The Celtic All Seasons thread

[Bairnardo]

10 hours ago, wastecoatwilly said:

It wouldn't surprise me if Fergus still has shares in the club there is very little chance he completely walked away even if it's a small position.
Like I said I couldn't careless about these type of people they are there to run the business I'm only interested in the football side.

I mean......

 

Holy f**k

[GordonS]

10 hours ago, wastecoatwilly said:

I wasn't old enough to appreciate the first 9iar this time I've enjoyed every minute with the added bonus of quad trebles and an invincible  season.
Getting 10 would be great but it would also put the Stein era to bed, maybe it should still stand as the best time in our history.

Yeah I don't think there was a big risk of anyone wondering if a team featuring Efe Ambrose had eclipsed the achievements of a team that won the European Cup, played in another final and made two further semi-finals, plus won those leagues against a Rangers that was good enough to win the European Cup Winners Cup, play in another final and not, y'know, a Rangers that went tits up.

[Henrik's tongue]

15 hours ago, bennett said:

 

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/breaking-rafa-benitez-appointed-celtic-23374588

Rafa Benitez to be appointed new Celtic manager after quitting job in China

Benitez would be going head-to-head with his former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard for supremacy in Glasgow

Done deal it is then.

[Zen Archer (Raconteur)]

Johannes Edvaldsson passes away aged 70.

[Derry Alli]

16 hours ago, Jinky67 said:

A salary in between those 2 is likely what he would command but I doubt money is his primary motivation any more, he’s a very wealthy man already

He was a very wealthy man when he left Real Madrid. He then become the highest paid manager in the English Championship. He then commanded a wage rise to be in amongst some of the highest paid managers in England. He then doubled that wage to take a job in China. 

He was always a very wealthy man, to think money isn't his goal would be incredibly stupid. He will be Celtic manager if and only if, there are no other bids offering him more money. 

[Benjamin_Nevis]

7 hours ago, ICTChris said:

This blog is worth a read, it really makes you think.

https://thecelticblog.com/2021/01/blogs/coffee-and-tv/ibrox-days-of-hope-or-an-ibrox-haze-of-dope/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

Specifically, it makes you think “the guy who wrote this blog is fucking mental”.

Outstanding stuff. Celtic fans do unhinged meltdowns so much better than anyone else. The fun part (warning - long but batshit mental read): 

_{"Does this explain the current form of the club playing out of Ibrox?}

_{Is this compelling and shocking list of doping and the way caffeine has become the legal drug of choice for sportsmen who wish to gain an advantage over their competitors give you pause for thought?}

_{Because let me tell you something, there’s a lot of circumstantial evidence for it.}

_{Look at their over 30’s players. Defoe is older than Scott Brown but when he plays he seems, at times, to be years younger. Davis still helms their midfield and McGregor is as alert as he ever was.}

_{And whilst we’re on the subject of alertness, we’re talking here about a team that not only runs for 90’s minutes every single week but who’s defence is so sharp in its concentration levels that they barely concede goals.}

_{Good coaching, sure … but really?}

_{How do you transform Connor Goldson from the shambling ruin our strikers loved to come up against into a player who looks a mile better than anyone in our back line?}

_{Hard work on the training ground?}

_{Don’t make me laugh, that’s absolutely ridiculous.}

_{Gerrard and his team have clearly done wonders for the organisation of the team … that’s just crystal clear. But the improvements as so marked that they even bother some of the Ibrox supporters.}

_{As I’ll reveal in the next section, much of the spadework for this article comes from a series of articles by a guy called Alan Moore. An article he did on Liverpool so tugged at the brain of one of my friends that he sent it to me to see what I thought.}

_{Moore has written extensively on the subject of doping in football, and the reaction to the article in question sparked such debate that he did two follow up pieces – both published this very month – and it was in the second of those, when he talked about how the piece had gone down with fans of various clubs, that I really found the thread that linked all this together.}

_{Moore wrote this eye-popping paragraph:}

_{“The most balanced response, from even the most dedicated Liverpool supporters, was – “I hate that it’s happening, but I’m sure it is and it points to an illness in sport.” Self-reflective Glasgow Rangers fans even questioned their own club and body changes in players.”}

_{This is so noticeable that even some of their own fans are questioning it … and it’s made me ask questions about our own successes in the past four years, and in particular the Invincible campaign.}

_{In an environment like Celtic, where someone like Lawwell is standing over everything, you doubt that it’s possible … but you just never know, and that’s a troubling thought.}

_{I know enough about what’s been happening at Celtic, and in particular a harrowing story about Kieran Tierney being expected to take multiple injections of pain killers to get through games, to understand that we’ve pushed the envelope a little bit ourselves.}

_{But Rodgers inherited the work Ronny Deila had done and built on it with modern knowledge and innovations which took us to a whole new level … you can account for our success, that and the fact we were going up against a bona-fide shambles and had no need to gild the lily.}

_{It’s much harder to account for what’s happened at Ibrox this year.}

_{Not all of it can be explained away by Gerrard spending money.}

_{Indeed, so much of that money has been wasted that the £30 million plus he’s spent on the team can barely be seen on the park most weeks. The improvements to pretty sub-par individuals like Glen Kamara, Goldson, Tavernier … they are just off-the charts remarkable, and because of that it raises interesting questions … ethical ones.}

_{What niggles at me over and over again is that Liverpool brought in Klopp because he was the best in the business and they wanted results that no-one else could get.}

_{The Ibrox club brought in a rookie with no experience of first team football management at all and trusted him through two trophyless seasons and then into the biggest campaign they’ve ever had to play.}

_{There was nothing in Gerrard’s CV to justify that appointment, or that level of faith … yet they kept him there for this campaign. To call it a risk is an understatement … unless they believed that certain tweaks and experiments and ideas were starting to show promise.}

_{And this isn’t just in Scotland of course; how does this rag-bag band go from obscurity in Europe to suddenly topping groups?}

_{Is Gerrard a managerial genius?}

_{Well his win record at Ibrox before this campaign started was below that of every Celtic manager of the modern era including John Barnes, so I would suggest not.}

_{This season, they have lost a single game, including matches in the Europa League.}

_{None of it makes a bit of sense … until you put it all within the historical context I’ve laid out here and then you start to ask yourself if things aren’t suddenly clear.}

_{So if it’s true, how do you beat a team like this?}

_{How do you know that the future won’t resemble the past, and that anything you do isn’t just a waste of your time?}

_{Well, like everything else that happens at Ibrox, if this theory is even remotely on the money, this is short-term thinking to a fare-thee-well.}

_{Because this little experiment can’t last out indefinitely.}

_{If it could, and with caffeine no longer on WADA’s banned substances list, every club would be doing it.}

_{So why don’t they do it?}

_{Frankly, because it’s dangerous, even in the hands of the world class experts the elite clubs can afford.}

_{When it’s been tried elsewhere, it has had profoundly tragic consequences.}

_{And in this, lies the dark heart of the matter … and our own opportunity."}

[Jacksgranda]

17 hours ago, Jinky67 said:

Nor does he seem to get that they all have significant influence over the football side of things so should care very much

Aye, you nearly get the impression that he thinks they are two separate entities, like a club and a company...

[Jacksgranda]

7 hours ago, GordonS said:

Yeah I don't think there was a big risk of anyone wondering if a team featuring Efe Ambrose had eclipsed the achievements of a team that won the European Cup, played in another final and made two further semi-finals, plus won those leagues against a Rangers that was good enough to win the European Cup Winners Cup, play in another final and not, y'know, a Rangers that went tits up.

In 1970/71 Rangers were fourth. Aberdeen were runners up twice and Hibs once to Celtic in that era.

[DukDukGoose]

11 hours ago, ICTChris said:

This blog is worth a read, it really makes you think.

https://thecelticblog.com/2021/01/blogs/coffee-and-tv/ibrox-days-of-hope-or-an-ibrox-haze-of-dope/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

Specifically, it makes you think “the guy who wrote this blog is fucking mental”.

That's the guy who uses some really wild comparisons.

One of them was likening the Ross County result to the Chernobyl disaster.

[DukDukGoose]

3 hours ago, Day of the Lords said:

Outstanding stuff. Celtic fans do unhinged meltdowns so much better than anyone else. The fun part (warning - long but batshit mental read

_{"Does this explain the current form of the club playing out of Ibrox?}

_{Is this compelling and shocking list of doping and the way caffeine has become the legal drug of choice for sportsmen who wish to gain an advantage over their competitors give you pause for thought?}

_{Because let me tell you something, there’s a lot of circumstantial evidence for it.}

_{Look at their over 30’s players. Defoe is older than Scott Brown but when he plays he seems, at times, to be years younger. Davis still helms their midfield and McGregor is as alert as he ever was.}

_{And whilst we’re on the subject of alertness, we’re talking here about a team that not only runs for 90’s minutes every single week but who’s defence is so sharp in its concentration levels that they barely concede goals.}

_{Good coaching, sure … but really?}

_{How do you transform Connor Goldson from the shambling ruin our strikers loved to come up against into a player who looks a mile better than anyone in our back line?}

_{Hard work on the training ground?}

_{Don’t make me laugh, that’s absolutely ridiculous.}

_{Gerrard and his team have clearly done wonders for the organisation of the team … that’s just crystal clear. But the improvements as so marked that they even bother some of the Ibrox supporters.}

_{As I’ll reveal in the next section, much of the spadework for this article comes from a series of articles by a guy called Alan Moore. An article he did on Liverpool so tugged at the brain of one of my friends that he sent it to me to see what I thought.}

_{Moore has written extensively on the subject of doping in football, and the reaction to the article in question sparked such debate that he did two follow up pieces – both published this very month – and it was in the second of those, when he talked about how the piece had gone down with fans of various clubs, that I really found the thread that linked all this together.}

_{Moore wrote this eye-popping paragraph:}

_{“The most balanced response, from even the most dedicated Liverpool supporters, was – “I hate that it’s happening, but I’m sure it is and it points to an illness in sport.” Self-reflective Glasgow Rangers fans even questioned their own club and body changes in players.”}

_{This is so noticeable that even some of their own fans are questioning it … and it’s made me ask questions about our own successes in the past four years, and in particular the Invincible campaign.}

_{In an environment like Celtic, where someone like Lawwell is standing over everything, you doubt that it’s possible … but you just never know, and that’s a troubling thought.}

_{I know enough about what’s been happening at Celtic, and in particular a harrowing story about Kieran Tierney being expected to take multiple injections of pain killers to get through games, to understand that we’ve pushed the envelope a little bit ourselves.}

_{But Rodgers inherited the work Ronny Deila had done and built on it with modern knowledge and innovations which took us to a whole new level … you can account for our success, that and the fact we were going up against a bona-fide shambles and had no need to gild the lily.}

_{It’s much harder to account for what’s happened at Ibrox this year.}

_{Not all of it can be explained away by Gerrard spending money.}

_{Indeed, so much of that money has been wasted that the £30 million plus he’s spent on the team can barely be seen on the park most weeks. The improvements to pretty sub-par individuals like Glen Kamara, Goldson, Tavernier … they are just off-the charts remarkable, and because of that it raises interesting questions … ethical ones.}

_{What niggles at me over and over again is that Liverpool brought in Klopp because he was the best in the business and they wanted results that no-one else could get.}

_{The Ibrox club brought in a rookie with no experience of first team football management at all and trusted him through two trophyless seasons and then into the biggest campaign they’ve ever had to play.}

_{There was nothing in Gerrard’s CV to justify that appointment, or that level of faith … yet they kept him there for this campaign. To call it a risk is an understatement … unless they believed that certain tweaks and experiments and ideas were starting to show promise.}

_{And this isn’t just in Scotland of course; how does this rag-bag band go from obscurity in Europe to suddenly topping groups?}

_{Is Gerrard a managerial genius?}

_{Well his win record at Ibrox before this campaign started was below that of every Celtic manager of the modern era including John Barnes, so I would suggest not.}

_{This season, they have lost a single game, including matches in the Europa League.}

_{None of it makes a bit of sense … until you put it all within the historical context I’ve laid out here and then you start to ask yourself if things aren’t suddenly clear.}

_{So if it’s true, how do you beat a team like this?}

_{How do you know that the future won’t resemble the past, and that anything you do isn’t just a waste of your time?}

_{Well, like everything else that happens at Ibrox, if this theory is even remotely on the money, this is short-term thinking to a fare-thee-well.}

_{Because this little experiment can’t last out indefinitely.}

_{If it could, and with caffeine no longer on WADA’s banned substances list, every club would be doing it.}

_{So why don’t they do it?}

_{Frankly, because it’s dangerous, even in the hands of the world class experts the elite clubs can afford.}

_{When it’s been tried elsewhere, it has had profoundly tragic consequences.}

_{And in this, lies the dark heart of the matter … and our own opportunity."}

Rodgers team must have been doped up too.

[Sarto Mutiny]

Rodgers team must have been doped up too.

I enjoyed the immediate dismissal of the idea that you can make footballers better by...er...coaching them

[DukDukGoose]

18 minutes ago, Sarto Mutiny said:

21 minutes ago, Merkland Red said:

Rodgers team must have been doped up too.

I enjoyed the immediate dismissal of the idea that you can make footballers better by...er...coaching them

I don't think the players are much better either. Just good management by the Rangers manager and backroom staff. Had a look at where they were going wrong last season and tweaked it. Rangers came up against a 'low block' last year and passed it around with no conviction. Now they can throw on Itten and chuck in crosses (Motherwell) and it at least offers something different.

Lennon wasn't even analysing matches.

Edited January 25, 2021 by Merkland Red

[gannonball]

41 minutes ago, Merkland Red said:

That's the guy who uses some really wild comparisons.

One of them was likening the Ross County result to the Chernobyl disaster.

I think he also does independence blogs on another site, he is an absolute loonball though. I don’t know of any Celtic fans that read his articles, the site was actually owned by a friend of mine years ago and he sold it to him and turned  it into conspiracy theorist nonsense.  I don't think the **** realise it’s them that are funding the likes of him and ‘Mad Phil’ now as its only usually them that bring their shite to my attention these days. As batshit crazy as the two guys are they now know this is their market so so seem come up with more and more stuff they will latch on to.

Edited January 25, 2021 by gannonball

[DukDukGoose]

5 minutes ago, gannonball said:

I think he also does independence blogs on another site, he is an absolute loonball though. I don’t know of any Celtic fans that read his articles, the site was actually owned by a friend of mine years ago and he sold it to him and turned  it into conspiracy theorist nonsense.  I don't think the **** realise it’s them that are funding the likes of him and ‘Mad Phil’ as its only usually them that bring their shite to my attention. As batshit crazy as the two guys are they now know this is their market so so seem come up with more and more stuff they will latch on to.

What? You don't think Phil has an Ibrox source?

The other guy 'John James' is just as bad. An ex Rangers 'supporter' who complains about the corruption and staunchness of everyone in Scotland. Also doesn't want independence. 

[bennett]

5 minutes ago, gannonball said:

I think he also does independence blogs on another site, he is an absolute loonball though. I don’t know of any Celtic fans that read his articles, the site was actually owned by a friend of mine years ago and he sold it to him and turned  it into conspiracy theorist nonsense.  I don't think the **** realise it’s them that are funding the likes of him and ‘Mad Phil’ as its only usually them that bring their shite to my attention. As batshit crazy as the two guys are they now know this is their market so so seem come up with more and more stuff they will latch on to.

 

 

[GNU_Linux]

Johannes Edvaldsson passes away aged 70.

Was doing some reading up on him turns out his auld man is an alleged Nazi war criminal due to being a high ranking member of the Sicherheitspolizei during the German occupation of Estonia. He only ended up in Iceland as the boat that was transporting him from Norway to Venezuela ended up stranded in the country.

[senorsoupe]

13 hours ago, ICTChris said:

This blog is worth a read, it really makes you think.

https://thecelticblog.com/2021/01/blogs/coffee-and-tv/ibrox-days-of-hope-or-an-ibrox-haze-of-dope/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

Specifically, it makes you think “the guy who wrote this blog is fucking mental”.

Christ above, even by "The Celtic Blog" standards that is completely batshit.  

[Drew Brees]

2 hours ago, senorsoupe said:

Christ above, even by "The Celtic Blog" standards that is completely batshit.  

Some people just can't/wont let themselves see how much Celtic have fucked this season up. For them it can't possibly be Celtics fault, someone else must have dont this to us. Its like something you hear from trump supporters. 
 

On saying that, I’m pretty sure our players have been poisoned this season, think I’ll write a blog about it.  

[senorsoupe]

8 minutes ago, Drew Brees said:

Some people just can't/wont let themselves see how much Celtic have fucked this season up. For them it can't possibly be Celtics fault, someone else must have dont this to us. Its like something you hear from trump supporters. 
 

On saying that, I’m pretty sure our players have been poisoned this season, think I’ll write a blog about it.  

Unfortunately this nutjob becomes Exhibit A when Rangers fans accuse Celtic fans of being obsessed with them

[bennett]

Just now, senorsoupe said:

Unfortunately this nutjob becomes Exhibit A when Rangers fans accuse Celtic fans of being obsessed with them

Drew can be a bit of a dick at times but that's way OTT.