Celtic Banter Archive March 22 2014

22 Mar 2014 21:26:41
I was at the game today and was talking to fellow fans about Neil Lennons possible departure and wasnt too surprised that nobody was really that upset . The common feeling was that if he stays that's ok and if he goes that's fair enough and we will get someone else.
I have a feeling that Owen Coyle will be in with a shout if he does leave (hope not). If NL does go I think it would have to be this close season as the MSM would have a field day if he waited till next season with the possible arrival of Sevco.

{Ed007's Note - I've been saying that since the summer about the timing of him leaving. I said it then and still say I will be surprised if NL is manager next season, and that was before I wanted him to move on. He would be basically committing himself to stay for two seasons at least if he stays. He certainly wouldn't like to be seen as running away from any challenge The Rangers can mount if they're luck continues and they are promoted, although the league should still be an easy walkover for us for the foreseeable future.}

The problem I see Ed is that he won't walk away without another job to go to, and what club would take a chance on him that would also make him fancy the challenge? I think the club will need to get rid of him if we're going to see a change.

Hail Hail

{Ed007's Note - Somebody will take a chance on him, you know how fickle chairman are down there. I think his words yesterday could have been a very public come and get me plea.}

@1. Your right mate. He won't walk away without getting another post first. Only possibility I can see for lennon is norwich city. can't see hughton being manager much longer.

If he goes I hope his move is sucecessful . No hiding my admiration for my fellow country man and his stance against bigots both without and within the club he clearly grew up supporting and playing for .

I don't agree with his personal branding and I certainly don't agree with all of his tactical awareness which in hind sight his spell as manager might have been hoened better under the wing of someone who has been there .

I don't blame NL for where Celtic are now or what they do in the transfer market, it is controlled from above where he stands, easy scrapgoat for the MSM and those fans willing to listen to them within to kick, and to be honest, it seems, quite a few within want to kick him .
Why I ask, the cynic within has all sorts of crazy ideas running around my mind but the one which raises its head more and more is the same one I've witnessed up and down the UK as a whole which is, I want to be Irish but I don't want the baggage .Sorry but if you are first second third or born Irish, take the baggage with your St paddys day craic or at least have the bollix to say what your real motives are instead of snid wee comments about a man, who isn't perfect by any means, but grew up loving the club he is at .

On here you will find the same people attacking NL AS and PM Court whilst he was here (whom I readly admit was not good enough ever to wear a Celtic jersey, not his fault but those whom signed him )but let's not fool ourselves to think that if the team was full of local talent they would be a force to be feared in Europe. Eg Mulgrew, Forrest, Watt, Mc Geouh even Brown what premier side would any of them get reg footie. Take the superstars that have left for a healthy profit, they aren't exactly setting the stage alight either .So maybe the criticism of our manager, who is not perfect by any means, is fuelled by other motives outside football and I see more and more creeping into the Celtic "family" .
Rant over .

TTTS, I'm not overly critical and have said Neil Lennon was/is a rookie Manager (cheap option if you want). I don't think he's been awful and for a rookie, he's not done too badly.

I would never take his success in last season Champions League away from him and I enjoyed every minute of it, we'll maybe not Juve lol.

Beating Barcelona 2-1 was one of the best nights at Celtic Park in a long time, it was total magic! Then getting to the last 16 against Spartak when Commons scored the penalty :-)

I do not care where anyone comes from and it certainly doesn't define them as a Manager or player for me.

I would pack out team full of Irish players, or anyone nationality, race or creed - if they were good enough.

Stokes does a job and maybe not the best of seasons but not that bad either. Paddy McCourt - Derry Pele, set up the goal in the Motherwell game when we came from 1-0 down and set us on our way to overturning a 15 point deficit but he deserved first team regular football. As you say, the odd cameo wasn't really good for him.

I hope Neil Lennon goes from strength to strength and does seem willing to learn. Things have gone really stale and maybe if he had a competitor breathing down his neck things would be different but he can't seem to get the players going for Cup games for whatever reason. It gets worse by the season instead of better and the board are not to blame for those defeats.

In Europe we need quality, not against Morton.

This is typical of what is wrong with our club. Too many blinkered supporters who can't see past lennon.

He should NEVER have got job in first place. Peter Lawell should have known better, it could of been a repeat episode of john barnes saga.

Stokes, not good enough. No excuses

Paddy McCourt, 1 good game in a blue moon. Lucky to have been a squad player for so long.

Looks like just a case because they are irish you have an emotional attachment to them.

An absolutely ridiculous post with no reasonable argument.

Make up you mind mrs e . Is he Going from strength to strength or is his team going stale and unable to motivate them for cups?

Jim, I hope if he leaves he goes from strength to strength (sorry if that was not clear) and like TTTS I would wish him all the best. Although why TTTS would think any Celtic fan wouldn't wish him well, I don't know.

He has gone stale at Celtic and instead of showing signs of improvement, he's getting worse.

Is that alright with you and your size 9's Jim?

John Barnes? Did he win 3 in a row, which NL will do? That one got past me. 3 in a row dn, up there with WGS, fact .No doubt you'll start ranting about the league been weakened by the death of a team, the same team that would have been an average mid table team if they had played within their limitations.

Why should NL never have been given the post?.
Stokes not good enough for SPL? Utter bollix.

There's a lot of stalking going on tonight. I wish him well if he does go also.

Here we go again with "neil lennon will win 3 in a row". When lennon took over, it was a certainty ANY manager who was in charge would do at least 3 even john barnes! You are forgetting a major factor here (conveniently) we are the horse in the 1 horse race. Hows lennons domestic cup record by the way?

You having a laugh? Lennon up there with WGS? No chance, absolute nonsense.

You are living in denial if you think it doesn't matter that lennon got 3 in a row in a weakened league, cause it is crucial.

Lennon should never of been given the post as he is a rookie and a club of our stature should not be condoning apprenticeships.

He has never been tactically aware, plays his wee favourites even if they are not in form, squandered millions on dud transfers.

Stokes, what's his SPL goalscoring record for celtic? How many has he scored in europe? there's your answer! He is utter gash and I guarantee you he will be one of the first out the door when we get new manager.

Nothing you have posted is credible. A clear case of blinkers

If you disregard the ex spl team rapped up in years of cheating surely then the league has been a 1 horse race of quite a few years .Are the titles win during that time any better than the 1s NL has win .

Only a balloon or someone with a obvious dislike for NL will try and belittle the winning of 3 championships .
How many goals did any of our strikers score in Europe this season .How many players in present squad can you say were of European standard .Why have you singled out stokes who was no worse or no better than the rest of a very average squad?

Seems you have a lot of gripes DN particularly with NL and AS, and I'm blinkered?
If your posts were a little more general in criticism and less targeted they might be considered more creditable and less "blinkered" quoting a favourite word of your own .

Yes, they are better title wins. Yes, that team did cheat but still doesn't take away fact WGS was up against stronger competition for the title. If it was a 1 horse race back then, then surely WGS would of got 4 in a row?

Belittle 3 in a row? How is that an achievement when it is set in stone for many years to come (10+ imo) we will win league? Its fans like you that drag club down if your happy just winning league. If lennon was that good of a manager, surely we would do better in cup competitions?

Its not that I dislike NL or AS, they are simply not good enough. Stats don't lie.

Why have I singled out stokes? Well I think 2 goals in 17 games in europe says it all really. I provided that answer seeing as you conveniently forgot to answer my question. Other strikers never got chance to shine as that great manager lennon, insists on playing his favourites.

As I said before, its a clear case of you having an emotional attachment to NL and AS because they are irish. It would be interesting to see your views if they were from another part of the world.

22 Mar 2014 19:53:12
3-0

Not seen the game on TV but looked like a couple of iffy offside calls.

I did not think we were great today and thought if St Mirren had been a bit sharper in front of goal, we could have been a few down. We still need an out and out penalty box goalscorer, a poacher!

Never seen it myself Mrs E but they mentioned the incidents on the radio so they must have been VERY blatant bad calls.

22 Mar 2014 14:03:43
NL has said that he wants to sign 5 players in the summer.

Just out of curiosity what players would you like to see head to Celtic park in the summer Ed?

{Ed007's Note - Here's a few players that I have seen over the last 18/24 months that I think could do a job for CFC. I'll be honest and admit I am not 100% sure on all their contract/wages situations but most of them are out of contract this summer or have one year left on their deal.

GKs. (If as expected Forster leaves.)
----------------------------------------
Robbin Ruiter - FC Utrecht
Thomas Kraft - Herta BSC
Cristian Balgradean - Dinamo Buchareșt
Alex McCartrhy - Reading
Tomas Vaclik - Sparta Prague

Defenders.
---------------------------
Marek Suchy - Basel (on loan from Spartak Moscow)
Ondrej Mazuch - Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk
Marco Capuano - Pescara
Ezequiel Munoz - Palermo
Aaron Taylor-Sinclair - Partick Thistle
Robin Propper - De Graafschap

Midfielders.
---------------------
Aaron Hunt - Werder Bremen
James McClean - Wigan
Nick Powell - Wigan (on loan from Man Utd.)
Davy Propper - Vitesse Arnhem
Mehmet Ekici - Werder Bremen
Tolgay Arslan - SV Hamburg

Attackers/Strikers.
-------------------------------
Philipp Hosiner - Austria Wien
Max Clayton - Crewe
AJ Leitch-Smith - Crewe
Nikola Kalinic - Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk
Stefan Scepovic - Sporting Gijon
Bjorn Bergmann Sigurdarson - Molde (Wolves, this is the player we should have signed from Wolves instead of Griffiths. The only reason he chose Wolves over us in 2012 was because Stale Solbakken was had became their manager, it didn't work out for either of them.)

Might not agree with all your choices but what I do like is the fact that most players come from football clubs you can recognise and compete in good football environments unlike framm, stromgodset and Ashdod. I only want us to sign players this summer that will displace current starting players not challenge them we have enough depth not enough quality in our team.

What about all the good sigings u had never heard of before celtic gave them a chance wanyama, ki, larsson, vdv, lubo, boruc, forster to name a few every club has there good bad and terrible signings just because they played for a big named team doesn't mean much pukki been the most recent

{Ed007's Note - If that's to me Gordy I don't know what you mean, sorry bud.}

Most of the players you mentioned came from decent football countries when they signed ( holland Germany Poland England Belgium ) you are right Gordy that there are no guarantees but if you spend money on players from a better quality league then hopefully you will get a better player ready to start matches. At the end of the day it all comes down to managers/scouts finding the right players and I don't think we are good enough in this department as for every good one we have there are 3/4 average to poor signings .
Vvd - good
Pukki - poor
Derk - poor
Biton - jury out
Johnson - jury out
Griffiths - poor character
Balde - embarrassing
Moyokolo - embarrassing

Some of the above came from good football backgrounds but if you scout them properly you could easily see why they shouldn't have been signed.

Jim 1972 your summarisin of signings is shocking.Vvd correct though better than good, pukki correct, derk give him a chance though injury prone. Johansson is a good signing going by performances so far.Biton looks a class act so far. Griffiths poor character? What that got to do with ability? He a good signing.Yes he would not have been our 1st choice and troublesome. Balde done ok when played give him a chance there is plenty of players we can talk about who took a season to show what they can do, Moyokolo was always going to be cover and been unlucky with injury.

Rayman I don't know why you think derk isn't a poor signing he's rarely fit and when he is fit he regularly warms the bench. Biton hasn't strung more than 2/3 games together so how can you seriously rate him highly? Balde after 8 months the most we can expect to see of him 5 minutes . I don't wish bad upon any player and I hope if they stay that they become successful for us. If nl signs 5 players in the summer do you think they will be to replace bench warmers like Biton balde pukki derk who will be starting? I hope not as I want to sign players who will replace the ones who are starting just now pushing them on to the sidelines in order to progress.

Would you have Alex Meier on a free Ed? I think he should be Sammi's replacement. Can't stop thinking about Djuricic either and we've had scouts at a few Benfica games.

{Ed007's Note - Meier has signed a new deal with Frankfurt until 2017.}

Was ment for jim ed should have said

Ajax had to let a pyhsio go when Derk signed for celtic

@jim1972 your analysis of signings is spot on. Obscene the amount of money wasted on duds this season.

If NL is still here next season, personally I would not give him a brass bean to spend. Let him operate with his signings, cause good chance he will sign worse.

Ah, ta Ed. I just remembered reading Meier was a free a while back, had a quick check up on transfermarkt but it's obviously wrong. Ok then, back to the drawing board, as a watcher of the Bundesliga and Eredivisie what would you say to Biram Diouf (out for the season and a free in the sumer?) and Lasogga (been mentioned on here a wee bit). Or Graziano Pelle, Jurgen Locadia or Johannsson of AZ (also mentioned on here)?

22 Mar 2014 12:59:57
I'm just getting ready to leave for the match and reading that Neil Lennon is surprised and disappointed that no English team has made any approach for him.

I have to half agree with him, I'm also disappointed about it but I am not surprised.

His rep down south is lower than a dachshund's ball-sack!

I know a few people from behind the scenes at English Premier League clubs and the last person I spoke to about Lennon said he would be lucky to get a job as a fitness coach at his club.

I'm hoping for a good game today, we should be playing team like St Mirren off the park and winning by 4/5 goals, so I'm going for a 2-0 win.

I have a sneaky suspicion that we could see an improvement to the atmosphere inside the ground today.

Che, you better not be planning on streaking or anything like that!

I'll go for a 5/6-0 demolition

Che, every night I do a lap of the rosary praying that a team comes in for him. Just shows you how big his ego is, when he thinks he is good enough to manage in EPL. Also shows he is obviously looking for a move, based on comment

For once we are in agreement DN30!
I like Lenny but he appears to make an arse of himself a bit too often.
I remember some time ago he was asked if he could see himself leaving Celtic. He said it would be hard but if he did leave it would only be to go to one of the big EPL clubs!

Hail Hail

22 Mar 2014 08:44:41
NL saying he is disappointed that there hasn't been a lot of interest in his services for vacant Managers jobs in the EPL.let's hope his disappointment doesn't continue into next season!

Good, hope he goes.

Got to say I was suprised by that. Assuming its a gen article it's made him sound like a right @nob.

Let him go i'm fed up defendin the man he's clearly not 100% commited to us

Usually it's players or their agents that tout themselves I can't ever recall a manager ever doing it and a very ordinary manager at that . If a team does decide to employ you down south I would be much obliged if you take your coaching staff and deadwood like Pukki, Boerrigter, Kayal etc and your favourites like Forest, Samaras and Mulgrew with you . If the story is true then I think the club should be looking right now for a suitable replacement and not some Micky Mouse replacement like Coyle who would be a cheap option that would suit our current board to a T . Another thing that is annoying me is his constant reference to a dead team and how he misses them . Time to move on . DH

Same fed up him making out sevco or the old rangers cheerio neil lennon I was one of your biggest fans but now i'm runnin out of patience with your signings tactics and everythin in general thank you but your time has come hail hail