Apologies again for the non appearance of the diary yesterday. due to a family illness I have been spending a lot of time traversing the railroads of the country between Stoke and Paisley, which explains the somewhat erratic publishing of the diary this week and last.
Still, at least that brings it in line with the equally erratic quality of the piece.
Oh, and a big thank you to the man heading to Bishopbriggs yesterday, who made a long journey shorter yesterday, sitting opposite me on the train, and reminiscing about all things Celtic. Normally anyone I travel north with makes a long journey longer.
So, where were we up to ?
Celtic did beat Raith Rovers, and therefore got into the quarter finals of the League cup, but the draw isn’t being made until Monday, which has puzzled a few obseververs who felt the excitement of the competition would be enhanced if the draw was made immediately after the completion of last weeks games.
However, the extra time is needed as the SPFL diligently check the eligibility of players from St Johnstone and Hibernian, who have upset the beaks by proving that the nations two favourite teams aren’t quite at the level of Barcelona, Bayern Munich, or even Burton Albion yet.
We hear at least one player is being studued closely as he had time off school once and didn’t even offer a note from his mum.
It’s not just that the Hibees beat Aberdeen, but they have shown a fighting spirit that wasn’t there earlier in the season, and that has probably worried the beaks even more than the failure of Warburtons warriors to overcome a top division side as they march forward on their inevitable (copyright MSM ) eventual domination of Europe.
And probably Asia, Africa and America as well.
All of which is good news for football, as it makes every game interesting.
None more so than this weekends visit of Hearts to Celtic Park.
The Jambo’s, (politically correct nickname for the Cousins Of William) have made a good start to the season, and showed they have teeth-unusual for anyone in edinburgh over the age of fifty- by clawing back a win against Kilmarnock in their League Cup clash, virtually guaranteeing a home game against Celtic in the quarters whe the draw is made on Monday.
Manager Ronny Deila, who perfected his English use of the phrase “Aww for fuck’s sake ” during the Raith game, warned that Hearts are a better side than they were last year, when Celtic eased past them in a couple of cup games;
“We had them twice last year it was a tough draw for us in both cups.
“It went well both times, but they have improved since then and we’ll have to be switched on and put in a really good performance to get three points.
“They are a club who have impressed me. It’s a big club which has come up and that is good for everybody.
“They had a bad period with a bad economy, but they used that half a year or whatever it was to play a young team and build a new team.
“Last year they were almost winning every game with their energy and the fans were on their side.
“They started well so far and they showed they can be in the top six so it’s going to be a tough game.”
But then , so are we, he added;
“People know what to expect in the different roles, so we are stronger as a squad now.
“A lot of players have developed, so players like Tom Rogic and James Forrest, who didn’t play so much last year because of injuries, are now becoming important in the team.
“We have improved – we have more points than we did (this time) last year, we’ve scored 23 goals in eight games, which is double what it was last year, so we’re in a better place.
“We’re still in every competition and we got a point away against Ajax (in the Europa League) so in terms of results, we’re better
“But I see things beyond that. I see a culture where players are getting better and better.
“It’s nice to see players like Rogic and Forrest starting to get to their potential – it excites me and gives me energy every time they go on the pitch and I see they’re getting better.”
Ronny’s always nice about opponents before a game, paying them the utmost respect, which is all very well and good.
I suppose that’s why he rejected my offer to write the pre match speech.
“ Hearts are alright, nothing special. They’ve done okay so far this season, but even a dead cat will bounce so high when you fling it to the floor. We should take care of the matters on the pitch easily enough, but off the pitch ?Have you ever met any of their fans ? Fuck me, it’s like being on that archaeology programme and finding a couple of cavemen amongst the stalactites. I just hope they don’t wreck the toilets like their weegie cousins did. ”
Mind you, his politeness doesn’t extend all the way up to Aberdeen, where it’s fairly obvious he’s getting sick of being told how good the northern side are, after they managed to sneak a 2-1 over his charges when the goalie wasn’t looking.
That 7-0 I keep harping on about ? Might well be when the dons come down to civilisation when the return game takes place;
“I want to win the league. It’s not about them, it’s about us. I’m always into whether my team is doing well or getting better.
“If we are doing that and getting results then we will see how good the others are.
“So I don’t care about what they are doing. I care about what I can do and that’s getting my team to be as good as possible.
“We work hard to confront the players on what they can improve on. The domestic competition is getting better and better and that’s a positive. But it’s still early to say, we will know more at the end of the season.
“Aberdeen have started very well and if they continue that way we won’t make it because they’ll have won every game!
“We have to get better than them.
“There will always be questions but I know it is about being focused on the long term.
“We have a lot of experience in doing that and a strong team. We just have to focus on what we can do, I can’t do anything about Aberdeen and I don’t care.
“We follow what they are doing of course but I know if I get the best out of my team we can be better than Aberdeen.”
He didn’t tell anyone to fuck off, but you know he wanted to.
He also cast doubt on the return of Charlie Mulgrew to the side, who has been out now for a few weeks with a cough or something equally trivial.
“He is still not on the pitch training with the ball so it will be tough to make the Scotland games.”
He was referring to the final two games of Gordon Strachans run as manager against Poland and Gibraltar, where the Scots need two wins and a snooker to progress to France, where they will need divine intervention if they are to make any impact.
A while back we noted that certain senior players were called into the office for a “chat ” after there was a story that a Celt had been , er, expressing a full and frank opinion on how things were going at Celtic.
Now a senior player has picked up an injury and is keeping Derk Boerrigter company…
I’m sure there’s nothing in it but my imagination.
Mulgrew could also have company in the form of centre half Eoghan O’Connell, who has picked up what may be a long term injury while on loan at Oldham, and their manager David Dunn said ;
Eoghan got an injury in training this week so we will have to see how he is If it’s a long-term injury then he might be better going to Celtic for his rehab.
Back to our manager, and as he does sometimes, once he started talking, Ronny found it difficult to stop.
He let us into one of his little secrets. Which appears to be shouting at players and provoking a response.
“I can’t see one player here I haven’t had a confrontation with. But that’s good because a culture without confrontation is dead. A marriage without confrontation is dead.
Which means I must have the healthiest marriage in the history of the institution.
“If you have the same problems all the time then you have to give up. I accept everyone makes mistakes but I ask how much do you learn from mistakes?
“If I have to have the same conversation with a player five times in five months then you give up. Those players are finished at Celtic because they can’t handle the way it is going.
“If the others are improving then one man can’t afford to stand still. That player might have been good enough at one point but it won’t stay that way.
“Not everybody has reacted as I would have wanted to these confrontations but I treat them with respect and I give everybody a chance.
“But sometimes you have to take decisions. This is not a kindergarten, it’s a high performance team and we have to get results so you don’t have time to wait for everybody.
“Here you have to learn quick and that’s something that has to be in the back of their minds.
“When you have competition you can stretch them and that’s why so many players have been in the team and then been out for a little while but then they are back again and are improving.
“So it goes in circles and we are slowly going upwards. Nir’s development is a good example. He has a big potential but he’s not there yet.
“If he develops the way he has done in the last year then in a year he will be a top international player. That’s what we want for him and he has a very good attitude.
“He wants to improve every day, he lives and dies for football and that’s always the start of it.
“Last year I didn’t understand where I could use him. He was not giving me everything but again we had a good talk and he understood what I wanted and started to do it.
“It’s rarely down to an attitude problem. It’s down to a player’s understanding and knowledge and he did not understand what I meant by 100 per cent.
“We worked on three issues. The first was if I said sprint in training you sprint – not give 70 per cent.
“He had to be quicker on the ball and go forward as everything went sideways. His passing accuracy was 90 per cent. But 50 per cent of that was sideways.
“So I asked him to look at Stefan Johansen and Scott Brown who had 68 per cent going forward. They only had 81 per cent accuracy but I said to him if he could improve going forward and stay at 90 per cent he’d be world class. Now he penetrates much more.
“He was also too central and now he can see an angled pass and has started to widen the picture even more.
“The final thing was defensively he also had to win more ball. It was not enough for him just to be there – he had to win the ball also.
“That improvement has been unbelievable. The workrate with him as a ball winner has
been incredible.”
“Offensively he looks very like Busquets and defensively he is on his way.
“But he still has to work on when the ball goes over his head, what’s happening then with his recovery runs and how he thinks in that situation.
“When he has the ball in front of him he is good at winning possession and being aggressive.
“But the things that makes Broonie the best player I have had to work with is when the ball goes over his head into dangerous areas. He knows how to shut down the right spaces and take out the runs from the midfield into the box.
“So Nir still has things to deliver but he was at one level, now he is higher and can go even higher – once he’s up there everything is possible. He can play in the highest levels in Europe.”
“At Celtic you are aspiring to the Champions League. Now we are bringing in players not even close to that level, such as Ryan Christie and young Aidan Nesbitt – but they can be. When you can’t buy Champions League quality you have to think who can become that standard.
“That desire is the most important lesson players can learn nowadays.You can be fifth in line in competition for places but does that mean you’re going to give up? Now they have to think, ‘How am I going to be No.1?’
“There’s too much results-obsessed thinking in this country. Everyone is thinking about winning, winning, winning and playing every week because that is what they’re taught. You have to win, you have to play all the time. But real winners think, ‘How do we win? How do I get better?’ Then they do something about it.
“That’s the culture I want at Celtic and that is so much improved already. The players are thinking, making their own choices and getting knowledge about everything they need to do to be successful.
“It’s not about, ‘I need to play’, you have to make yourself deserve it.
“And if you can’t handle competition you are nothing at Celtic.”
That last line should be on a t shirt.
Along with Efe ambrose ” I Got This ”
The above quote was taken from the Daily Record, in an article by Euan MacLean. It’s a good piece, but MacLean could come up with a much more interesting article if he wanted to…
I’ll give him a few keywords to perhaps jog his memory.
Tennents Bar, Neil Lennon, Tantrum, How Dare They Look Down On Me….
Back in May, I spoke to Ronny and was a little surprised at the enthusiasm and knowledge of the guy. He loves to talk about football, and will take time to explain his methods and ideas. This is the first time he has gone into any depth about how he works on a day to day basis in the press, and it’s difficult to disagree with anything he says.
Maybe this high level of interaction with players is the big difference between Deila and the usual style of management, which largely involves players calling their agents and getting them to demand a place in the team.
And managers caving in.
In other news, that delightful and altruistic Yorkshireman Charles Green has been in the news again. On the 7th of December 2012, it appears he signed a contract which included this clause.
And lo, it has come to pass that the former director is being charged with a number of crimes, which for him must have been impossible to forecast. Fortunately, as he usually does, he’s covered all the bases.
He’s not usually so certain of future events…
The Daily Record, having seen the brilliant replies to Wednesday’s diary caption competiton, had a go at it themselves today, with this one;
You can, of course do better than their effort, too poor to reproduce here…..
Meanwhile, I’m off to finish my book. I’m at that stage where I fancy a career change, so I’ve been looking into mechanics, and the art of fixing and servicing the engines that keep the nation on the road.
If that doesn’t work out for me, there’s a job just come up in the paper I could look at…
By the way, did you see that thing where Volkswagen have had software in their motors that stops the emissions being correctly recorded. They’re after BMW now, because there’s an idea that they have similar software that stops the indicators flashing.
Coming back home last night, I was on the motorway and I had a bloody lorry driver up my arse nearly all the way home .
Still, I was grateful for the lift.
Great read welcome back Ralph.
Is there anyone out there who seriously does not like the sound of Ronnys approach to Management?
The guy has it sussed,work hard,aspire to improve daily and aim to be a success.
Fuck me no doubt there will be some who find issue with this approach.
This explains alot in terms of players being dropped.
Joahansen was dropped too so that even extends to perceived favourites too.
Note the improvement in form and fitness of several who had fell of the radar.
It’s all coming together nicely I think and If Mulgrew was a spanner in the works then so be it he should not get special dispensation because he is great with one liners in training.
Caption:
Green “who the fuck spent Seven Grand on Assam Tea Bags for the mugs during the ticket office scam?”
Yes me!
Yes I know, I know you want Pepgan Kloppiolinsman having us play the The Tickle Tackle Way in the Champions League Monti.
Did the Vagisil materialise yet bud?
Nothing wrong with being ambitious for the club and wanting to be better than what we currently are.
You and others might be happy clappy with abject failure but I ain’t.
Maybe you should look at what I’m saying instead of trying to get the last word in, I want Celtic to aim higher and become a Champions league club, yet you say this is fanciful?
I see Lawwell is asking supporters to pay £31/32 for the Fenerbahce and Ajax games at home, that is a slap in the face to Celtic supporters.
So it’s ok for Celtic fans to fork out £32 for 90 mins but the board won’t pay £7.65 to it’s staff for 1 hours work?
It’s a joke which will be confirmed by the number of empty seats in the ground.
I think the pot may be calling the kettle black a wee bit here Monti you dish it out so I figured you could take it back.
It ends here ok.
That aside I agree the Board should be doing more I have been banging on about lack of Investment since we signed Willow Flood in the January under WGS pal.
I have also mad a point of highlighting the under the radar Co-op Loan and also make a point of highlighting Pedros £1m wage which is seemingly topped up by £500k even on a poor year?
I mean do you get a bonus at your place of work when they have had a shite year?
No me neither…EVER.
I also agree the price should match the level of Competition.
Thing is the Jozo fee won’t pay for itself and the VVD money won’thave hit the Accounts yet.
Charlie,
It’s Celtic’s best interests we all hold dear, it frustrates me that even now in 2015 we still aren’t reaching this great clubs potential.
Some of the other posters quite rightly tell me that I can’t tell DD how to spend his money, that said, when it comes to Celtic I speak from the heart, not always with the head.
I’m not asking for the club to spend on a scale that would put us at risk, just put some quality on the park that will give us a better chance, spending doesn’t guarantee qualifying Charlie, but it would give us a better chance and at the simultaneously, show the support that the boardroom want it as much as we do. HH
“Coming back home last night, I was on the motorway and I had a bloody lorry driver up my arse nearly all the way home .
Still, I was grateful for the lift.”
LOL, you’re such a tit!
Excellent diary Ralph had a right good laugh but also good to read the thoughts of Ronnie on player development. I never read that particular rag it was taken from but I hear they all drive company bmw,s.Cheers
Good stuff Ralph. Welcome back.
Caption: The one for the Ladybird book will also do here.
Hearts?
Time to play our best 11 again:
Gordon
Lustig/Boyata/Ambrose/Izzy
Brown/Bitton
Forrest/Johansen/Commons
Griffiths
If Lustig not fit, play Janko. If Simunovic fit, replace Boyata. Johansen is back to form.
subs: Ciftci, Blackett,Rogic,Bailly,Mackay-Steven, McGregor, Stokes.
I’m assuming still out injured: Allan, Simunovic, Mulgrew,Lustig, Armstrong.
Hearts defence is weaker than ours. 3-1 to the bhoys sounds right but we have to be careful too. Away to Inverness may also be tricky for the sheep. Our goal should be to get back to the top and stay there as quickly as possble.
Fenerbahce at home on Thursday shouldn’t alter our game plan against Hearts.
Charlie. Ronny talks a great game. No denying that. I also talk a great game whilst watching the football and am often heard saying how I would of put the ball here and passed it there. It doesn’t make me a great of the game unfortunately. The facts are he has had 2 guilt edged chances to make the group stages and royally fucked it up. Costing the club millions. If they had been knocked out playing this great game of football he talks about I would have no problem with the manager but it was horrific both times. I don’t trust this man to take us to that level. Maybe if he can guide us to a last 8 in the Europa I will believe he has learned his lessons but I’m afraid I don’t see it. I don’t dislike the man personally just don’t trust his ability a a manager of Celtic
No Ronny talks sense from that sense it’s down to the players to absorb it and play a great game.
Some haven’t and as a result that has cost us POTENTIAL INCOME.
The side who went out to QARABAG performed then went out to Malmo and simply never.
That’s fitba mate there are no guarantees.
Just look at Aberdeen in the CUp if you need clarification on that.
Our Level against Inter was higher than most of the games this Season so theres a reference point as to whether you think he can raise them to a new level.
WHich they did barring 2 errors of judgement by Gordon we would have put them out btw.
That’s two errors the Manager cannot prepare for no matter who he is.
I would rather we had a decent run in the Europa again built up a head of steam then qualified for Champions League stronger for it myself.
The Money aspect in the CL is clouding a great many’s judgement I feel I have even read it in here some would take that money even if it meant getting pumped in the Group.
Seriously?
No me bud If and when we do go back into the Lions Den at the top table I want a Celtic side who can cope with it,make sides work for a result at Celtic Park and retain that element of fear when they do come calling.
If we let that element of fear wilt then sides will come gunning for us and a result.
All that kudos and recognition built up over the last decade or so ,all the scalp taking and sending fancied Clubs home with fuck all but glorious memories of fantastic nights at CP will have gone.
Is that worth the price of qualification?
I don’t think so myself.
We can survive without the cash and still retain a modicum of fear.
Agree Charlie that I don’t want to just make up the numbers when we get there, but it might take a season or two of getting our arses felt for us to use the cash gained in that time to finance the purchase of players better than what we have. Nobody will come to us if we get beat 5-0 in all six games, but we’re not as bad as all that; we would get better coefficient points in Europa no doubt, but not the money we need to progress.
If Ronnie can develop the raw talent to get us competitive then all the better, but if income dictates what we spend on players, we need the income first and do what we can until those better players bed in and progress slowly.
Absolutely agree!
Agree with bgbhoy that is!
Devoy45 says Johansen back to form did you see him against rath rovers if it wasn’t for that dud cifti he would have been worse man on the park
It’s not potential income mate it’s there in black and whyte!! Inter Milan where there for the taking. Yes if it wasn’t for Gordon’s blunders we would of won that game but out on away goals!? I seem to remember him putting jf up front for the last 25 mins on a hiding to nothing in the sin Siro. I’m only looking at the facts of our Performances when it matters in Europe and they have simply not been there. Players can take some of the blame but ultimately it’s the manager who sets them up an delivers the team talk. Martin oniell at anfield?? It makes a difference to the players. And I know exactly what was said before the Malmö game and others and it does not fill me with confidence.
Spot on!
Welcome back Ralph. Great diary – I love Ronnie’s philosophy and very impressed by what he has to say. He may well only talk a good game…… but I would argue he is trying to change/create a particular culture and this takes time. And not just a year or two. He appears to be trying to fundamentally alter the way we are doing things in terms of player development. That is worth at least another 12 months in my view and – though not everyone will agree with this – I’d stil give it another 12 this time next year even if we are not in the champions league, as long as we are STILL seeing players develop.
He makes a HUGELY important point about “results obsessed thinking” being the sole football culture in Scotland and about this needing to change (dont get me wrong – results are hugely important, but progress can be measured in other ways too, in ways that point to a brighter long term future). The obsession with results has been driven over the years by the “O.F” bullcrap and whether we like it or not, we reacted to our now extinct rivals time and again in a short-sighted fashion in recent years. IN short, they very often dictated the way we did business, the way we spent. We got into an arms race. We were very, very fortunate that what happened to them didnt happen to us. It damn near did….
When a new version of their corpse emerges to challenge us again – as it probably will at some stage – I would hope we have in place a sustainable approach to developing talent for our team, a culture that generates players for us, rather than reverting to the old Arms Race ways. Because what we’ve had in the last 20 years has sustained us hand to mouth only; it was the right approach for the time (1995) most definitely and brought our club back up off its knees but it was short termism. To me a new approach is needed to complete phase two of our attempt to become a (more) major on-field playing power in Europe again.
Sorry for the Friday optimism…….. I just think we can afford to give Ronnie and this approach some time. I appreciate others have a different view and that view has been very well presented and argued on these pages. It is a most valid view and at times I find myself edging towards it; but on balance, I do believe we are going in the right direction.
Time will tell I guess. HH!!!
Absolute nonsense again Charlie! CL and the money is what it is all about. You are down at Ronnie’s level in the Europa.
Let the rest of us play with the big boys in the CL, WIN LOSE OR DRAW
I don’t play FIFA mate you crack on all the same.
a good side to your argument but i ask then where is the player progress? johansen has went back the way and grown into a mentality of thinking he is the best player on the park… he has become petty and lacks discipline on major european occasions… this all stems from being ronnys golden norwegian boy.. remember jo inge berget? when ronny took over he told the players knowone would play a game until they have trained for at least a week yet berget was thrown straight into a make or break champions league qualifier..much to the amazement of the players… do not be kidded that all is rosy in the garden because it almost certainly isnt… the players are constantly baffeled by strange and wierd statements from the manager… and as balanced as your argument is if he is still the boss next year and fails to make the group stages i would suggest they will be playing to crowds of 20k a week… the product on the park has not improved bar a couple of good wins against poor domestic oppostion… its the same boring side to side stuff we could see under lennon… the board where correct in needing to change the way the club and appointing this style of manager its just that this specific guy cannot make the grade no matter how hard he tries…next time we go a goal down i ask you to watch the manager… he hides away in the dugout… he is incapable of lifting the players and this does not go uunnoticed in the dressing room…..
bgbhoy,
Deila might be a decent manager at clubs the size of Stromgodset, but Celtic is a whole different thing altogether.
Maybe if the board backed the manager and allowed him to bring in some real quality instead of potential, we may have seen different results under Deila.
Lawwell admitted it was a gamble when he appointed Deila, so he hasn’t taken us into the groups in three attempts, so how does Peterlee his gamble is doing?
Encouraging comment about having the same conversation with a player five months in succession. “The first ten yards is in his head” people used to say of Dalglish ( and didn’t he and many of his generation go out on loan to junior clubs?) and I have no doubt whatsoever that mental preparedness is as vital as physical preparation. If players are in a comfort zone they ought to have no place at Celtic.
Years ago I met a guy who’d been let go from Barca’s youth squad after an annual psychometric assessment. That was in the mid 1970s. Hope they’re in use at Lennoxtown.
Ralph
Nice to have you back. I hope all is well now in Paisley – please do not misinterpret that. Seriously, I hope the family illness is over.
On your next long train journey, open one of my comments and thank your lucky stars you can shut it down again. That should ease any frustrations from other passengers. Bishopbriggs has produced many fine people though I did not have train passengers on my list till now. Anyway, it is a joy to have another Dairy. I do miss my daily pinta, especially the funny bits. They remind me of that thick creamy bit you got in the old milk bottles (where have all the bottles gone, long time passing?). What big white moustache that gave you. Now I have a permanent one I wish I could get rid of.
Away from the rambling, you must know you have brought great joy to my delicate heart with your quote from Ronny. I still believe there is a lot of Stein in him. If only he had the players to go with it, who knows? The following excerpt sums up the man’s ideology for me (apologies for repeating it):
“At Celtic you are aspiring to the Champions League. Now we are bringing in players not even close to that level, such as Ryan Christie and young Aidan Nesbitt – but they can be. When you can’t buy Champions League quality you have to think who can become that standard.
“That desire is the most important lesson players can learn nowadays. You can be fifth in line in competition for places but does that mean you’re going to give up? Now they have to think, ‘How am I going to be No.1?’
“There’s too much results-obsessed thinking in this country. Everyone is thinking about winning, winning, winning and playing every week because that is what they’re taught. You have to win, you have to play all the time. But real winners think, ‘How do we win? How do I get better?’ Then they do something about it.
“That’s the culture I want at Celtic and that is so much improved already. The players are thinking, making their own choices and getting knowledge about everything they need to do to be successful.
I have noticed in the comments of late that many have become quite obsessed by our failure in the CL, even denigrating the domestic honours in doing so. I must confess to having a quite different attitude and, I hope, one that ties in more with Ronny’s ideals and aspirations. When I was young the European Cup was about players ability, about teams that played the better football. In fact in ’67 Stein went out as much to prove this point as he did to win the trophy. He wanted to destroy the notion, epitomised in the defensive style of Inter, that not losing was the be all and end all of the game. He wanted the players to first and foremost “entertain the fans” and with that he had a conviction we would win. In addition, Stein never ever lost the ambition to win domestic trophies by playing the same way. The European Cup was always on the radar but it was never a “must” and as the quality of the team deteriorated and realism set in, so too did his ambitions in this competition. For some, the CL seems to dominate their ambitions for the club today. More than a few have denigrated domestic trophies implying that all that matters is the CL and even the domestic league is only a stepping stone to that competition. I find this astounding if we are to retain the bread and butter, the very basis of football itself, domestic leagues and competitions. Those feeding at the top table still harbour ambitions to win domestic competitions too and spend accordingly.
If money is slowly destroying the idea of equal opportunity for teams in domestic competition, it is swiftly strangling the chances of any club outwith the financial elite ever winning or even reaching the latter stages of the CL – and what a misnomer that is given 4th and 5th placed teams in select (and they always will be) domestic leagues are in this once exclusive competition, often ahead of actual domestic champions. This competition is not about footballing ability any more. It is simply and solely about money and you will only ever get a place at the “top table” if you can put plenty of readies on it. Those running football, either internationally or in Europe, are about filling coffers and lining the pockets of those in control, many of whom could not tell a ball from a peanut – and that probably includes those in their trousers. As long as the big bucks players can bring in the cash, then the big bucks clubs, and only them, will sample the CL feast. Such players do not give a monkey’s for club or fan. Their sole interest is increasing their already over inflated and immoral incomes. And so the circle becomes more and more vicious and we on the outside are whirled around with it like some tolerated attachments. Is this really the football we crave? Do we really want to be embroiled in this money circus? In the final analysis, is there any satisfaction in buying a trophy no matter its status?
I used to be truly entertained by football. Winning was an inexplicable emotion and losing could sink one to the depths. But I also remember accepting defeat with grace, especially when a better team, one that entertained me on the day more than Celtic – and there were several in those days – was the cause. Today, to my shame, I have become like so many, obsessed by simply winning, by domination and by not losing at any cost. Perhaps that is because football is no longer a sport but a sporting mint that prints millions for the controllers no matter how corrupt or incompetent. It is about an inner circle of authorities, clubs and players ensuring their uninterrupted domination of the game. I am convinced it is time for all of us to re-assess Celtic’s position in the CL roll call and, for me, it sure is not sitting anywhere near that top table, not by a long, long shot – longer even than your longest train journeys, Ralph.
I have to rush, so please excuse any faux pas.
H H
What a fabulous post PB.
100% Spot on.
Pensionerbhoy,
Good post and I hear what you’re saying, but it is all about the Champions league, if we were in the groups every single season, the club will be able to attract better players and bring money into the club that will secure the club.
Players are overpaid and it saddens me that this is how the game is going.
For me your team is about your colours and the shirt on your back, not money.
You just have to look at occasions in the Champions league when we have beaten the best in Europe, look at the atmosphere when we beat Manchester United and Barcelona…..that’s how Celtic park should be every season and the fans should demand it. HH
I tend to agree with Charlie. Franco what you mean is win lose or draw and yet at this stage for us in the CL, it would be lose, lose or occasionally draw. Then we would all be baying for the board to be sacked, the manager to be sacked and the players to be sacked. If we can build a decent settled side, gain experience in the Europa league and make it to the knockout rounds, we will gain valuable experience for next years attempt to qualify for the CL. By they way there are big boys in the Europa league to test our mettle against. CL is now a moot point. Lets deal with what we are in and still alive in. short of an oligarch or middle eastern sheik deciding that the east end of Glasgow is where they would like to spend $300m or so, we will be following the approach we have today and trying to punch above our weight. That means win everything in Scotland and get to knockout stages in CL or EL
Spot on BB we have to approach this in a sensible manner otherwise you are in danger of unravelling all you have achieved.
Anyone who thinks our performance in the CL in Lennys last Season was good enough needs to step back and see it for what it was.
We scraped in past a very mediocre side in The Sheep Killers only to be pumped into last spot in the Group.
If that’s your idea of success in Europe you can keep it.
I watched Barca destroy us through slitted fingers I actually was praying for the ref to blow 30 minutes before time it was that bad.
What did the side gain from that experience?
Fuck all.
The Board on the other hand pocketed another lump sum to pay off a lump of the Co-Op then spent the rest on replacing the players that left.
Celtic have no Interest in Pumping millions into a side that MIGHT COMPETE in the CL they know better sides than us have failed to do so and with bigger budgets.
Once the dust settles at Ibrox and a return to some sort of reality then maybe you might just see a wee peak in spending that enables us to remain dominant in Scotland?
Time will tell.
Btw £5m on a 21 year old CB is a sign something has changed this seems to have been glossed over by many.
We haven’t spent that sort of dough on a player since we signed Scott Brown.
Wait till Jan see what comes of the Window I think there might be a wee suprise in the Stocking.
Meanwhile we are whee we are and we should embace the challenge just the same.
As stated some good sides in our group and beyond so plenty to get excited about.
Ralph
My comment was longer than your train journey so I think your pal from Bishopbriggs chucked it out in one of the tunnels.
H H
It appeared above PB and was well worth the wait.
Cracking post sir.
Loved the article, miss u when u don’t give an article. Hope all is well with the family.
Quote ‘are the ties sale or return’
Having watched the team live, I do not understand why we do not stick with Tierney in SPFL, also he should rest Brown, especially before Europa.
Delilah speaks a good game but he still has to prove how good he is, two attempts for the Champions League, no joy. Lenny and we Gordy did better.
Let’s hope things improve and last weekends game was not down to an inept Dundee.
The majority of games this season we have contrived to fling Away the lead.
ok so based on these comments are we forever going to accept failure to qualify for the groups as every new manager is going to be given 3 years at getting qualification???? come on guys, we have a champions league stadium, a champions league support and a champions league infrasructure….. we wont get any better unless we get there!!!! remember the lesson psg gave tommy burns side? and how well we played that season after they humped us? cmon to fuck i cant accept our fans settling for this garbage!!!! STOP ACCEPTING SECOND BEST!!!
bgbhoy,
This malaise is where this board want us, they want us to prepare to fail, because they refuse to go the extra mile.
No one is accepting failure all we are doing is getting real about where our Club is right now at this moment in time.
The fact you have a Big Stadium and aLarge fanbase has fuck all to do with the fact our National League is under funded,under valued and underperforms regularly in Europe.
You have to cut your cloth accordingly bud otherwise like Leeds,Parma,Rangers you end up in shit state.
We very nearly did in 1994 in case it slipped your memory.
I fail to see anyone accepting second best. I see everyone wanting to get to CL or EL knockout stages. What we are missing is a champions league team. We have had a couple of decent forays punching above our weight in the CL. A team that makes a major impact on the CL is a team that costs a lot of money. There are some strange ideas that we will be able to compete at the top table if we had a different manager or a different board and certainly different players. Folks, we play in Scotland, very few people pay to watch Scottish football, so TV money is pitiful. So we are not at the top table of football finance and unable to hire the kind of manager or players that would make any real impact in the CL on a regular basis. Would I live a team like that of course I would. Let’s live in our reality and set expectations realistically. Win everything in Scotland regularly and get to knockout stages of CL or EL if we fail to qualify for CL and maybe with some luck get to a semi or with a lot of luck a final!! Now I’m off into wish list land.
How much TV money do Maribor get, or Malmo?
It’s not just money that matters, it is tactical knowledge, European experience and the ability to motivate and drive players.
I have seen little from Deila in any of these departments.
Deila’s Champions league record…played 3 Lost 3!
3 opportunities to qualify, three failures that is!
Abject failure!
In a nutshell, spot on.
Again spot on BB.
None of what we are seeing or doing is ‘second best’. We have a team that can play well and entertain. We have a manager with vision. He and our team will get better together. We have decent centre halves who actually belong to us, who won’t have to be sold and can only get better. In my many years of supporting Celtic I have never seen so many good and promising players (many of them Scottish) who have such a future. I have enjoyed not having the FOD around. It has given us some freedom from the MSM Old Firm bullshit. When Sevco come lurching into town, they will not be a factor in our success. If we get more money from them being around, so be it. For once, we can outspend them and I think we have spent wisely. Taking a bunch of young players and improving them will give us a chance in Europe once we get there. My Gaelic is not good but doesn’t ‘An Dealbh Mor’ mean something like “The Big Picture?” Give it time. Meanwhile, we can support our bhoys one match at a time. Johansen? He was our best man on the pitch last year and I think he is getting there again. Against Raith, at least he scored. I’ll take that. When he’s not on form, we have Rogic.
Likewise, everybody lay off wee Forrest.He’s the most exciting player we have. Deila is bringing out the best in him.
Work in progress, just like life. How come I’m one of the oldest farts around this forum and have more patience than you young whippersnappers?
I know, I should have gone to Specsavers!
Come qualifiers next year we won’t have needed to sell anybody and will have a young fit team who might have played 50-60 games as a unit. I also can see us getting a good run in the Europa League. We might get to the last 16 or last 8.
I was against Ronny at the beginning of the year. Now I happily support him. He turned out not to be Mowbray at all!
I was against Ronny at the beginning of LAST year but changed when we made progress in the New Year 2015. I now think we will keep progressing.
Caption: “Rangers directors approach former Afghan strongman Hamid Karzai for investment”
First up Ralph I’m from sunny Leith which I suppose is part of Edinburgh and being a bit over fifty, in fact a good bit over fifty I still have all my teeth, we’ll mostly. I know we would all love to see the Tic in the cl but I for one would hate to see the team badly beaten. When we play in the spl it’s relatively, or should be, easy for us. Then we have to go up to a much higher level to compete with the Europeans. When you watch Celtic in the early stages against top clubs we find it hard because the pace of the game is different to our league. Players take time to adjust to this. Possession of the ball is also crucial, we must get better at keeping it in Europe or else. It’s not so bad at home because the quality is not there. The newest team in the epl will get about 90 million in TV money this season, their stadium only holds about twelve thousand. A Mickey Mouse club earning cash we can only dream about. It is therefore very difficult for us to compete in a sport where only money talks. When we had the quality street kids coming through we were able to do it at the highest level. I can’t see that happening again. Getting the money from the cl is great but what happens to it? Sod all as far as I can see.
HH
last time i checked maribor and malmo where nowhere near us in terms of finance, im sorry but i just cant get over these 2 failures and i have no patience, totally respect the opinion of other supporters and dont be kidded i would love to be proved wrong because that means celtic have succeded but at the moment i just dont see it!!!
Perhaps you could find out the running costs of both Maribor and Malmo then see what percentage of that goes on players?
I shall repeat this again we are not buying high grade players for our money we are buying young potential and we are still having to fork out large sums by comparison on wages.
I can’t understand how celtic fans always turn a negative into a positive cl is A must for a club like celtic Evan if we do get a few bad results Evan in defeat there are lessons to be learned and the fact we are in it will make it easier to bring in better players also mega money does not guarantee success look at man city but a club like celtic with its support and infant structure should be in the CL and I would then look at getting out of group stage a bonus
Should read infa
Infrastructure!
“P.G.TIPS all round then? “
We develop our own players (most of whom do not stand out when on loan)and sell them on like McGeady if they make it. Maybe we should examine the youth teams system which does win nearly everything every year only to watch as we think about Carlton Cole.
Also, how does Collins and Kennedy hitting 30 yard passes to each other for 10 minutes help with the warm up ?…(unless they are modelling how to do it ?) Collins miscues it into the first eleven warm up…is RD even aware they are doing this ?
Was impressed by Dundee doing a wee warm up before the second half but they were as abject as we were good.
Tam good man having most of your teeth left and living in Leith 🙂 Quite a feat. I did the first year of my apprenticeship at a place called EDETA right down on the docks. Fond memories
The Pussies of Edmiston Drive
Starring Leonardo Di Caprio as Chuckles Green
Wee question for you all:
If Celtic had gone out of Business in 94 and became no more how many on here would have followed (for example)an Est Fife,Alloa or a Morton if they had been your local side instead?
My local outfit would have been Morton and yes I would have Supported them in Celtics absence had that transpired.
It’s only the holding company that dies, Celtic would have survived!
You haven’t answered my question neither has anyone else for that matter?
if my memory and understanding of 1994 was correct we did not nearly go out the game speanding vast somes of money buying quality players… tony cascarino, stuart slater, carl muggleton….. we had a board unable to move with the times and unable to generate income and also stealing money from the fans… knowone is asking to spend millions upon millions on players to get to the group stage, just some DECENT investment… and malmo team cost 2million, ours was 22 MILLION!!!!!!!!!! so thats a huge gulf in finiance,just that our manager was outdone by a manager that knew what he was doing… the same manager lennons team beat 5-0 on agg…
Morton beat Celtic 1-0 what was the gulf in class and finances when that happened?
When St Mirren pumped us 4-1 what was the financial gulf then?
When Celtic beat Barca what was the Financial Gulf not too mention chasm in class when we did?
These results happen ffs it’s football deal with it.
So in essence what we had was a badly flawed business plan executed by greedy arseholes who could not see past their own needs let alone the next week.
Skip forward to 2012…
Our biggest rivals and biggest cash generator go bang chasing pipe dreams and moonbeams using a fatally flawed business plan that could not see past their own ego and self importance let alone next set of accounts.
2012 was aknee in the bollocks financially to every Club in Scotland but particularly our own because like it or not our games are what kept it afloat and able to attract financial support.
We have a large overdraft at the time somewhere in the region of £30m that was a game changer.
Hence the change of approach and instant drive to prudent spending by the Board.
This in turn had an effect on quality we simply could not afford to sustain the same model without them/it.
All of that aside shite results have always happened it’s the nature of the game we love.
1994, our board did not blow money on transfers, just failed to move with the times
It was a flawed business plan.
MALMO 2MILLION SQUAD COST, CELTIC 22MILLION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BroxburnBhoy, don’t know if you ever went or knew about the coburg bar, a real mini louden. Would have lost more than your teeth in there if they knew were a Tim.
HH
its not about spending money, its about having someone in charge who knows the european game
Those types cost more money and guarantee nothing.
No chance of me supporting any other club other than Celtic.
I was born a Celt and I will die a Celt.
Yes yes we know the galleries will love that old chestnut but back to 94 We go bang and it’s end of What do you do?
Simply walk away from football because Celtic don’t exist or carry on enjoying going perhaps backing your local team?
Do you think what you think is what everyone else thinks?
Seems so.
Not sure if that’s a serious question?
If it is then the answer would be a categoric no.
How you came to that conclusion is beyond me seeing as I have just spent 12 months on here defending the Manager and debating with umpteen different folk with differing views?
Or did all that manage to slip past you unnoticed as you came to your conclusion?
In reply to your meaningless question, I would retain my enjoyment of watching football, but I would most certainly not follow another club.
Fair do’s.
Yes I remember it well Tam. Still there I believe. A den of orcs.
Bgbhoy – I think it is about spending money I’m sorry to say. Look at the teams who succeed in the CL on a regular basis. 1st their leagues are awash with cash and they probably 3 teams qualify automatically. Second they can spend multi millions every year on star managers and star players. Here are the CL winners from the last few years Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Barcelona, Inter Milan and Man Utd. The runners up list looks pretty impressive too. Someone who knows the European game inside out and back to front will be unable to make a dent in this pattern. The occasional Maribor or Malmo end up as whipping boys
im not asking us to win it, just to qualify, and for that we do not need to spend millions, hust like malmo and maribor
Not support Celtic?!!! I have watched a lot of local football as a neutral because I love the game. The only other team I could ever support would be the Hibees because their heritage is similar to mine and my favourite auntie used to live near Easter Road. I’ve always had a soft spot for the Hibees and like them to win except against us. Live without Celtic…I don’t think I realised how close we came to extinction back in 94. Here’s tae the Bunnet and a those of us who demonstrated against the Board. We cant let that happen again.
Devoy,
Fergus is another one who could have done more, in terms of puting quality on the park and keeping what quality we had already!
This is correct but he done what he set out to do and most of us are thankful that he did.
Had he not done so then my wee question becomes a reality.
to a degree were allowing it to happen again!!!
Ralph, Apologies, I mildly try to wind you up sometimes about not posting every day. Didn’t realise you had a family illness.
No worries. I was just explaining why it wasn’t appearing.
Monti & Charlie get back on.
😉
https://youtu.be/bzl_l5gC5is
Funkyy,
It’s not personal at all, I just don’t believe that the board are willing to take the club forward, Lawwell admitted Deila was a gamble and we have missed out on the CL two years in a row with this ‘ gamble ‘!
Your entitled to your own view Monti I h=just don’t happen to share all of it.
But then I don’t dismiss it either as I too feel the money we do have could be spent alot better.
Buying dross like Boerrigter who already had previous for constant injury for what was it £3m?
We must have blown £10m on duds and dud wages in the past 3 years alone?
I would rahter we spent £10m on 2 players of decent proven ability than 6 players of unproven ability at the top level.
I do believe the Board could do more but I understand now why it is they haven’t.
Our Domestic situation has been brutal now for 3 years theres no getting round it it has cost us millions nomatter what flannel Lawwell has come out with.
First, a big welcome back Ralph. I hereby make a public confession…I was half way down the posts when the penny dropped and I suddenly got the joke about the lorry driver!!! I’m…..a……wee…..bit….slow!!!!
Second, I’m beginning to suspect Ronny took a shit in Monti´s (and others) swimming pool. It’s almost personal with some guys, an obsession with “sack Ronny”. They keep quoting the difference in team value between Malmo and Celtic as evidence that we should have won..but conveniently ignore the fact that Malmo were about 25 games into their season while we were about 4 or 5 into ours.
I prefer a manager who has a long term plan for the club, one who’s trying to bring in young Scottish talent while balancing buying good foreign imports and results.
As for those who have grown snobbish and spoiled about the value of trophies in Scotland…just ask Aberdeen, Dundee Utd and Hearts if they think winning the league isnae of any interest to them!!!
Only the players who were on the park against Malmo know the answer to why they didn’t perform and I hope they all have clear consciences about it. No matter what grievance, complaint, moan, or grump you’ve got against a manager you go onto that park and you give your all…they didn’t do that.
I have said before, Ronny needed to borrow Ferguson’s “hairdryer” for the half-time team talks…..I don’t believe even the mega stars at Man Utd would have dared to not give their best knowing that he was waiting for them. So I hope Ronny has put down a marker that he’s the boss and it’s his way or the highway.
Yes, I agree that some things at boardroom level could and should be done better…but I don’t think making Ronny the scapegoat is gonna move us forwards..in fact it’ll be a step backwards as a new guy then has to find his feet, make the players change to his new tactical style etc etc and all the while have a baying pack of fans demanding he qualify for the Champions League in a UEFA game that has its dice loaded against us.
Remember, when those around you begin to panic, that’s the time to keep a cool head. I honestly feel we are headed forward, bad results noted, and if we just bite the bullet and keep the heid we’ll get to the promised land, and with a team that can compete not just make up the numbers (and we’ll get the CL money as well Monti!!!) HH
Monti I totally agree with what you have to say regarding board their running the club in to ground fans say look we have no debt we have a young team, we spend money we don’t have we will end up like the Huns blah blah blah.
Bottom line is the fans are no turning up anymore because their fed up putting their hard earned money in to the club and getting nothing back, every year our best players get sold and are not getting replaced with players of the same quality so were never going to move forward, it’s always going to be one step forward two steps back.
If the board don’t change their game plan then in a couple years the stadium will be half empty, what will happen then ? No good players left to sell to balance the books, season book sales at a all time low.
Celtic football club should always be playing at the top table of european football were one of the biggest clubs about with the stadium the fan base over the world no one could argue that.
Sadly the board don’t think like that and they all claim to be celtic supporters and a couple of them are billionaires but can’t put the hands in their pockets and give us at least on e top player that can put bums on seats.
And to anyone that thinks it’s all good with the direction were going in should look at the stands.
With out fans football is nothing….
Geo,
Exactly and the fans need to force change
Yes Monti am east end born and bread a stay in parkhead even the die hard celtic supporters are pissed off with the way were going.
I have nothing against Ronnie one thing about him he knows how to make a player better Griffiths and Bitton is a perfect example, but Bitton will be the next one to go, pure guys pissing against the wind he will never get to build a team aslong as lawwell and co are running the show.
Geo…that´s the part that I agree with you and Monti…that the board could do things better to help the manager, instead of letting our “developed” players head South. But I think Ronny is trying to nurture more Scottish lads with a view to them being the foundation for the team for the upcoming years, I mean they’re more likely to stay at the club than guys like Jump the Dyke and Wanyama who, no matter how good they are, always have (with their agents) the intention of using Celtic as a shop window to get themselves noticed by the EPL. He’ll still look for quality foreign imports, but not with the hurried pressure that he has had to before…part of the reason that we bought keech like Bonerupture and Pukey. Imagine the day when the core of a settled Celtic team is a group who came through the club (or other Scottish clubs)having experience of the Europa League and Champions League qualifiers complemented by a few foreign bred talents who recognize that the team is primed to compete at Champions League level and are not going to be tempted to go elsewhere after 2 seasons.That’s what I believe is in Ronny’s mind. We just need a wee bit of luck right now, or at least less of the bad luck (goalkeeping errors, good goals disallowed, man sent off etc). I honestly feel we´re on the right road..it’s a bumpy one at the moment, but these next 5 games in the Europa will give us a better picture of our progress. HH.
Great diary. Fantastic posts. HAIL HAIL.