Is it any compensation that POAK, who finished second to AEK last season, drew 1-1 against Benfica in Lisbon, in the Champions League playoff first leg last night? Not really, but it is a marker of the standard required to beat the Greek champions. POAK eliminated Basel 5-1 on aggregate two rounds ago. Greece are likely to have two teams in the group stage.
What might have been is irrelevant, it is more important to perform to the level required in Lithuania tomorrow evening. Celtic are far stronger than Suduva, but you and I have seen what happens when a Celtic team let standards drop away in Europe, even for a short period of a game.
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WDH
Saw a crackin’ mural in Manchester Piccadilly on Sunday.
And on the sixth day, God created Man chester.
DILLIGAFBHOY on 22ND AUGUST 2018 3:41 PM
“Brendan’s, kamikaze, gung ho, easily mugged, style of management that wouldn’t have been out of place at Celtic Park in the early 90’s.”
Not happy with back to back trebles eh! Nurse!
##################################
Ha ;
I was talking about the Brendan from Liverpool FC, he didn’t win back to back treble’s at LFC, not enough pub teams down there.
Obtuse is the name of the game CSC
Laters.
Eddie out
BOURNESOUPRECIPE on 22ND AUGUST 2018 6:45 PM
A bit of rearguard action there!
My team for tomorrow
The holie goalie
Danny mcgrain
McStay Lubo
Joanie & Joanie
Saint Stivs
Myself and a few strong Catholic men from Clydebank will be attending the vigil Mass at Saint Alphonsus this Saturday.
Randall , Hopkirk and Rangers (deceased).
STV 26/06/2012
Kyle Lafferty now one of six Rangers players to refuse to take up employment with Charles Green’s Sevco 5088
Be Careful What You Tweet CSC
BMCUWP & Almore; thanks bhoys. I just checked back. Sorry about the delay, I hardly get a look in on the laptop. Love R. Emmett- son named after him (& Bobby).
With Hendry out tomorrow night, who will be the scapegoat? Who gets blamed for others errors?
I have not been in Manchester for many years. Talking to Mancunians of the red and Our Lady blue colours this weekend, educated me that United and City hate the Glesga huns equally. The huns crossed a line in Manchester in 2008. Mancunians will never forget or forgive Scotland’s Shame.
Thanks Bada Bing
That is a big loss.
This post from Chairbhoy early this morning is worth posting again because it goes to the heart of the issue. When one horse is pulling one way and the other in another then the coach leaves the road, especially if there are two coachmen.
CHAIRBHOY on 22ND AUGUST 2018 6:32 AM
Good morning all…
Hope Brendan and the bhoys are getting focussed on the job in hand in Lithuania… this now has become a huge tie, ergo this is a huge game for us.
I’m sure Brendan is glad he can concentrate on the team free of the Glasgow tumult.
This has turned into a longer post than I anticipated but nonetheless, I believe it has a point…
There has been an unfortunate but necessary debate around this summer’s transfer window and the Club’s activities and the lack there-off.
It would certainly go too far to say these issues are existential to the Club but there not far off, as witnessed by the tangential debates.
One such was the money spent on the squad; is it too much, is it too little, is it just right?
For me there is only one benchmark for Celtic football team, it’s the same criterion Jock Stein used…
…are we the very best we can be?
Now then certain activities, revelations and actions have shown something very dysfunctional in the fundamental way that Celtic operate. It has manifest itself in a transfer window debacle.
How did this happen?
Well, what we have seen unravel before our eyes in this transfer window is a flawed process. These flaws have been evident for several seasons now – although in past not as transparent as seen through this summer’s window – so it is not a one season or even recent phenomena.
Now of course we could argue that it’s just the nature of the beast, in living memory what Celtic Manager was backed?
Certainly Billy McNeill and Davie Hay could tell a few stories about trying to bring in players and the, let’s call it less than helpful, attitude of the old Board on occasions.
Of course Fergus came in and in conjunction with others saved Celtic from archaic practices of the old regime that almost destroyed our grand old Club.
However do you think you’ll find praise amongst Fergus’s (several) management teams for his universal backing on transfer windows and player renumeration? I think not.
However what Fergus did of course was a ‘solvent reconstruction’ of the ‘Celtic Football & Athletic Coy’. Floating the Club on the stock market allowing the Club to function in a modern business structure; allowing funds to be raised by means of a share issue, providing supporters with a means of taking a shareholding in the Club and a platform for further inward investment.
When Fergus sold his shareholding to Dermot Desmond and for the first time, arguably since Jock Stein took the reigns of the Club a Manager was backed – in the shape of Martin O’Neill.
Now the financial landscape of Football was beginning and would continue to change rapidly. Also the then seemingly promised FAPL riches to ensure the maintenance of Celtic’s investment in the squad diminished from a shoo-in to a pipe dream.
Now Fergus had by facilitating the building of a 60,000 all seater stadium and selling 50,000+ season tickets ensured Celtic was economically viable. But to remain competitive we needed more.
We had to find other ways to supplement our playing squad and fund the acquisition and retention of our playing squad.
Another share issue was raised to fund a new Academy to develop Celtic’s future players. Barrowfield had a proud reputation of turning promising young footballers into Celic greats, it was hoped the new state-of-the-art complex at Lennoxtown would be even better.
Also as the SPL had turned into a two horse race and UEFA competitions were a way to acquire footballing riches especially the revamped European Cup… the Champions League. Celtic still had a significant income relative to Scottish Football.
Still none the less, Celtic had to cut its cloth to suit.
Now since then Celtic’s fortunes have been mixed; working in a new economic reality in football economics, the wave and flow of access to European competitions and therefore monies, the hostile and deceptive Scottish Football playing environment. Could partially explain this. Yet what has long been suspected and now has become apparent is that some of these woes that have prevented the Celtic team from being the very best we can have most certainly been self inflicted.
There seems no doubt that Celtic in the last decade at least and most markedly in the last five Seasons, Celtic have failed to reach, never mind maximise the team’s potential.
Certainly three Academy first team players seem scant reward for the Lennoxtown endeavours.
And now we have it, a loggerheads between the commercial departments and the football department – one hopes the administrative departments that encompasses all aspects of the Club activities and seems to be well run are outwith this clash, though I’m sure they can’t be immune.
So why the damaging and corrosive contention when we need mutual support to achieve clear objectives and goals?
Here’s my take…
…’The Law Of The Instrument’
It suggests people have a cognitive bias for the processes and skill-sets they have and see solutions to problems through their prism…
… as Abraham Maslow saw it: ‘I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail.’
The fact is the way that Celtic Football operations and the Celtic Board view things are really quite different.
This is compounded by the fact that Celtic are a sports club and its not only the solution that these two factions differ on but the fundamental problem itself…
So what is the point of Celtic Football Club? Well you’d need a post ten times longer than this one to get started on that but certainly the key thing the most important aspect for the Celtic football team and fundamental to everything the Club stands for…
…is to be the best football team it can be. That is the raison d’être
Now here’s the rub, that is not the key reason why PLC’s exist.
The ubiquitous PLC has become the go to structure for many organisations.
Many Sports Clubs, Mutual Cooperatives, Not for Profits etc etc have, like a hermit crab have retreated into a (often ill fitting) PLC mollusc for protection in a very competitive and often hostile business environment.
Yet what is the purpose of a PLC.
It is to secure the investment and maximise profit for it’s shareholders. That is a PLC’s raison d’être.
Both these aims are incongruous, you simply can’t have an organisation with two key aims.
Either the Club strives to ensure that the they are producing the best football team they possibly can and all reasonable resources go towards that aim. Or the Club can try to maximise profits while managing the risk to safeguard shareholder investment while maintaining operations.
To say we are caught between two stools at the moment is a huge understatement. The Club needs to restructure to ensure our key objectives are delivered within the PLC.
At the moment
For our Footballing department ‘The Belgian’ looks like their best Centre Half.
To the Commercial department ‘The Belgian’ looks like Ten Million pounds.
What does he look like to Dedryk Boyata and Celtic supporters?
A small symptom of a huge malaise.
It needs fixed and it needs fixed now.
Aft ooot
Hail Hail
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
As I read this I was reminded of a chapter in Soccernomics, a technobabble book about the economics of soccer for the unambitious, by Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski with the Title The Worst Business in the World .
After explaining why it is so the chapter ends:
“Soccer clubs need to know what they are. They shouldn’t kid themselves that they are Titanium Metals. Rather they are like museums :public-spirited organisations that aims to serve the community while remaining reasonably solvent . It sounds like a modest goal but few of the achieve even that”
Celtic probably suffer from the tension in the existing structure more than most, we are at heart a community club, founded in Glasgow’s East End but with a global reach because no matter how far traveled we are, we never forget our roots.
The problem is further exacerbated because we reluctantly share a community with a rival club whose sense of worth is so dependent on being better than Celtic and what we represent, they will do anything and I mean anything within or outwith the rules to topple us.
So here we are back to the future of 2009 when Rangers were front loading to put together a squad to topple us for three years, but at a price that eventually saw them liquidated in spite of telling lies to avoid it.
Now here is the thing: should Celtic be tooling up now to match the strengthening at Ibrox and so shorten or thwart their ambitions, so that instead of three years its this time next year they go under, or should we be actively looking to argue that Scottish football is a model of the Worst Business in The World and try to change that model?
Is that not the kind of legacy DD should be considering leaving behind. Something on the lines of Malmo?:
Malmö FF made the transition from an amateur club to fully professional in the late 1970s under the leadership of club chairman Eric Persson.[68]
The club is an open member association, and the annual general meeting is the highest policy-making body where each member has one vote, therefore no shares are issued.
The meeting approves the accounts, votes to elect the chairman and the board, and decides on incoming motions. The current chairman is Håkan Jeppsson who has been chairman since 2010 after taking over after Bengt Madsen. The club’s legal status means that any interest claims are made to the club and not to the board of directors or club members. Daily operations are run by a managing director who liaises with the chairman.[69]
With an equity of 450 million SEK the club is the richest football club in Sweden as of 2016. The turnover for 2014, excluding player transactions, was 358.8 million SEK.[70] The highest transfer fee received by Malmö FF for a player was 86.2 million SEK (€8.7 million at that time) for Zlatan Ibrahimović who was sold to Ajax in 2001. As of 2015, this is the highest transfer fee ever paid to a Swedish football club.[71]
The main sponsors of Malmö FF are Volkswagen, Elitfönster AB, Intersport, Imtech, JMS Mediasystem, Mercedes-Benz, SOVA and Svenska Spel.[72] The club also had a naming rights deal with Swedbank regarding the name of Stadion between 2007 and 2017
My team tomorrow would be
Gordon
Lustig Ajer KT
Forrest Brown Ntcham Izzy
Rogic McGregor
Dembele
Bench Bain Gamboa Simunovic Griffiths Sinclair Johnston Kouassi
When do the huns announce Steven Davis as their latest returner ?
Regarding McKenna. Same situation as McGinn, I suspect. Scottish clubs all know how much money we have. All they need to do is look at our accounts. They see us as just a step or two away from EPL cash cows when it comes to selling players to Celtic, and who can blame them. No-one else in Scotland can come anywhere near the resources we habe access to. I’d rather not pay over the top prices for average players at Scottish clubs. There’s a lot more value in shopping in Europe, and generally, more talented players than are available in SPFL.
Gary67
I did wonder about Izzy and KT on he left. Great overlap and both decent getting forward when required
Thanks to everyone for the advice regarding New York.
WEEBAWBITTY-we fly from Edinburgh as well on Friday morning
Bateen
I know that although you are an Aberdonian, you have as little interest in Aberdeen FC as I do. What does your Black Sheep Aiberdeen supporting son think of Scott McKenna?
From what I have seen of him, I think he is pure shite.
YNWA
FAVOURITE UNCLE on 22ND AUGUST 2018 4:05 PM
ATTENTION all P L lovers out there.
did you read E TIMS today?a list of 50 occasions when CELTIC were cheated.
so my point is this ON ALL 50 OCCASIONS OUR PETER NEVER UTTERED A WORD.
HE NEVER WILL.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
===============
Actually that is not true. Tony Mowbray had a meeting with Dallas as they went over a DVD of various incidents from Celtic TV.
Dallas explained why each decision was made in a plausible manner that left Mowbray unable to counter without behind accused of calling Dallas and his refs as cheats.
Dallas should have been banned from the game for his disgraceful part in Dougie Dougie but the e mail about the Pope beat Celtic to it. Read all about it at
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1j0r5NqHpPnLtgO78y-d7OvJfiJ-L3kMoDWbUTNKhDJM/edit?usp=sharing
I read the article e tims aboot 50 honest mistakes. If anyone says you are paranoid Celtic fan ask them this, Have ye seen a shocking decision go against their team? They answer yes, many times.
Have you ever seen a shocking decision go against the old Huns or sevco? No I don’t think so, is the answer. Honest mistakes… eh right then.
HH Rich
Ps I think mushies are only illegal if you dry them oot, that’s what a cop told me anyway.
Be interesting to see how AEK fare tonight. I wonder if the Vidi backline will be as impregnable as our mightily buttressed fortifications (AKA the seive).
Auldheid
Dallas at Celtic Park when the huns won the title, and Hugh got cracked by a coin, convinced me that fitba was fixed. I was never paranoid enough.
YNWA
FB- i use Dial 7 taxi/limo company, excellent service, queues for taxis can be long, better price, top cars too
Brendan’s press conference is on at the minute. Chris McLaughlin (I know!) tweeting updates which I’ll copy and paste….
5 min
#Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers says Dedryck Boyata hasn’t travelled due to injury. Also says club have ended interest in #Aberdeen defender Scott McKenna.
3 min
Rodgers also said Boyata had clear the air talks with himself and captain Scott Brown. Wouldn’t say if the player will still be at club by end of the window. #Celtic
More if I see any ;-)
evening bhoys, have not been able to come on for the last few days, been busy getting annettes daughter into a lovely nursing home where hopefully she will see out the rest of her days, Annette is in the final stages of her illness in the hospice, she is at peace knowing her daughter is going to be looked after and Jorge her beloved westie is with frankie and benny, she had holy communion this afternoon from father quinn and is resting peacefully. now onto my team, remember when I was a teenager and rangers signed colin stein for x amount of pounds, think he was the most expensive player in Scotland at the time, boy was I feckin jealous 50 years later we are still penny pinchin, good god scott McKenna, sincerely hope we do something before the window shuts hh.
Delaneys,
much like you, I think he’s no better than Jack Henry. Dons fans like him though, but then they’ve not had a decent CH since McLeish, so not much to live up to of late. He’ll soon be a cult figure for the sheep though, due to the fact that Celtic have been rebuffed in their (misguided, in my view) effort to sign him.
Heroes are made easily up here, given the lack of success in recent years.
Thoughts n prayers for Annette HH
jobo
the fact we showed any interest in him is a concern
BigPacky
God bless you.
Annette has great friends in Joan and you.
Sorry I missed you due to your troubles pal.
I had a marvellous 4 days in Liverpool, Manchester and Lytham/Blackpool.
YNWA
Rodgers said Celtic have ended their interest in McKenna. Also said Boyata never travelled because of injury.
Oops carry on Jobo
Boyata has a sore ass with all the kicking he’s got
BADA BING-cheers mate will add that to the list?
DELANEYS DUNKY, so sorry I missed you pal, had plans to come and meet you in Liverpool and bring you up to meet joan, but could not let Annette down. she has only got joan and I to turn to.will definitely meet you next time im up.hh.
Chris McLaughlin
Verified account
@BBCchrismclaug
9m9 minutes ago
More
Rodgers on McKenna: He’s a young player that I like, however the clubs have spoken and it was made clear Scott won’t be for sale or available in this window. So that would end that.
Vidi 0 AEK 1
AEK SCORE