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Underestimating Celtic

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By on CQN BLOG & Comments

I get confused with these de Boer boys, one was decent, one was very good, was it one or both who borrowed money through a Rangers Employee Benefit Trust? Who cares, what’s important is that many more than just de Boers took money through EBTs, leading to an unsightly liquidation.

It’s surprising, therefore, to read the Ajax manager refer in his media conference to the consequences of those EBTs, namely “the loss of Rangers”. The price, Mr de Boer, is an honest, clean, game, where everyone respects the rules. No one hides documents from HMRC, the SFA or SPFL. No one goes through the indignity of having their instructions to shred their contract read out in court.  No club would live in fear of having to submit ALL required information to a league Commission.

The price is a clean game and we are thankful for it.

News that Scott Brown is out for several months was an enormous blow. Added to the suspensions of Nir Bitton and Stefan Johansen and we are totally without central midfielders. Charlie Mulgrew has been out for 10 weeks and may limp onto the field, but this will, without doubt, be an emergency line-up.

Despite that, there’s no Surrender Monkeys here. Celtic are never stronger than when they’re underestimated, an no one underestimates opponents quite the way Frank de Boer did yesterday.  Bring it on.

Mike Ashley, why do they prod him with a stick? Don’t make statements which he can and will easily refute.

Bucketeers!

I watched and read the response to the Foundation Sleep-Out event earlier this month. Celtic fans do things in the name of our club which continues to astonish. If you’ve not gotten involved yet, you can do so on Saturday.

Before the Hamilton game the Foundation are having their annual Christmas Appeal Bucket Collection. Come along early, pick up a bib and bucket, and get a free ticket to the game. It’s great fun, a great cause and a wonderful way to pay a bit back to the ethos which brings you to Celtic Park.

Details on signing up here.

Thanks to all who’ve bought The Winds of Change, a great read for anyone who lived through the great changes in our club from Liam Brady to Martin O’Neill.

Alex Gordon picks up the story in 1991 as Liam Brady replaces Billy McNeill and the Celtic support were about to have their boast of being ‘faithful through and through’ put to the ultimate test as barren years followed.

Eight Celtic managers, if you include Kenny Dalglish, sat in the Celtic dugout as our manager with some being much more successful than others. The book ends with Martin O’Neill leaving but there was time for CQN to add a note about the events of November 4, 2015 so that the reader can appreciate the task Celtic faced in these years, playing opponents with a loaded dice.

Windstrailer4

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  5. Bawsman on

    Auldheid on 26th November 2015 10:59 am De Boer was the second player to benefit from the Rangers Employee Benefit Trust . The clue that it is an ebt scheme is in the titles.

     

     

     

     

    It was a Discount Option (ebt) Scheme subsequently ruled illegal by an FTT in 2010.

     

     

     

     

    De Boer signed up to it on 30 Aug 2000 and there is a side letter to prove it of that date.

     

     

     

     

    He was to be paid 1m Guilders every six months for 4 years under it.

     

     

     

    After 2 years he switched to the Murray Group Management Benefit Trust better known as loan or BTC ebts.

     

     

     

     

    It’s all here if anyone wants the detail including deliberate concealment of side letters from HMRC.

     

     

     

     

    https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6uWzxhblAt9bndoWmMtU0VwMzg/view

     

     

     

     

    The items at the link should have been provided to SPL lawyers but clearly could not have been or it would have been a different Commission entirely.

     

     

     

     

    This will all surface main stream at some point.

  7. Canamalar on

    OG Rafferty,

     

    I expect their fourth bear might have found a cause worth spending their savings on, if they have it.

  8. Herbo on

    OCROCF

     

     

    From previous.

     

     

    Sorry about that. Contact @paullarkin74 he’ll definitely be able to point you in the right direction.

  11. Bawsman on

    The truth WILL come out.

     

     

    Tick Tock

     

     

    Darryl as the ‘Communications Director’ is as quiet as a mouse. Anyone heard the new President of the SFA yet?

     

     

    Anyone would think there was nothing happening in Scottish football politics.

     

     

    Yet the SMSM think that trying to ridicule the supporters of football ( as bampots) they take the high ground.

     

     

    We know they are all complicit, it’s just a matter of time before the courts tell us just how complicit EACH INDIVIDUAL and collective they were……………..Squeaky bum time for the hacks.

  13. One's Called Ronald, One's Called Frank on

    From previous

     

     

    Thanks Hebro will do.

     

     

     

     

     

    Hi guys

     

     

    Bit of topic but does anybody know any Celtic supporters busses that puck up from Leith? Thanks in advance.

     

     

    OCROCF

  16. THE EXILED TIM on

    Afternoon Timland from a cold but sunny hun free mountain valley.

     

    If you believe what John James is saying, and I take it with a pinch of salt, where the ef are they going to get £400K from ?

     

    Unless they had earmarked the fees for Chucky, they have that spare now, shame for Chucky tho, he will prob have to sell his big hoose in France now.

     

    I honestly can’t see the sfa and the spfl changing their tact, they have far too much to lose imo, naw, they will circle the wagons and carry on as per.

  18. tonydonnelly67 on

    But De Boer, signed for £4.5million from Barcelona in 2000, says the chance to work under his former international boss Dick Advocaat was the main reason he moved to Scotland.

     

     

     

     

    See! That’s what he said .

  19. Fred Quimby on

    Paul, have to disagree.

     

     

    Yes in the past it was plain foolish to underestimate Celtic, no matter what opposition we faced.

     

     

    Sadly, this is no longer the case. Our current management and group of players do nothing but disappoint, to the extent that playing in Europe is now a frustrating and demotivating exercise.

     

     

    I just can’t see any addition to our two points tally in the final two matches. I believe that we may well be in for a bleak time in the run up to Christmas.

     

     

    Any semblance of leadership that we had on the park, has surely now gone with injury to Brown, and off the park I’m afraid there appears to be a void in the management structure and an attitude that if we lose “there is always the next game”. Of course strickly this is correct, but I’m sad to say that it now sounding like the needle has stuck on the record.

     

     

    How long do we carry on with this project? Everything and everybody has a ‘shelf-life’, what is Ronny’s and our squad of players?

     

     

    I feel that ‘flatness’ and apathy creeping in on a weekly basis; let’s hope we don’t wait until it is too late and we have to change course in a crisis situation.

  21. tonydonnelly67 on

    So if I’m reading that right, we won’t be able to read the judges summery on how he came to that verdict on chuckles not getting weighed in, until after the trial, wow! Some strange laws flying around when it comes to this mob, very strange indeed.

  22. THE EXILED TIM on

    The ray of hope with Chucky, and there is one imo, he prob can’t afford to defend himself, so his only option will be to sing like a bird, thus saving himself a serious wedge, cut a deal, get a suspened to keep those and such as those out of the picture.

     

    Whatever, good times and hilarity for the foreseeable :-)

  23. Melbourne Mick on

    TD67

     

     

    He could appeal to the peepul and make out

     

    its a fenian conspiracy just like before, that

     

    should work.

     

    H.H Mick

  25. Sneddoni on

    I don’t think we should start with Charlie tonight. I think he has been out for too long, to just come back into this game. Better to keep him on the bench, and he can replace in case of any injury/yellow card/tactical situation.

     

     

    I would be tempted to play Izzy somewhere in midfield. He is calm on the ball, he can run and dribble with it, and having the comfort of having Tierney cover behind him, might help him to relax and take some chances with the ball at his feet.

     

     

    I don’t think Allan has had enough time in the side either, but if Commons can’t start, I don’t think there is much of a choice but to play him. Before, I might have considered Efe for a DM position, but I didn’t see anything in his performances at RB, and he makes too many mistakes. But, we are so short on good tacklers, that it may be a must need basis. Feel sorry for Ronny if he feels he needs to play him.

     

     

    If, and it is a huge IF, JF and GMS were playing to their best, you could play one on each wing, but if either, or worse, both, have an off day, we will be completely over run in midfield. But if they both put in a great performance, it could be the other way round. Both are dangerous enough to stop the wing players of Ajax coming forward too much. But for me its too much of an if, so I would go with JF, and keep GMS on the bench.

     

     

    I would not start Ciftici either. I would go with only JG upfront to start with. Try to get our defenders comfortable, and the midfield battles won first. If we still have not scored, put Ciftici on early enough, at least 30 mins playing time, in the 2nd half, to play upfront with LG, not instead of.

     

     

    Most importantly, this could be a very hard and long night. Probably a lot of frustration will boil over, and if our euro run is effectively over, people will be rightly angry, and want some answers, and probably some blood too! There are some good excuses, injuries, individual errors, transfer targets missed, etc, but not enough to cover everything imo. But, no point calling for RD’s head now. The league is going too well to disrupt it, by bringing in a new manager and coaches. Whatever happens, lets get to the end of the season with the league won, and as many of the cups as possible. Then its time to decide, if Ronny gets some backing in the transfer market or people think we need someone else. But nothing hasty in the meantime please.

     

     

    Good luck, and hope its a night to remember, as there have been too many to forget lately.

  26. ernie lynch on

    TONYDONNELLY67 on 26TH NOVEMBER 2015 12:49 PM

     

    Can Chuckles appeal?

     

     

    ###

     

     

    Don’t see why not.

     

     

    Bit embarrassing for Lord Doherty though if he does and is successful.

     

     

    His Timmieness would be in question.

  29. BigChipsUK - 10 in a row (2001-2010) on

    Tonight’s line-up:

     

     

    Gordon

     

    Janko Lustig Ambrose Boyata Simunovic Mulgrew Izaguirre Tierney

     

    Mackay-Steven (Ajax might think we have a 2 man midfield when they see the team sheet!)

     

    Griffiths

     

     

     

    …or we could dredge the darker reaches of the dressing room and try the following:

     

     

    Gordon

     

    Janko Ambrose Mulgrew Blackett

     

    McGregor Allen Boerrigter

     

    Ciftci

     

    Stokes Cole

     

     

     

    But I think it is more likely to be something not too dissimilar to this:

     

     

    Gordon

     

    Lustig Boyata Simunovic Tierney

     

    Forrest Rogic Armstrong Mulgrew

     

    Ciftci

     

    Griffiths

     

     

     

    Whatever, it could be a blessing in disguise having a bunch of fringe players getting a rare chance to prove that they are worthy of a place in Ronny’s first-choice XI.

  30. Bob LobLaw on

    Wait. Didn’t John James tell us all that Charlie’s case was watertight, and this would lead the newco over the cliff “when,” the court found in his favour.

     

     

    I would posit ( see what I did there) Mr James is no more informed on matters than the vast majority of us who are not involved in this shambles. Just because he tells a very articulate story, it doesn’t mean it’s not a fiction.

  32. Hunderbirds are Gone on

    A big club, with a proud European history visiting in late Autumn, under the lights. Surely a chance for our manager and players to escape the shackles of the EssPeeHell, and put in a performance to match the occasion. Both teams need a win, a big crowd, and fringe players on both sides with a rare chance to grab some glory. It has all the ingredients of an epic.

     

     

    We have a chance, we always have a chance. Hail Hail.

  35. jimtim on

    IMHO , it’s going to be a hard slog without the captain . Celtic are a bit soft anyway but at least Broony had a bit of dig about him . Would like to see kevin Nolan getting picked up short term , I believe he is available , and he is as hard as nails , just what’s needed until Broony,s back .

  37. TheClumpany on

    Good Afternoon.

     

     

    de Boer made an idiot if himself but it is being lapped up by the usual suspects in the media and elsewhere.

     

     

    Meanwhile, here are a couple of new short pieces.

     

     

    One about a change in the narrative around the ‘all-conquering’ Warbo side…

     

     

     

    And one about Dave King’s mysterious visit to Hampden yesterday.

     

     

     

     

    Fingers crossed for 3 points tonight!

  38. dr ramesh and the love potion on

    Very excited about the game.

     

    Celtic vs Ajax! What’s not to like?

     

    If it all goes pear shaped I can mope once the game has finished but up till then I’ll cheering the Celts on!

     

     

    ————–Gordon——-

     

    Lustig Boyata Jozo Izzy

     

    —Armstrong Rogic—

     

    Forrest Allan Mcgregor

     

    ———-Griffiths——–

     

     

    I reckon that will be the team although Mulgrew might make it meaning Rogic moves up and McGregor or Allan drops out. I think Izzy will get the nod as the team needs experience.

  41. Rubicon on

    There seems to be one constant in all these Sevconian tussles with M’Learned friends. Before the conclusion of every case we’re reliably informed it will go this way or that. Then every verdict completely contradicts the predictions.

  42. tonydonnelly67 on

    It’s an ultra world right enough, no hands up on who done it, so we are all tarred, brilliant?

     

     

     

    Celtic fans have covered some Glasgow bus stops with posters which read ‘F*** Ajax’ ahead of the teams meeting at Parkhead later tonight.

     

     

    The Hoops supporters aren’t too keen on their Dutch rivals since violent fights marred their Champions League clash in Amsterdam two years ago.

     

     

    The first match between the sides in this Europa League group stage campaign passed with almost no problems in Amsterdam.

     

     

    But it looks like some Celtic fans are keen to intimidate the Ajax supporters as they make their way to Parkead tonight.

     

     

    The posters – which show the cartoon skeleton of a hanged Ajax fan and has the words ‘F*** Ajax’ at the bottom – line the bus stops travelling supporter should walk past as they travel to the ground.

     

     

    It’s an early indication of what the atmosphere should be like inside the stadium for what is a must-win game for both sides:

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