After tonights draw against Kilmarnock, which might I add could have been worse, seeing as all of a sudden we have become shadows of our former selves, I have discovered some outlandish but sensational news.
Sensational news aside for the moment. Tonight we all expected a win, as we always do. Our possession counted for little much at all and poor Hoopy was brought down to earth badly to add to our growing casualty list.
Killie should be a 3 points in the bag match but now it is a ‘used to be a typical 3 pointer of a result’. We should be entertaining Killie to a football masterclass not a football foot-in-ass.
We cannot but blame our glamourous early dominance in the nursary years of the noughties for our expectations being so highly lasered into our brains that some of the uneducated amongst us in the pubs and paradise now STILL think we “could pish on Barca, messi or not”.
The early noughties spine of the team was immense compared to that of now, even though with Lenny this team is still youthful and developing with Forrest, McGinn, Towell et al but we are lightyears behind the spine of an on form Rab Douglas, Bobo in his prime, Stan Petrov in his wonder years (where I thought he was touching his world class plateau) with Sutty and Henrik levelling it out.
We need to be serious and take a wake up call. Martin O’Neill did well, Strachan of all people succeeded MONs champions league notches by surpassing into the last 16, he won the accolades and some of us still disliked him. Mowbray was the managerial equivilent of leaving your 5 year old in charge of a loaded shotgun and Lenny…I want him to do well.
The glory years seem echelons behind us now and we need to lower our visions, pipe dreams and expectations, but only for a while bhoys.
The economic climate has forced us into signing the cheap but useful and the squad filler type player who has just enough education to perform. We have also again signed the ‘drop into the far east pool’ of players that on the outset looked like money spinners but I disagree with those who try to say that. My reason for disagreement being is the lads we have signed can play some decent football (see Cha and Ki).
The signings we have made or will make will not be packing the wallet weight of those of the McCann years but I am the sort of guy who likes a bargain and if he turns out like a Bobo, Agathe or even, god forgive me for using the lords name in vain, a Henrik no Bhoys fan would find criticism in that and accept these low cost transfers with open arms.
We cannot dwell on the ‘what we had’ and look at the cards we have in our current deck. As for signings? The best signing we could get in January is that we stick to what we have add a slight dash of cheap quality and we will be ok for the title run in.
As for my sensational
news….WE NEED TO KEEP THE BELIEF AND NOT F¤¤K!NG MOAN AT OUR LADS. Its a disease that spreads and destroys their confidence.
Support with pride but not ask to deport them and snide.
Doesnt matter who we get in as there is no will to win in the board and owner of the club. Im starting to worry about us getting second place now…
sniff, sniff…that smell is Hearts halitosis. greyfriars jobby needs some tcp.
I agree totally when you say our pessimism/scepticism is like a disease. The players can feel the bad vibes ringing through the place. Yes, give the club or team an earful when not providing the goods we deserve but it seems its gone beyond that. Celtic at times now feels like a broken home and i wish we’d all pull together and show faith and support to whichever players we have. Half of them may not be good enough, but give them a chance and show appreciation because maybe, just maybe we can witness another Celtic Legend being born.
ripping a squad apart, rebuilding then ripping it apart again only leads to a soulless club. we need time to find our place. the overturn of players means that we have bought in bulk, like, say, throwing a hedgehog at a dartboard in the hope to hit a treble 20.
more of the pricks will miss than hit
I agree that expectations are unreasonably high, considering where we are economically. Tonight, again, the manager and certain members of the team showed their inexperience. Ledley had a howler, Cha’s crossing was inconsistent, the defence was slow and bumbling and we got bullied in midfield in the second half..again. Until we get some strong experienced players at the back and learn how to control the midfield this result is going to be the norm. Regarding Cha, I think Hinkel is a far better player, great crosser of a ball and I can only imagine that he’s being forced out because he’s on decent wages..which is ridiculous. Correct me if I’m wrong, but the player’s not expressed a desire to move on, has he ?
Cha is just the Korean Lee Naylor, Hinkel is a far better player than that charlatan will ever be. no wonder he was hanging around the arse end of the bundesliga.
hinkel has expressed no desire to move but it’s been made clear that he is wanted off the wage bill. fuckin cock lawwell.
Yes I agree with comments above but we are languishing below a team who do nor have the resources that we have. If we do not make a major recovery in the second half of the season,we are to look like an ordinary provincial team heading into the lesser European comp….just not good enough for Celtic
we are provincial team deserving of being zooropa league class ach, we are not even that.
Yet another inept display. Forwards huffing and puffing and a defence which can allow a player to score when it’s 3v1!.
We need to deplete the present squad and retain just a core of maybe 15 to twenty players max.
I would accept the results we are experiencing if we were playing a nucleus of our reserve/under 19 players with perhaps a promise of things to come.
All I can see is a load of mediocre rejects from all over the world,I still believe that there is enough talent in our youth ranks who can eventually produce the goods.
What have we got to loose by giving them an extended run ?.
We are paying some of the present squad a small fortune in wages and for no return.
If we are going to lose this league,and that is looking increasingly likely, we might as well do so in trying to build something for the future.
Seems to me we have no future with the current crop of (imposters,)mercenaries
mercenaries have morals and goals. some of this lot are just working their ticket…..and who wouldn’t?
We have been kidding ourselves or at least I have been that some of the players we have are better than they actually are. My thoughts on the players that took to the field last night and in no way a knee jerk reaction.
Forster – 3rd choice at his own club, number one at Celtic (says it all)
Cha – No better than Wilson and I’d like to see Juarez have a run at right back
Lizzy – Hooper apart our best signing
Rogne – Excellent prospect
Big Dan – As much aerial threat as Shaun Maloney
McGinn – Ok but only OK
Ledley – I don’t see what everyone else does, what is it he does?
Ki – Flatters but like Rogne is an excellent prospect
Forrest – Exceptional young talent that will burdened with expectation all too soon
Hooper – Our best player and now out for the forseeable future
Stokes – Needs Hooper
Murphy – Absolute diddy
McCourt – The only player we have that ever makes me think will create anything on the park with a spark of brilliance.
Brown – Serial disappointer but at least shows spirit and desire if at times misguided.
we are a ragtag rudderless collection of prospects, journeymen and never will be’s. that was on the tin at the start of the season so why anyone expected better is beyond me.
At the start of the season I had no idea how all of these new players would perform as I had seen very little or none of any of them apart from Stokes. To say that was what was on the tin is extremely harsh.
the markets we shop in and the bulk buying means that out of the numbers we sign only 2 or 3 will be good enough long term. danny was greeted like a saviour, like Jos the year before. a look at his recorded screamed lower european journeyman and that’s what we got.
So what our are major weaknesses that Lennon seems to look over and need perfecting?
We have addressed the team quality but could it be the tactics etc that are also adding to the de-formulation of any team cohesion forming consistancy at all???
It’s a mixture of rookie players and rookie manager.
Celtic are not good enough. This is not disease ridden pessimism but realism. There are few players in the squad who should be there and as Harper says those who merit a shot are only prospects. There is more chance of third than winning the league.
Call me a pessimist if you must but we will be in exactly the same position if not worse come this March. I bet calls are being placed to Messrs Larsson and O’Neill as we speak to ride over the hill and save the day. It ain’t gonna happen. Quality will not come to Scotland and even if it did Celtic won’t pay for it. To think that Stokes and Murphy can carry the forward line is ridiculous. Both are lower level Championship players at best. They cannot handle playing for Celtic. Maloney is permanently injured and not interested. He should never have been allowed back in the door.
As for the defence, dear, dear. Big Dan is hopeless in his own box and even worse in the opponents. What does he bring to the team. Cha is nowhere near good enough and just another 30+ guy picking up higher wages than he would get anywhere else.
I could go on and on and sound as if it is just a rant after a bad result (which it would be!). But truth be told our present form has been coming for weeks. Scrambling wins against lesser teams to maintain our run was always going to end. Remember, at the same time ‘the others’ were giving everyone, including us, a goal of a start and beating them. Do you see the present Celtic team coming back from being a goal or two down in the near future? You would have to be a crazed optimist on a permanent trip to believe this. The ‘pessimism’ of the fans has been earned by everyone at Celtic Park.
i was apathetic last night after the result as I didn’t expect anything better. Utretch killed my hopes that this mob was anything other than transitional. our overachievement at the start of the season was papering over the cracks that will take years to sort.
if only we would bankrupt ourselves and hand the manager £28m to spend in an 18 month period.
Yet we are only 2 points behind. Get a grip and keep the scathing scepticism til the new year.
2 points behind in real money, 5 in virtual reality.
frankly neil lennon is not a good coach time for him and a few board members to resign.we will again gift rangers the title.is there anyone out there who can run our club apart from a decent manager is there name names please get this sorted out or we will go down the tube so who is out there to buy or club before its to late ive supported celtic since i was 7 yrs old im now 67
Better the devil you know me feels. No one will buy a vessel listing in Scottish waters.
Total pants all of them , we have a keeper that aint good enough for the under 16’s , a defence that cant defend and a midfield of complete pussys . The front line looked the best of them all with super hooper always looking a danger, but after he went off they looked as bad as the rest, there must of been about 30 balls crossed in last night and rongne was the only one that conected with any of them ,They cant cross,pass,tackle,defend,but apart from that they looked ok !.lol
Celtic messed with my head as it did look like they had worked on set plays but were executing them idiotically. Your comment reminds me of a kit kat advert.
Disclaimer: if you weren’t alive during the 80s that advert will mean nothing.
lennys a god get off his back hes doing his best with a very average squad! He is very slowly building the team back and will sell the tubes in january. We need to start supporting through the not so good times and stop referring to the wonder years because these things turn go in cycles and take time. In 2 years from now we’ll be back in the top 16 of europe with lenny at the helm!
ps: Rangers are a 1 man team and any of you glasgow men should doo in miller’s knee caps if you see him out in glasgow!
Unsure about the god thingy but agree, time, space and understanding.
I hate to hear the moaning once again
When Lennon was unbeaten from last season we were on
A high then he brought in some players and
Many doubted the unknown ” cheaper ones”
Izzy and Hoops who have turned out to be
Bhoys for sure
As for the desire to constantly bring in “Irish”
Players be carefull stokes and Murphy with
Mcginn and McCourt on the wings is not the answer
Looking at given and yet another Irishman from Villa
Not the way to go
McCourt lambasted Forrest last night for not passing
Paddy made several runs into the box with ball and slipped or lost it
Lesley was poor but when he came off for Brown then Ki’s passing went to pooh
Killiie’s mana to man passing was far superior to ours and we as Celtic fans need to stop blaming board and worst of all ran Strachan out of the job with the best ongoing record of present time whereas Mowbray was just a”change”
For the sake of change
We cannot let an under-funded side beat us again
But we cannot continue to sing ” faithful through and through and slag every position on the field.
The stadium was Hallf empty which in turn reduces revenue and also available funds and so the cynical cycle follows
Don’t forget Leeds Utd fall from grace they too had Euro form and regularity
It wasn’t a high, it was nervous tension that the board and us had been duped by the Ginger Guardiola. But, Killie were better than us? We battered them.
Nay my friend I did not anywhere say that Killie were better than us merely that the completed a greater percentage of their passes than we did ….
We had dominance but never pressed it home..we hade perseverance but he went off on a stretcher and I hope for our sake that he s back in less than “six weeks”
Murphy was at the standard that left him on the bench or un-named in England…..Strikers have a main purpose…score goals or get in goal scoring positions….
Stokes really did not provide the much needed “spark” up front (forced substitution) and Paddy ….well we expect a miracle run from him all the time….and he cannot provide that …he was a steal at 100.000 but he is not 100 % effective…sorry that is the truth…he is a great skill to watch on form but when not on form he is no better than the rest…
We have lost that “fear factor” we impose on other clubs they used to come to CP to defend but now they come and have a go……55 years since Killie won there and it almost fell last night ..
Samaras may have been better choice than Murphy but I am a supporter not the manager and since Sammy leaving why put him in the jigsaw as we only have to replace him!!!
Would need to see the passing stats for even that to be confirmed. The 55 year thing will go in my lifetime like all records. Ah, form maybe some players impressive at the begining have just lost their way a bit.
We’re the laughing stock of the league. Kilmarnock were unlucky to not get the 3 pts and, to be fair, credit to them for stout defending and ripping us on the break.
The telling sign for me the last couple of games has been the sheer look of bewilderment from the bench when we concede “that” goal after dominating possession without doing the square root of fuck all with it. Celtic’s problems filter from the board room down and we’re being fucking robbed in the name of appeasing the major shareholders. Lawell and DD have a lot to answer for. DD is no Celtic fan, he’s a smug, selfish bastard. Lennon, Thompson and Mjallby are seriously out their depth. I desperately want these guys to succeed, but I don’t see it happening.
Wildrover, you’re right on the money.
Sean, get a life. Barca humped Celtic off the park in every game but disappointed in front of goal. Even Stevens after the four games was hugely flattering to Celtic and anyone who thinks that Barca were ever “pissed on” is sorely deluded. In 360 minutes of football we made one chance and scored. The rest was desperate defending, some great one off goalkeeping and, most importantly, some ridiculously poor finishing by Ronaldhino and co.
Your right off course. I hear ‘Walter’ has a DVD of that game marked perfect European performance.
Also, we were beating them 2 1 at half time in the last 16 tie. That was a magical 15 mins.