The Offical Glasgow Celtic thread

[playwiththewind1st]

History of Glasgow Celtic, part 1.

Founded in 1888 (this was a thoroughly "good thing" in everyone's eyes....no disputes about this, even on this thread).
1889 : things start getting erm......well "a bit average" shall we say.
1890-present day: absolutely mediocre (1966-1967 being noted as a "qualified success", with the shareholders engaging in a frenzy of autograph hunting).
The blame for all this lies somewhere around the Carnlough direction. Here endeth the lesson.

[tonto1888]

I do not have an autograph book,I have an official published text book wentitled The Lisbon Lions, with the autographs (and for reasons of authenticity my photograph with all the signatories) of all but Willie Wallace.Like many other adults I collect signed sporting memorabilia.

Now my question remains unanswered.What do others who pontificate on this thread do to support the club in practical ways.

Tony. Fair play to you for going. I wish I could afford it. And that's the cuz of the matter. Many people can't afford to support the club in practical ways. Actually. What are practical ways? Going to games? Buying official club merchandise?

[Carmen Stateside]

Well done Brendan Rodgers an outstanding achievement . Invincibles!

[T Fearon]

Fair comment.I am guessing a lot of those pontificating here do not support the club but are bandwagon jumpers and besotted by the invincibles.In my opinion the domestic season merely reflects the huge investment made in the club's highest paid manager. Given the level of competition in Scotland it is not worth noting though the club will cash in commercially.

Brendan has it all to do proving himself capable at European level,(having failed to do so at Liverpool or Celtic to date) and this is where the club will earn real kudos.I do wish him success.

[laoislad]

I'm the furthest thing from a Celtic supporter but hats off too them and Rodgers for going the entire season unbeaten. Even taking the quality of opposition into account it's still a fantastic achievement to keep going and winning game after game.
Rodgers is a decent coach, things just went wrong for him at Liverpool but he gave us one of the most enjoyable seasons in years the season they almost won the Premier League.

[Hotrocks]

Brilliant stuff Celtic and Brendan Rodgers.  Unbelievable achievement.

[Farrandeelin]

Must say I enjoyed reading this thread. Tony lamenting Celtic's inability to do well in Europe and ignoring the fact that they went unbeaten in the league. Yet his other beloved team Spurs win nothing and it's the best season ever for them.

[T Fearon]

I have also lamented Spurs performance in Europe.But which is the more momentous achievement? Finishing as runners up in the EPL or winning the SPL unbeaten when your budget dwarves all opponents

[imtommygunn]

I have also lamented Spurs performance in Europe.But which is the more momentous achievement? Finishing as runners up in the EPL or winning the SPL unbeaten when your budget dwarves all opponents

Nobody remembers runners up.

[ned]

This is a Celtic thread. CGAF about EPL.
Juventus or Real winning the CL is a more notable event but Celtic going the season unbeaten is momentous for the club. I for one will revel in it. I feel no need to qualify my credentials on here and those that seem to like to trumpet their own are diminished in my eyes. Uber fan, uber fan*&y.

[The Stallion]

I have also lamented Spurs performance in Europe.But which is the more momentous achievement? Finishing as runners up in the EPL or winning the SPL unbeaten when your budget dwarves all opponents

Nobody remembers runners up.

I do.

[thebar]

I have also lamented Spurs performance in Europe.But which is the more momentous achievement? Finishing as runners up in the EPL or winning the SPL unbeaten when your budget dwarves all opponents

Nobody remembers runners up.

I do.

dont let things get to you buddie!

[PAULD123]

I have also lamented Spurs performance in Europe.But which is the more momentous achievement? Finishing as runners up in the EPL or winning the SPL unbeaten when your budget dwarves all opponents

this isn't a totally fair comment. yes Celtic's budget is bigger than the other teams in Scotland and of course it means they can select better players. But I commonly hear this comment with the impression Scotland is a special case. In almost every league consistently the clubs with big budgets win. Real and Barca have the biggest budgets in Spain and have won 60 out of 29 titles. They only play each other twice a year. So by your theory in most years if one of them gets a double against the other then they should romp to an unbeaten season!!!!!

In England Chelsea basically won a mini-league against about 5 other teams. Since 2013 Tottenham are huge spenders at £316M, Liverpool spent £348M, Chelsea £505M, United £526m, City £569M. The other teams have spent between £100M - £190M.

So yes Tottenham finished above teams that spent more than them in United, Liverpool and City. But their budget against the rest of the league was no bigger a % margin that Celtic's to Rangers. Only the teams with a big budget compete in England, except for one fluke in twenty years when Leicester did it last year, even Scotland could produce a fluke. Tottenham spent to be in the top four and that's where they got. But don't kid yourself that the EPL is a level playing field.

Celtic have indeed a luxurious position financially in Scotland that is true. But so have many clubs throughout Europe and remaining unbeaten is more than just good players. Rodgers only added 2 players to a mediocre Ronny Delia side yet transformed them into a team of outright dominance.

[illdecide]

Good post...Celtic are a big club and TBH i actually like their ethos of keeping their own house in order and not spending beyond their means. If Celtic want a player who demands more than their £25k a week cap then it's up to DD & co to come up with the short fall, one part of me would love to see Celtic in the EPL to see how they'd cope after 4-5 years of heavy investment but the other side of me doesn't want to see them loosing their identity and being hundreds of millions in debt trying to compete with rich Arabs/Russians just to get into the top 4.

I'm happy enough the way things are ATM and if we could just make the next step (getting out of group stages of CL or latter stages of Europa League) i'd be delighted, i don't believe we need to spend a fortune to produce a team that can compete. A few shrewd signings and the right manager (so far it's def BR) we can make things difficult for the big guns and take a few scalps along the way.

HH

[PAULD123]

I thought of something else to put this season into context compared to the EPL. Generally people complain that Celtic victories in the SPL are worthless because they have such enormous financial advantage over the opposition. And, in truth, this is not a totally unfair comment.

Also they say that being unbeaten is no big deal for this reason, and the same feat should not be expected in EPL because there are several sides of the same financial clout. And, in truth, again this is a not totally unfair comment.

However....Chelsea have a huge financial advantage over the teams in the bottom half of the table and so if apples are apples then Chelsea may be forgiven a loss to Tottenham or Liverpool but never to a team significantly financially weaker than them (i.e. bottom half). But no English champion for the last ten years (I only checked back ten years) has gone unbeaten over a whole season against all the bottom half finishers. They have lost to at least one. Comparing Celtic being unbeaten to EPL would be fair to expect that criteria at least and, as it is very rare, then this proves that despite the wealth difference this was a magnificent achievement by Celtic.

2017 - Chelsea lost to Crystal Palace (Finished 14th)
2016 - Liecester lost to Sunderland (17)
2015 - Chelsea lost to Newcastle (15)
2014 - City lost to Villa (15)
2013 - United lost to Norwich (11)
2012 - City lost to Sunderland (13)
2011 - United lost to Wolves (17)
2010 - Chelsea lost to Bolton (14)
2009 - United lost to Fulham (11)
2008 - United lost to Bolton (16)

These aren't the only losses, sometimes the champions lost several to bottom half teams. I was just proving that even with a huge financial advantage EPL teams consistently cannot go undefeated against the weaker sides.