The Anti Strachan Brigade......

[bandage]

among Celtic supporters is absolutely incredible imo. Anybody who didn't know anything about the club who logged onto The Huddleboard tonight wouldn't have a clue they'd just cantered to the League and won the League Cup aswell in a season supporters expected to be one of rebuilding.

His crime? I didn't see the game tonight but apparently with Shearer's testimonial at 2-2 in injury time there was a staged ending where a dubious penalty was awarded and the injured Geordie hero hobbled on and scored the winner from the spot.

Lads are going mental and calling for Strachan to be sacked! Saying that it was a disgrace to the history of Celtic football club, disrespectful to the supporteres who paid to travel down and attend and something that Martin O'Neill wouldn't have allowed.

FFS - I would say get over yourselves. Some have had a vendetta against from the start because, unlike O'Neill, he wasn't a 'Celtic man' and supported Hibs as a kid. Artmedia gave them an immediate excuse to stick in the knife and they've been hovering around ever since jumping on non-stories like this and calling for his head.

Re the suppporters, I presume the majority go to a testimonial knowing it's a friendly with the banter, sing song and pints at least as much a reason for going as the game itself. And even at that it was said to be a decent, competitive game up to injury time anyway.

As for the supposed blemish on Celtic's good name, who the fook is going to remember the scoreline in an end of season friendly anyway? It'll hardly go down in history as one of the club's blackest days.

The funniest thing, as one poster pointed out, was that half the fooking idiots calling for him to be sacked due to Celtic losing the game are the same people who were on record as hoping that Celtic would throw the game at Hearts the other week in order to prevent Rangers getting the second Champions League spot. Hypocrites.

I fooking despair sometimes.

[therock67]

I would agree with nearly all of that. I do think that there could be some indication beforehand that the game isn't going to be taken seriously. Keane's testimonial on Tuesday night was competitive and nobody felt shortchanged. Celtic are always invited to provide testimonial opposition because of the fanbase they bring. I'd guess that many people won't bother going to the next one because they get the impression they're having the piss ripped out of them by paying for tickets to travel down to England and match tickets and whatever else.

Of course none of the above reflects on Strachan's ability to manage Celtic. The only black mark I have against Strachan from this is that he withdrew McManus, Marshall and Maloney from the Scotland squad to play in these games. I personally couldn't give a shit about Scotland and find it laughable that first team players at Celtic are often overlooked as though they're not good enough to play for the international side. Having said that I'd be raging if McGeady had missed out on the Ireland squad for the Chile game and the training camp to play in pisstake matches. Fortunately the U21 games that secured his release were competitive so the situation didn't arise. The Scottish "tournament" might be a friendly but it's an awful lot more important than an Alan Shearer testimonial.

[bandage]

admin said:

I would agree with nearly all of that. I do think that there could be some indication beforehand that the game isn't going to be taken seriously. Keane's testimonial on Tuesday night was competitive and nobody felt shortchanged. Celtic are always invited to provide testimonial opposition because of the fanbase they bring. I'd guess that many people won't bother going to the next one because they get the impression they're having the piss ripped out of them by paying for tickets to travel down to England and match tickets and whatever else.

Of course none of the above reflects on Strachan's ability to manage Celtic. The only black mark I have against Strachan from this is that he withdrew McManus, Marshall and Maloney from the Scotland squad to play in these games. I personally couldn't give a shit about Scotland and find it laughable that first team players at Celtic are often overlooked as though they're not good enough to play for the international side. Having said that I'd be raging if McGeady had missed out on the Ireland squad for the Chile game and the training camp to play in pisstake matches. Fortunately the U21 games that secured his release were competitive so the situation didn't arise. The Scottish "tournament" might be a friendly but it's an awful lot more important than an Alan Shearer testimonial.

But Celtic players been treated terribly by Scotland in the past - as you say overlooked as if they're not good enough. Maloney, since very early on in the season, has been far and away the best player in Scotland and sat on the bench for the last few qualifiers with the likes of Lee McCulloch and Gary Teale playing ahead of him. Marshall was likely to sit on the bench behind Gordon anyway with maybe only McManus, in making his debut, likely to get anything out of the tour.

Also, the whole John Kennedy affair left a sour taste - were Celtic not in an argument with the SFA to enforce them to pay for his medical bills, wages etc seeing as he was injured on Scotland duty and all national associations are required to take out insurance policies for such eventualities? Fook them - it's been a long season, they're better off resting for a Champions League assault next year anyway.

[therock67]

You see I think the point about Scotland is irrelevant. I've no interest in whether Celtic players are capped by Scotland because history tells me they will be overlooked. Likewise I have little difficulty in players being excused from a trip to the far east at the end of a long season - particularly in Maloney's case, considering his lack of games before this year. However, I don't think Strachan should be placing more importance on meaningless testimonials than on international games. I think the next couple of weeks are crucial to Ireland's chances of qualifying for the next tournament and I'd be raging if players weren't released because of testimonials.

[eamo]

As a non-Celtic supporter, thats doesnt say that I have anything against them now, I find Strachan extremely irritating. I dont think that he is a good manager. He got relegated with Coventry and managed a top half season with Southampton. He won the league this year at a canter. To me it seems that he inherited a pretty good team with Petrov, Lennon, Maloney et al. I stand corrected here because I dont know enough about it.

He really p1sses me off in his interviews though. He is not funny but he thinks he is. There is nothing worse than that imo.

[therock67]

I'm not going to comment on what you think of Strachan the man because frankly it's irrelevant. I would dispute his inheritance of "a pretty good team" though. This was a side that finished bottom of their champions league group last year (soundly beaten in Donetsk) and finished below a ridiculously bad Rangers team in the league. i'm not one for criticising MON but he was clearly distracted by events off the park. For the record the team Strachan inherited was:

Douglas

Agathe
Balde
Varga
McNamara

Petrov
Sutton
Lennon
Thompson

Hartson
Bellamy

For the loss of Bellamy he has recruited Boruc, Nakamura and Zurawski. He has also allowed Maloney to thrive, a guy who barely featured under O Neill last season. In summary Strachan has performed very well in his first season at Celtic.

As an aside I was relatively indifferent to Strachan until a couple of years ago. We went to The Portobello to watch Celtic play Barcelona in the UEFA cup second leg at Camp Nou. At half time the presenter asked Strachan something along the lines of "How good is Ronaldinho." Strachan said "What in God's name are you asking me about Ronaldinho for? The best players on the park today have been Marshall in goals and Kennedy at the back." He then went on a bit of a rant about the media dishing out praise to other teams but ignoring the homegrown talent Celtic had produced. I warmed to him then.

[pagey]

Bandage I agree with you about the huddleboard poster. Any time Celtic lose its 'sack Strachan' and then when we win its 'Strachan is great'. And saying that about a Testimonial. God who takes a testimonial serious. Its a big farewell for the player involved.

Strachan has done well since taking on Celtic. People keep going on about Artmedia (1st leg) and Motherwell. But he has walked the league without having a great squad to choose from. I think the best test on Strachan will be next year in Europe. He has molded the squad to play his way, will let go of a number of players this summer and hopefully will have a bit to spend on our defense. I for one am really looking forward to who he brings in this summer and also to Europe next year.