{"id":2219,"date":"2013-03-12T08:06:51","date_gmt":"2013-03-12T08:06:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/etims.net\/?p=2219"},"modified":"2013-03-12T08:06:51","modified_gmt":"2013-03-12T08:06:51","slug":"the-way-i-see-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/etims.net\/?p=2219","title":{"rendered":"The Way I See It.."},"content":{"rendered":"

In response to Desi’s 11 thoughts<\/a>\u00a0by PensionerBhoy
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I have been very quiet over the last week.\u00a0 The reason is simple.\u00a0 I have been struggling to work out how to formulate a sensible and controlled response to the most numbing few days in my many years following football. \u00a0I still have not come to terms with the consequences for all Scottish football clubs but even more so, for all Scottish football supporters \u2013 except one lot, perhaps.\u00a0 I have found it difficult to expend any of the little energy I have left to commenting on what is nothing short of a major footballing disaster.\u00a0 Perhaps my day will come but I am not about to hold my breath.\u00a0 However, I wanted to add my bit to Desi’s very well expressed summary of the season gone and his pointers for the one to come.\u00a0 The thoughts I have written down relate to Celtic alone as they are the only club currently worthy of my attention.<\/p>\n

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There is not much to argue about in what Desi says.\u00a0 However, like some others, I have a different view on loanees.\u00a0 I am not over bothered about taking players on loan and given we are, by accident or design, a “selling club”, what is there to lose by tasting first.\u00a0 It can save the cost of a very expensive but badly cooked meal.\u00a0 I guess if we net some duds it makes us question the whole loan system as it appears a waste of time.\u00a0 However, it should be remembered that it can produce exceptional talents like Fraser Foster who can be tested in advance for a relatively low outlay.\u00a0 Even if players like Fraser are few and far between, I still think loans have a certain recruitment value for the club and I would certainly not dismiss them out of hand.<\/p>\n

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\"Miku\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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Alternatively, perhaps the club should put more effort into testing youth players at a higher level.\u00a0 I would certainly like to see some of the youth squad getting more of a chance even though I am not a fan of \u201csnippety\u201d integration (a chance now and then).\u00a0 If a young player is good enough or as good as e.g. Dylan McGeouch and Tony Watt, then blood them with some decent runs in the first team.\u00a0 I have always believed the old adage, \u201cif good enough then old enough\u201d.\u00a0 I fail to understand the cotton wool scenario, a relatively modern notion, of introducing young talent so slowly that they are often capable of little else than collecting their pensions by the time they are deemed ready \u2013 a slight exaggeration which is a privilege of age.\u00a0 By then it can be too late for them to actually flourish.\u00a0 How much good home grown talent has slipped through to either other clubs (could it be argued that McGowan is as good as Kayal, for example?) or to oblivion because they have not been given the opportunity soon enough for progression at a higher level.\u00a0 I know the club wants success for both the team and for the young players so must avoid unnecessary risks for both, but surely losing such players too soon is more than a questionable strategy.\u00a0 Besides, if youngsters should eventually prove unsuitable then releasing them is a lot less costly than trying to simply get rid of big money flops.\u00a0 If ever there was a good time to test the theory it is now.<\/p>\n

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\"mulgrew-watt\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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I have another bone of contention and that is Neil’s tendency to use pick and mix far too often.\u00a0 Desi hinted at an aspect of this in the \u201cLocation, location, location\u201d section of his article.\u00a0 My complaint is that the same set of players rarely if ever play consecutive games and even less in the same positions.\u00a0 I can not be sure off hand what the statistics are, but I doubt there have been more than 4 games in a row with the same players in the same positions.\u00a0 I accept that injuries and other unforeseen circumstances can interfere with continuity but with Neil it would appear that continuity interferes with experimentation.\u00a0 It is time for settlement rather than exploration.\u00a0 Take off the buckskin and the moccasins Neal and put on the civvies and the spats.\u00a0 If my memory serves me well, and that could be easily challenged, I always thought that blending players or moulding a team was key to success.\u00a0 I fail to understand how chopping and changing and this \u201cevil\u201d innovation of squad rotation can help improve performance.\u00a0 When I was fit enough to play and when Celtic had its great run of successes in the sixties and seventies getting to know the mates you were playing with was crucial (refer to the continued relationships of The Lions).\u00a0 Today some players hardly get the chance to shake hands before a replacement is in.\u00a0 Ah! so that is what the Huddle is for.<\/p>\n

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\"Celtichuddle-1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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Speaking of injuries, as I did somewhere above, I am sure, something needs to be done about the constant number of “break downs”.\u00a0 I am not speaking here of criminal damages inflicted at Murderwell or other slaughterhouses, but rather the ham strings, the niggles and the felt somethings that are daily in the post.\u00a0 It appears two more fragile parcels have returned from Turin.\u00a0 I only hope the physios are not on piece work or the wages bill at Parkhead will be getting dangerously close to the record breaking one at a certain SFL3 club, if all is to be believed.\u00a0 Perhaps the training guru from GAA, Jim McGuinness, will bring some welcome insight into where we are “off course” on this.\u00a0 The length of recovery time is somewhat worrying too.\u00a0 That points to either poor rehabilitation techniques, inadequate facilities, ineffective equipment, inefficient medical staff or lots of wimps or shirkers among the fallen.\u00a0 It seems ridiculous that any of these should be potential reasons given the supposedly \u201cstate of the art\u201d set up at Lennoxtown, though there have been comments about some of the various training pitches actually contributing to the problem.\u00a0 We are also told that the physio and medical staff are top drawer and that the feeding regime is first class.\u00a0 So why do we have so many lingerers rather than happy bunnies keen to return to the fray?\u00a0 Whatever the cause it needs investigated and remedied pretty pronto.\u00a0 While the season overall has been fine given the upheavals in Scottish football over the last two years, if changes are required, this is the best period we have ever had to do so without any great unrecoverable negative impact.<\/p>\n

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\"gary-hooper-injured-versus-kilmarnock-888796838\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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I have a few concerns for next season.\u00a0 It is essential we reassess the quality and contribution of our playing staff.\u00a0 Like Desi says, we look to have a first team squad big enough to have taken on Rommel while Monty and the Eighth took a nap.\u00a0 The problem is they would probably have lost then too.\u00a0 Numbers do not necessarily deliver success.\u00a0 Just ask the Persians what Gerard Butler did to them with quite a few thousand less.\u00a0 Mind you, that could have had more to do with the quality of Gerard’s acting than the quality of the Persian soldiers.\u00a0 But quality is what counts.\u00a0 There are far too many players in the current pool and of those an excessive number are dead wood.\u00a0 A clear-out should be on the cards and my concern is there will not be, especially as we appear certain to lose a fair few of our talented players.\u00a0 The worry is that finding replacements will supersede the need to streamline.\u00a0 For me it is essential too that Lenny cuts the umbilical cord that has attached him rather unnaturally to certain players.\u00a0 He seems to have created some favourites who appear to receive preferential selection no matter their form.\u00a0 On the one hand he threatens retaliation for poor performances but, on the other, continues to give certain players regular places in spite of it.\u00a0 Empty threats do not become the man and do the team no favours.\u00a0 I know I will be controversial here, but I am not so sure that James Forrest is not in this category.\u00a0 To me, he is more a media creation, like Owen and Rooney elsewhere in the past, than an actual “exceptional player.\u00a0 I watched James a lot as I followed the reserve games when they were regularly on Setanta and I was not as impressed as the commentators or the football pundits.\u00a0 I saw then and still see now a player with pretty good skill who, unfortunately, can “go missing” quite often and that is of no benefit to a mediocre team that relies more on effort than ability.\u00a0 That is the team we are, one to be proud of but still a mediocre one for all that.\u00a0 In mitigation and for the sake of balance, I am old; I am “blind” and I have seen some true Paradise “greats” in my day.<\/p>\n

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\"James+Forrest-jesus\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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Another worry is that we fans, because of the terrific current season, will have expectations that are beyond the present team.\u00a0 We must see what was achieved in Europe this season as the exception and not the norm, at least for a few years yet.\u00a0 Achievements are and will be limited by the very environment in which Celtic operates.\u00a0 Until that changes whether within or without, success at the highest level will remain a dream.\u00a0 That is not to say we did not deserve any of it this season and, in my opinion, on another two days we could have taken Juventus and gone further.\u00a0 I believe the defeats were not so much by a far superior team, (better than Barca?), but more the result of a relatively poor team selection and weak tactics, combined with a drop in individual performances and, above all, inexplicable refereeing decisions in the first leg.\u00a0 I will never be convinced we lacked the potential.\u00a0 Lenny’s talk of class difference is for me reminiscent of the British attitude towards European teams going back a few decades.\u00a0 Then Europeans were regarded as invincible till a certain Mr. Stein proved the concept to be totally false and the result of a lack of confidence rather than the inability to win.\u00a0 On our day we could and would have beaten Juventus in both games.\u00a0 The problem is it is only for the moment “on our day” that, I believe, we will succeed in European competitions.\u00a0 The same could be said of our domestic performances too, though we are much more often \u201con our day\u201d in these.\u00a0 Unfortunately, we are not consistently so.\u00a0 If you doubt me, just look at some of our league and cup performances against normally easily beatable opposition.\u00a0 So, I am saying that the fans may need to get used to “on our day” performances for that is the kind of team we have.\u00a0 That does not mean we can not have another roller-coaster.\u00a0 After all, The Lions won “on their day” in 1967, if you know what I mean.\u00a0 This coming season, even if we should fail to reach the knock out stages in the CL, we should still enjoy the ride because there is nothing like it no matter how short lived.\u00a0 We had an extended trip this year that was as enjoyable as it was unexpected.\u00a0 We should be happy with the same next year but still be ready to enjoy even a short adventure should it turn out as such.\u00a0 Above all we can hold our heads high for having done the club and Scottish football proud given our original \u201cno hopers\u201d status.<\/p>\n

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\"Messi,<\/a><\/p>\n

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Finally, we Celtic fans have something that no club can surpass and something that should be the greatest prize of all.\u00a0 WE ARE THE GREATEST.\u00a0 Everywhere we go, even into the troubled dens of the Juve “bad boys”, we win the hearts, minds, admiration and gratitude of all.\u00a0 I know it can seem monotonous, but who can not feel the tug on the heart strings reading the comments in the Italian and in other press, the MSM excepted of course, about the Celtic support in Turin.\u00a0 We may not see the big cup glistening in the trophy cabinet for quite some time but our unique behaviour and generosity of spirit will shine brightly in the eyes, not only of football fans, but of people the length and breadth of the continent and beyond.\u00a0 Give us the same next season and the we will joyously and proudly accept our fate.<\/p>\n

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H H<\/p>\n

Pensionerbhoy<\/p>\n

\"rowley_1024\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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What’s \u00a0your thoughts? \u00a0Stick them in the Comments section below or mail an article to etims.contact@googlemail.com<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In response to Desi’s 11 thoughts\u00a0by PensionerBhoy \u00a0 I have been very quiet over the last week.\u00a0 The reason is simple.\u00a0 I have been struggling…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2220,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/etims.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/large_detail_old_man_at_bar_high_resolution_desktop_1083x881_hd-wallpaper-497912.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2J7If-zN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2219"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2219"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2219\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2223,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2219\/revisions\/2223"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}