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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HOT SMOKED
Don’t know re popularity – but agree with this commonly stated opinion -If Wine was a pack of cards -Barolo would be the King,Barbaresco the Queen and Amarone the Jack.
I prefer Beer!
above post was from TOM THE LEEDS TIM.
KING LUBO
I’m currently in London-I’m going home on Monday.Will respond ASAP once I’m home !
I’ve just seen the video of Ryan grabbing the wee fud’s fud and I’m afraid to say the charge will be upheld. Someone somewhere must be going through footage of the game looking for misdemeanours by Celtic players.
We should be doing the same to see if Morelos is on camera for stamping on Julienne twice.
I say take the ban as Ryan will probably be still unfit to play the first couple of games due to his groin operation.
We should also be highlighting the wee Kent’s goal celebration.
Btw the board and the SFA can’t say much about buffalo until police investigation finished however as for the other knob, yes they can!
SoT
Interesting. Maybe I have been influenced by the price. Here, Barolo is about 60 % of the price of Amarone. In fact, about this time last year, Lidl were doing Barolo at two for a tenner ! Amarone is usually 16 -18 pounds per 70cl bottle.
Thanks for your reply, anyway.
I am a beer man also ( Real Ale) but really love wine with our Saturday Night Meal.El Duque de Miralta tonight. Aperitif is Royal Salute and Greene King1s Abbot Ale whilst cooking the Stroganoff !!
PC PLUM.”MR CHRISTIE you are charged with grabbing THE WORLDS BEST PLAYER by the gH oullies.how do you plead?”
RC” hoad on pal he did the same tae me last season.did you pull him in here.”
PLUM again”now did he squeeze them AGGRESSIVELY and TWIST them.”
RC “aye eh naw he tried tae pull them aff.”
PC “well there you have it one a serious crime the other an act of endearment.”
PC reaches for black w…………..
Prestonpans
What Police Investigation?
I see Phil is saying the Match Official will report a “racial slur” from a Celtic fan that was brought to their attention by a representative from Rangers.
Another Hmmm from me.
Firstly, is there any corroborating evidence? Or is that not required a la Shay Logan
Secondly, will we ever discover the nature of this “racial” slur. Does it involve colour such as Orange? Or maybe the H word?
Thirdly, was Morelos’ cut-throat gesture in response to this racial slur or was he signalling the end of the game (don’t make me laugh).
Assuming the defence is now the former when did Morelos hear this being shouted at him
– was it when he was removing his shin pads in the penalty box
– was it as he was walking towards the tunnel and heard it over the noise of 50,000 fans giving him non-racial pelters
– was it before or after he made the cut throat gesture, which was made a number of times, the first being quite a way from the tunnel
– maybe he could lip read it
– does he even understand English and therefore reacted to what he heard
Before anyone jumps to the wrong conclusion, if a racial slur was uttered there is no defence for that and the perpetrator should be dealt with to the full extent of the law.
However, my points are
– I do not believe Morelos’ gesture was in response to the alleged racial slur
– I am yet to be convinced a racial slur was shouted
– Celtic FC should be demanding all evidence and commentating appropriately once that has been provided
Christie did grab his nuts, so that’s a fair cop.
I’m his biggest fan but he had a poor game and was pretty brainless in several of his actions.
Jock Stein spoke of having to be so far ahead that we removed the refs from the equation. To this must now be added the SFA, MSM and Police Scotland.
HH jg
Scotsman, has a piece saying Celtic are astonished at Christie citing and will vigorously defend it.
Also a lot of rumours circulating on how and when Christie picked up his own groin injury.
Glass Half Full, I’d like to add demographics to your list.
The proportion of the Scottish population that identify as Catholic is 15-18% (I think. Happy to be corrected). Add in those of us who are non-Catholic but support Celtic and the proportion is, say, 20% of folks have a leaning towards Celtic.
I’m not saying the other 80% support ‘Rangers’, but give Scotland’s history of bigotry and anti-Irish racism, I’d assume most of the ‘neutrals’ are happy to see negative headlines about Celtic.
Ultimately the SMSM see it as got for their (thankfully dying) business.
As I’ve said a millions of times, in Scotland you have media for the Hun, by the Hun, of the Hun.
Why Celtic supporters consume it completely baffles me.
I’m hearing a rumour that RC was assaulted by Morelos after the game. If this is true then CFC need to call it out.
One of the rumours being that the “groin” injury was from the tunnel incident with Morelos’ booting Christie in the boz.
In which case I take back my “irony” comment and replace it with criminal charges required.
If Morelos has assaulted Christie then the Club are keeping quiet because its subject to a police investigation.
Póg. CFC wouldn’t be allowed to comment on an ongoing police investigation.
If Morelos has flown to Colombia as is being reported, I would assume he won’t be back. He should have been going to Dubai with his squad. And I doubt there will any extradition from Colombia to face charge of criminal assault.
What does that do for his transfer value? Oh dear.
Celtic spokesperson on DR website
A Celtic spokesperson said: “We are aware of a number of incidents from Sunday’s match including Celtic supporters being targeted with missiles from the away support, something which has unfortunately happened on numerous occasions previously.
“We are also aware of a number of other unsavoury incidents involving the away support, including sickening chants directed at our players and supporters.
“However, as we always do, Celtic will deal with these and all other incidents responsibly and in a dignified and professional manner and in a way which protects the greater good of the game.”
An Dun @2:35.
I fully concur. We have better players, we need better organisation and strategy. NFL is lacking in all of these & JK + DD are inexperienced. They need a bit of extra support on the tactical side and particularly in ensuring that our players are in their optimum position and that if there are one of two gaps eg. central defence, we fill them in as soon as possible. March 15th will be upon us very soon.
What a circus.
Just get the ten and they’re gone forever.
Time to ban that mob and for us to take the lead. Am sure we could cite fan safety as well as the ridiculous cost to police such a small amount of visiting fans relative to total attendance. Not good for public purse either.
I did not know anything about the Sevco coach who got the red card . It seems he used to work at Liverpool Youths with Stevie G. Anyway, in the interview with him that I located he was talking of their defeat in last year’s title run-in match at CP where Eddie & The Invisible Man scored. He was talking about their red cards when he said:-
“That indiscipline has been disappointing on our part, and when we look back over it, it’s important we don’t always blame the officials as it has happened too often for us to look at that angle of it.”
How quickly they forget :-)
I heard the same story re Christie but did I not also read that he was suffering during the game and was playing through the pain and had to be taken off before the end.
It hardly happened at half time surely.
Time to ban them from Celtic Park – end of.
AN DUN on 31ST DECEMBER 2019 5:42 PM
If Morelos has assaulted Christie then the Club are keeping quiet because its subject to a police investigation.
———–
I can understand the inaction of the board for the attack in the tunnel if it has become an investigation.
Maybe Ryan blocked morelos on the way to the top of a cistern for his fix.
How cruel is that!.
All I would like to see is our board grow some and back the support like we have them.
The Huns are rabid, more rabid than ever. Jabba is beyond irresponsible and Stewart Robertson ought to take a long hard look at himself. They are a disgrace to football.
HOT SMOKED.
Found an online newspaper article from December 2018.It claims that the top 4 sellers re quality vino rosso are –
Barolo
Barbaresco
Brunello
Amarone.
Mrs S of T knows a lot more re Wine than I do .She thinks- Barolo is the best .She also added that Sicilian Reds are much improved.She highly recommends this -Nawari Pinot Nero.
Buona Cena /Buon Anno./ Auguri !
I haven’t seen such rabidity(is that a word?) from the huns since the shame game . They seem to attract types like Morelas and Kent who ,regardless of football ability , are just vile human beings.
Hot Smoked – cheers. I read my reply back, apologies I lectured a bit.
MSM is a bit of thing for me.
The blogger …. GM @5:39pm – agree 100%
Hail hail
UPDATE
#Celtic have told Sky Sports;
‘We are absolutely astonished at this decision. Clearly we will defend Ryan vigorously’.
Stewart Robertson is the serious professional according to someone supposedly on the side of Celtic, his statement yeesterday where he justified a slashing gesture as something that is commonly done in Columbia was discredited in minutes by Tom English quoting some of the Columbian media, Jabba wrote that statement Robertson issued the statement in his name, duly noted as another scum bag educated or not.
SoT
Grazie Mille !!
Off now to partake of the food and drink mentioned above.
Cheerio for now.
Everyone will of course notice that all of Celtics complaints hapenned during the game while all of Sevcos occured long after.Nuff said.
Well actually not because i think its time to ban the rabid hun support.
HH
Phil
Needing emergency groin surgery doesn’t sound to me like a football injury so rumours inevitably start.
That’s not to say there’s any truth in them. We shall see.
Either way, stay focused on the prize, Celtic.
Ho ho. It’s fair kicking off.
Sevco are all in.
All the motivation you need.
Dessybhoy – a mutual acquaintance has told me a few times what a decent bloke SR is.
You judge a man by the company he keeps
Hail hail
Never a truer saying than the old adage ‘ you reap what you sow.’
If the Celtic board has been in anyway complicit in resurrecting the huns then, unfortunately, it is getting what it deserves – the Frankenstein Monster on coke.
Unfortunately we, the support, are having to suffer the consequences. Anybody who wanted this abomination of a club back in any form seriously need to look at themselves and ask WHY?
Pog
Well said👏👏👏
We’ve had a great season so far. The huns have had an even better season, our fluke win at Hampden aside.
They have gone for broke, literally. They have spent everything they have and more on an ambitious managerial appointment and seasoned pros.
We have elected to not push the boat out for a manager (there’s a logic for Lenny after the Rodgers diva experiment) and to rely on talented but callow players with a future sell-on potential. This is the sustainable business model.
If we blow 9-in-a-row on this basis it won’t be forgiven. Fat profits, shareholder value and CEO bonuses are tolerated when treble trebles are being won.
However, when the other guy is risking everything and winning our model can look like our CEO and main shareholder are pulling their punches whilst banking unnecessary profits.
PS in the name of all financial logic can we please clear out the dozen or so high earners that have contributed nil this season? I’ll get a game at centre-half before Jack Hendry.
PÓGMATHONYAHUN AKA LAIRD OF THE SMILES on 31ST DECEMBER 2019 6:26 PM
I could not agree more!