If ever 90 minutes told the story of a season, it was last night in Dingwall. A miserable team, bottom of the league and who sacked the manager that won at Celtic Park in November, took to the field with a cunning masterplan: put numbers behind the ball and wait for a set piece.
Ross County’s goal was exasperating. Diego Laxalt did not get close enough to Jordan White to impede the striker’s movement, perhaps taking lessons from the lumbering Tom Rogic, who was equally lax at a first half corner that went unpunished. The speed of delivery caught Scott Brown cold as White rose behind him to score the only goal of the game.
Despite Celtic enjoying the vast majority of the ball and territorial advantage, County could consider themselves unlucky not to be ahead at the break, after Spittal’s shot was stopped by Scott Bain pulling off the finest save of the game.
Eduard and Christie both had gilt-edged chances before that to put Celtic ahead but neither troubled the keeper. Both are stalling on a contract offer and will hope prospective employers were busy watching something else on TV last night.
The only consolation is that this wretched league campaign will be over soon. Well done to John Hughes and his County players, never short of endeavour.
259 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- »
Just wondering how long its been known that PL was “retiring”?Was P67 alluding to it with..its going to get worse..?Theres no way theyd give NL d.o.f position is there?
Sorry im thinking about it too much but car-crash season and lockdown get to you.
SONSOFERIN on 22ND FEBRUARY 2021 1:09 PM
Happy birthday Karamoko Dembele, 18 today! Hope Neil remembered to get him a Colin the Caterpillar cake. He’s come a…..erm……long way since being named one of L’Equipe’s six “outstanding young players set to revolutionise the game” in 2019. But how has his revolutionising compared with others in the list?
Karamoko Dembele (18) – 4 appearances for Celtic
Ansu Fati (18) – 31 appearances for Barcelona, 4 for Spain
Joelson Fernande (17) – 4 appearances for Sporting CP
Sebastiano Esposito (18) – 21 appearances for Inter/on loan
Mohamed Ihattaren (19) – 51 appearances for PSV
Karim Adeyemi (19) – 51 appearances for RB Salzburg/on loan
===========================================
My goodness – that is a stark indictment of the abject failure to develop the boy – shocking.
Looked into Joelson Fernande a wee bit more – he also has 38 appearances for the U23 and seems to be developing well (market value – for what it is worth – is >5 million Euro).
Wee Dembele – needs to quit Celtic or his career will never develop. Not surprised our other top youth prospects have left.
HH
BGFC
Ernie,
I thought about Jeremie Fingpong prior to that statement.
His was an exceptional deal that could not be refused. His potential combined with his speed and entertainment value sealed the deal.
His trajectory during his short but fruitful stay with us was upward. In stark contrast to every single regular first team player whose trajectory is downward.
HH.
TURKEYBHOY on 22ND FEBRUARY 2021 1:34 PM
Think of it more as a long term strategy to preserve the viability of The Old Firm concept as a sporting and financial commodity.
Makes the idea more palatable.
It’s all so obvious to Michael Stewart. Why not to NL?
https://www.67hailhail.com/news/michael-stewart-highlights-celtic-blunder-last-night-perplexed-by-lennon-decision/
ERNIE LYNCH on 22ND FEBRUARY 2021 1:49 PM
The board want a successful Sevco, of that there is no doubt however I honestly don’t think they would deliberately ensure a Sevco league titles to preserve that. Although the way they act does make you wonder.
ONENIGHTINLISBON on 22ND FEBRUARY 2021 2:01 PM
When BR left the club’s owner had a decision to make, and he made that decision after weighing a lot of considerations and with a number of long term objectives in mind.
Characterising the outcome as ‘throwing the league’ is too crude and simplistic.
Maybe the handicapping system in horse racing (a sport he is genuinely interested in) played a part in his thinking.
The problem with DD is his absence. He left PL as a de facto Director of Football, assuming all would continue to go well. Celtic looks like his hobby. Surely his dividend income cannot be significant to a man of his wealth? (I don’t know.) If he could get Celtic (together with the Huns) into a British league, which seems to be his goal, he could make real money out of the club. I doubt if he actually wanted to help the Huns, their being in second place would still get the Old Firm into an English/British league in his plan. He doesn’t seem to be interested in our participation in European competitions, as otherwise he would surely have removed NL after this season’s humiliations in Europe.
ERNIE LYNCH on 22ND FEBRUARY 2021 2:08 PM
Nothing at all would surprise me with the shower of crooks on the board to be honest.
Any decent board would have sacked Lennon months ago to at least give us a chance of the ten.
There is no agenda by board to allow Sevco win the league.
Rather its the result of negligence & complacency from PL/DD & plc board.
They stand in their club blazers and ties, talk down to the supporters in AGMs, release powder puff statements & brief against their pets to the media.
Bottom line is however, they don’t run the football as well as they credit themselves for.
Said last week that Celtic as a club should be striving to earn revenues of £140m+ through consistent CL qualification and successful player trading. We should have a football operations structure on a par with the most effective European clubs.
The opportunity to strive for this was available to the board between 2012-2020.
They have failed to maximise this clubs potential.
That for me is a greater failure than losing 10iar.
why should Paul write about condemning the manager, the board or any other changes ?
his blog, his topics.
BHOY FROM THE BOYNE on 22ND FEBRUARY 2021 2:30 PM
Negligence and complacency? Why? Think of the riches that ten would have brought even through merchandising alone? Why would they allow this?
BHOY FROM THE BOYNE on 22ND FEBRUARY 2021 2:30 PM
You undermine your opening argument with the rest of your post.
SAINT STIVS on 22ND FEBRUARY 2021 2:34 PM
Quite simply to ignore it is to do as a few on here do, bury their heads in the sand.
Note to Celts- fix the ole roof when the Sun is shining.
79 caps- good post.
Neither I or you or 59,800 other Celtic supporters get a say in any matters relating to the PLC.
To throw shite at the owners means he-haw, they probably chuckle away at these efforts, knowing full well that the voting axis of 96% remains.
Why would the 2x Billionaire care about a £100m rev operation that gives him a return of 6% a year.
In this disastrous season nothing can force the owners to share their plans, or remove staff, or accelerate change. Its their ball, they choose what they do and when.
Change will come when they decide, I personally would not be suprised if the next incumbent is known but wont sign up till after the euros.
I wouldnt even be suprised if Neil is retained at the club in some capacity, as a giruy gesture of contempt.
All this anger on a blog, waste of energy and skin of the fingers.
ERNIE LYNCH on 22ND FEBRUARY 2021 2:08 PM
Sometimes, if the prize is valuable enough, the connections of the top weighted class horse make an effort to win the big race.
Ps,
I would also not be suprised if when allowed to return the GB dont get their part of the standing section, their storming of the senate wont be forgotten.
Read the Celtic Shared twitter statements, they have not got a cats chance in hell of out manouvering the owners.
This is a blog, its where we discuss all things Celtic and beyond.
We are the club, the current custodians are not.
Haw Paul 67!
Why are you no writing what I want you to say?
Why are you choosing to write what you want to say instead?
What do you think this is? A blog for different opinions?
Setting Free the Bears
Paul can write what he likes, but he could at least admit he was wrong when he said at the beginning of the season that we have better players and a better manager than Sevco.
GREENPINATA on 22ND FEBRUARY 2021 2:51 PM
This is a blog, its where we discuss all things Celtic and beyond.
We are the club, the current custodians are not.
————————————
Do you really really really believe that ?
We are the supporters of a football club, but more importantly the customers of the PLC. It is all transactional to them, not emotional
How many Season card holders would need to stop to really effect change ?
If it is the 10,000 that left during Ronnies time the PLC just downsizes or adjusts the budget accordingly.
Celtic fanbase is greater now than at anytime in the past.
A new manager, if he is a “name” will sell out the books again, start winning again, and the lure of playing huns takes over again, the modern fan base will forget everything and anything just to see the next game and a win.
I had been thinking this lock out might see people give up on football all together, you know, it is not as important as it once was. I am now thinking the opposite, when allowed fans will return in greater numbers,
I have shares in IBM, a small amount, I used to complain on blogs about company performance and the board, do you know they never did a single thing I told them. The CEO earning $20 million thought he was untouchable. He was
The straw that broke the camels back was a while back, we are now in unchartered territory, persevering with a lame duck manager who openly admits he doesn’t know how to turn it around, we can all see that he cant motivate the team and tactically he’s inept, yet on and on we go..
and now he’s telling us he’s the man for the rebuild. Sorry Neil, you have certainly very expertly demolished the place but no way could you be trusted to put it back together again, only the Sevconians would want you to remain as our manager, domestic domination would be theirs for the taking providing you remain as our manager,
for the life of me I cant understand why he hasn’t walked, unless of course, it’s all about the money.
Why does Lenny keep making the same mistake. Ryan Christie is not a centre forward.
He told us why he didnt walk, the owners asked him to stay.
TURKEYBHOY on 22ND FEBRUARY 2021 1:34 PM Scott Brown is part of the problem! Should be nowhere the dugout, temporary or otherwise. We need an experienced head who knows how to set a team up and can improve players or get them to at least reach their potential – just as Rodgers did and continues to do at Leicester.
St Stivs,
God willing, you and I will still be going to Parkhead when the current custodians are not.
So yes I really believe collectively we are the club.
HH.
DBBIA
I remember seeing The Ole Roof play in the ole Burns Howf.
They made a hole lot of noise! ;-)
Sigh, to go back to those days and some of those posters.
SAINT STIVS on 22ND FEBRUARY 2021 3:08 PM
He told us why he didn’t walk, the owners asked him to stay.
_________________________________________________________________
The NL I thought we had would have told them to stuff it,
it has to be the money, its the only thing that makes sense,
BR walked out on us early doors so he could get his new club up to speed before their new season started,
so what are we waiting on, given all our really important games are in the very early part of the season?
don’t like the word shambolic but thats what it is.
That was really good of Neil to stay and do us a favour.
If we loose the league by say 20 points and we won by 13 last year that is a 33 point swing.
1. When was the last time we lost a league by 20 points?
2. When was the last time we won the league by 13 points and then lost the next league by 20 culminating in a 33 point swing?
3. Is Neil writing his own Historical Legendary Status?
D :)
What if United got a victory….The last tiny embers of the season were extinguished when Sevco had a convincing home win after an away Euro tie with key players injured.
I settled down to watch the game with a feeling of apathy. Anything other than a convincing win wouldnt have lifted my mood. Playing for pride and to ensure Sevco won the league by the smallest margin was all the we had.
The players took to the field with the same feelings, except for the pride part .Lethargic, apathetic .It was obvious they didn’t want to be in the highlands with a 4 hour road trip home late on a Sunday night, Some phoned it in (Rogic, Eddy). some looked well below form (turnbull, calmac), some looked like thye cimply count be bothered . The bottom line is the goal came as no surprise, nor did our non response.
Much has been rightly written about the manager, but these players should be ashamed of themselves. Nothing less than cheats.
We are in the final throughs of the great 9 in a row era. A bridge to far.
It does feel like the end of times. The next few weeks/months will be insufferable.
ST TAMS on 22ND FEBRUARY 2021 3:27 PM
That was really good of Neil to stay and do us a favour.
——————————————-
I would not suggest he did us a favour, he continued to work at the request of the owners, what you or I or any other supporter thought about it would not have mattered a jot.
Whether we like it or not, anytime Neal speaks about Dermo or Peter, there is a deference there, he owes them something, somehow, they are all in it together. In turn they dont see the continuation as all that bad, it is probably a “see out the season, we havnt got the new guy lined up yet”
“but I will kop a lot of flack if i cant get a performance from this squad”
“doesnt matter Neil, you have been through worse, your the man to steer us ashore”
“ok, just for you dermo”
The league was gone weeks ago Bhoys . The club sadly has been downgrading for a few seasons now , we have wasted millions of pounds on right bad buys , the person or persons involved in these purchases should have been hunted ages ago . Not one of the support would disagree with keeping the club on a sound financial footing , but to go to the extremes the other way and penny pinch to the extent players were arriving not because they had the ability we were looking for , but because they were cheaper , is the reason we are now in this position . Now I know a lot of fans weren’t too fussed about John mcginn donning the hoops But our top notch manager did , someone else went against that manager and dilly dallied until the guy went elsewhere . Personally for what it’s worth I would liked to have seen JMCG in the hoops . Had we invested in quality a few seasons back when we had a financial advantage we wouldn’t be in this mess . Pulling in £25 million for KT and splashing out £2.75 million for bolingoli is going to catch you out eventually and so it has turned out . The number of goals conceded this season from cross balls is criminal , every manager knows our weakness ,we have two small fullback that are picked out every match . Last week against st Johnstone we lost a goal from a big guy only needing to stretch his neck to get it before our full back , last night something similar . We lost Mikel who hasn’t been replaced , KT hasn’t been replaced although I appreciate KT a hard act to follow but surely there are big tall fullbacks available . A couple of teak tough centre half’s for me are a must , again personally never quite fancied our twin towers at the back both lacking steel , and both careless , although ajer is playing well at the moment . Last night we should have been goals up at half time , we are not putting teams to the sword , scraped through the past couple of games when we should have made a huge dent in the goal difference . It’s not working for us this season . There is something putrid going on at our club we didn’t get this bad overnight , we need a clear out in playing staff of the ones who don’t want to be here , the ones who are not good enough , the entire management staff , and the dept who gave us the ones we want rid off already . And last but not least the top of the tree , the ones who have been feeding off the dripping roast for years . The lack of support from the very top of our club against the honest mistakes ,the media and spfl/sfa , and the bigotry shown By most of the pundits on these live broadcasts is cowardice pure and simple , that guy Boyd is a cult hero to them now his only requisite for the job is like the rest he played with the sevco , but it will continue because it goes unchallenged from within our club absolutely sickening .
DAVID66 on 22ND FEBRUARY 2021 3:32 PM
If we loose the league by say 20 points and we won by 13 last year that is a 33 point swing.
you cant have a points swings when you start the new season all on zero.
NL knew months ago we weren’t capable of winning this league under him,he could have done a deal to step aside, but he didn’t, and looks like he’s staying on for the money, and not doing the right thing for the Club and the support.
Ps,
last season was cut short by 8 fixtures, I am sure 13 points would have become 20.