The Scottish PL discussion thread

Blackjack

Balde never touched that ball for the goal about 2 minutes 20 seconds in did he? .

Looks to have bounced badly off the keeper for the goal to be honest!.

eirebhoy

Blackjack wrote: »

Balde never touched that ball for the goal about 2 minutes 20 seconds in did he? .

Looks to have bounced badly off the keeper for the goal to be honest!.

Balde didn't get near it. Can't believe that goal was officially given to him.

I haven't been keeping track of most things outside Celtic much since I got a new job. How is the new manager settling in? I still think Hughes was the ideal manager for Hibs. Falkirk - Celtic should be an excellent match on Sunday, mainly thanks to Hughes and his attacking ways.

eirebhoy

eirebhoy wrote: »

As Paulo says we've got a Polish international left back on trial as well as the MLS goalkeeper of the year.

According to Polish telly the left back isn't being offered a deal. According to tomorrows Herald the American is.

http://www.theherald.co.uk/sport/football/display.var.1996494.0.Celtic_make_offer_to_American_goalkeeper.php

Blackjack

eirebhoy wrote: »

Balde didn't get near it. Can't believe that goal was officially given to him.

I haven't been keeping track of most things outside Celtic much since I got a new job. How is the new manager settling in? I still think Hughes was the ideal manager for Hibs. Falkirk - Celtic should be an excellent match on Sunday, mainly thanks to Hughes and his attacking ways.

1 win (3-0 at home against ICT in the cup) and lost 1-0 away to the team being kept in the SPL by Gretna at Castle Greyskull. A bit early to say. I'm still on the fence about him to be honest, but we've lost form big time. He's got a lot of work to do to regain confidence.

I personally think that Murphy going has crippled us, he really is a fantastic player and was a stalwarth at the back, and capable of banging in the important goals. It really is a shame but we had it coming, there was no way we could keep him, and that's unfortunately what we're up against. We develop great players and are left with no choice to take the offers for them.

That said, I think the way the club is being run is the only way to do it - keep us in the black and develop where we can. Sad fact is, we're a feeder team, but as long as we can continue to grow at the level we have in the last 5 years, there my be hope. The SPL is sown up by the old Firm. 3rd is always the best we can hope for unless either of those 2 make a balls of their season.

We've only taken 7 points in the SPL since we were top of the league in Early october - we've played 13 games in that time. That's fairly shocking in fainess.

eirebhoy

But do Hibs rely on getting £10m for your Brown's, Thomsons, Murphy's and O'Conners? Like, if they hadn't made such a profit on those players what state would they be in now?

Blackjack

eirebhoy wrote: »

But do Hibs rely on getting £10m for your Brown's, Thomsons, Murphy's and O'Conners? Like, if they hadn't made such a profit on those players what state would they be in now?

Absolutely- they do have a great youth programme, which is whats keeping us in great financial shape. The new training complex can only improve that process as well.

We've gathered a huge amount of cash from the 4 players you mention, and none of those were players we spent any money on bringing to the club in the first instance AFAIK. As far as I'm concerned that's exceptionally good football management.
I'm not resentful of the fact that we have to sell of our best players, it's a fact of life really. I'd rather see the debt get killed off (we don't have much debt compared to a lot of SPL clubs) and use the revenues and income to service the team as opposed to debt. Long may the current process continue.
The East stand needs to be re-developed, and planning permission is there until 2009, so it remains to be seen if investment will take place.

To give a comparison, look at Hearts. They're in dire financial straits, despite the best efforts of many to deny it. Their debt is increasing on a massive scale every year and to be honest I haven't a clue what Romanov is at there. His latest development plan appears to be ill thought out, apparently their Hotel and Apartment plan can't confirm the number of Hotel rooms or Apartments that are included. All they seem to have is a Plastic model of what the scheme will look like architecturally and what it will cost without much substance as to what it will bring. All we really know is that it will increase their debt to £81 Million - that's unsustainable for any Scottish club in my view, particularly in the current Financial markets, where the cost of borrowing has increased dramatically.

At least the Hibees are making money. We have a wage structure that, if mainained, will leave the club in a reasonable position for quite a while, and the Board are being financially prudent. It does not make for huge impact signings, but we don't have the same ability to raise funds or generate revenue at the same level as the OF, so we have to make do with what we have.

I'd take relegation over liquidation any day of the week. The way things are going for Hearts at the moment, both are a possibility, it just depends on which comes first. I may be looking at this from Hibee-tinted glasses, but I can't really see what the alternative is for them, and it would not be good for Scottish football. At the moment, no one else can ever invest in Hearts, Romanov is too imbedded there,. This is a huge change for both Edinburgh clubs from the days of Wallace Mercer.

I suppose I'm looking at this from an entirely financial perspective, but Football is a lot about money these days, and it can't be ignored. Tom Farmer (a man I have huge admiration for) bought the club when it was on the Brink of extinction and Petrie is doing what I consider to be the best job possible at the financial management of the club.
I could give you an entire spiel about Farmer and what he's done. Actually, I'll give a brief synopsis - he bought the club out of interest for the Community in Leith and has taken a very hands off approach leaving the running of the club to Petrie and co. He rarely even goes to games and has admitted to having little interest in football, literally putting a large chunk of his personal fortune (which he earned from founding Kwik-Fit) into something purely because he wanted to give something to the area in which he was born and raised. I can tell you more about what this has meant for an area like Leith (which has come on in leaps and bounds in the past few years) but I'm sure you get the picture.

It may not make for creating a team of world beaters, but at least we won't be seeing Liquidators appointed for Easter road any time in the foreseeable future.

G'wan the Hibees!.

eirebhoy

Skysports.com understands that Celtic have won the race to sign Middlesbrough starlet Ben Hutchinson.

The 20-year-old striker has penned a pre-contract with the Scottish champions, in a deal which will shock and disappoint Boro.

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11095_3079837,00.html

A Dub in Glasgo

Doubts about the game tomorrow, we have had some rain in Scotland over the last couple of weeks. If it continues, Wednesdays game at Motherwell may well be in doubt as well

eirebhoy

ffs. Football shouldn't be played in Scotland in January.

Eirebear

eirebhoy wrote: »

ffs. Football shouldn't be played in Scotland in January.

It very rarely is!

Erin Go Brath

Nice goal by skippy. Overall the bhoys were dire in the 1st half. Hoping for a better 2nd half show. Lucky to be 1-up, but still a long way to go to secure the points.

A Dub in Glasgo

Dreadful stuff from Celtic in the 1st half. Terrible tackle from McManus which looks as if it has broken Holdens leg

Erin Go Brath

Glad we came out of that with the win. It wasn't vintage Celtic by a long shot. Am i alone in thinking Donati is a bit brain dead? The amount of challenges he goes into like a bull in a china shop is ridiculous. :mad: The ref could well have called penalty for one of them.

eirebhoy

Without doubt the worst attacking performance by Celtic since Strachan took over. Thankfully they got the win but that was dreadful.

PauloMN

Yeah it was pretty poor to be honest. I didn't think it would be possible for a midfield of Naka, Brown, Donati and McGeady to be bossed about so easily by Falkirk's midfield, but they were - and for pretty much the whole game. Celtic were awful and didn't deserve to win that game.

I thought Brown and Donati were poor, and Naka didn't have a great game. JVoH should have put the points in the bag but hit the post, then we had 3 players attacking on the break and they got their wires crossed completely.

Falkirk had a worrying amount of possession though, Celtic were far to slack in midfield and gave the ball way so easily. Credit to Falkirk though, they don't sit back and look for a draw, they play to win.

eirebhoy

Celtic down to 5th choice right back for the Motherwell game.

PauloMN

eirebhoy wrote: »

Celtic down to 5th choice right back for the Motherwell game.

Planning to volunteer your services? Surely Caddis is 4th choice after Hinkel, Wilson and Doumbe.... or are you counting Caldwell as 4th?

More players linked with Celtic as the transfer window comes to a close:

Samaras from City:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/m/man_city/7214941.stm

and Lafferty from Burnley:
http://www.sportinglife.com/football/scottishpremier/celtic/news/story_get.dor?STORY_NAME=soccer/08/01/29/manual_080810.html&TEAMHD=celtic

Must say £3m plus Riordan, if true, is a high price for a player unproven at this level. A few goals for Norn Iron isn't enough to shell out those sort of sponds IMO.

OhNoYouDidn't

PauloMN wrote: »

Planning to volunteer your services? Surely Caddis is 4th choice after Hinkel, Wilson and Doumbe.... or are you counting Caldwell as 4th?

More players linked with Celtic as the transfer window comes to a close:

Samaras from City:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/m/man_city/7214941.stm

and Lafferty from Burnley:
http://www.sportinglife.com/football/scottishpremier/celtic/news/story_get.dor?STORY_NAME=soccer/08/01/29/manual_080810.html&TEAMHD=celtic

Must say £3m plus Riordan, if true, is a high price for a player unproven at this level. A few goals for Norn Iron isn't enough to shell out those sort of sponds IMO.

But none of them are Scotch, why would Strachan want to sign them?

redspider

Celtic were lucky to get all 3 points at Falkirk. By all accounts, Falkirk deserved at least the draw if not the win. Man of the match for Celtic was Borus which tells its own story, and there were very few attempts at goal.

But 3 pts are 3 pts and that win pushes Celtic now to within 4 pts of Rangers. Celtic have had a big blip over the last month or so, and its given Rangers back the advantage. It remains to be seen if Celtic can get back their consistency, so the old-firm game will be crucial in reasserting some confidence as well as it being a 6 pointer.

Redspider

ps: I was wondering where this thread had gone to ....

cruiserweight

There is a pitch inspection at 2pm in Tyncastle to see if Aberdeen vs Dundee United will go ahead.

eirebhoy

PauloMN wrote: »

Planning to volunteer your services? Surely Caddis is 4th choice after Hinkel, Wilson and Doumbe.... or are you counting Caldwell as 4th?

Hartley. Got struck with the right back curse on Sunday too.

So Samaras signed on loan with Celtic having the option of making it permanent in the summer. Celtic were in for him before he signed for Man City. He's still young and should be good competition for Vennegoor. Lafferty won't be signing surely. 3 target men is a bit much.

ziggy

This post has been deleted.

PauloMN

Yipee... Samaras and Mizuno are officially Celtic players:
http://www.celticfc.net/news/stories/news_290108120440.aspx
http://www.celticfc.net/news/stories/news_290108093203.aspx

Now Gordon, a last-minute surprise centre-back and I'll be a happy camper!

Eirebear

Hutton's for the off, should sign his contract today :mad:

The Murray Out brigade are warming up their chanting voices for the hearts game and unless we manage to bring some quality in before thursday night then Ibrox is going to be a very tense place for a few montsh.

redspider

Samaras and Mizuno join Celtic.

I dont know anything about Mizuno, but Samaras could prove handy if he gets his act together, tries hard, etc. It is a real life opportunity for him at Celtic but it remains to be seen if he will take it. It would be ideal for Celtic if he would of course and could re-ignite their campaign. I would worry about his fitness and match sharpness though. He will need game time and Gordy and fans should give him that before making too quick of a judgement.

Redspider

Badabing

Celtic v Kilmarnock confirmed for 12noon saturday live on bbcs, always nervy games at rugby park hopefully no injuries wednesday.

PauloMN

Still laughing about Bertie Auld's comment: "When I heard Strachan had bought Mizuno I thought he'd got himself a new set of golf clubs".

Delighted Hutton is going, he played no small part in Rangers current good form. Hopefully they'll find him hard to replace. Pity they got so much money for him.

Badabing

Pitch inspection called at 3 at Fir Park, a real possibilty that it could be postponed! if so when the hell will they fit that match in:eek:

Eirebear

Badabing wrote: »

Pitch inspection called at 3 at Fir Park, a real possibilty that it could be postponed! if so when the hell will they fit that match in:eek:

Im pretty sure, if needs be, that you have a free weekend in march when there is a cup final on....;)

Badabing

Eirebear wrote: »

Im pretty sure, if needs be, that you have a free weekend in march when there is a cup final on....;)

We play Dundee utd that saturday:cool: Best of luck tonite btw:D

Eirebear

Ahh wasnt sure if the weekend was free that weekend due to the final, was worth the dig anyway:p
As for tonight the rain in Glasgow has died down today, so i reckon motherwell wont be too much different.

Badabing

Eirebear wrote: »

Ahh wasnt sure if the weekend was free that weekend due to the final, was worth the dig anyway:p
As for tonight the rain in Glasgow has died down today, so i reckon motherwell wont be too much different.

Match goes ahead:)

Eirebear

Good good, always makes me nervous when the teams below us have games in hand (although recently thats been hearts rather than celtic!)
Hopefully Motherwell can take a draw tonight!

Badabing

Eirebear wrote: »

Good good, always makes me nervous when the teams below us have games in hand (although recently thats been hearts rather than celtic!)
Hopefully Motherwell can take a draw tonight!

I reckon 2-0 Celtic;) How many fans do you reckon will be at hampden tonite?

Eirebear

Weve sold our allocation, and hearts usually bring a fair crowd to these things so i dont reckon it will be empty, 35-40000 probably.

I cant really see well getting anything out of tonight to be honest, Celtic took a lot of flack after the weekend and id say theyll have a point to prove.
Plus the transfers this week must have instilled some confidence in the squad, especially after the disasterous week weve had.

Hutton gone..no wait hes staying..nope hes gone...no he doesnt want to...ok now hes gone.
Cousin hes gone, nope fifa wont let him, oh no wait they might, nope hes staying
Roy carroll thinks hes signed for derby, but nope he didnt ok then ill go on strike!

How to do business the Rangers way!

Badabing

Eirebear wrote: »

Weve sold our allocation, and hearts usually bring a fair crowd to these things so i dont reckon it will be empty, 35-40000 probably.

I cant really see well getting anything out of tonight to be honest, Celtic took a lot of flack after the weekend and id say theyll have a point to prove.
Plus the transfers this week must have instilled some confidence in the squad, especially after the disasterous week weve had.

Hutton gone..no wait hes staying..nope hes gone...no he doesnt want to...ok now hes gone.
Cousin hes gone, nope fifa wont let him, oh no wait they might, nope hes staying
Roy carroll thinks hes signed for derby, but nope he didnt ok then ill go on strike!

How to do business the Rangers way!

Yeah thats true:) And Dailly signed aswell which seemed to be off a week ago, anyone else you think smith will want to bring in?

Eirebear

Rumour are saying Lafferty at 3.5 million (shocking money IMO) but Burnley have denied this.
Also Ipswich and Scotland keeper Neil Alexander (back up to mcgregor but hardly confidence inspiring)

I think if Smith continues with this policy we may sign Mark Hately and Claudio Cannigia on free transfers.....

In all honesty, i do feel we have a squad capable of taking the title (just) but a big name signing does wonders for confidence at this time of year.

EDIT: Oh the Irony....look at the post number of this one!

Badabing

Eirebear wrote: »

Rumour are saying Lafferty at 3.5 million (shocking money IMO) but Burnley have denied this.
Also Ipswich and Scotland keeper Neil Alexander (back up to mcgregor but hardly confidence inspiring)

I think if Smith continues with this policy we may sign Mark Hately and Claudio Cannigia on free transfers.....

In all honesty, i do feel we have a squad capable of taking the title (just) but a big name signing does wonders for confidence at this time of year.

EDIT: Oh the Irony....look at the post number of this one!

Brother Walfrid would be so proud:D

Badabing

Match called off, typical really looking forward to it, i'll just have to watch rangers lose to hearts now i suppose.

eirebhoy

FFS I'm seriously pissed off with this. Football has to be cleared from the SPL calender for every January from now on.

PauloMN

It's a joke. Literally a few hours ago (3pm) it was given the go-ahead. Ah well, Setanta will have to dig out another old GAA match! :rolleyes:

PauloMN

I watched the Rangers v Hearts game tonight given the Motherwell game was cancelled. Deserved win for Rangers, they dominated Hearts who were very poor overall. Velicka missed a great chance to equalise at 1-0, pity he never misses against us the bastid!

eirebhoy

So Barry Robson has apparently signed and will be officially announced tomorrow. He's in some form atm and if he helps us win the league then he'll be worth it.

In saying that, 4/5 midfield positions available for Robson, Naka, McGeady, Brown, Donati, Hartley, Sno, Mizuno, Jarosik...

eirebhoy

Tommy Burns:

"When Koki (Mizuno) came up to Lennoxtown for the day he was as bright as a button, a really lively guy. Very different to Naka. He was right into the Playstation the guys have.

"That's not Naka. He's sitting in a rocking chair, slippers on and reading some Japanese philosophy."

PauloMN

If that's true, I can't understand another midfielder being bought TBH, although anything could happen with Sno, Jarosik, Riordan or even Brown over the next day. Robson isn't a bad player, but I really which we could bring in a centre-back instead.

Eirebear

you can have barry robson...hes no better than whats already there and will only add to the ill feeling in the camp which is overcrowded with attackers and midfielders......can he play right back?:D

Good solid win for Rangers tonight in awful conditions, ferguson may have taken the ball down with his hand, but he can be forgiven considering how well he finished it...what a goal!
My only worry was that we looked as if we were lacking concentration at the back at times, weir badly needs a rest, he shouldnt be playing week in week out at his age, maybe daily can take the pressure off him... ffs i cant believe i just typed that...

A Dub in Glasgo

The most blatent control of the ball with a hand and the ref was only yards away!!

ziggy

This post has been deleted.

eirebhoy

I don't remember many December games being abandoned in recent years.

Eirebear

A Dub in Glasgo wrote: »

The most blatent control of the ball with a hand and the ref was only yards away!!

yep, almost as blatant as the handball he missed a minute earlier...swings and roundabouts.
It pretty much just proves to me how rubbish referees are in general.