Looking back it’s easy to spot; that moment when an imperious manager peaks before tumbling over the edge, but at the time this moment is almost impossible to see. The moment Jock Stein peered over the mountain was absolutely impossible to identify at the time.
Celtic qualified for the 1970 European Cup final by beating English champions, Leeds United, home and away, and were hot favourites to lift the trophy for the second time in four seasons. They were about to win their fifth consecutive league title and would go on to make record a world record nine-in-a-row, meaning there was a mountain of ‘evidence’ obscuring the peak from view.
We were the most feared side in football in April 1970 but that team’s time as a European heavyweight was over. Stein remained a further eight seasons but he never beat another team from one of the large European leagues. A 1975 win over a relatively obscure Boavista was his best result* in the period before he was replaced in 1978.
The reverence Jock is rightly held in by all Celtic fans now was tested during the 70s when I remember tactics and even minor decisions, like substitutions, were being questioned by large sections of the support. It all ended in ignominy in 1978, fifth in the league and sacked in a clumsy and misleading fashion.
Jock was still a good manager and did well with Scotland but he should have moved on from Celtic years earlier.
Fans of other clubs will always see the moment of inflection before those too close to the event, but even Arsenal fans are now politely making the case that their once-supreme manager is no longer suitable for purpose. Anyone suggesting that Arsene Wenger was finished in 2004 would have been certified. His team had just won the league undefeated, the first team to do so since the 19th century. They won the FA Cup on penalties the following season and reached the Champions League final a year after that, but they have not lifted a trophy since 2005. Wenger was a fine 2004 vintage but has disappointed since.
After a slow start at Manchester United, Alex Ferguson has managed to remain at the top for 20 years. His most important ability appears to be to know when to change coaches, players and tactics. It has long been said that the best managers were not great players as they needed to acquire a conscious insight on the game which gifted players inherently knew. Perhaps enduringly great managers are not even tactical geniuses, it’s more important that they can just spot a few.
Ordered the CQN Annual yet? Get it here in time for Christmas!
Remember being a teenager?** The excitement of waiting for news of the latest pop charts was big news for some. You can relive your youth buy BUYING ROD STEWART’S single before Sunday.
* In European competition, between beating Leeds and when Jock left in 1978, Celtic eliminated Kokkola, Waterford, B1903 Copenhagen, Sliema Wanderers, Ujpest Doza, Rosenborg, Turku, Vejle, Basel, Valur, Boavista and Jeunesse d’Esch. They lost to Ajax, Inter Milan, Ujpest Doza, Atletico Madrid, Olympiakos, Sachsenring Zwickau and Wisla Krakow. And Feyenoord, of course.
** CQN demographics suggest for most of you, your teenage years are now a distant memory.
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Emerald bee- re Clydebank if you want pub grub- Singers is good for that and can accommodate larger party- New Italian has opened on Kilbowie road at junction where Atlantis pub is-Indian available at the Boulevard hotel on great Western road near Klibowie roundabout-very good Chinese at Peking Cottage Duntocher- and Go karting available also just off Dumbarton road near yoker football ground.hh
Tallybhoy
Can’t disagree with that.
Seem to remember that John Clark rarely misplaced a pass.
Of course, his passes were always about 5yrds, after he had snuffed out the danger.
Happy days then, Happy days now, Happy days forever.
btw, I watched that Keith Allen doc. about ole Diana last night. Yawn inducing until you get to the last 20 minutes or so and he outs, totally, historically and irrefutably, Prince Phillip, as a dyed-in-the-wool German Nazi straight from Hitler’s back pocket with an active agenda.
Holy schmick schmock!
Pardon me Bobby that one was directed at NeilCan who claims to have an invite to “lunch” there today.
However, I’d very interested to hear what you and your parents have to say about that dining experience.
Please post.
Et Bon Appetit à l’avance
‘Tic fan:
Dear Santa,
I’ve been a good bhoy this year – or tried to be, don’t ask the wife, ha ha – so not going to ask for more than reasonable.
A wee domestic treble would be lovely.
Midfield playmaker in the windae and naebody leavin.
A kind draw in the CL and we’ll take it from there.
Good health to all my loved ones, and, eh…
… that’s about it really.
Thanks, and all the best to you and your friends & family!
Sevco fan:
Dear Satan, …… …… ……
Thought Phil was a Greek…?!
T4
Oh yeah, and forensically analyzed by Oliver James and adduced to be a psychopath.
This is why the doc. got banned (!) here in The UKplc, not because of any revelations about Diana, but because it slags Pimp Phillip.
Sad, that we are so wholly under the thumb of such a corrupt gang of chinless, slack-jawed wonders in 2012.
‘Orf wif ther ‘eads!
Hoping for a good win today. Also hoping that McGeoch
gets 90 mins today, surprised that he wasnt given
much game time against Arbroath.
Time to impose ourselves on the league and start
to open a winning lead.
Hail Hail.
tommytwiststommyturns12:21 on 15 December, 2012:
>>>>>
Apparently not…..comes from some aristocratic German mob…..the Greek connection is just some clever disinfo to keep us in the dark about his true antecedents.
All black ops bollox to cast a clever smokescreen about this wholly reprehensible evil old git.
**************************WARNING*************************
Celtic fans travelling through the city centre take extra care
on the way to the game.
George Square full of the Zombies,and it’s not a Brad Pitt movie,beware.
BSR – what’s the demo about and where is it taking place?
Cheers
T4
Snyde off, today’s “experts”
Johnstone
Dalziel
Wishart
to be joined later by
McCall
McPherson
on the bench Darrell King
embdae see the connection?
BMCUW
Morning(?)/afternoon bud.
You should take the auld yins/yer sisters/brothers-in-law/nieces & nephews/cousins…to McCallums at Troon harbour – if you haven’t already!
…but don’t forget to have your American Express card to hand.
HH!!
What idiot gave the OK for a loyalist demonstration (about an issue that has nothing to do with Scotland) in George Square when the town is full of Xmas shoppers, the square itself should be filled with kids for Glasgow on Ice and there’s a Celtic game at CP???
Big first for Celtic –
Fraser Forster named in World Soccer’s team of the month.
This is a first for one of our players. Artuc Boruc got a couple of votes round the time of the Man U 1-0 game, I think, but that was our limit till now.
I sent a complaint to the BBC regarding their on-line offering on Sevco 140th
this is their response
“Thank you for your contact of 9 December.
For clarity, when we refer to the business dealings of the club, in its previous and its current form, we will refer to the ‘oldco’ and the ‘newco’; when referring to the activities of the team on the field, we will refer to the team as ‘Rangers’.
Thank you for getting in touch with us to raise this matter.”
It is obvious they don’t recognise incorporation of the club and company
tommytwists
Take down the flag in Belfast, – prompted a hastily Facebook organised Sevconian Fest.
Massive police presence for which the tax payer will now foot the bill?
Just heard some nutcase on the bbc sports say that fat Sally was on aboot players leavin the club, what he forgot to say was they did not have a club to leave ast it had died
I am thankful that Mrs and Ms Tally were in Glasgow yesterday doing some Xmas shopping, and not today.
I did warn them that zombies would be marching aimlessly through the streets of the dear GREEN place today. The ones who weren’t ransacking Montrose that is.
HH!!
BSR – cheers for that.
Just text Mrs TTTT to stay away from the area, told her zombies on the loose!
Stay safe, Hoops fans.
T4
miki – Battenburg is their real name, not Mountbatten?
T4
Philip was from a Prince Andrew of Greece and Prince Alice of Battenburg, plenty of skeletons rattling about that family’s cupboards with their Nazi connections.
Battenburg name hastily changed to Mountbatten to make it a bit more acceptable.
Miki
……was their real name not PARASITE?
Defo rings a bell with me.
2 rolls on lorne sausage with onion and brown sauce, washed down with a mug of tea. And Status Quo doing “Down Down” on the ole turntable…
Miki67
One of the few disharmonies in our household is the subject of the royal family. Being an IT guy with a largely logical brain, it makes no sense for a group of people to be considered as better or elevated simply through the luck of birth. Also, it is a negative pressure on my children to be told that somehow they are not quite as good as these people.
Then there’s the royal brat in waiting. The lengths some folk will go to for extra benefits and a hoose on the public purse.
S
I just went to the link for the third part of the documentary……and it can no longer be accessed……404 error.
‘They’ really are doing their utmost to keep it from the dumbed-down UKplc public.
Pimp Phillip was raised, schooled, and inculcated in Nazism in Germany; his siblings were also upfront rabid zealous Nazis. He is no different. A wholly evil man.
1-0 Montrose
Oh dear Sevcoian Zombies a goal down.
Goal – Montrose take the lead!
Greetings all from a bright & mild Tipperary. Any day the Celts are playing, there is a spring in my step and I automatically feel 10 years younger. I have a very good feeling re the match today and feel The Bhoys will put on a show. Just got happier Montose have just scored.
Johan,
Ta for that. Will pass it on.
shady12:46 on 15 December, 2012
>>>>>
This is the brainwashing at the heart of t’rankers, too. Supremacist, racist, fascist. Wrapped in the symbol of imperial dominance.
HH!
Montrose score….He he …….. Against that new wee team, who have 5 stars on their strips, for some strange reason…….LOL……..LOL …..
Strange that the Webcam for George Sq is on the blink…
Not wanting to show the world the true meaning of zombie Christmas?
Zombie penalty
Shady,
My dear old dad, god rest him, brought me up to believe that I would probably meet many people in life who were better than me, but not one of them would have been born better than me (or anyone else for that matter).
THEY ARE ALL UGLY ? BADA BING???????????????????
klv