We have been told that the Celtic fans' objections to Strachan are football related, and nothing to do with him being non-Celticminded.

Because Strachan has had huge success in terms of league titles and European progression, those avenues have been shut off for the complainants, who have been forced to mutter about bad Rangers teams and err, weak CL groups to explain how it is has been possible for Strachan to eclipse his predecessor so easily.

However, one avenue remained open, and was seized upon. Err, "we aren't entertaining enough!" Aye, that's it, err, we need to score more goals and umm, winning titles isn't everything.

Now that Celtic have scored 19 goals in the last 6 domestic games and there have been 28 goals in these 6 games, if this continues (regardless of whether Celtic win the league or not) will the fans finally accept Strachan, now their last footballing complaint has been satisfied?

Has Strachan finally convinced the Falkirk supporters hes the man for the job?

Absolutely not. I think he should be sacked and someone with better Celtic credientials employed.

My preference would be Liam Brady.

Father Jack with Mrs Doyle as assistant. The Press conferences would be 1000 times better.

"What would you say to a cup of tea Father ? "

"Feck off cup ! "

No way. Strachan should be sacked. Immediately.

What's his record been against his net spend? Not very good, that's for sure.

I reckon that for the £8m or so net spend, he's only won 3 league titles, 1 Scottish Cup and 1 League Cup. Utterly farcical. The sooner this upstart 'winner' goes, then the better for all concerned.

It's just a pity that for such a relatively small outlay, he hasn't managed to recoup well in excess of £25m from Champions League participation, help reduce club debts by about £30m in three years and place the club on the best financial footing they've been in living memory. I think if he'd done that, he'd have won the fans over.

Ach well, I suppose it just wasn't to be.

I forgot actually, that not all avenues have been closed off to the Strachan haters.

His League cup record as a manager is a disgrace. If he doesn't win it this season, he will surely resign.

Well again i'm not sure. Yes we won yesterday and it was a great win and one of the best games i have seen at parkhead in a while, (come from behind wins are always special) but the back four were a shambles.

Glen loovens was abysmal. £3million we paid for him and he looks completely out of his depth, this is another bad Strachan signing by the looks of it.

It was truly incredible we were all sitting there wishing that gary Caldwell was playing because by christ we missed him.

That's kind of the point though.

It has been said that winning the league isn't everything, and a better brand of football is required. Strachan is now delivering that, but one of the downsides to it is that you will lose a lot more goals, and maybe more games because of it.

His pragmatic approach won titles, but not popularity. For those who said "I want to be entertained" to turn around and have a go at him if it means you don't win the title, would be very suspect.

Strachans record at Celtic is superb.But its his attitude and approach to the fans and the media thats leaves him exposed to the media.Also Celtic fans are well aware that Celtic have dominated the domestic game mainly due to Rangers being in total dissaray and also transition.

Celtic will dominate for the foreseeable future, because they have a better manager and a much more solid financial base to work from.
Rangers will be Scotland's second force for the next decade, maybe sneaking one or two league titles from that period.

lets wait and see

I'd agree. Celtic could easily be looking at five or six in a row before the Huns can mount a decent challenge.

This season, with Celtic only being in Europe, is a massive one for Rangers. Losing the title this season could well see 10 in a row becoming a reality.

Indeed, had O'Neill not failed so miserably against Alex McLeish, that would already be staring Rangers in the face.

Just look at how Champions League money has distorted other European Leagues, and how hard it is for a team without that kind of income to beat a CL side over the course of a season. With both sides of the Old Firm Arsecheek having some European money in recent years (albeit one usually in the UEFA), they've maintained some parity. Whereas, now...

If Celtic win the league this season, I honestly can't see Rangers stopping 9 or 10 in a row. It will be very hard for the 2nd place club to get into the Champions League from next season onwards, whereas the champions (as things stand with co-effs etc) will gain automatic entry to the CL. The money this generates will be dafty stuff and the only saving grace for a team parachuting into the new format Europa League is that TV money will be sold centrally (i.e. teams will get more than they do now). This will still be a very small fraction of the Champions League cash.

The differences in income between the two clubs over this season and next, should Celtic win the league this season, will be anywhere from £40m to £60m. Celtic will then romp the league for the foreseeable future. Only a massive cash injection at Ibrox could prevent this from happening.

The major spanner in those works are that I'm not at all, any way near, convinced that Celtic will win the league this season.

Uh huh.

Celtic fans have been questioned as to why they dislike Strachan, despite the exceptional success on the park.

The answer given on this site has revolved around the style of play, and the lack of entertainment, and that winning isn't everything.

Now that he is delivering an entertaining side, scoring goals, and playing good football, I can only assume he is ticking the boxes required and will be supported, as we have been told that winning isn't important necessarily.

truth is he's probably on a par with big eck, and despite his exceptional success he was disliked by a large number of huns,, both are average managers, failing to beat allborg, and struggling to beat the sheep at home, constantly buying shit players, playing people out of positon,, perfect example yesterday mcgeady when he plays on his NATURAL right hand side is a better player

Nice shiny post there from you. The obvious elephant in the room (that you have surprisingly not mentioned) were the pumping by the huns and the pathetic draw with Aalborg. Only a pedant would bring that up though.

They have played marginally better recently and entertained more, I will grant you that. That's a positive. Let's see if they can sustain it.

By the way did I not read somewhere that Falkirk were going bust?

When did Celtic last have a manager that was better than average then?

Yes, but the pumping by the Huns saw two Celtic goals, in a 6 goal game. As we have been educated by the Celtic fans here, winning league titles, as Strachan has, isn't any good if you are winning 1-0 by doing it.

O'Neills sides were incapable of beating McLeish's sides to the league in 2 of 3 seasons, but a few pumpings were handed out to diddies en route, and they scored a lot of goals. Indeed, in his final season Celtic lost 4 home league matches, being pumped by Rangers, Aberdeen, Hearts and Hibs. Yet he was revered because despite these pumpings his sides scored a lot of goals.

I am confused, most confused. Is that now not the case?

Also, Celtic's qualification from CL groups hasn't appeased the Strachan haters either. In fact, the very opposite. Him not failing has prevented a UEFA Cup run you cherish so much.

Strachan is learning. Celtic will finish third in this season's group and play in the CIS Cup of Europe, much as the fans want.



Unfortunately not

There is no entertainment in getting pumped 4-2 by your biggest rivals. I'm sure that would be a universal opinion shared by fans of any team.

It's funny because it's true

You can't win every game.

Getting more points than your biggest rivals, and depriving them of the title in every season, has led to Strachan being despised by a large number of Celtic fans.

The reason for this, we have been told, is a lack of flair in the performances, and goals. Certainly not because he is Scottish, and not Celtic minded. Success can't be measure in mere titles won, or European progression.

O'Neill became a hero on the back of 3 titles in 5 years and zero last 16 CL performances.

Celtic are now scoring a barrowload of goals, letting in a good number also mind you. Strachan is learning that is how it must be. Whether you win the league or not is now an irrelevance.

Strachan has selfishly deprived fans of trips to the likes of Portsmouth and SK Brann by insisting on pointless last 16 qualification and matches against elite Euro teams, in clear defiance of the fans' wishes.

It's high time he was made to realise third place in the group is real success.

I'm constantly amazed by the poor standard of socks and tucking in displayed by Celtic stars. In today's Sunday Herald, Samaras quite clearly hasn't neatly tucked in his shirt, and Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink's socks are all over the place. It's unacceptable, and certainly something Craig Brown wouldn't put up with. Down with this sort of thing, or in the case of socks up with this sort of thing! Strachan must go.

When Steve "Brother" Walford was there, Celtic wouldn't have looked so shambolic in appearance.

How the f**k can you seriously predict celtic winning 9 or 10 in a row you would gee mystic meg a run for her money. If it was a simple as whoever wins the league gets champs league money and therefore is cert to win league next season it would be a pretty dire state of affairs. What about factors like rangers euro run last season playing midweek games because of being in europe, Not spending the champs league money (celtic fans all to aware), Players settling in, Buying dud players etc etc.??? Utter pish.

Celtic have won 6 of the last 8. They are Rangers' financial superiors, have a larger income and more money to spend.

I think Rangers will sneak a couple of titles out of the next 10 to prevent a long 10 in a row sequence, but Celtic's dominance is pretty much estabolished now, unless some funny money investor takes Murray's position, which is always possible..

Right, you have convinced me. I've changed my opinion now. Its because he's a proddysant.

Well, what is it then?

The argument advanced so far has been that despite his success, Celtic haven't been good to watch. Is this or is this not correct?

Celtic are now scoring a barrowload of goals (the Aalborg game being a notable exception) and being involved in high scoring end to end matches.

Therefore that previous complaint has been satisfied. Non?

I did mention in my first post on the subject that there has been an improvement in recent weeks. There is no question about that.

To qualify that though they have been shite against St Mirren, Dundee Utd, Rangers, Aalborg and Aberdeen this season already. I think that is a majority of games, although I will stand corrected if that isn't the case.

Pumping a few patsies over the last games has been good. But it certainly isn't irrefutable evidence that they have suddenly morphed into 1970's Brazil.

If you continue with these improved performances, but lose the title, will you be calling for Strachan's head?

Of course I will. Because he's a proddysant.

We were a shambles yesterday, good hard fought end to the game

But you must be delighted?

You yourself said you wanted to see entertaining end to end football and goals from Celtic. You said you would sacrifice winning a league title to have more of that and less 1-0 wins against diddy teams.

Worse than that.

He is a Scottish Protestant!!

Right you've got your answer.

Now I'm away to smash up a kirk.

We had about 90% of the possession with ineffective football for most of it, Aberdeen are unlikley to get such success in goals against chances I would have thought, couple of nice McGeady moves.

The end to the game was entertaining, not sure the rest of it was that entertaining

Not spending the money?? Wtf? You mean 'not spending the money needlessly on players they don't need' surely?

Celtic have spent a lot of money in the last three years, about £40m putting in place an infrastructure that will allow the club to establish a dominance domestically that may surpass that of Jock Stein and Walter Smiths. While Rangers were away selling the family silver to finance their debts, Celtic have actively reduced theirs using the money accrued from the success that Strachan has brought.

During those three and a bit years Celtic have won three titles, and will have raked in sole share from two separate Champions League campaigns. This season, Celtic do not have a training academy to fund. Celtic do not have to find £10m in wage cuts and savings to reduce debt. Come January, Celtic, having spent the equivalent of less than 10% of their turnover during the summer, may well go out and splash big-time. How much of a gamble will that be when they don't have a debt to service, and still have money coming in from Uefa 6 months later? Now look at Rangers, have they gambled their entire transfer kitty for the season in one go? How much of a real gamble will it be, should they need to go out and spend another £10m in January? Can they afford to do so and not win the league?

I say again, if Celtic win the league, Celtic will have no debt to service, no debt to clear and a disposable income (as it were) that is roughly £10m greater than it has been these last few years.

Given that, and all else being equal, why would anyone bet on any other outcome thereafter?

Can't argue with a word of that.

Given the changes in the "Champions" league, it'll be a lot harder for a country like Scotland to have two teams in the group stages, so if you can win the league this season then it's hard to see the Huns fighting back (without spending silly money that they don't currently have).

When the Huns had their "nine in a row" in the 1990s, they never had the same European money coming in, which meant they were eventually caught up by Celtic. However, nowadays that revenue makes it a lot harder for a non CL team to challenge.

I know I keep asking but have you posted anything aboot Berwick yet??

In the Third Division section, aye

When your team is celebrating it's third win in a year (!), it's always nice to post something...

Again it looked like two SPL diddy teams going toe to toe on a more or less equal footing and us luckily squeaking the result on this occasion.

As has been pointed out, our 2nd and 3rd goals came from McGeady crossing from the right hand side - its completely unfathomable why Chesney is loath to play him there.

I like strachen

I like him too, after hating him for his, what I thought was arrogance. I'm still not sure whether he's the man to lead Celtic forward, we've seen glimpses of some really nice football which unfortunetly seems to be isolated incidents in games. Some of tactics are baffling.

If a poor Rangers team win the league this season, like they are already celebrating then he should go IMO

Did you call for O'Neill's head after he lost 4 home games, to Rangers, Aberdeen, Hibs and Hearts and surrendered the title to one of the worst Rangers sides in recent memory, under the stewardship of Alex McLeish, for the second time in 3 years?

If not, why not?

You also told me only a couple of weeks ago, when discussing Strachan's fantastic record, that winning wasn't everything, and you would sacrifice title wins for more entertaining football.

Was that a lie? Now that Strachan is providing entertaining football, suddenly winning becomes more important. Strachan must feel very confused. His detractors move the goalposts just out of his reach at every turn.

I've see some superbly entertaining periods of football this season, I just don't know if Stracahn knows why we played them, he certainly does not know how to reproduce them.

Against Aberdeen we did our usual huffing and puffing up front, until McGeady came on and the crowd roared on, our better players to victory, not the last 10 minutes.

Wonder if someone will notice that our defence is no very good

I think your defence has been weighed, it has been measured and has been found to be $hite! and i doubt it is a very well kept secret.

This will be even more apparent when you play Villareal. Good luck cos Sellick are gonna need it.