12 Oct 2014 22:22:16
What direction to Celtic go in? Is it continual down-sizing with less monies invested in the team, ever lower season ticket book prices, reducing revenue from merchandise sales and a "race to the bottom" that can still achieve a "profit"?. OR do we change the trajectory, invest a little, go on a PR offensive, raise the quality bar, increase the price to watch the product, and re-vitalise all non-football operations to further boost the match day experience and the over-arching experience of being a "Celtic fan"?
The problem is not so much what direction the PLC should go in. They could play around all day with excel spreadsheets and scrutinise the pluses and the minuses of both strategies, but the bigger question is this.
EVEN IF we opened up a little and upped the ante and went for 2nd tier B list category players "with considerable/proven potential" and spent £30m on 6 players each costing £5,000,000 and allowed weekly salaries to encroach upon say £35,000 per week, would we be able (even at that) to ATTRACT the B list players with A-list potential that would transform the team?
Could we convince the next best, youngest brightest prospects from Slovenia, or Switzerland or Bosnia or Croatia or Poland or the Czech Republic to ply their trade North of the Border? Would they look at the competition and the sell-on possibilities (IE Celtic are as good a platform as any?) and then look at the lucrative contracts on offer and think "okay, the money is FAB (tick) but the league is poor (cross) but there's the high possibility of European high profile football (tick), and the stadium is immense and the match day experience is epic (tick). That is the $million question.
You can want to go down a particular road and still find hurdles in your way.
I think Celtic fans would "buy in" if there was the real prospect of a higher/better standard. I think the Board would be surprised at how far we would go if we felt the Board's vision matched our own for our great Club.
I will always support Celtic but my interest is waning because the core of the club, or should I say "the part" that evokes my week to week interest is so pitifully poor. Celtic is made up of many (many) facets. The fans. The history and past glories. The mystique. The magic. The coming together in "celebration". Before, during and after, the match is a great leveller where there is no hierarchy, no class variance, no embarrassment. just Celtic. The colour, the fanfare, the "not knowing what to expect", the "joy". and knowing that whatever it is you're enduring 1,000,000 around the globe are feeling it too.
This all COMES TO LIFE when the team on the park fills us with pride and hope. When Larson, or McStay, or Collins, or Moravcik, or McGrain, or McNeill become extensions of us; our better sides, our characters.
The PROBLEM for me at the moment isn't so much that I am feeling diminished as a Celtic fan, but that the team on the park and the management off it (and the Board above it) leaves me feeling numb. Cold. Detached. It is difficult to put my finger on it.
How do you get behind a team that means SO MUCH to so many when a good number of players are actually winning and losing and learning and growing for the benefit of their parent clubs? When signed players leave us publicly humiliated, knowing that we are a last resort. When starting player's form is so miserable that we wonder what level of competition lies behind them. When mistakes happen and happen again. Where hunger, pride, passion and the old Celtic ways are lost in a perennial fog of mundaneness. Do you recall the rapid, explosive Celtic starts to home matches; a whirlwind that would stop opponents in their tracks and leave them out cold after 15 minutes. What happened?
What has happened to our Celtic? Where did the magic go?
How do we get it back.
We don't need to win everything. We are not currently asking for very much. Just a reason to be hopeful once again. To be cheerful as we set out merrily on our way to Celtic Park. To build. To dream.
How do we get there .
Your typist no get a Sunday aff paradise? Or are you a slave driving Tory after all? atvb jb7
That is the question, where do we go from here?, what is the difference between us and shuper ally, buying expensive supposedly superior players so we can win the league, cups or in our case do something in europe, celtic should be different, Iwould rather we brought in young irish, scots players, who had a bit of potential, and we had a manager who could recognise the potential in a footballing sense rather a fitness sense, this might mean a few lean years but its rewarding watching a great team developing but not for the we only sing when we're winning crowd.
{Ed007's Note - Between 2001-2007 not ONE single Stromsgodset player earned a youth cap for Norway. However, in just 5 years under Deila, the figure reached 179, that's works out at an average of 36 per season. Pity RD was so hung up on diet and fitness or it could have reached 200, shame on him! I'm sure the Norwegian FA were furious about it.}
Thats not what I mean Ed, I was'nt having a dig at RD, in that way, if that happened at stromsgodset, then that means he must have been able to see the potential in a footballing sense, fitness and diet should be the same for the 'lesser' talented footballers as well as the ones that will turn out good, I think its hard to teach an old dog new tricks, there's no point in trying to change older players who already have bad habits, he should use them to the best of their abbilities, and concentrate on instilling good practises in the younger ones, I have'nt looked at any of the Norwegian statistics, but would be interesting to see how many of those players went onto play senior football
{Ed007's Note - Hahaha well you can go and look that up!! You're spot on about teaching old dogs new tricks, spot on! I'd have a wager with anyone that players like van Dijk, Denayer, Guidetti, Tonev, Wakaso, Izzy etc won't see any major changes to their diet and lifestyle, they will have been taught about that all their careers, since their youth teams. Guys like Scott Brown who is basically a machine anytime he enters a pitch for training or a match will already have been following a strict fitness regime IMO. All RD is trying to do is improve the fitness, stamina and conditioning of players, with my hand on heart I can't get my head round why people have a problem with that and are emphasising it so much. People were saying JC was a good appointment because he would make sure players were working hard and getting fitter now it's the reason for every mistake!
It's only one part of the jigsaw, is it RD's fault that Stokes can't cross from a corner? How many chances did we miss against Accies, is that RD's fault? He's not out there kicking the ball. Remember against Zagreb we had THREE players chasing one while they had a man free in the middle, do you think RD told 3 players to run after one?
Players like Jinky, Bertie Auld, George Best, Kenny Dalglish, Bryan Robson, the list is endless, wouldn't have made it to where they did in today's game unless they embraced modern training methods and lifestyle choices, times have changed. All RD is trying to do is improve the team, make sure they are at their physical peak and bring us into the modern area of training and coaching, our methods were archaic to say the least. We might not be able to compete with Euro big guns when it comes to ability but we should be fit enough to last the 90 mins against them, fitness is all about hard work, Izaguirre might not be able to mark Ronaldo out a game for 90 mins but he should be physically fit enough to keep breathing down his neck for the duration of the game, people looked at the recent Barca teams and their technique but to play at that level and pace you need to be as fit as you can be.
How many times in recent years have we ended up drawing games or losing them because after 70/75 mins our players are knackered and blowing out their ar$es, it was even plain to see against Zagreb last week.
We should be the fittest, the strongest in body and mind and the most athletic team in Scotland bar none, it's a huge blunder that we aren't, and for anyone who has done any training, you'll know it's hard to lose weight and get fit quickly. It's not just physical fitness and toughness RD wants to improve, it's mental as well.}
13 Oct 2014 01:44:54
Ed, your the boss when it's comes to stats, did I not read once, use have a full database/library. :-D
{Ed007's Note - 178 went on to play professional football and one became a multi-millionaire selling diet and nutrition information to sports clubs all over the world whild and working with UEFA, NASA, the CIA and SETI regarding human conditioning, the human bodies physical limits and what kind of diet alien visitors would need to survive on earth and vice versa if humans ever start terraforming foreign planets.
Do you know RD has said smoking and alcohol are bad for you? How miles out can one guy be, what crazy idea could he come up with next.. Glasses help if you have poor eyesight!
Did you know that some footballers injury problems have been traced back to dental problems?}
13 Oct 2014 02:43:25
Ed, that's abit of a crazy response, Suppose that's wot happens when your editing the conspiracy pages aswell. Lol
{Ed007's Note - The part about the dental stuff is 100% true. RvP and I'm sure Jamie Redknapp were a couple of players that used it, it's tied into their wisdom teeth, no BS mate, give it a Google.}
Some really interesting comments and thought provoking. I am looking at RD in a slightly different light. Change is not always liked or understood and maybe a few of us are being stubborn with regards to what we are seeing at present and what the man is trying to do.
REPLY TO ABOVE POST, ed, spot on, not all ronnys fault stokes can't cross a ball, 99 100 we would have beaten accies on that day, I agree with ronny we are getting better there's no doubt, as to fittness & diet I agree with RD, ALSO improve mental toughness! RD defo desreves time pundits can say all they want that's why there's pundits & not managers, I still believe he will turn out to be a good manager for us, if players don't buy into his ideas let them go, KEEP THE FAITH,
Ed to embrace your response a think a have an alternative answer when RD spoke about improving them at the beginning by "3 or 4%" through fitness a think this is where the "crossroads" the players defiance stance (for want of a better explanative) it is the SACRAFICE involved in getting to that dominator
You indicated you used to box what would you have sacrificed to gain another 3 or 4 %? the point am trying to make in gaining 3 or 4 % is it worth the sacrifice? everybody will have a different attitude / barometer to that equation mate
A think the swimmer Michael Phelps is a great example he said that in the mind he knew he had everyone beat in the race before it started because he even trained on CHRISTMAS DAY! and he knew that no one else had gone to that length so it give him an edge and psychological advantage!
But everyone has there on stance and in a team setting can be harder to implement atvb jb7
{Ed007's Note - As a highly paid professional athlete of course it's worth any sacrifice to better yourself simply because every professional sportsman should strive to be the very best they can be. I don't know what point you're trying to make.}
Point a was getting at Ed and maybe a should have made a bit clearer is "3 or 4 %" whilst it is improving, what is the sacrifice involved in getting to that dominator? ( If it is fizzy drinks, change of diet, running harder, weight loss, strict regime a could go on!) at what point do you counter measure the "little gain" and ask yourself ( as a former boxer ) is it worth that to gain as little as "3 or 4%!) surely there is a counter balance?
In an individual basis such as boxing, swimming you as individual get found out or left adrift/wanting but in a "team setting" all it takes is for someone to "do the sums" and down tools mate IMO hope a cleared that up
13 Oct 2014 16:37:22
Ed very good points as alwYs. Just thinking however, have Stromsgodset ever qualified for CL group stages? Where did Stromsgodset finish up last season in their league? Did they win any cups last season? I am sure they all are the right things and were super fit.
{Ed007's Note - Stromsgodset won their first title in 43 years last season under Delia, Johnny, and he also won the Norwegian Cup in 2010, Stromsgodset winning the league is the equivalent of Kilmarnock winning the SPFL, remember he was up against teams like Brann, Lillestrom,Molde and Rosenborg who are all seen as 'bigger', richer and more popular clubs than Stromsgodset and also note Deila spent very little money on player acquisitions.
In his two cracks at the EL he hasn't got past the Third Qualifying Round but to be fair in 2011/12 they were drawn against Atletico Madrid who ended up in our group after the Sion debacle. Last season they beat the Hungarian side Debreceni VSC 5-2 on aggregate before losing in the Third Qualifying Round to the Czech side FK Jablonec by the same scoreline.
Have a read at this and this,two articles from from the same guy writing about Deila in 2012 and then in 2014.}