Champions League sections are never easy so we are as well having one which is unequivocally difficult on paper. Despite finishing second from pot 4 in their group last season (a remarkable achievement), Celtic spent the vast majority of their time in the tournament under pressure. They had possession less than their opponents in all six group games, so although we were successful in the group stage, there should be no doubt as the the size of the challenge.
Conversely, we looked Juventus in the eye, which, in retrospect, could be regarded as over ambitious.
When Martin O’Neill’s Celtic drew Barcelona and Milan in the group section of the Champions League the manager was clearly exasperated at the apparently preposterous task. It was Martin’s last throw in the competition and he was anxious to break into the knockout stage for the first time.
The mood music seems different this time. Neil Lennon has been to the knockout stage already so the pressure to breakthrough is not there. Celtic can take one game at a time without the burden of having to prove themselves in this competition. They are now a part of this league, they might not win it, but they can compete with anyone.
We will be second favourites for each game, which is surely the way we would all prefer it to be. Despite what happened last year, even Barca will expect to comfortably overcome Celtic. Surely we can’t be as organised again?
Don’t bet against it.
STV painted an interest picture of the SFA this morning. The Association declined advice from Uefa to come into line with most of Europe (including England, crucially for many Scottish clubs) and extend the transfer window until the first business day of the week.
Doing so, however, would make a mockery of their suspension of Rangers International’s transfer embargo, which expires on 31 August. To accept Uefa’s advice would draw attention to their oversight in not noticing that August ends on a weekend.
We all know this to be the case, but the Association would rather ignore their mistake than help out member clubs and draw attention to it.
Even Jim Farry checked the calendar.
[calameo code=000390171c1dd95770bec lang=en page=100 hidelinks=1 width=100% height=500]
1,461 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- ...
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
- ...
- 39
- »
A big hail hail to acgr
Ringtone winging its way to all my contacts
HH
theoriginalsadiesbhoy
I’m aff oot the noo. Will phone your memsahib for more detail.
HH
Cheers doc!
Hebcelt- If you cant find a dutch restaurant-have a cheeky wee “Advocaat” instead:) HH
A Stor
“But whatever happened to street reality?”
My street reality was that whichever hypothesizer battered the other hypothesizer would claim that his hypothesis was proven. Is there another street reality? If so, who has it? Your street or mine?
“Are life experiences and facts just statistics belittled and ‘begoned’ when measured against theoretical fallacies?”
Well, not all theories are fallacies. They are, in scientific circles, the best explanations for the sets of data we encounter in reality.
Hypotheses and theories are good things. They do not equate in any way to ill-informed speculation. They reflect, if they are good ones, our life experiences and our facts. Mind you , fact is a word not lightly used in scientific terminology. They prefer to describe a fact as a not-yet-disproved hypothesis.
jackie mac @ 14:53
I can assure it has the same effect on me watching it. You can see the worry in my face as we climb higher. I just said to myself that I that I HAD to do it and it would all be over soon, knowing statistically that I would more than likely land without any problems.
You can also tell a few seconds in that I have lost most of my fear and I am clearly loving it! So glad I did it.
Mike in Toronto supports Oscar Knox @ 14:57 on
I would also urge Canamalar to not lose faith. Even the most motivated of people are stuck with apathy. As the date of the AGM gets closer. They will make the effort to print the resolution, sign it, scan it then e-mail you it.
To those who haven’t yet. Do it just now. Don’t put it off any longer. You’ll feel better having completed that wee task.
I know I did. It hardly took any time at all to do. After weeks of putting it of until later, I no longer have it on my to-do list.
Steinreignedsupreme @ 15:28
;)
Che (Standing Beside Wee Oscar) @ 15:37
Brilliant!
JP seems to being doing a job job in his new role.
I think we will still chase another centre back— the boy from Italy looks favourite– and a centre forward such as Doyle — a poacher type!
Thought we were supposed to be in for Michael Ciani (French central defender) from Lazio. Seems to have gone a bit quiet – wonder what happened to that one ?
Going out on a limb here, but from now on I’m going to be pronouncing Ajax as ‘A-Jacks’ and not ‘Aye-axe’.
I used to laugh at Charlie Nicholas with his ‘A-Jacks’ nonsense, but lo and behold was that not Johan Cruyff himself on the telly last night talkin’ about the current ole ‘A-Jacks’ squad.
Hi ghuys thanks for the Dutch connections – some very interesting -some bizarre- may follow up, indeed Partick sounds particularly interesting. I,m sure I,ll get sorted . Thanks CQN never cease to amaze. Hail Hail Hebcelt
http://www.google.de/imgres?q=dimitri+kharine&sa=G&biw=369&bih=546&tbm=isch&tbnid=-Am-T_dxj-k_3M:&imgrefurl=http://www.sportsworldcards.com/chelsea—dimitri-kharine-77-merlins-english-premier-league-1995-football-sticker-57363-p.asp&docid=PbzMQOajTBlaRM&imgurl=http://www.sportsworldcards.com/ekmps/shops/sportsworld/images/chelsea-dimitri-kharine-77-merlin-s-english-premier-league-1995-football-sticker-57363-p.jpg&w=322&h=400&ei=T8cgUtvILKKp0QWn5IHYAw&zoom=1
Ginger ?
HH
TET
Truth is we’re not going to know till a good few games down the line…
I’d suspect, as pretty much everyone else would say; weaker…
Should Pukki hit the ground running,
and if Derk & Virgil fulfil their potential (some positive early signs)
Then I guess you could argue the case…
I’m sure someone will point out we spent more on these
players than the initial fees of those who’ve moved on…
As opposed to looking at it from the perspective of
reinvesting transfer monies received…
Guess that’d be a good way of spinning it…
I’ve not even mentioned this young Israeli Lhad.
Welcome to Celtic Nir,
Not seen him playing yet, but certainly seems to
tick a good few boxes. Could be onto a winner here.
Johnnyclash
Saw Charlie score one of his best against A-jacks in the Dam
Kaka is looking for a game although reports suggest going back to Milan.
Would you take him on a free and give him £25k a week for two years???
Worth a punt?
@Cpl1973 http://t.co/mqvZZFgX5Y Check comment at 17:11
@CelticMindedcom 020 7931 2600 should be direct to the Telegraph sports desk
Johnny Clash –
agree totally.
Ay- Jacks………………..
blantyretim is praying for the Knox family
15:07 on
30 August, 2013
Natknow
Hope its blantyre knights…o))
I don’t think so BT. After picking him up from Ross Hall in my cab, I dropped him at Muiryhall Street in Coatbridge mate. Said he had “some business” to discuss with Fr. Sweeney, then he was nipping across the road. ;-)
kikinthenakas
15:08 on
30 August, 2013
Natknow
Hahah….BT will know all about that!
He looks good….a bit like the big cup…..surely a sign….
Just saw a pic of him KITN – big lanky fella. Hope he’s mobile!
JohnnyC
http://www.forvo.com/word/ajax_amsterdam/
Not the ole CQN, Vim or Ajax debate?
Delaneys Dunky – and a nice one from McCluskey too I think.
bankiebhoy1 – Right that’s you, me and Charlie Nic. This just might take off….
hen1rik @ 17:30
When you call the Telegraph regarding this issue, they as you to e-mail them as they have has so many calls to complain about these comments.
The e-mail address to write to is sportletters@telegraph.co.uk
Kris Commons 300k
Another oné of those please
HH
Have we signed Finlay MacBogasson fae Hairy vino yet?
Neg Anon
“Was surprised by the venom in there but hey ho.”
I was going for humour rather than venom. I guess I failed. It is just a disagreement. I direct no venom towards you. I reserve that for our less genuine posters.
“I think Celtic have screwed up their transfer business this window albeit we got away with it. Your assertion on shalke not letting go of him because “some clubs have that choice” defeats your argument. So why have shalke got a choice but we don’t?”
I put the Schalke bit in to show that I could see the other side of the argument. I did not undermine myself; I was fully aware of the difference.
Schalke and we both had a choice; they used it to keep a player and we used it to sell at the highest price. If Schalke could hold on to Pukki for longer than we held onto Wanyama and Hooper ( I consider Kelvin no great loss) it is maybe because they were hoping to generate a bidding war or they desperately needed him as cover. Whatever their motivation, they did not use Pukki from the bench in their last CL qualifier so they seemed able to manage without him and seem to have gained nothing from keeping him, unless you can assure me that PL has now paid more than he would have earlier.
I would note that Schalke did not get their big signing, Boateng, until after they secured CL Group Stage so even a club that held on to a transfer target, could not get their man until late in the transfer window. These difficulties beset all clubs.
Mind you, a CQN poster 2 or 3 years back explicitly praised the timing of David Murray’s transfer swoops and contrasted them with Celtic coming out very unfavourably. Maybe Rangers were the only club doing it right :-) wee smiley to denote humour rather than venom (Is there an emoticon for venom?)
big-cup-winners
14:02 on 30 August, 2013
JP don’t worry about it I got called a Hun last week after 3-4 years posting daily. I got told to change my name to BIG CUP WINNNERS CUP WINNERS…….
>>>>>>>>>>>
Trying to catch up and read your post, it’s just as funny second time around :-)) HH
Ohmni
Lenny said about building from a position of strength, fair enough, we have invested in Derk and VVD, who will upgrade the quality of the team, I can’t say the same for the others…yet.
Pukki should, but strikers and Celtic in the recent past are a lottery.
Only time will tell.
HH
The Exiled Tim
Ye asked
Weaker or No Weaker?
Ah answer..
Too Soon Tae Tell.
Hoops is Missed.. Victor, is Not.
The Big Israeli, once he settles wull Be an Asset.
Ah hope no too much of an Asset.. Fur, like Victor, before him.
He may be Too Good fur Celtic’s Ain Good!
Ah expect, Trouble in the Glen. fae..
Forster…Because Foster, wants tae Play fur England.
Like , Gary, Forster is a dyed in the Joisey.. Loyalist cum Royalist.
Whit kin ye dae?
Nuthin..there is No Cure Fur Loyalty cum Royalty.
And. It’s Catchin’.. tae.
Ah hope we are Noo done wi’ Bringin in Englishmen.
As fur How good or How bad.. Teemu is or wull Turn oota be..
Your Guess is as Good As Mine.
Nae Idea.
Ah am hopin’ that we are Stronger..
But..Like Ah said..
That remains tae be seen.
Kojo
Still,Laughin’
THE EXILED TIM
I’ll state that we are a stronger team after the transfer window closes on the basis that those that left had no interest in staying and playing so keeping them would have actually weakened us overall. while those that have come on board want to play for us.
i’d rather have 11 players pulling in one direction rather than have a handful of lacklustre ‘superstars’ spitting their dummies out the pram.
over the next two years we will see what this new group of players can do, but group stage of the c/l is a good start
onwards and upwards
HH
Johnnyclash
Aye Georgie Bhoy at the death. Graeme Sinclair’s finest Hoops performance, had Cruyff in his pocket :-)
@CelticResearch
Yer funny guy at the Telegraph @jonathanliew also wrote this humorous line last year. Since deleted of course.
https://twitter.com/CelticResearch/status/373473837096005632/photo/1
Ginger Gravessen
hamiltontim.
Turn on your phone.
SFTB
Schalke can afford in footballing trend to pass over on a project. Please desist.
Celtic should have paid Víc what he was worth and that equates to more than skoosh was on.
HH
Tren=terms
Kojo
Aye, time will tell.
Disagree about Vic tho, maybes Nir is his replacement, and from what I have seen, he looks like he will do the biz, only to be sold, and we can start all over again.
……………………………………………..
stephbhoy
Good point, never thought of it that way.
Problem is tho, when the team start to produce, they are sold, and we are back to square one again, this will be the scenario until we escape the environs of scotland.
HH
Good evening CQNers. Could i draw your attention to a documentary that will be shown tomorrow (Saturday )night on BBC2. It’s called ‘This World’ and will be on between 21:15 and 22:15.
The program is about the Terror attack that took place in January on the In Amenas gas plant in the Sahara Desert, Algeria.
A couple of you may remember me posting from the Desert when the attack was underway. I work For the sister company In Salah, and was situated a couple of hundred Km’s away, but we were still on lockdown due to the fact that we did not know the full extent of the attack. Anyway in the end, all foreign nationals at other sites were evacuated from the country.
The attack took place 1 day before i was due to fly home. I had been out at work for a month and had just worked over Christmas and New year, so was feeling hard done by until that point. My mind quickly changed from hard done by to Guilty/relieved/sorry….
Anyway 39 people lost their lives in the attack. The situation was brought home to me when i found out that one of the first people killed was a U.K ex pat, he was escorting the bus full of expat workers from the Worksite to the airport in the nearby town. They had been ambushed on the road and i believe the lad died fairly quickly in the attack.
I won’t pretend to have known the guy well, but well enough to say hi in passing. Like i said when i found out the day after the initial attack, that he had died it was a shock.
The attack lasted for 3 days, and we were evacuated during the second evening. Whilst still in Algeria i had word from my work friend who happened to be at home on leave at the time, that his best friend had been caught up in the events.
My friend was getting text messages during the events…..until the Algerian military blocked all communications, so that the terrorists couldn’t talk to each other.
So for a couple of days I didn’t know if the lad had made it….turns out that he had. He, with a few others have an amazing story to tell, and I hope that it comes out in this documentary. I will not give the full story just in case it is told in the program. But I will say that he with a couple of others survived for 3 day hiding above a false ceiling in the galley, and that throughout the whole ordeal they were a few feet above the terrorists whilst they were eating their meals.
I’m sure the documentary is going to stir up some strange feelings as I have put the whole episode to the back of my mind, especially if they show photos of the poor victims. Since the attacks the people in my department have been working from home, with a view to get back to work…..as of yet I don’t know when that will be.
Guys, does anyone know how i make the Champ League sound file into the ringtone on iphone 5?
not got a clue, have saved it on my mac but not on phone.