What on earth has happened at Plzen? They used to be a decent side and had some good wins in Europe over the years. They beat Roma a couple of years ago, only lost 2-1 away at Real Madrid, now they're getting smashed by a side who didn't even win the Welsh league last year. Could've been worse as well, they were 4-0 down in the 88th minute.
the downfall of this great old club (like them or not) must be one of the fastest ever .. home games always sold out, sponsorship .. where has all the cash gone ?
My perspective is that, when Rangers were kicked out of the league, Celtic knew they had minimum three years (and likely more than that) of guaranteed league titles & European football. They didn’t need to invest in the squad much, because even minimal investment by Celtic standards is impossible to match by any other club outside of the Old Firm.
The plan kind of worked, Celtic won every league title in the intervening period, played European football to some extent or another every season and didn’t spend enormous sums of money.
I think it made them lethargic though. Both on and off the pitch they were in no shape to deal with the challenge from Rangers when it finally came last season. I know everyone likes to knock Scottish football but the current Rangers team are a very good side, results in Europe demonstrate that. Celtic now look miles off the pace and it will cost a significant sum of money to build a squad that can challenge again - a sum of money Celtic look wholly unprepared to pay.
There’s a bigger medium term threat to Celtic. Thanks to Rangers recent European exploits increasing the Scottish leagues UEFA coefficient, this season the winners of Scottish league will directly qualify for the group stage of the Champions League and the money from that alone will dwarf pretty much any other revenue stream available for a Scottish football club. If that’s Rangers, which you would have to say looks most likely right now, then the gap could widen even further.
This to me is a very good summary of what went on although I do think celtic should have done a lot better in the years without rangers. At the very minimum they should have been snapping up every young Scottish player who showed a bit of potential and with no competition could have easily blooded them. The sad reality is that celtics mo these days seems to be to try and unearth players from abroad and sell them to the prem after 2 or 3 good years. I was hopeful that the neglect may have ended after lawell left but it seems the problem goes higher. To my mind the only solution now is for Dermot Desmond to go and hopefully get someone in who's willing to spend a few pounds (sounds familiar doesn't it)
What on earth has happened at Plzen? They used to be a decent side and had some good wins in Europe over the years. They beat Roma a couple of years ago, only lost 2-1 away at Real Madrid, now they're getting smashed by a side who didn't even win the Welsh league last year. Could've been worse as well, they were 4-0 down in the 88th minute.
I had the misfortune to be in our local, having to explain who the feck TNS are to the Slavia supporting owner. It seems that the previous Viktorka owner pocketed a lot of the money from those UCL exploits rather than investing in the team. Even so, doesnt explain that fiasco. Fortunately in the pub I got out of jail ( they know me as a Viktorka fan) by showing them the similarities between Ferencvaros first and Sunderland‘s goal at Wembley, and pointing out the difference in what happened next😆
Thought Rangers were a bit fortunate. That was a ridiculous miss by Eduardo. And Kyogo should have squared to Christie in second half. At least Celtic are looking like they will be competitive this season. Really impressed with the new manager so far.
It may be their worst start for a long while but they are playing much better football than this time last year. I have been impressed by the new manager so far. I doubt they will challenge Rangers this season but at the current rate of improvement, and Rangers’ obvious decline from last season, I expect next season to be much closer.
It may be their worst start for a long while but they are playing much better football than this time last year. I have been impressed by the new manager so far. I doubt they will challenge Rangers this season but at the current rate of improvement, and Rangers’ obvious decline from last season, I expect next season to be much closer.
Celtic's problem though is that the SPL winners this season are guaranteed a Champions league group place next season, and therefore the extra money that comes with it. So if Rangers were to win the league this season they'll be guaranteed a ton of extra money to perhaps keep them that bit further ahead next season.
I do agree with you though, Celtic have looked ok when i've seen them and the manager has them playing decent football, and (as i said earlier in this thread) Furuhashi looks class. It's no surprise their form has dropped since he got injured. He's still the second top scorer this season in the J-league and he left there in July.
In fairness to Celtic, Betis and Leverkusen are no mugs. Just bad luck for Celtic they've ended up in the same group as two of the better sides in the group stage.
In fairness to Celtic, Betis and Leverkusen are no mugs. Just bad luck for Celtic they've ended up in the same group as two of the better sides in the group stage.
Bayer Leverkusen are my German side and seen them play a few times, would have preferred a draw.
Rangers beat Hibs 2-1 at Ibrox to return to the top of the table and maintain a six point lead over Celtic going into the international break. Hibs were the better team for the first half hour with a deserved 1-0 lead before Porteous was sent off for a poor tackle on Aribo (whilst it was a poor tackle I’m not 100% sure it would have been a straight red if it hadn’t been a tackle on a Rangers player at Ibrox). Rangers dominated thereafter and probably should have scored a couple more.
Comments
Any results from today. 😂😂
Rangers clear in the conference positions
🇸🇪 🇩🇰
I do agree with you though, Celtic have looked ok when i've seen them and the manager has them playing decent football, and (as i said earlier in this thread) Furuhashi looks class. It's no surprise their form has dropped since he got injured. He's still the second top scorer this season in the J-league and he left there in July.
Rangers:
0-2 L at home to Lyon
1-0 L away at Sparta Prague
Celtic:
4-3 L away at Real Betis
0-4 L at home to Leverkusen