The Offical Glasgow Celtic thread

[Gaoth Dobhair Abu]

Report fromm BBC. I wouldn't be happy about Celtic being taken over.


Celtic rule out foreign takeover 

John Reid says Celtic will not be sold to a foreign billionaire
Chairman John Reid insists Celtic will not be allowed to fall into the hands of foreign billionaires.

Reid says the Scottish champions have global ambitions but stressed the club would not follow in the footsteps of a host of English Premier League sides.

"No, I wouldn't and Dermot Desmond (Celtic majority shareholder) wouldn't either," Reid told BBC Radio 5 Live.

"But we would like access to a bigger platform, whether in Europe or outside Scotland or whatever."

Celtic's Champions League opponents Manchester United were subject to a controversial takeover by American businessman Malcolm Glazer in May 2005.

And United's neighbours City were bought by former Thailand prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra in the summer of 2007.  When we have to play the Barcelona's or the Manchester United's of the world we have to punch above our weight

Celtic chairman John Reid

Seven other English Premier League clubs are in the hands of foreign owners: Aston Villa, Chelsea, Fulham, Liverpool, Portsmouth, Sunderland and West Ham United.

But despite an enormous gap in earnings between Celtic and the top English sides, Reid says his club will resist any temptation to sell the club to the highest bidder.

"Dermot has been a fantastic support for the club," the former Home Secretary said.

"We're quite happy taking the (television) money that we got and doing what we have.

"The key thing about it is not to have somebody who is just handing money out to you, but to run a good business model.

"And despite all of the problems we've had and the limited resources, at our AGM last week we were able to report again that, on the business side, we had the board and shareholders had made a small profit. 

"We had allocated some towards strengthening our squad, but, there's no doubt about it, we're in a limited market in Scotland for multimedia sales.

"Therefore when we have to play the Barcelona's or the Manchester United's of the world we have to punch above our weight because of out sport's size, because of our sporting ability, because of our management and because of the added value we put into that type of players."

[T Fearon]

Things in football can change quickly. As recently as 2000 we were knocked out of the Scottish Cup by Inverness, a mere 3 years later we contested the UEFA Cup Final and only 2 years ago we more than matched Man Ure over two Champions League ties. If Man Ure lose Tevez and Ronaldo, and Rooney loses form, they would suffer a serious deterioration

[full back]

If Man Ure lose Tevez and Ronaldo, and Rooney loses form, they would suffer a serious deterioration

If, if, if
If your Granny had balls she would be your granda...........

[tyroneStatto]

celtic didnt get stuck in which was a disappointment - sutton, larsson, hartson, lennon etc would never have lay down like that. having said that utd were much better and the officials didnt help with the offside goals. the thing that gets me is that utd will beat most premier league teams at home by 2-3 goals or more (remember liverpool were beat 3-0 at old trafford about 6 months ago) yet noone says these teams are sh*t and shouldnt be in the premiership etc. whenever celtic lose its because they are crap and because scottish football is crap and if they win its because they are lucky.

[Main Street]

Hardly worth mentioning this news item because it is just normal.

English cops praise Celtic's Euro tie fans

http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/display.var.2462359.0.english_cops_praise_celtics_euro_tie_fans.php

[Croí na hÉireann]

I'm sure that'll be front page of the Record tomorrow 

[Main Street]

celtic didnt get stuck in which was a disappointment - sutton, larsson, hartson, lennon etc would never have lay down like that. having said that utd

Lennon, Hartson and Sutton cost a cool £18m some 8 years ago, probably worth a good bit more in todays money.

Interesting  transfer statistics (approx)
O'Neill In his first 4 seasons signed 17 players  got rid off 34
nett cost £21m

So far   (in his 4th season) Strachan has spent £30m and received £14m in transfer fees.
signed 33   got rid of 36
net cost  £16m  
 

[Lamh Dhearg Alba]

Everybody knows Man Utd have a far stronger squad than Celtic so not sure why people are using the fact that Man Utd won 3-0 to talk down Celtic (and the bizarre point that the result shows Celtic are Uefa Cup standard ). Ultimately the situation Celtic were in last night was similar to many SPL teams going to Parkhead, up against a stronger team and needing a bit of luck to get a good result. The last thing they needed was to see 2 offside goals awarded against them and those mistakes killed the match as a contest (wonder what the people who posted on this thread a while back on the need for foreign officials in the SPL to give Celtic a fair chance made of it ). People shouldnt forget the last time the sides met Celtic lost narrowly away 3-2 and won 1-0 at home, the gap isnt so big that Celtic arent capable of giving Man Utd a very good game.

[Rav67]

Back from the game there, painful viewing not helped by having to sit in the home end so couldn't even support the team.  Shocking amount of Man Ure fans there for Ireland, seemed to be around 1/3 in the bar beforehand.  Celtic were very poor on the ball, only McGeady offered any attacking threat and the side totally lost heart after the offside goals.  Hope Utd get put out by an offside goal later in the competition. 

Looking at the money spent on the two sides you realise it has got to be an exceptional performance to come anywhere close to them when you're playing away, even Nani who is fairly shit cost £17m or so.  We'll just have to hope that their debts cripple the English elite at some stage if we are to close the gap a bit.

[Mentalman]

Smith defends Celtic against Ince

Smith has defended the standard of the Scottish game

Rangers' Walter Smith has hit back at Blackburn boss Paul Ince for describing Celtic's Champions League defeat by Manchester United as "embarrassing".

The Rangers manager defended the state of Scottish football after Tuesday's 3-0 defeat by the English champions.

"It was interesting to hear an English manager commenting, but a lot of the English teams suffer the same fate when they play Manchester United," he said.

"Some of them even worse and they are Premiership teams. They forget that."

Ince had also described the game as "men against boys", but Smith suggested that the match was not a fair reflection of the game north of the border.

"There is a big gulf between Manchester United and a lot of teams in the Premiership - people forget that," he said.

"If you look at Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea, they've made themselves fixtures at the top of that league.

"The game in Scotland is as good as it can be taking into account that football is a financially-based game and has been for the last 10 or 15 years since the introduction of huge sums of television money in England."

Celtic have qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League for the last two seasons, while Rangers reached the Uefa Cup final last year - without the finances available to English clubs.

"Scottish teams do the best they can," said Smith. "Celtic acquitted themselves well in the Champions League last year and I felt we acquitted ourselves well.

"They have a level of finance that's greater than the Scottish clubs, even teams just going into the Premiership for the first time.

"But football throughout Europe is like that as well. You don't see many teams from small countries getting into the latter stages of the Champions League.

"We managed to get to the Uefa Cup final last year, so Scottish teams have proved they can stand up and play and have a level of success.

"It's very difficult for us to do so every year, but it doesn't stop us from competing and I think we compete very well.

"There has been an exaggeration about the effects of Celtic's defeat at Old Trafford.

"They've still to play them at home and they beat Manchester United there the last time and they have beat most of the teams they have played there.

"Scottish football is not in a desperately poor situation just because Celtic got beat 3-0 by a team who can probably beat any team in Europe 3-0."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/r/rangers/7689580.stm

[Main Street]

Fair play to Walter.
I'm sure, real Blackburn fans would not be so dismissive of Celtic

[Gaoth Dobhair Abu]

Fair play to Walter.
I'm sure, real Blackburn fans would not be so dismissive of Celtic

Yes thinking the results against Blackburn in the UEFA cup were Celtic 1 - Blackburn 0 and Blackburn 0 - Celtic 2.
Paul Ince = poor manager looking headlines and arse kissing Man Ure.


4 - 2 to the Bhoys today against the Hibees, great result, but mixed performance.

Hail Hail

[mhacadoir]

was at the match yesterday. a few things about it.

great to see we finished with paddy mc court and cillian sheridan as the strike force. neither looked particularly out of place.

we werent great, but got the job done so cant ask for any more.

im also liking that they play different things after the goals, instead of just chelsea dagger. they played the pogues yesterday and it was class.

i sat in the main stand for the first time and the atmosphere was seriously quiet. in fact, only for the jungle bhoys, the green brigade and the lads in the upper jock stein stand there would be nothing. its a pity and i know the weather aint great, but hopefully as the season wears on the atmosphere picks up.

hail hail

[Rav67]

was at the match yesterday. a few things about it.

great to see we finished with paddy mc court and cillian sheridan as the strike force. neither looked particularly out of place.

we werent great, but got the job done so cant ask for any more.

im also liking that they play different things after the goals, instead of just chelsea dagger. they played the pogues yesterday and it was class.

i sat in the main stand for the first time and the atmosphere was seriously quiet. in fact, only for the jungle bhoys, the green brigade and the lads in the upper jock stein stand there would be nothing. its a pity and i know the weather aint great, but hopefully as the season wears on the atmosphere picks up.

hail hail

There's been a crap atmosphere at league games in the autumn and winter this past few years now. 

Heard Brown played well again, he's been improving a lot this season and turning into a much more complete player.

[mhacadoir]

yeh, he took his goal really well and is starting to look like a real player.

robson at left back was a strange one, he did ok (better than naylor) but it aint his favoured spot.

caldwell has improved immensely this year, he looked really composed and him and loovens worked quite well together, despite conceding two

anyone for paradise on the 5th for united?