We are all looking forward to big changes in the football department. Players, manager, coaches and scouts will arrive at Lennoxtown in the coming months with the specific aim of improving the performance of the football department.
Such change brings risks, but just to the culture of the club, which is up for renewal every week and saw plenty of change in the autumn, but to the stock of corporate knowledge. One of the failings of John Barnes short-lived experience was his failure to understand the risks when visiting places like Tannadice. Some travel north thinking it will be all too easy, remember Joey Barton, who was nutmegged at Ibrox during a defeat to Hamilton Accies.
If today’s story on John Kennedy being promoted to work with Eddie Howe is true, he will add a couple of decade’s experience of how Scottish football works to the new management team. I also hear Eddie was impressed by John. Of course, sticking it to them on Sunday will not do any harm.
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Tontine Tim on 30th April 2021 12:26AM
Clydebank Tech – Did you come across teachers, the Blacks, husband and wife Bill and Mary, Art and PE their subjects for decades? Maybe they were after your time there. Instrumental as volunteers in the Hub on Kilbowie Rd. Long respected Bankie.
Anyway, I knew Bill as Mr Black through swimming and water polo. He died in January 2021 and a compassionate obituary was written in the Scotsman in February. A good read, took me back to a distant time and place.
————————————————————————–
On Thursday I’m all over the Scottish Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition for the pick’n’mix peachy paper.
The three fronting the West of Scotland campaign are Jim Halfpenny, Lynda McEwan and Ian Kerr. In honesty you don’t look well Ian, however I wish you all a good outcome.
Clowns to the left of me, Jokers to the right.
Here I am STUSC in the polling booth with you.
Will today be the day we start the rebuild for next season?
Our competitors are focused, key personnel in place and are strengthening further.
It appears we have made an offer though unclear when we move on to other targets?
The clock continues to tick.
We continue to be in second place.
Has John Kennedy got a job for life.?
Was this part of the deal, although the SFA compensated Celtic with wage payments.
This is not uncommon , indeed it can be admirable. However the job must be a good fit and not prove detrimental to the team and club.
HH to all.
PS : I see the political posts have started early. The right of reply cannot be condemned.
LIONROARS67 on 30TH APRIL 2021 7:14 AM
Those SFA referees………….conspiracy ? your all paranoid…………..
The Herald reports that while working as an MSP, Douglas Ross was the first tenant in the Edinburgh property after it was purchased by refereeing colleague Andrew Dallas and another man in 2016.
And LibDem candidate for Moray Sheila Ritchie said: “I understand the importance of parliamentarians securing appropriate accommodation but with the Conservatives already mired in another round of allegations over sleaziness and cronyism, it’s disappointing to hear that the leader of the Scottish Conservatives chose to pick a flat that funnelled money to his mate.
…………….
Aye indeed….and How MUCH did the Wallpaper cost in Ross’s Flat…and who paid for it ?
As for ” Lookalikes”….Has anyone ever seen Douglas Ross and Pinnochio in the same room at the same time ?
HH
Stivs – I didn’t see the incident so no idea – but from seeing general comments from the mod at times when this happens, it might be that your comments were seen as part of the dialogue while maybe not the offending piece?
As a general point – over time – imo, the values of the place were eroded gradually and then suddenly by the troll(s), the boorish drunks the sleekits and the nutters….( They’ve found their own level it would seem)……as for the great posters? Well the onus is on all of us to contribute. There are many opinions I’m sure what makes a great poster…
Lots of the aul’ hauns have like many drifted away from social platforms – I suppose that’s natural given the times we’re living in?
Keep it Lit – if ye can.
HH
Social media evolves. Times and circumstances change.
Did anybody envisage Facebook being ” uncool” ?
BIG JIMMY on 30TH APRIL 2021 7:34 AM
SFA recruitment Questionaire allegedly:
Rangers fan Y/N
Member Masonic lodge Y/N
Tory Y/N
That’s a very small select group, of course, say yes to all three your going to the very top, other combinations are acceptable for the lucrative gravy train of Grade 1, EUFA approved official, nearly £1000 a pop SPFL Premier, and nearly £3 grand a pop Euro games, lets you buy a few flats
No discernible talents with a ball at all, even a small child would have kicked the ball away
Self-confessed he never really was a big football fan, more Rugby
Just what was it that made you take up refereeing ?
https://youtu.be/ax_VfEuTYfA
LIONROARS67 on 30TH APRIL 2021 7:45 AM
………..
spot on mate.
HH
SCULLYBHOY on 29TH APRIL 2021 7:37 PM
ernie lynch on 29th April 2021 7:30 pm
‘The strict definition of cult is something or someone that inspires popularity.’
####
Bollocks. But typical of the Alice in Wonderland approach to facts and reality so evident among cult supporters.
You need to get yourself a proper dictionary.
STILL NO Beer Garden or Beer for this auld geezer…as I have been stuck at home waiting for a couple of deliveries…Ive done TOO much Online shopping during this Lock Down….
now where is the Wallpaper Page ?
HH
According to Phil Mac G, Eddie Howe is effectively a done deal.
BIG JIMMY
Going down to the Albion Club in Yoker for my 1st post lockdown pint.First time also i’l be in the company of a couple of gloating huns.
Bring it on.
Hail Jail
Haha..
Hail Hail
DREW1967 on 30TH APRIL 2021 8:33 AM
BIG JIMMY
Going down to the Albion Club in Yoker for my 1st post lockdown pint.First time also i’l be in the company of a couple of gloating huns.
Bring it on.
Hail Jail
———
Drew1967 – Ah the Auld Albion club, my grannie (Dads Mum) used to stay along the road from it in Halley street.
Also spent many a good night in there years ago and had many a good game of football on the old grass park.
Enjoy and dont take any shoite from them Sevcoites.
D :)
DAVID66
Been goin to the Albion a few years now.No as busy as it used to be but still got good snooker tables and (hopefully)entertainment at weekends.
A few years back it was so busy one night that it was a scramble for a seat…ended up sitting next to a guy who i didnt recognise but got blethering too..it was Big John McBurnie..had some battles with him over the years..still get the feel8ng he was dying to stick one on me.😁
I understand there is a Glasgow Derby this weekend which usually attracts some interest but Arbroath V Morton tonight might just be THE game of the weekend ( if Friday evening can be classed as `weekend`).
Golf time.
Cheerio for now.
Drew – John and me ended up going about together.
Not seen him for years now though.
D :)
He’s a real nowhere man
Sitting in his nowhere land
Making all his nowhere plans for nobody
In fact Drew I remember winning the final of the Yoker tournament there at the Albion for Corpus Christi.
We were primary 6 and won our age of al the schools then played the winners of Primary 7 age group and big John was playing for Garscadden and we pumped them 11-1 or something.
Still have photos of that with me Stephen McGinn, Mick Conroy, Big Skin, Jim Moore, Brian McGuiness…..
Good old days.
D :)
Re: debate about “where have all the great posters gone”.
I mean this with all due respect.
I have been contributing on a very periodic or sporadic basis for many years.
I have to say that, at times I felt that some posters really should familiarise themselves with the WhatsApp messaging service, as it seemed many were having chats with their pals about stuff with little if any relevance to Celtic. Loads of ‘in-jokes’ and coded references to other known individuals/places.
Maybe that was some of those considered the “great posters”.
There appears a bit less of the – and I’m afraid I can’t think of a more appropriate term – cliqueyness about the blog. I notice several long term contributors seem to have recently found a new home.
Like a trade union – this place is only as good as its members.
If readers don’t like what’s being discussed, either contribute by saying so or take the discussion to another subject.
Aye, but does he have a point of view?
DAVID66 on 30TH APRIL 2021 8:40 AM
DREW1967 on 30TH APRIL 2021 8:33 AM
…………….
I was a Member of the Albion Club from 1981….until around 1993.
Many a Burd I lumbered in there including a long term Girlfriend who became my Fiancee from 1981 to 1983 when I messed up again.
I was also in the Pool team, and played several fitba games for other teams against the Albion on that pitch.
From 1985 til 1993 I lived in my own Flat in Halley Place. My Dad also lived at another address in Halley place for years, and it was him who first introduced me to the Albion club.
I gave up my Albion Membership when I moved back to Glesga’s East end in 1993.
HH.
Its a blog, a point of view type thingy.
We don’t all share the same views doesn’t mean I’m right and someone else is wrong, as the song says That’s Life and Ive been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate, a poet, a pawn and a king…..
Love it
One of my Karaoke songs :)
Hail Hail
D :)
Big Jimmy – I know Halley Place well.
You found out when the Shipbank is opening indoors yet?
The first Friday its open hopefully we can meet for a swally.
D :)
Two consecutive polls now showing support for independence is fading fast. Indeed the most recent in The Scotsman outlines almost 60% for the UK when you add the ‘don’t knows’ to the ‘No to Indy’ total. Of course DKs are actually just No voters who decline to say – let’s face it have you ever come across an SNPcult supporter who did not want to shout it from the rooftops.
Covid has really focussed peoples’ minds on the security the UK brings & on the ludicrous plans for a border with England, by far our biggest market.
There will I’m sure be much laughing out loud about Alyn Smith telling Italy’s La Repubblica that the SNP would fully embrace joining the Euro, although with a deficit EIGHT TIMES the maximum allowed to join the EU, he hasn’t a clue when that might be – you couldn’t make it up!
The global financial crisis, Brexit and now Covid have made indy as risible as it is unworkable – there is of course no coherent economic case for it – that’s why the SNPcult now don’t even attempt to make one.
Let’s hope we burst the Ibrox ‘unbeaten in the league’ balloon – I wouldn’t bet on it but it would be a nice sweetener and a fitting welcome for Eddie.
Don’t know much about history
Don’t know much biology
Don’t know much about a science book
Don’t know much about the french I took
But I do know ……. who the next Celtic Manager will be
Ok – actually I don’t.
Re question posed last night about impact – to us – of a social media blackout this weekend.
Devastating !
Not being able to see pictures of a footballer’s latest haircut, watch or car just takes all the meaning out of my life.
Will May 1 be any different from April 1? Or are we all fools to hope that tomorrow is the day when Mr Howe is allowed to finish tidying up his garden and get a new job? Or is it going to be June 1?
One thing guaranteed is that Celtic, never, ever do things with any sense of urgency or transparency.
Would it be so hard to say we have a new manager but due to contractual obligations he cannot join until a specific date? No names, no specifics but at least an announcement that the deal is done.
Every now and again I take a wee minute to remember that Rangers died – you should try it, it really lifts your mood – it’s great :-)) !!!
Don’t be drawn, through constant repetition of the lie, into accepting the false reality being peddled throughout Scottish football – Companies House doesn’t lie:
RFC 2012 P.L.C. Company number SC004276
Previous company name: THE RANGERS FOOTBALL CLUB – for it is ‘them’; the original bad yins :-)) – P.L.C.
27 May 1899 – 31 Jul 2012
Public limited Company – Incorporated on 27 May 1899
Company status – Liquidation
Insolvency history:
Case number 1 — In administration
Administration started 14 February 2012
Administration ended 31 October 2012
Case number 2 — Compulsory liquidation
Petition date – 31 October 2012
Commencement of winding up – 31 October 2012
Tee hee.
A good start to a Friday.
HH
BGFC
YerTeamsDeidCFC
Big Jimmy
You’l prob have been pool team with my ma’s cousin Tam Jones.
Davie, need to get you lads down for game of snooker or pool..give me some notice and i’l arrange for the karaoke to get cancelled Davie😉
Happy Birthday to Jim Craig.
The only Lisbon Lion whose son also played for Scotland.
It was rugby, though – his son James got a couple of caps on the wing 20 or so years ago.
https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/sport/19270070.john-mcginn-recalls-agonising-celtic-move-wait-making-big-hibs-call-aston-villa-detail-swayed-deal/
Classic Lawwell (like choosing a cheaper Ajeti – who can’t even make the squad, let alone the team – over Toney).
Does anyone think a team with McGinn and Toney would’ve rolled over this season?
All about Peter’s ego and bonus. Still some want to build a statue… pure Stockholm Symdrome.
We’ve all heard the John McGinn stuff ad nauseum. But here is the story from his own mouth:
“John McGinn has lifted the lid on his failed Celtic move.
The Aston Villa midfielder went into great detail on the interest from his boyhood club whilst he was enjoying superb form for Hibs in the Scottish Premiership.
It’s no secret McGinn’s first choice was to move from Easter Road to Parkhead and live his dream as a Hoops player, but the transfer never came to fruition despite his and Hibs’ desire and willingness to get a deal done.
McGinn, speaking with Graham Hunter on his Big Interview podcast, explained how during a trip in European football with the Hibees to the Faroe Islands he was asked not to play at risk of being cup-tied when he eventually does make his move to Celts for their upcoming qualifiers.
He revealed he was told the then-champions would be lodging an offer on that day – only to end up waiting and waiting before deciding to play for Hibs that evening. McGinn remains proud of his decision. “My agent actually said about Villa coming in 12 months before I went there, but in my head I’m thinking, ‘Celtic might come in’,” he revealed.
“When that first offer comes in you start thinking it’s done. It’s going to happen. So it was just a waiting game. The longest waiting game ever it ended up being. I’ve ended up back for pre-season and it was, ironically, Neil Lennon who was Hibs manager at the time. Hibs were amazing, it’s not a popular decision if you go from Hibs to Celtic but I think everyone, the supporters, the board, we all had an understanding that it was what I wanted and I respect that I wouldn’t kick the door down. I wouldn’t want to ruin what I’d built at Hibs.
“I thought it had to work both ways, and initially it wasn’t happening like that. We ended up getting a wee bit more guarantees that things were going to progress.
“I remember driving to a European qualifier in the Faroe Islands with Hibs. I’d been told Celtic are going to make an offer today and not to play in the game. That I’d be cup-tied for the European games coming up for Celtic. So I’m waiting all day, nothing happens. I’m going round these winding roads in the Faroe Islands not knowing if I’m actually playing in the game or not.
“To be fair to Leeann (Dempster) and everyone at Hibs they were waiting as well. They didn’t know what was going on. So I’m out checking the pitch – I don’t know why because it was astro turf – but Neil Lennon came out, we were speaking and he was so good at that. One of the best man managers I’ve had, so relatable, knew what I was going through and what I wanted at the time.
“The offer didn’t come, for whatever reason. So I remember speaking to the manager, then I phoned my dad and agent and I just thought, ‘You know what? I’m playing in the game.’ Nothing’s happened. I played, scored that night and it was a good performance in a bit of a wild game. I was proud of myself because I thought, ‘This isn’t right, I need to play in this game’.
“I believed in myself as a player. If someone wants me they can try a wee bit harder to get me. Then doubt got into my head and I’m thinking is this the right thing. Then it started becoming a wee bit of a sitcom. It was getting more and more publicity. Offers eventually came in and then you start thinking you’re from the West of Scotland you switch on SuperScoreboard every now and again and you’ve got Jimmy from Bargeddie phoning in saying, ‘Oh he’s no gonna get a game’ and that was quite a popular opinion at the time. Then you start to worry am I making a decision with my heart here? Am I going to go sit on the bench?”
McGinn revealed doubt did indeed creep into his psyche, but not for long. “At that time Celtic had an unbelievable midfield who had gelled together,” he added. “Stuart Armstrong was still there, (Ryan) Christie, Scott Brown, (Olivier) Ntcham, all playing at the top of their game. There was no doubt I had the belief that I’d go there and play but then I had to weigh up everything. I still, in my head, wanted to play for Celtic, no doubt. But then eventually time went on and it was August – I don’t know how it managed to get to August – but I started to become quite good at just playing and it probably spurred me on to play better.
“That spell was probably some of the best football I’ve played in my career. We managed to win in Greece in Europe, had a good start to the season. I ended up just being content playing football and block out the noise. There wasn’t really a resolution. Then Villa got a takeover and I knew there was a wee bit of interest. Next thing you know I’m walking around the Edinburgh Festival and my agent phones asking if I’d like to have a look around at Villa. I’m like, ‘Aye I’ll have a look’, didn’t end up coming back.”
McGinn had allowed his dream of playing for Celtic escape his mind and was delighted when Dean Smith came in for him as Villa. And he revealed the key detail the then-English Championship outfit added to their pursuit of him that sealed the deal.
“We went to the training ground and the stadium and I felt the way I was treated was perfect,” he explained. “That was a hard moment because I remember speaking to my mum and dad and we’d resigned ourselves to defeat with Celtic. Mum and dad grew up etched in Celtic, I wanted to play for Celtic, but it just wasn’t right. Maybe in the future you never know but that is something I can’t affect now, it’s passed.
“There was a bit of me I had a bit to prove to a number of people. English football didn’t have a clue who I was which I quite liked, I thought ‘fresh start’. People up the road who thought I couldn’t play for Celtic. You’re lying if you say you don’t think, ‘I’ll show you’. But I’m proud of the way I dealt with it because it would’ve been easy to do the wrong thing. There was something surreal the night I went to Villa Park. They were quite clever, they left the floodlights on, knew I loved number seven so that shirt was there, walked me into box seven. Everything about it was class. My dad knew I’d made my mind up.
“Now, it wasn’t even the case I had to choose, there was never a stage it was an A or B, the A was just there. From there I got flung straight into the game against Wigan. It was just mad.”
DENIABHOY on 30TH APRIL 2021 9:45 AM
“I remember driving to a European qualifier in the Faroe Islands with Hibs.”
###
Well, to be fair, it’s not something you’d be likely to forget, driving to the Faroe Islands.
I’d have liked us to have bought McGinn but I tend not to lose sleep over what might’ve been.
Seems the football dept didn’t think he was worth pursuing, which I think is/was the worrying thing, esp as we knew (felt) Armstrong was going, though they are different types of player. Can never have too many good players, succession management
Cambridge Dictionary
cult
/kʌlt/
noun: cult; plural noun: cults
1. a system of religious veneration and devotion directed towards a particular figure or object.
“the cult of St Olaf”
2. a person or thing that is popular or fashionable among a particular group or section of society.
“the series has become a bit of a cult in the UK”
Johnny Doyle was a cult hero of mine.
https://www.balls.ie/football/8-former-celtic-players-you-havent-thought-about-enough-recently-289594
HH
Ernieboresmartass CSC
I have a prize for the best suggestion of the all-time Celtic cult hero.
https://www.waterstones.com/book/celtic-cult-heroes/david-potter/9781848181090
BIG JIMMY on 30TH APRIL 2021 7:34 AM
SFA recruitment Questionaire allegedly:
Rangers fan Y/N
Member Masonic lodge Y/N
Tory Y/N
Same questions should be asked of the Celtic board….