Tactically aware athlete needed

2217

I don’t know anything about Stefan Johansen, who is one of several central midfield players Celtic are tracking, but I’m pleased we’re scouting for this area.  There’s no question we are missing a penalty box predator but you could make a case that the sense of calm and control exerted by Victor Wanyama in the middle of the park is a more telling absence.

Nir Biton has all the potential to get there eventually but it’s going to take him time.  He reminds me of Ki, who a couple of seasons ago was fifth choice central mid for Celtic, behind Brown, Wanyama, Ledley and Kayal.  This season I’ve watched him collect and distribute, close space and bring shape to a struggling Sunderland team.

I’ve also watched a bit of Barry Robson since his return to Aberdeen.  Despite his advancing years he remains one of the most intelligent footballers in the game.  His arrival in the Celtic midfield six years ago changed Celtic into a winning team.    You don’t need Pele for this role, just a tactically aware athlete.

How many accountants does it take to tell you that losing circa £1m per month is not a good idea?  Lots, apparently.
[calameo code=000390171ece27dd9e54e lang=en page=98 hidelinks=1 width=100% height=500]

Click Here for Comments >
Share.

About Author

2,217 Comments
  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. ...
  4. 5
  5. 6
  6. 7
  7. 8
  8. 9
  9. 10
  10. 11
  11. ...
  12. 59

  1. Lennybhoy

     

     

    Seen that was very impressed 2 mins before sky pundits sayin there was no way it wud happen until the summer

     

     

    Had a wee laugh to myself

  2. The Spirit of Arthur Lee on

    16 roads – Wee Oscar the Celtic warrior.

     

     

    Being from Wishaw i was the same with Tony Shephard and Jim Slavin

     

     

    Love

  3. Evening all,

     

     

    Thought I’d share this wee text I just received.

     

     

    Chorus:

     

    This land is your land

     

    This land is my land

     

    There was no hassle

     

    With Lennox Castle

     

    And Follow Follow

     

    Find it hard to swallow

     

    That this land was made for you and me.

     

     

    We’ll soon be walking

     

    On the Way of Heroes

     

    And the cost to us

     

    Will be next to zero

     

    Thanks to the State Aid

     

    And the tiny interest paid

     

    This land was made for you and me.

     

     

    Chorus

     

     

    The school will soon be a Green Museum

     

    And run down Ibrox a mausoleum

     

    You cast your slanders at our backhanders

     

    Well this land was made for you and me.

     

     

    Chorus

     

     

    The Council’s proved now that we were so right

     

    That Glasgow surely is Green & White

     

    Our hunger’s fed now

     

    Your club is dead now

     

    This land was made for you and me.

  4. Cowiebhoy supporting the Celtic to 3 in a row on

    Lennybhoy, with Sammi for the offski,( Celticnewsnow, saying he is in talks with Athletico ?) we should have been trying for Aiden !

     

    Not as a replacement but as an improvement for the team

     

     

    Now does that surprise you :-)

     

     

    Hail Hail

  5. Evening all

     

     

    Good luck to Aiden McGeady with Everton – a club which might just be going places at last.

     

     

    Aiden was never a great favourite of mine when he was with Celtic if only because he was never ever as good as I thought he was going to be the first time I saw him ( at Tynecastle I think). Great feet, courageous, inventive and far from slow over a ten yard burst he should have been one of the Celtic greats. As it was he had dull periods in his career, didnt score as often as he should have and seemed a touch big headed. But he was superb in 2007/8 and against Benfica he produced the best performance from a Celtic winger since wee Jimmy.

     

     

    As I say good luck Aiden – prove me and those two duffers from Dublin, who laughed at me in a bar in Sydney when I said he could be as good as C. Ronaldo, wrong .*

     

     

    Jimbo67 supporting Oscar Knox

     

     

    *this was the Friday after we beat Man U by the way.

  6. Green Lantern (((((0))))) on

    Good luck to you Aiden. A great footballer and a man of courage who had to put up with the vilest abuse from people who weren’t fit to lace your boots.

     

     

    Attacked by the usual suspects in this bigoted wee country, you rose above it and prospered while the abusers foundered and died.

     

     

    It must give you some satisfaction that the manky huns and their hangers on and fellow travellers have got their just desserts.

     

     

    Rankers – gone, Hertz gelded, Traynor a distant memory, Dallas named and shamed.

     

     

    Ho Chi Minh was right. If you stand by the riverbank long enough, you will see the bodies of your enemies floating by.

  7. Towards the end of Skys coverage last Sunday after the St Mirren game

     

    when we played very well and our supporters were impeccably behaved

     

    Spanner threw in a snide comment about Celtic going to Turkey this weekend

     

    to which Neil McCann jumped on and was critical of us

     

    not playing our scheduled league game.

     

    Spanner failed to mention that it was an SFA decision

     

    to allow any SPL team to have a week off,

     

    or the fact that Celtic had played 34 games (11 more than their opponents on the day),

     

    or the revenue Celtic brought into Scottish football through qualifying for the CL.

     

    Unbiased coverage on SKY my bahookie.

  8. Cowiebhoy supporting the Celtic to 3 in a row on

    TBJ

     

    Was with your big boss Fri, no word on who got the job, although informed me to invite the current incumbent along to Rugby next month on hospitality ?

     

    Said he announcing Monday

     

     

    Hail Hail

  9. ....PFayr supports WeeOscar on

    Gordon

     

     

    A standard grade accountancy student could see the Sevco in their current incarnation are not financially viable

     

     

    Their problem is that many moderate players are on excessive contracts

     

     

    Sally’s wage is outrageous …the playing budget utter madness

     

     

    I wonder when they’ll tumble to Sally …he’s either the daftest manager in the league or a scheming wee fraudster who is happy to line his pocket with the rest of the spivs

     

     

     

    They have the manager then deserve

  10. 16 roads - Wee Oscar the Celtic warrior. on

    ryecatcher

     

     

    19:46 on 11 January, 2014

     

     

    ————————

     

     

    Fair enough chief.

     

     

    —————————-

     

     

    SOAL – Correct.

     

     

    Right beer time now,I finally got a decent bet up today for once.

     

     

    Laters.

  11. TBJ Praying for Oscar Knox on

    Cowiebhoy

     

     

    Second interviews were Thursday and Friday.

     

     

    I will be lighting a candle or 1000 for the kung fu panda tomorrow

  12. glendalystonsils on

    Just logged in to the Premier sports website after getting an email offering tomorrows game for £1.

     

    Then read their terms. For sky customers it’s a 2 month minimum contract with the second month costing £9.99 + a £10 connection fee.

     

    So it’s actually costing £ 20.99 to watch the game!

     

     

    Think I’ll tell them to stick it up their hin’ end.

  13. Gordon64

     

    Belfast Tim Malloys still pining for you VP and pals. As said at time your hospitality was much appreciated. We will wait to see who we draw in Champions league and return compliment ha. Hope u and Bhoys keeping well.

     

    Lennybhoy had a couple of unbelievable trips to away matches with St Mary’s . Bradley’s invited us. Partook of too many of Wullies early pints and still didn’t help vocal chords. I was disgraced club members both individually and collectively knew Reb songs I didn’t know existed. Salt of the earth club. I travelled from Belfast so the reason I thought they were winding me up was a Celtic bus travelling from a Rangers players bar was parallel universe kind of stuff circa 1986 methinks. A big HH Lennybhoy.

     

    Is mo na cumann e. ( more than just a club)

  14. ….pfayr supports weeoscar

     

     

    19:46 on 11 January, 2014

     

     

    tbj:

     

     

    Signed now on permanent deal undisclosed fee.

     

     

    bhoylo83:

     

     

    Yeah, had a chuckle myself…:)

     

     

    cowiebhoy:

     

     

    Sammi is another one that the majority of fans have berated and will no doubt say in years and months to come we should not have let go. From his debut at Rugby Park when he came off the Bench and scored a great goal I could tell he was a Footballer. He will be missed by me at least.

     

     

    In attracting Players, our problem is they do not want to come to Scotland, sad but a fact of life.

     

     

    Keep the Faith!

     

     

    Hail Hail!

  15. 67Heaven ... I am Neil Lennon, supporting WEE OSCAR..!!.. Ibrox belongs to the creditors on

    green lantern (((((0)))))

     

     

    19:55 on 11 January, 2014

     

     

    Great post….Hail Hail……to you and Aiden….!!!!!!!!

  16. Looking forward to the game tomorrow.

     

    Get a good laugh when Amido collides wt an opponent….Balde always leaves the guy in some distress. Not a natural ball player, but always gives 100 % and that is what Celts fans like. Must have bones of iron !

     

    Peterhead done one line today.

     

    East Fife the other……serves me right for taking hot pots !

     

    HH

  17. Just logged in and noticed some discussion re the Pat Nevin feature.

     

     

    I’ve been working on this with BRTH and as usual he has written a superb piece. This will appear in CQN Magazine out in around ten days from now.

     

     

    A quick explanation of what happened but first of all worth re-stating that Paul, BRTH and myself have the best interests of the Celtic support at heart.

     

     

    Pat Nevin had offered to meet Celtic fans to discuss what happened at the Cup Final in 2011 and also to talk about any other issues we may have with him – like suddenly how come he became a Hibs fan.

     

     

    CQN had certain information that we wanted follow up on.

     

     

    Meeting Pat Nevin may or may not have been possible and equally it could prove to be a negative in the eyes of CQNers – some have already had a go on here threatening to boycott the magazine, Annual etc

     

     

    We knew the risks and in a hotel car park in the Southside of Glasgow – Paul, BRTH and myself discussed the way we’d pursue our objectives – knowing what we know.

     

     

    A week or so later BRTH and myself met Pat and the interview lasted around four hours. He was guarded only when pressed by me on lyrics to Irish songs known to be sung at games – and Nevin was a regular in the Jungle and did sing along in the 80s. Apart from that he was honest and open. He gave us vital information which helps.

     

     

    We have been writing and re-writing this feature for a while. We have taken over 2000 words out of it and we have our story. No lazy journalism here.

     

     

    For my part I was very hostile to Pat Nevin before the meeting and while I don’t agree with some of the things he says I have changed my view on him considerably, although not to the extent that he could expect a Christmas Card. BRTH is about to make things rather uncomfortable for some other people and in doing so should take some of the steam out of the anger that has raged against Nevin these past few years.

  18. Rye catcher

     

     

    If you don’t mind I’ll take issue on your statement re Wanyama. I reckon Brian McClair owns that title. There’s also Paddy Crerand, Bobby Murdoch and Macari et al.

  19. Celtic have produced some decent footballers in the past 30 years, but none as thrilling as Aiden McGeady.

     

     

    I wasn’t around to see Nicholas break into the side, but I can’t imagine anyone between the those two, and certainly no-one since Aiden, has been as exciting to watch.

     

     

    It’s also a fallacy to say he wasn’t productive; he had a goal or an assist every second game at Celtic, and has pretty much kept that up since going to Moscow. He also got us a hefty transfer fee which has been spent on the players we’ve been able to buy for the past three years. He also won 4 league championships and a smattering of cups.

     

     

    He was inconsistent, frustrating at times, but he was asked to do a very difficult job in Strachan’s team, often with vastly inferior players. In my opinion he did brilliantly. He also has brass balls. I never saw him hide or quit, and he stared down the worst this country has to offer for years with his head up.

     

     

    I hope he does us all proud at Everton, he certainly has thus far in his career.

  20. Cowiebhoy supporting the Celtic to 3 in a row on

    TBJ

     

     

    Scotland vs England on 8th Feb, NMcG also invited (again Mr N choice)

     

    Interviews finished when I spoke to him, but I asked direct questions with regards on invites, so was a bit surprised with choices

     

    Didn’t know the panda :-) was a jumpthedyke ?

     

     

    Lennybhoy

     

    Would agree for Europe, but not in SPFL, getting paid for no effort

     

     

    Hail Hail

  21. Lennybhoy…Supporting the DAM 5, Neil Lennon, Wee Oscar Knox, and CFC until I die

     

     

    19:36 on 11 January, 2014

     

     

    djynwa67

     

     

    19:05 on 11 January, 2014

     

     

    Carlton game was postponed

     

     

    Keep the Faith!

     

     

    Hail Hail!

     

     

    Yeah, I just wish it was the Forest game that was postponed!

  22. Winning Captains ……

     

     

    Thanks for the update, I look forward to reading it, but just 1 wee question, why take out 2000 words ?

     

    Was it through choice ?

     

     

    Any future plans to put other anti Celtic media types under the spotlight ?

  23. Winning Captains

     

    Bowie’s Low album, followed by Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music , and finally a bit of Cocteau Twins takes about 2 hours.

     

    What did you do for the other 2 hours?

  24. Did someone not say on here a couple of months ago that McGeady was going to Everton and that he wanted to finish his career back at Celtic?

  25. winning captains

     

    20:12 on

     

    11 January, 2014

     

    Just logged in and noticed some discussion re the Pat Nevin feature.

     

     

    I’ve been working on this with BRTH and as usual he has written a superb piece. This will appear in CQN Magazine out in around ten days from now.

     

     

     

    CQN had certain information that we wanted follow up on.

     

     

     

    We knew the risks and in a hotel car park in the Southside of Glasgow – Paul, BRTH and myself discussed the way we’d pursue our objectives – knowing what we know.

     

     

    A week or so later BRTH and myself met Pat and the interview lasted around four hours. He gave us vital information which helps.

     

     

    We have been writing and re-writing this feature for a while. We have taken over 2000 words out of it and we have our story. No lazy journalism here.

     

     

    BRTH is about to make things rather uncomfortable for some other people and in doing so should take some of the steam out of the anger that has raged against Nevin these past few years.

     

     

    ————-

     

     

    magic, cant wait on this,

  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. ...
  4. 5
  5. 6
  6. 7
  7. 8
  8. 9
  9. 10
  10. 11
  11. ...
  12. 59