The Offical Glasgow Celtic thread

[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.

[T Fearon]

The fact remains no one club enjoys such a huge advantage in England over all its rivals as Celtic does in Scotland.In truth Celtic should not even be drawing with Scottish clubs,they should be winning every single domestic fixture.

Name another player with any other club in Scotland who would get into the current Celtic squad? There aren't any and if there were Celtic would buy him immediately.

Also if Aberdeen win the Scottish Cup on Saturday Brendan will simply have won the same two trophies as Ronny did in his first year.The only difference is that Ronny qualified for the knock out stages of the Europa League in his first season

[playwiththewind1st]

Didn't know it was Groundhog Day today.

[thebar]

The fact remains no one club enjoys such a huge advantage in England over all its rivals as Celtic does in Scotland.In truth Celtic should not even be drawing with Scottish clubs,they should be winning every single domestic fixture.

Name another player with any other club in Scotland who would get into the current Celtic squad? There aren't any and if there were Celtic would buy him immediately.

Also if Aberdeen win the Scottish Cup on Saturday Brendan will simply have won the same two trophies as Ronny did in his first year.The only difference is that Ronny qualified for the knock out stages of the Europa League in his first season

lmao dont even mention Ronny that man had us sweating in case he couldnt even win the league lol!!!

[playwiththewind1st]

"Also, I forgot to say that if Aberdeen win the Scottish Cup on Saturday, I will be one extremely happy bunny. Brendan will simply have to get get his P45"

[imtommygunn]

The fact remains no one club enjoys such a huge advantage in England over all its rivals as Celtic does in Scotland.In truth Celtic should not even be drawing with Scottish clubs,they should be winning every single domestic fixture.

Name another player with any other club in Scotland who would get into the current Celtic squad? There aren't any and if there were Celtic would buy him immediately.

Also if Aberdeen win the Scottish Cup on Saturday Brendan will simply have won the same two trophies as Ronny did in his first year.The only difference is that Ronny qualified for the knock out stages of the Europa League in his first season

Lol. Yes the prestigous europa league. That champions league is like the poor relation of european football. Ronny obviously was a genius by setting himself to get knocked out of the cl

You should try harder.

[StGallsGAA]

Also if Aberdeen win the Scottish Cup on Saturday Brendan will simply have won the same two trophies as Ronny did in his first year.The only difference is that Ronny qualified for the knock out stages of the Europa League in his first season

Yes Stallion. You are right again! 🙄

[yellowcard]

The EPL is a financial cesspit where so many of the big clubs have been used as status symbols and play things by wealthy investors. What was formerly a game attended by working class people has now turned into a corporate day out where day trippers spend as much in one day on merchandise and match tickets as a season ticket holder would in the likes of the Bundesliga. A lot of the bigger clubs have lost their identity and barring the innocence of kids growing up, it's hard to feel any real affiliation to what are effectively mini multi nationals. Everyone is treated as a consumer and not a supporter. I think Celtic are still a club for all the people and would hate to see them lose that connection.

[tonto1888]

The fact remains no one club enjoys such a huge advantage in England over all its rivals as Celtic does in Scotland.In truth Celtic should not even be drawing with Scottish clubs,they should be winning every single domestic fixture.

Name another player with any other club in Scotland who would get into the current Celtic squad? There aren't any and if there were Celtic would buy him immediately.

Also if Aberdeen win the Scottish Cup on Saturday Brendan will simply have won the same two trophies as Ronny did in his first year.The only difference is that Ronny qualified for the knock out stages of the Europa League in his first season

After failing to qualify for the group stages of the champions league. Remind me. Was that the season he got celtic knocked out of the CL not once but twice?

[Armamike]

First team to go unbeaten in Scotland in over 100 years.  Some achievement that for Rodgers and his team.  Rangers with all their dosh in the 80s and 90s couldn't achieve it.  Stein and the Lisbon Lions neither.  Surely credit where it's due.