It's great that Celtic are back in the group stages. European games are great but I doubt if Celtic would have made it if they had had to qualify. I watched the Inverness game and I thought it was the poorest Celtic team for a number of years. The new signings should help but I think Petrov will be a huge loss. Last season Diggy talked about Celtic being pedestrian and that was very evident against Inverness. I do fear for us in this group as I dont want to think about Rooney or Ronaldo against our defence or for that matter any decent attack. I think we need Balde back. At the moment we seem to have lots of players who are similar in talent but not really special. Nakamura is special at free kicks. If we lose Petrov which looks likely, who could command the game? I don't think Lennon is up to it.
Basically, in Europe we will really need to play way above our current form if we are to progress even into UEFA. One nil down to Hibs just now. We need to play a lot better just to win the league.
I think that lack of investment in the team during this summer is unforgivable. I think that we had a unique opportunity to move Celtic forward, being second seeds in the CL for the first time with the opportunity of consolidating our hold on the Scottish league and progressing to the later stages in Europe - or perhaps winning the UEFA Cup (at Hampden). But the Board bottled it. Van Whatshisname is too little too late. Others may also arrive but all this should have been done months ago - and Strachan given a decent budget. Instead the money men (Lawell et al) are controllng everything - which is why GS threatened to resign Dublin. Celtic remain lions (the fans) led by donkeys (the Board).
ReplyDeleteBye the way, Lennon was utter, utter pish yesterday.
ReplyDeleteAs I've said before, the gap between the TV money in the Premiership (20m) and the SPL (2m) has condemned teams like Celtic and Rangers to the fringes of the football elite. I know that there is a view that the club should go into debt to buy players but that is a high risk strategy with a very serious downside if it does not come off.
ReplyDeleteEither the clubs have to keep the rights to their own games and sell them in the market or they try and be part of some US style franchise system (like NBA or NFL) where there is no relegation and they are guaranteed a set number of games (like the Champions League but with more games). Both options have implications for the rest of Scottish football.
Do we look for an Abramovitch who uses the club as a vehicle for other ambitions, and who could leave just as soon as they arrived.
We dont want to end uplike Leeds United.