Over recent times, I have grown a bit fed up about hearing how little money Rangers spend and how they are a club on their knees.
I don’t really buy into that as they have still being spending a fair amount of cash. Nikica Jelavic for £4million suggest that they are not as poverty striken as they would like us to think.
Continuing on the theme of cash, I’ve been reading about how this new owner of Rangers doesn’t seem to be worth as much as some would like us to believe. I have to admit that any negative stories relating to Rangers is a good thing for me.
Lets face it, most folk will enjoy seeing our rivals with a smaller squad with key players in their last year with no sign of a new contract – Steven Davis and Madjid Bougherra being the main two that I am thinking of with the possibility of Davie Weir retiring.
On top of that, they are going to be four players down as El Hadji Diouf has gone back to wherever it was they found him (Blackburn Rovers was it?), Kyle Bartley (the Arsenal guy) is back at Arsenal with Vladimir Weiss and Richie Foster also returned to their clubs.
At this stage, I think Rangers have about 13 first team players with a few young guys thrown in there for good measure.
Given all of the above, I think it’s safe to say that Celtic should be ahead of Rangers but we are not and why not?
Who do we blame for not being miles ahead?
Is it anyone’s fault? Or do we simply just accept that some things don’t work and have to be corrected and move on?
I, for one, was quite optimistic when Tony Mowbray took over. From being at Hibs and West Brom and with the type of football they played it all looked good. Of course, there will be some who will say from the start that they didn’t think he was the correct choice. My dad was one of the ones who thought Mowbray was a bad idea from the start (bloody know it all !!!!!).
The reason I am making that point is that I can forgive the board for giving Mowbray the job when I, and some others, also agreed that it was a good appointment.
At the start of last season did anyone really have much hope for what Neil Lennon was going to do? After Ross County, I have to admit that I had my doubts the he was the right man for the job.
How a season can change things though. For next year, with Lennon in charge, I seriously think that we can take the title back.
Up at Inverness near the end of last season, my opinion is that the team ‘bottled’ it as Inverness certainly didn’t beat us because they had the more able players. I will give credit where it is due and they deserved that win but I will also say that under Lennon we tend not to make the same mistakes over and over again.
Can we take everything from last season and put it together to make sure we can learn from it for next season? I’d like to think so and I also have to say that I am expecting big things from our team next year.
As always, I welcome comments so please do leave me your thoughts on what I’m saying above.
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I’m one of Celtic’s rookie fans, and even as I know nothing, i can safely say that Neil Lennon has done a great job, he’s young, he’s ambitious and he needed some time to find the right path, I believe he found it.
Last Season was Celtic’s to my point of view, it a lucky shot for Rangers. Fortunately lucky shots only happen once and hopefully next Season will go to its rightful winners “Celtic”
While I agree that NL has done a brilliant job under terrible circumstances,I think your trying to rewrite history.
We lost at ICT because he played with four wingers against a hard tackling team with a five man midfield.
To say the players bottled it is ridiculous and insulting to them.
NL made a huge mistake and not for the first time. Most of the games we lost last season were when we played 4-2-4, a formation that NL keeps trying to play for reasons known only to him.
There is also only one reason why we never capitalise on the huns problems: the board. We’re never going to win anything if they keep making the same mistakes over and over again.
I’ve come to the conclusion that our board couldn’t give a toss whether we win the league our not as long as they keep getting their season ticket money.
I’m desperate for us to win the league, but I’ve got a horrible feeling that the board will make an mess of everything again. Let’s see what “three quality players” we get.
Ok, just to play devil’s advocate tho – if mowbray hadn’t been sacked i think he would’ve won the Scottish cup as I think we would’ve beaten Ross county. So in his first season mowbray would have won the same as Lennon, yet he also had us in Europe. Fine, we weren’t very good in Europe but at least we didn’t get spanked at the first hurdle…like Lennon.
We bottled it against county, bottled it in Europe, bottled it in league cup final and bottled it against ict.
I disagree that we don’t make the same mistakes twice – look at the above list. After the county game Lennon said he’d seen what players weren’t good enough and would be leaving that summer. Naturally most of us assumed.he meant loovens and Samaras. Roll on 12 months and Samaras misses the penalty that costs us the league…
I personally think Lennon did much better than i expected
Hadn’t finished writing that, stupid phone. But I’m just saying that Lennon was bad in a lot of areas and it’s beitg glossed over sometimes.
Here’s to next season, hopefully without sammi.
Neil Lennon, very popular with the fans but I feel he has already shown his glaring tactical weaknesses. His first season he had only one match that mattered and we lost that to Ross County FFS!
Then we are bundled out of Europe before the seasons even started! Up against a very poor Rangers team who had to contend with Europe, you would think a manager with a bigger & better pool of players would cakewalk the league but he failed at that too.
Rangers were there for the taking but on our last league match Lennon dropped Hooper and Commons??? When we drew Lennon celebrated as if we had already won the league. Ultra embarrassing! We witnessed strange press meetings where he asked “what is bottle”? More embarrassment! We then failed at the first hurdle of the run in against Caley. More embarrassment. Then we have the fans celebrating failure. Whats going on at Parkhead? Second in a two horse race against donkeys is worth celebrating? Who are you kidding? The Scottish cup was small compensation for failure at everything else.
More points in his 1st season than rangers or Celtic had managed to gather in the previous 6 seasons, 2 cup finals, near enough a whole new squad for 12 million, Commons for 300 grand, george peat and his bigot brigade attacking him at every opportunity, attempts on his life, dougie liar and the honest mistake referees association, scottish media portraying him on a par with hitler.
Under the circumstances Neil Lennon has worked MIRACLES!
Celtic are up against it next season again without a ball being kicked, if Celtic and rangers both qualify for europe, Celtic will play 5 of their 6 SPL games away from home on the back of european games, rangers will play 5 of their 6 SPL games at home on the back of their european games. Thats the s#it Celtic have to compete with before the season even starts.
Personally I think Lenny has done well considering all the off field antics which he has had to put up with.
He will be the first to admit he has made mistakes but he is still on a huge learning curve…as the song says ”THINGS WILL ONLY GET BETTER”
RT
i wasnt convinced when lenny got the job….i thought it was just to get morons to put bums on seats after the mowbray disaster..(whom i thought was a mistake…strach was doing a fine job despite what those easily led by the media (spit) thought) but i have to say lenny has surprised me…first full season in..hes steadied the ship…has a great eye for a player…caught out the refs which somehow was made out to be his fault that referees and linesmen were making up lies…rode the media storm well…and the current team if we can hold the genuinly good players (not samar arse, stokes, or broon) and get replacements of equal quality ( emilio, ledly, hooper, kayal) for the weak points in the squad..ie..keeper, centre half, striker….we can have a right good outfit….i predict good times ahead…
ps…..courting controversy here…..and acusations of paranoia….how do I word this…………………..was it likley that smitty over at mordor wasnt going to get all the help going, when the media were following him around in his final season..making a documentary for his knighthood type thing (is that really deserved!!!! perhaps the everton fans can answer that1)…
Just a thought….cos looking over the season at the controversial decisions….do they really even themselves out….trying to think when we got a penalty for a foul outside the box and had 3 opposition players sent off from 1 of the “harder” teams in the league………i dont count stokes theatrics….hed never play for me again……
Neil Lennon is popular because he stood up to bad decisions, SFA, Media, sectarianism, etc. His bullish attitude created an “us against them” mind-set with the team and fans alike (even though we are paranoid already).
He was iconized by the Green and White because of this regardless of his success and failures on the field. I believe he is allowed a certain amount of leeway because he is/ was a rookie manager and due to his off field troubles.
He is the manager, the players like him, the fans adore him, but the board handed him 6 month rolling contact because of his tactical mistakes. He will be judged on the new signings he brings in, Europe, and success in the league.
As a fan, watching the huddle, Broony, and alike, I to got carried away last season, but the euphoria is gone and the facts remain.
He will have to prove to the fans and the board with on field victories against European teams and the Huns. Bottom line, the thunder is back, the future looks good, HAIL HAIL.