It was the headline that decided me. “Celtic Won’t Say It But The League Is Over” is how it reads on the news aggregator sites. And it’s from the BBC. Who in God’s name at the BBC is talking guff like that?” was what I thought.
I clicked on the link and it’s from the “Scottish football podcast” with some comedian, a Celtic fan site rep and Peter Grant. I have no idea which of them uttered that statement – the comedian, I would hope – because I didn’t listen to it.
But it’s nonsense. The reason nobody at Celtic will say that the league is over is that – surprise! – the league isn’t over. There are 23 games left to go, and the lead is a mere nine points. In twenty games time, if the lead is still nine points, it still won’t be technically over. Talk to me in twenty-one games from now if we have a nine-point lead.
Because then it would actually be over.
Nobody inside Celtic thinks this way. This is how titles are lost from positions of strength, and within the walls at our ground they are well aware of it.
In 2010-11 it was Celtic who were miles behind in November, and clowns like Keevins called that one. Just last year they had us out of the league race by October. Ange himself shot that down. What do you reckon he would say if someone suggested to him that the league race was over and that everyone knew it but no-one at Celtic would admit it?
I’ve seen league races thrown away by teams who got complacent because they thought it was in the bag. One of the earliest memories I have of us winning a tight league race was in 1985 as Hearts tossed it away on the last day, and they thought they had it in the bag.
We aren’t nearly champions yet. I think we can psychologically kill them off in January, but even then nobody will declaring it over, nobody at Celtic anyway. This one has a long way to go, and whilst I am supremely confident that’s only because I know that nobody at the club is. They have to act like this will go to the wire.
And that’s what will guarantee that it doesn’t.
I’m pretty certain that it was Peter Grant that said it, and although that isn’t the case we all know what he means. Barring a complete collapse by us, the 9 point gap is not going to be overturned and we are too focused. too determined and too good to let that lead slip. What Peter was saying was that Celtic are far too professional for such offhand bluster, and he’s right.
Agree with Johnny. That 9 point gap isn’t going to be bridged.
Look at it this way, there’s 25 games left. Even assuming Rangers go 23-1-1 — which would be a remarkable run for them given their form and quality of their squad — that would mean at best that they’ve gone 1-1-1 against us and 22-0-0 against everyone else. If that happens, Celtic need to drop 10 points against non-Rangers opponents in 22 games. Yeah, that’s not happening, not with the way Ange has his team drilled and with a slower schedule the rest of the season with far fewer midweek games.
Beware of VAR it’s going to cost us points along the way.
Already teams know that if they force a ‘ball to hand’ inside our box they are guaranteed a penalty and that they won’t be punished for the same situation in their own box.Throw in the Agricultural tackles that won’t be punished correctly whilst we lose a body from the squad.
Or repeat offenders not being cautioned till after their 4th or 5th foul or when it doesn’t matter to the games outcome while our defenders and midfielders get a yellow early in the game for no offence thereby neutering their effectiveness for the rest of the game.
They are desperate now, Sevco after 10 years of debt are near to breaking even and the so called mystery ‘investors’ are looking for their dosh back.
Sevco also need to get their finances in order now that EUFA has them on their watch list this means cash is needed fast. HMRC, Scot Gov long term emergency Covid loan £5M & change, Litigation ( Hummel/ Elite Aussie Cup
Continued
Advance payment clawback) between £15M/£20M of actual and likely debt that needs to be moved of the books to comply with EUFA’s new Eligibility Criteria.
They ABSOLUTELY need to win the league this year to guarantee Champions League £30M windfall for just turning up. They can’t afford to leave it to chance and a qualifying round.
Remember they were convinced about Squinty’s House of Collapsing Cards forecast for Celtic last year and that they would win their second league flag and leave us behind.
Their whole business model was around that outcome in advance of the Champions League restructuring planned for 23/24. However Big Ange, blessed be his name, fluxed them up big style so the call went out and the SFA acquiesced in ‘Brotherly’ fashion and introduced VAR mid season. Do you honestly think that they would have done that had SEVCO been leading in the table and we were toiling.
The FIX is in Big Time this season and our Board as usual will do Sweet FF All about it other than issue their usual gutless “ we were surprised to …” emails amid their “we have opened back channel dialogue with…” utterances to try to convince the fans that they are dealing with it.
What do you think Big Ange’s reaction will be if we are stiffed for the league title and the Board do nothing about it? Like most of us in an employment situation like that he WILL WALK. He is too principled to do otherwise.
Beware of VAR it’s going to cost us points along the way.
Already teams know that if they force a ‘ball to hand’ inside our box they are guaranteed a penalty and that they won’t be punished for the same situation in their own box.Throw in the Agricultural tackles that won’t be punished correctly whilst we lose a body from the squad.
Or repeat offenders not being cautioned till after their 4th or 5th foul or when it doesn’t matter to the games outcome while our defenders and midfielders get a yellow early in the game for no offence thereby neutering their effectiveness for the rest of the game