Teams can lose their competitive edge quickly. The Celtic team of 2003-04 were imperious: 25 consecutive league wins, they beat every team in the country, home and away, on the bounce. Larsson left, of course, but the following season’s problems were deeper than that.
Watching Argentina last night took me straight back to Fir Park, 2005. A feted team, packed with reputation and talent, simply failed to compete. Unable to match the industry of Iceland, or the ability of Croatia, they look like they want to return to the safety of club football immediately after the group stages.
Having great players is not enough if they are not sufficiently hungry, and keeping millionaires hungry for the SPFL is a challenge we will forever encounter. On this front, we must do what we can. Packed 60,000 seater stadiums help. I’m sure open-top bus parades help even more. These things create a sense of occasion and achievement, which is difficult to find elsewhere.
CQN Golf Annual Charity Open
This year’s CQN Open is set for Friday 29 June at the first class Aberdour Golf Club once again. It is a day of sport, entertainment, Celtic chat and is always good fun.
After the golf, we head up the road to the CQN friendly Woodside Hotel for our evening meal. We’ve the usual round up of all things Celtic by Paul67, and our very funny after dinner speaker is Willie Allan. Then musical entertainment from Scoogz, who you may have seen if you’ve been to Celtic Park entertainment nights. Plus all the usual prizes and charity fundraising, for the Petrov Foundation this year. Cost is £40 night only and £80 all day including golf. Please contact cqnopen2018@outlook.com if you’d like to attend this fun event.
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KINGLUBO on 25TH JUNE 2018 9:45 AM
Best ever, no debate, Paulo Maldini
………..
What about Celtic’s former player….” Charlie ” Maldini” McGrew ?
Thats what I used to shout out at games and pubs…CHARLIE Maldini……I would then be chucked oot for being drunk.
HH
“Whit date ye call that, when yer stuck oan a desert island on yer tod?”
“It’s marooned”
“Aw, cheers, pint ae Guinness then!”
Before I go,just got this from a much-missed Antipodean poster
A smashing wee take on the Real Madrid strip,simply to avoid the clash.
But we still had The Hooooops-check the cuffs!!!
Thanks,K. Mail you when I get back.
HH
Oh,yeah.
Here’s the link
http://www.thecelticwiki.com/m/page/1969-03-22%3A+Celtic+4-1+Morton%2C+Scottish+Cup+Semi-Final+-+Pictures
Won’t be popular, and a lot will just shake their heads and dismiss, but, there’s a case for including Sergio Ramos as one of a number candidates not being a forward/striker in GOAT.
Done it all, with club and country, and an inspirational leader. And scores some crucial goals.
Can be a ‘dirty player’, but whether you like it or not, that’s part of the modern game. You could say the same about our captain ( many do )
Or Iniesta. Done it all, admittedly, with one club, but has all the attributes to be a genuine contender.
And the candidates shouldn’t only be world-cup winners. No single player ever won a world cup on his own, and some were lucky to be in the right place at the right time with regard to the team they played with.
It’s all about opinions. You could make a case for many to be included at least for consideration.
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on 25TH JUNE 2018 9:47 AM
……….
Aye OLDTIM is a hard man to try and DAZZLE in a Bar………Like I used to do to defenders in my playing days oan the fields of battle.
I once got sent aff, on my DEBUT ( I was only a Sub, and played for about 10 minutes) for my Boys Guild Team…but I made sure that I took THREE of the opposing bassa’s with me….they too were sent aff.
the ref sent me aff 1st, and then turned to them a asaying…”.You..and .You and when the Goalie comes round..tell him he’s aff anaw” ! That bassa Goalie ripped ma Love Beads aff my neck , but I knocked him right oot !
Don’t feck with the Baldies…( although I wisnae baldy back then !).
HH
Paolo Maldini was my favourite player in the great Milan side of the late 80s-early 90s.
Made his debut for them aged 16.
A one-club man who played an incredible 25 seasons in Serie A, and made 902 appearances for them as well as gaining 126 caps for Italy. Was still playing at the top level in his early 40s.
Was also very complimentary about Celtic and the terrific atmosphere at CP. He once said, and I paraphrase – “Every player should get the opportunity to play at least once at Celtic Park. The atmosphere was among the best I have ever experienced.”
When he retired Milan also ‘retired’ the number 3 shirt.
HH!!
Favourite non Celtic players growing up, Ronaldo (the Brazilian original) and Roberto Baggio
Modern era, favourite players to watch, Messi, Modric, Marcelo, Mo Salah, De Bruyne
FRANCO BARESI ?
” He was the absolute best . Very ,very special. Short , skinny and astonishingly strong . Being tackled by him in training was like being hit by a speeding bulldozer .. We used to think he had some kind of extra sensory perception which enabled him to predict what the attacker was going to do ”
Paolo Maldini
How it feels to score for Celtic Bobby Murdoch verse Leeds Hampden 1970.
Iconic CSC
FourFourTwo did a list recently, 100 greatest footballers ever, compiled from their staffers.
Diego, 1, Messi, 2, CR 5.
One who had Messi top dog made an excellent point.
Listing goals, awards, records etc might not be an entirely satisfactory way of expressing greatness.
“The history books will laud Messi, and yet their limitations will do him a disservice. In 20 years young football fans will read about a messianic figure whose brilliance stunned the world, shattered a litany of records and started an era of dominance- but not until they watch the videos will they get an idea of what they missed.
The quantity of his goals pales in comparison with their beauty.. . . . A solo run, a bending free kick, a cheeky lob, a golf putt finish or a thunderous missile.
Messi has the most recorded assists in La Liga’s history, but that fact is less impressive than how they were made: the deft lay-offs, the ingenious killer passes, the deliveries that bend around defenders as if controlled by a remote.”
As Pep once said, “Don’t analyse him, just watch him”.
Or, like some diddy World Cup pundits, dismiss over 14 years of brilliance based on his last 2 games.
Morton were always a decent side in those days one player they had was called Preben Arentoft
went to Newcastle, he slipped through the Celtic net
Old Timers CSC
I enjoy conversations concerning the GOAT but difficulty in setting a meaningful criteria then awarding the accolade accordingly is, IMO, not possible.
I think we recognise exceptional players but putting them in an order of merit really is about opinion and preference.
JJ
Best sweeper close between Gaetano Scirea and John Clark
Beatbhoy
Were 1,2 and 5 the number of votes each received or their positions in the `table` ?
I would assume that 4,4 2 has more than eight members of staff but Christiano being 5th seems strange. Was the poll not conducted recently?
JJ
IMHO, even more outstanding than Cruyff in that 1974 team was Johann Neeskens.
You would have loved to play alongside him – he would run through a brick wall.
He didn’t really kick on after that WC though – I think he may have had alcohol issues – not sure.
Zidane is another one I really rate.
I once went to a Real Madrid game against PSG – a dull 1-0 but I couldn’t keep my eyes off Modric.
And just to revert to the main article, Fir Park 05, “a feted team packed with reputation and talent simply failed to compete”.
Well, come on, why should they have, the league was already won.
Rangers, * (deceitfully registered) 0 – 3 Everybody else FC.
* BRTH says this shouldn’t matter, as only teams with a licence to compete can register players, and they shouldn’t have had one. He’s busy with more important things, but he’d have to explain it properly. Again.
Hot Smoked
The latter.
Pele and Cruyff ahead of C Ronaldo in positions 3 and 4.
Quite rightly, too.
Poll conducted last July.
They admitted they could do 100 other great players not to make the cut.
Preben married a port lassie who lived in the same street as my granny.
After his football career they would come and stay some weeks in the summer. Every morning in the back garden he would do an intense workout for 30 minutes or so. Supremely fit.
His Bhoy would play football with us. Though younger than us young arentoft was a brilliant. player.
Lovely people.
Despite the diversion of the World Cup, those Blues still make me moody.
“Knights who have shat in,
Our beautiful game.
Side letters they’ve hidden,
Without any shame.
Beauty was always part
Of our wonderful sport
Now after decades of cheating,
Can’t even get a report.
How I loathe you, ahhhhh, oh, how I loathe you. “
David17
Great choice of players, some of whom don’t need goals to thrill you. Messi for years, but last season some of De Bruyne’s passes were as enjoyable as a goal. Stunning vision and weight of pass.
Your point about Fir Park 05 31 pages back was spot on too.
Preben Arentoft
Played for Newcastle when they humped the Deady Bears in the European Diddy Cup in 69 . .
Ex Celt John McNamee wound up the baying hordes at Ibrox ( some of whom earned the title of ” savage drunken animals ” when they visited Newcastle ) by warming up wearing a Celtic top .
https://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/celtics-nearly-men-john-mcnamee/
Difficult to judge the best individual of all time in a team game. Pelé, Maradona, Messi and CR7 tend to be generally accepted as the greatest, but all four played for great football nations, great football clubs, or both. Media coverage also plays a part (as always) in deciding.
What about players who did not have a high International profile? Georghe Hagi? Des Walker? Valderama?
Also, players fitness levels, technique, tactical awareness and the like, are generally improving all the time, so judging players from different era’s is difficult. Tin hat on, the current Celtic team would probably beat the Lions (when they played) due to superior fitness and pace if nothing else. But the current team has to be measured against today’s teams, and in that sense, obviously cannot lace the Lions boots’.
I think what I’m trying to say is that the question, “Who is the best player ever?” Is an irrelevant one. What measure should you use? Team game, pointless question.
?⚽️
It’s funny how things work out. For example, let’s say a rumour broke last week that we were looking at the Costa Rican right back, Cristian Gamboa who plays for a mid table German team. The price tag is £3.5m. We would have watched him play well and compete against Brazil and Neymar on Friday. I wonder what the reaction would have been across the Celtic support? I would imagine it would be something like, let’s get this guy signed up, spend the money etc etc. Funny that.
Hunderbirds
See my post at 10 :20
Cheerio for now.
JJ
Supertramp gave us a song for SS, but also an apposite one for Sevco.
“Guess we’ll always have to be,
Living in a fantasy
Founded 1873
But we’re gone.
You may consider this cra-zee
We’ve got one more than 53”
So sorry, this just ain’t for me,
So I’m gone.
JJHS
Aye, what you said ?
?⚽️
Valderrama e Higuita 24 6 18
https://youtu.be/hiT56KAqJiU
Reading E-Tim’s Diary today.That Davys Left Peg,Monkey Trumpet takes some beating for delusional gibberish.Well worth a read to brighten up your day.
He was past his best by this time but I had the pleasure of seeing Ferenc Puskas strut his stuff in, of all places, Rugby Park.
Kilmarnock v Real Madrid in the Big Cup 1965/66.
He was 38 at the time I think, but still playing at the top level. I was 11, and it’s a bit of a hazy memory.
Went with my dad who always insisted that the best attacking duo he ever saw were Puskas and Alf di Stefano, who had retired by then iirc.
The match finished 2-2, but Killie got humped 5-1 in the return.
Real went on to win the competition for the 6th time, but Puskas did not play in the final.
Killie incidentally were managed by Celtic legend Malky McDonald.
HH!!
David 17,
I agree about Gamboa.Always performed well for us.I think the problems arose when he decided to play for Costa Rica in the Confederations Cup,instead of being available for CL qualifiers.
Brendan none too pleased.
Reading back on the Leeds away tie in April 1970.
The socks were, orange, the history of why etc over the clash in colours and the referee’s instigation is well documented.
Twist and Turns input is a new angle although it’d be easy to imagine Revie alerting the clash to the referred beforehand.
The socks were orange, Leeds away strip in 1970-71 season was entirely orange.
Some Leeds supporters are of the opinion this strip was in fact tangerine.
Here’s a pic of Giles in the red strip: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/697143217290633793/ worn in 1969/70.
Glad to have cleared that up :-)
JAMESGANG on 25TH JUNE 2018 8:15 AM
Purvey came to mind as I was at a funeral on Friday and commented to Mrs VFR (who is a Manc): that was a great wee purvey. She hadn’t a clue what I was talking about!
KTF
Greatest of all time (I have seen playing in the flesh) – my top five:
Pele; Cruyff; Beckenbaur; Inietsta, Bremner. Add to that Jinky, Murdoch, Davie Hay, Daniel Fergus (and for too short a time) George Connelly.
I have seen Messi, Ronaldo (CR& and the fat one), Maradonna, our own Lubo and Henke, Maldini, Baresi, Pirlo etc. but only Iniesta from the modern era makes it.
KTF
new article posted.
BIG -CUP-WINNERS @11 43
I was at the Leeds away tie . I thought the socks were a shade of red -possibly influenced by having seen Leeds playing at White Hart Lane in a white top /shorts with red socks .I also remember seeing Leeds playing in an all yellow affair (socks too ) for an away game in London – can’t remember the opposition but it would have been around 1970
TURKEYBHOY
If that is the article I think it is,I received it from a hun mate yesterday.
Now,bear with me here.
He seems very confident of his statement about that restaurant in Southampton. Why any such meeting took place,if at all,is open to conjecture-which he uses to the full.
Etc,etc,etc.
Personally,I am exceptionally sceptical about the whole thing,but…
So were the huns when we started warning them from about 2004.
Still,believe it when I see it. And I doubt I ever will…