How knowledgeable are Celtic Fans about Football???

Reading this snippet from a piece by Graham Hunter:

About seven years ago I was interviewing Kanouté in the puny gym which Sevilla have attached to their training ground. One of the questions I asked him was, broadly: ‘How come you are so much more appreciated, and successful, here in Spain than in the UK?’

Freddie told me: “In the UK there’s still a mentality that you are only doing your best for the team if you are running around constantly. Fans judge your worth on how much you sweat – even if you are running yourself into the ground and not able to capitalize on the best openings when they come your way.


“In the UK a team will be applauded off the pitch if they have lost 3-0 but absolutely run themselves into the ground. In Spain it’s all different in terms of mentality. Most of the fans have a different view – they want quality, they want wins. If you are a creative player and you choose your moments to run, to work, to close someone down, to run into a channel, then you’ll be judged on your intelligence, your efficacy – whether you create a chance, create a goal or score.

“A team in Spain which has won 3-0 but played very little football won’t get a great reception from their fans, and a team which has lost 3-0 but worked its socks off and showed no quality will be panned. But a team which is technically good, which plays intelligently, will win affection and respect. Fans don’t judge you on how much you sweat the jersey, but on the choices you make, the skill you show. It’s another mentality and one that I’ve benefitted from.”


Over the years, I've heard a few players who represented the club subjected to abuse from fans for what is highlighted by Freddie Kanoute. One in particular was Big Dave(Ki Seung Yeung), folk seemed more agitated because he didn't * into tackles.

In a recent Champions Legaue encounter, Andrés Iniesta was given a standing ovation from large parts of the Celtic crowd.

Do the opinions of football in UK by Freddie Kanoute apply to our support??

Or is it just down to individual preference??

 

Theres a difference between not throwing yourself into tackles and pulling out them. He was guilty of the latter.

 

Exactly. Big Bitton? Shitebag. I had his number ages ago.

You can have all the great touches you want. You can recycle the ball brilliantly. You can make excellent forward passes and score a * off goal with absolutely stunning technique.

But if you're not smashing into a Kilmarnock player for a ball you have a 15% chance of winning, I'm not interested.

 

Kanoute was a lazy *, I bet he saw the white hanky's being waved a plenty in Spain..

 

I would say no better or no worse than other clubs. There is a bad habit however where some of our fans will latch onto popular cliches about some of our players. Like "Commons slows the game down", "Forrest is *", "Samaras is *", "Stokes has a bad attitude" etc. Often these observations are not even true yet you hear a good load of people repeating them both on the internet and in real life as well. Some folks let the majority dictate their views and do not do their own thinking but again id say this is true with supporters of other clubs too.

 

Watched Juventus today and a stat came up about how much ground players had covered,and wouldn't you know,Pirlo was number three.

The guy is all over the * place,but,you would never think it.

 

I seem to remember a small minority moaning that so many fans rose to applaud Iniesta and even more when we did it for Kaka when they pumped us 3-0 at Parkhead, I'm thinking it's probably said people that know very little about football and too ignorant to respect it, probably the same breed who get upset at that least little thing the likes of Hugh Keevins says when he expresses an opinion construed mildly critical of Celtic.

I believe the vast majority are as knowledgeable as any fans in the country and way above almost all supports, in England it's extremely rare for them to respect great players, Portsmouth being a rare example towards Thierry Henry once.

The amount of pre seasons and testimonials we used to play down south in the 80s and 90s were testament that we respected and were knowledgable of opponents, countless examples but one that I still remember well was at the Paul Davis Testimonial at Highbury hoisting him shoulder high at the end when most of the Arsenal fans had * off and our whole end singing "one Paul Davis" there are dozens of examples of similar hence why we were always invited down there yet the Huns were rarely ever invited for fear of violence and abuse rather than the party and respect we would show the opposition fans and team.

 

Totally agree with the Commons statement, the sheep like fans saying similar things as you mentioned when they thought he was leaving in January were a poor show, they clearly were not watching games to come out with pish like that, it's as if his goals and assists counted for * all.

 

Lol our support swung on Samaras like a 13 year old teenage girl

 

So Ronny has a different philosophy than Freddie Kanoute , unsurprising really as big Fredward was a lazy git. I much prefer the Ronny approach , I love to see our team hunt the opposition down with good discipline. A huge part of our play is hard work and its great to see Celtic imposing them selves on other teams.

Big Freddie is just trying to justify being a lazy bassa.

 

Very disingenuous there, do you think despite being sublimely skilled as a defender and technically proficient, that if Carles Puyol didn't have the same commitment and heart when committing himself to defending that he would be half the player he was? Or that the Barcelona fans didn't appreciate it?

Kanoute isn't saying that they applaud players who * out of 50/50's or don't fully commit themselves when defending, he's saying they prefer more technically skilled players and clever play/defending rather than the run yourself into the ground Lee Cattemole school of play.

Bitton has improved ten fold since he has came into the team on how to defend, to be fully committed. It's something that Ronny would have highlighted as well, it's something he clearly likes, he put it into Stefan Johansen's game afterall.

What you need is a blend, full commitment, clever defending and to be technically good on the ball.

 

As if we'd cheer Celtic if they got beat 3-0 but they'd 'tried hard'. pfft.

 

Im not too sure on the credibility of this post, namely the points made.
Ki was a player who split the fans down the middle. A lot of fans likes him, which i dont think is refelcted. I had no personal qualms about his work rate or footballing ability. For me he shone when given regular games and i will keep going back the point that before he left for the Asia cup he was awarded spl player of the month, then left to play for south korea, lost his place to brown (who came back from injury) and then struggled to regain his place. Even a lot of my mates who are Rangers pals said Ki was a player.

Ultimitely, despite fan oppinion, its the manager who choses the team, and so in Kanoutes case it was his manager who essentially made the decision to move him on, not the fans.

Where as Kanoute is offering thr technical differences of the leagues as a reason for his failure to perform in England, maybe theres more to it. Maybe his style just didnt suit (as in thr case of Forlan). Maybe the disruption of playing for Mali or the competition from defoe and keane prevented him from securing a regular game.

 

This.

The only thing i would say is that, to go off in a tangent, Diego Forlan worked exceptionally hard and it just didnt happen to him at Man utd.
Then in la liga he really made his mark. Some players just dont deal with the physicality of british football.

 

Bollocks, I'd well fancy Bayern Munich to beat my local Sunday league team without breaking a sweat even if the locals are panning their * in :icon_mrgreen:

 

Irrespective of technical ability, if a player isnt deemed to be contributing to achieving the desired result on the park, then they may be replaced by a player who can make an impact. Managers need results to stay in jobs and teams need wins.

To put into context, im sure Miku was a very good footballer with a lot of ability. He was a proven goalscorer in la liga. But he just didnt adapt, or in the time he was given anyway. People appreciated Nakas clear, outstanding ability and he managed to apply that with a good work ethic.

 

I don't think what Kanoute is saying there is that a lack of work rate is appreciated, it's working clever that's appreciated. You only need to look at how Pep's Barca closed down high up the pitch to see that it is appreciated.

 

You've clearly never saw my local pub team :icon_mrgreen:

Like I said, I don't think he's criticised working hard there, just that working clever is much more appreciated, the two aren't mutually exclusive. That Barcelona team were the absolute best at closing down every bit of space available to the opposite team, that's working extremely hard and extremely cleverly.