Confess your unpopular Celtic-related opinions

This. We're not the zombies we have loads of songs but just seem to sing the Sam song over and over and over again

 

"Celtic Glasgow" needs binned, we never refer to ourselves as that and it's not really a tune.

 

It’s awful. The whistling is like nails down a chalkboard.

 

Horrendous. I sit over by the Bhoys and it’s brutal.

Im absolutely in no way attempting to slag off or diminish the atmosphere Bhoys have brought to our side of the stadium but there’s a wee autistic boy beside me and he’s really struggling with it since they moved there. Think the club maybe need to try and house the groups together. Was brutal on Saturday for that wee lad. He’s been struggling badly with it.

 

Leading on from the above. Celtic Park is turning in to the Etihad. Outwith the ultras the atmosphere has been non existent for the most part the last few home games.

 

To be quite honest, this is nothing new.

For as long as I can remember, home games in the SPL, unless against the Huns or where there is something meaningful at stake like the chance to go top or clinch the league, have always been pretty flat.

 

aye its nothing like it used to be. I remember in 1996 we played Dundee Utd in the cup (they were first division at the time). A lot less fans in the stadium than nowadays cause the two stands behind the goals didnt exist yet. There was no ultras at the time cause that typa * wasnt even thought of at the time in scotland.

Van Hooijdonk scores the equaliser about 88 mins.

Andreas Thom runs through and scores the winner a minute after

and the place goes absolute apeshite. I was 14 at the time and it was the most passionate and crazy goal celebration I have seen ever at Celtic Park. Apparantly the roar was so loud (and mind it was only about 35 thousand there, no 60 thousand) that it broke the microphone for the radio station that was trying to cover it and it was communication blackout till they got it fixed. That was passion. We rely too much on the ultras these days to create the atmosphere. It just kinda happened naturally in the Tommy Burns seasons

 

My unpopular opinion is a bit unpopular but I still stand by it.

John Collins was a better player than Paul McStay.

There ye are

 

I'll get a lot of flak for this: Jota is overrated. Just because he's a flashy dribbler, it doesn't mean he's special. Wouldn't be against selling him for a hefty profit and starting Maeda/Haksa at LW. It would balance out the squad too cause we have 3 natural LWs right now. Haksa is hands down a better finisher than Jota.

 

I agree on Jota, he has so much talent but too often I find myself angry at him.
I’d rather lose him than someone like Abada or Maeda

 

Abada and Maeda do not have a fraction of the talent that Jota has. Both struggle to control the easiest of passes and their own passing and crossing is shockingly bad. They have assets too to balance against that but neither are even close to Jota never mind better or more important. I'm genuinely staggered that anyone who watches Celtic regularly could come to such a conclusion.

 

He isn't just a dribbler. His control, passing and vision are all superb too. In recent weeks he's also developed a knack for taking the ball off the opposition near their own box. I like Hacksaw too but he's not yet done as much as Jota has during his time here. Maeda isn't even close to Jota's level, yeah he works hard and has a goal in him but footballing-ability wise he's miles away. You wait till Jota actually leaves....then you'll realise what we had.

 

He never said they are better though, just that he'd rather lose Jota (I assume from a squad-building perspective). Jota's de facto replacement would be Haksa. He's a better finisher while being technically gifted as well. I would argue he deserves more playing time. Haksa and Maeda would complement each other perfectly as our two LW options. Haksa's weaknesses are Maeda's strengths and vice versa.

 

Tbf if someone says "I would rather lose player A than players B or C" it's fair to assume they think players B and C are better. Who wants to lose their teams better players whilst keeping their lesser ones? It doesn't make sense. Hacksaw should be getting more starts though I agree although not as a replacement for Jota.

 

I used to get angry at McGeady, and I think he was an overrated player who refused to pass when he should have.

Jota makes good decisions most of the time.

 

Ma Da always said that about McGeady. Never a team player. Never interested in playing the quick pass that strikers thrive on, that puts defenders on the back foot. He always wanted to bring the ball down and wait 5 seconds with the ball at his feet. I think he bought into his own hype. Was brought up to believe he was some kind of wonderkid and that he was destined for the very top in the game. But he wasnt as good as he thought and probably not as good as a lot of us thought he would turn out to be either

 

Football is a team game. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. In a vacuum, Jota is a more talented player than Maeda, but the team may be better with Maeda cause we rely heavily on our pressing game. The idea is to regain possession as close to the opposition box as possible. Instead of methodically creating our own chances, we force our opponents to make more mistakes and immediately try to take advantage of these mistakes. Jota/Haksa are terrific options against teams which are parking the bus. For instance, both of them were fantastic on Saturday against 10-men Hibs.

Don't get me wrong, Jota is a very gifted footballer. My point is I wouldn't be against selling Jota for a hefty profit, mainly because we already have a similar player in Haksa who deserves more playing time.

 

With regards to the atmosphere then vs now, I think there's two factors at play. The fact stadiums are all-seaters (or practically in our case) and the increasing price of tickets.

The effect of this is that you both price out younger supporters and make the game more accessible for older folk with seating. If you had to compare the average age of the crowd at Parkhead 30/40 years ago vs now, I guarantee you it skews a lot older. And middle-aged folk are generally less likely to get a skinful and sing their lungs out for 90 minutes.

 

When we play Abada on one side and Maeda on the other we struggle to break teams down as neither are good at showing for the ball and offering an option to feet. There is no creativity in the wide areas. Kyogo gets isolated often when this happens too.

Maeda’s work ethic is insane but his on ball ability is shockingly limited. He is a good alternative option on the opposite side to Jota or even Haksabanovic but not Abada.

My unpopular opinion on Jota would be that I don’t think we will make much money on him. We paid a good fee at about £6.3m and that was for 70% of his registration, he is 24 at the end of the month and also lacks that top end speed that wingers in the big leagues tend to have.

However, he is very important to our team and how we want to play. If someone said we had to sell one of the three players mentioned Abada or Maeda would be both sold before Jota for me.

 

Which is why we start Jota. Haksa can do a similar job while being a superior finisher. I would argue a front 3 of Maeda, Kyogo and a rich man's Abada (he's a bit raw) may be our best bet against top teams in Europe. Jota/Haksa are great options against inferior domestic opposition.