The Fat Eddie Murphy Has Sung....
Last Wednesday morning I was searching the glove box of my battered banger for some music to listen to on the way to work. The Radio was full of the UEFA Vase Trophy build up and I couldnae be arsed listening to that.
Out fell an album by the popular beat combo Oasis. It was their last album "Don’t Believe The Truth". Decent album by recent standards and the title is the mantra of the Scottish press who believe moonbeams and shit.
It was the CD that caught my eye, though and not the thought that I wanted to listen to it. The CD says one word. "Believe". That’s apt I thought. So on it went and it has been on since.
When the anti-football of the wattnaccio lost to Zenit then we had "The Battle Of Manchester" I started to "Believe". The wistful tones of Beatles copyists suddenly became the soundtrack of the comeback.
I will tell no lies. If R*ngers had won the UEFA Vase then I would have probably wiped Seville from my mind. It wouldnae have mattered if they were the worst team ever (which they were as the stats proved) they would have surpassed our achievement.
The FACT they were pilloried for their "style" from all corners of the globe and then a significant "minority" ((C) Martin Bain and the Scottish Press) made sure that their UEFA run would be remembered for one thing and one thing only has made Seville all the sweeter.
Bitter and small minded that maybe. But I couldnae give a flying monkey from The Wizard Of Oz even if it shat over my car. It’s a rivalry. We play in a two horse town, with one horse being so ugly they willnae make it into clue and the other a thoroughbred.
6 weeks ago we needed a 12 point swing to even have a chance or to win the league. We had two games against them and we had to hope that R*ngers terrible away record (9 wins out of 19, 5 defeats and 5 draws add to that 1 win in 10 away games against top 6 teams and them only winning 10 games out of 20 against top 6 teams) meant that if we won those two games then it was game on as they had the harder run in.
They had a harder run in as they had played all their hame games in Feb and March. A fact often overlooked by the suits at the pox. They also started moaning about the amount of games they had to play. This moan did play on the players mind.
Christen "will sell soul for two pieces of silver" Dailly says here, that the circumstances did have a bearing. This is the same "player / thug" that said a few weeks ago that he didnae mind the amount of games as it comes with being successful?
Wonder what changed his mind? Two soul destroying defeats and being part of one of the most embarrassing periods in R*ngers history? Is the fact that he was an integral part in the biggest collapse since the flats in the Gorbals were blown up and the team has been proved to be not very good not have something to do with it?
I said at the start of the season that losing to a team that contained the likes of Weir, Broadfoot, Papac and Novo (The Skankmonster) was a sacking offence. Maybe that comment was made in haste as R*ngers found their best form for 36 years.
Their home record was second to none (only one defeat all season) and against limited fodder at home and abroad their "style", ahem, was bludgeoning and effective. As we floundered in two major spells during the season it look like a shrug of the shoulders and the acceptance that sometimes it just wisnny meant to be.
This blog was going to highlight facts, figures and bullshit saying that we played and done quite well this season. Now, I can back up the facts figures and bullshit wie the saying CHAMPIONEES 2007/08.
In the 3 seasons we have had under GS and the 3 times we have won the league under GS (GIRUY!!!!!) we have finished with 91, 84 and 89 points. The winning margins have been 17, 12 and 3 points.
Now, this may be seen as a downward trend but I think winning the league this time is his greatest achievement as manager. He has seen off a team on a fantastic run. The last 2 times they were on that type of run we have lost out by a goal and a point.
We have scored 19 more goals this season than last. Most of that is down to the signing of Skippy and the progression of Aiden McGeady. GS can take credit for both of these factors.
This season we lost only 26 goals. The past 2 the figures were 37 and 34. For a defence that was as shaky (to some) as a Lex Ballie-Paul McGuigan combination and the media compared it as being a Lada to R*ngers BMW of Weir and Ugly Betty.
How did we get the best defence in the league? Fuck knows. Half the season we were shouting for (not me!"!!!) Bobo to return and most wanted Gary Caldwell chucked of the Empire State Building tied to a B&Q paving slab.
So in the absence of any logical answer then I will give GS credit for this and say zonal marking is the greatest thing since white see through trousers.
But for every silver lining there is big black rain cloud. It was his fault that we were put through the wringer. Our home record was the main bug bear. We dropped points against Kilmarnock, Hibs, St Mirren, Dundee Utd and Motherwell. Add to that domestic cups defeats against Hearts and Aberdeen and we can safely say that Fortress Parkheid is no more.
We don't hammer teams at CP anymore. We have scored an average 2.21 per game both home and away this season. I would expect the home average to be higher. We seem to lack motavation against "smaller" teams. That is something we need to sort. Not that we lacked motavation in the last 7 games.
Was it something to do wie the returning Neil Lennon? Or the fact our manager bit the bullet and stuck with a winning midfield partnership and decided that his two big money midfield signings were not cutting the mustard. Or was it this interesting article from E-Tims, which alludes to a meeting between GS, Tommy Burns and John Reid in which the continuation of the Celtic Way was agreed.
I will tell no lies. If R*ngers had won the UEFA Vase then I would have probably wiped Seville from my mind. It wouldnae have mattered if they were the worst team ever (which they were as the stats proved) they would have surpassed our achievement.
The FACT they were pilloried for their "style" from all corners of the globe and then a significant "minority" ((C) Martin Bain and the Scottish Press) made sure that their UEFA run would be remembered for one thing and one thing only has made Seville all the sweeter.
Bitter and small minded that maybe. But I couldnae give a flying monkey from The Wizard Of Oz even if it shat over my car. It’s a rivalry. We play in a two horse town, with one horse being so ugly they willnae make it into clue and the other a thoroughbred.
6 weeks ago we needed a 12 point swing to even have a chance or to win the league. We had two games against them and we had to hope that R*ngers terrible away record (9 wins out of 19, 5 defeats and 5 draws add to that 1 win in 10 away games against top 6 teams and them only winning 10 games out of 20 against top 6 teams) meant that if we won those two games then it was game on as they had the harder run in.
They had a harder run in as they had played all their hame games in Feb and March. A fact often overlooked by the suits at the pox. They also started moaning about the amount of games they had to play. This moan did play on the players mind.
Christen "will sell soul for two pieces of silver" Dailly says here, that the circumstances did have a bearing. This is the same "player / thug" that said a few weeks ago that he didnae mind the amount of games as it comes with being successful?
Wonder what changed his mind? Two soul destroying defeats and being part of one of the most embarrassing periods in R*ngers history? Is the fact that he was an integral part in the biggest collapse since the flats in the Gorbals were blown up and the team has been proved to be not very good not have something to do with it?
I said at the start of the season that losing to a team that contained the likes of Weir, Broadfoot, Papac and Novo (The Skankmonster) was a sacking offence. Maybe that comment was made in haste as R*ngers found their best form for 36 years.
Their home record was second to none (only one defeat all season) and against limited fodder at home and abroad their "style", ahem, was bludgeoning and effective. As we floundered in two major spells during the season it look like a shrug of the shoulders and the acceptance that sometimes it just wisnny meant to be.
This blog was going to highlight facts, figures and bullshit saying that we played and done quite well this season. Now, I can back up the facts figures and bullshit wie the saying CHAMPIONEES 2007/08.
In the 3 seasons we have had under GS and the 3 times we have won the league under GS (GIRUY!!!!!) we have finished with 91, 84 and 89 points. The winning margins have been 17, 12 and 3 points.
Now, this may be seen as a downward trend but I think winning the league this time is his greatest achievement as manager. He has seen off a team on a fantastic run. The last 2 times they were on that type of run we have lost out by a goal and a point.
We have scored 19 more goals this season than last. Most of that is down to the signing of Skippy and the progression of Aiden McGeady. GS can take credit for both of these factors.
This season we lost only 26 goals. The past 2 the figures were 37 and 34. For a defence that was as shaky (to some) as a Lex Ballie-Paul McGuigan combination and the media compared it as being a Lada to R*ngers BMW of Weir and Ugly Betty.
How did we get the best defence in the league? Fuck knows. Half the season we were shouting for (not me!"!!!) Bobo to return and most wanted Gary Caldwell chucked of the Empire State Building tied to a B&Q paving slab.
So in the absence of any logical answer then I will give GS credit for this and say zonal marking is the greatest thing since white see through trousers.
But for every silver lining there is big black rain cloud. It was his fault that we were put through the wringer. Our home record was the main bug bear. We dropped points against Kilmarnock, Hibs, St Mirren, Dundee Utd and Motherwell. Add to that domestic cups defeats against Hearts and Aberdeen and we can safely say that Fortress Parkheid is no more.
We don't hammer teams at CP anymore. We have scored an average 2.21 per game both home and away this season. I would expect the home average to be higher. We seem to lack motavation against "smaller" teams. That is something we need to sort. Not that we lacked motavation in the last 7 games.
Was it something to do wie the returning Neil Lennon? Or the fact our manager bit the bullet and stuck with a winning midfield partnership and decided that his two big money midfield signings were not cutting the mustard. Or was it this interesting article from E-Tims, which alludes to a meeting between GS, Tommy Burns and John Reid in which the continuation of the Celtic Way was agreed.
Mind you what John Reid knows about fitba' is probably about the same as I know about strating a war in the Middle East.
Whatever it was (I reckon a combination of the above) no man for me has done more than Barry Robson. Whether he only got a game due to suspension or by accident it was the best forced decision GS has made in his Celtic managerial career.
Maradona gets credited for winning the 1986 World Cup singled handed. Barry Robson should get the credit for pulling us back from the brink of nowhereville and headlong into the light that was 3 in a row. The Ginger Naka was this years Nakamura. He step up to the plate in this his best season of his career.
His first challenge in the R*ngers game when he pole axed Christen "sell his soul for two pieces of silver" Dailly showed what he was about. He was not about to be bullied. He then went on to score the winner in the next derby game.
He can be added to the list of successful signings or manager has made.
So when did I think we could do it? 94th minute of the the first R*ngers game at Celtic Park. It was the Alan Stubbs in 1997 moment. The moment the season turned. One perfect pin point Caldwell pass, knock back from Skippy and diving heider from Jan meant that the Brittannia that was ruling the waves from the Lisbon Lions Stand was sunk by a U-Boat coming up the Clyde.
Perfect.
I leave you with a bit of Frank Sinatra and his classic opening lines from That's Life.
"That's life, that's what all the people say. You're riding high in April, Shot down in May"
Forza
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9 comments:
John D; Correct and welcome. These rhymes have to stop. I couldnae think of anything to write when I came in.
Too emotional and drunk.
It has just sunk in and my disappointment at not getting ticket has been tempered by my other must see moments.
Moments you will find out aboot…It’s a long summer bhoys…..this feeling has to last.
And I’m the man to do it….
Strange thing is….I was always confident.
Good choice of song and just as well the season doesn`t go on to June. :-)
I got my nephew a ticket for the cup final, £40! That`s the up side of being knocked out!
If the PRESS want to focus on the bad luck of the Rearrangers then perhaps they will ask about the red cards in big games! Go on, Mr Journalist be the first. Go on, go on, go on, go on! It`s a shocking record!
As Christian once publicly called out, `Cheats....` :-)
I can`t say that I was confident, preparing for the worst perhaps... when David Begg happily said that Novo and Boyd were coming on last night he was expecting the situation to change and from then it did and how!
The goal was greeted with a surprising yell,:-0 I`m not one to annoy the neighbours, so I kept myself in check after that. :-/
The joy came from the same radio that gave me such a hard time only three years earlier.
Someone on CQN remarked that the goal was like Billy McNeill v Dunfermline in 1965, I noticed that right away and Paul Hartley is the new Charlie Gallagher. (I hope that`s okay Paul if you are looking in.)
Forza and have a nice weekend!
Good post Kevin - I liked all that stuff about points totals, winning margins and goals of the last 3 seasons.
We shouldn't forget the impact of Europe on those figures: the first season we could focus exclusively on the league (hence the huge gap), but last-16 CL in the last two seasons doesn't suggest a downward trend.
Au contraire.
Oh, now that I've mentioned CL, isn't it great to know that we go directly into the damn thing?
No messing about in far flung places that makes you wonder if they are actually in Europe.
And you-know-who will have to go thru all that squeakie bum stuff TWICE - ha ha ha - it just gets better and better.
That is if they don't get kicked out by UEFA before that - ho ho ho.
Can't take much more of this.
Oh, yes I can --> QoS, make my sides ache some more, please.
Ian: I have posted I’m putting money on your nephew seeing the greatest shock since someone saw Pat Butcher naked.
Yes, we have won the league against all of official dome. The Huns played all the cards they could and still failed.
Of Course Novo changed everything. The wee cunt that he is. Easily the most hated r*ngers player in the world. And that is some feat.
Never saw Charlie Gallagher. Could he grow the best beard in Scotland as well?
That goal is similar but it really does remind me of a goal he scored earlier in the season at Tannadice.
Oh, Paul if you are looking in THANKS!!!!!!
Six: all those stats were meant for when we lost the league to the best r*ngers team for 36 years. Still I agree the CL is a factor with those stats. Make no mistake. Was trying to say the GS haters could see it as a downward trend.
I don’t. They were other circumstances.
THEY NEED THE CL QUALIFICATION. The masterplan has been foiled by the good guys. More taxi’s for Ipox as they try and balance the books.
A UEFA Ban would be nice.
Hi Paul! :-)
Nice beard!
Kris Boyds facial hair.....
gee it up yah fud.
Kris Boyds facial hair.....
gee it up yah fud.
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