Messages

Verbal contract?

along the lines of
'dont worry son, we will be offering you a new contract at Christmas, we want to keep you on'

If you think thats the way Celtic treat all their players, then you are delusional!

Ridiculous??

As I said I don't believe Celtic do conduct their business that way. They couldnt possibly allow all players contracts to run down to such a level where they are free to negotiate with other clubs and/or hang on for free transfers.

I'm sure Celtic are the same as most other clubs and they seek to tie down players into new contracts the summer before their existing contracts are up.

And I agree that a reason why they didnt offer Miller a contract eariler was they were worried about his injury history. That's not much comfort to him though.

so you are saying that they singled out this particular player and didnt follow normal procedure regarding contracts ?

have a think about that.
I will re-iterate that this premise is ridiculous as is th enotion he wasnt offered a contract in time.
I recall him being told in early season (before his CL heroics) he had been verbally offered a new contract so it was just a case of him signing.
I had heard a lot about him in his time at aalborg so was watchin out for him - esp as he was irish.
So your story is complete pants!
Sorry, I'm not looking to argue with you, but you seem to have been listening to idle gossip.

Indeed we'll agree to disagree. But yes they did treat hime differently because they took too long to make up their mind on him, and I can't believe he didnt sign that verbal contract 

In the 2nd half Gerrard gave the ball away constantly. And deserved to be taken off and given a kick up the hole. If he'd taken him with 15/20 to go and brought on Alonso, I wouldnt have minded one bit. But taking him off when we need a goal was just nuts. I believe Rafa was just totally frustrated with him, but it was stupid.

Torres had to come off because he just wasn't right. Riera in itself wasnt a bad replacement, and to say it was a "midfielder for a forward" doesn't tell the true story because Babel moved up front, there was no change in formation. However given we haven't won a game in a month, the message it sent to everyone was "we're hanging on", whereas bringing on Keane in a straight swap would have sent the message "we're going to finish you off". The result was Wigan's game raised and we may have sat back.

I thought Benny was the player causing Wigan the most problems - baffled by the decision to take him off, and on the night Kuyt was a far easier job for the Wigan defence.

I think that's harsh on Bastic. He is tough and a clumsy tackler, so he is a yellow card machine. But he's never delivered a really dirty blow for the Dubs that resulted in a straight red.

Of course I don't think he's ever gone thru a Dubs match without picking up a yellow and picked up 2 yellows about 3 times.

I hope any diving by either team is highlighted in the media.

Wigan are definitely a bogey side. Remember even Titus useless hole Bramble scoring a screamer from 20 yards against us. Last minute as well I think. That even surpassed Gerry Taggart scoring against us for Leicester some years back!

And I agree that a reason why they didnt offer Miller a contract eariler was they were worried about his injury history. That's not much comfort to him though.

Miller was offered a contract in reasonable time.
He was free to talk with other clubs only after January, leaving him with a comfortable 6 months or so to work out his future.
There was a contract from Celtic on the table before that January.

Yes, he was offered a contract in December, when news of United being interested filtered though. "In reasonable time" is a matter of opinion. If it had been offered in the summer, he would have signed, and he would have signed for less than the £20k per week he was offered in the end. But Celtic left the door ajar and United burst it down. Nobody won in the end! 

[so six and one]

No he didn't. He said United were getting an advantage. So did Wenger.

And Ferguson said United be ad a disavantage with the fixtures so six and one...

Correct. Six and one are different, i.e. not the same.

I said "equally" earlier. That was doing you an injustice. Surpassing by a distance  

O'Rourke's suspension is nothing to do with the new rules.

And it wasn't a friendly chat with the linesman that resulted in the ban. From what I heard he fully deserved his punishment. Great and all it is for lads to give their time for GAA, but no excuse for abusing officials the way O'Rourke did.

Does anyone remember how the Rows are fixed in the Cusack
I know A is at the very front but when does it become covered by the roof?

Think we're in JJ which I think is behind the entrance when you come in.

I'd say a lot of people will leave after the final whistle. At least those in the hill or without children.

First 30 rows are uncovered.

So from EE back to ZZ is covered. Of course swirling breezes can change things by a few rows.

Is Hector from Meath? He'll get some stick off the Hill if he is, whenever they decide to come out and brave the elements.

I'm no Sherlock, but this is the way the next two games will play out...Rafa's hand is forced and even he isnt stubborn enough not to pick what he genuinely thinks is his best starting 11. Liverpool win and the revival starts....well until the next game at the weekend, when Keane is dropped (after scoring tonight), Benayoun and Lucas start and another draw is the result.

PQ

Predicting Rafa's teams is a fool's errand, but no better man...

I think he'll stick with 4-2-3-1. Aurelio may challenge Dossena for left back, though Dossena did reasonably well at the weekend. Mascherano protecting the back 4, Alonso to control the middle and then 3 lads supporting Torres, probably Kuyt-Gerrard-Riera.

With Gerrard and Torres linking up well again, Mascherano finally finding some form and Alonso being consistently good, I think this will be the formation for the rest of the season (assuming those mentioned are always available). Keane will be on the bench, and hopefully he'll get a run. I'd like to see what he could contribute in Kuyt's position in that formation.

Ridiculous??

As I said I don't believe Celtic do conduct their business that way. They couldnt possibly allow all players contracts to run down to such a level where they are free to negotiate with other clubs and/or hang on for free transfers.

I'm sure Celtic are the same as most other clubs and they seek to tie down players into new contracts the summer before their existing contracts are up.

And I agree that a reason why they didnt offer Miller a contract eariler was they were worried about his injury history. That's not much comfort to him though.

Benitez never said the FA were helping United with the fixture list.
He said Ferguson should stop moaning about the fixture list.

[but the little rat fecked off to man u]

lost it in midfield mostly that year, and the successor was groomed and ready, but the little rat fecked off to man u
He was a world beater - how miller played on those few occasions was more than enough to prove to 50,000 season ticket holders and fans that he was the real deal.
he messed up himself by going to man u and not getting a game for two years - kind of fecks up any kind of continuity and momentum !

Whatever about how good he is or isn't, it was totally Celtic's own fault for letting him go. They didnt offer him a contract until it was far too late. You can't blame a lad for leaving when the club are dragging their heels so much about offering him a new deal.

doesnt matter when Celtic were making contract offers (they were using the same process for miller as all the players )
man u had tapped Miller up when a verbal agreement had more or less been already agreed with Celtic on millers contract renewal.
He then went back looking for a better deal as he knew what man u were offering, then he left
tapped up is the phrase. Celtic were not responsible for this. MON wasnt going to be held to ransom by anyone!

If that was the truth then I'd totally agree with you.

Celtic always refuse to negotiate and extend contracts until there is around 6 months to run?
I have no idea of the answer to that one, but any club who doesnt offer any player a new contract when there is less than 9 months to go on their contract, and who want to keep the player, is a very badly run club - and I can't believe Celtic are that badly run. Any well run club will start preliminary negotiations with players they want to keep when there's 18 months remaining, in the hope of concluding the deal when there's about 12 months left (assuming they want to keep the player of course)

If any club allows a players contract to get to less than 9 months, then frankly I would expect most players to wait a couple more months to get to the 6 month stage and see what else is on offer.

There was no verbal agreement with Miller when ManU came calling. Miller had been actively looking for a new contract for months and there was no offer on the table until after United started sniffing.

I really don't see how anyone could blame Miller for the choice he made in those circumstances.

I wasn't sure. I thought Mr Benitez cited this as an example of how the FA are helping United to win the league? I must have missed his comment on the refixture!

If you're trying to be equally inane, then you are succeeding 

Dammit. I was really hoping the fireworks would be on first.

Hector is hardly an enticement to get people out of the pubs and into the cold evening.

I would love to see the fireworks, but I can't see myself hanging around in the freezing cold and sitting through a video, no matter how iconic, when there is a lovely warm pub calling, in which there are friends I haven't seen in a while...