Celtic Football Club - Season 2014-15

First topic message reminder :

Transfers In:




Craig Gordon -  Free
Jo Inge Berget - On Loan From Cardiff City
Aleksander Tonev - On Loan From Aston Villa
Jason Denayer - On Loan From Manchester City
Mubarak Wakaso - On Loan from Ruban Kazan
John Guidetti -  On Loan from Manchester City
Stefan Scepovic - £2.2m  From Sporting Gijon
Michael Duffy -  £150,000  From Derry City
Gary Mackay-Steven -  £250,000  From Dundee Utd
Stuart Armstrong -  £1.85m  From Dundee Utd

Total: £4.45m


Transfers Out:


Georgios Samaras - Free
Steven Mouyokolo - Free
Tony Watt - £1.2m - Standard Leige
Denny Johnstone - £300,000 - Birmingham
Fraser Forster - £10m - Southampton
Amido Baldé - On Loan - Waasland-Beveran  (Loan Fee £250k)
Holmbert Fridjonnson - On Loan - Brondby IF
Dylan McGeouch - On Loan - Hibernian
Lewis Toshney  -  Free
Teemu Pukki  -  On Loan - Brondby IF  (Loan Fee £500k)
Bahrudin Atajic  -   Free
Jo Inge Berget - Malmo took on his loan
Filip Twardzik  - Free - Bolton Wanderers

Total: £12.25m

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Results/Fixtures


July
UCL Qualifier Second Round 1st Leg: KR Reykjavik 0-1 Celtic (McGregor) - Att: 1,600
UCL Qualifier Second Round 2nd Leg: Celtic 4-0 KR Reykavik (Van Dijk 2, Pukki 2) - Assist: Mulgrew, Lustig, McGregor, Commons - Att: 42,000
UCL Qualifier Third Round 1st Leg: Legia Warsaw 4-1 Celtic (McGregor) - Att: 31,000

August
UCL Qualifier Third Round 2nd Leg:  Celtic 3-0 Legia Warsaw - UEFA forfeit   - Att: 41,723
SPFL Premiership: St Johnstone 0-3 Celtic (Stokes, Biton, McGregor) - Assist: Commons, Boerrigter, Matthews - Att: 6,890
SPFL Premiership: Celtic 6-1 Dundee Utd (Denayer, Commons, Johansen, Stokes, Berget 2) - Assist: Stokes, Ambrose, Kayal - Att: 44,484
UCL Play-Off Round 1st Leg: NK Maribor 1-1 Celtic (McGregor) - Att: 11,500
SPFL Premiership: Inverness C.T 1-0 Celtic - Att: 5,862 
UCL Play-Off Round 2nd Leg: Celtic 0-1 NK Maribor - Att: 55,415
SPFL Premiership: Dundee 1-1 Celtic (Griffiths)  - Att:  9,276

September
SPFL Premiership: Celtic 2-1 Aberdeen (Denayer, Commons) - Assist: Ambrose, McGregor - Att: 43,640
UEFA Europa League: Redbull Salzburg 2-2 Celtic (Wakaso, Brown) -  Att: 17,886
SPFL Premiership: Celtic 1-1 Motherwell (Commons) - Att:  41,719
Scottish League Cup: Celtic 3-0 Hearts (Guidetti, Commons,  OG )  -Assist: Stokes - Att: 15,522
SPFL Premiership: St Mirren 1-2 Celtic (Guidetti 2)  - Assist: Wakaso, Stokes - Att: 5,280

October
[UEFA Europa League: Celtic 1-0 Dynamo Zagreb (Commons) - Assist: Stokes - Att:37,000
SPFL Premiership: Celtic 0-1 Hamilton - Att: 42,412
SPFL Premiership: Ross County 0-5 Celtic (Guidetti, McGregor, Stokes 2, Denayer)  - Assist: Stokes, Guidetti, Johansen - Att: 5,693
UEFA Europa League: Celtic 2-1 FC Astra (Scepovic, Johansen) Assist: Stokes, Tonev - Att: 32,000
SPFL Premiership: Celtic 2-0 Kilmarnock (Guidetti, Scepovic) - Assist: Wakaso - Att: 42,800
Scottish League Cup: Celtic 6-0 Partick Thistle (Guidetti 3, Izaguirre, Griffiths) - Ass: Stokes, Izaguirre - Att: 16,805


November
SPFL Premiership: Celtic 1-0 I.C.T  (Guidetti) - Assist:  Stokes -  Att:  42,553
UEFA Europa League: FC Astra 1-1 Celtic  (Johansen)  - Att:  2,500
SPFL Premiership: Aberdeen 1-2 Celtic  (Johansen, Van Dijk) -  Assist:   Stokes, Johansen  - Att: 19,051
SPFL Premiership: Celtic 2-1 Dundee  (Stokes, Guidetti)  - Assist:  Commons, Matthews  - Att: 43,787
UEFA Europa League: Celtic 1-3 Red Bull Salzburg (Johansen) - Assist:  Izaguirre  - Att: 32,414
Scottish Cup 4th round: Hearts 0-4 Celtic (Van Dijk 2, Guidetti, Stokes)  - Assist:  Stokes, Brown, Johansen  - Att: 12,676


December
SPFL Premiership:  Celtic 1-0 Partick Thistle  (Van Dijk)  - Assist: Johansen  - Att: 40,633
SPFL Premiership:  Motherwell 0-1 Celtic (Stokes) - Assist:  Johansen - Att: 7,704
UEFA Europa League: Dinamo Moscow 4-3 Celtic (Commons, Scepovic, OG) - Assist: Bitton, Izaguirre - Att: 4,054
SPFL Premiership:  Celtic 4-1 St Mirren (Brown 2, Forrest, Stokes) Assist: Stokes, Guidetti, Forrest, Johansen - Att: 44,827
SPFL Premiership: Dundee Utd 2-1 Celtic (Griffiths) -Assist: Scepovic - Att: 12,098
SPFL Premiership: Celtic 0-0 Ross County - Att: 45,798


January
SPFL Premiership: Kilmarnock 0-2 Celtic (Izaguirre, Scepovic) - Assist: Johansen, Ambrose - Att: 5,329
SPFL Premiership: Hamilton 0-2 Celtic (Matthews, Henderson) - Assist: Commons, Izaguirre - Att: 6,007
SPFL Premiership: Celtic 4-0 Motherwell (Van Dijk, Griffiths, Lustig 2) - Assist: Stokes 2, Forrest,  Griffiths -Att: 42,296
SPFL Premiership: Ross County 0-1 (Commons) - Att: 5,289

February
Scottish League Cup Semi-Final Celtic 2-0 Rangers (Griffiths< Commons) -  Assist: Johansen, Brown - Att: 50,925
SPFL Premiership:Partick Thistle 0-3 Celtic (Mackay-Steven, Armstrong, Johansen)
Scottish Cup 4th Round: Dundee 0-2 Celtic (Griffiths, Johansen)
SPFL Premiership: St Johnstone 1-2 Celtic (Griffiths, Johansen)
UEFA Europa League: Celtic 3-3 Inter Milan (Armstrong 2, Guidetti)  - Assist: Matthews 2, Henderson  - Att:  60,000
SPFL Premiership: Celtic 4-0 Hamilton (Commons 2, Johansen, Guidetti - Assit: Van Dijk 2, Izaguirre,  Matthews Att: 47,998
UEFA Europa League: Inter Milan 1-0 Celtic Att: 39,711

March
SPFL Premiership: Celtic 4-0 Aberdeen (Denayer, Griffiths, Mackay-Steven, Johansen) - Assist Armstrong, Matthews - Att: 50,256
SPFL Premiership: Celtic 0-1 St Johnstone Att: 41,849
Scottish Cup Quarter Final: Dundee Utd 1-1 Celtic (Griffiths) - Assist: Johansen - Att: 10,504
Scottish League Cup Final: Dundee Utd 0-2 Celtic (Commons, Forrest) - Assist: Stokes, Guidetti  - Att: 49,259
Scottish Cup Quarter Final Replay: Celtic 4-0 Dundee Utd (Denayer, Griffiths, Commons, Van Dijk) - Assist: Stokes, Brown, Guidetti, Denayer  - Att: 28,847
SPFL Premiership: Celtic 3-0 Dundee Utd ( MaMackay-Steven,  Guidetti, Denayer) - Assist: Mackay-Steven  - Att:  45,884

April
SPFL Premiership: St Mirren 0-2 Celtic (Forrest, Johansen) - Assist: Matthews - Att: 5,874
SPFL Premiership: Celtic 2-0 Partick Thistle (Commons, Johansen)  - Assist: Guidetti - Att:  43,784
SPFL Premiership: Inverness 1-1 Celtic (Griffiths) - Att: 6,059
SPFL Premiership: Celtic 4-1 Kilmarnock (Commons, Griffiths 3) - Assist: Brown 2, Commons, Bitton  - Att: 42,464
Scottish Cup Semi Final: Inverness C.T 3-2 Celtic (Van Dijk, Guidetti) - Att: 28,643
SPFL Premiership: Dundee 1-2 Celtic (Mackay-Steven, Van Dijk) - Assist: Van Dijk - Att: 8,908
SPFL Premiership: Dundee Utd 0-3 Celtic (Griffiths 3) - Assist: Johansen, Van Dijk, Mackay-Steven - Att: 8,329

May
SPFL Premiership: Celtic 5-0 Dundee (Griffiths, Brown, Commons, Forrest, Bitton) - Assist: Izaguirre, Griffiths -Att: 44,299
Aberdeen 0-1 Celtic (Brown) - Assist: Armstrong  - Att: 16,742
St Johnstone 0-0 Celtic
Celtic 5-0 Inverness C.T (Scepovic 2, Johansen Griffiths, Forrest) - Assist: Van Dijk, Izaguire, Forrest - Att: 55,638

Goals
 
20 - Leigh Griffiths
16 - Kris Commons
15 - John Guidetti; Stefan Johansen
10 - Virgil Van Dijk
8 -  Anthony Stokes
6 -  Jason Denayer
5 - Callum McGregor; Scott Brown; Stefan Scepovic
4 - Gary Mackay-Steven
3  - Stefan Scepovic;  Stuart Armstrong; 
2 -  Emilio Izaguirre;  Nir Bitton
1 - Liam Henderson

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Assists

9 - Anthony Stokes
7 - Stefan Johansen
3 - Kris Commons;  Callum McGregor;  Emilio Izaguirre; Adam Matthews
2 - Efe Ambrose;  John Guidetti;  Scott Brown
1 - Charlie Mulgrew;  Mikeal Lustig;  Derk Boerrigter; Beram Kayal; Mubarak Wakaso;  Aleksander Tonev;  Nir Bitton

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Man Of The Match


Game 1  - UCL Qualifier 1st Leg: vs KR Reykjavik  - Kris Commons
Game 2 - UCL Qualifier 2nd Leg: vs KR REYKJAVIK - Viirgil Van Dijk
Game 3 - UCL Qualifier 1st Leg: vs Legia Warsaw - Fraser Forster
Game 4 - UCL Qualifier 2nd Leg: vs LEGIA WARSAW - Adam Matthews
Game 5 - SPFL Premiership: vs St Johnstone - Callum McGregor
Game 6 - SPFL Premiership: vs DUNDEE UTD  - Anthony Stokes
Game 7 - UCL Play-Off 1st Leg:  vs NK Maribor - Beram Kayal
Game 8 - SPFL Premiership:  vs Inverness C.T -  Nir Bitton
Game 9 - UCL Play-Off 2nd Leg: vs NK MARIBOR  - Mikeal Lustig
Game 10 - SPFL Premiership: vs Dundee -  Leigh Griffiths


Game 11 - SPFL Premiership:  vs ABERDEEN - Kris Commons
Game 12 - UEFA Europa League vs Red Bull Salzburg - Craig Gordon
Game 13 - SPFL Premiership: vs MOTHERWELL - Emilio Izaguirre
Game 14 - Scottish League Cup: vs HEARTS - Anthony Stokes
Game 15 - SPFL Premiership: vs St Mirren - John Guidetti
Game 16 - UEFA Europa League: vs DYNAMO MOSCOW - Jason Denayer
Game 17 - SPFL Premiership: vs HAMILTON ACCIES - 
Game 18 - SPFL Premiership: vs Ross County - Anthony Stokes
Game 19 - UEFA Europa League: vs FC ASTRA  - Stefan Johansen
Game 20 - SPFL Premiership: vs KILMARNOCK - John Guidetti


Game 21 - Scottish League Cup: vs PARTICK THISTLE - John Guidetti
Game 22 - SPFL Premiership: vs INVERNESS C.T - Virgil Van Dijk
Game 23 - UEFA Europa League: vs FC Astra - Stefan Johansen
Game 24 - SPFL Premiership: vs Aberdeen - Stefan Johansen
Game 25 - SPFL Premiership: vs DUNDEE - James Forrest
Game 26 - UEFA Europa League: vs RED BULL SALZBURG - Leigh Griffiths
Game 27 - Scottish Cup: vs Hearts - Virgil Van Dijk
Game 28 - SPFL Premiership: vs  PARTICK THISTLE - Virgil Van Dijk
Game 29 - SPFL Premiership: vs  Motherwell -  Stefan Johansen
Game 30 - UEFA Europa League:  vs Dinamo Zagreb - Nir Bitton


Game 31 - SPFL Premiership:  vs  ST MIRREN - Scott Brown
Game 32 - SPFL Premiership:  vs  Dundee Utd -  Leigh Griffiths
Game 33 - SPFL Premiership:  vs ROSS COUNTY - Emilio Izaguirre
Game 34 - SPFL Premiership:  vs Kilmarnock - Kris Commons
Game 35 - SPFL Premiership:  vs Hamilton - Liam Henderson
Game 36 - SPFL Premiership:  vs MOTHERWELL - Leigh Griffiths
Game 37 - SPFL Premiership:  vs Ross County - Virgil Van Dyke
Game 38 - Scottish League Cup Semi Final: vs RANGERS - Scott Brown
Game 39 - SPFL Premiership:  vs Partick Thistle  - John Guidetti
Game 40 - Scottish Cup:  vs  Dundee  - Stefan Johansen


Game 41 -  SPFL Premiership:  vs St Johnstone - Leigh Griffiths
Game 42 - UEFA Europa League:  vs INTER MILAN - Nit Bitton
Game 43 - SPFL Premiership:  vs  HAMILTON ACCIES - Virgil Van Dijk
Game 44 - UEFA Europa League:  vs Inter Milan - Jason Denayer
Game 45 - SPFL Premiership:  vs  ABERDEEN  - Gary MacKay-Steven
Game 46 - SPFL Premiership:  vs  ST JOHNSTONE - Craig Gordon
Game 47 - Scottish Cup:  vs  Dundee Utd - Nir Bitton
Game 48 - Scottish League Cup Final: vs DUNDEE UTD - Nir Bitton
Game 49 - Scottish Cup Replay:  vs  DUNDEE UTD - Jason Denayer
Game 50 - SPFL Premiership:  vs DUNDEE UTD  - Gary Mackay-Steven


Game 51 - SPFL Premiership:  vs St Mirren - James Forrest
Game 52 - SPFL Premiership:  vs PARTICK THISTLE  - Stefan Johansen
Game 53 - SPFL Premiership: vs Inverness C.T - Nir Bitton
Game 54 - SPFL Premiershipvs KILMARNOCK - Leigh Griffiths
Game 55 - Scottish Cup Semi Final: vs INVERNESS C.T - James Forrest
Game 56 - SPFL Premiership: vs Dundee - Gary Mackay-Steven
Game 57 - SPFL Premiership: vs Dundee Utd - Leigh Griffiths
Game 58 - SPFL Premiership: vs DUNDEE - Kris Commons
Game 59 - SPFL Premiership: vs Aberdeen - Scott Brown 
Game 60 - SPFL Premiership: vs St Johnstone - Lukas Zaluska
Game 61 - SPFL Premiership: vs INVERNESS C.T - Emilio Izaguirre

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Appearances:

Player's Names	SPFL Premiership (Subs)/Goals	European Football (subs)/Goals	Scottish FA Cup (Subs)/Goals	Scottish League Cup (Subs)/Goals	Total Appearances (Subs)/Goals
GOALKEEPERS:
24. Lukas Zaluska	5	-	(1)	-	5 (1)
26. Craig Gordon	33	10	5	4	52
38. Leo Fason	-	-	-	-	-
DEFENDERS:
2. Adam Matthews	24 (5)/1	6 (3)	3 (1)	(1)	32 (8)/1
3. Emilio Izaguirre	33 (1)/1	13 (2)	5	4/1	55 (3)/2
4. Efe Ambrose	21 (4)	8 (3)	3	2	34 (7)
5. Virgil Van Dijk	34/4	14/2	5/4	4	58/10
22. Jason Denayer	28/5	7	4/1	4	44/5
23. Mikeal Lustig	2 (2)/2	8	1	2	13 (2)/2
34. Eoghan O'Connell	2 (1)	-	-	(1)	2 (2)
41. Darnel Fisher	1 (5)	(1)	(2)	-	1 (8)
MIDFIELDERS:
6. Nir Bitton	24 (8)/2	4 (1)	5	1	34 (9)/2
8. Scott Brown	31 (1)/4	7/1	5	3	46 (1)/5
11. Derk Boerrigter	(1)	(2)	-	-	(3)
14. Stuart Armstrong	12 (3)/1	2/2	-	-	14 (3)/3
15. Kris Commons	22 (7)/10	7 (3)/2	3 (1)/1	2/2	34 (11)/15
16. Gary Mackay-Steven	10 (4)/4	2	-	-	12 (4)/4
18. Tom Rogic	-	-	-	-	-
21. Charlie Mulrew	7 (3)	9	-	1	17 (3)
25. Stefan Johansen	34 (1)/9	14/3	4/1	4	55 (1)/15
27. Aleksander Tonev	3 (2)	1 (3)	(2)	(1)	4 (7)
32. Mubarak Wakaso	4 (1)	4 (1)/1	-	(1)	8 (3)/1
42. Callum McGregor	8 (10)/2	11/3	-	2	21 (10)/5
49. James Forrest	12 (7)/3	(3)	4 (1)	(2)/1	16 (13)/4
53. Liam Henderson	3 (4)/1	(2)	(1)	-	3 (7)/1
FORWARDS:
9. John Guidetti	20 (5)/8	1 (1)/1	1(3)/2	2(2)/4	23 (9)/15
10. Anthony Stokes	18 (2)/7	7 (2)	3(1)/1	4	32 (5)/8
12. Stefan Scepovic	5 (11)/4	4/2	-	(2)	7 (14)/6
28. Leigh Griffiths	15 (10)/13	4(4)	4(1)/3	2(1)/3	25 (16)/20
PLAYERS SOLD:
Fraser Forster	-	4	-	-	4
16. Jo Inge Berget	2 (2)/2	3 (1)	-	-	5 (1)/2
Tony Watt	-	-	-	-	-
Beram Kayal	2 (4)	2 (5)	-	-	4 (9)
Filip Twardzik	1	-	-	-	1
Denny Johnston	-	-	-	-	-
PLAYERS ON LOAN:
Teemu Pukki	1	-	-	-	-
Amido Balde	-	-	-	-	-
Dylan McGeouch	1	-	-	-	-
Holmbert Fridjonnson	-	-	-	-	-

super_realist wrote:Sounds fair enough Kay, but I can't help feeling that Scottish Football is seen as a bit of a joke to others, used to be a good place to earn a few quid before retiral, but they don't pay great these days, and there are nicer places to spend your time if you are trying to engineer a move upwards.

You wont find a more realist Celtic fan than me, if Celtic get knocked out against Maribor I wouldn't be shocked or surprised, its were we are just now as a club.

I've no doubt there's better places to spend your time while engineering a move to the Premiership but one look at Celtic over the last couple of years and you'll see Ki, Wanyama, Hooper,  Ledley and now Forster have all got moves to the Premiership via Celtic, Jason Denayer, a Man City "wonderkid" and hailed the new Vincent Kompany was loaned out for a year to Celtic, while there will always be better places to go than thr SPFL Premiership, something decent must be going well here if Premiership clubs come calling quite often and even the best team England has to offer are willing to send their £10m rated youngster up here.

Scottish Football apart from Rangers and then after 1999 Celtic were nwver renowned for being great payers either to be fair, after the boom of the initial SPL backrd by a brand nee SKY deal teams started paying crazy wages in terms of Scottish Football anyway, that lasted 3 years before we all had to cut our clothes after SKY "put us in our place" for asking for more money in 2001

I'm glad we no longer have guys coming up here to top up their retirement fund although I'm not sure how accurate a statement that really is anyway although I've heard it used for years, our clubs realised long ago that in order to get a good player we have to create them ourselves,  most of our clubs are doing that, if you look at every Premiership/Championship club, you'll find at least one and in most cases a few very highly rated Scottish players under the age of 21 - Our game has a lot of positives but it also has a lot of negatives but the biggeat negative is how our own men, Neil Doncaster, Stuart Reagan and the Main stream media promote out game, they almost seem embarassed when reporting the positives which only helps spreads a negative vibe and anyone outwith the game in Scotland pick up on that and often form opinions based on those vibes.

We need a better TV deal, what we get is a scandel but thats because everyone associated with promoting our game are negative towards it, its the Scottish way, self depricating,  it annoys me because if you tell someone who doesn't watch it enough times that its a crap product then they'll believe it, SKY have marginalised us, we get roughly the same viewing figures as the Rugby on SKY, thats despite the fact when a Scottish game is on SKY its usually in direct opposition of an EPL game - SKY pay almost £50m per year to show Rugby while giving us just £15m per year, that should be addressed but those in charge of running our game or spreading the word of our game are so terrified of losing that deal they'll sit tight and say nothing.

super_realist wrote:To be fair, THe OF were partly guilty for making the league as uncompetitive as it has been

There were lots of good players around, especially from Dundee United, Kilmarnock, Hibs and even some Hearts players who were asset stripped and benched or seldomly played by the OF and then eventually sold off a season or so  later.

Then they turn round and say the league isn't good enough for them and they want to go to England.

I've never bought into this theory, one of my best mates is a Dundee Utd fan and he's said this a few times and we've always ended up having a debate about it.

If Celtic or Rangers asset stripped any Scottish side then the player in question would most likely be leaving that club anyway, whats the difference if they go to Celtic/Rangers or just go directly down south? the club will be losing the player anyway and if he is just going to warm the Old Firm bench then he isn't going to directly influence his old teams results anyway.

Part of the problem with the Scottish game as a TV product isn't so much football related, but production related.
Due to the small stadia, the perspective and available camera angles make it a very unphotogenic, and hard to follow spectacle, throw in the wretched "overly scottish" pundits and state the obvious commentators and you have a pretty poor recipe.
It's not an enjoyable watch, and I'm not talking about the football.

You could say the same about the Championship and I still enjoy that.

Issue for me as an outsider is 2 fold.
1. The title race just isn't interesting. Celtic have won it. At least with Rangers it held some interest yearly. Much like the PL season United strolled to the title wasnt that interesting.
2. It doesn't have the edge of quality a similarly one sided league (La Liga) to hold attention.

Kay Fabe wrote:

super_realist wrote:To be fair, THe OF were partly guilty for making the league as uncompetitive as it has been

There were lots of good players around, especially from Dundee United, Kilmarnock, Hibs and even some Hearts players who were asset stripped and benched or seldomly played by the OF and then eventually sold off a season or so  later.

Then they turn round and say the league isn't good enough for them and they want to go to England.

I've never bought into this theory, one of my best mates is a Dundee Utd fan and he's said this a few times and we've always ended up having a debate about it.

If Celtic or Rangers asset stripped any Scottish side then the player in question would most likely be leaving that club anyway, whats the difference if they go to Celtic/Rangers or just go directly down south? the club will be losing the player anyway and if he is just going to warm the Old Firm bench then he isn't going to directly influence his old teams results anyway.

There's no guarantee those players would have gone anywhere had Celtic or Rangers not come in for them. They are players which could influence results when they play Celtic or Rangers.
Someone like Billy Dodds (ok we are going way back now) wasn't going anywhere other than Rangers and he's a player that constantly caused problems for the Old Firm when at United. Rangers made United a less competitive side, ok UNited weren't going to win the league, but at least the OF would have had tougher games than if they take other teams from the leagues best players.
They might even have done better in Europe if they'd come up against better players more frequently.

GSC wrote:You could say the same about the Championship and I still enjoy that.

Issue for me as an outsider is 2 fold.
1. The title race just isn't interesting. Celtic have won it. At least with Rangers it held some interest yearly. Much like the PL season United strolled to the title wasnt that interesting.
2. It doesn't have the edge of quality a similarly one sided league (La Liga) to hold attention.

GSC, you haven't seen Scottish stadia if you can say that. They are on the whole League 1,2 and Conference size.

super_realist wrote:Part of the problem with the Scottish game as a TV product isn't so much football related, but production related.
Due to the small stadia, the perspective and available camera angles make it a very unphotogenic, and hard to follow spectacle, throw in the wretched "overly scottish" pundits and state the obvious commentators and you have a pretty poor recipe.
It's not an enjoyable watch, and I'm not talking about the football.

Yeah I can buy that, I've always felt it strange that we showed so many Celtic and Rangers games away to the likes of Inverness, its better to show these teams at home, while the likelyhood is that the home team will win at least you'll get a big stadium, a big crowd, all the camera angles you need and a very professional output. I like guys like Neil McCann and Davie Proven, I can even just about handle Charlie Nicholas but guys like Andy Walker,  David Tanner and insert other overly Scottish guys....I also hate the whole bagpipe routine in the lead in song to the ahow, its all a laugh a minute, thats SKY for you though,they marginalise us in my opinion.


The first weekend of the Season last week and Dundee Utd were away to Aberdeen, one of the best fixtures our league has at present and neither SKY nor BTSports felt the need to put the game on live, incredible decision

Kay Fabe wrote:

super_realist wrote:Part of the problem with the Scottish game as a TV product isn't so much football related, but production related.
Due to the small stadia, the perspective and available camera angles make it a very unphotogenic, and hard to follow spectacle, throw in the wretched "overly scottish" pundits and state the obvious commentators and you have a pretty poor recipe.
It's not an enjoyable watch, and I'm not talking about the football.

Yeah I can buy that, I've always felt it strange that we showed so many Celtic and Rangers games away to the likes of Inverness, its better to show these teams at home, while the likelyhood is that the home team will win at least you'll get a big stadium, a big crowd, all the camera angles you need and a very professional output. I like guys like Neil McCann and Davie Proven, I can even just about handle Charlie Nicholas but guys like Andy Walker,  David Tanner and insert other overly Scottish guys....I also hate the whole bagpipe routine in the lead in song to the ahow, its all a laugh a minute, thats SKY for you though,they marginalise us in my opinion.


The first weekend of the Season last week and Dundee Utd were away to Aberdeen, one of the best fixtures our league has at present and neither SKY nor BTSports felt the need to put the game on live, incredible decision

It's a bit like watching a snooker game with your head on the table. I'm not sure why grounds can't have some sort of hoist or crows nest for this. It's obvious how bad the camera positions are at present, and how it damages the product, even at some of the "better" or "bigger" SPL grounds like Pittodrie or Tannadice are, but when you get to the likes of McDiarmid, Dens, Inverness or Ross County it makes it highly unwatchable.

super_realist wrote:

Kay Fabe wrote:

super_realist wrote:To be fair, THe OF were partly guilty for making the league as uncompetitive as it has been

There were lots of good players around, especially from Dundee United, Kilmarnock, Hibs and even some Hearts players who were asset stripped and benched or seldomly played by the OF and then eventually sold off a season or so  later.

Then they turn round and say the league isn't good enough for them and they want to go to England.

I've never bought into this theory, one of my best mates is a Dundee Utd fan and he's said this a few times and we've always ended up having a debate about it.

If Celtic or Rangers asset stripped any Scottish side then the player in question would most likely be leaving that club anyway, whats the difference if they go to Celtic/Rangers or just go directly down south? the club will be losing the player anyway and if he is just going to warm the Old Firm bench then he isn't going to directly influence his old teams results anyway.

There's no guarantee those players would have gone anywhere had Celtic or Rangers not come in for them. They are players which could influence results when they play Celtic or Rangers.
Someone like Billy Dodds (ok we are going way back now) wasn't going anywhere other than Rangers and he's a player that constantly caused problems for the Old Firm when at United. Rangers made United a less competitive side, ok UNited weren't going to win the league, but at least the OF would have had tougher games than if they take other teams from the leagues best players.
They might even have done better in Europe if they'd come up against better players more frequently.

Billy Dodds, you are going back a long way,  I'll give you that one for sure, he was past the point were he could make a big move anywhere else but to be fair to Dodds, after the career he had he deserved a big payday, I really liked Billy Dodds, I wanted Celtic to sign him immediately after Henrik Larsson broke his leg in late 99, now I agree that would have been a stop gap until Larsaon was fit again the following season but the alternative was Ian Wright, Dodds at that point was a far better player than Wright, I agree his signing hurt Utd and he was probably past the stage were anyone else would have came in for him, to be fair to him though he was a vital component in Rangers winning the double that Season so he was a good signing, the flip side for United could be he was almost 31 when Rangers bought him, would they have got £1.5m for a guy that age off anyone else? Utd if I remember right did badly need to bring the debt down at that stage

Rangers did it to Dundee as well with Novo and Caniggia, Marvin Andrews from Livingston, Agathe to Celtic, Wieghorst, Kenny Miller, Laursen, Boyd etc.
Those weren't players in high demand elsewhere, what was worse is that they didn't need to take domestically as it appeared they had money and lure back then.

Even that little ned Griffiths and Stokes in more modern times.

Laterly though, it's an almost sideways and mercenary move to join either team. People like Ian Black and John Daly ought to be ashamed of themselves. They might get paid more, but how low is their ambition and how low is their confidence that they couldn't get a team in the Championship or League 1 with better prospects than Rangers.

Now you're just plucking names out of the air now, are you saying Celtic or Rangers shouldn't buy from Scotland?  Novo is a Rangers legend, he was there for six years and scored numerous big goals for the club, he was a step up from the likes of Egil Ostenstad and Franny Jeffers, anyway, Dundee were in the doodoo financially by that point, Claudio Caniggia was a fantastic player, again though he was out of contract at Dundee, his goal was to go to Dundee and put himself in the shop window, Job done

Didier Agathe was a regular in the best Celtic team in 30 years so I'd hardly include him in this, Hibs offered him a 3 month contract, that was their mistake, Agathe wanted a 2 year deal, they gave him 3 month, they gambled, it backfired  Morton Weighorst was highky rated, he was constantly linked with cluba, he was a fantastic footballer and played a major part in helping Celtic win their first League Title in 10 years, that surely can't be one for consideration? 

Kris Boyd's contract was due up, Kilmarnock getting £400k for him when they did was good business, he's a bluenose though, he only wanted to go there at that point, scored an amazong amount of goals and was a brilliant signing, Ulrik Laursen was a very good signing for Celtic but he got a bad groin injury, we should never have signed David Fernandez, he was a brilliant player but was never going to get ahead of Laraaon, Sutton, Hartson or Maloney

As for Anthony Stokes, I really like Stokes, I wanted Celtic to sign him in 2007 but they didn't get him until 2010, he has scored 70 goals in 114 starts for Celtic,  why should we not be happy about that? Fortune and Samaras were our strikers the season before wesig ed Stokes and Samaras, I know who  I prefer, hmmm Griffiths, no idea why he's in this, we signed him from Wolves, unless we ain't allowed to sign guys from England now either.

As for the duds that went to Rangers, fair play to them, every single one of them are on the best money of their lives, as for ambition, what are guys approaching 30 and still playing in Scottish Football got to be ambitious about unless you play for Celtic? You're on a grand a week and playing dor the odd bonus, these guys getting 7 grand a week at thisnstage of their careera will set them up for life after retirement, duty to their families to take that lottery win in my opinon

You missed the point about the duds going to Rangers, surely they are good enough to play for  championship or league one team in England in front of bigger crowds and in better stadiums and to a higher standard and still make as much as Rangers could pay but without having to play in an abysmal league. It's embarrassing for players to stoop to such a level.
I don't mind that Celtic or Rangers sign players from Scotland or other teams in the SPL, what they shouldn't then do though is turn round and claim on an annual basis that the SPL isn't competitive enough for them, use it as an excuse for not doing well enough in Europe and every year bring up the debate that they'd be better off leaving the league because they are too good for it.

Do you really think a massive Celtic fan like Jon Daly would go to Rangers if he had a better offer somewhere else?

Hibs and Aberdeen wanted Ian Black, they'd be lucky if they could pay 2 grand, the 8 he's getting at Ibrox will be lightyears away from anything he'd get elsewhere.

Righty, forget this now, its time to get behind the couch and scream lalalalala for the next 90 minutes, got a horrible feeling

Celtic should have put the tie to bed tonight, Stokes is just not a European level striker, no anticipation. Johanson was Maribors best defender stopping Celtic scoring two goals. Decent result anyway though, CL beckons rightly or wrongly.

Very decent result, heard quite a lot about Maribor's qualities pre game but felt we played them very well, Deila's decision to drop Commons in place for Kayal showed he's learned so much from the Legia fiasco, Maribor set their team up to hit on the break but Celtic didn't get suckered in, Maribor scored a good goal but if I'm being ultra critical its a goal we shouldn't have lost but Celtic should have scored 2 or 3 tonight, two cleared off the line, once by our own player (Johansen) and then Johansen being clean theough on goal before clipping his own heels


Celtic aren't a good enough side to take anything for granted, particularly a game with such monumental magnitude as a Championd League play-off however with a packed Celtic Park I'd fancy Celtic to win on the night.

Watched the game with a Celtic fan last night and we thought either team could have won that game. Neither was very impressive and whichever goes through to the CL could well be the whipping boy of the group, it would all be about the money (and probably will be for a few seasons)

Gordon certainly looks like a very good gamble to have taken, keeping Celtic in the game on a number of occasions.
The Man City defender looked pretty decent for Celtic, but I didn't think Celtic looked very fit, a number of tired, cynical challenges (Minky Griffiths with a push and McGregor with a shirt tug) which ought to be a concern.

I dont think they didn't look fit, I thought they controlled about 70% of the game, they didn't look to over commit,  as for McGregors yellow, I thought it was a good professional foul, as shady as that sounds,  when you lose the ball like that from a set - piece and most of your team are caught up the park 99 times out of a hundred you'll see.that type of cynical "take one for the team" fouls

Heard it was 30 degrees over there,  with that in mind I thought the handled it well,  Gordon did do well but felt Celtic had far more and better clear cut chances,  we restricted Maribor to long range efforts, there wasn't one save Craig Gordon made last night that I wouldn't have been disappointed with if he didn't make it, that says it all about how close they got IMO. 

I'd agree that neither team look special,  hopefully Tonev is fit next week to take Berget's place and maybe Commons can get a start at Celtic Park, those two would completely change our whole mindset, Maribor are best on the counter though so maybe they'll be cautious of that,  most of the Champions League will probably want either of these two teams in their group, I can live with that though

Good to see Celtic knocked out, as it would have been utter farce and highly undeserved if they made it to the group stages.

Still feel for Legia Warsaw, though.

Indeed, always thought Maribor would be  a tough team, and despite all Celtic's "wealth" and "support" it goes to show it means nothing if you are up against a team that wants it more and is better organised.

A fair and proper result. Be good to be able to watch Champions League without the dreadful STV production and shiversome commentators which usually goes along with Celtic in the CL

I think Warsaw were happy with this result somehow

Kayfabe you seen any of Conor McGrandles?

Whats's happened to this doesn't anyone post on here anymore.