I loved the Leicester City story as much as any of you. Well, maybe not just as much. Leicester’s title win was astonishing, but it was no fairy story. They outperformed far wealthier clubs, sure, but this was achieved by spending the kind of money Celtic couldn’t dream of parting with.
Apart from their league win, Project Leicester was typical of the financial chicanery which has been prevalent in English football for so long, and which Financial Fair Play seeks to end.
Right now they are in freefall. If they go down, loaded with an underperforming squad on eye-wateringly high salaries, they will find it impossible to downsize sufficiently to give anyone sitting around the King Power Stadium boardroom table that they will be able to achieve stability in the Championship.
Once you drop out of the Enland and Wales Premier League, the biggest parachute in the world simply isn’t big enough. Two of the three Championship relegation places are currently occupied by recent Premier League clubs. Aston Villa, twice the size of Leicester but with a far smaller wage bill, are currently 17th. Leicester will look ominously at Blackpool, 14th in League Two, and appreciate how rapidly a Premier League relegation fight can turn into something altogether more serious.
Claudio Ranieri is a football hero, but even from the outside it has been plain to see that something has been seriously wrong under his control in recent months. His comments before the Sevilla game, “we know they are the better team”, spoke of a man who didn’t believe in himself or his players anymore.
It is never easy to spot when a managerial hero should move on from a club where he’s loved, exect in hindsight. Clough was the greatest English manager, but stayed on far too long at Nottingham Forest. Relegation was his reward.
Jock Stein’s sacking as Celtic manager in 1978 was shabbily handled, as was the way at the club back then. I was too young to know the best of Jock’s years at Celtic, but I remember the grief he got from the terraces during his last four seasons, when Rangers (remember them?) won three titles and two trebles.
No one will tell you they got on Jock’s case back then, but it happened. Football fans in the 1970s took no prisoners.
Looking back, Jock stayed too long at Celtic. He produced miracles for five years then managed decline for eight. He should have taken the Manchester United job when offered. Clough squeezed two League Cups out of his squad in 1989 and 1990 and should have headed for this hills right then.
As for Claudio, he should have bowed out a champion in May. He didn’t have managerial alchemy after all, it was inevitable that performances would return to his normal trend this season. Someone at Leicester had to take responsibility. That’s football – and it’s not even a modern aspect of it.
780 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- ...
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
- 16
- ...
- 21
- »
Word of the day; Ambiguity. Description; What the SFA rules amount to when applied to the huns (P.S. Can we still say huns?)
:)
evening,
dont spoil it for me, i was out all day and all night in a trip to carlisle for a sad occasion , that ultimately was uplifting also, family doing great, our young people overtaking their parents, god bless the thrust of a catholic education.
dont spoil it for me , but i am off to watch the 2nd rangers game, i bet them to win , kenny to score the first goal, 2nd rangers 3-0.
easy money,
When you walk up to Celtic Park you see those big images of past glories, European, trebles, doubles etc. How good would it be to see 2017 ‘the invincibles & the treble’. What an opportunity we have this season. Brendan will know history is there for us. Looking forward to seeing the Griff back in business tomorrow, hopefully leaner and meaner. A very timely comeback as we turn for the home straight.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zMIzTh0Lafg …..baby huey and the babysitters
FLOATIN’ on 24TH FEBRUARY 2017 11:17 PM
Gotta triple keel made of steel
Great for the sea not for the river
Being on the river is stressing my liver
Oh to see the sea…
Best not open that Pauillac….
Floatin’
———————–
:-))))
Gotta a mate who started a contract in London recently. Cost of accommodation was stressing him. He decided to move his Moody 29 down to St. Katherine’s Docks (no idea how he got a mooring!) and live on it instead of paying rent. Not sure it’s all that cost-effective there but pretty sure he’s enjoying himself!
Time to hit the hammock…
Gibberin
Floati……zzz
THE DONALD on 24TH FEBRUARY 2017 11:17 PM
I`ll have a look at your recommendations, Donald.
There was so much marvellous music middle and late `60s that it was easy to miss some of the more obscure , or less well publicised , performers.
Happy days for Tims .
:-)
TTR,
like you, am imagining the Griff running riot tomorrow…..and smart…
..if BR can get into his head ;-))
FTSFA
H.H.
Nat
Was in St Kats last summer, £360 for a week’s mooring.
Headin to Limehouse for a week in March £302 for the week, a ful time mooring there is about £10k for me and a few years waiting list I believe, St Kats will be a little more.
Still a lot cheaper than a hotel though :)
Hamiltontim on 24th February 2017 11:04 pm
I dont often post and lurk seldom now but the post from HT got me interested tonight. Theres a first time for everything.. Paul67 why do you class the last part of Jocks reign as a bad event in our history? Ive said on here before Jocks strenghs were moulding teams not buying players.
embdy else see the Masty…..flag……at the ICT gemme?
FTSFA
H.H.
Something else that came to me in a cogitative moment. It would be great if their next visit to el paradiso ended up as a 7 goal thriller… where none of them were theirs.
its Strengths,
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/02/24/scott-brown-celtic-players-get-kicked-win-much/
http://the4thofficial.net/2017/02/celtic-looking-get-brilliant-shot-stopper-nothing-master-stroke-rodgers/
Thetimreaper
Celtic park at night by drone
Beautiful
Good night … 4-1 tomorrow. ;)
https://youtu.be/N9kw6Q4Fn7o
http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/15117196.I_know_how_the_boot_boys_feel__says_Scott_Brown/
OOOFT!
Car crash comments from Murty. Who is the Mystery Man advising him?
“Murty, whose team host St Johnstone on Wednesday, said: “The board will take their time and appoint the person that they think should be in place at a time of their choosing. So until I’m told otherwise I will carry on doing what I’m doing. “I have been put in a very, very difficult position. The board have taken steps, they have offered me help and I have taken advantage of that help. At the moment that will remain private between me and the person who is helping me. “But I have to say, my help and the people helping me, doesn’t take away from the fact that the players have to focus what they can control, and they can control their attitude and performance.”
In the pre-internet days it was difficult to know what was going on behind the scenes at your club. I never really thought about the finances of Celtic until “they” started buying lots of players for lots of money. I remember reading the record and on the back they had signed a £5million sponsorship deal and we had bought second hand floodlight bulbs from Hampden. That was the point I thought “It’s over they are going to keep expanding and we are going to buy Wayne Biggins”
There are a lot of people on here who went to matches in trepidation rather than hope, watching us get kicked out of Europe by teams you had never heard of and who would score you 300 at scrabble. So I think about all those bluenoses who are going through the same, if not worse, and I think maybe we should cut them some slack, maybe not gloat, maybe offer some sympathy… then I remember what it was like getting slagged by huns that had never been to a match in their life and I think laugh and laugh long and hard at them.. it won’t last forever so enjoy it.
Italiabhoy
The Cardigan or Ra Deeds Bomber.
CQN needs a strong Rangers )))
https://youtu.be/KQBoeBgb0uk
Fiction Factory
Heaven
justheardscorefaeupnorthCSC
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C5dbum9U8AEpXCw.jpg
Big Shuggie
HH
YORKBHOY on 24TH FEBRUARY 2017 11:47 PM
Yep.
Haffey. Haffey. Haffey.
And
Celtic ha ha ha.
Fairhill Bhoy
RIP Charlie.
HH
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C5dbdXAUoAA_6aR.jpg
Billy v Falkirk
HH
Yorkbhoy.
Agree. I started attending games regularly in the early 1990s. We were terrible, and RFC seemed to be disappearing over the horizon.
I remember once, after a really tough loss to them (2-4 at CP I think), my old uncle, who had some business dealings with Murray’s companies, said that the whole thing was a pyramid scheme. That Murray would end up bankrupt and take RFC with him.
At the time, and for a long time later, I dismissed this comment as the Grappa talking. Now, I wonder just whether they would have gotten away with so much if the internet had been around even half a decade earlier…
https://youtu.be/5ixRWvrkUHo
Talk Talk
It’s My Life
HH
Italiabhoy,
He’s just distancing himself from the whole clusterpluck.
You think his salary has increased since his ‘promotion’?
He’s been thrown in at the deep end and he’s smart enough to ensure that, the very small, football world knows it’s sod all to do with him.
TGSC,
Sailing On….
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C5S6MIoWIAAqq0U.jpg
Vic Davidson
HH
MARSPAPA on 24TH FEBRUARY 2017 11:40 PM
Thetimreaper
Celtic park at night by drone
Beautiful
Good night … 4-1 tomorrow. ;)
https://youtu.be/N9kw6Q4Fn7o
——-
Magical!
TheLurkinTim on 24th February 2017 11:32 pm
embdy else see the Masty…..flag……at the ICT gemme?
——————-
Seen that Masty flag, even on my dodgy stream as the camera held on it for a few seconds.
Bit of a dim tim tonight but what does the ‘Masty’ relate to?
Floatin’
https://youtu.be/C8AQPGKcZOk
Snow Patrol
You’re All I Have
HH
Who’s advising Murty?
I’ve narrowed it down to Trump, McCoist or Chic Young…
Can we play them tomorrow?
HH
BRTH
Could you put me and the missus down for the dinner in Lisbon on 24th May please – TYNE.
HH
ITALIABHOY on 24TH FEBRUARY 2017 11:41 PM
Car crash comments from Murty. Who is the Mystery Man advising him?
======================
There will be some who will make wild guesses but, having looked at the consequences of this mysterious source of the advice, it has got to be Derek McInnes.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C5S4lIHXAAE_OLQ.jpg
Harry Hood
HH
Roy Croppie
I played against Vic Davidson when he was in his late 30’s and I was a very fit 20-something. Tore the shit out of me he did. Showed me the difference between hoping what you might be and the real thing. The nearest I got to him was at the end of the game when I gave him a hug!!