Congratulations to who originally penned: “We shall not be move, not by the Hearts, the Hibs or The Rangers, erm, we’ll not be moved, OK?” Celtic stand alone, our historic rivals, those who half a century ago denied our grandparents, are gone. Do we have a perfect season ahead? Maybe not, but it will be a unique historical joy nonetheless.
Some of the chat yesterday was that the Premiership would be poorer without Hibernian next season, but anyone who watched Hamilton out-pass and out-play them on Sunday wouldn’t think so. Hibs have offered nothing of note to league football for years. Terry Butcher has got practically everything wrong since arriving at Easter Road but his post-match comment, that perhaps his team needed relegation to thoroughly clear the decks.
Whatever Hibs are they are not competition to Celtic. Our domestic competition next season will come from Aberdeen, Dundee United and Motherwell. United and Aberdeen both finished the season poorly after showing considerable promise early on. Expect Jackie McNamara and Derek McInnes to build on their work over the last year.
If you were an aspiring Championship club you will not have welcomed the Accies result on Sunday. Now clear of their administration travails Hearts have the strongest squad in next season’s Championship. They will also be solvent, able to build on their squad and are likely to sell more season tickets than anyone else in the league.
Hibs’ newly recruited chief exec, Leann Dempster, is potentially the clubs most important recruit in 10 years. She will surely attempt to fit her successful Motherwell template onto the Edinburgh club – and may even have more resources at her disposal.
Queens and Falkirk know they are up against it in their bid for promotion next season but they are two well-run clubs who will have an influence on who does go up. I’m not even prepared to consider anyone else for the promotion spots, some just don’t have the players, some don’t have the management, some don’t have the money to end the season. Some are afflicted by all three ailments.
With the potential of a rejuvenated Hibs making next season’s play-offs, Premiership clubs will spend the next 11 months anticipating the very real possibility that it’s odds on that two clubs will go down next season. Accies and Dundee look more than a match for St Mirren, Kilmarnock, Ross County and Partick Thistle. While Celtic will win the league comfortably, we’re likely to see intense competition between Motherwell, Aberdeen and United for the ‘Best of the Rest’ badge, and between the other eight clubs to stay up.
Visit the CQN Bookstore to get Tommy Gemmell to sign your personal copy of his tome, All the Best.
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mullet&co
And for International Players, the added attraction of being part of their National team a la Lustig et al.
Latest link to manager’s job. The best player in the Laudrup household!!
Michael Laudrup is reported to have been offered the manager’s job at Granada.
But the same reports linking him to the La Liga club, which appear in the Spanish media and are supported by news coming out of Denmark, claim the Great Dane’s representatives have also been contacted by Celtic.
It throws another curve ball into the intriguing game of finding the successor to Neil Lennon.
Laudrup and his assistant, former Hoops hero, Morten Wieghorst, would be an intriguing Danish double act at Parkhead.
They have been out of work since parting company with Swansea in February after Laudrup fell out with his employers over time spent away from the club.
The 49-year-old reached a settlement with the Premier League side at the end of last week and is now actively seeking a fresh challenge.
The former Lazio, Juventus, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Ajax star has previously managed Getafe and Majorca in Spain, as well as Brondby in his homeland and Spartak Moscow in Russia’s top flight.
Durng his 18 months in Wales, he led Swansea to a League Cup final win, their first major trophy in their 100-year history, but cracks were already beginning to show in his relationship with his employers.
And after a bad run of results at the start of this year, Laudrup, along with Wieghorst, was sacked.
Wieghorst was a popular player at Parkhead and won a lot of admirers for the way he bravely battled back after contracting Guillane-Barre Syndrome in 2000.
He went on to manage FC Nordsjaelland in his homeland before taking over the Danish Under-21 side, then accepting the offer to join Laudrup at Swansea last year.
Wieghorst admits he is honoured to be linked to a return to Paradise and said: “It’s a massive club and I would be interested if I got a call.”
Meanwhile, David Marshall has tipped his old boss at Cardiff, Malky Mackay, to be a success if he is given the green light to take over the Parkhead hot seat.
The Scotland goalkeeper – who has met Celtic stars Scott Brown, Charlie Mulgrew and Leigh Griffiths for tomorrow’s friendly at Craven Cottage against Nigeria – can fully understand why Mackay is one of the men at the head of the field.
He said: “It would be a good job for Malky.
“His stock is high with what he did for us at Cardiff.
“As an ex-Celtic player who has done well taking us to the Premier League, I think he must be up there in the running for it.
“It’s a completely different job at Celtic, but he will know that, and that’ something he has in his favour.
“He was at Celtic from a young age, so knows how big the club is, how big the job is, and how important it is.
He went on: “I was surprised when I heard Lenny had gone because I thought he was settled there.
“The next job he picks will be big for him, and I hope he can get a Premiership club.”
I’m getting sick and tired of Nigel Farage’s constant racist, sexist stereotyping; the man doesn’t know when to shut up.
He gets that from his German wife.
“You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious.”
ObiWan CSC
traditionalist88
I dream of the days when I get up nervous at the thought of going to play Aberdeen or UTD, I remember in the early eighties sitting by the radio waiting on the commentary coming on, I think it used to be the last 5 mins of the first half and full second?.
Armageddon was never going to happen, people love their football to much and much of the country took great delight in what happened at ipox.
The thing is a number of teams can point to improved finances and becoming financially stronger……..apart from Celtic that is.
If we fail to qualify for Europe we make a loss, plain and simple.
We could win the treble this year and still make a loss without Europe.
In other words the league is worthless to us in terms of cash generation; I don’t recall another time in my years that our club has been so reliant on income streams outside of our own country to financially manage our affairs.
Whilst not quite Armageddon, our full season is front loaded and condensed into the first 4-6 weeks, if that goes wrong we start planning for player sales and we’re not even out of August!.
That is a scary though.
HailHail
it rubs the lotion in its skin
Evening Times………….500 shirts snapped up! – what happened to the other 499,999…….oh forget it.
Ryanbhoy, no offence mate, directly aimed at you. Anyway toilet paper is much cheaper.
When I find myself in the basement i always cheer myself up with a piece of plain bread sanwhich spread with butter and filled with chedder cheese, raspberry jam and crumpled digestive biscuite (got to be mcvities).
by the time you are done working your way back up is not of great concern.
MWD says Aye
Wasn’t aimed directly that should say ryanbhoy
mullet and co 2
I take your point about Europe; the problem is the risk factor.
If we don’t qualify, which the way things are going is not an unreasonable assumption, what platform and reputation is there to build in a league that is won prior to the first game being played?
To entice a top quality manager or manager with potential and on the up we would need to give him (or her!) a budget where the odds are heavily stacked in his favour to qualify, I don’t know if this is something we are willing to do, if the recent past is anything to go by we both know the answer.
This is not a criticism of Celtic; we are terribly restricted by the environment we are in. That’s why we need brand new fresh thinking, sitting and managing the situation will not improve us, we need some real forward thinking…………… and fast.
HailHail
bhoys4ever
12:46 on 27 May, 2014
Email scam warning
Hi everyone
Looks like Pat McGinlay’s email has been hacked and now everyone in his address book is receiving an email askong for money.
If anyone know how to contact Pat (other than by email) can they warn him about this – he needs to get his account back and his password changed.
Many thanks.
Bhoys4ever
__________________________________________________________________________
Just received an e-mail from “him”, have replied saying I’d love to help, but, I gave my last €5000 to a Mr. Adebanjo to help him get his money out of some African Republic from which his family was overthrown!
Have promised to pay the full amount of his “niece’s” operation when the £5m is in my bank!
Canny wait!
HH
Love this “tier 2 will be the most exciting division in the league” stuff.
We had both Hibs & Hearts in our division last year (the top flight) and both where awful.
Now that they were so awful, they both got relegated, they are going to form part of an exciting League format.
Magic.
That takes some working out.
Mucker
We’reFineUpHere CSC
Strictly speaking, it’s not lotion. It’s embrocation, and apt to rub up some folk the wrong way.
Sports Hotline: Dread and despair looms over the Easter Road faithful ,
What,have these Hibs fans not heard of the wonderful”Journey”that the Sevco hordes embarked on?.
Cant understand the negative comments on our CL qualifiers.Ok,we are at Murrayfield for the first two,but the level of opposition is very poor.The qualifying game could be harder,but I would expect us to cruise into the CL.Not bravado,just looking at the opposition,does not fill me with dread.
The right choice of manager will be a major help.
Tbb… Thought it was linament.
‘Red Dragon’ was a pretty scary book.
Not as scary as the prospect of gettin’ Sevco through the ole Championship.
More perils await than in tryin’ to cross the ole Australian outback in just your jim jams.
If you formed a league consisting of one legged men,it would be an exciting league.
I think.
Obviously you could recruit a few of the former from the “Ass kicking contests”which allegedly,they were useless at.
3rd?
Well Celtic need to score more than 3 and concede 14
Assuming EPL fodder Disney land a karagandy
Nah, it wouldn’t have a leg to stand on.
The ole La wan Legga CSC
Turkeybhoy
15:07 on
27 May, 2014
If you formed a league consisting of one legged men,it would be an exciting league.
I think.
————————————————————–
I dunno, that league might have some folk hopping up and down…
Couldn’t stand on its own two feet.
Oops … Forget the two.
You would have a home leg, and an away leg.
Just read in an Internet magazine the biggest 15 derbies in Europe.
12: Manu v Man City
10: Tottenham v Arsenal
07: Liverpool v Everton
06: Inter Milan v AC Milan
05: Olympiakis v Panathanikos
04: Roma v Lazio
03: Red Star v Partizan
02: Galatasary v Fenrbahce
01: Celtic v Rangers
One of the sponsors was True Blue Loans.
Maybe the deidco have found a backer
This is their article and I am posting for information purposes only with no comment, but feel free to do so
Celtic and Rangers are by miles the two most successful clubs in Scottish football history. The two have shared 98 Scottish League Championships; Rangers with 54 and Celtic with 45. They have played each other 399 times in the Old Firm Derby: Rangers have won 144 matches and 96 ended in draws. Today, the rivalry stands as one of the oldest in the world, and is all about religion, Catholics vs Protestants. With a great enthralling atmosphere, violence is not uncommon in the Old Firm as the game is always full of hate given the religious history of the two. Celtic have the Irish roots and thus represent the Catholic mass, while Rangers seem to represent themselves as more Scottish of protestant faith. The match also differentiates the two in terms of politics and social attitudes, so supporters usually let their feelings get the better of them. The most notable riot was seen in 1980; in the outcome of Celtic’s memorable 1-0 win in the final of the Scottish Cup, over 9,000 fans fought an on-field battle at Hampden.
Winnin’ the ole one legged league would be some feat.
So The Championship(or Division 2 as it should be called) is going to be the most competitive league in the country. That reminds me of Big Jock’s reply to Coleman in an interview after we had knocked Leeds out of the European Cup.. When asked how it felt to beat the champions of the most competitive League in the world. Jock said ‘I could arrange a race of grannies. It would be very competitive but the standard would not be very high,’
Looking at CL qualification for next season is tricky. Round 3 looks to offer the option of a couple of tough Eastern European ties (polish or Serbian) or mid season Scandinavian opposition. Either could be tricky esp not at CP. Does anyone know if we are geographically seeded as we seem to have got scandi teams in round 3 past couple of years ?
For some reason the 4th round feels less daunting ?? But I think that it is the fact that we will have the kind of energy at Celtic Park which willed us home vs Shakhtar last season.
The alien environment and lack of intensity at Murrayfield might cost us dear. A play off for Europa following a 3rd round defeat is a possibility. Even more so as these games will happen before a domestic ball is kicked and we will have a Gordon Strachan type scenario with new coach involved.
Our season could be over before it is begun. I hope the support really does rally to the call.
Apologies if this is old news (which it seems it is) but I was just sent it.
Proof of how far in the trough fat sally has his snout pushed, how his “loyalty” was bought and how he doesn’t want anyone to know about it
http://www.scribd.com/doc/201292857/One-year-ago
Margaret McGill @ 14:43
hehehe
Farage’s wife is the definition of a stupid hun.
Would the play off’s be two legged?
SFA have been warned by police, that tomorrow’s game v Nigeria has a “high risk” of being fixed.
Should we put our money on Scotland then?
HH
Shieldmuir Celtic@ 15:36
So The Championship(or Division 2 as it should be called) is going to be the most competitive league in the country. That reminds me of Big Jock’s reply to Coleman in an interview after we had knocked Leeds out of the European Cup.. When asked how it felt to beat the champions of the most competitive League in the world. Jock said ‘I could arrange a race of grannies. It would be very competitive but the standard would not be very high,’
That really did cause me to snigger/snort out loud! It was a weird noise but well worth it!!
;-)
HH jamesgang
greendreamz
14:02 on 27 May, 2014
PL probably engages in abstract “satisficing”…….and hopes for the best.
Its not the managers who need rotating very four years its the PLC Board…. PL has been there way too long and with the approval of the Great Desmondo is part of the problem not part of the solution IMO.
Falling attendances=falling revenue=less CL success=falling attendances=falling revenues=less CL success…
…..until you are left with a yes man manager, a team of the calibre Lou Macari left us and 10K in the stadium.
It is what it is……
~~~~~~~~~~++~~~~~~~~~~
You are not the only one who has mentioned PL’s longevity,mate.
My sis has been banging on about it for a coupla years now. And without the bitterness that I use. I just don’t rate him,she rightly points out the shelf life.
Heyho,same result,and he’s still here.
RogueLeader
15:40 on
27 May, 2014
Apologies if this is old news (which it seems it is) but I was just sent it.
Proof of how far in the trough fat sally has his snout pushed, how his “loyalty” was bought and how he doesn’t want anyone to know about it
http://www.scribd.com/doc/201292857/One-year-ago
=======================
Have seen that before but worth highlighting. Paul Larkin recently stated that Super Ally was one of the first(if not THE first) to make a grab at the IPO money(allegedly;)) and who would be surprised?!
We haven’t heard the half of it.
HH
Tommy Craig on McGowan – “Paul has been a great servant to St Mirren over the past four years but he needs a fresh challenge.”