Sellik

[allyo]

Fair play. Anyone?

[sandbank boy]

Fair play. Anyone?

 

Totally.

[kevin energy]

Surely after this season they cant complain about refereeing with Scott the untouchable Brown.

[Lindau]

Let's remember the amount of money they have forked out for players like Sinclair, Dembele, Gamboa and others and the benefit of having a very good £12,000,000 player on loan. No other club in Scotland can compete with them and unless something drastic and highly unlikely happens over at Sevconia, they are going to be on top for many, many years. Aberdeen showed how you should play against them with a high pressing game, but they ran out of gas after 70 minutes. With the resources they have they should be winning most trophies up here, still it's a fair achievement to go the whole season without a single defeat. One thing you have to admire is their fitness levels which are fantastic.

[Lambies Lost Doo]

Celtic player budget = Aberdeen + Rangers + Hearts + 20% of that total.

[JeanieD]

An achievement yes, but none too bothered one way or another - certainly the best of a not exactly outstanding league - but if they can legitimately afford their players and pay all the relevant taxes and national insurance etc. then can't really complain.

 

As a club they certainly trade on history and other factors, whether it be 50 years old or more and this, in itself, generates some interest/finance/spurious "identity", but it works for them then let them get on with it.

 

Regardless, they have played the best football - scored the most goals, unbeaten domestically etc. etc. so they probably deserve the applause they are receiving.

[BowenBoys]

Given their resources, it's no surprise that Celtic are dominant. To win the treble undefeated is a great achievement though. Testament to their physical and mental strength under Rodgers.

 

What now? I can't see anything standing in the way of ten-in-a-row. Unfortunately, another four years like this one and Scottish football will be beyond repair.

[partickthedog]

At least their European Cup and Invincible successes reinforce the truth that great achievements come in 50 year cycles. Roll on 2021.

[ChewinGumMacaroonBaaaz]

At least their European Cup and Invincible successes reinforce the truth that great achievements come in 50 year cycles. Roll on 2021.

 

...For we've made a promise. That we shall fulfill....!

 

[Mr Bunny]

Given their resources, it's no surprise that Celtic are dominant. To win the treble undefeated is a great achievement though. Testament to their physical and mental strength under Rodgers. What now? I can't see anything standing in the way of ten-in-a-row. Unfortunately, another four years like this one and Scottish football will be beyond repair.

 

Why? We had nine years of Rangers winning nearly everything and our game survived. Rangers had as big an advantage over everyone else (and not just because of OPT) plus e.g. the added advantage of blinkered referees. MSM and the likes of Regan and Doncaster told us our game couldn't survive if we put New Rangers into the bottom division but it did. If your argument is correct then Scottish Football died years ago. However for fans of most clubs there has never been a chance of winning the league and only a rare chance of cup glory and they still support their clubs as we do. Should they/we all give up because one club is going to run away with the title and most cups for years to come?

Edited May 29, 2017 by Mr Bunny

[BowenBoys]

I don't believe that Rangers will be able to challenge Celtic, even in four years time. That's why I think the situation will be different from the 90s. Not even a two horse race to interest the media, particularly the tv companies.

What happens when the prospect of 4 'Old Firm' matches fails to interest bidding tv companies? A much worse tv deal.

How many of us will still be pitching up at Firhill for the inevitable humping? It will have an impact on crowds.

I'm not suggesting that anyone should give up but I don't think the future is rosy.

With Celtic calling the shots with the SFA/SPFL, chasing the dream of European success, our domestic league could end up resembling a Harlem Globetrotters tour.

[ChiThistle]

Until Celtic get their own tax dodging saga and the league becomes a free for all.

[lady-isobel-barnett]

Wanting sevco to be challenging celtic so as to maintain/re-ignite commercial interest seems a high price to pay. The media nonsense that surrounds those particular two horse races is unbearable. And last time that occurred we weren't even in the same division.

[Garscube Road End]

As much as I detest them you have to give credit to the season they have had. Particularly to Brenda Rodgers. He comes across as a class act. A fine coach. Look at the massive improvements in the players under him. Particularly Stuart Armstrong. Always was a great prospect, but under Rodgers he has been fantastic.

[Fearchar]

Why? We had nine years of Rangers winning nearly everything and our game survived. Rangers had as big an advantage over everyone else (and not just because of OPT) e.g. the added advantage of blinkered referees. MSM and the likes of Regan and Doncaster told us our game couldn't survive if we put New Rangers into the bottom division but it did. If your argument is correct then Scottish Football died years ago. However for fans of most clubs there has never been a chance of winning the league and only a rare chance of cup glory and they still support their clubs as we do. Should they/we all give up because one club is going to run away with the title and most cups for years to come?

 

Bayern München dominates the Bundesliga, as much as anything because of money, but standards in that league don't seem to have dropped, nor do fans stop turning up for games.

[crazy davie]

You'd need to be some kind of H*n not to recognise and credit Celtic's achievements this season.

[Weebaw1]

Don't like Celtic.

 

But I do like Rodgers. He has developed young players superbly. Some are even Scottish! God knows why McGregor isn't playing for Scotland.

 

I know they were having a party and sang a couple of songs they shouldn't have(though in my naivety these had to be pointed out to me) but I thought their fans were pretty entertaining at our recent game, nothing like the scum from south of the river. And they were really turned on to the match of the day, the ht Weir Academy games in which the kids showed some amazing skills. The Celtic fans gave them a terrific reception.

 

I have always realised the Old Firm equally but perhaps the times they are a changing.

[Mr Bunny]

I don't believe that Rangers will be able to challenge Celtic, even in four years time. That's why I think the situation will be different from the 90s. Not even a two horse race to interest the media, particularly the tv companies.

What happens when the prospect of 4 'Old Firm' matches fails to interest bidding tv companies? A much worse tv deal.

How many of us will still be pitching up at Firhill for the inevitable humping? It will have an impact on crowds.

I'm not suggesting that anyone should give up but I don't think the future is rosy.

With Celtic calling the shots with the SFA/SPFL, chasing the dream of European success, our domestic league could end up resembling a Harlem Globetrotters tour.

 

TV deals only matter to the big clubs and to our size of club only to the extent we get our fair share - i.e. whatever size it is, we get roughly the same deal as everyone else (obviously varying a little due to league position. As for humpings well it's only one game a season and we've occasionally been done over by other teams. One game a season (which a good few folk avoid anyway at the moment) doesn't matter that much.

 

I'm not saying I like the idea of only one possible winner (I never liked it when it was one of two cheeks of the OF) but it's really what we've had for a long time. Perhaps money has to go out of the game for things to get better. Some folk think the OF ought to play in a bigger league - some kind of Euro league maybe (though who would want the blue half now?) - but the problem with that is the SFA/SPFL would probably want to let them run a team in the SPFL as well.

 

I really don't know if there's any answer - at least one the SFA/SPFL would accept - to the problem. Still for a team like us I think the effect would be pretty minimal. BTW If Celtic ever got to the stage of doing a "Harlem globetrotters" I think they'd find their players were getting kicked off the park. Professional footballers can accept defeat but not mickey taking.

Edited May 29, 2017 by Mr Bunny

[Ancipital]

All Rodgers has done is show how bad the previous managers celtic have had since rangers died have been, they should be winning just about every game with the financial advantage they have.

 

Also the recent game at firhill was a 90 minute IRA fest (ok, maybe 89 minutes, think they sang about the Lisbon team for one minute), their support and their "atmosphere" is just as vile as the other arse cheek. The only difference at the moment is that celtic are winning everything so they're patronising the life out of us.

 

In short : **** them.

[Mr Bunny]

Bayern München dominates the Bundesliga, as much as anything because of money, but standards in that league don't seem to have dropped, nor do fans stop turning up for games.

 

Really a false analogy. Germany has a massively bigger population than us (over 80 million) and a regionalisation which means there is a lot of local pride. (To a lesser extent the same applies to England where lower PL sides and some Championship sides) still have big supports There is no equivalent in these countries of preudo-religious bigotry being attached to two big teams and which created a massive imbalance in support in Scotland (long before there were "TV supporters") over nearly 100 years. For instance in the modern period Edinburgh is almost as big as Glasgow but its two top teams will never attract the same support as the OF teams - because the OF has been sucking support from everywhere else for too long and that can never be made up. For the size of Scotland's population teams like Aberdeen and Hearts should be the top teams support wise but the OF monsters dwarf them even though Glasgow is much smaller than it was.

[Mr Bunny]

All Rodgers has done is show how bad the previous managers celtic have had since rangers died have been, they should be winning just about every game with the financial advantage they have.

 

Also the recent game at firhill was a 90 minute IRA fest (ok, maybe 89 minutes, think they sang about the Lisbon team for one minute), their support and their "atmosphere" is just as vile as the other arse cheek. The only difference at the moment is that celtic are winning everything so they're patronising the life out of us.

 

In short : **** them.

 

One thing that annoys Rangers fans is if you tell them you don't like to hear bigoted Irish songs at football matches like v Celtic ... and v Rangers. They spout hatred of Catholics and especially Irish Catholics but their whole culture is Irish too - just the other side of the divide. I've always thought they are a foreign infestation. (No harm to honest folk of Irish descent having sing songs in pubs and dancing competitions; it's foul mouthed songs of hate from the "Troubles" sung by tens of thousands and taking to the streets of our towns to commemorate old Irish battles and hatreds I can't stand).

Edited May 29, 2017 by Mr Bunny