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The Media
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Topic Started: 1 Nov 2017, 11:12 PM (581,108 Views)
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Larbertbhoy
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10 Mar 2018, 10:29 AM
Post #2041
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Everyone's Fantasy Football first pick
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- tinytim81
- 10 Mar 2018, 10:01 AM
- Larbertbhoy
- 10 Mar 2018, 09:47 AM
- tinytim81
- 10 Mar 2018, 09:45 AM
Quoting limited to 3 levels deep
He’s still a boring soup taking dick.
Wilson isn't that bad. Can't remember him saying anything about Celtic that was particularly shocking. He's no Provan or Walker. Really. Just tune into him on Clyde one night and you might change your mind.
On second thoughts don't. I wouldn't wish that on anyone.
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chopper_18
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10 Mar 2018, 11:29 AM
Post #2042
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First name on the team-sheet
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- Larbertbhoy
- 10 Mar 2018, 10:29 AM
- tinytim81
- 10 Mar 2018, 10:01 AM
- Larbertbhoy
- 10 Mar 2018, 09:47 AM
Quoting limited to 3 levels deep
Wilson isn't that bad. Can't remember him saying anything about Celtic that was particularly shocking. He's no Provan or Walker.
Really. Just tune into him on Clyde one night and you might change your mind. On second thoughts don't. I wouldn't wish that on anyone. He is nowhere near the levels of Andy Walker. At least he still talks of his affinity to the club.
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Luigi
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10 Mar 2018, 11:56 AM
Post #2043
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Everyone's Fantasy Football first pick
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- Gallowgate
- 10 Mar 2018, 09:13 AM
- justinjest
- 10 Mar 2018, 01:36 AM
- Soupnazi
- 10 Mar 2018, 01:32 AM
It certainly felt like a defeat against R Rovers in 94 and the huns in 2016, devasted, dont recall taking any solace and thinking we drew those games. To say otherwise is mad.
a bookie would have paid out on the draw but thats it as far as calling it a draw imo, we lost those games
I was at both games and I was devastated as well, but as the bookies state, the games were drawn Did we defeat Benfica, no we won on the toss of a coin - I'm pretty sure the Benfica supporters were devastated that night as well (I'm pretty sure the match report mentions this) - do you think we beat Benfica?
Citing bookies practices has more interpretation than in your example. In 1970 betting was limited to 90mins play and probably “to qualify.” There was no opportunity to bet on the outcome of extra time, or penalties as the case may be. You can do that now of course. In every case you either win or lose a bet. Back to the match and one team is knocked out and that in any instance is a defeat. Not sure but I don't think you could get on single games back then.
Doesn't matter anyway, we won against Benfica and lost in the semi against new rangers.
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AmericanHistoryBhoy
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10 Mar 2018, 11:58 AM
Post #2044
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Everyone's Fantasy Football first pick
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- Novelty_Bauble
- 10 Mar 2018, 08:25 AM
I see the old Friday night vino has been flowing again. I'm off the booze actually.
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Quiet Assasin
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10 Mar 2018, 02:41 PM
Post #2045
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..for the maintenance of dinner tables for the children and the unemployed
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- Gothamcelt
- 10 Mar 2018, 09:45 AM
- justinjest
- 10 Mar 2018, 01:39 AM
- jim62
- 10 Mar 2018, 01:18 AM
Quoting limited to 3 levels deep
seeing as I've asked soupnazi the question, I might as well ask you as well, do you think we beat Benfica in 1970?
Do the goals scored in a penalty shoot out count towards the players total goals for the season? Not directed at you and a bit off topic but just reading this debate and it got me thinking about if the penalty shoot outs are counted officially or ignored by the players? No. They don't count.
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Quiet Assasin
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10 Mar 2018, 02:41 PM
Post #2046
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..for the maintenance of dinner tables for the children and the unemployed
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- oneillsrevolution
- 10 Mar 2018, 09:17 AM
On a serious point, when was last time the Huns last beat us in 90 minutes? March 2012 - 3-2 game? Think so. When we had 9 men and the ref didn't allow the full length of the game to be played.
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Otis B Driftwood
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10 Mar 2018, 04:39 PM
Post #2047
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Satisfaction came in a chain reaction
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- Luigi
- 10 Mar 2018, 11:56 AM
- Gallowgate
- 10 Mar 2018, 09:13 AM
- justinjest
- 10 Mar 2018, 01:36 AM
Quoting limited to 3 levels deep
Citing bookies practices has more interpretation than in your example. In 1970 betting was limited to 90mins play and probably “to qualify.” There was no opportunity to bet on the outcome of extra time, or penalties as the case may be. You can do that now of course. In every case you either win or lose a bet. Back to the match and one team is knocked out and that in any instance is a defeat.
Not sure but I don't think you could get on single games back then. Doesn't matter anyway, we won against Benfica and lost in the semi against new rangers. Minimum of 5 selections if a home win was incl.uded; otherwise, a minimum of three.
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jim62
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10 Mar 2018, 04:46 PM
Post #2048
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up on the roof!!
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- Otis B Driftwood
- 10 Mar 2018, 04:39 PM
- Luigi
- 10 Mar 2018, 11:56 AM
- Gallowgate
- 10 Mar 2018, 09:13 AM
Quoting limited to 3 levels deep
Not sure but I don't think you could get on single games back then. Doesn't matter anyway, we won against Benfica and lost in the semi against new rangers.
Minimum of 5 selections if a home win was incl.uded; otherwise, a minimum of three.  Singles allowed on cup games
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Kingslim
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10 Mar 2018, 04:54 PM
Post #2049
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https://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/football/687891/Rangers-news-Graeme-Murty-Celtic-Old-Firm-press-conference-video-interview-stream-line-up?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+daily-star-football+%28Daily+Star+%3A%3A+Football+Feed%29
This is a mainstream article WTF
The quoted comments
Edited by Kingslim, 10 Mar 2018, 04:56 PM.
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popeyed
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10 Mar 2018, 07:02 PM
Post #2050
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Climbing walls while sittin' in a chair.
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- allthewine
- 10 Mar 2018, 09:35 AM
Mark Wilson saying on Sky the gap has closed.
He's got a fat head and wears dress shoes with denims though.
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33-rpm
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10 Mar 2018, 07:02 PM
Post #2051
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Still we sing with our heroes, thirty-three-rounds-per-minute
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Graham Spiers interviews Aiden McGeady in today's Times. Not a whole lot about Celtic - he could probably have touched on the Gordon Strachan thing a little more - but a decent wee read all the same.
Spoiler: click to toggle I’m not a ‘yes’ man. It always has been my instinct to say what I think — but I was wrong sometimes Aiden McGeady, who is plying his trade at Sunderland, tells Graham Spiers he is different now both as a player and a person
It is hard to believe that Aiden McGeady will be 32 on April 4. Time stops for no man, but what happened to the once darting pimpernel of the Celtic wing, the player Tony Mowbray once described as having “the quickest feet I have ever seen in football”? Well, quite a lot has happened in McGeady’s eventful career to date.
He happily admits he is no longer the player of his youth. “I’m not as quick as I once was,” McGeady says. “I mean, I’m hardly slow, but I’m not like I was at Celtic, where I would just burst past people. My style of play has changed too, I play more inside now. I tend to go looking for the ball, rather than waiting for the ball to come to me. I’m a slightly different player.”
McGeady, now at Sunderland and currently embroiled in an ugly relegation battle in the Sky Bet Championship, has seen every high and low imaginable. He was a star with Celtic, then had a fascinating three-year stay in Russia with Spartak Moscow, before a big money move to Everton turned sour. Then came two loan spells at Sheffield Wednesday and Preston North End.
From the age of 24 to 27 he played football in Russia and it was an experience he will never forget. “I was apprehensive about going there, but I ended up enjoying it,” he says. “Back in 2010 I knew my time was up at Celtic. I had sort of plateaued there: I knew it, the club knew it, everyone knew it. I had to leave Celtic.
“Going to Moscow was by no means my preference. I’d rather have gone to England but Spartak offered so much money, and Celtic were kind of saying, ‘look, we need to take this offer.’ So I went. But when I arrived and pulled on that red Spartak strip I remember thinking, ‘how am I going to do here?’
“I was in a dressing room where, at first, I couldn’t understand the language. There was an interpreter in there speaking Russian, English, Portuguese, Spanish. You were trying to grasp on to mates in the dressing room, just trying to get by. It was tough.
“The coach, Valeri Karpin, was also pretty old school. He’d have us locked in a training ground for an entire week before a game, and sometimes I got annoyed with him because he liked to spread fear. If we dared to lose a local derby against CSKA, he’d lock us in there again for another week after it.
“But I enjoyed Moscow in the end. It was a great life experience. Plus, I knew that some people in Scotland thought I’d last six months there and come back with my tail between my legs, so I was determined to prove them wrong, which is maybe why I stayed out there for as long as I did.”
In Russia, McGeady soon discovered that, if he didn’t embrace the language and the culture, he wouldn’t survive. “It’s actually not a very westernised place, Russia. You can go into a restaurant in Moscow and ask if they speak English and you’ll be greeted with a blunt ‘no’. Or you say, ‘have you got an English menu?’ and you’ll get the same response.
“But I learned Russian and I can speak the language. It wasn’t as hard as I thought. At first I had two lessons but they were totally pointless: ‘this is the word for a chair, this is the word for a table…’ When you hear the language every day from everyone around you then you can pick it up. After about a year I was doing my interviews with journalists in Russian and it was fine. I did one press conference after a game in Russian and the reporters actually broke into applause when I finished. So I must have been able to get by.”
There was one other unexpected bonus for McGeady in playing football in eastern Europe. At the time he was steadily racking up caps for Ireland and Giovanni Trapattoni, then the manager, apparently could not have cared if McGeady was playing on the moon, he was such a favoured son of the old firebrand.
“Trapattoni seemed to like me, he always picked me. Not much Russian football is watched elsewhere across Europe, and I doubt Giovanni saw much of me in a Spartak shirt. But it didn’t seem to matter, he always selected me. I was forever catching flights from Moscow to Dublin.”
Everything was going well in McGeady’s career, and he thought it was about to get even better when, in January 2014, Roberto Martinez bought him for an estimated Ł8 million for Everton. The move, though, became a minor disaster.
“It seemed like the perfect fit for me moving to Everton, and I went there excited and with the very best of intentions. I knew Martinez liked me — he’d tried to buy me from Spartak when he was at Wigan. So when he and Everton came for me I thought, ‘here we go, this should be good.’ But it became very frustrating. It didn’t work out.
“I was used sparingly, and I always thought I was the guy that would be omitted from the team, no matter how I had done the previous game. For instance, I started season 2014-15 pretty well, and scored in our opening game against Leicester City, but was dropped the following week. And so it went on, I’d miss three or four games at a time. I thought, ‘am I just going to play reserve football?’ In the end I knew I had to leave Everton.”
McGeady had hoped he might return to Celtic in 2016 but instead went out on loan to Sheffield Wednesday, where a further setback occurred. “I had a few run-ins with the manager, Carlos Carvalhal, and I only played about ten games,” he says. “So it turned out my move to Everton kind of left my career stalling.”
McGeady, having “a few run-ins” with a manager? This will cause some to smile. Is he still the opinionated, slightly mouthy footballer that some took him to be?
“OK, I’ve had my run-ins, and the ones I had with Gordon Strachan were well documented,” he replies. “I suppose it is in my nature to question things. I’m not really a ‘yes’ man. It always has been my instinct to say what I think, especially if I think something is not right. I always found it difficult not to say what I was thinking.
“But I’ve reined that in in recent years. Looking back, I now think I was wrong sometimes and I spoke my mind too much. Now, if I see something that I think is wrong in a dressing room, I might not say as much, because it’s not worth the trouble. Also, going and chapping on a manager’s door if you’re not in the team is not going to change anything. You won’t change his mind. So I’ve definitely pulled back on a lot of that.”
Going on 32, McGeady admits he is thinking about his future, though there is no urgency to plan his life beyond football. For one thing, as he happily admits, he has set himself up for life, along with his wife and three children.
“I’ve invested, I’ve got properties, a few businesses. I ask myself, ‘do I want to go into football management?’ and I don’t really know. I’ve seen a few managers, their phones red hot, having to deal with the team, the fans, the media, the club’s directors. One or two of these guys have looked stressed to the max. So I think, do I want that? It’s not the players who get the sack, it’s the manager.
“I’d like to play for as long as I can, at as high a level as I can. I still feel pretty robust and I don’t really get injuries. I feel fit and strong.”
McGeady says he doesn’t read much about Scottish football. But he still watches Celtic games and will take in tomorrow’s Old Firm match via TV.
“It’s a difficult call,” he says of tomorrow’s fixture at Ibrox. “I thought in their last game Celtic would wipe the floor with Rangers but they didn’t and for me, Rangers were the better team. So you never know. Celtic are stronger in every department, but will they turn up? That’s the question. If Celtic play the free-flowing attacking football they are capable of, then Rangers shouldn’t have a chance.”
Link (paywall)
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k3vkr
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10 Mar 2018, 11:16 PM
Post #2052
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The weather is fine in Majorca
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- allthewine
- 10 Mar 2018, 09:35 AM
Mark Wilson saying on Sky the gap has closed.
Mark Wilson is a rat
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Quiet Assasin
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10 Mar 2018, 11:22 PM
Post #2053
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..for the maintenance of dinner tables for the children and the unemployed
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- k3vkr
- 10 Mar 2018, 11:16 PM
- allthewine
- 10 Mar 2018, 09:35 AM
Mark Wilson saying on Sky the gap has closed.
Mark Wilson is a rat You should phone Paddy McCourt
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shugmc
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10 Mar 2018, 11:43 PM
Post #2054
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- allthewine
- 10 Mar 2018, 09:35 AM
Mark Wilson saying on Sky the gap has closed If Mark Wilson says it, it must be the honest truth
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Oscar Strummer
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10 Mar 2018, 11:49 PM
Post #2055
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The Artist Formerly Known As lubomir25
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- allthewine
- 10 Mar 2018, 09:35 AM
Mark Wilson saying on Sky the gap has closed.
The one between his ears ?
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antbhoy
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11 Mar 2018, 12:09 AM
Post #2056
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Marshal of the Soviet Union
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- Quiet Assasin
- 10 Mar 2018, 02:41 PM
- oneillsrevolution
- 10 Mar 2018, 09:17 AM
On a serious point, when was last time the Huns last beat us in 90 minutes? March 2012 - 3-2 game?
Think so. When we had 9 men and the ref didn't allow the full length of the game to be played. Aye he got worried when we pulled it back to 3-2. Broony scored a pen that day
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jimthetim73
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11 Mar 2018, 12:21 AM
Post #2057
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- antbhoy
- 11 Mar 2018, 12:09 AM
- Quiet Assasin
- 10 Mar 2018, 02:41 PM
- oneillsrevolution
- 10 Mar 2018, 09:17 AM
On a serious point, when was last time the Huns last beat us in 90 minutes? March 2012 - 3-2 game?
Think so. When we had 9 men and the ref didn't allow the full length of the game to be played.
Aye he got worried when we pulled it back to 3-2. Broony scored a pen that day Big Vic sent off for a 50/50 challenge We were pish that day, but no way we were going to be allowed to seal the league at Ibrox
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shugmc
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11 Mar 2018, 07:16 AM
Post #2058
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State of that 

Brendan Rodgers bangs his head against Celtic’s glass ceiling
Pish A wider desperation for Rangers to create a title race in Scotland has not been difficult to trace in the past week. Whereas the noncompetitive nature of a league that has been won by Celtic for the last six years is alarming in itself, there is a depressing element to the narrative whereby only the Old Firm must dominate the Scottish game in supplying something akin to a natural order.
Brendan Rodgers has indulged in some traditional managerial sport by insisting there is “huge pressure” on in-form Rangers as they prepare to host Celtic on Sunday. The reality is, should Celtic not retain their title, it would be Rodgers feeling intense heat.
It would seem ludicrous to suggest the Northern Irishman wants Rangers to present a serious challenge to his Celtic side but there have been recent indications of Rodgers needing more to sustain him. This leads towards what will be a fascinating summer scenario, whereby he must decide – and it will be his decision – whether to remain in the office he has held since 2016. It has been a slow burner but Rodgers appears to be realising that Scotland’s most prosperous club face a glass ceiling. Just as Rodgers would not be interested in the signing of players for whom Scotland is the extent of their aspirations, the manager is entitled to eye prime European leagues.
When Rodgers speaks of working in his dream job there is no hint of exaggeration. He has a personal connection to Celtic and its support which means this position represented more of a calling than a career box to tick. As Rodgers guided Celtic to a domestic treble without losing a single match last season, fans lauded their managerial messiah in a manner not witnessed since the heady – and expensive – days of Martin O’Neill. Even Neil Lennon, a man immersed in Celtic and their culture, did not receive the level of adulation bestowed on Rodgers.
Those in the stands were perfectly correct to feel they could not get enough of that good thing. For all that the League Cup has already been successfully defended, Celtic are in the last four of the Scottish Cup and a championship advantage over Sunday’s opposition should be pressed home, there has been a perhaps natural drop in standards. Celtic’s Champions League draw was unfavourable – Bayern Munich and Paris St-Germain sat alongside them – but there were harrowing evenings and precious few glimpses of improvement. Rodgers, earlier such an advocate of a reinvigorated squad, took to searing criticism of the same players on more than one occasion. He again made his feelings clear as Celtic were bundled out of the Europa League by Zenit St Petersburg. Linked to this, naturally, will be Rodgers being protective of his legacy and keen to improve on his unimpressive European record.
Rodgers is both a strategist and a realist. His ambitions still lie in an English top flight where coming so close to glory at Liverpool before a wounding departure means he has unfinished business. The key for the 45-year-old is to ensure the stock of Celtic and himself remains high enough that he is not discounted as merely another manager who returned a perfectly natural level of success in Scotland. The perception that Celtic should dismantle all before them is both widespread and legitimate given their resources monopoly.
There should be no suggestion of Rodgers harbouring bad feeling towards his employers. An alternative attitude may well apply towards other elements of Scottish football; Rodgers has been cutting in criticism of pitches, fixture scheduling and refereeing standards. Being blunt, a coach who regards himself as Champions League in level will find league fixtures against Ross County and St Johnstone a challenge. Celtic boast, by the admission of their chief executive, Peter Lawwell, the strongest balance sheet in their history yet Rodgers has been quick to point out the coaxing of top players to Scotland now requires more than money. Recruitment has, in turn, been modest rather than eye‑catching.
There has, however, been plenty of scope for Rodgers to develop. Celtic’s routine domination of games requires an uncommon managerial approach. The level of expectation at this club is far in excess even of that at Liverpool. Not every manager has handled both scenarios nearly as competently as Rodgers.
The extent of Arsenal’s interest in Rodgers remains unclear. What seems certain is that Celtic’s manager could be readily tempted by one of the most prestigious jobs in Europe. Rodgers has far less interest in a lower-ranked Premier League post – and has spurned such advances already – which renders his next step, both in terms of timing and destination, a fascinating one. His willingness to sample fresh cultures makes a job in continental Europe inevitable at some stage.
“These are great games to be involved in,” said Rodgers on Friday of a trip to Ibrox. Celtic’s manager relishes high-profile occasions; the issue is whether he now samples enough of them
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Gothamcelt
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11 Mar 2018, 09:31 AM
Post #2059
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Retired and now a BT Sports pundit
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- shugmc
- 11 Mar 2018, 07:16 AM
State of that  Brendan Rodgers bangs his head against Celtic’s glass ceilingPish A wider desperation for Rangers to create a title race in Scotland has not been difficult to trace in the past week. Whereas the noncompetitive nature of a league that has been won by Celtic for the last six years is alarming in itself, there is a depressing element to the narrative whereby only the Old Firm must dominate the Scottish game in supplying something akin to a natural order.
Brendan Rodgers has indulged in some traditional managerial sport by insisting there is “huge pressure” on in-form Rangers as they prepare to host Celtic on Sunday. The reality is, should Celtic not retain their title, it would be Rodgers feeling intense heat.
It would seem ludicrous to suggest the Northern Irishman wants Rangers to present a serious challenge to his Celtic side but there have been recent indications of Rodgers needing more to sustain him. This leads towards what will be a fascinating summer scenario, whereby he must decide – and it will be his decision – whether to remain in the office he has held since 2016. It has been a slow burner but Rodgers appears to be realising that Scotland’s most prosperous club face a glass ceiling. Just as Rodgers would not be interested in the signing of players for whom Scotland is the extent of their aspirations, the manager is entitled to eye prime European leagues.
When Rodgers speaks of working in his dream job there is no hint of exaggeration. He has a personal connection to Celtic and its support which means this position represented more of a calling than a career box to tick. As Rodgers guided Celtic to a domestic treble without losing a single match last season, fans lauded their managerial messiah in a manner not witnessed since the heady – and expensive – days of Martin O’Neill. Even Neil Lennon, a man immersed in Celtic and their culture, did not receive the level of adulation bestowed on Rodgers.
Those in the stands were perfectly correct to feel they could not get enough of that good thing. For all that the League Cup has already been successfully defended, Celtic are in the last four of the Scottish Cup and a championship advantage over Sunday’s opposition should be pressed home, there has been a perhaps natural drop in standards. Celtic’s Champions League draw was unfavourable – Bayern Munich and Paris St-Germain sat alongside them – but there were harrowing evenings and precious few glimpses of improvement. Rodgers, earlier such an advocate of a reinvigorated squad, took to searing criticism of the same players on more than one occasion. He again made his feelings clear as Celtic were bundled out of the Europa League by Zenit St Petersburg. Linked to this, naturally, will be Rodgers being protective of his legacy and keen to improve on his unimpressive European record.
Rodgers is both a strategist and a realist. His ambitions still lie in an English top flight where coming so close to glory at Liverpool before a wounding departure means he has unfinished business. The key for the 45-year-old is to ensure the stock of Celtic and himself remains high enough that he is not discounted as merely another manager who returned a perfectly natural level of success in Scotland. The perception that Celtic should dismantle all before them is both widespread and legitimate given their resources monopoly.
There should be no suggestion of Rodgers harbouring bad feeling towards his employers. An alternative attitude may well apply towards other elements of Scottish football; Rodgers has been cutting in criticism of pitches, fixture scheduling and refereeing standards. Being blunt, a coach who regards himself as Champions League in level will find league fixtures against Ross County and St Johnstone a challenge. Celtic boast, by the admission of their chief executive, Peter Lawwell, the strongest balance sheet in their history yet Rodgers has been quick to point out the coaxing of top players to Scotland now requires more than money. Recruitment has, in turn, been modest rather than eye‑catching.
There has, however, been plenty of scope for Rodgers to develop. Celtic’s routine domination of games requires an uncommon managerial approach. The level of expectation at this club is far in excess even of that at Liverpool. Not every manager has handled both scenarios nearly as competently as Rodgers.
The extent of Arsenal’s interest in Rodgers remains unclear. What seems certain is that Celtic’s manager could be readily tempted by one of the most prestigious jobs in Europe. Rodgers has far less interest in a lower-ranked Premier League post – and has spurned such advances already – which renders his next step, both in terms of timing and destination, a fascinating one. His willingness to sample fresh cultures makes a job in continental Europe inevitable at some stage.
“These are great games to be involved in,” said Rodgers on Friday of a trip to Ibrox. Celtic’s manager relishes high-profile occasions; the issue is whether he now samples enough of them Trying to make out that BR is getting bored, aye nae bother. Also states that "the extent of Arsenals interest in Rodgers remains unclear", but has never questioned Morelos' Ł11million bid ?
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Gothamcelt
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11 Mar 2018, 09:35 AM
Post #2060
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Retired and now a BT Sports pundit
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"Celtic have better quality in their squad and more big-game experience..." "For the first time in ages, the game looks well balanced". Make your mind up Davey.
The Acid test Outfox Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers and the Rangers job is Graeme Murty’s and it’s game on in the title race, says Davie Provan Bottle has a huge part to play in this game and Murty’s players have still to prove they have it. It’s one thing nicking second spot from Aberdeen, but this is different.
Spoiler: click to toggle By Davie Provan THE wise money should be on Celtic to win Sunday’s Old Firm game, but I wouldn’t be putting my mortgage on it. For the first time in ages, the game looks well balanced. Yeah, Celtic have better quality in their squad and more big-game experience, but they’ve not been convincing recently. The lack of investment in the January window was a wasted opportunity. Instead of improving, Brendan Rodgers’ team has been treading water. In contrast, Graeme Murty’s boys have hit a rich vein of form at the right time. They’re scoring freely, confidence is high and they have home advantage. But all of a sudden they have the burden of expectation to carry. Much will depend on how Rangers handle that pressure. Bottle has a huge part to play in this game and Murty’s players have still to prove they have it. It’s one thing nicking second spot from Aberdeen, but this is different. Having got themselves on to Celtic’s shoulder, this is the acid test for Rangers. Are they genuine title contenders or just making up the numbers? Either way, Brendan was spot on when claiming the pressure is all on Gers. If Celtic get out of Ibrox unbeaten, the title is in the bag for another year. Celts will be hunting three points but a draw would do them nicely. Meanwhile, in the other dressing room, this is the moment of truth for Murty. This is the day his players could win him the right to succeed Pedro Caixinha long-term. If Gers win this one, Graeme should be on to Dave King demanding a proper contract. I was surprised Murty revealed his players cheered when they drew Celtic in the Scottish Cup. That should have been kept in-house. Given Gers’ recent record against the Hoops, Celtic were the team to avoid. And you can bet the Rangers reaction didn’t go unnoticed across town. It’ll make the Hoops more determined to give the Ibrox side a sore one today. Former Gers boss Graeme Souness reckons a home win would be good for the Scottish game. That won’t wash in the east end, but I get his drift. At a time television contracts are being renegotiated, a one-horse race is a hard sell for Neil Doncaster. Mind you, you won’t find Peter Lawwell complaining. The lack of competition for Celtic has been a godsend for the champions’ balance sheet. Rangers’ demise has allowed Celtic to hoover up bundles of Champions League cash. Given the money Celtic have made, Lawwell should be asking himself how Rangers have managed to narrow the gap between the clubs. With the financial muscle to bury Rangers, Celtic should be in a different ballpark from their rivals. Instead, you could argue Celts are no better than a year ago while Gers have taken strides under Murty. Should Rangers win, Celtic will have a challenge that could have been avoided. Given their resources, the champions should be out of sight. But if Rangers have turned the heat up, I still think Celtic will win. They’ve been below par, but I expect them to turn up for this one. Having allowed Gers to make most of the pre-match noise, I sense Rodgers’ players will be well up for it. With Murty certain to play with one striker, Brendan would probably have gone with a back four, but Mikael Lustig’s suspension gives him a problem. He doesn’t fancy Cristian Gamboa and will likely start with a back three. That gives him the option of two strikers, but I’d expect to see Moussa Dembele on his own up top. For me, Scott Sinclair has to start despite indifferent form. He’s the type who’ll relish the Ibrox cauldron. Russell Martin’s injury is a blow to Graeme, but Bruno Alves won’t be fazed, given his experience. Elsewhere, it’s a choice between Sean Goss and Andy Halliday to partner Greg Docherty in the holding roles. Goss has been outstanding, but Murty might feel Halliday would bring more to this game. Alfredo Morelos will get the nod ahead of Jason Cummings as the lone striker. For Murty, this game couldn’t get any bigger. Outfox Rodgers and the Gers job is his and it’s game on in the title race. Meanwhile Rodgers will want to crush the noisy neighbours and make the run-in academic. Either way, the Glasgow derby is getting it’s mojo back. https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/sport/football/2344316/graeme-murty-brendan-rodgers-rangers-job-title-race-davie-provan/
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