During the Gordon Strachan era I dreaded home games against Kilmarnock. Gordon was permanently under pressure and someone would always lob the “Do you know it’s been 53/54/55 years since Celtic have lost at home to Kilmarnock?’ question in his direction. The last thing the guy needed was a historical record for his many begrudgers to use against him.
Fortunately the record went in less pressing times but tonight’s game is still loaded with historical resonance. One more clean sheet and Celtic will equal their record of not conceding a goal in 10 consecutive league games, previously achieved in 1913-14 and again in 1921-22. It’s safe to assume none of us were there in 1922 to see the record met for the last time.
Celtic are now motoring towards the title but it took heroics from Fraser Forster to keep Motherwell and Hibernian out on our last two games. One moment’s slip in concentration and the record will disappear, like IPO cash at a Cowboy Football Club (not the Dallas Cowboys, or their Scottish partner club).
Kilmarnock have scored in eight of their last 10 games and have hit what passes for form in Ayrshire, tonight will not be straightforward. I want to be there when the record is matched, and beaten, so same again, please, Fraser.
There’s been a bit of frivolity in the comments section at the suggestion Newco Rangers rejected a £900k bid for a player, especially after their predecessor clubs’ claim to have rejected a £9m bid for a player, weeks before entering administration. Knowing the modus operandi of these people you should know better.
If £900k was enough to fix everything I am sure such a bid, if real, would be accepted. If it would merely buy a few more weeks, the only point in accepting it would be to look after creditors’ interests, and we know how that one played out at Ibrox last time.
I saw photographs of indignant Norwich fans reacting to Robert Snodgrass, who returned a verbal volley after being barracked during last night’s game against Newcastle. The sight of several grown men, on their feet, barracking and gesticulating, at being demeaned by a football player shouting back, is as great an indication that some football fans need to get a grip as anything you’ll see.
Well done to STV’s Peter Smith, who is one of three nominated by the Royal Television Society for the Young Talent of the Year award. Smith, aged 12, brought the nation to a standstill when twice interviewing Newco Rangers’ greatest ever owner, Charles Green, laying bare the absurdity of the man while others worked hard to support him. If you ever meet Green, watch him repeat the statuesque performance given to Smith if you ask him to produce those emails from the Dallas Cowboys. Hope Peter wins.
Best wishes too to Krishnan Guru-Murthy who is up for the National Presenter of the Year award. He once played a small but key part in media coverage of Scottish football.
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Two Windows without signing a top-notch striker.
I remember going 5 years plus without signing one.
“Celtic will equal their record of not conceding a goal in 10 consecutive league games, previously achieved in 1913-14 and again in 1921-22.”
Does anyone know when (which minute of the game) Celtic conceded at either end of these two runs of clean sheets? The current run actually includes the second half of the game against Aberdeen, so if we manage a clean sheet tonight and don’t concede in the first half of the subsequent game (at home to St Mirren), the present run will be equivalent to 11 games without conceding.
Apologies if this has already been raised, but still worth a read and a shake of the head:
http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/jan/29/jorge-cadete-portugal-celtic-state-benefits
BMCUWP
I do. don’t know about my collegues though.
MWD
justafan
12:30 on
29 January, 2014
kayak 33
Funnily enough I see a very fine player in Nir … have really high hopes.
A thin & lanky Wanyama I hope.
We’ll see….
I’ve been wrong before….lol
**************************************************************************
I think I see a player too so fingers crossed he gets a chance to show it….and that he does….
But “a thin & lanky Wanyama” surely isn’t a Wanyama!?!!?
A bit like a ‘brick sh1t hoose’ without the bricks or $£%^ !?!?!?
Maybe a stretched Paul Lambert!?!
HH jamesgang
PEDROCARAVANACHIO67
Dinnae,man. The thoughts that comment put intae my head.
I’ll not sleep this afternoon now!
Finbogasson is an interesting one.
I would compare him to Jordan Rhodes. A couple of years back, there was a similar clamour that we had missed out on a bargain with him when he became too expensive at £8m.
Yet it was the newly relegated Blackburn who spent their Premiership Parachute money on him rather than any of the striker-needy clubs in the Premiership, La Liga, Bundesliga or Serie A.
Whatever this prolific scorer was worth, these clubs decided he was over-priced, for their needs at £8m.
Leaving aside whether we could ever have got him at £3 or £4 million or whether Alfie was ever available at £5m, why did these clubs not sign a continuing prolific scorer?
It seems to me that he might be, echoing a British Rail Spokesperson, the “wrong kind of striker”.
Daft as it may seem, some teams might struggle to accommodate a proven scorer, such as Andy Carroll, into a different team style. Even when they have used moneyball concepts to buy the guy with great assist crossing stats, like Downing and Jarvis, to supply him.
The point was hammered home to me when Gordon Strachan, managing a goal starved Scotland team, chose to overlook the obvious abilities of Jordan Rhodes, in favour of the “wee nyaff” , Leigh Griffiths. Gordon, as usual, tried to explain to a sceptical audience, why Jordan Rhodes was “the wrong kind of striker” to an audience that remained baffled.
How can you be the wrong kind of striker? Is there such a thing as the wrong kind of goal? Can you afford to overlook someone doing it regularly?
Gordon explained that an underdog Scotland team, needed someone who worked hard and ran the channels, rather than, and I am paraphrasing here, a big lump who remained fairly static in the middle and waited on crosses, a Kris Boyd type of scorer, if you like.
It’s a difficult argument to sell but it seems to have persuaded all the big clubs top scouts that there are players who score goals who are not very good players and that this might mean they struggle to be of value at the more rarified level of organised defenders and tippy-tappy football styles.
As I say, it is a difficult argument to sell and I am not wholly convinced of it myself. But the pros in the game who do the scouting, seem to factor in these considerations to their judgements on how much a player is worth and how suited he is to a team.
Still doesn’t explain how Bendtner ended up at Arsenal and Juve, but it is a wee bit of insight, I hope, into why these seeming “no-brainer” punts do not earn the moves that we amateurs might think they are due.
Paul,
I hope you’re not casting doubt on Charles’ Dallas Cowboys venture…..?
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS ………FC not PLC
12:35 on
29 January, 2014
Try again
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gracie_Gold
pedrocaravanachio67
12:49 on
29 January, 2014
Bmcuwp
Wee Gracie’s a smasher and she’s doin the broonie :-)
PC 67
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If you read the small print on the wikipage it cites Scott Brown as a choreographer!?!?!
One of you guys been playing around with this page? Toooo funny!
Or does Broonie have a creative side we’ve not yet seen in midfield!!?!?!
I HATE reality tv but Broonie coaching Dancing on Ice would have buying the boxset and handing in my notice…….!!!!!
HH jamesgang
SETTING FREE THE BEARS
My sis and I discussed Griffiths at some length yesterday. We agreed on being conflicted,etc,don’t wanna start that again!
But one point she made was that he is a player who makes sure defenders know they have been in a game.
Dropping deep,channels,bringing other players in and being available himself.
A bit like Kenny Miller but with the instinct to do damage rather than simply run away from the goal.
kitalba 12:38 on 29 January, 2014
“So who have we bought in the last two windows (attacking wise) is better, with the weight of the purse and Niall McGinn, or Tony Watt, or Irvine?”
Why the restrictions? It’s a team game. We didn’t get to the last 16 of the Champions League just because of our attacking qualities. It was because we defended well and played as a unit.
In terms of attacking players, I think Pukki is a decent signing and will do well for Celtic. We have traded well in the market in recent times and our success rate is as good, if not better, than most clubs.
On the other point I used the word ‘only’ while you said: “rather than buy in others rejects – at loss – and to the detriment of our very own youth system.”
That is a sweeping statement. You are suggesting Celtic are stifling the progress of young players when we been playing plenty of youngsters since Neil Lennon took the job.
Celtic’s last league defeat 28th April ( 39 weeks ago ) Motherwell away 3-1
Games played since
P W D L For A Points
25 21 4 0 61 13 67
Last goal conceded 23rd November ( 855 minutes ) 9 clean sheets since
Come on Celtic lets create another piece of history tonight and into the weekend
setting free the bears:
Mate not being rude and I am up before you’ll have started your tea, but there are a lot of players we let go that we should not have. Some of them went on to become very famous indeed, some of them you might not like, for whatever reason, famous goalkeepers, famous captains of Scotland even, one I’m sure even played in the Mersey Derby just recently, and not Aiden McGeady,
But to answer your question fully, I’ll try to do so come the weekend.
But I’ll leave you with this, and it is not a kop out of any sort, why have the expense of a youth academy if nobody ever graduates? Why kid the kids on? Why destroy their dreams when you always knew you were never going to give them that present?
Think about it mate, we go on about emulating Ajax, we can’t compete with Portuguese and Spanish visa (sic) laxities, we can’t compete with the big six TV income, we won’t grow our own, how do we balance subjective constraints against objective ambitions (what ambitions) when we are running in a one horse race with a budget ten times that of our nearest competitor.
And instead of promoting Scottish youth we buy others first team rejects and label them projects. Honestly mate, don’t take my word for it, I’m not digging Celtic for the sake of it, look at what we have wasted over the years and look at what could have been achieved in Scotland if we, we, had only spent our money more wisely.
I have not seen us buy a single player since big Vic better than McGeoch, that includes Hooper and VVD. Just my opinion mind, but ask Real Madrid what they thought of Dylan.If Dylan had been Barcelona raised we’d be creaming ourselves if we got him for three million, after all, how much did we pay for Schiedt?
Apathy is the way.
Big Yin Milan
I would give you Shay Given, though I don’t recall many people shouting that we had lost a gem in the making until he actually showed his worth down south.
I would not say that Barry Bannan, an unused sub at Palace last night, was a clear example.
setting free the bears supports 12.55
Interesting point. The role of strikers has changed a lot from even two or three years ago. Before you could get away with being lazy if you could score goals or with not scoring many as long as you worked hard. Partnerships allowed for this to happen (think Boyd & Miller).
Now with most teams only playing one up front the striker has to be a “hybrid” of goalscorer and team player (van Persie, Giroud). The two best pure goalscorers in the EPL can’t get a game right now (Hernandez and Defoe).
In saying that, I think we need more of a “pure goalscorer” at the moment – someone who knows what runs to make to get on the end of things. Hence someone like Griffiths wouldn’t be such a good move. I would see him as more of a replacement for Commons (if Commons was leaving) than for Hooper.
BMCUW
The Winter Olympics are mostly rubbish – imo of course.
Apart from the ice hockey, giant slalom, the tobogganing(?!), and the bit where they lie on a tray and career round a track at 300 mph.
HH!!
The Summer Olympics have beach volleyball.
Introduce it to the Winter Olympics I say!
HH!!
SETTING FREE THE BEARS
Pat Bonnar was scathing about the decision to let Shay go. The problem at the time was that Fergus had many more important things to deal with.
It was definitely a mistake,but as you say,few of us realised it at the time.
Kenny Dalglish did,though.
Twice.
Tallybhoy, I agree with your assessment of the Winter Olympics but it is a big event outside of western Europe. I’ll try to muster some enthusiaism for ice hockey but it may be very challenging.
Tallybhoy
You might notice a few stand outs at that event, if you get my drift.
Have we signed Messi yet?
Souness.
a lot of stats about the clean sheet record
i guess the fuss is because its consecutive clean sheets
how many clean sheets have we had this season already and what is the celtic/scottish/world record for clean sheets in a season non consec?
by the way the record holder for the goalie with the most consec clean sheets in the spl was the much maligned rab douglas.
thats stats for you!
Hi Bhoys and Girls
The process of ageing and watching Scandinavian thrillers (murder mysteries that is, NOT Agnetha Faltskog), have a connected characteristic that can turn out to be an advantage …..the mandatory use of subtitles while watching the telly!!
Mind you smug self satisfaction in being able to understand and operate advanced technology is only really complete when you master the ability to freeze either live television or previously recorded stuff, take a picture and post it on the net.
And so as I lay on the couch yesterday thinking of writing the tale of my trip through to Edinburgh on Sunday (although Agnetha was never far from my thoughts), I was startled into sciatica inducing action and managed to photograph conclusive further proof by the ace detective/journalism duo that Rangers are indubitably dead.
http://enematic.wordpress.com/2014/01/29/jonathan-creek-on-black-and-blue-list/
Hail hail
Estadio
TAMRABAM
Aye,but SPL stats also put a Boyd ahead of KOK…
As you say,stats.
ESTADIO
Delighted to have you taking an active part again,bud.
I’ve saved yer extracts-that includes the DIESEL shreddies-to a new page. It’s bedtime soon for me,and I need time to do justice to the thoughts of a thinker like your good self!
HH,and I hope I can grab an hour or so of your time early May.
I’m Neil Lennon (tamrabam) 13:13 on 29 January, 2014
Scottish record is Bobby Clark for Aberdeen 1971. I think big Fraser’s is three behind at the minute.
Read it all now
@Bryce9A: So Craig Whyte is claiming the SFA membership was transferred to him, not Newco, and that legally HE is the football club. WTF??!! #anguish
Was retweeted by @RetroScot
Well no doubt in my mind that Kilmarnock will be dangerous tonight on the break and are very capable of stealing a goal or even two. This will make the game all the more interestiing of course we want to win and it would also be great to keep a clean sheet.The team will be interesting will Pukki keep his place or will Stokes or Forrest come in surely Sammi wont start. I am looking forward to the game and 2-0 would do just fine. H.H.
Craig Whyte is a football club? What division is he in?
Keith Jackson must be beside himself with joy now that his hero The Motherwell Born Billionaire has returned to claim what’s rightfully his..
More power to your pen Keith…
Gordon, as far as I am concerned, Craigy is in the Joy Division. All hail Craigy!
Estadio
Good to see you back on the plot!
Hail Hail
It is difficult to calculate how much joy Craigy has brought to us all. I guess we shall never know. Let’s not forget Minty’s contribution though. Sterling work.
I am still annoyed that we gave a contract to Stokes and we are trying to sign another bad influence?
What is the point in having Frindjonsson, Pukki and Balde?
There’s no way we can accommodate Commons effectively and play two up front. Commons needs to be a number 10 to a number 9.
I have heard rumours that Lennon was unhappy with Balde almost immediately and doesn’t trust him at all. Has he given up on Pukki as well?
Tony Watt’s all but forgotten as well.
GlassTwoThirdsFull, wouldn’t dare.
Timaloy, how do you know that Tony Watt has been forgotten about? Do you really think that Celtic’s evil Capitalist swine owners would forget about an asset like Tony Watt?