History has shown us that it goes in cycles and repeats itself in different ways. 110 years ago Celtic were the dominance force in Scottish football, after a short period of rangers rip domination. The pendulum swung backwards and forwards for nearly a decade, till rfc rip became the dominant force, assisted by a compliant SFA under the guidance of George Graham GM of the Orange Order in Scotland. Rfc deserved a lot of their success and we know that many of our problems on the field were self inflicted by a self centred biscuit tin mentality board. The sixties through to the mid seventies saw unprecedented success for a Scottish club and domination by Celtic under JS. Followed by a brief period of decline for Celtic and success for rfc rip. The. A mixed period followed with Celtic competing with the New Firm. The nineties saw rfc rip use anybody else's money except their own to dominate. That decade also saw celtic almost go to the wall, but fortunately the fans came to the rescue of the club and invested £30m over two share issues. The new millennium saw celtic become more dominant again, challenged by rfc who used tax evasion and avoidance to try to emulate the greatest achievement by any British football club in the LL win inning the EC for the first time by a non Latin club. This has lead to the des and destruction of rfc rip. Celtic now dominate and will do for a long time. SEVCO, the tribute act to the now defunct rfc may not even see out the season, perhaps, valentines day will again become significant. Naturally, we can be forgiven that eventually, SEVCO will rise to challenge us and the same fans who followed the former club rfc will see a period of success. After all, we have had a century or more of these success and failure cycles. However, external factors may alter Scottish football for good. Massive debt is crucifying the largest clubs Europe, who can see a massive pot of Gold in a globally televised European super league. Celtic would probably invited especially if there were two divisions. SEVCO fans could experience the decline witnessed by a previous massive change inScottish football. Queens Park were the dominant force in Scottish football, but failure to embrace the professional game meant that they declined into almost oblivion. They once played at Hampden in front of 95,000 fans, even in the thirties. Could SEVCO be left behind. Timing is crucial. A new ESL within the next five years, combined with the likely serial insolvency events for SEVCO would see football in Scotland change forever. SEVCO could left behind and without celtic they could become the new QP. The cycle may be broken and celtic go off in at a tangent. ESL is unlikely to include two scottish clubs. Finance controls football. The giants of European football will not, forever turn their back on the potential of every weekend having Real vBayern, Barca v MU, Psg v Milan televised globally. The debt accumulation during period of financial difficulty could drive the largest clubs to maximise and optimise their potential earning and timing means that Celtic could be invited to the feast, while SEVCO are left to become simply a footnote in the backwater of Scottish football, like Queens Park or possibly Third Lanark or Gretna. Their children may well be celtic supporters.
See if you left out the nonsense Albie, this may have been a decent read. It's okay to make comparisions and show that success and failure is cyclical but when it becomes another rant about Rangers it just appears invalid and slightly dull.
For every wanyama there is a bangura n jaurez n kayal Celtic need champions league each season...I believe Celtic are one champions league failure I.e no group stages from having to cull the squad. There isn't a 12m player in there...
That is why the ****ing around this year was and remains deeply concerning. I wouldn't necessarily say it would lead to a squad cull (which is already fairly thin)rather it would make it even more difficult for us to get folk in the door in the first place. The Timmyball version of moneyball would stall and we'd have to start all over again. I have no doubts that when Rangers were about they had massive advantages over everyone else. This was achieved through cheating and corruption right from the top of the game and it pervaded all facets of the game right till the very end. The skellingtons (I always say that to test folk to see if they'll correct me) in the closet continue to protect the legacy club to this day.... But this ain't about that. It is about the massive advantage we have right now. I've said it before and I don't generally look for validation of my ideas....but nobody has given me a patronising pat on the head for suggesting it. I don't particularly like a lot of the things our board have done but.... They have sewn **** up for generations by reducing the price money for winning the league. Bar the odd aberration, Celtic and Rangers were 1 & 2. The difference in prize money wasn't that great. The drop to third was massive. Now there is relative equity in the split. That means that as long as we keep getting the CL (in addition to being the biggest club in the country and all that entails) we will have a huge advantage over everyone. No team can get 2nd place and use it as a launch pad to challenge us the next year because their advantage over teams 3-12 won't ever be as pronounced as it was in the past. I thought it was an absolute genius move by the board who even managed to pass it off as an act of altruism.
Celtic sold Hooper, Vic , n ki...that's 22m... Miss out on champions league it will be foster n van duke...that's 12 to 14m tops... with the prospect of losing Joe n stokes on freebies. Any semi decent bids for others would be considered. That would be the squad ****ed. Next season the board need to get it sorted quickly and get in the main targets if possible.
I agree with all that. The same is true if we do continue to get to the CL. You are absolutely right though, it is crucial that we get there year on year. Domestically I think we'd have to fail for 3-4 years before we'd see a real pinch. I know how arrogant that sounds. I don't really have anything to temper it with.
The thing is that I think the board has taken into account the possibility of failure to get into the Champions League every year . Very many forum posters ranted on about Lawwell and D.D. Being tight fisted in only spending what they did in the summer despite taking in far more than double in transfer fees and last season's Champions League. The reason there was no Six million pound man, is possibly because he would want out the door the day we lost out on Champions League Football.
Aye, all good and that, but when are they going to die, again?! That's what I want to know. You've promised lots and delivered little, Albie. It's getting confusing if I am honest. Not sure what to believe anymore
under the current policy there really is no way we can build a team just gotta roll with it till things change .
Yes.... Quite. Like when we were whinging "aww, not Barca aaaagain"...... We needed to give ourselves a good talking to.
exactly! i just can't see anything to be too downbeat about. it looks like the key holders know what they are doing
In a fair and equitable country where justice prevails and is equal to all, there would be serious potentially criminal proceedings. There may yet be. Have you considered why BDO have been silent for so long. What is holding them back? It is impossible for anyone to state with certainty what will happen, because in this country they are part of the establishment and establishment will protect them. Even to the extent of financial support from the Scottish tax payer under the pretext of preventing social unrest????. Who knows, but many things should have happened to prevent them getting this far .e.g. Issuing of a licence to play in Scottish football, but it was issued. All anyone can do is say look here are the facts and here this is what SHOULD happen under normal circumstances....what DOES happen is unpredictable because for example the SFA will always protects and favour them. How far this assistance would go within the establishment in a independence election year god knows, but don't be shocked. Within the next few months they should go under give the gushing of cash out of the place and the uncertainty over who owns what. It is this latter point,which could undermine any attempts by the establishment to preserve the new club. For example, LSE may well prevent King from joining the board. I can only pass on what I know and understand, I cannot be responsible for the depth and extensor assistance they will be given.
For what it's worth I believe that if Celtic had been liquidated the the SFA would have acted much the same. In the SFA of bygone eras of Farry and worse, then maybe Celtic II would have been made to apply for membership but this is not a bygone era, this is the 21st century and I suspect there is as much anti Celtic bias as there is anti Rangers bias in the halls of power, which is to say not much at all. Doubtless there were people at Hampden who bent over backwards to assist Rangers and pretend that they were not liquidated, but the press and media in general have followed this lead because they know the consequences of speaking out or even inadvertantly upsetting some sensitive souls - who are either to daft too understand the reality - or so filled with fury that they have to lash out and threaten dissenting voices who are upsetting their version of reality. I don't worry about it, because whatever my feelings on the whole sorry mess, to continually harp on about it will change nothing. It's done, Rangers are still in existence and whatever form it may have taken we simply have to accept it, what exacerbates it is Celtic fans embarrassing Celtic fans in general by phoning talk shows and posting online blogs trying to get people to accept the unacceptable truth staring everyone in the face. Rangers may have died but they still live, it does not bother me.
The current model that Celtic are operating is exactly the way to build a team . We can build a team year on year and sell a couple of players every year . The club didn't exactly push any of our better players out the door . Hooper Victor and Wilson demanded the chance to go. They wouldn't sign a new contract so Celtic sold them . Celtic sold and released other players who were not contributing to the first team . The players brought in have strengthened the defence . Mulgrew phase some better capabilities than Victor , and has some parts of his game to improve Up front we are missing Hooper but there were many games last season when Hooper was playing that we missed him too. Overall I have no doubt that Lennon is team building very well in his three seasons. We basically have brought in all young players , we don't know yet what Rogic, Pukki , Balde and Derek can give us . If even one becomes a real good player we are laughing ( I think more than one will) . Keeping the same first team eleven won't necessary build a good team . If Hooper continues to not feature at Norwich, some players who are eyeing the EPL down the road, may start thinking it has lost some of its shine .
The **** is seriously unhinged. Who the **** knows or cares who the OO GM was 100 years ago Google doesn't even know FFS. Classic WUM material.
