2014 saw Celtic win their third consecutive league title, but we didn’t reach either cup final. A period of significant change got underway during the summer when we said farewell to Neil Lennon.
Neil took over from Tony Mowbray, his first managerial appointment after working with the Youths at Lennoxtown. His first season was the one that got away. Defeat at Inverness with the title within their grasp, Walter Smith’s Rangers took their third successive title against the third difference Celtic manager.
Three months into the next season, Celtic were 10 points behind a Whyte-McCoist inspired Rangers, but that was overcome, with interest, by Christmas. Celtic went on to win the league by 20 points, although 10 of them were as a penalty for Rangers incurring an insolvency event.
Thereafter it was plan sailing for Neil. He never looked back in the league and reached the Champions League group stage twice, progressing to the knock-out stage on the first occasion. He learned the managerial ropes at Celtic and did enough in his four years here to establish himself as a European-class manager. He was our third unqualified success in four appointments.
By this summer it was evidence to all, including Neil, that significant rebuilding was needed. The job was handed to Ronny Deila.
Ronny’s first challenge came in the Champions League qualifiers in the form of Legia Warsaw. Despite the record books showing Celtic progressed after a 3-0 default home win, Legia wiped the floor with Celtic home and away. Celtic looked like a team of strangers, unfamiliar with the system they were asked to play.
That was, of course, true, the system was unfamiliar, but it’s execution was miscalculated, the on-field results were deserved. The Champions League playoff round against Maribor was unusual inasmuch as Celtic dominated the away first leg and deserved more than the 1-1 draw, but the Slovenians arrived in Glasgow with their game face on. Celtic were outplayed and out of the Champions League.
Things slowly got better, although home performances against Motherwell (by my measure the worst) and Hamilton Accies (who were impressive), and latterly Ross County indicated there is still a long way to go.
Ronny’s Celtic found their feet in the Europa League, where they finished second behind a very accomplished Salzburg. The away performances against Salzburg and Astra gave an insight into how things could be for this Celtic team.
It was, to say the least, disappointing not to qualify for the Champions League. It denied the club millions of pounds and shaded our trump card in to be used in attracting players, but in reality we’re not a Champions League team this season. The Europa’ gave us an opportunity to play European football on our level, pick up coefficient points and extended interest after Christmas (if you’re young this won’t mean much, if you’re my age, you’ll recall this being our Holy Grail).
Inter Milan await in the next round. They are also going through a rebuilding exercise and are as vulnerable to lesser-resourced teams as Celtic – so unlike Juventus two years ago – we have a sporting chance.
The tactical direction of the club is visibly distinct from what went before Ronny. Is this a good thing? Probably. Neil Lennon and his players over-achieved in their first Champions League season on a scale it’s difficult to measure. That squad had no right to reach the levels they did; theirs was a herculean effort. Play Matthews at left back, alongside a central pair of Wilson and Ambrose. Put Miku up front, with Mulgrew and Ledley in the middle – then go beat Barcelona. It was beyond impossible.
Barca, Ajax and Milan were prepared for Celtic last season; we finished bottom, out of ideas and direction on that stage. We needed to change, same again wasn’t going to wash.
Ronny’s played a high-pressing game, mostly with players who are unaccustomed to the demands of this game-plan. This has been a mistake on several occasions, most notably against Legia and Maribor. He’s working on player fitness, but in all likelihood it will take the next two transfer windows before he can craft the squad into the shape he wants it to be.
We’re halfway through the season and, with Aberdeen playing before us tomorrow, there’s a chance they could go top of the table, for a couple of hours, anyway. That’s not good enough, by any measure. Notwithstanding the revamp, we should have done better in the Champions League qualifiers and we should be further ahead in the league, but the fundamentals remain intact:
We needed to start post-Neil Lennon with a new tactical strategy.
Trying hard not to be disrespectful to Aberdeen, but we’re going to win the league.
We’re in both cup competitions.
We remain in the Europa League.
I was happy with the direction we took in appointing Ronny Deila and remain so. The problems of the last six months could be classified as First World Problems. We’ll get over them, while others watch on from the Other Worlds.
Have a Happy Celtic New Year, strap in and enjoy the ride, I promise it’ll be a great one.
Sale on at CQNBookstore, fill your stockings.
2,512 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- ...
- 60
- 61
- 62
- 63
- 64
- 65
- 66
- 67
- »
!!Bada Bing!!
It is a big dressing room all the same
Hidenseekcsc
!!Bada Bing!!
re: Celtic underground site saying Ronny has lost a couple of major players in the dressing room . Seems a bit of unrest kicking in’
Got a link there please?
sdstim-just got sent what was posted mate,not on CU
Interesting to hear McInnes talk of alignment of fans behind the club. Fans who really want to win the league and fans who are up for it.
Such a powerful dynamic. Sadly not one we see at Celtic too often where expectation is rife amongst our consumers rather than ‘hope in our hearts’ with fans.
The Aberdeen alignment vs our uncommunicative board and spoilt support is the off the field dynamic which might balance re on field capabilities.
Throw in our 4 competitions vs their 2 and the kind of disgraceful refereeing we have seen un checked at the likes of tannadice and it could be an interesting couple of months.
Armageddon ????? For some.
!!bada bing!!
14:30 on 2 January, 2015
Celtic underground site saying Ronny has lost a couple of major players in the dressing room . Seems a bit of unrest kicking in
If true, transfer window opens tomorrow, get rid. Simple.
OK didn’t see anything from CU on twitter either on that…
Saint Stivs
13:58 on 2 January, 2015
someone is set to legally challege the doncaster statementm interesting.
http://www.philmacgiollabhain.ie/neil-doncaster/#more-5626
–
Read it and as he says it’s about time Eric Riley let us know his position on it .
SPFL email
Just got an out of office from the SPFL from a David Ogilvie – no relation, surely???????
HH
BGFC
Great stuff re Celtic underground and losing dressing room
Back to the old days of media undermining what we are doing.
Great to see some pathetic Celtic consumers dying to say ‘ told you so’.
Thick clowns.
Happy New Year Bhoys.
I see we are still subject to the corruption and disinformation peddled by the blazers.
It stinks to high heaven.
It looks like Adolph Hitler was right when he spoke about the” Big Lie”, and even stranger when halfwit chancers try to apply that sort of reasoning.
These liars should be challenged.
Despicable masonic influences at work as per usual….what a surprise eh.
Shocking rewriting of history….but still they get away with it.
HH
Gary67
Great response.
I am sorry to agree with this as I used to be one of its biggest fans. I ysed to have an old C90 cassette when it was only on radio which I used to listen to regularly. Maybe they should go back to that format.
http://stuartreviewsstuff.wordpress.com/2015/01/01/only-an-excuse-needs-to-end-please/
HH
burnley78-only posting from other Celtic sites ,fud.
Bada
Every change of management results in a few unwilling or unable to change to new methods
Agree with Gary67 – get rid
Starved of neerday football and seriously thinking of going for a laugh to Ibrox tomorrow to support ‘sons of the rock’ who are still available at 9 to 1 for an upset
Gary67….spot on!
Phil
Neil Doncaster
Leave a reply
On the first day of 2015 saw Neil Doncaster convey immortality on Rangers.
Holding Company Vehicles may come and go, but that club is not of this world.
It simply cannot die.
Unlike Gretna or Third Lanark liquidation is a mere administrative matter down Ibrox way.
According to Mr Doncaster Rangers are the club that cheated death.
The man who is handsomely remunerated to run the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) stated, as an assertion, that the club currently playing at the stadium John Brown played for is in fact Rangers.
Well I’m sure there are 276 creditors who will be delighted to hear that.
Except those foolish ones who did business with the Holding Company Vehicle and not the club.
I put this question into the BDO Press office late night:
“Does BDO have any opinion on Mr Neil Doncaster’s assertion that Rangers FC still exists and continues to trade?”
I also supplied them with the link to this BBC ‘interview’ and told them where the funny bit was.
For the avoidance of doubt it’s all funny in a shambolic way, but the real farce starts at 08.09.
I also put this question into the Celtic Press Office:
“Does Celtic football Club agree with Mr Doncaster that the club currently playing football matches at Ibrox is Rangers (Est 1872)?”
Here the utter nonsense of what Doncaster spouted, unchallenged by the Beeb’s diffident Chris McLaughlin, is dissected by the Rev Stuart Campbell from Wings Over Scotland.
Doncaster referred to the ruling by Lord Nimmo Smith as the argument winner on this.
Well perhaps if he had been able to see the qualitative difference between the Discounted Option Scheme (that paid Ronald De Boer and Tore Andre Flo) and Employee Benefit Trusts that replaced them then some of his Lordship’s reasoning would not have been so speculative.
However he could only work with the information that was provided to him by lawyers acting on behalf of the SPL.
No sooner than the interview had been broadcast then the law of unintended consequences kicked in.
This morning I learned of litigation in the pipeline because of Doncaster’s wisdom.
I understand that one Ibrox debenture holder is in the process of instructing his solicitors to take legal action against Sevco.
He wants refunded for the four season tickets he bought over the first two episodes of ‘the journey’ and recompense for pain and suffering.
The basis of this embryonic legal action is the on the record assertion by Mr Doncaster.
He has already written personal letters to BDO, SFA, SPFL, and HMRC apropos Doncaster’s comments in the BBC interview about the current Rangers being the same club as the old one.
The chap in question is professionally trained as an actuary.
Numbers are his thing.
He also knows Scots Law and is well versed in the corporate jurisprudence of Scotland.
For him Doncaster’s assertions were an insult to his intelligence.
Incidentally he got off the journey this season.
Edinburgh based he takes himself and his youngest to Tynecastle.
His own take on Doncaster’s motives for making this stamen and the timing was interesting.
He styled it as something of a valedictory gaffe and that it could be the move of someone wanting the hell outa dodge.
The crisis of 2012 was all about preserving a Rangers, any Rangers, into the top flight and Doncaster was central to that plan.
Thankfully that failed.
Because it would have been to allow Rangers (1872) to effectively get away with financial doping and the improper registration of players on an industrial scale.
It was only the Scottish Spring initiated by the ‘No To NewCo’ campaign that stopped Sevco being dropped into the SPL.
Then Plan B was to put the new club into League 1 -the second tier of Scottish football.
Turnbull Hutton led the SFL clubs in revolt on that one.
On the steps of Hampden he spoke truth to power and the hacks gawped at him.
Mr Doncaster tried to persuade them, but the SFL clubs were having nine of it.
Now in 2015 Mr Doncaster doesn’t not seem to be able join the dots on this.
Perhaps one reason for his failure to attract a major sponsor to the league is that the events of 2012 tainted the product.
There is a lack of commercial income not because there is no Rangers in the top flight, but because people in business saw a rigged competition.
The (thwarted) machinations of the folk on the sixth floor at Hampden that summer stated quite clearly to the rest of the Fitba world that the Ibrox brand was more important than the rest of the clubs.
The warning was stark.
Without Rangers they would all die a slow lingering death.
Well actually the Fitba crowds at Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Perth say otherwise.
As the clock ticked in the summer of 2012 Charlie and the boys could smell fear and the people entrusted to guard the integrity of the national game in Scotland blinked.
Sevco Scotland Limited was born and we had to learn a whole new lexicon like ‘Holding Company Vehicle’ and ultimately ‘Onerous Contract’.
One of the first acts of Charlie’s new creation was to do the Cain and Abel act on his lesser known brother Sevco 5088.
Craig Whyte thought he could trust Charlie.
At one point during the administrative mayhem of that summer Mr Doncaster admitted that, and I’m paraphrasing, ‘a mechanism doesn’t not exist for we’re trying to achieve here’.
Now I do not know if Mr Doncaster was on a solo run yesterday or stating the official position of the SPFL.
However, I think that the following people should make their collective and individual positions clear:
Eric Drysdale (Raith Rovers), Ken Ferguson (Brechin City), Duncan Fraser (Aberdeen), Mike Mulraney (Alloa Athletic), Eric Riley (Celtic), Stephen Thompson (Dundee United), and Ralph Topping (Chairman).
It is worth remembering that the people who tried the ‘NewCo into the SPL’ wheeze back in 2012 are still on the sixth floor at Hampden.
Mr Doncaster, who had been largely silent on the old club new club issue for almost three years, finally broke cover.
Supporters of many clubs reacted with anger last night and want answers from their own clubs on this matter.
I think it will take more than a quip about Rory Bremner to make this one go away.
Bada bing
Not sure why the abuse but if that’s your opinion ?
Bada Bing
Commons & Kayal are the two names that spring to mind – if at all true
Maybe because they are offski.
Life goes on and Celtic will continue.
Burnley78
Your insulting comments to fellow supporters let’s you down badly, IMO. Surely, we can all get on, whilst not having to agree on all matters.
HH
CRC
Celtic staff join search for lost players.
http://www.footballaid.com/files/u37198/CelticDressingRoomG2.jpg
burnley78-‘thick clowns’ was your post
Who would need one of these :))))))
https://twitter.com/PaullieWalnuts/status/550997160377208833
Bada & Burnley
Relax guys – please?
(methinks crossed wires)
So Aberdeen are top of the league.Whooooooo.Seems a few are running scared of this event.We wanted a more competitive league.When we get one,some want to sack the manager.!!!!!!Was their any calls to sack Lenny when we trailed the huns?.Indeed their were plenty.Every blog was full of them.
FFS,man up.Lets look forward to the challenge,which we will win.Dundee U,a better team than Aberdeen,are the benchmark.They win a couple,then lose.Aberdeen will do the same.Happens every year.I am so happy we have our next games away from the morale sapping Celtic Park,where ,apart from the GB the team can hear,and feel,the bad vibes surrounding them.A couple of lines from the songs we sing,
“We dont care if we win lose or draw”
We are Celtic supporters,faithful through and through”
My @rse.
The SFA vs SPFL battleground is leading to a fair few strange behaviours from the respective leaders.
Saltires
Or crossed swords :-)
HH
CRC
Bada bing
Exactly. Bandwagon jumping thick clowns magnifying any Celtic negative. Do you think they are different ?
Post very infrequently at the moment but thought I’d pop in and wish you and yours’ a Happy New year and put my tuppence worth re: Mr Doncaster.
B R T and H @ 14:11
Interesting to look at the words Mr Doncaster used to justify his same Club declaration.
“The member club is the entity that participates in our league and we have 42 member clubs.
“Those clubs may be owned by a company, sometimes it’s a Private Limited Company, sometimes it’s a PLC, but ultimately, the company is a legal entity in its own right, which owns a member club that participates in the league.”
Now of course when Oldco went bust and Newco came into being, there were two League structures in Scotland. The SPL and the SFL.
Interestingly at the end of July beginning of August 2012 there was a Rangers FC who were members of the SPL, whose share had to be transferred to Dundee.
And a new Rangers FC who were members of the SFL.
The conditional membership that is alluded to in the article below relates to SFA Membership NOT League membership. Yet it does state the status of Oldco as SPL members and Newco as SFL members.
Gers gain conditional membership – 27 July 2012
”Rangers have been granted a conditional Scottish FA membership, which will allow Sunday’s Ramsdens Cup tie with Brechin City to go ahead.
The relaunched Ibrox club have been trying to obtain the old Rangers’ licence to play after the latter headed for liquidation.
But agreement between all interested parties, including the Scottish Premier League, had not been forthcoming.
The permanent transfer of membership is due to take place next week.
A joint statement on behalf of the SFA, SPL, SFL and Sevco Scotland Ltd – the company relaunching Rangers – read: “Following the completion of all legal documentation, the Scottish Premier League will conduct the formal transfer of the league share between RFC (IA) and Dundee FC on no later than Friday 3 August 2012.
“At this point, the transfer of Scottish FA membership will be complete.”
*Dundee have replaced the old Rangers in the SPL after the SFL agreed to place the new Ibrox team in Division Three.”
So as you state how can one Club be simultaneous be a member of the SFA and SPL at the same time have a quite different Conditional membership of the SFA and be members of the SFL.
*This is inaccurate hunguffery for the sake of mudding the waters note where the quotation marks end – Dundee did not get their share in the SPL until 3rd August 2012.
Turkeybhoy
Top post.
CRC
Aye :-)
Hope all well mate
HH
Taken from the Sporting life web site.
Let’s see how the English deal with something far less than the NFL Tynecastle assault.
——————————————————————————————————————–
A football supporter has been charged by police after allegedly confronting Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger as his side crashed to a 2-0 defeat at Southampton
The incident happened at the end of the match at St Mary’s Stadium on Thursday.
Luke Bryant, 25, of Bankhill Drive, Lymington, Hampshire, was arrested and subsequently charged with an offence of going on to an area adjacent to the playing area contrary to the Football (Offences) Act 1991, and he will appear at Southampton Magistrates’ Court on January 22.
The arrest came after a fan was seen to run with his arms outstretched in front of the Gunners boss as he sat in the dugout late on in the game.
Footage showed the man being bundled away down the tunnel by two stewards as Wenger held his arm out in apparent frustration at the intruder.
I think the old firm fans are having difficulty in coming to terms with the fact, that any tribute act coming out of ipox will never reach the heights of depravity that the deceased rangers were capable of….they just do not have that kind of muscle anymore.
So… any attempted resurrection of the old firm is doomed to failure, the world has moved on, that ship has sailed.
Sevco or whatever they call themselves, will never reach the cheating heights of rankers, no way.
So id suggest you all get used to it.
HH
turkeybhoy
I want a more competitive league BUT I want it because other teams have raised their game to our level NOT because we have dropped down to theirs .
Downsizing is part of the reason supporters are not attending Celtic Park , whether we want to accept that or not .
!!Bada Bing!! 14:30 on 2 January, 2015
Celtic underground site saying Ronny has lost a couple of major players in the dressing room . Seems a bit of unrest kicking in
—————————————————————-
Calum McGregor’s recent comments clearly indicate that he was less than impressed by his substitution in the Ross County match. He also mentioned that some team-mates had given him a bit of a pounding over it. Whilst CM is clearly not a “major player”, the fact that it happened may just have re-inforced the view among some players that RD doesn’t have a scooby on two fronts. Firstly, CM was the wrong man to replace Stokes in he first place and secondly there were others who were performing worse than McGregor at the time he was replaced by Commons.
burnley78- I merely re-posted what i had been sent,i took your insult was directed at me?
m6bhoy-was strange Commons didn’t replace AS,a waste of a sub as it proved HH
That can’t be a Phil Mac article.
I didn’t see one “dear reader” in the whole thing.
:o)