Celtic Banter Archive February 05 2016

05 Feb 2016 22:59:57
I see young P. Roberts had a great game for the Dev squad.

If CKR turns out to be a good Un (excluding bans and how he manages the press) it would not surprise me if Pl sells Lee Griffiths.

I watched EKFC V Spartans, they have a couple of tidy players, no more than that.

Hopefully Celtic can put the tie to bed in the first half and bring on a couple of kids in the second half

Been a poor week effort, performance and result wise, we need a confidence building performance on Sunday so we can kick on

Ps. RD is not the man for me to take us forward, unless he addresses his arrogant stance on how we set up, horses for courses as most managers would say.

5-1 the hoops on Sunday, I would hope they ease off once the game is won

COYBIG :) )

06 Feb 2016 09:23:41
I agree about his inflexibility in formation and style and it has frustrated me many times this season in particular, when it has been so obvious that we needed to change shape or personnel, he hesitates.
One-man-up at home has never been a feature of good Celtic teams and his persistence with out-of-form and weak players is also poor.
Surely between the three of them, the management team can see this?
Anyway, it's fortunate in a way, we are playing EK tomorrow and although the vultures and hyenas will be gathering it's a great opportunity to get this week out of our system and blood new talent.
Aberdeen are off to Perth today and it will be interesting to see what reaction they have to Wednesday.

06 Feb 2016 10:14:26
Jesus Christ! How far have we fell that beating an amateur team could be seen as a confidence boost?

06 Feb 2016 10:49:56
I guarantee you Ronnie will play a 4-4-2 set up tomorrow as he will think that will apese the fans. Wait and see!

06 Feb 2016 11:39:15
hes an imposter if he plays 1 up front against an amateur side!

05 Feb 2016 19:48:09
U17s beaten 3_1 by salzburg who looked a very good team technically miles ahead of us . but the young boys never gave up and worked hard all game nobody went hiding and they fought hard the whole game but skill and technique won over graft and endeavor.

05 Feb 2016 17:57:08
Once on li nk go to menu then pick al kass 4.

05 Feb 2016 15:44:25
Reading that Sutton reckons board messed up by not sacking RD (I'm adding he meant in December after Euro failure) Back at same question, who would have come in to improve the situation. 17 points dropped after 24 games, could argue should be better but we're still top of league with a good gd that is as good as a point. Granted, we looked awful at Pittodrie but reckon not enough credit for a lot of decent performances across January. We're carrying a few injuries as well. I reckon it is a gamble to give RD another pop at CL but as others have said, boards level of investment is a fault to. Can't make excuse of saving for when Rangers come back up. I think investment during last few windows is more to blame than Deila.

05 Feb 2016 16:37:34
We were pi$$ poor against Killie, Motherwell and not much better against Partick Thistle all @ home.

05 Feb 2016 17:31:29
Sutton has had it in for R D since the day and hour that R D was appointed .
Sutton was a good servant to Celtic as a footballer but he failed very badly as a manager with the lowly Lincoln City . I don't recall any ex Celts demanding his sacking. Managering any club particularly in your early years is difficult enough without having people who should know better trying to undermine u and your players .

05 Feb 2016 17:50:39
I don't think that Della can hide behind the decisions taken by the board.
We keep making the same mistakes in matches, but he doesn't seem able to rectify them, he looks lost.
He also doesn't appear able to motivate the players, there are too many games where the opposition look hungrier than we do, that's not on.
I don't agree with the way our board are running things, but we still have the best squad in Scotland, it shouldn't be beyond our manager to be able to sort out a few defensive problems and get them fired up for big matches, managers at clubs with a fraction of our resources and talent seem to be able to do it.
It's bad enough that coaches in Europe continually get the better of him, but he is now being outwitted by managers in Scotland who have next to nothing to work with. I don't think that this should be acceptable.

05 Feb 2016 18:18:04
Sutton hasn't got it in for anybody, just a concern about someone uncapable of managing Scotland's premier club.

05 Feb 2016 19:01:21
Sutton just calls it as he sees it and I defy anyone to say that what he says isn't bang on! Don't see what his management failings has to do with anything! Oldbhoy you real name isn't Ronnie is it?

05 Feb 2016 19:19:13
Don't think many ex Celtic players would give a toss about Lincoln so why would they have an opinion on how bad Sutton was there. Maybe ex Lincoln players did but who cares. Most players leave Celtic with an affinity towards us and I think they're entitled to an opinion the same as us. Just because u don't agree with him doesn't make him wrong.

05 Feb 2016 20:11:49
So, again. Who replaces?

05 Feb 2016 22:04:10
Iceman, I think it is strange that a proven failure at managing a small time club shouldn't have been so quick to criticise R D . Sutton knows how difficult it can be to manage successively.

05 Feb 2016 22:28:29
Sutton is not speaking as a failed manager - but as someone who played for a huge club challenging the cheats in their prime and giving a good account of himself in a very good team in the CL.
He relates to the support and has played under some decent managers and can see like the rest of us that we are being short-changed.

05 Feb 2016 23:34:51
Davie bhoy there are dozens of managers who could take the job, obviously that will depend on factors such as the budget, control over signings etc. however the argument seems to be made that no one of any value will take the job because of the constraints of the board. If this is so, then what does that make RD Is he a man who is so desperate he took the job under conditions no one else would contemplate. He does need to go and we need to find a suitable replacement, because you or I can't identify one doesn't mean he should stay regardless of his performance.

06 Feb 2016 08:43:22
If Sutton was such an expert on managing a football club why is he writing in newspapers? He has failed at that level and while he was a great striker for us, I have no time for his drivel now (or any of the other so called experts who have never managed and had even moderate success) .
Big difference from being on the field of play and making an instant decision or standing beside a fancy computer screen having had 7 hours+ to review, analyse and discuss the game before putting wee circles and arrows on players and moving them around the park.

Would love to see some of these punters have THEIR previous games analysed the same way in front of them and then ask THEM. Why did you not run into that space?, Why did you not stay with the attacker, Why did you not pass to the guy on your right etc? .
Might be a good idea for a programme segment for Looking back.

{Ed001's Note - how can you question the almighty pundit when Gary Neville is doing so well in Spain? *snigger*}

07 Feb 2016 01:46:52
How can Sutton not speak as a failed manager . Failing as manager of Lincoln is part of his c. v and it can't be ignored when he is finding fault with another manager . He started a pleasing the SMSM by having a story in the Record within a week of RD appointment saying RD wasn't the right person .
He has lived off the blue pound since .

05 Feb 2016 09:13:24
ED001 what is your opinion on the Liverpool fans protesting at the big price hike in tickets for the new stand?
Me? I agree with them, and in fact I want our fans to protest next season by delaying buying season tickets and club merchandise until we see a vast improvement in the quality of players (and manager) brought in.
I buy 3 season tickets each year but I am holding back until I see some genuine quality brought in. If other fans do the same, lawwell and the board will soon get the message, especially if their bonuses are affected.

{Ed001's Note - I am not sure if they have chosen the correct method of protest, but I am fully supportive of their intentions. Football is being destroyed and it is time fans made a stand. Fans are being treated like scum by football authorities and clubs.}

05 Feb 2016 10:57:33
Season ticket prices are getting ridiculous especially with the lack of investment from the board but what I will say is that it's very different from Celtic and Liverpools perspective. The money they get from TV rights etc there no way fans should be paying what they do.

Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness today accused Premier League clubs of 'milking their fans like cows' in charging high prices for season tickets.

Explaining his decision to keep season tickets at Bayern lower than their counterparts across Europe, Hoeness said: "We could charge more than €130 (£104) . Let's say we charged €380 (£300) . We'd get €2.5m (£2m) more in income, but what's €2.5m to us? "

"In a transfer discussion you argue about the sum for five minutes. But the difference between €130 and €380 is huge for the fans. "

"We do not think fans are like cows, who you milk. Football has got to be for everybody. "

"That's the biggest difference between us and England. "

{Ed001's Note - if only all chairmen thought like him!}

05 Feb 2016 11:06:25
Tell me about it Ed.

05 Feb 2016 11:47:09
That's all well and good for a team like Bayern who make millions upon millions from TV etc. but if our season ticket prices were halved it would have a far bigger impact on our club.

05 Feb 2016 12:33:12
Definitely Kev.

05 Feb 2016 12:14:15
Ed to be fair this all kicked off when sky over invested in the PL I don't see fans moaning when they are signing guys like Diego Costa or guys that cost 20+million. So now the fans have to pay. I would be willing to pay 80 pounds a ticket if we had the players the epl has.

{Ed001's Note - it has nothing to do with Sky money, this is about greed, the Sky money should enable clubs to lower ticket prices not be an excuse to increase them.}

05 Feb 2016 16:56:59
That would be my concern if we got to the EPL, If fans are moaning about prices now what do you think the board would charge if we made it to the EPL? We struggle to sell out our stadium as it is. Maybe it is the quality on show that's got fans disinterested like Marco has said he would be willing to pay £80 a ticket if he was seeing quality, I think Celtics ticket prices are reasonable but if we was to lower then our squad would only suffer more.

05 Feb 2016 15:42:19
I understand Ed that there is a BIG difference in EPL season tickets and ours any idea what the big 4 charge or what Liverpool charge am a right in saying Arsenal are the worst?

{Ed001's Note - it varies on the tickets mate, Arsenal are the worst, but it is not just them that are greedy, Norwich, for instance, charge much more for away fans. I know a match ticket at Arsenal cost something like £60 for away fans.}

05 Feb 2016 17:39:14
Prices charged by clubs in the EPL are crazy, with the obscene tv contributions, the EPL teams should be charging less than Celtic and thus causing Celtic turn over problems.

05 Feb 2016 18:54:33
The sky money is good gor transfer fees ed but the guys on 100-300k a week that's where the merchandising and ticket prices come in. I still don't see any downsizing at the clubs. Wait till the ffp5 kicks in. England in a few years could be a football backwater. Well if sky pull out anyway.

{Ed001's Note - it doesn't make any significant difference. The TV money pays for all that, tickets are a tiny proportion of income.}

06 Feb 2016 10:32:18
I would rather have ticket prices reduced if it meant a fuller stadium as at present we get about 30000 in each week say at 25 quid that's 750k but if tickets were 20 quid and 40000-50000 fans attended the matches it's then 800k-1m. This would also create a better atmosphere and possibly push the team on a bit more whilst giving the club some much needed funds to invest in the squad and improve the quality on the pitch so I think it could be a win win situation

07 Feb 2016 01:53:00
Gregbhoy, we would all like to see prices reduced . Celtic make peanuts from TV and sponsorship. The season book money and match ticket money make represent a big % of overall income . The board would be afraid if they reduced ticket costs that they wouldn't have much money to squander .

05 Feb 2016 06:41:51
The main quality of our team that I miss is their 'fight'. I loved the on-field team spirit we had under Lennon and Strachan. They'd have fought all day for each other. Under Ronny it seems different, it's as if he's trying to get them to win games by apologising to the opposition. In the words of Lennon, we want to bring the thunder back. It's what makes Paradise the magical place we all know and love but these days it's struggling to get a strong breeze.
I've said it before, I just don't think Ronny has it in him to be that nasty, aggressive and tough leader. Nice guy I'm sure, but not what we need in charge.

Hail Hail.

05 Feb 2016 07:46:31
You obviously have a very different memory from me with regards Strachan.

I recall an incompetent defence who used to constantly leak goals from set pieces. I recall watching the worst football I had ever saw from a Celtic team. I recall watching us play ICT and he had set us up to defend and as a result we did not have a shot on goal the whole match.

Strachan was actually a lucky manager as he managed to make last 16 with just 5 points (I believe this was a record at the time) , whereas O'Neil failed twice with 9 points.

05 Feb 2016 09:12:09
Got to agree with Rabmac here. The football under Strachan was awful. You'd go for your pie at half time wondering if the same team was going to come out. It really was a game of 2 halves. The way I see it is if RD isn't going anywhere we should be doing our bit to get the confidence back in the team instead of berating every bad pass.

05 Feb 2016 09:19:34
I couldn't care less about previous managers, the current one is enough to be getting on with! The goalkeeper has been poor, he doesn't change him. The defence has been appalling, - even Lustig, who's hardly had one good game since Ronny arrived! Izzy and Ambrose have also went backwards, and that takes some doing! The midfield can't pass the ball, can't keep possession for more than 30 seconds! We've got about 10 number 10's, and he doesn't seem to know his best 3! Scott Brown hasn't had 1 good game all season! GMS and Armstong have probably had about 1 each! He tells us every week that James Forrest is a world beater yet neither myself or anyone I've ever spoken to has seen it in 5 years! He's another who's had 1 good game this season, away at Killie! The team could be fitter, certainly more physical. They don't speak to each other, don't press properly. Although according to Ronny it's all cool, - we've STILL got a good chance of winning the league! He simply doesn't get it, he's naive and has some sort of character flaw! I don't know if it's a Norwegian thing, maybe they don't travel well. Off the top of my head, Henning Berg, Solbakken, Solkjaer have all moved to the UK with great reputations and not just failed but been absolute disasters! Berg lasted a couple of months! When Ronny was at Stromgodset there was no pressure - it was all on Molde and Rosenberg. He could just get quietly on with his business, keep under the radar etc. Now against Molde recently he was suddenly the favourite, the pressure was on Celtic, and we could have lost 10-2 over the 2 games! I would have had more respect for him if he had came out after some of these games and said its not good enough, - we're ALL embarrassing the club! Instead he talks about the bigger picture and behind the scenes! It's not rocket science - the great managers were doing it 50 years ago! If he couldn't do both he should have let Collins, or someone else sort out the rest of the stuff and he should have concentrated on what's not behind the scenes!

05 Feb 2016 09:32:16
Rabmac, answer this have you ever felt lower than this as a Celtic fan, even through them cheating 9 in a row I never felt this low, but the problem isn't rd, Celtic s. Biggest hurdle is DD and pl they are not good for are club and until they are gone Celtic will never show ther full potential,

05 Feb 2016 09:57:50
I have felt much lower than this.

1. When we sacked Jansen and brought in Dr Jo after just stopping 10 in a row.

2. The whole tenure of Liam Brady and John Barnes and much of Tony Mowbray.

3. When we were finishing 4th in the league and not even making Europe.

4. 6 years without a trophy.

5. Watching Rangers dominate for 9 years.

Granted we are all feeling a bit low at the moment and things need to improve but it is not all doom and gloom.

05 Feb 2016 10:19:11
But have you ever felt that we couldn't come back from a couple of goals down? There's no ideas and every time we concede a corner I fear the worst. I don't know what the answer is but something needs changed. I'd love RD to be able to bring him own coaches in and get rid of JC and JK.

05 Feb 2016 10:38:58
We are a big fish in a very very small pond, but the money that is generated from are club does not meet up with what we get back, I just can't see why DD is at Celtic he is a very very rich man a business man yet he is willing to sit back and not back us, it just does not make sense,

05 Feb 2016 10:42:05
The problem with all those times Rab is we were struggling in one way or another! Whether it was the other lot having your Gough's, Gascoigne's and Laudrup's, is just being taken over by Fergus, and subsequently the club getting in decent shape! Etc etc. I'm 37 and I spent my first 10 years watching guys like McClair, McInally and Johnston all leave for England and Govan, via France! Then around 10 years watching Paul McStay make sure the team even had a heartbeat! That's why this situation is so galling - we were in a position to spend more money on youth/ scouting/ finally do phase 2 of Lennoxtown! We were in a position to get better youth coaches and pay whatever it took for the right manager! If we can't do it now then I won't hold my breath! I was going to say that's it's ironic that when the club is at its healthiest for years we start buying guys like Carlton Cole, who has played one game, against a pub team! It's typical though, none of them be trusted, period! If this Aberdeen team are practically level with us with a wage bill similar to what Scott Brown earns then if the philistines from Glasgow's South Side even get a few half decent free transfers in the summer then nothing would surprise me! How anyone can justify our current situation is bordering on lunacy!

05 Feb 2016 11:06:36
Well said Delphic, you make great points ther, Celtic just does not look like a team going forward, and the men at the top are putting all ther chips on the table that all will be good when the mankie mob come up, but we all know what can happen when a jockey riding a winning horse slows down near the line some times they get caught by the out sider.

05 Feb 2016 11:56:36
Not even that mate, we know we'll get no favours when they come up next year, and whatever you think of Warburton, he seems organised and seems to have good contacts in England! The more you think about the whole thing the Celtic board really couldn't have fecked the whole thing up any more! It really is as though they are trying to outdo the previous generations for being prize fools!

05 Feb 2016 17:52:32
It's funny how highly thought of managers become after they are gone. WGS and NL didn't have to seek their detractors when in charge of Celtic . No doubt if R D was got rid of now, he would leave with not too many singing his praises . However if he gets the team back performing and is with us another couple of years by then he will have gained many supporters.

05 Feb 2016 18:32:23
Rabmac, I agree with everyone of those points.

Oldbhoy, spot on.