As this clean sheet run has continued, every time Fraser Forster has made a good save, I’ve found myself suggesting that the defence is not playing as tightly as it used to. We quickly regard exceptional performance as the norm.
Fraser has, of course, been exceptional, again, this season. Efe Ambrose and Virgil van Dijk are fast and commanding. Virgil has a presence about him, like Wanyama, but bigger. On the flanks, despite the lack of competition, Emilio Izaguirre is performing at his best, while Adam Matthews, Mikael Lustig and Darnell Fisher have shuffled through the right back position as availability dictates.
I have a notion that Scott Brown is also worth credit for the defensive performance. He seems to have grown this season, perhaps as a consequence of fitness. This is his best season yet.
Ultimately the game is all about tactics. Any team can keep a clean sheet but 10-in-a-row (get used to reading that) is a consequence of team plan, which is where Neil Lennon comes in.
Tomorrow is the final day to confirm tickets for our CQteN St Patrick’s Day Dinner on 14 March at the Kerrydale Suite. The dinner will raise funds to build a kitchen at Kholoni Primary School in Mchinji, Malawi, where 1200 kids currently attend without food facilities. If you have lost your invoice email me, celticquicknews@gmail.com
See you there.
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67 HEAVEN
If we’re only in business to survive,we might as well realise ALL of our assets now.
No point in waiting for a tragic mistake and being left with nothing.
Wind the club up,give us our money! The assets will rarely look so attractive as when The Commomnwealth Games are on.
….pfayr supports weeoscar
06:55 on 31 January, 2014
Sorry, meant to add……”compliant fans”= very happy fans…..!!!!!…..doesn’t make us bad people…..this is one of the best periods in our history, incidentally…….who would have thunk the bhuns would have went bust……..the joys ..!!!!!!!!!!!
bobby murdoch’s curled-up winklepickers ………fc not plc
07:03 on 31 January, 2014
Doooohh…….
Eddieinkirkmichael
Failure to register players correctly was never in itself going to be sufficient enough a reason to remove points even if done regularly over a number of years.
The intent of the registration rules as I understand them is to ensure players remuneration is accurately recorded and prevent clubs using illegal inducements like under the counter payments to influence players to sign up with club A rather than B who are offering more on the record ie within the rules than club A but less than A are outside the rules.
Under the counter payments clearly provides the club ignoring registration requirements an advantage over a club observing the rules.
The key thing about LNS is that he treated ebt payments as legal or over the counter which means other clubs were free to use them even if,like Celtic they chose not to. There is an equivalence factor there the SFA could wriggle around.
However if the EBTs that the UTT have to decide on rule them illegal then that means other clubs were not free to use them and so Rangers got an illegal advantage, putting EBTs in the category of under the counter payments of which registration was a lesser but necessary crime to achieve the end for which they were being used which SDM was open about.
However we need not wait for the UTT because in the case of two players, Dr Boer and Flo, they were paid using a type of ebt that was illegal and that required full remuneration details to be hidden from HMRC and the SFA to achieve its end.
LNS did not take the illegality of these payments which also involved concealed side letters into account because
a) details of the make up and reasons why they were accepted as illegal by Rangers were kept back from the SPL lawyers charged with gathering evidence, to the extent that the date from which the Commission was charged to consider instances of improper registration could not consider the De Boer case as it was in reality (ie already ruled illegal) and
b) The SFA President in his testimony to LNS did not point out the distinction between an ebt type that broke the rules and another type on which a decision was pending, this in spite of him signing the letter that set Rangers on the illegal ebt trail using a Discount Option Scheme and being a recipient of an ebt under the scheme that replaced it and which is subject to the UTT decision.
It is bad enough that it was necessary to have a Commission looking at registration at all, but to then fail to provide it with the evidence it requested to reach an accurate judgement and stay silent under testimony on the distinction, means that we are not dealing just with the minutiae of legal or football rule interpretation on player registration but a cover up by silence and concealment by the Rangers administrators and the SFA President.
The problem is going to be that there are no rules to cover such a deception because it was never envisaged that a club or national association would act in such a duplicitous fashion.
It is as if we all know murder is wrong but no one is punished because there is no law stating how wrong it is.
If you e mail me via Paul I would value your opinion on what leads me to post as I have.
67 HEAVEN
Sorry,bud. I do get the happy clappers,each of you is right to say we are in a good place.
Honestly.
I just think there is a danger that the cracks are being papered over. Aye,the big picture is a stunning vista. But there are a lot of areas which raise concerns.
I think it is permissible to raise those concerns. So do others. It’s good governance after all.
I’m not a great lover of Celtic board but players like ledley, hooper etc leaving has absolutely nothin to do with Peter lawell. What do we do pay them 50,000 gran a week.?
Joe left his boyhood heroes Cardiff on a free to join us, woulda done the same to us in summer.
We can’t compete with bright lights of London and the EPL with all it’s millions. Sad but true.
Forster, Matthews, van dijk, will be the same in the summer!
What time does the moon howling session end?
C’mon jobo, cheer us up with the weather forecast.
PS . I have no wish to see points removed regardless of withheld evidence or UTT findings, but I do wish the man who knew the difference either resigns or satisfactorily explains his silence, which allowed LNS to treat all EBTs as regular when his experience at Rangers as instigator of one type and beneficiary of the other suggests he was well aware of the full facts.
bobby murdoch’s curled-up winklepickers ………fc not plc
07:16 on 31 January, 2014
Absolutely………nothing’s perfect….this happy clapper is not happy, for example, will the way our Board is handling the GB situation……they, and the GB, should be working very hard together to resolve the problems and get them back on board, getting rid of the politico activists / anarchists….anyway, need to get up now, and off to work…….HH
Morning
All good things come to an end I suppose.
Celtic midfielder Ledley close to £700k Crystal Palace switch.
auldheid
07:23 on 31 January, 2014
Top mhan….
ffm
Careful that bitterness might just eat you up.
Of course those baddies on the board are out to destroy our club.
Maybe SDM is their role model eh ?
Don’t trust anyone. They are all out to get us. Agendas everywhere to exploit the fans and leave us with nothing.
Don’t be fooled that Brian Quinn and his ‘right sizing’ our club was all to save us from a fate like rangers.
It was a ploy to give us years of whinging misery winning league after league and dominating scottush football. How evil and scheming are these fat cats.
Meantime in a parallel universe loads of strikers and agents are queuing up to jump aboard the SPL gravy train with its fantastic competition and huge exposure for their talents. Roll up Roll up !!!!
What a world some folk live in. Kinda sad.
My team are top if the league and looking a long way down on our former rivals. Cash in the bank and going for record points and goals conceded. Hope yours are doing ok Hail Hail all.
auldheid
07:16 on 31 January, 2014
What has Sandy Bryson done though I’m sure Paul at the time said he was involved.
Delighted if we get 700k for Ledley. He has been good business. As was Hooper and Victor.
Harshrealitycfc
Auldheid
Ogilvies brass neck is a think to behold. He should not be there.
But neither should Peat or McBeth before him.
Incompetent and corrupt.
PF Ayr,
Agree – and lo and behold……
“Lord, forgive them, they know not what they do”.
——
“67Heaven … I am Neil Lennon, supporting WEE OSCAR..!!.. Ibrox belongs to the creditors
07:00 on 31 January, 2014
ffm – i’m the only conspiracy theorist in the village)
06:12 on 31 January, 2014
Now don’t you be telling anyone, but that’s what clubs do…..they buy and sell players…..in this Country, we need to do it more often to survive (and to pay the players we have)”
Apols, amigo, But that is the kind oif vacuous pish I now associate you with. You think you’re being clever, but you’re being a fud.
kevjungle
06:19 on 31 January, 2014
“A manager without b#lls means that the window will be yet, another source of frustration but, what I’d do if I was PL….I’d say to Neil that he has enough players at his disposal and that it’s NOW time to show – PL and the ‘bored’ that Sellic have a manager who, can manage his resources. imho.”
————————————————
Classic.
Good morning friends and a Big Happy Transfer Deadline Day Friday from a dam, drizzly and breezy East Kilbride.
Burnley78 @ 07:27
I didn’t even bother reading the end of your post.
That’s how much respect I have for you – someone who ignores the problems and praises the money makers responsible for them.
For example, our young supporters being used as pawns in a statistics game with the rozzers and the SNP.
Be smug – it seems to suit you.
From Nottingham Post.
Callum McGregor: THERE is absolutely no
doubt that the Scot is one of the most
talented players in League One, something
which was underlined last weekend. The Scot
notched his 13th goal of the season with a
tremendous free-kick in the 5-1 defeat to
Walsall and has now targeted 20 for the
season. You would be hard pushed to bet
against him doing it too given his ability,
which had a number of scouts flocking to
Meadow Lane. What strikes you most about
the 20-year-old is while he is not blessed with
searing pace, his speed of thought makes up
for it. A perfect example came midway
through the first half last weekend when his
first touch took two defenders by surprise and
before they even had a chance to recover, the
ball was flying towards the bottom corner. It
was eventually saved, but it demonstrated
what a valuable weapon Notts have in their
armoury as they look to climb out of danger at
the bottom of the League One table.
Burnley78
And I should add, I was singing the praises of the Celtic Board, and in particular, Brian Quinn, over the last few years.
Explain my disillusionment now.
Can you do it without the smugness?
Does a £550 season ticket mean nothing to you financially?
I hope you have a good answer, as I’m growing more and more disgusted at you and the likes – lovers of the board, but haters of the supporters.
Think about what you compare to.
Bleak house.
You reap what you sow as a certain wee bigot is finding out.
Lennon will be keen to have
Griffiths in place for Sunday’s visit of St
Mirren with the Paisley side themselves busy
on Thursday.
They pulled the plug on a controversial move
for Nacho Novo after landing Aberdeen’s
Josh Magennis on loan until the end of the
season.
Former Rangers veteran Novo left
Renfrewshire rivals Morton after an
undistinguished, brief spell last month.
The 34-year-old free agent had been training
with the Buddies but, following a ferocious,
negative reaction to the news from Saints
fans, the Paisley club turned their attentions
to Magennis.
Well, off oot then.
Don’t want to be disturbing the comfort of those Celtic Supporters who children aren’t being arrested at 4am etc etc.
As long as you smile as you hand your money over, all will be well.
G’day all.
Off oot.
Good Luck to Dylan,
I hope a stint down there brings him on a lot
I didn’t enough from him in the few opportunities that he did get here to suggest that he should be a regular in the team, and could make a difference at CL level, still too much wee-boyness about him that would just get casually brushed aside at that level.
Hopefully if and when he does return, he has a bit more wee-man about him than wee-boy
Whatever that means!
Hen1rik
The Bryson interpretation as I understand it was that if a registration was accepted even though the SFA were unaware of financial info being withheld, then a player was eligible to play until such times as the withheld data materialised, at which point he was no longer eligible until presumably full details were supplied. That is my understanding anyway.
The problem is that this means there is nothing serious enough to deter a club from not providing full details and in a way it makes the financial disclosure element of registration rules redundant.
The problem the SFA have is rewriting the rules to make the Bryson interpretation explicit for all time rather than a construct provided to prevent the consequences of the full detterent, points deduction, to be felt.
If Bryson’ law is correct then it should be written into rules for clarity for all clubs to consider its implications.
However I cannot see how that can be done in a way that does not undermine the intent of FIFA’ rules on registration and so the relevant paras of the rules under which LNS was instructed to consider registration matters will remain unchanged in the hope that it all goes away.
ffm – that’s a whole lotta anger for an early morning fella. Remember you have a day of refreshing the net, staring at Jim White and preparing your position when Leigh Griffiths appears on the steps if celtic park to be greeted by 4 women carrying weeans and screaming for maintenance payments to be increased :)
auldheid
07:49 on 31 January, 2014
Why has no one made noises about Flo & Deboer ?
As a striker, how many goals has Leigh Griffiths scored for a good Wolves team this season?
As a midfielder, how many goals has Callum McGregor scored in a poor Nott’s County team?
I think both players, play for teams at opposite ends of the same league table, which makes one of their scoring records very impressive indeed, I wonder what is the going rate for a free scoring midfielder in that league….
Scottish football is deid.
Who can blame Ledley for looking farther afield? A relegation battle with Palace maybe but more money and not visiting Kilmarnock, St Mirren, etc etc. I watched the match at Paisley recently and some of the St Mirren subs looked as if they need a good feed.
Scottish football is deid. Hence our struggle to bring in a new striker of any note.
Our sole focus must be on finding a way out. 3 Champions League games, a season they do not make.
Kit
Griffiths career stats are impressive so taking current state of affairs is unfair comparison.
Still see him as a punt but Neil wants him and so gum pumping seems futile to me……
Hope all is well fella
big wavy,
“4 women carrying weeans and screaming for maintenance payments to be increased ”
You been reading my GCHQ file?? Ya bass!
All my weans are under surveillance, more so the oldest who is 5 years old, and pointing at cameras with the same concern I had when pointing at rozzers on horses 30 years ago.
Aye Rap the Moon Howing and keep your Conpiracy theories for another day or post them on the Huffington Post site, I am not to a ccompiant fan either just want whats best for the club, solidarity and that.
Transfer deadline day so lets concentrate on that something real rather than ideal and heresy, I hope we get GF and Joe stays, not fussed about sammy. Also of Amido isn’t going to playe loan him out to another spl club..
Thats my Transfer deadline day wish
KLV
big wavy:
I don’t dispute the fact that LG’s stats look good on paper but I can only compare both players stats, fairly, over this season’s total, since Callum has only ever played a season, which on reflection makes his scoring ratio all the more impressive.
Morning Bhoys and Ghirls from a sunny and frosty Saarland.
Ledley to Palace for 750K. And maybe Sammi away as well.
Still no new signings yet, so today is the day (we hope).
If Joe Goes we have plenty of Support, He’s too good on his day to dissapear down into the mire of relegation then first division and gone. shame, The club will except it just now to see if it makesJoe sign a new deal or not, Its a win win for the club. 800k better than nothing.
KLV
LG will be a star in the Hoops. Great footballer who will get better the older he gets with NL there to guide him. NL was a banger in his day as well.
KLV
kevinlasvegas supporting wee oscar knox
08:14 on 31 January, 2014
If Joe Goes we have plenty of Support, He’s too good on his day to dissapear down into the mire of relegation then first division and gone. shame, The club will except it just now to see if it makesJoe sign a new deal or not, Its a win win for the club. 800k better than nothing.
There’s no chance you’re off oot today Kev transfer deadline day :)