It didn’t occur to me until I read the CQN this morning that today sees a return on active duty to Bratislava for Gordon Strachan and David Marshall. 11 years ago Gordon started his competitive career as Celtic manager against previously unheard of Slovak minnows, Artmedia. The scouting had been done and Gordon was privately confident of progressing but the evening turned into his worst 90 minutes in football.
Six days later Celtic came close to overcoming a 5-0 first leg deficit, but could not add to the scoring after going 4-0 up with 20 minutes remaining.
Gordon went on to win three consecutive titles and took Celtic to the knock-out stage of the Champions League twice, no manager had previously done this once, but he never really shook-off the baggage from that night.
David Marshall wasn’t to blame for what happened on the field but Artur Boruc had signed a few weeks earlier and would soon supplant Marshall as first choice.
Chris Sutton picked up an injury away to Artmedia but I’m not convinced he really took to Gordon Strachan’s attempts to improve training ground habits. The last days of the Martin O’Neill era will never be recalled as a time of intense work. Gordon’s first job was to change this. It didn’t go down well with some senior players.
11 years later you can see the echoes of that time, as Chris wrongly tells the nation Gordon has lost interest in the Scotland job. I’m not a footballer, or manager, so don’t know if it’s possible for someone to lose interest in a job. It’s got me wondering, though, did Chris ever lose interest in a job?
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CELTIC40ME on 11TH OCTOBER 2016 2:11 PM
Jesus, this man flu is affecting me more than I thought.
………………
You too? Oh no! I’ve had it since Saturday. Hellish.
IMO Big Sutty is magic. The only time recently that I’ve disagreed with him is when he blamedCraig Gordon for the loss if that goal against Happoel, even after CG explain ed in his aftermatch interview that Janko had came on his blindside and crashed into him !
The pictures supported CGs statement.
Big Sutty should maybe have retracted his blame of CG later ?
HH
CELTIC BAR?
Can anyone help, please? I’m going to Los Cristianos, Teneriffe, on Thursday for two weeks. Can someone recommend a suitable, Celtic friendly bar to watch the matches?
Thanks,
Yogi
Real Celtic macho Men dont get flu ……,…sniff , wheeze, sniff atishoo sniff !
I need wan if those wee Japanese wummin who walk all over your body , whilst naked in an effort to ease your bones etc ?
In fact she doesn’t have to be Japanese, any old nationality will do !
Yogi
There’s “Hoops” bar in Los Christianos.
Ger57,
Thanks. Will they show all the games?
Yogi
Yogi Hughes
The Temple Bar at St. Eugenio/Scotch Corner is great for the games. Watched both of the games v Astana there.
I think the Temple Bar is also known as The Irish Fiddler.
THEORIGINALSADIESBHOY,
Thanks.
Yogi
Another nail in the coffin for the OBAF act
Warning: Daily Record weblink.
Anybody know a bar in Gdansk where I can watch the BMG game?
Thanks.
FIRST BOOTS.
I realise that many on here will not believe the nature of my very first pair if football boots, especially the young wans, but this story is fact !
It was the early 1960s ( not 1690’s), and my DA had bought me my 1st Celtics strip via Santa. It was fantastic to pull those hoops over ma wee heid, I can tell ye. I remember that Umbro being the makers, had on the cover if the box a coloured picture of Denis Law in his man u .
kit.
I can remember vividly my disappointment when I saw the box, as I immediately thought that Santa was a plonker, as I am Celtic supporter, not F##king man u.
I was beginning to regret leaving out the glass of milk and chocolate biscuits for that overnight for that fat tribute to a butlins redcoat ????
Anyway, all was forgiven when I opened the box and saw the HOOPS !
I immediately mumbled a wee apology to heaven for doubting Santa.
Now you would think that a nice pair of football boots and even a ball would giniceky along with my first ever Celtic strip….not so ?
First if all there was no ball to accompany my Celtic kit !
Secondly, the real shockarooney was the F##king boots that my auntie had got me also through Santa.
Now apparently I was a very nice child who always showed adults the utmost respect etc ,but I swear that from that Christmas morn and beyond, I was never the same nice wee James ??? Lol.
The boots ( as I later discovered ) were purchased from the pawn shop near the Gorbals where my auntie had her first job. I also learned that these fitba boots cost 10 shillings ( 50p to you younger readers).
Anyway to my point about the boots-
They were Brown tough leather over my ankles ( not unlike old fashioned rugby boots,).
On each leather sole, was indeed six studs. Magic or so you would think ?
Not so readers, as each F##king stud was made of WOOD, and they were each attached to the soles by THREE NAILS, thru each stud !
The heads of those nails were abundantly visible, and could prove lethal if catching any opponent properly , especially ma wee Hun pal ?????
I got dressed in my new Celtic strip ,donned the F##king boots with my grandad tying ma laces for me ( those white laces must have sent around the boot about 8 times ?).
Right I said, to myself, get oot there and show aff my new Celtic strip to the neighbours in the street, and go to a wee Huns pals door and get him to come out with his ball ( wee Boaby always had a baw) !
Not so, wee Boabys mammy said ” Roberts not coming out today Jamesy, as his granny and aunties are coming to visit for Christmas “.
Before I could ask wee Boabys maw for a loan of his baw, wham the door was shut in ma face ?
I remember stauning there like a wee eejit, all dressed up with a brand-new Celtic strip on,a nice ( ahem) pair of brand new, second hand fitba boots on…..and nae f##king baw !
What was I to do ?
I couldn’t just put ma heid soon and sneak back to ma hoose before any of the neighbours ( especially the Hun wans) see me like this ( nae baw) ?
So this is what I did, I preceded to run aboot like a manic pretending I was Charlie Gallagher or John Divers or Willie ONeill of the famous Glasgow Celtic , on a road surface that had at least 2 inches if heavy frost on top ( it was Christmas day), DRIBBLING about myself with …nae f##king baw !
I wasn’t going let a small issue like that deter me from scoring goals for Celtic that Christmas morn, no F##king way !
Anyway, the Celts won 4-0 that morn ( ko was about 9.00am), and I played brilliantly considering that those F##king nails in ma studs were causing me to resemble a drunken ice skater ?
If only the Celtic manager Jimmy McGrory had been passing through Glasgow East end that fine crispy Christmas morn, who knows how my career would have panned oot ?
God knows what my neighbours thought when they opened their curtains that Christmas morn, and the sight that greeted them ?
Aye Christmas Day 1963 will forever live in my memory !
Great fun !
HH from a ” Wee Jimmy, 1963 style Bhoys “.
Nil-By-Rekord
Please.
If you must, copy the content, don’t give them the clicks.
HH.
Oh God, no annurra wan…………
If I remember correctly, I scored all 4 Celtic goals that Christmas morn, although whisper it, but there was a wee hint of offside about the fourth wan ???
clunks on 10th October 2016 10:47 pm
International team can never compete with the talent the likes of Barca and Real Madrid can put together (and Scottish Football with the teams that Celtic can put together, although not financially doped we are certainly gaining financial and sporting steroids from the Champions League to out muscle the rest of the SPL)
*I see where your coming from here, for all the success of Real Madrid in the early days of the EC, Spain failed badly on the world stage.
Initially reaching the quarters and a fourth place showing in ’34 and ’38 but during the heyday of Real and to a lesser extent Barca (Inter City Fairs Cup winners 3 times and losing EC finalists during this period) and Atletico and Valencia both featuring well in Europe winners and runners up .
They even failed to qualify for the ’58 finals to a Scotland side (gubbed 2-4 courtesy of a hat trick by former Lochee Harp player Jackie Mudie) with the likes of such great as Alfredo Di Stefano, Francisco Gento Luis Suarez and László Kubala (who played for both Czechoslovakia and his native Hungary as well) in the side, Ferenc Puskas had not signed for Real yet so although he did play for his adopted country later on was not available then.
The feeling then was that the national side were being over shadowed by their clubs or mibbees Franco was more interested in his favourites Real than a side that contained Barca players, interestingly they only progressed on the world field after his demise
Big Jimmy
SNAP on the Boots – mine were Black but with Wooden Studs with nails in them, the laces could be used as lassos if you felt like it – Christmas Day 1963 they were put to good use on the freezing pavements and roads of Gibshill – a star was nearly born! No worries about my metatarsals anyway!
Bankiebhoy1
Ha , you missed one this morning, were you sleeping???????
BIG JIMMY ◇ JINKYREDSTAR…
Great wee stories,really enjoyed them.
My first pair were bought by my nanny (maternal grandmother) from the Coop on East Crawford Street,Greenock,not far from the scene of Jinky’s tale.Apparently I got to try one on,told my nanny it fitted and all was well.My nanny then told the shop assistant that was fine and she’d take them at which point I burst into tears.Inconsolable so I was.When they asked what was up I told them I wanted two boots in the mistaken belief I was only getting the one i’d tried on.Proper days. ;))
BIG JIMMY on 11TH OCTOBER 2016 4:13 PM
Jimmy, brilliant post. For me it’s roll forward to 1967; my birthday was 2 days before we won the Big Cup. I got my hoops, adidas boots and an adidas baw! I didnae relate it to my faither being made redundant shortly beforehand (and I later learned he rejected the chance of going to Lisbon so he could buy a freezer for the family – 14 of us).
I felt fantastic running aboot Drumchapel, but despite all the fine accoutrements I was still crap at fitba’ – nae justice whatsever! I always got a game though because it was ma baw, and a proper leather wan at that!
FAC the Act
KTF
Dallas Dallas where the heck is Dallas on 10th October 2016 10:57 pm
The Exiled Tim, I agree with you about that horror McLeish . In saying that, I hope his horrendous spells at Villa, Forest and Genk come back to haunt him.
*Motherwell and Hibs tae and tae a lesser extent the deid team where apart fae “black sunday’ when the EBT money started tae subside he got fun oot, he even has the club record of 10 games without a win. He was then ignominiously replaced by the “failure” that was PLG.
Two rearranged home games now confirmed.
v Hamilton Tues 13th Dec
v Patrick Tues 20th Dec.
We now have 9 games in December.
Bankiebhoy –
Every day there are numerous links to all manner of sites, without even a hint of what it will take you to.
I did 2 things:
1) I made the subject matter of my link very clear.
2) I appended a friendly warning that it was a link to a Daily Record article. It is then up to individual readers to decide whether or not to go to the link.
So as far as I am concerned, you can stick your officious orders where the sun don’t shine.
I think Chris Sutton is correct and that Strachan does wants out, Picking Duds and then bumming them up when it all goes pear shaped – if that happens again tonight the post mortem that follows could see Gordon get what he wants, nothing against the man, he came in for us at a critical time and done a great job, just think big Chris has called this one right.
Cant stand Tims that criticize SC or WGS. Great servants to Celtic.
My 1st boots, thanks Bhoys for your kind words. It is a true story apart from maybe one bit ?
Probably the only dubious part of the story was us having ” Chocolate biscuits” in Glasgow’s East end ? LOL.
I also remember getting other football boots around 1968/69, which were a bit more stylish but instead of wooden or any other kind of studs, the had FOUR BARS across each sole !
Those were also a nightmare, but hey us great FIBA players could play with any kind of boots and on any surface ? LOL
Quiet Man on FilmFour………..
Again CSC
REDSTARJINKY,
Ya lucky so and so….Santa never brought me meratasels !
Who’s SC? I’d kinda like to know before I start criticising him.
I think Sutton had downed tools a while before wgs arrived. His strike on black Sunday was his only league goal since January.
HH
SC=-CS sorry BB!
BIG JIMMY, JINKYREDSTAR and co…
Me too. It must have been 63 for me as well.
I “inherited” a pair of boots that must have belonged to my uncle…
I was about 9 at the time and I instinctively knew that something was far wrong: “rugby boots” I thought.
Nothing anybody said could convince me that these were uncle James’ fitba boots.
Anyway, I was obliged to wear them – despite my embarrassment.
I remember distinctly in the wake of the World Cup in Chile ’62, a new style of boot was being sold (Puma, I think).
None of your up over the ankle, wooden studded, reinforced toes jobs – but real fitba boots !
The early sixties were a time of change in Britain – enter the Beatles and the Stones !
But also “real” fitba boots – VERY different from rugby efforts.
Althhough probably the hammer-throwers would have been happy to keep their nailed wooden studs.
VFR
14 of you in a freezer – yoooo were lucky!
Try telling that to kids these days :-)
Dum-ta. Dum-ta. Dum-ta. Diddle-diddle. Dum-ta. Dum-ta. Dum-ta. Diddle-diddle. Dum-ta. Dum-ta. Dum-ta. Diddle-diddle. Dum-ta. Diddle-diddle. Dum-ta-ta.
“Dum-ta. Dum-ta. Dum-ta. Diddle-diddle. Dum-ta. Dum-ta. Dum-ta. Diddle-diddle. Dum-ta. Dum-ta. Dum-ta. Dee… Diddle-diddle. Diddle-diddle. Dum-ta-ta.”
Victor Young CSC
Anyone else notice that these last week or so the plugin-container processes for awe these adverts in firefox and/or chrome is taking up to 70% of CPU and on safari on my iphone takes about 1 min to load a page. ???
maybe that causing a decrease in CQN timternetting but its getting irritating again.
Are our ocularly challenged mods noticing?
THE EXILED TIM on 10th October 2016 10:58 pm
I thought he was a visionary, fair play to him, he saw into the future well enough, the weans that won the big cup were his picks………………..he just didn’t know how to blend and mould them into a team, but he did the next best thing and got a coach to do it for him, the Big Man.
*hmmm history and Big Jock have been kind tae Bob; I can recall the punter with the noose shouting at him “this is for you Bob”. He bullied our greatest ever goal scorer and nearly lost Jock when he originally offered him first the assistant and co manager position.
BIG JIMMY
Great story, liking it. Impressed with you scoring all 4 goals in what sounds to be a fairly one sided affair. Also happy you managed to keep a clean sheet ;)
Hail Hail,
KevinBhoy.