04 Jan 2016 17:13:41
Evening ED.
I was wondering what's your view on the way things are going at Celtic at the minute. I know Ronny is in a difficult position at the moment the team are not playing well and nothing like the fast attacking play he always said he wanted. I really don't think we have the players to play that way but was wondering what your thoughts are the on things that are going at Celtic right now and how safe is RD position. I always enjoy your opinions as you tell it the way you see it. Cheers.

{Ed007's Note - RD's position is 100% safe for now, there's never been any doubts about that. We won the league and a cup last season, should have won a treble, and we played European football after Christmas, AND we beat a lot of CFC supporters second favourite team at Hampden. This year we had a disaster in Europe and are sitting top of the league with both cups still to play for.
To get the team playing the way RD wants we need to bring in players who can play that way rather than the dross that John Park is bringing in. How do you expect to make a mark in Europe with players from Dundee Utd and the lower leagues of Scotland?}

1.) 04 Jan 2016
04 Jan 2016 20:23:26
For me ED you have hit a home run with that summary. It's exactly the case but the trouble is people are not accepting that because they want the European success but forget about the quality in the 11 that play. For me there's no need to get rid of the manager unless he has got the funding to buy good players- he wants - and fails in Europe and domestically. I'd would sack him then. Not as it stands now.

{Ed007's Note - But it's not European success Pedro, participation seems to be the be all and end all for some. I said for years a club our size should be aiming for a minimum of 3rd place in a CL group and drop down to the EL but we never invested the money to kick on to that level and have went backwards apart from the odd spike in our fortunes.
The reality is that it doesn't matter who the CFC manager is we are going to struggle to qualify for the CL and the blame for this lies firmly at the door of Peter Lawwell, what we are seeing is the the impact of long term neglect on his part to wisely invest in the team.
Why didn't he bring in Simunovic earlier to play alongside VVD in the qualifiers, why did he allow our two main CB players to leave during the same window? That's just bad, even amateur, planning. Did people really expect a brand new defence to just slot together over a couple of training sessions?
It's as if the fans can't see what's straight in front of them, PL will always gamble on the CL with what's already at the club, he covers it with the BS about buying in January so the players are bedded in for CL qualifiers. If we go out he says there's no money but if we qualify the spending on the playing side doesn't rise any - and it never has. What happened to the money from the new 'record breaking' deal with New Balance, where's the money from Wanyama, Forster and Ledley went, did that any of that get reinvested in the team? Why aren't we looking at Bosman's of the quality of Ledley and Mathews any longer but we're buying players like Scott Allan from the lower leagues in Scotland, did John Park really push for Danny Wilson, another player from the lower leagues of Scotland, to be brought in to replace VvD?}

2.) 04 Jan 2016
04 Jan 2016 20:51:55
Absolutely 100% agree with what you have to say ED. I no RD is having a nightmare time at the moment with all the Celtic fans wanting rid of him and as you say Europe never went right this year but we're still in the hunt for the treble which we have a good chance at winning. I remember watching his seminar a few months ago and thinking this man knows what he's talking about and what he wants to do. I hope he stays true to his way of wanting to play the game and if it doesn't work well he will fall on his sword. Really hope that he does nail in a treble and then that may change so many of the haters and give the man some backing. As for John park the last few years his signing policy has been absolute terrible and it's been a while since the likes of wanyamma, Ledley and co but always hoping we can pull something special from somewhere. Just don't let him near the strikers.

3.) 04 Jan 2016
04 Jan 2016 21:32:40
I agree 100% you can't make an omelette without eggs or a cake without the correct ingredients just like you can't play a style of play with the wrong players.

4.) 04 Jan 2016
04 Jan 2016 21:35:44
RD and JC have to go and Dermot must decide a business model for Celtic bcoz as every year passes CFC are in decline. Look at the apathy and empty seats. If the board thought that treading water until Sevco returned was a smart move we are in worse shape than I thought
Using the possibility of a Double/ Treble are masking over the gaping deficiencies of our team. We are expected to win our league by football fans across the globe.

5.) 04 Jan 2016
04 Jan 2016 21:58:42
So what do you think the new barometer / yard stick / even plan is Ed (Or is there even that! ) ?

Do enough to stay ahead of everyone else domestically? Sign everyone that would slightly improve sevco?

Obviously RD had some input in the united three even young Christie we are never going to get into europe again at this rate Ed if RD continues to play this way, if we are signing players that cannot play it IMO

He needs a rethink and tinkering this system 2 holding midfielders is killing us @ home.

{Ed007's Note - The plan is to gamble and see whether we qualify for the CL or EL, that's it and won't change no matter who the manager is. Why would it change when it's been the same for years, when was the last time we went into a season stronger than before?}

6.) 05 Jan 2016
04 Jan 2016 22:17:17
A few points 1) I don't believe people who want rid of Ronny are haters we just don't rate him as highly as some "lovers"
2) it's not European success we want it's reaching our potential with what we have ie beating Maribor,Malmö,molde etc
3) being good at seminars and knowing what he wants to do doesn't mean he can deliver it and this season in particular we have had far too many pathetic performances to brush under the carpet by saying we could still win a treble. If you take celtic out of Scotland's coefficient we are playing in one of the worst rated leagues in Europe so winning domestic trophies is good but not a barometer of how good we are.
4) Ronny must take some responsibility for transfers as there is no doubt he had an influence on denayer, Cole and gms at least so why not the others? The reason I say gms is he was cup tied for both cups and we were always going to win the league so why pay money when we could have got him for nothing?
I've said before I'm all for getting rid of lawwell perhaps a new top man would reassess our approach or perhaps a new manager would get more out of our squad or have a better input to transfers.

{Ed007's Note - I know what are we like wanting to win trophies, the shame of it!}

7.) 06 Jan 2016
06 Jan 2016 01:09:04
Jools 71 Dermot Desmond has his plan for Celtic, he sees it as a love from his heart his plans for Celtic are for the club to continue, perhaps making a small loss one year and then try to recoup that this next year . He has no intention of risking a large amount of money unless Celtic are playing football in an invironment were vast sums of money are available to all. He has too much love for Celtic to seek to a dodgy Russian, American or middle Easterner who wouldn't have the club's interest at heart .
The problem with Celtic could very well fall between DD and RD, recognising get and employing better could be a major problem.