I’m not going to say I saw this coming, I didn’t see defeat, but when I wrote a couple of days ago that you and I have seen a lot more games like Celtic’s away to Lincoln Red Imps than Brendan Rodgers, and about European football in July, I knew this one was never going to play out in a triumphant manner.
On the first day he was appointed I asked one of you to compile Brendan an Efe highlights video – I assume we were all busy. God love Efe, he’s a fine man by all accounts, but he’s three years into a slump which is not going to end at Celtic. Brendan must now be aware. It’s no longer Efe’s fault if he costs us again.
I also made the point previewing this game that we can’t expect a squad comprising only one addition to last season’s group to perform remarkably different in qualification than a year ago. In this sense, Celtic performed as expected, this one had all the hallmarks of our recent Icelandic ventures.
The manager may not be embarrassed at the result (I suspect he might sound different privately) but many supporters are. Gibraltar has a population similar to Bellshill, but without the football heritage and support mechanism. Would defeat to Bellshill Athletic be embarrassing? You bet. Yesterday’s result was too.
We are woefully slow in build-up and have only one player in the squad who can create the 7 or 8 chances per game needed to get a result, and he’s 33 next month and currently injured.
We remain strong favourites to qualify for the next round but there is an enormous amount of work to be done in the next month. This is not a Champions League squad.
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I tell you what – I’m really looking forward to this upcoming friendly v Barcelona. We can take them no bother so we can, “Nirlo” will have that Iniesta guy in his pocket all game long and I just can’t see Suarez scoring against Efe.
Meanwhile in the real world-
Our recent record at Celtic park against teams that are comparable to red imps is not hugely reassuring.
2013- 2-0 home win v cliftonville.
2015 2-0 home win v Stjarnan.
So while I hope I’m wrong I just don’t see where the confidence that we will leather this red imps mob is coming from.
I can see it being a nervy game with us needing 3 goals on the board to be able to relax.
The likes of qarabag, Rosenborg, Astana, red star Belgrade await in the next qualifying round as unseeded potential opponents. Lose at that stage and we go into a play off qualifier for the Europa league against fellow CL qualifier drop outs or sassuolo of serie a.
I think reaching the group stages of either of the two European competitions is a long shot this year.
The_Huddle
My mistake.
Yip it has been going on for years, yet RD gets the blame for the past couple of seasons and likewise Lenny before him when IMO the problems are from higher up the food chain.
I still think the basic policy is the right one, it just needs to be implimented better.
HH
Ziggydoc-the league flag unfurled on Wednesday too HH
QUONNO 7:06 PM
These adds are very maddening. I thought something was wrong with my computer,scanned it twice and deleted all cookes. I still have Revcontent advertising with CQN who offers me pictures and links to:”30Celebs Who Don’t Wear Underwear”, “11 Of the Sexiest (And Most Naked)Celebrity Pics”, etc,etc
Is Charlie Mulgrew out of contract ?
I know many will disagree, but he is/was the best centre half on our books last season
In my opinion
Can I also add too many writing off young Ryan Christie, play him in correct position and we have a very very good player
SUNNYJIM.
Great post.
Gene
And therein lies the irony of my facetious retort to an earlier post beginning with a similar sentence.
In other news Thereasa May is a lying pigs head friend of David Cameron.
Social Justice your skinny Tory arse!
MWD
Zbyszek
I did all that but solved it by adding and using this with adblocker
see you soon
https://adblockplus.org/elemhidehelper
that lad Forrest is a player
” Were you embarrassed by last nights defeat” – BBC
” No ” – Brendan Rodgers
BBC Headline News
” Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers says last nights defeat wasn’t embarrassing ”
” Were you embarrassed by last nights defeat” – BBC
” Yes ” – Brendan Rodgers
BBC Headline News
” Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers says last nights defeat was embarrassing “
Pre match press conference – 12 minutes with BR
” Is Charlie Mulgrew here ” – Journo
” Not unless he’s here with you ” – Brendan Rodgers
Brendan has come with a big budget to spend,I think he has looked at all the players,maybe to see if he could see something RD couldn’t. I think BR has a big ego,and will be shell shocked by that performance last night,I think his reaction will be swift. He won’t want to be in charge of a team like that again. Big decisions to be made now,maybe a bit quicker than we all thought He needs to be ruthless,tell players to get their agents to contact PL ASAP, Ambrose,Forrest,Ciftci,GMS for starters. Johansen,Bitton as well possibly. Sadly it looks like the end of the line for Scott Brown,his impact on games has diminished rapidly in the last 12 months,injuries have caught up with him. A lot won’t agree, but I would keep Mulgrew,but only as a CB. Much more assured than anything we currently have. I’m sure Brendan will be asking PL how he is getting on with ‘the list’.
WHITEDOGHUNCH 7:34 PM
I don’t know, maybe it’s a matter of the difference place we stay but adblocker does not stop Revcontent. Even if I put addresses of these links into adblocker these adds are back after I refresh the page.
BOURNESOUPRECIPE
I noticed that BBC are going with last seasons patter “The Celtic manager will be judged on his european results” I guess that’s set in stone now:)
Cowiebhoy-snap HH
Apparently Charlie is out of contract, Didn’t take part in pre season training or didn’t travel to Slovenia. He is reputed to have been offered a 2 yr contract with option for a further year but seems to have been mulling it over for weeks.
I assume he is training somewhere, if he doesn’t take the Celtic offer he will need to be right for another Club. Curiously enough, his pic remains on Official site as part of first team squad as does Scepovic even though he is rumoured to be gone to Getafe.
Seems strange.
STARRY
“This is not a CL squad”
Paul 67
BOURNESOUPRECIPE
Somebody better get that windae wide open:) An ah mean wide!
Old Tim…
Happy birthday and many hoopy returns. :)
=========================
Sunnyjim…
Enjoyed your post,good reading.
=========================
We’ll go through next week,it’s the following games that concern me more.But I have faith Brendan will get it right,given time and backing from the club and the supporters.
And if he doesn’t…i’ll not stop supporting Celtic.Seems like people want everything,and instantly,these days.Last night was a very,very bad performance and result but no-one died,our club didn’t get liquidated.And if we win next week,even only by 2 goals,last night’s result becomes irrelevant.
It’s not the end of the world but hopefully the end of our decline.Onwards and upwards.
The Celtic Jersey has shrunk to fit inferior players…that’s the reality and the scale of the job faced by Brendan.
Despite the Helenvale pitch (copyright Bada) and the black strip (heard it all now) we have players with no heart and poor ability. Brendan disappointed as he went ‘safe’ last night but this bit him big time. I really hope this is the end of the Brown/Biton axis of triangular passing back to the full back and the rest should be easy to identify for Brendan…if not he is Mr Magoo!
I suspect the team that kicks off the SPFL campaign will be different from last night; I just hope the European gamble (I can’t believe I typed those words) pays off.
Despite what Brendan says it was a total embarrassment.
HH
http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/teams/celtic/lincoln-red-imps-probe-defamatory-tv-reporting-1-4176297
There shouldn’t be any sleazy ads on here. Will have a word in the morning to sort. No idea why these have appeared.
QUONNO@7:03
You say that the board should “release” money – what money is that?
We don’t have millions in reserve just lying around – we would need to borrow substantially – how much do you think that should be – £50/£60 million?
How would we structure things going forward to repay the debt bearing in mind our TV money amounts to £2.8 million per year, if of course we win the league?
Who would lend us those sums of money based on our income?
Money does not ‘grow on trees’, it has to be bought and paid for like all other resources.
The sooner the reality that we are not a CL team sinks in, the better – domestic success can be our only real target for the foreseeable future, with perhaps a ‘stab’ at the EL, now and again.
ROY CROPPIE
The sad thing for me last night was my own reaction, I wasn’t even that angry, we’ve been doing this as a team regularly for many summers now:((
I see my own downsizing from almost chucking the computer out the window at the Braga game to last nights resignation at another summer stunner…
HH
Well done Colin Murray leaving Talksport…JFT96
a shrewd businessman I hear but I now like the cut of his jib.
HH
Corkcelt-seems Mulgrew was offered reduced terms,maybe last nights result,might benefit some,FWIW I think we will have 2 new faces to be unveiled at HT on Wednesday……only a fool makes predictions……HH
Boris as Foreign Secretary…. And a Chancellor who told Scots that they could not defend themselves from outer space…..and Maggie mark two…..
Indy two…..woopde doo…….might not need an Irish pass….and spanking new Scottish one will be there for next spring….awfy braw
Braw.
I try not to reply but here goes.
Stupid Mats Guy.
Brendan has just put 10k on attendances. Therein lies the budget to pay a substantial loan that.
Women’s bits men’s bit guy.
MWD
starry plough
Exactly, it seemed the norm. I’m sure this will change in the coming days and weeks as Brendan is continuously irritated by his first game. Hopefully it will prove a blessing in disguise but it didn’t feel like it for the last 2 hrs in my local…felt like Mowbray!
OnthechinCSC
These sleazy ads that have appeared were popping up on some of the NewsNow Celtic articles before they started appearing on CQN . Don’t know if there’s any link ,but they seem to be getting worse.
Broadcaster Colin Murray has announced on Twitter he is to quit his morning radio show on TalkSport, following its parent company’s buy out by News Corp.
The presenter said his position would be made “unsustainable” by the “future working relationship” between TalkSport and The Sun, which News Corp also owns.
Murray, a Liverpool FC supporter, ended his message with #JFT96, a reference to the 96 Hillsborough victims.
Continued anger persists over The Sun’s coverage of the 1989 disaster.
In his post, Murray said he had “delivered all-time record ratings” for the station and had been “offered a new contract until 2019”.
The adds are on the Football Insider site from Newsnow, can’t see them on any other site apart from CQN.
WINNING CAPTAINS 7:57 PM
One of the links was to the article about p**n stars. I did not use adblocker becouse I knew I read CQN, don’t pay for this directly and money must come from somewhere. Now I see that even adblocker can’t beat these links. As it says above it’s “Sponsored Content”. It’s Revcontent company that places these things here.
Gordon
Lustig Erik Tierney
Roberts Armstrong Allan Dembele
Rogic
Griffiths Ciftci
Last night we had 6 defenders for 2 attackers, let’s turn that on it’s head.
HH
ROY CROPPIE
You Mad Professor you:)))
STARRY PLOUGH on 13TH JULY 2016 7:58 PM
I had the same reaction after the Braga game.
The sad thing is that Braga were several levels above Red imps.
can someone tell me how i can see these ads on my phone?
i can see them on my pc no problem
;-)
Evening Celts.
Have we signed anybody yet?
Stephen Fletcher:)
HH