My friends in Celtic, 10 trophies in a row has been achieved, a level of dominance over Scottish football not known, even under Jock Stein. With the League Cup secured, we have won 17 out of 20 league games, topped our Europa League group for the first time, but all of this will count for little if the league title is not won come May.
By any objective measure, Celtic have improved this season. Had we started this season as we started last, the league title would already be beyond our reach. However, marked improvement is not enough. Newco have made even more significant gains. They have won 16 of their 19 league games, came second in their Europa League group and reached their second major final. A win in their game in hand would put them to of the table by one point.
December started with a comfortable 1-4 win at Ross County, but in the eight games since then we failed to score more than two goals. A late rescue against Hamilton Accies painted over some cracks but the edifice came crashing down as Newco deservedly won 1-2 on Sunday.
We played terribly, lost the tactical battle, missed a penalty and invited crisis into our world. It is likely to be several months before we get a chance to feel better about our league title chances.
Those objective measures of improvement are of no comfort, it is vastly more important how we are measure against domestic rivals than how we performed in previous seasons. The objective State of the Club is impressive. The trophy cabinet is full, most games are a sell-out, and finances are sustainable, despite no Champions League income. We recruited well in the summer and continue to transform young players with potential into valued talent.
We are seeded and favourites to win our Europa League last 32 game, and based on our group stage, there is every reason to hope for a run deep into that competition. Our perspective would look altogether different if only Newco were their usual shambolic selves. But they are not. They are a good team with a good manager who have many of us worried.
Celtic have been getting things strategically right for a long time. The level of dominance we have, together with our financial strength, does not happen by accident. We are a well-run club that has absolutely no intentions of letting this league title slip.
Newco are at their best. They recruited well and have not endured the injury record we have this campaign. They are financially below the water line and will find it difficult to recruit in order to improve their team next month.
Celtic, despite their high points total, have not been at their best. They can and will spend. Several areas of the team will improve. The team that visits Ibrox on 15 March will be ready for the challenge.
Had we won on Sunday, the league title would be considered a given. Much of our chat in the weeks ahead would be about the Scottish Cup and a fourth consecutive treble. Instead, we need to quickly up our game. Situations like this are why we run our business on a sustainable model, with flexibility available when required.
You could make the point that winning everything all of the time is not good for the long-term development of a football team. Without a viable challenge, aspirations are not set as high as they otherwise would be.
It was different when we faced Oldco for the title. Like now, they were forever spending more than they could afford or raise, but their budgets were similar to ours, which meant we had to walk a line between financial viability and being competitive. If having little or no competition is not healthy, the scenario we faced with Oldco was a lot worse.
Celtic are now planning to form a team capable of winning pretty much every domestic game between now and the end of the season. That is the bar required. It will be difficult and there are no guarantees we will win the league, no matter how much money is spent.
The one thing you know about Celtic is that they know how to win trophies; in fact, they have forgotten how to lose them. Enjoy the remainder of this season, it will hopefully deliver a cherished and historic title.
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south of ….
only used GC as an example of a sweeper style player, jullien couldn’t lace his boots
There’s clear footage of Sevco fans singing The Billy Boys on Sun.
The faces are clear too, I have to be fair though and say, much to my surprise, not all joined in, quite a few didn’t.
Anyway, where are you Police Scotiand, actual evidence, as opposed to what a member of Sevco security team may have heard.
Not a dreary new years eve here in Largs but cap doffed to Sean South of another parish !
https://youtu.be/fBBKZ3i-_9I
Ok, ok, this isn’t quite there but it’s very close. I’d echo p67’s sentiments and ask Lenny &. the Celts to catch their breath and come back stronger only need to switch j for l.
Hunmachineyouthinkyouhaveitwonbecarefulwhatyouwishforcsc
SoT
`Like mentioning Buckfast in the same breath as Barolo .`
I like Barolo very much but I prefer Amarone. Which is more popular in Italy?
TURKEYBHOY
Cheers , in amongst all of the angst , i dont know when and for how long we’ve have had a settled favoured eleven.
We’re unlucky or doing something wrong in training…..Rangers are playing in the same comps and stages as us but dont have the same amount of injuries to first team players…….
From @FaustGarBanzo67
1) A Rangers fan on their biggest fans forum, once penned a nasty little ditty, which caught on and was sung heartily by their fans only to be eventually be ruled racist by a judge in a Scottish court.
2) The song was defended by the then Sports-Editor of the Daily Record, who, effectively echoing the sentiments expressed in the lyrics of the song in question, urged anyone offended by it to leave the country.
3) What is that former Daily Record Sports-Editor up to these days? Er, he runs a PR company whose main-client is Rangers FC and his current oevre is smearing Celtic fans as racist in order to avoid a lengthy ban for a Rangers player.
Test
Fix Fitba: Empty Hampden!
We do a lot of play acting, not the Celtic way at all.
Julien and Ajer the worse, Boli at ST Mirren . NL should have a word.
Henrik ( Anyone),
Where does the power come from which enables Traynor to have his `stories` published throughout the MSSM ?
I can understand their desire to print anti-Celtic fairytales but why not just write the nonsense themselves?
I’ve said before that I try not to get too high in victory or too low in defeat. Perspective is always important.
My thinking at present is that sevco are at their high water mark. They are better organised than they have been and harder to beat. But can it get better for them? I’m not so sure.
Can it get better for us? Absolutely. So for that reason I’m very confident that the better squad will prevail over the next 4/5 months.
What will happen should Neil Lennon change our shape to win the tactical battle next time we play them and to bring French Eric in to the game and get Christie or whoever on the ball? What is their plan b? They had a plan and we played in manner and shape which accommodated that plan. Have another look at the match if you dare. Their midfield disrupted us but jack was dreadful, Kamara was ok and Davis had the simple task of sitting on top of our number 10. How will they cope when we are in their faces and all over them? See ibrox last time for answers. They can’t cope.
In our collective heads prior to kick off we saw the ‘ideal’ front 4 running all over them. Some of us might have to admit that there may have been good reason for Ntcham starting the previous games despite it placing Forrest and christie in less desirable positions. Olivier May look like he’s slowing us down at times but perhaps he is adding something else too. Celtic by numbers on Twitter has some interesting stats on how effective christie and Forrest are in the positions they play when ON starts. The stats are actually better than you’d think. In fact, had we taken chances against St Mirren etc in December we may have been relishing the prospect of starting Ntcham against them on Sunday.
The bottom line is that we may see exciting players running riot in games in our heads but it rarely works out in reality when the other team sets up to close the space for them to run in to. The old saying that you have to earn the right to play rings true. If we match any team in Scotland physically and in terms of running we will win. When we think we don’t have to do that then we run the risk of losing.
More than that, neither Celtic or scumco will win all of their league games outside of the derby games. Our absolute focus should be on the next three points. Nothing else. Neil can work out how to beat them, but we must amass as many points as possible in the meantime- that’s how to win league titles.
Fresh faces are required to boost the energy of the squad, the support and put doubt in the minds of the now confident newco. Despite their financial woes I would put money on them having a bigger squad in Jan 31st with no significant departures. They don’t do prudence. They don’t do FFP. It might be another Defoe type loan but it will be something headline grabbing. An experienced striker for us would be a massive boost, as would some midfield steel. We need to get the psychological edge back.
The run in to 9-in-a-row will be tense. I’d love if the support would be more circumspect but it ain’t gonna happen, so our players will have to have balls of steel when we are in tight games.
I do think Lenny got the tactics wrong – lack of height in the team for one – but as I said a couple of days ago, tactics don’t make a player pass to the opposition which was the main thing wrong on Sunday.
In another theme, I hear the polis are investigating claims of racist chanting at Morelos at the request of newco. If it turns out to be a waste of police time will they go after them?
And will they investigate inflammatory gestures from Morelos? I’ve seen accusations from other Celtic supporters that those of us disturbed by Morelos and Kent’s behaviours are ‘snowflakes’. When I saw them I couldn’t help thinking of the young bhoy who had his throat cut by Jason Campbell at Bridgeton Cross on his way home from a game I was also at, or the young man stabbed to death in govanhill after a cup final in 1999, the guy shot with a crossbow after the same game or the stabbing of one of the more longstanding posters on here after a game against them a few years back, or the many reports over the years of similar incidents including a near miss of my own and the very serious life changing beating of an acquaintance of mine after a derby game.
I don’t recall the players then being as inflammatory.
It’s dangerous behaviour and needs to be called out
Hot Smoked @ 3:51,pm
Good question. There are a few angles
1) The, ahem, historical employment trends in the Scottish media have been “tweaked” rather than overhauled in the last 30 years. It is still, overwhelmingly, a place of “traditional” loyalties.
So, he is pushing against an open door to get pro-Sevco stories published.
BTW – don’t believe Spiers when he chuckled that it is riddled with supporters from “both our houses”. Garbage.
2) At a corporate, strategic level, most commercial media entities in Scotland have concluded that their best chance of long term survival is O*d F*rm equivalence.
It generates heat, noise, angst, joy, fights, outrage. Basically it perpetuates a soap opera which then = clicks and sales
Think about that – anything that drags down Celtic to Sevco’s level IS GOOD FOR BUSINESS.
3) So what about the rest of the cabal who don’t have the same emotional or strategic investment?
Simple. The guy you mention doesn’t know, to any great degree, where “the bodies are buried”. He didn’t operate at that level.
But he knows where bodies have been lying next to other bodies – particularly at BBC Scotland.
Hail hail
I have read quite a few posts saying we need to buy in January.
Remembering that we can only play eleven at a time (!) , who, from this squad of 22 (23 if Sinclair is included) often selected players is not good enough if Celtic are to go on and win the League?
Forster;
Frimpong, Elhamed,Bauer, Simunovic;Ajer, Jullien,Bitton, Taylor, Bolingoli,Hayes
Forrest, Christie, Rogic, Brown, McGregor,Ntcham,Johnston,Elynoussi, (Sinclair?).
Edouard;Griffiths(?).
FWIW, my own opinion is that, unless we were able to convince twenty million pound players to come to us, our chances of improving on what we already have will prove much more difficult than simply saying we must buy X,Y or Z in January.
Back to basics,
Thanks for that.
SOUTH OF TUNIS
Seasons greetings my friend. My wife and are seriously considering a holiday to Sicily this June.
Bearing in mind what we like to do on holiday, people watch, idle about cafes and eateries.
Be very grateful for any input please. At the moment, Traormina is looking good but I will bow to your superior knowledge.
KINGLuBO
Christie cited ??
HH
Ryan Christie served with a notice of complaint for grabbing poor wee Alfie.
You could not make this shit up ffs!!!!
Tuesday 31 December 2019
Fast Track Notice of Complaint | Ryan Christie, Player, Celtic FC
Player: Ryan Christie, Celtic FC
Match: Celtic FC v Rangers FC
Date: Sunday 29 December 2019
Competition: Scottish Premiership
Disciplinary Rule allegedly breached: Disciplinary Rule 200: Where any one of the sending off offences of (A1) serious foul play, (A2) violent conduct, and (A3) spitting at an opponent or any other person is committed by a player at a match, but that sending off offence was not seen by any of the match officials at the time that it was committed, the mandatory suspension for that sending off offence as provided for in Annex C of the Judicial Panel Protocol shall be applied to the player.
Any Fast Track Notice of Complaint alleging a breach of this Rule shall be Determined by a Fast Track Tribunal subject to the provisions of Section 13.
Hearing Date: Monday 6 January 2020
An Tearmann.
Yes D, he’s,been offered a 2 game ban.
Celtic ,really,must stand up to all of this, now.
First , all we hear about is the Morelas ‘racial abuse’ story and now Christie cited for Grabbing the wee rat’s baws!? Not a cheep about Kent or Morelas gestures or the Sevco dugout behaviour.
Dark forces afoot here methinks.
You could not write this people would not believe it, but it is happening .
Looks like stop Celtic has been moved to code red.
So from that we can determine that Clancy saw the gun gesture and the slashing gesture and deemed it ok, Police Scotland must be asked to look at this by Hawthorn both are criminal acts.
On a different topic…….policing. may raise a FOI and find out the cost of that event on Sunday. Around the Turnstiles pub there must have been at least 20 vans full of police, horses, police with riot gear on, helicopter, a drone.
All that for 700 bigots, just stop giving them tickets if they reciprocate who cares. Wouldn’t want to be near that many of them anyway.
We’ve become fat,lazy,and complacent since the hun demise………
……………………..we need to wake up.
highlight of the year surely has to be cqn’s sneering and derisive dismissal of the res12 campaign.
no doubt more of the same next year.
Christie grabbed him so I’ve no complaints about his citation except to ask where was the citation for the Morelos stamp on Ralston last year ?
I would ask what action will be taken against Kent and Morelos for their gesturing towards Celtic fans. Much more serious incidents.
Are the football authorities in Scotland ok with opposition players making threatening gestures towards fans ?
My friends in Celtic,
It seems we have had more fans through the Gates than any team in Europe. In fact one of only two teams with over a million fans.
Yes we have played more games than some, but nevertheless a remarkable display of fan power.
We need some of that devotion returned from our board in January.
HH.
Amidst this multi-media concerted attack on our great club the silence from Celtic Park is deafening!
HH
These Alexa echo dot things are great, got Alexa to play Reb songs all last night😂👏👏
Ryan Christie grabbed Morelos’ haw maws. Fast tracked and offered a 2 game ban.
Hmm. Notwithstanding there are many cases of whataboutery that can be cited, does this really have any impact on the team as Christie will be recovering from groin (irony) surgery.
Open tweet to Peter Lawwell at @CelticFC . They are calling me, my family and friends racists. You get off your f’n arse & get onto every media outlet and defend and support us right now. Your complicity shames you & lets the rest of us down.
You wanted them back, you got it
7:09 am – 31 Dec 2019
CADDINGTONCOMMON
Too right the silence is deafening , it’s time this Celtic board grew a pair , getting bullied all over the shop by Jabba ffs !
It seems to me that Sevco are deliberately trying to get into our heads.
Kent and Morelos both making gestures, Gerrard losing it, his coaching staff squaring up to Kennedy. Calls for VAR afterwards etc
All very unnecessary and provocative things to do.
Let’s not get too worked up.
If our players and management (at all levels) do their jobs over the next few months then that will ensure we win the league.
As I said earlier, never get into an argument with a drunk.