Celtic Rumours Archive March 23 2013

23 Mar 2013 19:48:43
ed do you remember last summer celtic signed a young polish central defender on a pre contract.
the lad unfortunately done his knee and the deal fell through.
do you know if he is back playing and could celtic go back in for him.
seem to remember lenny rated him highly. ps I can't recall his name.
davie {Ed007's Note - Jaroslaw Fojut was the player Davie. He has recovered from the cruciate knee ligament injury. When his contract with Slask Wroclaw expired in June 2012 he became a free agent and eventually signed for Norwegian side Tromso in December 2012 as a free agent. His short and long term fitness will probably always be a concern now.}

23 Mar 2013 15:00:15
Question on World Cup, see the teams that finish 3rd in the group for qualifying is there a play off between all teams who finish 3rd to get into world cup? Scotland have no Chance sadly we are terrible but if Ireland finish 3rd that'd be good if there was a play off, I want to go to Rio in 2014 I know I can't support our nation Scotland as I doubt they will ever play in a world cup in my life time and I am only 19 lol, but I'd defo go support Ireland if they got there, and if they don't I'll probably still go to support the home nation Brazil, or maybe Germany, I like Germany they play awesome football. Hail Hail GhreenBhoy1888

Think that's only for the EURO's in France in 2016

Only the group winners are guaranteed to qualify as there is only 13 places up for grabs. The nine group winners qualify, while the eight best runners-up – ranked according to all their games except for games against the sixth-placed team in their group – will play-off for the four remaining spots. The six placed teams don't count as there is one group of 5. So no banana for third placed at all.

MgC

Follow Australia mate. We will be there, and you can even wear next years away kit with Rogic on the back you'll fit right in!

C'mon Aussies!

Melb Bhoy

Tuesday night is a big night Melb bhoy! Hopefully have a good result as the previous results this round of qualifiers has not been to impressive!
Noticed they never even advertised it on tv fixtures!

Mon ozzies!

Taz

AFL began this week so it's tough to get a look in, especially in the Melbourne fishbowl. We should win though, we can't be dropping anymore points at home.

Melb Bhoy

Hopefully we will get a win and then have another World Cup to look forward to!

Yes AFL season is with us TG I miss it! Hopefully it will verge saints year this year!

Fingers crossed for Tuesday!

Taz

23 Mar 2013 12:48:20
Following last nights Scotland result (and performance) I decided to do a wee bit of research into the rankings/coefficient system that we all harp on about - but in honesty know nothing about.
It looks like Scotland may end up being bottom seeded in an expanded Euros qualifying next time (22 teams at the finals?). One last chance at qualifying for a major tournament then forever doomed to - ironically - the same as Wales for the last 20 years: seeded 5th and 6th in a group with 4 top sides and only 2 qualifying spots.
Primarily, I was interested in the National side, safe in the knowledge that the glorious Hoops had done the business this season - punching above our weight against the financially superior European Club Superpowers - and securing our Euro participation and financial future into the bargain.
Actually, the UEFA 'Country' coefficient rankings that take into account this seasons results are worrying to say the least. Terrifying to be honest.
The Country coefficient ranks the nation as a whole for club competition 2 years ahead (2014-15 season), the outcome of the League and the Cups dictates who competes (obviously).
It takes into account all member clubs of that Countries' association over the past 5 years: 2 points for a win and 1 for a draw. 4 bonus points are awarded for Champions League Group stage qualification, 5 bonus points for the Last 16, and 1 bonus point for reaching each of the QF, SF and Final of the Europa League or Champions League. The number of points awarded is divided by the number of teams participating from that country.
So far so good? Scotland's ranking in previous years was:
2008/09: 1. 875 points
2009/10: 2. 666 points
2010/11: 3. 600 points
2011/12: 2. 750 points
2012/13 (this season): 4. 300 points
This gives Scotland's country (clubs) a UEFA coefficient of 15. 191 points for the season 2014/15.
We will have 4 European Club places ONLY: 1 Champions League place and 3 Europa places - 1 of which could be taken by a surprise Scottish Cup finalist (Gretna anyone?).
The most worrying thing is our ranking as a country (not the National side) UEFA rank us as 24th as a country. We have dropped 6 places from 18th last year. This is by far the biggest drop of all 53 countries. AZERBAIJAN have climbed 5 places! Incredibly CYPRUS have jumped 2 places to 14th and will have 2 Champion League places in 2014/15.
In current UEFA club rankings Celtic do not make the top 25. Interestingly, Juventus have jumped 24 places and PSG 26 places.
In 2008/09 Celtic qualified directly for the groups of the CL with Man utd, Villarreal and Aalborg, Rangers knocked out in qualifying by Kaunus. We never qualified from the group stage.
2009/10 Celtic were knocked out by Arsenal at the 3rd qualifying round of the CL. We dropped into the Europa groups (Rapid Vienna, Hapoel, Hamburg) Rangers were seeded 2nd in their CL group that season but were beaten 4-1 at home twice (Unirea from Romania and Sevilla).
2010/11 Celtic were knocked out of the CL and the EL qualifiers (Braga and Utrecht). Rangers qualified automatically for the groups against Man U, Valencia and Bursaspor. Rangers dropped into the Europa where they made the last 16 by knocking out Sporting Lisbon - losing to PSV on away goals.
In 2011/12 Celtic were reinstated in the Europa at the expense of Sion who were disqualified. Celtic played Atletico Madrid, Rennes and Udinese but did not reach the knockout stages. Rangers were knocked out of both CL and EL to Malmo and Maribor.
During this whole 5 year period no other Scottish club achieved anything of note in Europe - most being knocked out in the early Europa Qualifying stages every season.
With The Rangers being ineligible to play in Europe for the next 3 years minimum - that leaves Celtic to fly the flag for the nation as a whole for the foreseeable future. With only ourselves being able to contribute to the coefficient in any real way, it can only be assumed that we will be playing 3 CL qualifiers starting July every year. FFS it looks like we ARE Scottish football at the moment!
The 3rd (Final) qualifying round will undoubtedly mean we face a higher ranked country and therefore a possible Spanish, English, German or Italian side (not to mention the rest).
When you look at the UEFA rankings (en. wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_coefficient) I think you will all REALLY appreciate how good a job Neil Lennon and Celtic did this season - and how unbelievably difficult it is going to be to maintain that level.
We need continued European football. We need the cash it generates. What do the board do in the summer? It is going to be $h1t or bust every single July, before the season has even started!
Realistically, are we going to gamble any money of note? Yesterday, I posted about making making a move for Rhodes - Austin is continually mentioned. A good £4-5M minimum for each. Realistically, it ain't going to happen. is it?
One thing is for sure - this might be THE most important summer for Celtic (and Scottish Football as a whole). kbt1978

Amazing post mate

Rangers fan peace guys I have said this for years we need all our teams to progress as far as they can to make Scottish football more interesting forget the rivalry and get behind the Scottish clubs in Europe the sfa spl should help our clubs more before European games as fans we should encourage success for other clubs even our rivals its time we all moved forward to support the game in Scotland I thought Celtic did very well in Europe this season and if you are a true fan give support to the other teams involved op fantastic post well said