4-4-2 Rate Celtic's best XI

I'd love to know who the 10 teams above us are. I'll bet the Leeds Utd side of the 70s are above us even though we dicked them. And most of the Busby Babes will be there too, even though they achieved hee haw.

 

How is that Munich team only 9th? They won 3 European cups on the trot plus a World cup.

 

We should demand to know the names of whoever compiled this erroneous list.

 

I take it back, no Leeds, no Man Utd, I can't see much wrong with those selections in terms of clubs, sadly i'm old enought to recall lots of them. Inter Milan's high placing should dispel some of that myths that Celtic beat an over the hill average Italian side in 67.

 

I'm inclined to agree, they were a fantastic side. Becekenbauer, Muller, Maier, Hoeness and Breitner.Household names when I was a kid.

Ajax deserve their place at the top though.

 

maybe i am a wee bit biased but the leeds team of the late 60's early seventies was outstanding. bremner, giles hunter, clarke (one nil), cooper, reanie, jones, lorrimer, gray. even though i never saw them live i heard enough about them from my dad and watching the videos of the day makes me cry at how far we have fallen. Eddie Gray was / is a huge Tim. He said his greatest regret in football was not playing for celtic

 

I saw that Leeds side play Scotland under 23s at Hampden and they were a great side, i'd never seen anything like them...but, they never won a European Cup. All the others in the list did too and I suspect that's the only reason Leeds are not there.

 

No they do not. Real Madrid of the 50s were a better side and Di Stefano was better than Cruyff.

As to Bayern and Ajax, you have to look at the opposition available at the time compared to RM. Inter Milan came at a time when there were great sides at the top, Real, Benfica and Nereo Roccos A C Milan. 3 truly great sides.

Liverpool won the EC at a time when domestic regulations limited Italian and Spanish sides to 3 foreigners maximum. When that rule was relaxed in Italy, JUVENTUS beat Liverpool in the EC and the UEFA cup. Look at pools opponents in the finals.

The claim by envious SEVCO and defunct rfc fans that the LL beat an over the hill IM side are blown apart by the fact that four of the side played in the 70 WC F and six of them were in the squad. If memory serves me right 5 played in the WCSF 70. 5 or 6 played against us in 72.

Have heard the same nonesense about Zurich 67, a side we beat home and away, but reached the ECSF a couple of years earlier, Dukla reached 4 out of 5 QFs, they also eliminated Ajax who hammered Shanklys Lpool side 5-1. Zurich put the alleged great RFC back to back treble side of the seventies out of the EC in the first round.

In 67 the LLs beat the champions of countries not third and fourth places.
Vojvodina, who we found our most difficult opponents were dismantled within 3 weeks of our victory. Their midfield general and striker went to Atletico Madrid and their CD went to Fiorentina.

 

Also the fact that they were not as good as the English media claimed them to be. They intimidated opponents in England but less so in European football and that explains their relative underachievement in the EC. Also later allegations of match fixing could have influenced results in England. They were well outplayed in both ties against Celtic and the tie would have been over within a few minutes of the first leg second half had officials not made an error of judgement.

 

I'll have to take your word for it, I never saw that Real Madrid side nor did I see Di Stefano play, but I did see plenty of Ajax and Cruyff and their new phiosophy of Total Football.

How old are you out of interest Albie? You must be pushing 70.

 

Indeed - there appears to be a glaringly obvious lack of world record most famous record of world records record breaking new world record clubs in that list.

 

i guess they struggled in the European Cup as the only qualified for it twice during the Revie era. Once they got beat in the semi final against celtic and the other time they got beat in the final against Bayern Munich so you are spot on about under achievement. there is no denying they were a physical team but so were every other team in that era. The allegations of match fixing are unproven and no evidence has ever came to light to show that they did that.

 

New philosophy was not so new. In the summer of 67 several Dutch clubs sent coaches to CP, on the grounds that a small country, like theirs could produce a club to win the EC. Ernst Happel amongst others is on record as saying that the Dutch built on Celtic ideas, Stein. Ajax in particular sent every coach at every level of the club and they remained for 2 weeks, observing training etc, discussing tactics and the focus on player adaptability. The Dutch built on this, but the short passing game focused on player movement was something that Scottish football and celtic in particular were historically renowned for.

In football some things never change......it is only the terminology.



Today's wing back.
60s overlapping full back
1904 Alex Mc Nair attacking full back..........and a player who played in every position in the team except goalkeeper.........total football anybody?

 

PS Dev...........I will make it clear that I did not actually see Alex McNair play

 

They may have lifted ideas from us but Ajax were the first side to employ "Total Football" as a concept Albie.

"During this era Ajax played some of their finest football ever, achieving home wins (46–0–0) for two full seasons (1971–72 and 1972–73), just one defeat in the whole of the 1971–72 season, and celebrating five titles in 1972"

That's why they are top of the list. We can try to claim some credit but it is accepted as a fact that Ajax took it to a whole new level.

 

Albert confirming his mental illness'.

So, in the summer of '67, the Dutch sent an Austrian who managed ADO Den Hag to Celtic and he revolutionised Dutch football in the space of that year. The same year that Ajax beat Liverpool 5-1, and reach a European Cup final 2 years later?

Stunning stuff from Celtic, thanks from everyone.

 

Obsessed

 

No problem, happy to help.