SAN SIRO LAST 16 MILAN

This current side have the ingredients to do us proud.


Majstorovic - Bags of experience and has been a Swedish international (always decent) for the best part of a decade!

Juarez - Mexican international, background with Barcelona, has certainly impressed!

Ledley - We have seen what he can do in the Championship and is rated at national level (Ok, its Wales...), and was coveted by Roma! Once he is relieved of having to cover a position thats not his own we should see him flourish. Nobody can tell me he's a bad player!

Kayal - Ok, very early days but he looks like he's got a bit about him!

Hooper - Ok, obscure background but good goalscoring record and should do the job in the SPL, at the very least!


I know there is a lot to be worked upon, but hey thats the spine of a semi-decent side there! Add a decent GK to the mix and its looking ok. These guys begin to perform consistently, then the rest should start following suit.

 

theres a lot to be optimistic about, but results in europe have disappointed a lot of people, i think those games are the cause for the rash judgements rather than the actual skill of these players

 

No, I agree. What I mean is that if its not the skill level of the players thats letting us down (with a few notable exceptions) then you have to frame the blame in another way, although thats not for a mere mortal like me to decide.

 

On the evidence of Wednesday night it will be a very long time before will be taken seriously again as a force in European football, if we're being totally honest with ourselves we now sit in Level Four or possibly Level Five of European football. What worries me is that we're looking more likely to heading towards Level Six than Level Four or Three.

Level One being those clubs like Man Utd, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Chelsea, etc who really have a good chance of winning the CL every year.

Level Two being those clubs who consistantly appear in the CL quarter finals such as Arsenal, AC Milan, Lyon, Bayern Munich, etc.

Level Three being those clubs who qualify 50% of the time for the CL Groups but never actual get to the quarter finals such as Ajax, Verda Bremmen, Borduex, etc.

Level Four being those clubs like Utrecht, Basle, Odense, AEK Athens, etc which are good enough to qualify for the Europa League Group stages.

Level Five being those clubs with famous history's in European football such as Celtic, Feyenoord, Parma, Atheltico Bilbao, etc , but are no longer capable of mixing it with the Big Boys.

Level Six being those clubs from Wales, Ireland, Northen Ireland, Iceland, etc that really never get past the first qualifying rounds of any European football competitions.

Yes those great nights at CP when it really didn't matter who the competition were, we just knew Celtic would give 100% and on most ocassions be victorious. I have watched Real Madrid, Man Utd, Juventus, Milan , etc all being beaten at CP over the years, however today we would simply just get slaughtered.

I am realistic to know that we don't have the same financial clout as Man Utd, Chelsea, Barcelona, Real Madrid, but I think we have currently have a budget to match or better most Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, Greek clubs, so how come we can't get to the group stage of the Europa League ?

 

So negative mate. A good manager, a few good signings and we are back on track to give most decent/good teams a game of it. As bateman pointed out earlier, co-efficients are a worry, but it's not as if we can't improve them. Other nations like Belgium will have * seasons aswell and thus we can beat them to automatic champs league spots. We'll be back, even if it's not with this squad of players or manager.

 

I'll tell you the turning point in all this. January 31st 2009 when the board refused to pay an extra 1/2 million for for Steven Fletcher. That could have been a recovery point for us and the board should shoulder the blame for this.

 

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CNicola%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <wunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <wontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> That match you are talking about was only 3 years ago 7th Mar 2007.

So really, we have come down a * of away since then.
<o> </o>
With the 18 players we took to the San Siro that night, not one is still playing for the club today, now that has to be part of the problem.
<o> </o>
<o> </o>
We had players like Boruc, Nakamura, Lennon, Jarosic, McGeady and Van the man, players that showed they had great quality on there day.
<o> </o>
Who do we have now?
<o> </o>
Juaréz looks promising
Kayal. I haven’t made my mind up on him as yet.
Maloney needs to find himself again
Hinkle is injured for the season
McCourt is not getting a run in the team to find out what he really has
Sammy is inconsistent
Forrest, it is too early to say
The rest have still to prove themselves as for as I am concerned.
<o> </o>
The biggest problem is not how much you want to spend on buying a player; it is how much you are going to pay them. There is not much loyalty left when it comes to choosing a club, it is mostly all about how much you are going to get paid.
<o> </o>
If our club are coming into the market below the mark of the type of players we expect coming through our doors then it is little wonder that we keep making mistakes when we go shopping.


Just wondering if anyone knows how many players have sign for Celtic since that game in the San Siro.

 

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CNicola%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <wunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <wontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> Ye,

Just like he's doing a great job down there in Middleboro, with all that money he has spent.

Looks like he could be leaving that job too some time soon.

 

He has not realy been able to buy big money players - its all spl players etc bought for small fees. Boro in reality have been downsizing and you cant pull off the trick of winning while downsizing every time.

It will be a very long time before any current Celtic manager will deserve to be mentioned along with WGS in terms of achievements because only Stein and Mailey have done the 3 in a row and noone has done one nevermind 2 CL last 16s.

 

Totally agree there. Instead of looking for mediocre managers who might want the Celtic job we should be selling the club high to prospective managers and going for the big guys. Hiddink, Hodgson, Moyes etc and making them offers they can't refuse. We are one of the biggest clubs in the world and yet we go for the Mowbrays of this world. to be fair to Lenny he is doing a good job on the domestic front but we need a manager with a proven track record. I would welcome O'Neill back and I think Lenny would too. He would definately be there alongside him in the dugout. I know Lenny is clearing out some of the deadwood but the board need to give him the cash to get the likes of Keane and Bellamy on board. Too late for Bellamy but Keane would come back like a shot.

 

Henke...are you totally agreeing with everything Gunt is saying.

Do you think WGS is down sizing Middleboro because he has been told to? Add to that the fact that Middlesboro have spent the most money in the Championship since his arrival.

Jock stein will be remembered for winning the CL first and foremost as he was the first to do so.

No one wanted MON to leave, that I know of anyway, I couldn't say the same thing regarding WGS though.
<o> </o>
If you where to have a poll on WGS with his 3 in a row, to the MON era, we all know what the outcome would be.

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CNicola%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <wunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <wontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:595.3pt 841.9pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:35.4pt; mso-footer-margin:35.4pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> All this though has nothing to do with the fact our team has plummeted to such a low depths in a short period of time.

 

Yes I am. WGS has the same problem at Boro as we have at Celtic. He cannot compete with the Arsenals, Man Cities, Uniteds and Chelseas for the really big names. You have to look at the relevence of it. We are a big fish in a small sea as is the SPL. Boro are a small fish in a big sea where, even though they might spend big in comparison to us it's not nearly enough to make his team into a championship team. The Boro's of this world put more emphasis on survival than winning the league. It's a more realistic target. I think he is downsizing to compensate for the wages his star players are on.

 

Strachan is struggling at Middlesborough because he's just nothing special as a manager. If/when he gets the boot hopefully it will put an end to the myth that he's some sort of miracle worker and he will be seen for what he truly is......a good manager who's teams play minging football.

 

nonsense. Its a results business and only Stein has as good a success rate in our history. The easy Rangers side thing is a myth. He beat the first CL last 16 Rangers team for 2 in a row and beat a UEFA finalist Rangers team for 3 in a row. He also got to the last 16 twice which again shows an ability against strong opposition. He did that all while the salaries we falling.

 

Scott Brown played on the night, no?

The applause for us as we left the ground was superb.

 

No, we signed Brown in the summer of 2007

I was there:

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kagdm_7vKJQ[/YOUTUBE]

I just wish we'd converted one of the chances we had and the ref hadn't been a coward and denied us 2 stonewall penalties.

It was a magical night and a magnificent performance. Your right about us leaving the ground, I'll never forget the police and stewards clapping us out the ground with Celtic scarves around their necks, that is just unheard of in Italy.

 

I must be getting mixed up with the home leg :-(

Yeah, fantastic leaving the stadium to the applaus from polis/securrity, who all wanted to exchange stuff for any celtic merch. I gave my scarf to a polisman, who gave me his wee blue beanie.

Just tried to post my vids from the game, but am no great shakes at this patter.

Ergo, my fail.

 

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And now?

 

and now we are in between a rock and a hard place.
celtic wouldnt be celtic without the ups and downs.
do you honestly think anyone can dilute our history
into 4 seasons??? the time is now. we all hurt at past
results, and rejoice in other results, thats the celtic way.
enjoy the good times and forget the negativity.

 

LOL, sorry for any confusion.

The 'and now' was in reference to me making a pigs * of embedding the video.