Cup finals remain in our collective memories long after the event, cup final goals especially. For this reason, I want Kyogo to be fit tomorrow. He is a special player who has contributed greatly to our lives over the last two seasons. A star of two League Cup finals, he has yet to feature in a Scottish Cup Final. For what he has done for us, he deserves every chance to play.
Sentiment aside, Oh is a more than capable deputy. He will almost certainly play a part tomorrow and will add to his growing reputation.
Tomoki Iwata should partner Carl Starfelt in central defence. Celtic lack height in the team and Iwata in defence leaves us more challenged in this aspect when defending (and attacking) set-pieces. High balls into the box are the staple of lower league teams when facing top opposition as they lack the craft to breakdown an organised defence. Whenever Inverness get into the Celtic half, expect the ball to go wide then floated into the space above Iwata’s 5’ 10” frame. At the very least, we can expect him not to be easily shoved aside.
My rule of thumb is that Daizen Maeda does better against teams who attack Celtic and is less effective when they defend deep, denying him the space to exploit his pace and industry. However Ange Postecoglou will surely start him and Jota in the wide attacking positions. Liel Abada’s appearance is likely to be as a second half substitute.
In the continued absence of Aaron Mooy through injury, the midfield of Callum McGregor, Reo Hatate and Matt O’Riley picks itself. Inverness will do well to keep tabs on those three.
It is with a heavy heart I write about Billy Dodds. He seems an affable character that I have no dislike for. Whenever I hear his name, his part in the Grand Conspiracy to hide facts and money from the SFA, the SPL and HMRC, are first to mind.
As I highlighted on CQN in May 2012 at the height of the Rangers Oldco/Newco frenzy, ex-Rangers player Dodds wrote in The Herald, “David Murray came to me and asked if I would receive a payment that was due to me, after tax, through the EBT trust. And I said that I would. It was money that was owing to me when I had six months left on my contract and I moved to Dundee United. After the tax was deducted, that money was put in the trust fund.”
He was one of the few who went on the record to confirm that money paid into his EBT was contractual salary and was subject to payroll taxes, adding that David Murry deducted payroll taxes before paying into Dodds EBT. If this is the case, Dodds was very badly advised, given he became embroiled in an issue which afforded him zero benefit.
Police Scotland were quick to act against one side in the battle for the ‘bag of assets’ which constituted Newco Rangers, but showed no interest in evidence from Dodds. Welcome to Scotland, where conspiracies are written up by involved parties in The Herald but remain out of reach by the authorities. Billy remains available to give evidence, he’ll not be difficult to find at Hampden.
Win the Scottish Cup tomorrow. Do it for the world-record eighth treble, for everything we were denied during the financial doping years, for the decades spent when such successes were a fantasy. These are great days to be a Celtic supporter, enjoy them!
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Ange isn’t going anywhere.
Happy Friday all!
Dodds is a fraud!
Hail , hail for the Treble!!
CELTIC
Police Scotland appear to have completely turned a blind eye to the tax evasion and those involved, instead we had sham trial which have cost the public purse tens of millions and will continue to cost many millions more in the years ahead. In a week when a report was published into misogyny and sexism in Police Scotaland I wonder why instituition bigotry on the grounds of religion or which team a person supports was not included in the survey, that too would damn them of that I have no doubt.
Who is driving Ange to the airport
instituitional
Scottish Cup Final day is always special. My Dad took my older brother to the Aberdeen final in 1954 and left me sobbing at home in the Gorbals. I vividly recall the supported buses after the game coming back through our area and the team bus with the cup. So many heartbreaking finals after that- losing to Clyde, Hearts, Dunfermline, Rangers and then Jock arrived.
I will be there tomorrow as excited but more expectant . Good luck Celts!🍀
Westcraigs
“If Beale can put a team on the park that can beat Aberdeen, Hibs, Hearts etc then it will come down to the Glasgow derbies as usual.”
———————————-
Just how “usual” is it for the Glasgow Derbies to be decisive in league outcome. With 12 points at stake- how often do we even get a 9:3 split of the points far less a 12:0 split?
Yet recent leagues have been won by 7, 4, 25 , 13, 9, and 9, since Sevco entered the top leagues.
In the years from 2012 going back to 2004 , the gap between first and second was 20, 1, 6, 4, 3, 12, 17, 1, and 17.
Any gap over 12 disproves your thesis, that is , 2 of the last 6 and 6 of the last 15. I would argue any gap over 9 points makes your thesis unlikely – that is 4 of the last 6 and 8 of the last 15.
If these derbies were decisive the defeats and draws column would reflect that.
So- looking only at the leagues where the gap was under 9 points- the ones that should favour your thesis, we should expect the win/ draw column to be only made up by Glasgow Derby results.
In 2023 – Celtic drew 3 and lost3, Rangers drew 5 and lost 4. Not only was it not derby decisive, Celtic 4 of those adverse 6 results in their final 7 matches- after the league had been won. In the Derby matches Celtic won 7pts and Rangers won 4 pts- that 3 point gap did not decide the league
Let’s look at the league titles that were very close
In Ange’s first season we won by 4 points only. We drew 6 and lost 3. Rangers drew 8 and lost 3. Since there are only 4 derby matches, 4 out of 9 or 4 out of 11 adverse results could not see the Derby as decisive. The head to heads that season were again a 7points to 4 split, accounting for only 3 points of our 4 point gap. So again- not decisive. Even if you were to argue that one goal turns a draw into a win for them, we would have won the league by 2 points still and the share of Derby points would have been 6:6. And you’ll be ignoring our other 2 defeats and 5 draws with teams that were not Rangers.
Even with the old Rangers, if you look at season 2010/11 where they won by 1 point, Rangers drew 3 and lost 5 matches while we drew 5 and lost 4. Our head to heads in the league resulted in a 7:4 points split again but it doesn’t support your thesis because it was Celtic that got the 3 point advantage in the head to head matches. We lost the league or they won it on Non-Glasgow Derby match results.
The Derby matches are emotionally important to us but they rarely decide a league, despite the persistence of that view. You have to beat the also rans regularly, even if you win all 4 Derby games.
Good afternoon all from the Grove Bar, Finnieston. I’m still looking for a ticket for tomorrow if anyone can help me out. Cheers 👍
11 years since you wrote that Billy Dodds piece Pablo?
Wow.
What colour was your hair then?
Would normally just be looking for any kind of win in a cup final, but given what happened in 2015 and their manager being such an ar$e I want total humiliation. Anything less than 7-0 will be a disappointment.
Maybe one of our hard-hitting journalists could ask Dodds his views on outcomes of games being decided ON THE PITCH…..
SFTB – Very impressive statistic driven response to Westcraigs’ earlier comment.
My take is less well thought out and simpler than yours.
WC ….
“If Beale can put a team on the park that can beat Aberdeen, Hibs, Hearts”
My instinctive reaction is this is akin to the old “if my auntie had balls …” hypothetical.
Sevco’s outlier performance in the COVID season was 32-6-0.
Every other year, they’ve regularly dropped points in 8-12 games.
And why should that be a surprise to anyone?
Winning football matches is difficult.
As for Glasgow derbies?
Offer me 7 points (2-1-1) or 6 points (1-3-0) each league season and I’ll bite your hand off.
Oh aye, wee Billy ( please don’t take my title away ) Dodds
Qualifier to above post.
That “bite your hand off” comment comes with the proviso we always win the first one.
An interesting piece by ex-CQN poster James Forrest.
I said on Monday that Ange would, in my opinion, be 3rd choice at best behind Enrique and BR.
James puts up a different slant on it:
https://thecelticblog.com/2023/06/articles-and-features/is-the-celtic-manager-being-used-by-daniel-levy-as-he-angles-for-the-guy-he-wants/
in Ange’s first season we won the league by four points. We won back to back games against sevco, Home and away. If sevco had won one of those games they would have won the league by two points. That’s how important these games are. Then factor in the huge confidence boost we get when we beat them and vice versa.
In the league just ended we took 7 points from the first 3 derbies. If those results had been reversed we would have gone to ibrox with a one point lead. These games are crucial. If we win 3 of these games next season I am confident we will win the league. If they win three times I think they will win the league.
The Blogger James Forrest raises a good point. Where do things go if it’s apparent that Ange was talking to Spurs but they then went for someone else ? Would Ange’s position be tenable ?
If it was a player we know what Ange would do.
Westcraigs
At least you have downgraded from decisive to crucial.
You are bringing in the subjective element of momentum and confidence from these games- how important is that? I gave the example of 2010/11 where we won 7 of the 12 points, as we did this year, but in one instance the league was won by the team with fewer derby points and in the other we won it with most. It was not crucial.
Once you invoke “what ifs” for 2021/2 season and cite us losing a Derby game we won (presumably the 2:1 game rather than the 3;0 one) you could just as likely cite a change of score in the game we beat Aberdeen 2:1 – which was just as likely and that would “prove” the thesis that it is the non-Derby games that are crucial, or Rangers could have beat Aberdeen instead of drawing 2:2. Celtic might have beaten Livi or United instead of drawing with them. Or Rangers could have beaten Hearts or Motherwell instead of drawing with them. We lost at Tynecastle and Livi- matches we could have won. Rangers lost at Tannadice too- why no “what if” for that one.
In the actual real world, as opposed to the hypothetical one, the derby results have rarely been crucial. Enjoyable recently but not crucial.
AN DUN
Completely untenable!
An Dun
James Forrest writing about Ange? Check his predictions on him getting a UEFA licence after his Celtic appointment back in 2021.
Spurs days as a top four club are over for the foreseeable future, the next 2-3 seasons at least. (Hopefully the same is true for Chelsea)
If Spurs fans had a vote on their next manager the result would be; ‘Levy Out’
Southampton in for Kyogo, Hatate, Maeda!
Arbroath in for Bernabei!
Away to sit in the sun!
I hope that Ange is more forthcoming tomorrow evening after we hopefully complete the treble.
I’d appreciate his honesty. Either commit to Celtic or say something like, ‘I’m obviously aware of an interest from Spurs and I’d like to now follow that up and see what happens’.
Celtic fans deserve more than clichés from our gaffer.
Well, Ange won’t be talking it’ll be his agent and that’s an agents job.
Also; 4-0 to Celtic by halftime tomorrow then who knows what the final score will be? 5-0, 9-0?
T
Good afternoon again from the Grant Arms. Supposed to have been renovated, looks the same as when me and Leggy were in last year. I believe it was owned by Michael Grant, a Celtic director many years ago.
Celtic fans dont deserve anything more from Ange than what he’s already done. He’s done enough for us that he doesnt need to make our more entitled fans feel a bit better for a few days to the detriment of his own life and career.
Suck up the discomfort or give up supporting Celtic
Suck up the discomfort or give up supporting Celtic
—
Steady yourself mate. It’s not your place to tell Celtic fans how to feel or what team to support.
Wanting clarification after two weeks of speculation is not an unreasonable ask.
I wouldn’t mind if Ange said he wanted to talk to Spurs, that’s fair enough. But I think he should say so. His honesty would be appreciated my most, I’m sure.
Any news on kyogo ?
Hart
Johnston
Starfelt
Iwata
Taylor
McGregor
Hatate
O’Riley
Jota
Kyogo
Maeda
That’s the team for me
First coupla days of winter just arrived here in Oz.
Not too bad 18 degs, so no jaikit on yet lol.
What a ball buster of a day the MSM in Scotland
will have in trying to explain why big Ange decided
to continue his complete domination over the
Ragers, whilst carrying aloft another world record
trophy.
“ What do you mean he’s not going to Spurts ?
“ Spurts who ?
Straight from the kangaroo, Ange’s going nowhere.
H H. Mick
AN DÚN on 2ND JUNE 2023 2:04 PM
“But I think he should say so. His honesty would be appreciated my most, I’m sure.”
Some, probably. Ridiculous entitlement, though. Appreciate that how he wants to deal with it might be a bit more important for him than you having to put up a couple of days of anxiety.
I wonder what the same people who are demanding he tells us exactly that he’s going to do were saying about him when he first came. Or when we were sitting in sixth with the predictions of top 6 finishes. Or criticising his European performances
No sign of kyogo at training
https://twitter.com/CelticFC/status/1664595214382796801?t=VHvyuWhMxlgd-AJHXRjJSg&s=19
celtic40me on 2nd June 2023 2:15 pm
I’m not anxious. I hope he stays but life will go on regardless, as will our Club.
No one is demanding to know “exactly” what Ange’s thoughts are, I’d like more clarity. The exact details are his own business.
Ange set himself up as a gaffer in tune with the support, knowing the sacrifices and troubles of the ordinary fan and how important Celtic was to their lives.
He should now live up to those previous comments and provide more clarity once our season is finished.
More clarity. Not every dot and comma.
I havent Posted ANYTHING in relation to what ANGE will do after Tomorrow…Will he GO or will he STAY…..I dont have a clue, BUT..
IF he does GO, I for one will NOT be wishing him well etc, and looking like a RIGHT CHUMP….If/WHEN as manager of Spurs……HE then also tried to take KYOGO, REO and Alistair Johnston with him in the near future ?
Maybe some are happy to wish him well IF he DOES leave Celtic for Spurs, and I can understand that…….However I will wait and see IF he ALSO takes some of Celtics BEST Players away ?
HH
PHILBHOY
And the cold case CID are in for McCarthy.
What a strange signing that was, but he was a massive
Celtic fan, but then again, so was I 🤣
H H. Mick
MELBOURNE MICK…
I HOPE and PRAY that you are Correct Mate about our Manager.
HH
There’s no point in prolonging our angst in the run up to tomorrow’s big game.
Just as Ange is not gonna turn into a 5:4:1 manager overnight, neither is he gonna make a reassuring statement. He has said he and the team are not distracted and he will dismiss all talk, even re-assuring talk.
Why torture ourselves with what ifs?
Do we not have the patience to get the ICT game out of the way and then find out?
James Forrest is arguing, inaccurately in my opinion, that, if Ange announces he is staying, after having “been seen” to be dallying with Spurs, he will be diminished in the eyes of our support.
I reckon that if Ange indeed does announce he is staying, the support will get fully behind him and there will be no diminishment of his status.
Only losing to ICT or losing games in the league next year or a whipping boy series of Euro games can do that.
Of course, the suits will be aware that, if this happens as outlined by James, they will know that Ange is attracting interest from other clubs (this they should already know) and that he might depart next time (new contract or not) but this they should already know too, then they will have to have a list of prospective next managers in line. But again, this they should already be doing too.
I am looking forward to the ICT game. If I am no surer after the game about Ange’s future, it will diminish my celebration not a jot.
Our one main task just now is to win the Scottish Cup and then to celebrate that win. After that it is to plan player recruitment and players leaving to be ready for the CL, whether that is under Ange or his successor. Ange is not gonna be here forever but we should enjoy him while he’s here.