SPL Discussion Thread

[geysir]

Quite a weekend for Samaras, Eurovision winner and all that, then back to Celtic Pk for his last game in a Celtic shirt and doing what only a Samaras can do, a 10m sliding tackle from behind to win the ball in the penalty area, get to his feet and deftly rounds the goalie before being hacked down for a penalty. At about 3.30.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=SXKxodC4sjc#t=209

[ArdeeBhoy]

And carried that young disabled? lad onto the park. Lenny gave him his medal too.

Not to mention the late Oscar Knox tribute.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzzs_aTCQ9w

[Stuttgart88]

Roddy for Celtic?

[ArdeeBhoy]

A Proddy yes, Roddy no!

[Charlie Darwin]

Hibs surrender a 2-0 first leg lead and go out on penalties. Hilariously, Rangers, Hibs and Hearts will all contest the Championship next year, providing Rangers Mk II still exists.

[ArdeeBhoy]

Aye, we know.

What happened to 'all' the Hibs fans on here...
:rolleyes:

[Charlie Darwin]

Only Ardee would arrive at a postabout an event a day late and announce to everybody that "we" already know.

[ArdeeBhoy]

Difficult for me to reply quicker, given I was out/busy...


And only you would bother to reply Chas...that we do know!
;)

[OwlsFan]

Hibs surrender a 2-0 first leg lead and go out on penalties. Hilariously, Rangers, Hibs and Hearts will all contest the Championship next year, providing Rangers Mk II still exists.

It's not really hilarious for Scottish football though with even less competition for Celtic next year. Their trips to Tynecastle were at least something to savour with a bit of an edge. Can't believe Hibs were relegated. They had such a terrible end to the season. Bring back Pat Fenlon.

[Charlie Darwin]

It's not really hilarious for Scottish football though with even less competition for Celtic next year. Their trips to Tynecastle were at least something to savour with a bit of an edge. Can't believe Hibs were relegated. They had such a terrible end to the season. Bring back Pat Fenlon.
There is no competition for Celtic anyway so it's a bit of a non-sequitur. People said Scottish football would collapse without Rangers there to prop everybody up but attendances have held up and if anything the smaller clubs' non-Old Firm game averages are up. In the footballing sense, I don't think it makes a huge amount of difference that there's one team challenging for the title compared to two. Hearts and Hibs didn't feature in any meaningful sense this season so it's not like the league will be less competitive compared to this year.

[OwlsFan]

Less competition in so far as trips to Hearts for Celtic were seldom easy and even when they were, they were still interesting. I shall also miss the Edinburgh derbies on TV although perhaps they might still be shown despite being in the lower tier. In fact that division might be more interesting with the 3 fighting it out for promotion (I assume).

[DeLorean]

Seeing as Rangers were still shown live fairly regularly I'd say there'll be no fear of the Edinburgh derbies not being televised. In fact, there might even be more significance to the games now as they'll potentially represent more than just local pride.

[Stuttgart88]

I switched on the telly just as everyone was shaking hands at FT in Dundee v Celtic. Paul Hartley looks like he's been seeing Steve Bruce's dietician. I'd be surprised if either makes it to 60 at this rate.

[OwlsFan]

Is it conceivable that Celtic might not win the SPL this season? I saw them on TV against Zagreb in the Europa League and despite winning, they were very poor and last weekend they lost at home to Hamilton. They seem to have gone back hugely since even last season and some of their purchases look really poor.

[Charlie Darwin]

I'd say Chelsea or City have the EPL title wrapped up. Would be shocked to see Celtic break up that duopoly.

[ArdeeBhoy]

Er, :confused:

And currently Celtic are somewhat erratic...

[OwlsFan]

Er, :confused:

And currently Celtic are somewhat erratic...

I had a typo which he picked up on (EPL instead of SPL).

I haven't seen a Celtic team as poor as this in many a year but who knows, they may all gel before too long but what is the feeling among Celtic supporters?

[ArdeeBhoy]

Very divided about Ronny, just another episode on the rollercoaster.

[Charlie Darwin]

Surely he's the worst coach Celtic have had in yonks? Arguably the weakest SPL ever and he's struggling.

[ArdeeBhoy]

Mowbray, Brady, Barnes, even Macari to name but 4.
Deila actually has a better win ratio than Lennon in the equivalent no. of games but bar 1-2 matches, the performances have been completely unconvincing, plus crowds and the playing staff are both currently dwindling.

Ultimately Desmond holds the purse strings. It's up to him.

[Charlie Darwin]

How's Delia's win ratio calculated? From what I can see, Celtic have less points in the league at this stage than they ever did under Lennon, plus they've lost three times in Europe?

[ArdeeBhoy]

Not acc.to the Celtic MB's & Fbk pages...they do know!
Celtic failed to qualify for either the CL or EL in Lennon's first season too which wasn't best start but did 'come good' of sorts eventually.

[Charlie Darwin]

Well I suppose it depends if you count the walkover in Europe as a win, but three losses and a draw in Europe plus 14 points from 8 games in the worst SPL in decades must be a new low. From what I've seen, no other manager in the past decade has ever dipped below 18 or 19 points at that point.

[ArdeeBhoy]

The general state of the SPL is a major factor against Deila, regardless of the stats as it's definitely got poorer because 3 'big' teams were justifiably relegated.

[DeLorean]

So it'll be Celtic v Rangers in League Cup semi final at the end of January.

[geysir]

Well I suppose it depends if you count the walkover in Europe as a win, but three losses and a draw in Europe plus 14 points from 8 games in the worst SPL in decades must be a new low. From what I've seen, no other manager in the past decade has ever dipped below 18 or 19 points at that point.
Of course Motherwell did meet mighty opponents in the EL qualifiers, curtailing their progress.
Celtic have dropped down a bit after losing much of Lennon's team, Hooper, Wanyama, Wilson, Ledley, Samaras and finally Lennon himself, and then replacing them with scraps (van Dyke excepting). But there's a school of weighty thought which says that other teams in the spl have grown in quality since the demise of Rangers. Having had a peep at a few games this season, I would tend to agree based on what I observed. The demise of Rangers has had a beneficial effect on the overall standard of the spl.

[ArdeeBhoy]

So it'll be Celtic v Rangers in League Cup semi final at the end of January.

Actually it's 'The Celtic' F.C. (1888) v. 'The Rangers' F.C.(2012)
The latter changed their name.
;)

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-26957088

http://www.highland-news.co.uk/News/Caley-Thistle-star-Richie-Foran-in-court-over-hate-mob-brawl.htm

Sectarian abuse and assault of Foran..

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/neil-lennon-victim-sectarianism-celtic-4659508#rlabs=2

Lennon on being sent bullets in post..

[BonnieShels]

Here, will you go back to Hugh Dallas and the penny throwing then while you're scraping up old news.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Well if someone implied you were making things up, would you provide sources and facts to back up what you say? IDK you. Maybe you wouldn't.

[BonnieShels]

Doing it so haphazardly and without a quote seems to make it so pointless and petty.

Construct the whole argument and then let us know.

[geysir]

The chances are (and Tricky could put his house on it), that should purpose and context be provided, it will still remain pointless and petty.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Yeah. Nothing more haphazard than providing an article with several sources and quotes and letting it speak for itself.

Especially when reasoned debate digresses into ****taking.

[BonnieShels]

Letting it speak for itself? Come of it. There's a quote button. Use the bloody thing.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Half of Scottish football sectarian court cases fail

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-30501179

"Almost half of all people taken to court this year under laws designed to stamp out sectarian abuse at football matches were acquitted, figures show."

[geysir]

SPL Discussion Thread (http://foot.ie/threads/28672-SPL-Discussion-Thread?p=338547&viewfull=1#post338547)
As well as the usual Foot.ie (http://foot.ie/showthread.php?t=7880) and forum-specific (http://foot.ie/showthread.php?t=28671) rules, the following rules apply to this thread:


All discussion on Scottish football is to be confined to this thread, with no exeptions. Other SPL threads will be merged into this thread, or binned.
This thread shall strick strictly to football matters. No politics or religion are allowed to be discussed. Any hint of sectarianism will be severely punished.
No goading or baiting of people involved in this thread by those with no interest in Scottish football. Posts by those with no interest must be relevant and constructive.
The same principal for the whole forum applies. Freedom of choice to support who one likes. Be that Celtic, Hibs, Rangers or Stirling Albion. Any attack or criticism on someone's choice of club will be punished.

[DeLorean]

I know it's not relevant to this thread but some state of affairs (http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/31145792).

[OwlsFan]

I know it's not relevant to this thread but some state of affairs (http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/31145792).

It's no wonder Ally McCoist bailed out. How can a club be run with the directors telling the manager what players to pick?

Interesting that Dundee United sold Celtic their best players (I assume) and yet are going to face Celtic in the Cup Final. OK they will be cup tied but won't be able to play for the Arabs in the Final. I wonder would Celtic be better off concentrating on picking up the best talent in Scotland rather than second rate Scandinavian players. I like the look of Liam Henderson.

[DeLorean]

Paddy Power predicting the Rangers team for the weekend...

https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfp1/v/t1.0-9/1782057_10153068906109914_2398589228855143258_n.pn g?oh=38cd92ffa818d3cff7ca9f25fefbca25&oe=5554EFA3&__gda__=1431289331_0d594f4b20c3ba01784b07fe3fac30b 6

[OwlsFan]

Didn't do them much good against mighty Raith Rovers. Go on the Rovers and with a green hoop as well. Watched by all of 11k. Who would have believed it.

I see some that Celtic's revenue was down 30%. Not good days for Scottish football, unless you're a Raith fan :)

[geysir]

Where did you get the 30% figure from? In Celtic's 2014 annual report, income was down 15% from 2013 (but still 25% up on 2012 and 2011), however they have less cash reserves than Apple plc despite recording an £11m profit.

[DeLorean]

Think only two of the Toon loanees started.

[OwlsFan]

Where did you get the 30% figure from? In Celtic's 2014 annual report, income was down 15% from 2013 (but still 25% up on 2012 and 2011), however they have less cash reserves than Apple plc despite recording an £11m profit.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/football/celtic-suffer-drop-in-profit.1423247934

[geysir]

http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/football/celtic-suffer-drop-in-profit.1423247934
It's a 6 months statement up to dec 2014, revenue is one element in the accounts, negatively affected by CL exit and transfer dealings where the gain from transfers dropped from £17m to £7m.
Expenses are also another element and they are down by 18%. Profits are another element and the club is still profitable, recorded a £6m profit for that 6 month period. The club has no debt and cash reserves of >£5m.
I don't see where Scottish football is in jeopardy though, afaics the spl clubs and Hearts are striving and succeeding to leave their troubled days in the past.
The inequality gap has reduced between Celtic and the rest of the spl, the league is better off for that.

Celtic fc are pleased to announce (http://www.celticfc.net/news/7622) that 'Celtic secured third spot in the S&P Capital IQ list of the most stable clubs in Europe just behind Ajax who top the table and Arsenal.'
'The club also boast of being the least likely to default in a table that uses S&P Capital IQ’s default model'.

[The Fly]

I know it's not relevant to this thread but some state of affairs (http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/31145792).


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMF5RnCelFE

[Stuttgart88]

I really enjoyed that Celtic game tonight. Is Deila beginning to show his worth?

[DeLorean]

Celtic v Dundee United three times in six days in three different competitions must be some kind of record?!

I see Rangers only drew at home again last night, they look to be in free fall. Any particular reason for them being extra useless lately besides McCoist's resignation?

[EAFC_rdfl]

They were extra useless before his resignation too

[DeLorean]

Just did a couple of quick tot ups there...

This season under McCoist they won 20/27.
The last 12 games under McCoist they won 8/12.
Since McCoist's resignation they have won 2/12.

I think it's fair to say they have definitely become extra useless since he left. Three of their next four games are against Hibs (a), Hearts (h) and Queen of the South (a). They'd want to pick it up or could miss out on the relegation/promotion playoffs completely. Their main rivals for that 4th spot are Queen of the South though, who have an equally difficult run of fixtures coming up.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Rangers f***ing up another accumulator for me.