On practically all measures the club has had a less successful 2013 than 2012 but I’m going to give you a positive State of the Club Report today. 2013 gave us one critical achievement, qualification for the group stage of the Champions League. Winning the league title is, of course, critical for most ambitious clubs, but at Celtic it has become a bit like putting your socks on; it’s something we do as a matter of course.
Overcoming Elfsborg and Shakhter Karagandy was a lot more difficult than it should have been. They are to us what we are to teams at the top of La Liga or Serie A, but our superior resources eventually held good. You get a sense from recent comments by Neil Lennon and Johan Mjallby that the realisation we need to shop at least one transfer window in advance of the period we need players to be effective has dawned.
Next season’s qualifiers will, in all probability, be more challenging, so the hard work necessary to ensure a high probability of a successful outcome should already be underway.
Performance at this season’s group stage was ultimately disappointing after a promising start. We held our own for 80 minutes away to Milan, looking as comfortably as we have been away to a top Spanish or Italian club in 30 years. Conceding two late goals felt harsh. Defeat at home to Barcelona was frustrating. The plan worked perfectly while the game was 11 v 11 and even when we were reduced to 10 men we still had a chance to take the lead, but Barca were hot favourites from the moment Scott Brown flicked out at Neymar. We missed Brown’s influence hugely over the next three CL games.
A tactically impeccable performance at home to Ajax but some points on the board but the three remaining games, away to Ajax and Barcelona, and home to Milan, were abject. It was like all our accumulated wisdom of how to compete in this tournament was lost. The Milan game at Celtic Park was particularly disappointing as it mirrored the manner and score of the defeat to Juventus earlier this year. No lessons were learned.
When Teemu Pukki cheerfully told us he would bring pace and strength to the Celtic attack, but not a bundle of goals, there was a ripple of concern across the support. In Europe, we can often only afford one striker, so he needs to be the type of will look away but have the ball bounce off his bum and into the net.
Recruiting a player who possesses this talent and can successfully deploy it on the Champions League, while he does his weekend business in the SPFL, has proven to be the key challenge for the football department. It’s not easy, but it’s certainly not impossible. We know the issue, we have time and money in the bank, so I don’t see why we can’t find a solution.
2013 was not a time of harmony for the Celtic support. Amid vandalism, flares and multiple Uefa fines Celtic banned fans and donated seats in section 111 to charity. We are 10 years after the Fifa and Uefa Fair Play awards. The road back to those times will not be easy but there is a road back.
In early 2012 I appeared on Radio Scotland, where James Traynor insisted that Celtic were doomed if the SPL clubs refused to allow Newco Rangers elevated access to top flight football. I told him the overwhelming consensus on Celtic Quick News was that we were prepared to pay the price to ensure new clubs start at the bottom of the league pyramid. If it meant more youth players, fewer fans, less effective European competition, so be it.
The predictions of doom were largely misplaced. Celtic have not only been able to reach the Champions League group stage, twice in succession. My money is on them qualifying again next year, while season ticket sales in excess of 40,000 is exceptionally robust in the circumstances.
It was almost exactly nine years ago that I suggested the start of the Martin O’Neill era would herald a Generation of Domination, as Sir David Murray’s financial recklessness would lead to Rangers collapse. Now the only questions is, how many generations are we talking about? None of what has happened since is a surprise. Our progress on the field will not be linear, it never was, but it is assured.
Have a great New Year, you deserve it.
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starry plough:
Eh! Their club was the first club to say No. If I’m not mistaken.
I never ever saw Celtic’s vote recorded.
If you don’t strut through Rutherglen in the rain, humming Bruce Springsteen’s “Backstreets”, you’re missing out on a great new year mood enhancer.
danso_1888
16:25 on 31 December, 2013
Well, don’t despair………I will not apologise for the demise of oldco having been the best period of my football life……for 3 years I despaired, when they were getting 3inarow via honest mistakes, but have come to realise that those 3 years were the destroying years……well worth the end product……….and incidentally, I worked out that the barstewards ‘cost’ me circa £7k over that 3 year period alone.
So you call them the sheep.. your prerogative…
If they called us the paedophiles would your licence of imagination be so kind?
Paul 67’s last article of the year (?) is like the President’s State of the Union address. We go into the next year in a state of strength and rude health and long may it continue!
Off topic, about 5 years ago I mistakenly bought a box of 320 Bangers and still have more than half of them left after 5 Hogmanays. I started letting them off about 30 mins ago, with the result that fireworks are now trending locally. When will I ever grow up? Lol.
Bis später. Off oot.
Hail! Hail! PMTYH
tractorbhoy
16:11 on 31 December, 2013
Chuckie…..and HH…….!!!!!!!!
kitalba
If it was any other club than Rangers involved in this would there be such a clamour for Celtic to deal with it?
The fact that it is Rangers has always clouded the issue, had Celtic come out with the jacket off declaring that they were going to sort it out then it would have descended into an us versus them story and that is why I believe Celtic didn’t do that and still don’t do that.
It’s not down to us to clean up Scottish Football it’s down to all the clubs and for all that they were first to say no Aberdeen, they didn’t oppose Ogilvies re-election no one did..
bournesouprecipe
16:34 on
31 December, 2013
If you don’t strut through Rutherglen in the rain, humming Bruce Springsteen’s “Backstreets”, you’re missing out on a great new year mood enhancer.
You are more than welcome to my share of that happiness inducing experience.
Paul
A quick word to wish you and all CQNers a very happy and peaceful New Year.
Beauty is in the rainbow not in the imaginary pot of gold at its base.
H H
starry plough forza oscar
16:39 on 31 December, 2013
Correct……let the vultures circle for a wee while longer
Starry plough
Disingenuous….tut tut
Who was cheated out of most honours and revenue by the Orcs?
Tell you what if my bank repossessed my house for one months mortgage arrears and the guy next door,who had been stealing my tax refunds and cashing them,got away with it for a year then I would silently accept this situation?
Aye right?
Not getting involved in the big issues today. There will be plenty of time in 2014 to address that.
Want to begin with best wishes for a speedy return home for Martin Kane (e mail sent already) and the comfort of home and hearth.
Happy 2014 to all our Oz correspondents as it is that time already.
Happy 2014 to all on this side of the date line when midnight comes.
Looking forward to the Thistle game tomorrow and the free bus Celtic provided which gives me an excuse for a drink.
TBJ if you are online, I have a spare ticket for the game tomorrow if you know anyone who needs it. See you at the bus before 1 pm.
Hail Hail
Kitalba do you have a copy of the 5 way agreement? Or do you know the wording of it? Would you mind sharing with the rest of us the document,not what you think it contains but verbatim. That way we can all peruse it and come to our own views which may or may not agree with yours. Yours in anticipation. Hail Hail Hebcelt
And the Glaaaasssssgow Zaledeeeeeeekkkkkk will be there.
Glen Daly (born Bartholomew Francis McCann McGovern Dick c.1930 – 1987) was a Scottish singer and entertainer.
Tonsils CSC
67Heaven … I am Neil Lennon, supporting WEE OSCAR..!!.. Ibrox belongs to the creditors
11:44 on
31 December, 2013
scotlands shame
10:19 on 31 December, 2013
Feckin’ SPOT ON …… Well said, my Mhan…..!!!!
On another subject, a friend gave me 2 CDs by Patricia Ferns……sitting listening to them now……best singer of Irish / Celtic Songs I have ever heard……fabulous
67
You have a friend mm
Hope to see you at the big Glasgow Derby Tomorrow
To everyone on CQN wishing you all Happy New Year when it comes
“Just give me enough of the fine old stuff they make by Galway Bay.”……just listening to ‘mountain Dew’, thought I would share it with you…
http://youtu.be/WwdwhGkdB3Y
malorbhoy
16:50 on 31 December, 2013
Hahahahahahaha…..oil be there, as ever………but I’ll try to avoid you…..hahahahahahaha ( none the bit of it…. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But the leader was a Limerick man………..
ryecatcher
All clubs were cheated and if you think I am being disingenuous then you are wrong, I don’t know what the word even means, I am Tim mate who is getting to the stage of not even bothering to turn on Celtic TV any more because I know the game is rotten to the core.
But the constant finger pointing at Celtic here is driving me insane to the point that I am seriously considering stopping my daily visits to this blog which has been a huge part of my Celtic life for the last five years.
Solutions are what we require not endlessly going round the bushes with he said she said they said whit did they do whit did we do.
Would I like Celtic to stand up for the support yes, do I want us to get into a slugging match over every wee thing that happens naw.
Is there an easy answer to all of this, naw disnae seem like it.
So before you accuse me of being disingenuous maybe remember that I am a Tim with Celtic’s best interests at heart..
Has anyone seen or heard of pishypants Leggo since the Orcs AGM.
Has he burned all his buses with the Newco board?
starry plough:
Maybe you have not been reading my posts over the last ten years, but quickly this is the gist of all my posts, thousands of hours, thousands of thoughts…
I don’t hate the huns. I believe anybody who hates the huns just because they are huns is a hater of the like mind that they accuse others and therefore worse.
I hate the bending of the rules. I hate as a nation, above religion, we don’t have a level playing field. I hate economic board plants who would profit from sectarianism. I hate people who inflict violence or pain on others, I hate people who take dividends from that pain that mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters and friends have to remember and grieve and pain, and yet some profit, and others protect them with words to their grave and eternal shame.
Oh! did I just get carried away there, well let me put it as simply as I can, if you endorse profit of any kind from violence of way kind then in my eyes you are scum ofno kind other than scum.
If I did not explain my thinking to your liking please ask me which part I neglected to explain to your satisfaction and I’ll try to articulate WHAT I THINK. beyond a dividend or a pound in my pocket.
And believe me, I’ll be happy to give my non-Pat Nevin thoughs.
mncelt,
A happy and healthy New Year to you and the gang. Give them my best wishes, S.
Buses=Buses……deffo not Bridges haha
Paul 67 and all bhoys and ghirls out there have a happy and healthy new year.
HH
Hail Hail the Celts are here
hello, firstly can i wish all of the Celtic family a happy and healthy 2014. I get a bit maudlin at this time of year so can bea little bit downbeat, however 2013 was a bad one for me and 2014 can only get better. At least I will be approaching it in that frame of mind, I see that our leader has a positive spin on the current affairs at our club, good for him.
Our biggest issue is the league/country/market we operate in, I understand we cannot change that for the moment, I simply deam that we will be able to compete in a better quality league in the years ahead. I truly hope so.
In the interim , we need to set about making our own games more attractive to the fans, get the prices down, the hospitality improved, the stewarding smartened up, an inclusive singing section….all of this can be fixed by our own club. We moan at the SPL doing nothing to market our game, whay are we doing?
Anyway rant over, I look forward to a good match tomorrow and will enjoy seeing my lhads mate play against us tomorrow, he`s a great lad and a credit to his family, my own lhad is not too bad either. All the best to everyone and I still maintain/pray we will never play that lot in a meaningful league game again.
Hail! Hail!
In the last year or so I have met so many fellow Celtic supporters.
Each and every one has been a gem.
I hoe to meet many more gems next year,but if I don’t, I’ll happily settle for the gems I met.
Hail hail and HAPPY NEW YEAR to one and all.
And I’ll see y’all in April.
hebcelt:
Mate, I thought everybody had a copy. I’d usually give you my gmail address and get back to you via that but I can’t anymore. If nobody will forward you the 5 way agreement then please ask Paul67 for my e-mail and I will send it to you.
Bottom line with the 5 way agreement, we agreed the huns could play – with conditions.
Such a notion was morally and ethically wrong and on receiving their licence the huns reneged on the agreement with the endorsement Lord Nimmo.
Or sort of that.
If you don’t get sorted, I’ll make sure and get a copy to you.
Every supporter, of every club, in Scotland, should have a copy, and if they are false copies, then let those who know they are false copies tell us so and produce the authentic copy.
Good evening all
Bobby
Yer an ole gem yesell. :))
Weefra HH supporting Wee Oscar.
jmccormick
All of which is good for me,bud.
Look up,not down and may it all be good.
WEEFRATHETIM
Haha,yer joooost a smooth talking dude!
Hugs kisses and a wee extra hug just for the hell if it to D.
And to you too,but without the kisses.
People might talk…
When I was an 8 yr old kid in school, the school mistress teaching us asked a question of the week at lunchtime on Friday, the first kid to answer got the afternoon off. One lad not a lad likely to make the CQN podium was sick of losing out,so he painted 2 golf balls black and brought them into school. Just as teacher was about to ask question of the week, he rolled them up the aisle in her direction. OK Ok sez she “Who is the comedian with the black balls”, Podium winning response from my man “Sammy Davis Jnr. Miss, see ye Monday.
paul 67
cqn
hope you all get all you wish for in 2014
Do you know why we have gaps between fingers?
So that someone who is special to you comes and fills those gaps by holding your hand forever.
HAIL HAIL
Starryplough
You are not being Disingenuous.
Ah happen tae know whit that woid means…n Ah kin assure ye ye are not being THAT..
Whit ye UR Being.. is.
SENSIBLE.
Ah agree, with you ,when ye say..that
“There is too Much… oan Here n There.. INFIGHTING..
The INS n The OOTS ur far too prone tae Confront the Celtic Administrators oan
Such Picky Things ,
Yes ,Picky Things.
N Ah don’t mean .. LITTLE ..Picky Things..
Great Big, Big, Wans..
Like.. The G.B.s Puerile Childishness.(is That No Redundant?…ed)(if ye don’t pipe doon.. YOU’LL be Redundant!)
A bunch of Wayward Laudies they ur..so they Ur.
Sure, they are great tae Folk tae Tak tae A Party..
But.. Yer really canny tak them tae a Church Social.
Pal.. Ah am right with you,in yer expressed sentiments.
Nice Chattin
Kojo
Still,Laughin’
CORKCELT
Magic!
You owe me half a pint-spluttered across the bar.
bognorbhoy oscar in my thoughts/ support the dam 5
17:08 on 31 December, 2013
paul 67
cqn
hope you all get all you wish for in 2014
Do you know why we have gaps between fingers?
So that someone who is special to you comes and fills those gaps by holding your hand forever.
I thought it was because we’re not Huns so our fingers aren’t webbed.
BMCUW
Big hugs and a kiss from D(I think she fancies you) lol, and I’ll wish you a happy new year about lunchtime tomorrow.
Weefra HH supporting Wee Oscar.
kitalba
Have you ever seen me post that I hate the huns? I don’t have room for hate in my heart or in my home and if you had ever read any of my posts over the last five years you would know that.
And even if Celtic have sold out every last drop of what I hold precious in the club I would hope that it would not make bitter, sad yes very sad but I would hope not bitter.
I don’t have your eloquence Kit but what’s best for my club and it’s wider community is what I try to post about if perhaps not so well put as others on here that I admire but it’s from the heart and always has been if you don’t agree with me fair enough , that’s what the blog is for..
WEEFRATHETIM
Yer safe on that count,bud. Believe me!
As a matter of fact,introducing me to your wife will only make her love you more….