17 Sep 2016 15:24:29
Hi Ed
It's weird. The high of thumping Rangers and the despair at being utterly humbled by Barcelona. I'm not sure what was worse to be honest. The actual scoreline (7-zip) or the manner of the defeat. The lack of belief. The lack of pride. The lack of energy. The lack of anything. We hardly laid a glove on them. Is that an inferiority complex, a lack of leadership, a poor mentality?
I accept that there is a huge gulf in resources. Their up top 3 may never (ever) be equalled in terms of guile., goals, craft, class and all round ability BUT, is there an upside to a 7 (going on 10) to zero annihilation?
More to the point. How do we compete? Can we train harder. run faster. become (wait for it) 24-7 athletes . eat better . run up more hills . become more athletic . learn to play differently so as to put up a degree of resistance .
I wonder what it will take to compete?
I think we can all agree that the STANDARD at home doesn't help. We don't need to be on our guard or need to protect the ball. or learn to defend and take limited chances because we play against very poor teams. Are we the BEST of a very poor lot? Is that the sum and substance of Celtic in today's global game. A giant domestically who becomes a kitten when having to deal with any team from england, spain, germany, italy, or france etc.
There has been some excellent comments since Tuesday IE enjoy what we have . the wins (no matter the opposition) . the qualifying (even if it opens us up to a series of beatings) . the bit I don't get is the HOW part. HOW do we learn . HOW do we compete better. HOW do we become more difficult to beat. HOW do we create a threat. Did BR overestimate our qualities? He clearly didn't set us up to get totally destroyed, so that begs the question . what did he see in us and what did he see in them that resulted in that system being adopted, OR was the system right but we didn't have the players (or the players with the right mentality) to fit the system?
Has there EVER been a time where we have drawn teams in the ECL and literally wished the games away?
Where is the enjoyment in a 7-0. Are any of us looking forward to the return match. Are we looking forward to going to the Etihad or is the new strategy (for that match) about limiting the opponent to 4 or 5? How did these teams get so far away from us (is it purely money? )
How does CFC compete in a 20-30 year timeframe. Is it hooking up with holland, switzerland, portugal, austria and belgium to create a league with an aggregated domestic audience of 60million+ to drive the revenues and the sponsorship? Would a league comprising of Ajax, Feyenoord, PSV, Celtic, Rangers, Basle, Grasshoppers, Benfica, Sporting Lisbon, Anderlecht, Club Brugge, Rapid Vienna, and Red Bull Salzburg create a level of competitiveness that would improve the standard and make us more adept at competing with the top sides in France, England, Italy, Germany and Spain?
My fear is half empty stadiums for ECL matches because of he mis-match (home and away) . Where is the spectacle?
More to the point. How does the STANDARD in Scottish football improve?
Can we make do with domestic domination and local rivalry and accept that our illustrious past will stay in the past?
This isn't a moan or a gripe. I just fear that the GULF is so great that the spectacle of CFC in the ECL is not so much of a spectacle any more; where is the excitement of welcoming Goliaths to Celtic Park for a footballing exhibition?
I don't have the answer but i don't think its okay for any reasonable person (with celtic's interests and future at heart) to sweep this reality under the carpet. We are sleep walking in to an abyss of irrelevance where the ever diminishing scottish marketplace will be all we are left with.
Any thoughts ED on where the game is going and where Celtic's place in it actually is?
A German paper called us soccer dwarves the other day.
Is our best hope a re-awakening and a new found respect and professionalism for the game where emerging young domestic talent (with access to superb coaching) represents the best route to competing?
Hail hail and all that .
One last thing. That result did nothing for the "value" of our players as assets . absolutely nothing.
17 Sep 2016 16:58:02
Paradisewon, I think that the money in the game is becoming more and more the deciding factor in everything.
The fortunes of a club nowadays are determined where they are situated geographically. Look at the size and history of Celtic compared to Bournemouth, Celtic are far bigger in terms of crowds, history etc. Yet financially Bournemouth can blow us out of the water, there is very little we can do about it.
Somehow the Scottish league has to improve, and I don't mean just an extra Glasgow derby. The rest of the teams in Scotland have to try and improve their standards, they have to try and make our league a bit more attractive to TV companies, who in turn might pay a bit more for the coverage of our games. At the moment they are only interested in one fixture.
When the fixtures were announced at the start of the season, several clubs moaned about the fact that they only had 2 home fixtures against Celtic and rangers instead of 3, their main aim should be about trying to be competitive, if they were the crowds would come no matter who they were playing. There seems very little ambition from these teams.
The only way things will improve is for an increase in TV revenue, for that to happen, all the clubs need to buck their ideas up, and make our game more attractive. Whilst clubs are only interested in revenue from games against Celtic or Rangers our game is dying a death.
Aberdeen and Dundee united did it 30 years ago and Scottish football was quite successful, I see no reason why the same thing couldn't happen now if clubs would try and be a bit more ambitious.
17 Sep 2016 17:03:17
The Bread Man must stay lol.
17 Sep 2016 18:09:46
Heard the ref played 7 minutes of injury time at ibrox today, they are certainly bending over backwards to try and help them this season.
17 Sep 2016 18:42:14
It's another feather out the magic hat james. I had them down for 6th - with us, hearts, aberdeen, st. johnstone and motherwell all above them. The fact people were considering them a title challenge was ridiculous. Two zombies on my hols were talking to me as if I even considered them a threat - their faces when I told them how it was, I would get framed for my bedside table. At this rate they'll be lucky to make the top of the split.
17 Sep 2016 19:29:21
It's great to watch them implode Jim especially after the way the media had hyped them up even before a ball was kicked, the Magic Pratt stormed out of the press conference after the game when asked about Barton he's definitely losing the plot.
17 Sep 2016 19:50:03
For me, the Scottish leagues have too many teams also until we start concentrating on technical ability rather than height and strength we won't get anywhere we also need the referees to protect players who are not the usual hammer thrower's.
17 Sep 2016 20:18:59
A league of teams from second class leagues will never be attractive and crowds will nose dive season after season . Scotland may be a lousy league but there is some sort of parochial rivalry, many, many teams in Scotland have their ambitions to beat their nearest rival ( area wise ) and beat Celtic .
When we play in the UEFA cup we don't get too excited . We just need an off the radar scale billionaire like Craig Whyte or a South African based tax genius to invest in our SPFL.
17 Sep 2016 20:20:19
It's all his own fault for signing the $#@! I think Dyche is the only manager to have gotten a stress free spell out of him, and I wouldn't be surprised to get corrected there.
17 Sep 2016 21:03:23
I mentioned also that they would be lucky to get top 6. The mad hatter has found out he isn't as good a manager as everyone told him he was. as far as I can see non of his so called great summer signings have improved the team they have actually made them worse.
It's time they admit to themselves there is a big difference playing part-time teams to professional ones on a weekly basis.
17 Sep 2016 21:05:23
Gerry C is spot on. It's basically about the money. The suggestion from Paradise that maybe we can develope youth and be competitive from there is a non starter. Don't you think every team in the country is trying to do that, or at least was trying to do that till they just packed it in and bought players? How many players have Chelsea, Man City, Spurs, Liverpool, Man united (apart from 1992) , or any premiership team brought into thr first team? Chelsea have 72 players out on loan with other clubs. Virtually none come back and play first team football. Celtic must have 20 players out on loan. Very few come back and make it. Unfortunately it's down to attracting players who can come in and make a difference quickly and that needs cash. So -Paradise understand where you are coming from but can't see how we make it work when no one else can.
18 Sep 2016 03:49:46
Bhoys n Ghirls let's be real here. We are no longer a big player in European competition. Not even a mediumish player. Haven't been for a long time. That 7 0 just shows how the gap is widening due to tv money. How do you stop it? You don't! We are a HUGE club fighting a losing battle (as things stand) . My hope is that corrupt UEFA turn the CL into a 3 tier league structure that gives us the opportunity to progress. I won't hold my breath.