is also valid, illustrated by his lack of impact at Southampton. A classy player who flattered to deceive.
DD
I lived at number 20 primrose street till 1957 – before the school was built there – the cinema was on the main rd
MACJAY. what can I say he was no Oscar Peterson.hh.???
Gene
Thanks pal. My Aunt Eileen lived on Scotstoun Street beside you from 1956. I went to the Old Saint Paul’s and would walk to her house for lunch. Was closer than walking to mine in Partick. That was 1970 onwards.
YNWA
David17 7:25
Agreed. We had become a bit of a laughing stock in the Barnes/Dalglish season. MON came in and gave us our pride back.
Paul’s analysis looks like it starts with the conclusion and works back to arrive at it.
DELANEYS DUNKY on 22ND NOVEMBER 2018 7:24 PM
Can`t find a Photo of a caur on Dumbarton Rd with the Odeon in the background.
As you passed the bowling green on the left the Odeon was across the Rd and some 40 metres beyond .
Just before the start of the tenement buildings and the ” Commodore ” cafe.
:-)
I think there`s a pub there now.
Well I see Maradominic is back on,after a quite long lapse.H,mmm,I wonder w9hat he could be on about.Was there an AGM possibly?.
Another shit stirrer.
” Granny Gibbs ” the pub.
And this is said band new website.
Please excuse the advertising….!
https://projectsmok.com
Not on here often now, however I take umbrage at the time of this column. MON and the backing of DD allowed us to establish a platform where we could go forward and be the dominant force in Scottish football.
The glory nights v Juve and MUFC were rooted in our MON years. Just remember where we were when he arrived. My Lhad and I had some of the greatest days following the team back then.
If anyone wants to carry MON round Celtic Park on their shoulders, they will be behind me in the queue. HH
Re. The dichotomy facing the Celtic Support, individually and collectively, of not wanting to validate the new club in any way as “Rangers”, yet selling out the £49 tickets (©️ Kev [formely known as KevJungle]) in double quick time. I am not in a position to attend games any more, but if I were, I would be first in the queue with my £49. Yet l currently spend more time than is healthy in endless conversations mocking the continuation myth. I used to love beating Rangers, and I now love beating the Zombies. I know they are not the same, Rangers died, it was in the papers and everything. I used to get enjoyment out of Celtic vanquishing Rangers, as I knew it was a dagger into the dark hearts of their support. That same support today follows the Zombies, and I know that when we beat them, they feel the same pain. GFTB and others have said it before…
… it’s a different sh**e, but very much the same flies. It’s the flies I strongly dislike, and I still enjoy seeing Celtic ruin their day, because that ruins their day more than anything can.
?⚽️
BSR
Thanks for the validation of my Armstrong comment.
https://m.youtube.com/results?search_query=Project+smok
My old man was big on “the pictures.” We went all over Glasgow -including to what He called The Commodore in Scotstoun.My addled ole bonce thinks it shut around the time I left Glasgow to go to Uni.67/68?
MACJAY1 FOR NEIL LENNON. just tickled me there when you mentioned caur, my late uncle packy who I take my blog name from, always said caur never car but the weirdest thing was, all his brothers said car including my mum his sister, anyway apologies to the blog if you think im talking shit,hh.?
MacJay
Ah. Colin Beattie’s pub Granny Gibbs and his auctioneers behind it. Saint Paul’s Primary next door. The new school. Not the one attached to the Church that we attended.
Remember now, thanks to you and Gene.
YNWA
And last post on the matter….this is one of the tunes I mentioned to Macjay on a moonhowling session a few weeks ago…
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nP8-RtGwazM
SOUTH OF TUNIS on 22ND NOVEMBER 2018 8:18 PM
The Odeon in Scotstoun was demolished in `76 , from memory.
I took photographs of the proceedings.
Tunis.
Cinemas izzit.
http://www.mitchelllibrary.org/virtualmitchell/index.php?a=street
Love this site.
SOT
My mammy’s first job was an usherette in Rosevale cinema Partick. Where she met my dad fae Rosevale Street. You been there?
The Tivoli Partick Saturday matinee was gang fights in the pictures. Partick vBowrie Whiteinch the most infamous battle. Mental.
YNWA
HRVATSKI JIM on 22ND NOVEMBER 2018 6:08 PM
My point was whether they utter the term or not they know it will be used to promote the game, they could as owners of the trademark object to the media using it to promote the game but that would be very difficult since they have partnered The rangers in ensuring the trademark remaind a shared asset.
DD
Oor wee schil .
http://www.mitchelllibrary.org/virtualmitchell/image.php?i=9300&r=2&t=4&x=1