The Scottish PL discussion thread

odonnell

well.... what about them groups eh? Another easy one for us... you lot look doubtful

just the other night a german friend of mine was saying how we were no doubt going to draw his team - Stuttgart, and hey presto.

Ah well.... Speak to yous in a few months, i cant bear to look for a while.

odonnell

ooooh come on then lads - predictions for your group... ?

eirebhoy

odonnell wrote:

ooooh come on then lads - predictions for your group... ?

Milan to walk it. Benfica to finish bottom. Between Celtic and Shaktar for 2nd spot.

odonnell

eirebhoy wrote:

Milan to walk it. Benfica to finish bottom. Between Celtic and Shaktar for 2nd spot.

well that was too easy.

has the fixture list been published yet?

eirebhoy

odonnell wrote:

well that was too easy.

has the fixture list been published yet?

All on the previous page.

Savman

May I say on behalf of all Villa fans, get yer fookin eyes of wee Shaun. He wasn't in Scotland today as suggested by some, in fact there's a photo on a Villa forum from a fan who met him today at Bodymoor Heath training ground.

He's a class act, we'd be seriously gutted if he left. No no no.

Hoops1888

His agent said he was staying at Villa :mad:

Miller gone to Derby for 3 million :eek:

PauloMN

Savman wrote:

May I say on behalf of all Villa fans, get yer fookin eyes of wee Shaun. He wasn't in Scotland today as suggested by some, in fact there's a photo on a Villa forum from a fan who met him today at Bodymoor Heath training ground.

He's a class act, we'd be seriously gutted if he left. No no no.

Don't put the "Good Luck Shaun" cards away yet. He may be away in January.

I'm not bothered either way to be honest, I liked him at Celtic but thought he should have stayed around longer, for his sake as well as the clubs. In one way I wouldn't mind him back, in another way I think feck him, he made his Europe-less trophy-less bed, now he can lie in it. McGeady is coming on nicely now also, I'm not sure Shaun would get as many games as he used to.

PauloMN

3 million for Miller is good business it has to be said. I sincerely hope some money is made available for future transfers as I've been a little concerned with the lack of transfer activity. I wasn't looking for as many players as the huns have brought in, but a left-back and a striker are required IMO. Our signings have been good, just suprised that no defenders have been brought in especially.

As regards the CL group - Milan for 1st place, but a 3-way battle for 2nd. Very tough to call and it won't be simply one teams results for 2nd place, we'll all be depending on each others results as well as our own. We have to hope that Milan can beat Benfica and Shaktar at home, and do us a favour in those away games by grabbing at least a point, or all 3 in each. I think we can draw at home to Milan, and beat Benfica and Shaktar at home. It's possible we can take 2nd place, but it'll depend on so much. It's a tough start with Shaktar away, Milan at home and Benfica away - I expect we could be bottom of the group after those 3 games, so I hope that doesn't dampen the spirits too much as it's crucial we get good results in the Benfica and Shaktar home games.

kryogen

3 million for kenny miller????? daylight robbery that!!!!! great bit of business by celtic! never liked him anyway to be honest..... i actually fear for the club this season though on another topic... i simply feel the rangers squad is much better then the celtic squad this year.... im greatly disappointed in this as it will sicken me to watch them lift the trophy.

isnt graveson gone now too??? on loan to everton? or was i dreaming?

Hoops1888

PauloMN wrote:

3 million for Miller is good business it has to be said. I sincerely hope some money is made available for future transfers as I've been a little concerned with the lack of transfer activity.

Dead right it is, I would have taken 3 million peanuts for him. The only time he sparked for me was the goal against the huns and against Benfica, been honest he hasnt really done much since then.

The only good thing is we have Milan away the last game (I'm going) hopefully they will have already qualified.

I'd say he will make a few signings In January but even at that if their good players they'll more than likely be cup tied.

I agree about McGeady but he does give the ball away alot, he wasn't great In Milan.

kryogen wrote:

isnt graveson gone now too??? on loan to everton? or was i dreaming?

Yep. Atleast thats Bobo's wages sorted for another year..

kryogen wrote:

i simply feel the rangers squad is much better then the celtic squad this year.... im greatly disappointed in this as it will sicken me to watch them lift the trophy.

I agree they did buy alot, but that doesn't mean their going to be lifting the title. Their buying lots of players it has to be said but it takes players sometime to settle down.

Just do what we all do change the channel

It's gonna be a good year keep the faith.

kryogen

i think its gonna be a tough year to be honest! i can only hope that the rangers signings take a while to settle but i have seen most of the guys theyve bought and they are decent players who should do well in the scottish league. unfortunatly..

now im off to search the lower divisions again looking for my next Gretna! who i have made a fortune off over the last 3 years !!! dont think ill be putting my money on them every week this year tho!

ziggy

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Hoops1888

kryogen wrote:

i think its gonna be a tough year to be honest! i can only hope that the rangers signings take a while to settle but i have seen most of the guys theyve bought and they are decent players who should do well in the scottish league. unfortunatly..

now im off to search the lower divisions again looking for my next Gretna! who i have made a fortune off over the last 3 years !!! dont think ill be putting my money on them every week this year tho!

I hate to say it mate buy dont do them today! But with the help of god Gretna can pull off a shock.

ziggy67 wrote:

Keep the faith!

Thats it mate we will win always be positive..

PauloMN

kryogen wrote:

3 million for kenny miller????? daylight robbery that!!!!! great bit of business by celtic! never liked him anyway to be honest..... i actually fear for the club this season though on another topic... i simply feel the rangers squad is much better then the celtic squad this year.... im greatly disappointed in this as it will sicken me to watch them lift the trophy.

isnt graveson gone now too??? on loan to everton? or was i dreaming?

I honestly don't think Rangers have a better squad. They've bought plenty, but how much quality have they added? Go through the transfers player by player and ask yourself just what they have added in terms of real quality.

Nah, while I wish we'd bought a left-back over the summer, I do think Celtic hold out for a better quality of player. Smith had to bring numbers into Rangers as they were pure mince last season, the Sebos et al that PLG had bought in were all £2m flops. He definitely knows what he's doing, and he has improved the squad, but I honestly can't think of any Rangers summer signing that I'd want in the hoops, honestly - Naismith included - aside maybe from Cuellar, although the jury is still out there. I am glad that we made them fork out almost £2m for Naismith though, what with our little "oh we're interested as well" stunt. As first picks, I think Brown, Donati and McDonald are better quality signings than anything Rangers have added in those positions.

Celtic have also brought down the age of the squad since MON left, I think Strachan said the average age was down 6 years over the past two years. Rangers have bought a lot of old players, and I think that will take its toll over the European games and towards the end of the season with injuries and tired legs.

Rangers will drop points soon, and aside from not scoring on the opening day, we've looked impressive. I do still think the OF games will be very much a deciding factor as Rangers have definitely improved, but even with a tight finish I think we'll nick it.

eirebhoy

Balde's a bollox. Happy to take £30k a week and do nothing. He was in talks with Sunderland yesterday but he was never going to join them imo.

Erin Go Brath

£3 million for miller. Good business indeed.

Think our squad is looking pretty ok, I would like another quality striker an board though. JVOH is injury prone. Zurawksi is mediocre/inconsistent. McDonald is ok, the jury is still out on his finishing ability. We'll see more of Riordan and Killen this season which should be interesting though.



A relatively easy weekend for both old firm. Rangers 1 up at half time against Gretna. Celts should be too strong for St Mirren tomorrow. Its going to be a close year.

PauloMN

Huns now 2 up.

Just watching Liverpool v Derby here, Derby are absolute muck - they'd have problems surviving in the SPL from what I see here. Miller has made a bad move going to them IMO. Relegation fodder if ever I saw it.

ziggy

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odonnell

and thatll be huns in a completely non-pro-nazi way :P

was a shocking game for gers just there, but ill take the scoreline. Poor gretna, biting off more than they can chew this season i think. My guess is Hamilton come up next season and id be happier with that - good support for Hamilton, nice wee stadium, and a very old club too.

Radio phone in saying celtic have more quality than rangers...which may or may not be true, but it was obvious and a given that smith had to basically form an entire new squad for peanuts, then next season possibly buy the flair player. Celtic arguably HAVE the flair player so.....

maybe its a repeat of the late 90s, early 00's - silk v braun?

PauloMN

ziggy67 wrote:

Bob Malcolm, oh dear god !!!:) How he even lasted the hour before getting hooked i'll never know.

I thought I was seeing things when I saw "Robert Malcolm" appear on the screen. Derby is a fitting team for him. A donkey of the highest order is Boab Malcolm.

GIRUY Malcolm, hope you enjoyed your 6-0 gubbing today.

odonnell

PauloMN wrote:

I thought I was seeing things when I saw "Robert Malcolm" appear on the screen. Derby is a fitting team for him. A donkey of the highest order is Boab Malcolm.

GIRUY Malcolm, hope you enjoyed your 6-0 gubbing today.

ironic thing is, not many gers fans would disagree with you.

PauloMN

1-5 win today, thought Celtic played well but St. Mirren were very poor, embarrassing a lot of the time. Nice to get a comfortable win with Naka, McGeady on the bench. McDonald is proving to be the great buy I always knew he would be, and Brown was nothing short of superb. Thought Riordan had a good game also, would like to see more of him.

Anyway, keeps the points gap tight which is the main thing.

ziggy

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A Dub in Glasgo

Nice & easy game after a hard European game during the week

odonnell

A Dub in Glasgo wrote:

Nice & easy game after a hard European game during the week

no sign of that "hangover" we suffered from?

eirebhoy

Brown was a joy to watch in the 2nd half. That link up play to set Zurawski up at the end was fantastic.

kryogen

good performance against an admittidly woeful team! would have been better if the huns had dropped points but....meh....hopefully it will boost confidence!

eirebhoy

And he used the example of defender Bobo Balde - who rejected the chance to join Sunderland and Fulham on loan, preferring instead to sit out his £32,000 per week contract while playing for the Celtic reserves - as proof that, ultimately, the power lies with the players.

Balde is also understood to have had the chance to return to French football, but this would have required Celtic to continue to pick up the tab for his £1.5m per-season wages.

Understandably, this held no appeal to the club who are now seriously questioning his desire to play football at any level over the remaining two years of his contract.

Strachan said in response to Miller's claims: "First of all you can not force anybody out the door.

"I will give you another example.

"Bobo had the chance to go to Fulham and Sunderland. He turned it down.

"You can't force anybody out of the door. Everybody knows that. It's part of the strength."

tut tut

/edit - apparantly he was offered the same money too but chose to stay and play for the reserves.

Kingp35

eirebhoy you're needed

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/glasgow_and_west/6976131.stm

PauloMN

Kingp35 wrote:

eirebhoy you're needed

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/glasgow_and_west/6976131.stm

Holy fook! :eek: At least it would divert the conversation from sectarian singing, it would be more like "those huns are fierce small, aren't they?".

ziggy

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PauloMN

Given that there's no club footie this weekend, we need something to discuss. The "Slovakia vs Ireland" thread had plenty of opinions posted on Celtic, much more than on the actual match itself. For everyone's sanity, it's probably best that Celtic related stuff is kept in here so those with no interest can ignore it and those who feel strongly about some of the stuff posted can reply here.

So:

1) Celtic are the sporting wing of the IRA. (Yeah, I know...:rolleyes: )
2) General feeling that folk wearing the hoops to Ireland games are tw4ts.

Discuss.

Mr Alan

I think its stupid for anyone to wear a Celtic jersey to an Ireland game. Nonsense really, colour schemes have nothing to do with it, and despite a large Irish following and a strong Irish history/involvment in settin up the club, they are and always have been, a SCOTTISH club.

Prefer someone to wear no colours and just a hoody, than to wear the jersey of as foreign club team.

Celtic fans: wat do ye reckon about Mc Geady? do ye think he will be a top player? most fans i know think that he will be, but everytime i have ever watched him, i thought the was very poor, seems to have zero end product, and an inability to go by people and get any sort of cross in?!!? Wat ye reckon?

~Rebel~

millersangel wrote:

Prefer someone to wear no colours and just a hoody, than to wear the jersey of as foreign club team.

Really? I always think it looks great to have a sea of the national/club colours regardless what they're made up of.

Mr Alan

~Rebel~ wrote:

Really? I always think it looks great to have a sea of the national/club colours regardless what they're made up of.

think it wouldnt really matter as the majority of people would be in the correct jerseys etc etc, just don't get the whole idea of wearing a jersey for a different team to a game. . .singing and getting a good atmosphere would be much more important than the shirt you're wearing in my opinion.

PauloMN

millersangel wrote:

they are and always have been, a SCOTTISH club.

Anyone I know who supports Celtic has never claimed otherwise, yet lots of people who don't support Celtic are at pains to remind them that Celtic are Scottish. Not being funny here, but why is this? I don't know how many times this fact was pointed out (on the Slovakia vs. Ireland thread of all places :rolleyes: ), but I'd have thought that was a pretty obvious fact.

I've literally never heard anyone ever claim that Celtic is an Irish club - why would they? But as you've been one of the people to point out a plain fact Millersangel, maybe you can tell us why you and others feel the need to point it out.

It's usually supporters of EPL teams that do so as well in some sort of claim that Celtic supporters are supporting their team for the wrong reasons. Gas thing is, there's far more bandwagon jumpers supporting EPL teams - especially United - than any SPL side, Celtic included.

Given the stick that Premiership fans dish out to Celtic supporters about "sh1te league" etc., I'd say there's more genuine Celtic support in Ireland overall than with many of EPL teams - especially Chelsea and United - who have always had the herd following. Aside from the few neds that use the Celtic jersey as some sort of "I'm a hardman 'RA head" symbol, I'd guarantee that your typical Irish Celtic supporter is a more dedicated fan of his/her club than a lot of Irish Chelsea and United supporters.

ziggy

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ziggy

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Mr Alan

PauloMN wrote:

Anyone I know who supports Celtic has never claimed otherwise, yet lots of people who don't support Celtic are at pains to remind them that Celtic are Scottish. Not being funny here, but why is this? I don't know how many times this fact was pointed out (on the Slovakia vs. Ireland thread of all places :rolleyes: ), but I'd have thought that was a pretty obvious fact.

I've literally never heard anyone ever claim that Celtic is an Irish club - why would they? But as you've been one of the people to point out a plain fact Millersangel, maybe you can tell us why you and others feel the need to point it out.

It's usually supporters of EPL teams that do so as well in some sort of claim that Celtic supporters are supporting their team for the wrong reasons. Gas thing is, there's far more bandwagon jumpers supporting EPL teams - especially United - than any SPL side, Celtic included.

Given the stick that Premiership fans dish out to Celtic supporters about "sh1te league" etc., I'd say there's more genuine Celtic support in Ireland overall than with many of EPL teams - especially Chelsea and United - who have always had the herd following. Aside from the few neds that use the Celtic jersey as some sort of "I'm a hardman 'RA head" symbol, I'd guarantee that your typical Irish Celtic supporter is a more dedicated fan of his/her club than a lot of Irish Chelsea and United supporters.

I pointed out that Celtic is a Scottish club because YOU asked people opinions on Irish fans wearing 'hoops' jerseys to the Irish match?!

Them NOT being an Irish club was my reason for thinking it was stupid.

also in relation to 2 of your other points,

1-in my opinion, most Irish Celtic fans also follow and English club. Granted the ones that don't (proper Celtic fans) are fairly clued in.

2-I seriously think you over-estimate the amount of ''proper celtic'' fans in Ireland. Unfortunately, your club in a great one, but a lot of your fans are anything but.

Again, just to avoid insulting anyone here, anyone who posts here regularly on Celtic issues is obviously not falling into the catagory i'm talking about

Ziggy: am i right in thinking you're scottish? I think your opinion on Celtic tops at Ireland games might be very relevant to this conversation . . . come on, hit us with it!

ziggy

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Mr Alan

maybe we just prefer to focus on this so we don't have to wonder why our manager prefers to play Left fulls on the right and right fulls on the left!:)

PauloMN

ziggy67 wrote:

OK here it is: I don't care!

I would think Ireland have enough to be worrying about than focusing on this.

Exactly. Can't believe the Slovakia vs. Ireland thread turned into a Celtic jersey and IRA discussion, hence my attempt at diverting the Celtic stuff to here.

I just think it's sour grapes from Chelsea/United/Arsenal/Liverpool fans who can't wear their red or blue tops to Ireland matches to be perfectly honest.

The "sea of green" is the important thing - whether that be a rugby top, a green GAA jersey, a Celtic top or a Pennys €2.99 green T-shirt. If people feel a strong Irish connection with Celtic and choose to wear a green and white jersey to an Ireland game, I fail to see why people get so wound up about it. We're all on the same side like.

Thankfully, I think the "fashion police" fans are a tiny minority anyway who are happy to post about it on the internet rather than ever saying it to anyone. Suppose all we can do is just give them their little moan and be done with it.

Eirebear

Hi guys....did y'all miss me?

just got my 'net set up and am beggining to enjoy life back in Glasgow, got to Ibrox for the first time in over a year last week for the gretna game, while it wasnt the best of performances if we can "grind out" 4-0 wins then were a lot better off than we have been for a long time!
I think this season is shaping up to be a belter...right down to the wire i reckon.

I dont want to get into the Ireland/Celtic debate as such, but Ireland have a white away top...as do rangers...would it be acceptable for me or O'donnell to turn up at croker with our gers tops on then?

Eirebear

Ah well just a couple of minutes left and rangers 4-2 down to hertz.
Absolutely shocking 1st half display and a real lack of discipline from the Ibrox men leading to a ridiculous scoreline from our point of view.
Looks like celtic will be top of the league by 5 O'Clock then.:mad:

ziggy

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ziggy

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Eirebear

Meh!, well bounce back dont you worry ziggy!

Anyway im off for dinner then the SubClub, that should help me recover...or is that forget todays results....

ziggy

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PauloMN

PauloMN wrote:

Rangers will drop points soon, and aside from not scoring on the opening day, we've looked impressive. I do still think the OF games will be very much a deciding factor as Rangers have definitely improved, but even with a tight finish I think we'll nick it.

Well that was sooner than I thought. Good results all round today and we're back where we belong.

Now for the CL. Tough game ahoy.