The morning after Ferencvaros reached the Champions League group stage at Molde’s expense, after counter-attacking their way to a win at Celtic Park does not feel any more satisfying than it would be if they were eliminated. The Hungarians will find the ‘real’ competition devastatingly difficult, but they will console themselves with more money than they could dream of a year ago. Money that could have been ours.
The solution to our pandemic crisis lay in our own hands. What a missed opportunity. October will bring difficult and consequential challenges, Celtic need to use the pain of this failure to ensure that on Hallowe’en we’re not looking back on what might have been.
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Question on The Chase yesterday. What Scottish football club was triple relegated in 2012? Answer Rangers. If they had done a bit of research,they would have found a judge found in favour of Coral when they refused to pay out when a punter stood to win a large amount on Rangers to be relegated.
so this is a blog
its for quick fire posts and comments
so all this shite about getting pulled up for spelling words wrong, or players/managers names wrong is so unbelievably sad
language is all about communication, so if you have communicated your message then it doesnt matter if a word or name isnt spelt right
LADTH…think you’ll find it’s spelled isn’t…lol
theretheirthey’reCSC
H.H.
PHEERSY on 30TH SEPTEMBER 2020 10:04 PM
SAINT STIVS on 30TH SEPTEMBER 2020 8:41 PM
I can confirm picture is indeed Largs.. Inverclyde sports center scene of one of your most outrageous dives that would make John Macdonald of the late RFC blush..
==============
assasin goalkeeper from largs kills young brilliant winger from the port.
i think thats how the greenock telegraph reporter it.
the largs and millport gazzete reported
hero goalkeeper saved shot from a the port jinky.
LADTH…think you’ll find it’s spelled isn’t…lol
—-
😆
i also should have said
leaving an apostrophe out is fine on a blog because its about quick fire messages
but putting an apostrophe in where it shoudnt be isnt acceptable
and should be punished with a firing squad!!
I call our manager Lenny…is that disrespectful…or do I get a pass for using a nickname ;-))
H.H.
Dearie me!
MAJESTIC HARTSON on 30TH SEPTEMBER 2020 10:07 PM
St Stivs,
I enjoy lots of your posts and your pics but gies a break on your holier than though naming one-upmanship.
Neil Francis Lennon indeed – it’s not too far you have to go back to see you calling him Neil. No Lennon and certainly no Francis.
There’s also been a George, Griffiths and Charlie Nic so if you can clarify when we should be using full names I’m sure many of us would appreciate it.
“Let he who is without sin…” or whatever it was…
——————-
sure, i will go for this.
calling the manager Lennon, well it is a denegrating thing.
in my workplaces those who didnt like me called me Higgins, that wee fenian fluck Higgins, that cnut Higgins, He think he is something that Higgins.
He isnt in our clubs, golf, bowling, social, (i would not apply to join anyways)
calling anyone by their last name gets on my tits,
——————
so why not call ourselves alone by our anglisisied names ?
St Stivs,
Thanks for getting back to me.
I understand you not liking getting called by your surname but I guess that not many of the people who come on here and use a name other than the one you prefer want to disrespect the player/manager.
For example, you called Leigh Griffiths “Griffiths” recently.
calling anyone by their last name gets on my tits
—-
but you dont matter
its whether it bothers the person themself
there are a good few of my mates that we call by their surname and have for 30 years
you dont know any of them
like you dont know lennon larsson stein mcstay etc etc
not denigrating at all
Iniquitous
” It looks as if this little Danish team is more ambitious than we are.”
Surely, the only thing you can dediuce is that this team has made a better fist at qualification this year than we did. We know nothing about their ambition!
Did they splash out on big players? Have they got a top notch manager? Have they been doing better than us in Euro comps fpr a long time?
A 5 minute check shows that this is the first time they have ever qualified for a CL Group. They beat 3 good teams in Ludogorets (A) , Young Boys (H) and Slavia Prague (H) { Unlike us – they did not have to play in the first round of qualifying}
Prior to this year, they have only made one Europa Group previously, finishing 2nd before losing at last 32 stage.
In every other year since 2001/2, 14 aattempts in al, they have gone out at one of the qualification stages. Their “ambition” saw them lose home and away to rangers last year on a 7:3 agg.
Transfermarkt has their highest rated player at £6m, bought for £2.5m from Vasco in Brazil. This season they brought in 5 players but only one of them cost a fe – Sisto for whom they paid £2.5m from Celta Vigo. They got rid of 5 players, only getting a fee of 400k for one of them.
So it looks like £2.5m spent and 400k received. Does not sound to lavish.
Their head coach was the previous asst. coach at Midjtylland and Copenhagen. This is his first senior coach year. He has a 68% win record compared to Neil’s 79% with Celtic.
Their one plus point seems to be they have a decent youth academy.
Just because one team does better than us in a Single year of comparison does not mean they have a better formula than us. We have had Qarabag and Bate Borisov and Apoel Nicosia and others thrown at us when they have a wee promising run but, like us, they rarely sustain it.
Of the genuinely comparable clubs who have done slightly better than us, I would allow Anderlecht, Basel, Copenhagen and Zagreb as teams who have sustained a semi-relevant position in Europe. Nome of them are likely to teach a CL quarter final anytime soon, unless the financial bubble bursts.
Jigsaw puzzle time — the transition in the 10 years from Hampden in the Sun to Lisbon.
1957 — before my time / only recognise a few of the names / specifically the half back line / Bobby x 2 + Bertie?
Consequently interested to read about how that team broke up / faded away and the 8 year drought developed. The comments about SC — oldest outfield player in Lisbon — playing in the 1950’s was news to me. Plus the details of how individuals were either shown the door after a long career or encouraged to go South for the money.
Missing link to me are the younger players who then came into the team and were later sold — BA + PC specifically. Were we that short sighted at that time that we could no longer hold onto players growing in stature or was it a case of the boards way or the highway? Were any other players of that vintage lost due to board interference or a lack of coaching at that time?
The comes the Lisbon link — when did the team that played in Lisbon start to be first team regulars? In the recent JJ documentary I was surprised to find out how little first team experience he had in 1965.
Reading some of the other stuff out there the thing that surprises me is the lack of consistency of the team in the early 60’s — the bookies friends would be one way of describing it.
Great one week — terrible the next.
Any thoughts on why — party animals / lack of focus / lack of leadership?
SFTB @ 10.40
Some of the teams you mentioned — you couldn’t find them on a map without a sat nav and a post code …
Plus you forgot to mention Ajax.
No matter we are still a shambles — a very talented shambles I grant you — and PL must go.
SFTB…am sanguine about CL…we qualify yeah or we don’t boo…av sed b4 about where I think we are as a team…and it aint CL level…some people need to come to terms with this….we will win tomoz…and am excited about who our group opponents will be ;-))
H.H.
One more sleep ;-)
Two years ago when BR was starting to get itchy feet / 18 months ago when he managed to get his walking boots on there was some discussion about the next steps for the club.
I offered that the best way forward was to pay big money for a top quality coaching staff — £5mill pa or thereabouts.
Mean less for the execs and less for the playing staff — however I still think that this would be a better way forward than our current arrangements.
My only question is who would be the manager in 2021/22 if we were to go down this road.
Calling your mates by their surname’s all good. It is your acceptance.
Calling the Celtic manager bye that single name. ?
St Stivs
Did you go to Lisbon in 2017 with your daughter ??
( a guy Higgins from your neck of the woods jumped on a bus I had organised, to get from the Airport to centre of Lisbon ?? – incidentally the bus was available to any Celtic fan needing transferred)
Just trying to figure if we met in Lisbon ??
Meanwhile the Celtic pass drops into my box.
Norrie.
Not me. Wish it was.
MM – I was intrigued by TT’s post earlier, which I think you are alluding to. I was four when I went to my first game in March 1962. PC was still playing but I only heard the names of the HITS team from MOTB.
I kind of grew up as the eventual Lions became the fixed team. I saw Bertie’s first game back. Jock’s return (dodgy set of early results) .
The build up through 64 into 65 saw the familiar faces come through, then Joe McBride, Faither and Willie Wallace were signed – add Jim Brogan, John Cushley, Charlie Gallagher and Yogi with the original Holy Goalie and you have the core of Celtic until 68/69. I think Bob Kelly gave Jock his head after what seemed like a series of badly handled player relationships which TT recalls. I think it fell apart leading up to Milan in 70 but there was an echo of going out in the first round of the EC in in 67/68 – should never have happened to that team.
We have never managed our heroes very well.
But what a time it was, it was, preserve your memories.
HH
“…who have sustained a semi…”
never thought i would have ever seen that phrase on cqn
im disgusted
MaryWhitehouseCSC
LT @ 10.49
That is just pure unadulterated defeatism.
Look at the talent that we have had in the team over the past 8 years or the talent we have had available to us and we past over on.
The current squad is very talented — just a case it is badly coached / led / set up.
Look at the talent we have had at the club and who we let go because they had to go elsewhere to better their career.
Some would have stayed if we had more ambition / more belief / more bottle.
JMcC — we could have bought him.
AMcG — he could have stayed.
VW / VvD / JD — could have stayed for longer.
AR — we could have put him on a rack / fed him horse hormones.
MD / KT — another 2 years at least.
FF — got him to stay.
Old JF — Boot up the erse.
JMcG — one who got away.
ON — improved his level of focus.
OE — another couple of years.
BM twins — kept them in the youth team.
We do not lack talent we just lack ambition.
Ok thanks
Positive the guy was a Higgins from Greenock, was there with his daughter, dressed in Green, White and Gold, every day I seen them 👍
They also knew Monsignor Charlie ( Connaire )
Let’s all do-
Haha. Very good. Where are the mods when you need them?
JRS @ 11.00
EC defeat — 67/68 — file under EUFA skulduggery?
First round to a strong SU team who played summer football?
Tough gig.
68/69 — QF? / Lost to the eventual winners.
69/70 — Final / lost to over confidence and Dutch doping if some are to be believed.
70/71 — QF / lost to the pesky Dutch again.
71/72 — SF / DD’s moonshot.
72/73 — L16 / UD grudge match.
73/74 — SF / AM and the ninja tackling.
74/75 — No idea for some reason / lost to the mists of time.
JS made a good stab at rebuilding the team — a good GK would have helped.
RMcD was probably 2 years too young so BMcN played on too long.
Plus DH needed more help in the MF — GS would have been an interesting punt.
I was born in 1971….I spent as much of my free time as I could growing up outside my home…(avoiding an alcoholic father) and had nothing but a passing knowledge of Celtic growing up…was I ferral…to an extent. Then I was at highschool, doing my best to use it and homework/extra-curricular activities to avoid my home situation…and it worked. All this preamble is saying that I fell into the welcoming Celtic arms late in life…and am grateful for it…and y’all
thanksforlisteningCSC
H.H.
Hand of God –
I was reading back – you were having a nightmare on and off here this morning. I hope tomorrow works out better for you.
I hope you’re well mate and you get the result your looking for 👍🏼
SFTB
Midtjylland use the players from their youth academy more than we do. They have reached the CL Group Stage in the 21st year of their existence. The owner of Brentford ( also an ambitious Club) became the major shareholder of their parent company in 2014, presumably because be thought they were going places. A comparison of their resources with ours lends belief that our now regular underachievement in CL qualifying is little short of a calamity, be it for lack of preparation and planning at the outset of each season, or poor tactics/selection or combination of both.
I lean toward the latter. Ferencvaros approached their tie with Molde in a similar starting position with ours last season with Cluj. i.e. having achieved an away score draw. Knowing the opposition had to score, they calmly and pragmatically decided to defend in numbers, relying on breakaways to pin their opponents back. It did not make good viewing but they are through. Faced with a similar position against Cluj, our manager blew it. He also blew it against Copenhagen and Ferencvaros. In 2 of these games, he made inexplicable lineup selections, and we paid dearly for them.
Always good to have to have a wee debate. I find it therapeutic for my Celtic frustrations.😊
MM – 74/75 was a Greek tragedy- out in the first round, it was a crap year all round.
You are correct re Jock building again but, looking, back something seemed to change post Milan in terms of player retention. Don’t get me wrong, as a teenager I couldn’t have had a better time, 16 when we won our first nine, Jinky’s entire career, all of the Lions and the QS kids – just brilliant. It is with hindsight that I see, perhaps, missed opportunities- we should have had three or four big cups (I’m being greedy) – we should have retained Davy Hay, Lou , Kenny and maybe managed George Connolly better.
No regrets just some reflections.
TLT
Arden r us… keep it lit pal 👍👍
HH
JRS…all players and games I missed…thank yer lucky stars there was no internet back then lol…it’d’ve been a bloodbath ;-))
H.H.
Friesdorfer…bin ok, danke Bruder…jist having a retrospective ;-)) Hoping yer doin A ok ;-))
H.H.
Iniquitousiv & SFTB,
The owner of both clubs owns a gambling company and runs both clubs using a wide array of stats.
He’s has taken unfashionable Brentford from mid table in league one to the Championship/Premier league play offs last year and what he has done in Denmark is even more impressive. Did they not give Arsenal a real game last season?
He is quite pragmatic about it all too – he talks about the positions centre forwards get into and good opportunities they have to score rather than just goals (scoring 20 goals from 30 chances one season is unsustainable he would say) – which is something a lot of the defenders of our players do on here, quite rightly. This boy (Benham) backs them up with data.
It’s surely the way most clubs will eventually move towards
TLT
Wee tune for you.
Peace and love bro 💚
https://g.co/kgs/pmGFNt
madmitch
“Some of the teams you mentioned — you couldn’t find them on a map without a sat nav and a post code … Plus you forgot to mention Ajax. ”
—————————-
I think I could make a fair stab at it- which ones did ou not know?
And there was no forgetfulness re Ajax- it was a deliberate omission.
I have dealt with this fantasy before – Ajax have 4 EC/CL titles, plus an ECWC and a UEFA cup to their credit. We have won ONE European Cup and nothing else. They come from a country more than 3 times larger than ours in population. In the 50s and up to the mid 60s Dutch clubs were also rans on a par with Finland. They have sustained a “golden generation” for over 3 generatinons now from the mid 60s up to the present day. If you were looking for a Dutch equivalent for us Feyenoord would be a better benchmark.
Hate to break it to you but we are no longer at the level of Spurs and Man U and Liverpool either. Those days are long gone. Ambition is easily mistaken for delusion.
—————–
Thanks DD….am probs at here lol
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XFkzRNyygfk
NjoiCSC
H.H
Hello again all you young rebels.
It’s moonhowler time.
Lets keep the positivity going tonight Bhoys, another good result
and the confidence taken from it will carry us through the next few
important games.
My wee icebox is filled, the sarnies are made, alarm set. for a dark
o clock rise.
COYBIG.
H.H. Mick
p.s PHILBHOY/ NORRIE M
Tom Grant worked for the Scottish Development Agency at Hillington
as a Draughtsman.