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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GG
Agree 100%👍👏👏
If I want to read made up pish I know where to go for it and I don’t expect to find it here on CQN!
Anyhow happy new year to all true Celts and GTF those who are not. Away to bed.
It’s been an eventful and fruitful decade.
Here’s to further success in the next one.
For posters and their friends and family experiencing illness, I hope and pray your pain is alleviated.
The real state of the Club 2019
Celtic lost to Sevco on Sunday
Some people would say how is that possible given the financial gulf between the two clubs
2018. Sevco 32m v Celtic plc of 101m
But don’t be surprised We have been losing to clubs in Champions league qualifiers on a fraction of our turnover for last ten years
We have to ask ourselves why can’t we turn our clear financial advantage into the same advantage on the pitch
Let’s start with the coaching and tactics
I love NFL. His passion for the club. He has a hard job. Does he have back up or advice in the form of a experience Coach at Celtic
A resounding no He was Forced to take on a fitness coach with every little tactical experience as his no 2 , I watched John Kennedy from a few Meters away on Boxing Day. Virtually no interaction with Neil. The only thing he did at their corners was to order JF to Stand on halfway line
Damian Duff , no experience as coach
Then we look at recruitment Hammond is working with two hands tied behind his back
If we have a list of say 3 strikers. You know who will run his view over them and slows the process down. The fact that Celtic fc at present have one striker is down to this process
Then let’s look at the team
Start with the goalie Let’s be clear here
Without FF where would our team be both in SPFL and Europe
Defence left back Boli boli. Ok play time over a liability No position sense. Sevco targeted our left back position
Right back Jeremie is not a right back A great attacker who puts James’s Forrest to shame
Big Julian. Immense but needs help
Ayer is a tall midfielder at Center half and it shows
Midfield brown. Immense. Needs help
McGregor. Tries hard. Lacks class
Ryan. He was surrounded by two or three Sevco players all the time
MJ and JF. Aberdeen is calling you both. Both got zero in sandman ratings. I would have given -5
Eduoard. Surrounded by three players all the time due to MJ and JF playing snap on the sidelines
Summary If we had the same Turnover as Sevco , we would be battling with the sheep for third
We are a slow moving beast Hard to react and change While other clubs , especially in CL qualifiers push to get as much of the liquid assets in jerseys on the park , we spend our time counting balance sheets
Let’s put it this way. If someone gave Sevco or our CL rivals , 20m. They would spent it a month
If someone gave us 20m. We would spend 5m on last day of transfer window and add the rest to the balance sheet and tell the world that we are the best run football club in Britain
We have 50m to spend , but if we spend 5m this window we will be lucky
We will lose OD in summer and go in once again to CL qualifiers unprepared
Only the CEO can change we way we are run and at present it’s the CEO who ensures we are run the way we are
Up to the fans to do something. But will we wait till 9 in row is gone. Over to us Bhoys
I’m getting old but I could swear this fecked up team of ours beat Lazio twice & finished top of our Europa Group. Maybe I got that wrong but we have played 37 (excluding our reserves dead rubber away to Cluj) 31 wins 3 draws 3 defeats, shocking beyond belief.
We are doomed I tell ye absolutely doomed.
Happy New Year to All.
Great to be a Tim
I’m reading of a Celtic statement on Huns spewing their usual bile.
Can’t see anything on official site, can someone point me to a genuine linK?
Secondly I’d like to send my appreciation to the doctor who must have cleared the wax from the ears of the Celtic board members.
Whiskey drink ready for New Year drink🍺🍺🍺
Definitely my last post of this year, I really appreciate Paul’s blog, plenty of different Celtic views with a few other views, which is fair enough and at times adds to the blog and stimulates debate ….
But the narrative is out there, I realise one day Celtic won’t win every domestic trophy just like I never thought we would go over 3 seasons winning every domestic trophy (and still possibly more)
Enjoy these terrific times in spite of the obstacles our Club face … and 2020 could bring even more (terrific times & obstacles)
On that note …
Hail Hail 🍀
Happy New Decade to all.
Lurkers, posters, happy clappers and mine shafters
Hoopy new year y’all
And the bean sídhes cried………
Hogmanay Memories
The Highlight of the year
Hogmanay was a real treat, the highlight of the year. Children would be allowed to stay up late in anticipation, waiting for the bells. It was never certain just who would turn up at the door, but someone always did. The food was laid out on the kitchen table covered with a pristine white tablecloth. Sandwiches, shortbread and black bun. Also, bottles of beer and a half-bottle of whisky, with bottles of cordial, a sort of sickly sweet concoction which virtually guaranteed that dentures would later be a necessity for the imbiber!
When the pub closed, well before midnight, Uncles Angus, Duncan and Alex would appear, with their favourite tipples in carrier bags, and a lump of coal as an omen of health, wealth and prosperity for the coming year. Grandad would enjoy a quite dram and a puff at his pipe, whilst Uncle Angus would, once again, re-create his part in the winning of the Battle of El Alamein in North Africa in 1942, using the salt and pepper and a box of matches. Everyone had heard it all before, of course. Mum and Dad enjoyed the commotion simply because it was an event in those days, a unique event, before the advent of late-pub closing and urban sophistication had made every Saturday night an event.
On the television would be The White Heather Club, with Andy Stewart and bagpipes, tartan, singing and lots of dancing, in black and white, of course. Then, finally, the moment we had all been waiting for- the countdown to the bells. In a frenzy everyone would refresh their glasses and listen to Andy Stewart intone the magic phrase, ‘Happy New Year!’ Everyone would give each other new year greetings, the ships in the docks would sound their foghorns, fireworks would ascend into the night sky and the celebrations would commence. Uncle Eck produced a guitar and would sing some rock and roll, followed by Harry Lauder’s Roaming in the Gloaming, just for Granny. After every verse she would laugh uproariously and cry out, ‘yir an awfy man, Harry!’ Neighbours would appear bearing records and these would be stacked on the Dansette record player, The Beatles, Helen Shapiro and, of course Cliff Richard and The Shadows for the younger ones. Strip the Willow, The Gay Gordons and The Dashing White Sergeant were then performed in the tiny living room, as grand as if it were the Royal Albert Hall.
More neighbours appeared from the landing, part of a giant impromptu conga which had spilled out from Mrs Findlay’s, three doors down. Her son, Big Tam, had been a Piper in the army and he was in the lead playing Heiland Laddie on the bagpipes, around three times faster than usual.
The party would begin to wind down around three in the morning, Mum’s favourite phrase to us protesting children was, ‘remember, it’s New Year tomorrow, as well.’ One by one, the revellers would leave after another rousing rendition of Auld Lang Syne. When they were gone, the table, once pristine and orderly, would now be a reminder of another Hogmanay. Another year over and the new year still to come, what would it bring? Stored in the ‘Press’, the ubiquitous pantry, the large, pre-ordered steak pie would be waiting for the traditional New Year dinner.
Many Hogmanays have come and gone since then. Although perhaps more sophisticated and grand, they will never outdo the special magic of those, perhaps, more innocent times. Most of the people I remember, including my uncles, have gone as well, but I can still hear the laughter and the music and still feel the sense of optimism and hope as the bells signalled the start of ‘Neerday’, looking to the future whilst remembering the past and absent friends. Still, whatever time we live in, whatever the ways of the world and the complexities of modern life, the greeting Happy New Year, is, and will always be, the cry at Hogmanay, A very Happy New Year to everybody.
Happy New Year
Get yer sleeves rolled up for a fight. ☘
Happy New Year to all CQNers and lurkers their families and friends.hh
Glenda…. That’s not made up
Happy New Year Bhoys HH
PÓGMATHONYAHUN AKA LAIRD OF THE SMILESon 31ST DECEMBER 2019 6:26 PM
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?
=======================
Ever since you put that ó in yer moniker, your making a lot more sense.👍
Happy new Year pal…….Great post.
Agree with the astute Jamesgang’s observation from earlier, some of our players need to reminded that they’re not just playing for a football team they’re playing for a cause, as a great Celtic man once said.
Happy new year to everyone.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nXHx9KnzgSY
HH
Happy New Year to u all and winning 9iar will be even sweeter after the last two days of merde🍩
A good new year to one and all
Lovely to see you post Weet Weet Weet, Hope you are doing OK.
Best wishes to Big Jimmy.
God Bless Glasgow Celtic
Happy new year all ! The 9 is a must, I am nervous but keeping the faith. All the best for 2020!
Happy New Year! por cierto
Let’s celebrate 2020 Bhoys and Ghirls
👍👍👍
Another 4 hrs to the ’20 here in 🇨🇦.
God bless every Celt in the universe and the realisation that Sunday was only a wee setback on the road to 9iar.
Seriously, They cant get any better – but us?
C’mon the celts .☘
TAL,
Happy New Year/Decade when it finally arrives in Canada. All the very best 😄
Happy New Year to everyone.
Don’t let that horrible mob get us down.
The future’s bright…It’s Green and White.
Hail Hail.
Welcome to Twenty Twenty!
Corkcelt@11:23 totally agree,anyway good to see posters come back on to the blog ,i’m an infrequent poster or lurker if you prefer,but we all have the same wish , Happy New Year to ALL on here ,we may disagree but we’re all celts together HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL COYBIG onwards and upwards
Happy new year all. Not been reading. Hope the coaching team recognise how to build Ajer’s jump. Twitch muscles like Ronalo and all that. Love and peace.
WEET WEET WEET on 1ST JANUARY 2020 12:10 AM
Marvellous reminiscences of a Scottish hogmanay .
Lang may yer lum reek.
Hogmanay . The egg of the year .
Happy New Year to all on CQN.
Does anyone with genuine inside knowledge know whether the story surrounding how Christie received his groin injury is true?
REALISM IS NOT DEFEATISM
(Macjay 1)
Happy New Year to all of the Celtic family – sadly a family at odds with each other as the prospect looms of an Ibrox title win.
“We are in a better position than last year” say quite a few – this is a matter of fact as far as points won, however I’m not sure about two points ahead with one game more played and eight away fixtures from thirteen till the split, with our nearest challenger having eight from thirteen at home, is a “better position” Also having more points than last year must be put into context – apart from at Ibrox, every team in the league is appreciably weaker than last year.
The worry for me is our apparent neutering on the pitch, in the dugout and in the boardroom by the Ibrox club in such a short space of time. They have a bunch of players supposedly man for man inferior to our squad, dominating on the pitch, their manager & coaches seem to have a superior grasp of the game and their boardroom and PR are in total command of the ‘off the field’ narrative.
With us there is the perception of slippage & crumble – that we have reached our peak and are now impotent in the areas that matter, on and off the park.
This 9iar year was, in my opinion, going to be tougher than 10iar because the Ibrox club have staked everything they’ve got on stopping us this year – if they fail, their model is bust and next year would be a formality.
King’s reasons for leaving will all ‘come out in the wash’ – departure with nothing in the trophy cabinet was not his ideal legacy, but he had no choice. However winning the title this season will have a transformative effect on the Ibrox business – it is a MUST, not a hope.
I fear our failure to secure 9iar, and therefore 10iar, may have a seriously adverse effect on the club – season ticket uptake will fall in coming years, new football management will be sought, top players will be sold & more affordable ones recruited. The ownership and running of the club at board level will probably change as the end of this successful era crystallizes.
All this will be seen by some as a gross over-reaction to one defeat in a season where the first trophy is in our cabinet. However it could happen and must have crossed the minds of most supporters.
Things can be changed for the better, but it has to happen very soon – January 2020 will be a seminal month in Celtic’s future…..in my humble opinion of course.
Hello again all you young rebels.
Well ! another night in the beautiful city of Melbourne, fireworks going
off above our heads 20 degs at midnight and huns everywhere.
O.k that last bit was a lot of shoite, but you knew that, the hoops as
usual everywhere not least our big tribe of timmites and the Greek and
Italian families who join up with us through the wee mhan and his mhates
winching their ghirls.
Funny word that.. WINCHING..where did that come from? always remember
when i was rigging up a mast or whatever in my working life and using a
winch thinking what has that got to do with going out with a good looking
ghirl?
Maybe it’s the pull factor, and these young tims have got it in spades, all
over six foot and that Scottish accent seems to attract the Aussie ghirls.
It’s not like i’m jealous or anything being an aul fat baldy bassa but i never
get ” oh your accent is devine ”
Maybe it’s because when i’m full of the rid biddy i talk Swahili or so the
princess says.
Anyways just to say, not a hun top in sight, hoops as usual everywhere.
A Happy Hoopy New Year to all CQN’rs and the Sentinel bhoys, after all
it’s the Celtic family
A very happy New Year to each and every CQNer.
Let’s hope we do DO the treble once again.
Happy New Year to all. I’m getting a wee bit pissed off at the message the media and various other outlets are trying to put out there. This league race is actually still in our hands, if we win every remaining game we win the league, it’s that simple. Never mind all this, it’s in their hands because of a game in hand, if we win our games, it makes no difference. Let’s stay positive and get behind the team, 9 iar is still very much on target. Hail Hail
MELBOURNE MICK on 1ST JANUARY 2020 7:36 AM
It was suggested to me that ” Winching ” came from ” Wenching ” .
Sounds logical and plausible.
Happy New Year to everyone on CQN ! 💚
MCNUT on 1ST JANUARY 2020 7:32 AM
The positive.
Although I feel Lennie et al were tactically outplayed once more by Gerrard et al ( I suspect that Gary Mc Allister is the tactical power behind the throne and is the heir apparent ) our performance in the second game was a significant improvement on the first.
We almost got a draw in the last ten after , and probably because , Lennie made some significant subs. The changes should probably have been made earlier.
The N.I.A.R. , T.I.A.R is an albatross round our necks.
It goes against the great Jock doctrine of one game at a time .
Eight in a row is failure ? Really ?
In all of these consideration , our European progress, success and prospects are being overlooked.
Why should we wish acclaim and credibility in our little bigoted footballing backwater ?
It honours our enemies , because that`s what they are.
If ever we wondered , after Sunday there can be no doubt .
We should be treating the Scottish football supremos , their organisation , their employees and their trophies with the utter contempt they deserve .
But we won`t.