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State of the Club Report, year-end 2012

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My friends in Celtic, pause for a few moments and peruse your domain.  On the field of play your favourites matured into accomplished football players.  2011 ended with an acclaimed Joe Ledley header confirming what we already knew, Celtic were the best team in the land.

Despite ‘losing’ the previous three league titles Celtic held firm in the January transfer window; a difficult decision.  We needed to win the league – at any credible cost – but without jeopardising the financial stability of the club.  More than sporting form was under debate on these pages at the turn of the year, continents were shifting.

Since 2004 readers of Celtic Quick News have read the gospel of financial responsibility.  Bills need to be paid, debt cannot be allowed to rise year after year without enormous consequences.  Back then we asserted that Rangers would crash and burn.  By 2008 we predicted they were on course to go out of business.  This message was not always welcome among our own.  It was mocked by some, who demanded ever-higher spending to match the Murray Millions, but on 1 January 2012 there was scarcely a Celtic fan alive who didn’t think Rangers were going out of business.  It was only a question of when.

When the crash was confirmed, on St Valentine’s Day, Scottish football embarked on a remarkable period of soul-searching.  Rangers last owner, Craig Whyte, had a plan, which we explained in some detail in 2011.  Whyte subsequently revealed he met with SPL directors, Neil Doncaster and Ralph Topping in October 2011, told them the likelihood that Rangers would go into liquidation, and asked them to back a plan to catapult a Newco-Rangers into the SPL.

The plan was nonsense.  Whyte should have been sent away with told to pay his bills but Doncaster was oceans out of his depth.  A fait-accompli would be presented to the SPL clubs, vote to change the rules and elect a Newco into the top flight, or deal with “Armageddon”.

Football eventually did the right thing, as many, perhaps most, Rangers fans wanted all along, but hundreds of scribes attached themselves to Whyte’s Cunning Plan, which was presented as a bastion of responsibility, not the work of deception it was.  The fight-back started on these pages.  Soon it encompassed fans of every club in Scotland and the SPL clubs have no choice but to stick with the established rules.

Rangers creditors voted against a CVA and liquidators were appointed.  Pop, and they were gone!  Football fans of every colour, who has endured defeat to Rangers but still asserted that expenditure must be limited to income, enjoyed three seconds of glory as they turned to the bling-addicts beside them and said, “Told you”.

A man from Yorkshire with a group of partially-known investors nipped in ahead of various groups of Rangers fans to secure the assets of the club.  Evidence suggests he believed the club would achieve a CVA (the assertion that “the history, the tradition, everything that’s great about this club is swept aside” if they were to be liquidated confirms this), but he bid more than any group of Rangers fans for the liquidated assets so ended up with an opportunity to issue himself with 5 million shares worth 70p each a few months later.  Beautiful.

We’re on our own.

Celtic began as the solitary voice at SPL meetings speaking against Whyte’s plan.  They were not responsible for the demise of Rangers, but let the record show, when the moment of reckoning arrived, the Celtic board liquidated the Old Firm.

On the field of play we were a well-oiled machine.  Our first league title in four seasons arrived with consummate ease.  Kilmarnock showed what a well-drilled team could do in the League Cup final, with a little help from a last minute blind-spot when Anthony Stokes had his legs whipped from him in the box, but let’s be generous, you know it, I know it, we would have missed the penalty anyway.

Last minute Hampden penalty decisions would crop up again in the Scottish Cup, when the whole Deliberate Handball rule was cast asunder, but refereeing is always been an emerging art in these parts.

The new season, our first ever as the only superpower in the Scottish game, held one major challenge – qualify for the Champions League.  Four wins in four qualifying games was better than expected, so the team who were slapped by Sion, attacked by Atletico and usurped by Udinese a year earlier, were in the Champions League.

Be generous to those who dismissed our chances.  One poor guy writing the ITVFootball tweets wrote “Bye bye Celtic” on the day we were drawn against Spartak Moscow, Benfica and Barcelona.  Based on the evidence available, it was a fair call.

It is nothing short of fantastic, in the literal sense, that we qualified out of that group.  Even now, halfway through the season, Barcelona have lost only one competitive game, when Victor Wanyama, Tony Watt and their pals ripped up the form book.  It took Barca until the 93rd minute to secure a win over Celtic in the Camp Nou, or they would have three competitive draws on their record for this season, one to Real Madrid in the league, and a meaningless draw against Benfica being the only two.

I honestly thing we have overachieved in Europe this season.  Neil Lennon and his players got everything right.  The corner and free kicks from Charlie were immense.  No one in Europe does better (some supporting evidence here).  Forget the more fancied thoroughbreds, Charlie Mulgrew is our Moneyball player, a team full of them and we’ll win the Big Cup.

Victor’s leap and Tony’s finish will be replayed in our minds for years.  Despite leaving ample hints, the DVD didn’t materialise at Christmas.  Georgios has scored in all of our five European away games, a record.

Expectations will rise as a result of these achievements but we got so many things absolutely right in this Champions League campaign the odds against doing so again next season are high.  Celtic will need to start preparing for next season’s Champions League now if they are to have any chance of remaining in the tournament next Hogmanay.  If we were operating at 90% capacity we would have finished bottom with one or two points.  As for Juventus, bring them on.

These end-of-year reports are often a lot less encouraging.  2010 was far from easy reading, the distance we have travelled since 2010’s is incredible.  Celtic end 2012 as one of the most admired clubs in the European game.  We develop great players, compete against the best better than anyone else, and have a sense of purpose which will never be extinguished.

Take care and may 2013 bring you all that you hope for.

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  1. danso_1888 on

    for those who think i protest to much, remember there used to a

     

    team called rangers who went in to admin and liquidation because no one would ask questons of them and they had to make up a new co for them, i most certainly not want that to happen to celtic, so if you dont mind i will keep asking what i consider serious and vital questions even if some think im getting boring or heaven forbid worse.

  2. Palacio67 on

    Alcohol free night for Palacio. Woke up early this morning with a bad bout of Montezumas Revenge ( Must have been the Corona ). Stomach still kinda dodgy and hopefully will be ok for the game tomorrow.

     

     

    Nite all and take care

     

     

    Hail Hail

  3. pauloantony on

    Where is the documentation that says chuckles bought the history ha ha ha …

     

    You cant !!!

     

     

    What chuckles has done is simples …

     

     

    He keeps saying I’ve bought the history …

     

     

    Correct !

     

    When he bought the stadium , fixtures , fittings …

     

    He also bought the trophies in the trophy room … A wee bit of history .

     

     

    But ..

     

     

    YOU CAN’T APPLY THOSE TROPHIES TO THE NEW CLUB !

     

     

     

    IT’S LIKE ME GOING INTO A ANTIQUES SHOP AND BUYING OLD WAR MEDALS AND SAYING THEY ARE MINE ! THAT’S MY HISTORY …I’VE BOUGHT THIS HISTORY .

     

     

    Silly billys

  11. Awe_Naw_No_Annoni_Oan_Anaw_Noo on

    Just watched 5 hours of BBC Scotland Hogmanay offerings in 20 minutes. SFA TV

     

     

    Only an Excuse R.I.P keep the gig material.

     

     

    Proclaimers poor.

     

     

    Chewin the fat good but seen a million times

     

     

    Scots on the box dribble

     

     

    Hogmanay celebrations ???? I thought the life span in Scotland was low. So why are they still catering for what now must be at least octagenarians ???

     

     

    HH

  13. miki67 on

    Akshooly…what Chunkles bought is memories, memorabilia, and gaudy scrap.

     

    Now he’s tarted it up and floggin’ it back to its original owners.

     

    How thick are they?

  16. zimmerman on

    FFM,

     

    My kids had all the “Ernest” movies,

     

    i was subjected to him for years while they rolled about the floor,

     

    quite a talented funny guy though.

  21. Fortunes Favour Mibbes on

    Awe Naw,

     

     

    you’re in time warp amigo. i only got Only an Excuse which was relatively average as usual.

     

     

    All the programmes you quoted there were last shown pre-Sevco years…mibbes there was more to laugh at then from a BBC point of view ? :))

  24. danso_1888 on

    Doc is Neil Lennon,

     

     

    have to start somewhere lol,

     

     

    just got this of tsfm on sendings off so far,

     

     

     

    Clyde

     

    Annan

     

    East Stirlingshire

     

    Stirling Albion

     

    Queens Park

     

    Elgin City

     

    Berwick Rangers

     

     

    That is seven players in total, considering that TRFC have only played 17 matches this season I find this statistic really scary and very atonishing indeed. So much for SPL referees. Wonder what the SFA think of this? or is it that our men in black are just following orders?

  26. danso_1888 on

    if it was not for the refs integrity you would a bit suspicious

     

    of a possible pattern emerging.

  29. danso_1888 on

    surely the authorities under the guise of reconstruction must

     

    save sevco from such hammer throwers, have they not been punished enough? surely with the new year in we must have sympathy?

  41. Fortunes Favour Mibbes on

    Z,

     

     

    He’s gettin a bit creept when he looks into the eyes of yon burds though :))

     

     

    Cue Bob Hoskins:

     

     

    ( well thurs a lot of dignity in dat, gan at in aw rosperry ripple :))

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