Worst place to be
I guess it was inevitable but the moment has truly arrived.
‘What moment Mahe?’
The moment we can truly let the handbrake off as a team.
The hard work has been done, the wide gap in points and on-field quality is evident, silverwares arriving so there’s a feel good vibe flowing through the group,,hard work and dedication has left this group staring more domestic success in the face before going again versus some big European names.
What is there to do but enjoy your football for the rest of the season, truly have fun on the park and savour the moments?
And that should worry other teams. For the SPL, that’s the very worst place to be, at the mercy of a squad with the proverbial shackles lifted, all wanting in on the action and a few wanting to make their mark.
Of course we were warned Ange’s teams really come alive in the final third of the season, it’s arrived alongside a clear shift in momentum to enable the team to really turn the screw on the rest. Giving talented players an unlimited license to thrill usually equals fiesta of football, that’s my hunch for the run in.
This team won’t stroll towards another Cup or League trophy, they will swagger.
That extra ambitious shot, go ahead son. Cheeky wee flick that might not come off, aye why not. Be greedy and go for glory yourself, permission granted.
Its almost perverse for a side to step it up when the jobs almost finished, but that’s Ange and this Celtic side.
The last three times we have assembled a good team who played to their maximum for the manager, and very importantly loved playing for the supporters and for each other, something special happened.
Seville.
The Tommy Burns title.
The Invincibles.
This side feels on the cusp of joining them, but for one league defeat might be threatening, but time is on their side.
And time they will gladly be granted. For unlike the famous Celtic sides mentioned above, this squad hasn’t peaked yet.
Ange might not have peaked yet.
It’s taken less than two years since the famous ten team flopped but the sense of extra special about this squad is palpable. I look at one position, he’s a winner with a good back-up,,look elsewhere it’s the same. Everywhere is the same.
Winners throughout the team, and when that happens the players not only win but enjoy their football, thrive on each other’s confidence.
The ideal scenario would be a season rundown encompassing some devastating counter attacks with a high conversion rate, with the non starters contributing when afforded the chance,,I’m thinking Oh and Hacksabanovic goals wise and Kobayashi and Iwata helping keep clean sheets which is their primary task. Testing the Bernabei/Ralston wingback combination just in case might be sensible. Back-ups who want to start, then play their hearts out and improve the attack is so very this squad.
A squad that is going places.
We are in a good place right now.
Opponents however are in the worst place to be.
By Mahe
sentinelcelts@gmail.com
Morning
A good place right enough.
Some general, garbled musings on squad depth and quality, and likely recruitment.
Looking at Jobo’s poty standings tells us we have 13 standout outfield performers ( down to AJ on 12 points) plus Joe who hardly gets a chance to “score”, so a playing core of 14.
Our two recent Japanese recruits and Oh aren’t getting enough game time yet to show what they have. Perhaps that will come after the split. Plus all teams have a back up goalie.
So a regular game ready squad of 18
The makeweights in the squad are grouped together points wise- AR, AB, SW, JF( seeing less game time) and the unfortunate DT who is finding himself squeezed out of the picture.
We obviously need back up in all positions so perhaps they will get the occasional nod but, injuries apart, are unlikely to get regular appearances.
As far as I recall we have a few out on loan-
MJ, LS, AM are the ones that immediately spring to mind. And the hapless Ajeti.
Will any of them enhance what we have?
The two development squad players most recently with the first team are Vata and Lawal.
When do they get a chance?
I guess the point I’m trying to make is where do we see improvements being made in squad quality, if the match ready group are more or less the same 18? With half a dozen positional back ups.
And are that 18 ready for the real challenge of Euro competition?
Based on the above I don’t see much recruitment happening in the summer.
My habitual calls for a top goalkeeper aside. And I say that as a big Joe fan.
Easier said than done in that key position- V Barkas proves that.
The 5 sub rule helps us enormously, particularly in refreshing the forward positions. But might not be enough to keep the likes of DT around.
There are a lot worse positions to be in- a look across the City at their stale squad tells us that, but the best teams keep refreshing.
Perhaps we need a season of consolidation to see what quality we really have.
“The 5 sub rule helps us enormously”
Too much so, I wouldn’t be surprised if its changed back to three next season.
Good Article Mahe,
We are certainly in a very good place, the hard work and application has produced results, this confidence will give the squad a great boost
Though I’m not sure Ange would agree the hard work has been done but we have got through a huge amount of heavy lifting
It will be really great to see Hacksabanovic, Kobayashi, Iwata, Bernabei, Ralston etc given a real chance to shine towards the end of the season, we don’t want to see any of these fine players get disillusioned
Hail Hail
Prestonpans bhoys @ 7:29 am,
That’s an interesting and rather scary thought, it would be a huge backward step imo – though you have the feeling the SFA would take us back to the stone age if it would level the field
Hail Hail
CFC @ 5:51 am,
Very interesting assessment, there is always a challenge and keeping quality “subs” and “make weights” content, fit and hungry is certainly one of our current ones
Some of these ghuys could be real stars, so it’s important we get things right.
Hail Hail
They don’t have to overcome just our talent, they will need to match our togetherness.
A tough ask for any team.
Onward to evermore glory!
HH 🍀
Good morning, friends.
Mahes lead article is something I personally would go along with, getting plenty of game time for some of our back up players. But having listened to just about every press conference and interview that Ange has done I’m pretty sure he will stick to his mantra that every single player in every single game has to have earned the right to wear the jersey.
For example, Kobiyashi was signed, played 2 games and looked the real deal. But Starfelt came back in and in recent games has probably had his best spell for us. So maybe that’s a living example of Ange’s approach – players don’t keep their starting place by having a great game. It’s just as important how well they train and also their general attitude to working hard etc.
I hope Ralston, Bernabei etc do get more game time. But they’ll have to earn it, even for games after the league is surely won.
Morning all
Thought provoking article – quite a lot to take in before getting out of bed.
I am not sure about swaggering to the title – Ange will ensure the team stays grounded and professional so he may look for ‘ruthlessness’ to be a word that is applied to the team. I am not sure we will score 9 in one game again but I do think some teams will be heavily beaten.
We do have some players who need and will personally want more game time. Kobyashi, Oh and Iwata are likely to be used more next season than this but Haksabanovic and Bernabei might get more of a chance to stake a claim in this one. I like the former but am less keen on the latter but for all his affability Ange is pretty ruthless and so if they do not measure up they might well go. I fear for the futures of Turnbull and Ralston- the first named seems a bit of a square peg to me- whilst the full back’s progress has stalled after injury and the excellence of first Juranovic and increasingly now Johnston. Ironically AR [I suffer from a bit of ‘Mitchitis’ early in the morning] ³was the first of our full backs to understand the new inverted style expected of him.
Don’t know about ‘the Tommy Burns title’ though. We did play well in TB’s middle season but we came up short at the end of it all the same. It was a very good time in my own life so it’s a period I look back on fondly but our failure to win the league or the cup that season did not seem that special then far less now. Unlike the blonde.
Jimbo
Chairbhoy 7.53am
You’ve hit on the general point of my ramble!
We need 24/25 but are the 7/8 not stripped for action wanting to hang around?
The likes of Welsh, Forrest and Turnbull( perhaps less so) are well down the pecking order. But good replacements when needed.
Having a strong man manager like Ange helps keep stability. Very much like his renowned predecessor, big Jock.
P b
That thought crossed my mind when writing that.
Wouldn’t put anything past the blazers n brogues to hold the game here back for the benefit of the Huns.
CFC.
I agree on a goalkeeper
As much as Hart has been a great signing, he’s not getting any younger and culpable for too many of the goals we lose.
Ralston and Welsh need moved on and replaced, I wouldn’t give up on Turnbull yet.
A decision has to be made on Bernabei, who does not look like a fullback or a £3m player .
I would also like another centre forward.
For the rest of the season , one player who deserves a run of starts , is Haksabanovic
St tams
I’m willing Bernabei to do well and Greg has had a terrific season, but…as left backs in Europe?
I’m not so sure.
So for me a keeper, and in a perfect world a left back( assuming one of the current two leave) and a no 10 more suited to Ange’s style than DT. Giving us 6 in midfield to choose from.
I doubt another CF will be sought.
We have players already here who can “fill in”.
Agree on Haksa, could be said he buries one of those late chances if he’d been playing more regularly.
Glad to see a high level of support for Haksabanovic. I keep saying he can be a big player for us.
I also have high hopes for Kobayashi, Iwata and Oh.
On the goalkeeping front I thought Siegrist could be the answer. He seems to have dropped off the map since his calf injury in January.
Frodshambhoy – calf injury in January? Tell me about it. I did ParkRun on 7 January and felt a,wee tweak in my calf at the 3km mark. Did the sensible thing and slowed to walking pace for the final 2Km. Usually that works for me and after 5-7 days I’m fine. But not this time. Instill walking with a limp 7 weeks later and fearing my running days are over;-)
CHAIRBHOY
I think we have some outstanding talent available who aren’t playing regularly. That is sometimes a good problem for a manager to have,but sometimes quite the opposite. We have already seen that with G-Mak,for instance.
I think there is some heavy work to be done with some others too when it comes to keeping them happy but hungry. Chief amongst them will obviously be those who think they are out of the picture completely.
Bernabei,for one. But he hasn’t taken his chances when he was offered them. But another,which is a worry for me,is Haksabanovic. I think he is a wonderful player. Clearly,so does he,and he wants to prove it every time he gets the chance!
Again,a good thing? No,not if his Sunday performance is a guide. The “me-me-me I want to score to prove my value” approach is not one that worked,nor one that will endear him to Ange.
He showed absolutely no concept of the importance of the team as against the individual on Sunday,and while I believe that was because he wanted to prove he should be starting every week,it is not the way to get Ange to agree with him.
PRESTONPANSBHOY
“The 5 sub rule helps us enormously”
Too much so, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s changed back to three next season.
******
Good point. Although the 5-subs rule has been ratified by UEFA/FIFA,it is still at the discretion of the national association. Watch this space for it being amended in Scotland as it places too great a strain on member club finances?
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS
PRESTONPANSBHOY
“The 5 sub rule helps us enormously”
Too much so, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s changed back to three next season.
******
Good point. Although the 5-subs rule has been ratified by UEFA/FIFA,it is still at the discretion of the national association. Watch this space for it being amended in Scotland as it places too great a strain on member club finances?
————————————-
If the rule is amended it’s quite clear our title win (surely it’s a given from here on in) will be tainted so shouldn’t count in the overall trophy scores.
Frodshambhoy
The SFA could change the subs rule mid-season they did it for VAR.
The 5 sub rule should really benefit clubs with large squads, caveat….as long as the subs are equal or close to equal in the quality to the ones you are taking off.
However there is only one club meets that caveat and its certainly not the huns. All they are replacing is shite with quality shite, boom boom 💥 💥
BMCUWP
Bobby, what you say about Haksabanovic and i actually thought he was very unlucky with his 2 attempts , especially the second one, could be said about most of our players. Decision making from forwards in particular is very poor at times.
Also O’Riley on Sunday, was so reluctant to use his right foot, that he attempted to score with his left, when he should either pass or use his right.
Was never going to score with his left.
Apparently Des Roache is a former ref:
Des Roache has called for Liel Abada to be given a retrospective red card for his Hampden simulation.
The Celtic substitute was booked for taking a dive just outside the penalty box with absolutely no complaints about that decision from the player or any of his team-mates.
Adidas are launching what is described as a ‘Nineties vibe’ Celtic kit when the hoops were produced by Umbro.
Is this our 3rd top, with the cost of living and energy prices hitting the room the last thing a household needs is another top.
óglach
Bobby Sands recorded his diary for the first seventeen days of his hunger strike in which he detailed his thoughts and feelings on the momentous task that lay ahead of him.
In order to secure his status as Irish political prisoner he was willing to fast until death, an event that would earn him a place in the annals of Irish history and in the hearts and minds of Irish republicans world wide.
SUNDAY 1ST
I am standing on the threshold of another trembling world. May God have mercy on my soul.
My heart is very sore because I know that I have broken my poor mother’s heart, and my home is struck with unbearable anxiety. But I have considered all the arguments and tried every means to avoid what has become the unavoidable: it has been forced upon me and my comrades by four-and-a-half years of stark inhumanity.
I am a political prisoner. I am a political prisoner because I am a casualty of a perennial war that is being fought between the oppressed Irish people and an alien, oppressive, unwanted regime that refuses to withdraw from our land.
I believe and stand by the God-given right of the Irish nation to sovereign independence, and the right of any Irishman or woman to assert this right in armed revolution. That is why I am incarcerated, naked and tortured.
Foremost in my tortured mind is the thought that there can never be peace in Ireland until the foreign, oppressive British presence is removed, leaving all the Irish people as a unit to control their own affairs and determine their own destinies as a sovereign people, free in mind and body, separate and distinct physically, culturally and economically.
I believe I am but another of those wretched Irishmen born of a risen generation with a deeply rooted and unquenchable desire for freedom. I am dying not just to attempt to end the barbarity of H-Block, or to gain the rightful recognition of a political prisoner, but primarily because what is lost in here is lost for the Republic and those wretched oppressed whom I am deeply proud to know as the ‘risen people’.
There is no sensation today, no novelty that October 27th brought. (The starting date of the original seven man hunger-strike) The usual Screws were not working. The slobbers and would-be despots no doubt will be back again tomorrow, bright and early.
I wrote some more notes to the girls in Armagh today. There is so much I would like to say about them, about their courage, determination and unquenchable spirit of resistance. They are to be what Countess Markievicz, Anne Devlin, Mary Ann McCracken, Marie MacSwiney, Betsy Gray, and those other Irish heroines are to us all. And, of course, I think of Ann Parker, Laura Crawford, Rosemary Bleakeley, and I’m ashamed to say I cannot remember all their sacred names.
Mass was solemn, the lads as ever brilliant. I ate the statutory weekly bit of fruit last night. As fate had it, it was an orange, and the final irony, it was bitter. The food is being left at the door. My portions, as expected, are quite larger than usual, or those which my cell-mate Malachy is getting.
March 1, 2023 12:13 am
Meanwhile over on mental mental
If it had been Ryan Kent that shot at John Lennon, he would still be playing gigs today. 😆👍
FRODSHAMBHOY
Des Roache doesn’t know the rules,in that case. There is no red card sanction available for a dive. Though Aiden McGeady got one for a similar offence on the halfway line against Hibs about fifteen years ago.
The game was over by then anyway,and a red would have been rescinded.
BIGAUDIODYNAMITE
Our conversion rate is nothing to write home about either.
Funny enough I was discussing Roache on the other channel saying……..
DES ROACHE…just did a Google on him. Very very low down in the SFA food chain, only seems to ref in lower leagues and that stops 2015, so assume he’s packed it in.
Biggest game St Johnstone v Dundee Utd and he was 4th official . You would be better off asking me about nuclear fusion 🙄🙃
Bobby
The full article says he knows it’s only a yellow as the rules stand.
He says that’s wrong. Apparently what Abada did was so bad this is the ideal case to prove his point.
CFC @ 8:55 am, BMCUWPS @ 10:38 am,
The comparison to big Jock is interesting and I think legitimate.
He did not have prima donnas or players that strayed from the regime, famously putting Jinky on a final warning early doors
Would we even think about him if Jock hadn’t taken him by the scruff of the neck and “facilitated” him being the greatest ever Celt!?
Changed days, and approaches need to be different but Ange wants the same results and will be equally strong in implementing his methods
It is my opinion that Jota wanted to be the man and that his attitude cost us the three points against Shakhtar in Poland – Jota developed an “injury” and recovered with an attitude adjustment, he is just as good an individual player but is three times the team player
You feel Haska will need to make a similar adjustment – though terrifying the Sevco Rangers defence in the league cup final with his cameo, when they needed to be in our third, was quite pleasing
BR had a detailed plan for every player and I’d expect nothing less from Ange – he will have plans for the likes of Kobiyashi and Iwata and other players he’s brought in
The Turnbulls and Jameses of this world will have to produce the level we all know they’re capable of in training and on the pitch on a regular basis to be in the picture
While talents like Barnebei and Haksabanovic will need to get with the programme, lots to do no doubts
Yet as Jobo says no one is getting a free trial run if&when the league is in the bag – we have a summer transfer window and cash burning a hole in our pocket, so thanks for the memories is definitely the way it works as indeed G-mac found out.
Hail Hail
FRODSHAMBHOY
Fuxake,he’ll be bringing back hanging for stealing a loaf of bread next.
Bobby, if Kent played for us, he would drive me potty.
I did think that bear’s Lennon quip was very funny …that’s if it was a bear. 😉
As for the chances Haksa had near the end.
I had Kyogo to score first and us to win 3-1 @35-1.
I told the wee guy we’d half it if it came up.
There was sweary words 😆
Just Fontaine,R I P
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2012/jan/12/just-fontaine-13-goals-world-cup
Having all but given up on trying to disrupt our charge to another league title those pesky press boys have started throwing rocks at our 23-24 campaign already. Headlines screaming ‘Fixture Squeeze’ are already in print as we could lose up to eight (current) players to the Asian Cup in January 2024. I shouldn’t be surprised but…
maccargo
Football Scotland already saying celtic may exploit a loophole to have games cancelled, no loophole it’s in the rules…….
Prestonpans bhoys
Adidas are launching what is described as a ‘Nineties vibe’ Celtic kit when the hoops were produced by Umbro.
Is this our 3rd top, with the cost of living and energy prices hitting the room the last thing a household needs is another top.
=======
100% agree, both Celtic and Adidas are at it. The new ‘retro’ 91-94 season’ look top is priced at an amazing £70.00 for an adult size and the shorts are priced at £50.00. Somebody at Celtic needs to take a long hard look at themselves £120.00 for a couple of bits of polyester worth less than £10.00 produced by some of the poorest workers in the world – Walfrid would be so proud! How many playing kits and training kits has the club released recently? And let’s not hear any nonsense about Adidas setting the retail price as they don’t the clubs do. I guess on the positive the more rotund Tim will be happy as ‘It’s baggy, loose fit will ensure full comfort.’ but sadly the fashionistas amongst us, like me, who prefer the slim fit six pack enhancing look will be disappointed🤨. And btw I think the new top is bland and uninspiring, defo not on my Xmas wish list
Chalmersbhoy, many thanks for re-posting Bobby’s diary a chara🍀☘
Mahe and I are very different Celtic supporters. He’s in the glass half full CSC and I’m in the glass half empty CSC. I would never be so bold as to predict a stroll to any title. We are nine points clear with 12 ? Games to go. That’s a lot of football. On Sunday we go to st mirren where we lost last year after winning the league cup. We lost again earlier this season after playing Real Madrid. The come down of these big games to going to the new st mirren park obviously takes its toll. Let’s be humble and see how good we can be this season.
CFC,
Well thought out post. We have to get a core group of 18 That are at a top level and competing with each other in training. That’s what will make us better in Europe. You’re right we may consolidate this season but it depends who leaves. O’Riley is not playing every week now nor is turnbull. I wouldn’t miss turnbull but I wouldn’t like to see us sell O’Riley. Also will we cash in on Kyoto? He’s 28 now, this is probably the last chance to get good money for him. I’ve spoke about CCV and Jota before. Both will have given us two seasons by August. Will they want to stick around for more of the same in this shite league. See what I mean about glass half empty.😂😂
Bmcuwp,
Disagree as regards Hacksabanovic. I thought in both positions he should have shot. Second one definitely but would need to watch first one back. I tried a full replay of the game earlier but it’s adverts every five minutes. Brutal.
A lot of what I hope is hyperbole about how good the current Celtic team is. Domestically very good but yet unproven in Europe where the real measure of Ange and the squad lies. A long long way to go before they can be compared with the accomplishments of Mr. Stein or even MO’N squads.
Mahe
A very good article. Hopefully with the weather improving, we will see the best of this team.
ATOB
Normally, I’m a glass half-full kinda guy. Not on match days however. No matter who we happen to be playing, I’m a bundle of nerves till that final whistle blows…and 3 points are secured.
Óglach/Chalmersbhoy
It has been many years since I have read Bobby’s diary. Cheers for posting guys.
Some brilliant posts yesterday and today. Top quality stuff. Many thanks to you all.
Hail Hail.
Jim Goodwin new Dundee United manager
Bada,
Last chance saloon for Jim Goodwin before he follows the well trodden path of Jack Ross and so many others. Mind you, Dundee Utd fans must feel like they’ve got Guardiola considering yesterday there was talk of Levein. Smart move by their board!!
Jim’s third league job in 12 months.
All these people must see something in him.
I’d love to see United get back to some sort of relevance in the league.
Good luck Jim.
The biggest risk, apart from ourselves changing the football first policy and why should we – it works, is at Hampden. Check SFSA Chairman Andy Smith’s latest blog the SFA haven’t gone away.
scottishfsa.org/chairmans-blog…
Rod Petrie a 5WA participant and Chair of SFA Licensing Committee who believed RFC had a potentially liability & not a payable to HMRC in 2011, gets a UEFA Golden Ticket. @SFSA blog tells all.
OGLACH
Totally agree re your evaluation of Ange beside Jock , Martin and wee Gordon whose teams did remarkable things in Europe. No era is the same and I think a last 16 place is probably harder now than it was even 10 years ago when achieved under Neil Lennon- who for all my misgivings about his managerial performance both spells did have some good times in Europe. I think if the board continues to support Ange as it seems to be, then a further CL campaign like this season’s will be less easy for many to accept even – or maybe especially- if we continue to smash teams at home as we mostly have for about 16 months now.
ATOB
I know what you mean about being humble and I know 9 point leads can evaporate quickly – and in 1980 when it was 2 points a win we managed such a collapse. St Mirren is a definite potential banana skin , as is Hearts next Wednesday is too but there looks to me to be a sense of purpose about this current team- a year ago or so there were similar misgivings about a trip to Livingston where our record stank but we won convincingly that day. And since late on 6 May 1970 I have been a pessimist
Jimbo
As always — late to the party but what a party.
Brilliant day / superb event / great result / huge marker laid down.
The engagement of the manager and the squad suggests that there is more to come.
If the SFA / SPFL can’t sell spectacles / contests like that to the rest of the world then heads must roll.
I wonder if it managed to get airtime in Japan?
As noted by many the squad is developing / maturing and looks to have a lot still to give.
Sunday was a slow start on a bad pitch and the game was a lot more competitive than it should have been.
The first goal showed our quality in that we won the individual battles / found the pass and made the most of the opportunity.
The second goal was almost rinse and repeat — fewer battles but great MF play / link up play.
However the dip after the second goal was worrying — it was almost as if we thought the game was won and stepped back a bit.
We were saved by their lack of quality and stamina as their surge diminished to nothing and we finished the game much the stronger to the point that i was shooty in.
AM played a huge part in our success — his experience and desire carried us when RH missed a gear and CMcG looked lost.
When they all came into the game — as they did for half the game — we were untouchable as the regular chances confirmed.
DM — struggled at the start to get used to the pace of the pitch.
The slow pitch suited the TFOD2.1 RB down to the ground — three quarter speed DM is his limit.
KF — finishing needs work but his runs / positioning were incredible.
Beat them with speed and timing — their defence just couldn’t handle either.
JPNF — needs to get his highlights done.
In true Samson fashion his strength / desire seems to come from his hair.
Looked a bit mousey on Sunday and needs a bit of help / work / support.
Possibly trying too hard — saw the stage but fluffed some lines.
MO’R — getting better but his confidence is in A+E.
SH — the selfish gene is strong along with the talent gene.
Some extra work on his sprinting would be useful plus taking off the blinkers.
Could be one for next season — high class player who needs a bit of work / coaching.
QH-g — mobile and very good at the momentum transfer angle of playing football..
He had loads and then he passed it on to the TFOD2.1 CB who collapsed in a heap.
Man’s game / shoulder to shoulder / in true DP style of no blood no foul — he was unlucky.
Never a yellow card.
Onwards and upwards — sell outs till the end of the season.
Surely the guide dog in the boardroom can see the need for big investment at P/head.
Dundee United have had 26 manager’s since Jim McLean stepped down in1993
J67 @ 6.41
1980 style collapses — Dundee game the worst — scares me to the core.
Phasers set to Malky — wee owe Paisley a complete doing.
CL efforts — some crap in the CL at the moment.
Napoli sold big and came from nowhere to be the form team this season.
Consequently huge opportunities abound if we can lose the SPL / Scottish cringe and get used to the music.
At the moment the support is even more scared of the CL than the squad.
I think AP will have benefitted from this season’s poor results.
He has got the t-shirt now he needs to make his name.
From before — DP = Detroit Pistons of the 80’s.
Went full on WWE in the NBA — won it twice to just about everybody else’s disgust.
Craig76
That is some statistic. I used to love visiting Tannadice, when Jim was in charge of United. For the most part, a feast of football was guaranteed. Not so much when they visited Celtic Park though.
BMCUW
Football fans the world over, owe a great debt to France. The original World Cup was named after Jules Rimet, and of course, the main protagonists in the formation of the European Cup in 1955 were the journalists at Parisian newspaper, L’Equipe.
Hail Hail.
Craig 76
Having had 2 in the previous 34. Extraordinary
Mitch
I actually have a Pistons cap from 1989!
Jimbo
ATOB @ 3.31’ish
Step away from PL@s dog eared copy of Moneyball.
The issue is the product on the park not player trading profits.
If KF is doing his stuff then play him and build the club / the experience / the brand.
We don’t need to sell everyone — we need to keep our good players for longer.
Look at the quality that has come and gone — would a team made up of our exes won the CL in 2020 or 2021?
A team of FF / young JF / KT / VVD / JD / KA / VW / ON / MD / OE …
All we had at P/head was CMcG and old JF.
We need to go again in the transfer window.
Work the squad and bring in more talent.
GK / LB need the most work plus AM’s younger self and another high energy MF’er who can tackle.
Look at the way that AP has transformed the team and the squad and is now working on the B Team.
Huge change over the old muddle along with your pals and hope for the best.
BR was all about coaching — when he bought players he struggled to play them.
NL was all about throwing players together and hoping it would work.
AP has brought players in and given them a role which they play.
Huge steps forward being made.
So many that we don’t even notice them any more.
For the record — I hope MJ returns from loan and really gets things moving.
Madmitch – posting in French would make more sense to me. And I failed my French O Level. Twice.
But I know that it’s just me that scrolls past so you keep on doing your thing.
J67 @ 7.29
Your Piston’s cap — surely not bloodstained and battered?
Or as the prosecutor described it — Exhibit A.
MM
🙂
Jimbo