ian1964

Have a bit of faith my man.............we will be :cheers:

Graham Spiers When you have held three of the great offices of State in Britain, people tend to listen carefully to your thoughts. So when John Reid, the former Home Secretary and recently-installed chairman of Celtic, claimed last night that Gordon Strachan had the potential to stand alongside Jock Stein in the clubââ?¬â?¢s history, his words had an arresting effect. Reid, who was in Italy on Tuesday to watch Celticââ?¬â?¢s advance to the last 16 of the Champions League despite their 1-0 defeat to AC Milan, chose yesterday as the moment to lavish praise on the Celtic manager. ââ?¬Å?Gordon Strachan has the opportunity to make himself a true legend at Celtic Park because, when you create records and potential records as he is currently doing, thatââ?¬â?¢s the best answer to all the critics,ââ?¬Â Reid said. ââ?¬Å?With all the constraints that we know are placed on teams playing in the Scottish league ââ?¬â?? such as not having the resources that others do ââ?¬â?? then for a manager to have qualified among the cream of Europe in the Champions League two years running is tremendous. At the same time, to have won the league twice and now be in the running for a third [successive] title ââ?¬â?? weââ?¬â?¢ve only done that twice in our history before, once under Jock Stein and once at the turn of the century. So it speaks volumes for the contribution Gordon has made.ââ?¬Â Strachan continues to have his critics but Reid forcibly argued that Celticââ?¬â?¢s qualification from group D was a minor triumph for the club. ââ?¬Å?To come above teams with a reputation like Benfica, or someone of the expenditure of Shakhtar [Donetsk], and just behind the team that are the European champions and within a couple of weeks might be the world champions [Milan], is no mean feat,ââ?¬Â the Celtic chairman said. Related Links * Celtic know they must cure away day blues * Strachan can emulate Hiddink at PSV ââ?¬Å?There has been a lot of talk of luck, but the fact is, you make your own luck in this game. Weââ?¬â?¢ve got nine points because Gordon and the boys most probably have the best home record in Europe. So Iââ?¬â?¢m delighted for Gordon, for the squad, but most especially for the fans. We are now among the cream of Europe, and thatââ?¬â?¢s basi-cally the cream of world soccer.ââ?¬Â Asked how much money the Celtic board might release for Strachan to bolster his squad in January, Reid offered optimism rather than stiff promises. ââ?¬Å?Everyone will now start asking about January,ââ?¬Â he said. ââ?¬Å?All Iââ?¬â?¢ll say is weââ?¬â?¢ve tried, within the limitations placed upon us, to help the manager in the past. Weââ?¬â?¢ll try to do that in the future but just now itââ?¬â?¢s sufficient to take a degree of satisfaction that weââ?¬â?¢ve reached another stage. And we have to be realistic about the future. ââ?¬Å?It obviously helps us reaching this stage, especially when youââ?¬â?¢re making about Ã?£2 million if you do well in the SPL, rather than the Ã?£35 million for being bottom in the English Premier League. All I can say is that weââ?¬â?¢ll try to do what we can financially.ââ?¬Â Celtic can relax for now, knowing they could face Manchester United, Chelsea, Inter Milan or Barcelona in the knockout draw on December 21.

IMO Broadfoot needs to be given a decent run in the team,as all young players do,and then he can be judged.He is still a young guy,looked ok when he played in the first team and has been performing well in the reserves by all accounts,let's not judge him untill we see more of him.

But if you look at the average age of our team just now,it can hardly be described as an ageing team

Welcome mate. I think everybody is in agreement that the SPL title is and always will be the main priority. But as Frankie said,why can't we compete in europe as well ?

If he would come up here I doubt we could afford him,plus wasn't Chelsea sniffing about him,or some other EPL side

OOPS!!!!, sorry :uzi:

He inherited a team when he took over at Lyon

No way is he coming up to Sotland

Well,one thing's for sure,we are going to replace him fairly soon,and i'm sure WS will know that and as you said probably lining up a replacement

Frankie,who is criticising Weir ?. Firstly i'd have to agree with you about Weirs form and has proved to be the best signing we've made in a long time.Regarding his pace well......he never did have much pace. As for the German CH,I know nothing about him or that Rangers were interested in him so I can't comment on that

The back tracking was nothing to do with the fact it was a C****c fan,just the fact that some person lost thier foot and some people are a bit touchy with sick jokes,not me though

Police report said he lost his balance..........................PISSED!!!!!

I would've said the same if it had been a Gers fan

Sorry for the poor attempt at a joke,but then that's me, smile at almost anything,I hope the guy recovers as best as possible

I heard on the news that a C****c fan got his foot sliced off by a tram,I wonder who'll STUMP up for his loss !!!

I know what you mean,but it's not that he's carrying too much wieght,just a good solid body,a bit like JCD

Naysmith just looks like he's born to wear the Rangers strip,a star in the making IMO

I would play Naysmith against Lyon,he has the same energy you get from JCD and Novo,and is equally skilled IMO

He certainly came onto a bit of a game after he scored and looked quite comfortable,mind you Papac has done ok filling in,but Whittaker does give you more of an attacking option,which I feel we will need against Lyon

Wherever you're thinking of playing Buffel :cheers:

Should be as he only had a bit of flu,however have we discovered another rampaging fullback in Whittaker ?,to solve our LB position

Plus Naysmith deserves a run before him :cheers:

Not before Naysmith,he has shown enough to get a start IMO

I see the sheep are planning a move to a new 30,000 new stadium.......!!!!!!, how the fook are they going to fill that ?