Scoring minutes after making your debut doesn’t guarantee a great career at a club, but Scott Sinclair gave himself an excellent start with his winning goal at Tynecastle. Leigh Griffiths lead-up work was magnificent. The Hearts defence had no answer.
Scott’s transfer took weeks (and a lot of money) to complete but it was the player’s tenacity to come to Celtic which decided the matter. I hear Celtic met Aston Villa’s initial target price early in the negotiations, but Villa decided to hold their cards for a few weeks in an attempt to induce other bidders. Scott was clear from the off that there was only one place he was going, but while Villa sat tight, there was a worry that another club would come in with a seriously large wage offer. The deal happened when the player continued with the mantra, “I’m going to Celtic or nowhere”. This is a guy who really wants to play for Celtic.
Apart from Tony Watt’s excellent chance yesterday, which should have brought Hearts level, the home side didn’t have a chance worthy of the name. A policy of throwing yourself to the ground inside the box doesn’t count, so we can be happy with how our defence is performing with Kolo Toure in the team. There’s still a long way to go, but the direction of travel is clear. Watt and Conon Sammon will cause a lot of damage in the Premiership this season, but on the evidence so far, Celtic should outperform their 15 point winning margin last term.
So disappointed to hear Dave King’s £30m – £50m overinvestment isn’t going to happen until January. This guy has been so transparent. Honestly, they get what they deserve, there’s no helping or telling them. They backed a hostile takeover with a fantasy manifesto, while putting the thumbscrews on their club, to the extent it had to go cap in hand to its only source of funding, and hawk their commercial rights in the process.
As we’ve said here for years, the only people who can really damage a football club are its own supporters, in this case, with their inability to consider the consequences of the next action.
Running a football club is hard (serious understatement alert). You’re going to enjoy how Dave King finds this out.
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Sin City Bhoy
They will need far more help than TV scheduling, would actually enjoy them in the bottom 6, not one team in the Spl should fret over them, Paul Hartley’s Dundee will turn them over this weekend, they might win a few games at home but personally am looking forward to Aberdeen cuffing them
NatKnow
Lettuce agree to call it quits there then.
Gerryfaethebrig
In fairness, Sevco cuffed Dundee in the Scottish Cup last year.
*last season (this year)
DAVIDOPOULOS on 8TH AUGUST 2016 4:43 PM
NatKnow
Lettuce agree to call it quits there then.
————————————————————–
I wilt if you wilt…
NatKnow
Ok, sounds like a flan.
Too early to write off the Forces of Darkness….
but so far so good,
DAVIDOPOULOS –
You’re really not making this greasy for me..
Scott Sinclair wearing his jersey for his interview today.
Not taken it off since the game?
Come early October (maybe sooner) I suspect the magic hat will have become a tragic hat.
I don’t give a hoot what they say, he didn’t disappear in the summer for nothing. When the results are crap and the pressure is on the former ‘city trader’ (even though he wasn’t) will be feeding the press.
Sit back and enjoy.
Bada,
Dont see the logic in McNair signing, as with Toure and Sinclair etc i think BR is looking for experience etc esp if we’re recuiting for midfield berths.
Took another look at Watt’s chance. To be fair to Lustig, he had picked up Sammon. Watt was Toure’s man, and Toure let him go. Lustig’s entitled to trust that Toure will do his job.
On Craig Gordon: Keeper’s position was spot on as the move developed towards the near post, but he didn’t recover towards the centre of the goal quickly enough as the ball was played back out to the crosser. Despite it being an absolute belter of a cross, he hasn’t recovered his ground and ends up looking a tad foolish in the process.
It’s Toure’s man though. Every day.
SunnyJim
Saw the spit and fists flying at Scot Sinclair and was shocked to be honest thankfully he is of vey quick feet. If it was Broonie he would have drove straight through them and have stopped half way up the stand
Davidopoulos
I think on any given day they might get a result against any other team, but week to week will be hard going for them, they are a bad lot in my opinion, and Waghorn-Pen is out for a couple of games……. As long as Celtic keep winning stuff the rest
GERRYFAETHEBRIG on 8TH AUGUST 2016 4:42 PM
Aye. Not to mention ole Joey finding out what a Scottish physical midfield is like versus Hearts.
And out there, in the environs of Govan, the penny, although falling, still dropping, has yet to actually drop.
As journalists and ex-professionals tuck in to another big (Super Mega Casino Big) bowl of soup.
Yum yum yum… Tony Watt sitter. Yum yum yum… Expected contact. Yum yum yum… Cheating’s okay. Yum yum yum. This soup’s lovely…
The more things change…
Latt’s the way (aha! aha!) I like it
NATKNOW
Sometimes I become too consomme’d by coming up with puns
Latvia’s Gini co-efficient is 35.2(medium)
Ole old Tim’s gini coefficient is 48.37( pungent)
Thin Dime Bhoy
Absolutely nothing against Tony as a person. But he was never a good Celtic manager. Whenever we played the moribunds they butted, kicked and cheated their way to victory and big Tony simply didn’t appear to engage. He was standing beside Hinkel when Lafferty made the leg break attempt and Tony’s lack of reaction convinced the ref he could get away with simply booking the hun.
His time at Celtic was bad for the club, bad for him and bad for his backroom staff.
Sunnyjim
Police investigate Scott Sinclair incident at Hearts
http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11787/10528222/police-investigate-scott-sinclair-incident-at-hearts
Spot on by Sunnyjim. The Hearts support is encouraged to show aggression to visiting teams, given a free pass through the ground design and blind eyes turned by coppers and stewards.
Sin City Bhoy
Joey B is a strange one for me, also the link with old/new klub with Burnley, pretty sure Joey the Tim would have got a lower league EPL club or championship contender as he had a decent season……still couldn’t lace Broony’s boots in my opinion
Early doors but I have a feeling Scott might have another player of the year season and quieten all his doubters, some won’t realise how good he is until he is not there…..when KT was breaking through Scott eased him through nearly every game, going out of his way to give the wee man a few early touches…… I am a big Scott Brown fan and hope he is here for seasons to come
I think if Scott Brown were to finish his Scotland career he would go on for another 3 seasons
Fritzsong
I agree Tony was not up to the job at the end and I think the politics of it all got to him. I don’t think it was his style to be confrontational and after watching so many honest mistakes he retired into himself a bit.
I like to cut him a bit of slack because of his time as a player and what he went through for us. I know him personally and he is real gentleman and does sincerely love our club and fans.
Fritzsong 5.06
You are bang on the money with the Hinkel tackle, don’t think TM even unfolded his arms, at least try and influence the ref, if that was MON he would have had Lafferty by the throat or at least showed some emotion……I think TM was more aggressive on the park than at the side of it
Dessybhoy
Re Broony I think your are correct, but if Gordan Strachan selects him Broony is a cert to turn up, got a feeling him & wGS have a great connection, personally I would like him to chuck international football but canny see it happening
Thindimebhoy
Thanks for that link.
Wait & See CSC
DAVIDOPOULOS –
You’re a smart cookie. When the chips are down there’s only won ton winner. Like the cat that’s got the cream. I sauté you indefatigability…
GFTB
I agree SB and GS appear to have a strong bond
mcnair in glasgow ?
and another today ?
Stairheedrammy
:o)
Entitlement & diminutive WATP attitude.
Dismally, I’ve only been there once back in 66/67. Supporters bus from East Kilbride.
Double decker with about 90 souls on board.
Every time it took a corner it felt like the bus was tipping over.
Just love that name BTW
Wish I’d thought of it first.
Pleased with our last two competitive games &how BR is approaching his job
A couple of things stand out for me
First, our recruitment policy.
There was a lot of talk at tail end of last season about how we improve in this area. What stands out to me is that relatively, our more successful recruitment over last 10/15 years has been guys the manager knows. Admittedly there are exceptions e.g. Fortune but that is offset by the Hoopers, Toures, Ledleys, Griffiths, Forster, who were all players the respective managers and coaches had managed against / played / worked with and thus knew the personality of the player.
By contrast our overseas excursions have been a mixed bag.
Israel has been reasonably successful, Norway a success and Spain a disaster.
My suggestion would be that rather than have faceless statisticians recruiting abroad, what about a few ex players or guys who have retired from their post football careers. Base them abroad with a brief to get under the skin of potential recruits so we really understand their personality and work ethic, rather than the bleep test number
Second topic is player rehabilitation.
Having done a good job so far with Lustig, Brown and Forrest all starting to do what we know they are capable of, lets get Stefan Johansen playing again. Two years ago, he was a pot but like many went backwards under RD. Imho, our midfield looks light in the tackle , and whilst that may not be an issue domestically it will be in Europe and Stefan’s bite plus the odd goal, could be an asset.
Re: Hearts – we’re still waiting to hear the answers Anne Budge was looking for after the shame-game with Hearts and the huns at AyeBrokes some months ago. In fact, we’re still waiting for Anne’s questions, never mind answers. So – don’t hold your breath waiting for her condemnation of her own fans’ regular atrocious violent and sectarian behaviour. She and they are in denial always.
NATKNOW
With thyme you too could achieve such gratedness.
BOURNESOUPRECIPE on 8TH AUGUST 2016 4:31 PM
Big Latvians CSC
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Still chuckle every time, even though I know full-well what’s coming…
HH
BGFC
Gerry and fritz,
I’m pretty certain big Tony put his head in his hands after the assault on Hinkel.
Possibly he didn’t go mental at ref but he did show disgust at the challenge.
HH
It has been a long held opinion of mine that the huns are a bad lot but the Hearts fans are even scummier. That opinion stems from the 1988 Scottish Cup semi-final when a group of them surrounded a Bhoy in a wheelchair, who used to wheel himself up to Parkhead for home games, telling him he was ‘a crippled Fenian bastard’
Says all you need to know about that shower of scum. We won’t even go into the minute’s silence for Pope JP 2