Tag: UEFA

After a shambolic exit in Europe to Copenhagen, the Celts prepare for St.Johnstone in the cup.

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Well, Thursday night was a bit of an unmitigated disaster.

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Yep…..this just about sums it up.

On a night eerily similar to our capitulation against Cluj in the Champions League qualifiers way back in August Celtic showed once again that in European competition we still completely lack game management when ahead in a knockout tie.

Just like against Cluj we were ahead due to an away goal yet couldn’t see out the tie.

And also just like gainst Cluj we shot ourselves in the foot more than once.

After a pretty dominant first half where a patient Copenhagen refused to show their hand and where we passed up several good opportunities, you could only see one team progressing.

Six minutes into the second half though Jozo Simunovic had a ‘Jozo moment’ as he dithered on the ball and allowed Michael Santos to mug him before big Chris Jullien then panicked and ultimately Santos put the ball in the net.

A total gift.

Though how we ever allowed ourselves to be in a two on two situation in the first place at home in a tie where we were ahead is beyond me.

From then on we struggled and you just knew it wasn’t going to be our night but then out of nowhere we got a penalty thanks to VAR after Ragnar Sigurdsson had needlessly handled in the box.

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The celebrations were short-lived. 

That man Odsonne Edouard stepped up and executed the spot-kick with aplomb and suddenly we were back in this.

But in almost identical fashion to the game against the Romanian champions over six months ago, we then handed the advantage back to the visitors who scored through Pep Biel only two minutes later with Celtic’s defending completely shambolic.

Dame N’Doye then farcically sauntered through our meek backline minutes after that to make it 3-1 and complete the embarrassment.

So that’s that then.

A campaign that showed so much promise with a superb display in the group stages ultimately went the same way as the last three times we’ve gone into the Last 32 stage that being with us going out with a whimper.

To make matters worse the tournament has totally opened up too with big names like Benfica, Porto, Ajax, Arsenal, Sporting Lisbon and Red Bull Salzburg all exiting as well.

Indeed Copenhagen have been drawn against Ä°stanbul BaĹźakĹźehir in the Last 16 which looks at a totally winnable tie and could have been us but alas………..

Oh and of course Rangers quite comfortably navigated their way through earlier in the week against far tougher opposition. On the bright side, it means we have a week of rest leading up to the next Old Firm game whilst they don’t but that’s scant consolation.

So it’s back to domestic action and the pursuit of the ‘Quadruple-Treble’ as Celtic visit McDiarmid Park tomorrow afternoon.

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Big Tommy is waiting.

We should be pretty confident considering we’ve won our last seven ties against St.Johnstone with an aggregate score of 26-0 which has included a 7-0 and 3-0 in our last two games against them.

They are actually in pretty good form at the moment with no losses in their last six games and only two losses in their last 15 domestic matches with seven wins and six draws.

Sixteen goals in their last eight games also shows their recent attacking prowess and Stevie May has refound his shooting boots during that period netting five times over that spell.

Their last game saw them battle to a 2-2 draw at home to Rangers too so they’ll go into this tie confident based on recent form and also hoping to take advantage of our European hangover.

I foresee us returning to a  3-5-2 with Griffiths starting upfront with Edouard and on reflection, we should maybe have gone with that on Thursday night from the start but everyone has a degree in hindsight of course.

Alas, a chance for our longest European cup run in sixteen years is gone.

More domestic trophies will have to suffice.

 

Celtic go down meekly to Hibs. Meanwhile, it’s Valencia in the last 32.

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First things first and that’s Celtic’s performance away at Easter Road yesterday. Truth be told the team looked exhausted –  not surprisingly after being run ragged against Red Bull Salzburg during Thursday night’s emotional rollercoaster – and as a result pretty devoid of ideas.

I wrote a piece over a week ago about how the players looked out on their feet away against Motherwell. We dropped two points that night as we wilted badly in the second half but recovered pretty sensationally to bury surprise table-toppers Kilmarnock 5-1 at Celtic Park a week ago on Saturday.

Thursday night though saw us come up against easily our toughest opposition of the season and for me the best team we’ve seen at Celtic Park since PSG clinically dispatched us 5-0 in the Champions League group stages 15 months ago.

Each one of our three domestic defeats this season have come in the weekend after a midweek European game and all have been away. So the taxing effects of  European football definitely plays a part but our away record, in general, this season has been pretty awful with 15 points dropped from a potential 27 in the league and only two wins from seven away ties in Europe.

Hibs have themselves been struggling of late having gone through a period of no wins in seven league games which saw them lose four times. They arrested that decline with a 1-0 win away at Hamilton Accies last weekend but generally weren’t given much of a hope yesterday. So much so that their prematch decision to reduce the Celtic away capacity so as to allow more Hibs fans tickets looked utterly absurd as half of the stand where our support usually sits was left virtually empty.

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Another great call from Rod Petrie.

Brendan decided to really utilise the squad and even went for three at the back with Ajer brought into partner Simunovic and Benkovic. Kieran Tierney was rested and in came Emilio Izaguirre with Scott Sinclair being asked to cover a right wing-back role in the absence of the injured Lustig and Gamboa.

In midfield, Ryan Christie was missing after being stretchered off with an ankle injury on Thursday night and Tom Rogic was also left at home to recover from his recent exploits. In came Brown and Ntcham to replace them with McGregor, Forrest and Edouard all retaining their places.

The last three, in particular, were noticeably quiet and looked a little jaded.

Apart from the fatigue side of things the likes of Brown and Ntcham never clicked all day and Izaguirre, who had been so impressive when he came in against Kilmarnock, really struggled with Sinclair looking pretty lost in an unfamiliar defensive role.

Hibs hit a lot of cross-field passes and balls in over the top which cost us no end of trouble and we were ultimately undone by two excellent though preventable finishes from Slivka in the very first minute and Kamberi in the second half.

The introductions of Lewis Morgan and Mikey Johnstone brought some urgency and penetration to the play in that second period but ultimately was too little too late. Johnny Hayes also appeared but did nothing of note which is pretty customary of his appearances in the hoops.

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Kamberi finally finds some form. 

The result meant that Rangers returned to the league summit due to a narrow win at home against lowly Hamilton and Kilmarnock also remain above us after a comfortable 3-1 home win against Dundee. We do of course have games in hand and no one’s really worrying especially as we can go top again if we beat Motherwell at home on Wednesday night and Rangers drop points at Easter Road which is as we’ve just discovered no easy place to go and get a result.

The likes of Boyata, Lustig, Rogic, Tierney as well as the inform Christie will also all be back soon – some as early as Wednesday night apparently – but even with that we clearly need reinforcements in January.  Up front plus at right fullback are two key areas we definitely need to address.

Earlier on today there was also the draw for the Last 32 of the Europa League. Being that we would be up against one of fifteen seeds we could only hope for something winnable and I think we got that when Valencia came out of the hat.

On paper, the Spaniards did well in their Champions League campaign to gain 8 points in a group that included one of the tournament favourites in Juventus as well as the once mighty Manchester United. But the truth is they were out by the time of the final group game which they won against a struggling Man U side who had already qualified. Valencia recorded a 2-1 home victory but for anyone who keeps up with English football that’s not that great an achievement these days considering the stumbling form Joe Mourinho’s side have shown this season so far.

In La Liga, they are struggling with only three wins from 16 matches and an incredible ten draws. Two of their defeats have been away from home and they only have two wins from nine home matches with six draws and one loss. They have only 19 points and are in 14th place, four points above the drop zone.  The goals have hardly been flowing either with only 15 so far in this campaign whilst conceding 13. In Europe, they have scored six and conceded six.

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The Mestella is where we are headed. 

All this after blowing over €126 million on players in the summer which included the €40 million capture of 21 -year-old Portuguese winger Gonçalo Guedes from PSG and veteran French striker Kevin Gameiro from Atletico Madrid for a mere €16 million. Belgian international striker Michy Batshuayi is also there on loan for the season from Chelsea and that deadly strike force has delivered a rather pathetic return of six goals in all competitions and their most dangerous marksman currently is, in fact, Spanish striker Santi Mina who has six this season and 35 in 114 appearances for them.

The other big summer singing was French midfielder Geoffrey Kondogbia who cost them €25 million from Inter Milan in the summer having previously cost the Italians €40 million from Monaco. He was injured at the weekend though and will be out for between eight to twelve weeks so there’s a good chance we won’t have to worry about him at all.

The star man is, or at least was, striker Rodrigo who’s 19 goals in 44 games last term earned him a place in the Spanish national side for the past summer’s World Cup. However this year he’s hit a measly two in twenty games and is bang out of form.

Backed by billionaire Singapore business magnate owner Peter Lim they could go on a spending spree this January in theory but based on their previous transfer dealings they have actually already spent double what they had spent in total over the two previous seasons combined plus they have only brought three players in, in total, during the past two winter transfer windows, two of which were loan deals.

All in all……….it’s doable.

There is a lot of water to go under the bridge between now and February 14th when they visit Celtic Park in the first leg but as of now, it’s a tie you’d take especially considering some of the Leviathans we could have drawn in the next round.

Let’s just hope that eight and a half weeks from now we’re top of the league, playing well with a stronger squad and that Valencia are pretty much in the same predicament if indeed not worse as they are now.

I guess that’s what I’ll be asking Santa for, for Christmas. Well, that, a pair of Diesel jeans, a significant financial windfall and a win at Ibrox.

 

International round-up: Scotland 3 – 2 Israel. James Forrest Ballon d’OR.

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James Forrest, sorry Scotland picked up from where he/they left off on Saturday night and captured a vital win that propels them into Group B of the Nations League as well as securing a play-off place – and at home none the less – for the Euros against Finland in March 2020.

Ex-Celtic Beram Kayal buried a wonder strike from about 25 yards that gave Allan McGregor no chance on the 9 mins mark. The keeper’s namesake Callum McGregor could have shut the Israel midfielder down earlier but there’s no way anyone could genuinely have expected that.

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Kayal isn’t messing around. 

The goal aside Israel dominated the opening stages and it looked like Scotland’s destruction of Albania three nights previous had perhaps been more down to the Eastern European sides ineptitude as opposed to a resurgence from the Scots.

However, the men in navy blue gradually got back into it with McGregor almost scoring with a fantastic drilled volley from distance that was well saved by Ariel Harush and had begun to pin the visitors inside their own box by the time James Forrest lashed home the equaliser not long after the half-hour mark.

From there on the hosts dominated and a wonderful passage of play saw Steven Fletcher nod onto Ryan Christie who raced down the left flank before lobbing over to that man Forrest again who took a steadying touch before side-footing home the second.

Going into the second half it felt like there was going to be only one winner and Forrest collected from Ryan Fraser in the box before a deft chip left Ben Harush on his arse and set him up to place it in for number three and his hattrick. Similar in execution to his second on Saturday though not quite as spectacular.

Simply put Forrest is on fire right now. So hot indeed you might be able to genuinely light a fag off him.

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They don’t like it up em’.

Of course, Scotland always has a tendency to push the self-destruct button and duly obliged as Eran Zahavi was given acres of space to steady himself and blast home a possible reprieve for the Israelis with a quarter of an hour left.

Much fingernail biting ensued and I thought it only right to put a fiver on Israel to draw as it was sitting at 12/1 – hey if we’re going to blow it then I may as well make a couple of quid – and it almost paid off with McGregor having to produce a fabulous reflex save in the dying embers but Scotland held out and secured three more precious points to top the group on nine.

For Alex McLeish, it was a reprieve. His hand was forced somewhat by injuries into playing a 4-5-1 with Forrest and Fraser on the wing, a recognised left-back playing in position and in-form players getting starts as opposed to the old ‘going for experience’ chestnut. That and James Forrest effectively saved his bacon.

Christie and Armstrong’s energies were boundless and Callum McGregor continues to look very comfortable in a holding role and considering this was a squad with players such as Mulgrew, Griffiths, McGinn, Naismith and Tierney absent it’s difficult not to get excited about possible future prospects. For a start, the football over the past two games has been unusually dynamic and free-scoring for a Scotland team.

The draw for the Euro 2020 qualifiers takes place a week on Sunday – December 2nd – in Dublin and Scotland now know they will be in Pot 3 and that if one of the two tops spots in the group is not secured then they have the play-off match with Finland to fall back on in 16 months time due to their Nations League success.

That’s a long time away and a lot of water can go under the bridge between now and then. But Scotland now have both something to build on and no matter what happens in the qualifiers something to look forward too and a genuine chance of a first major tournament qualification since 1998.

Scotland actually won something last night. It might not have been much but they won something. That doesn’t happen much. So you know, let’s enjoy it as it’s inevitable calamity and disappointment is coming in the post somewhere in the not too distant future.

 

The New TV deal: Money talks as BT walks!

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So finally the SPFL have come to an agreement over the new TV deal something which has been getting discussed far and wide across the Scottish footballing spectrum for the past 18 months or more.

And the winner is…….Sky. That brand that we all know and love with wonderful coverage being provided by the gorgeous Hayley McQueen flanked by the stunning pairing of Kris Boyd and Kris Commons.

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Dream Team

Safe to say it isn’t the winner we wanted. By we, I don’t just mean Celtic fans but all of Scottish football. A recent online poll found that 90% of Scottish football fans surveyed would prefer BT to win the rights as they generally provide superior coverage with far more in-depth analysis and passion for the game up here.

The likes of Chris Sutton, Steven Craigan, Michael Stewart and Ally McCoist might not be everyone’s cup of tea – each one’s popularity usually depending on what team you support – but they sell the game as opposed to Sky who’s coverage often borders on apathetic to the point of disrespect.

Commons was a wonderful servant to the club but he usually gets lost in his own analysis and Boyd wavers from boring to confusion then onto anger and all in one sentence. Either way, both are pretty limited pundits and would be blown out of the water by the BT guys.

Hayley does her best to fit in what she can from her meagre surroundings in the blink and you’ll miss it introduction and post-match analysis segments and there is a general air of disinterest about the whole thing. The general impression is that they can’t wait to get back to their beloved English Premier League

BT, on the other hand, are fronted by wisecracking Darell Curry who is often required to act more like a referee as opposed to a presenter in order to reel in the often hilarious quarrelling that occurs between Sutton and the rest of the panel. Added to that every game no matter how seemingly inconsequential it might appear in the grand scheme of things is given a worthy amount of build-up and analysis so in other words…..respect.

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The BT boys delivering the goods. 

So bearing all that in mind it’s come as a surprise that BT was so easily outbid by Sky and not only that have lost all rights to the Betfred League Cup as well.

That means that BT will in just over 18 months have literally no relationship with Scottish football at all which is pretty shocking considering the effort they have put into promoting the game during these past five years.

Now as much as I would have preferred BT to have gotten the rights the facts are that they refused to put their money where their mouth is. The deal has now been unofficially confirmed as being worth ÂŁ160 million over a five year period beginning the season after next with Sky Sports having inclusivity to all 48 top flight live matches.

I can’t mention my source but all I will say is that he is a board member of a Premiership club. All members were asked to take a final vote yesterday at around 2pm and the decision was unanimous. Some had earlier baulked at Sky’s offer believing the rights could be worth somewhere in the region of ÂŁ40-50 million per season but the facts are that BT’s preference was to continue the current carve-up between themselves and Sky whilst individually investing less and that the likes of Amazon, Eleven Sports etc when sounded out just weren’t really that interested. Sky’s offer of just over ÂŁ32 million per season was by some distance the best financial package and an initial offer of three years was actually negotiated up to five to give extra long-term security. The deal was apparently brokered by a consultant who had been involved in the English Premierships’ last round of TV contract negotiations and he was keen to point out to the members the fact that TV sports rights in the UK across the board are generally decreasing in value as opposed to increasing.

The EPL themselves have seen their own rights tumble pretty dramatically from ÂŁ5.1 billion for a three-year deal to ÂŁ4.775 billion which begins next summer. That’s a drop of ÂŁ325 million, around about ÂŁ108 million a season. Even then those figures are pretty optimistic with some sources claiming the drop was nearer the ÂŁ500 million mark.

The final two packages available in the first round of bids back in February actually went unsold and weren’t negotiated until six months later when Amazon and BT picked up what was left. Not long after Richard Scudamore announced he was stepping down from his role as the EPL’s Executive Chairman which he had held (though previously called Chief Executive) since 1999. Coincidence? Hardly.

As much as I, like just about everyone else it seems,  prefer BT’s coverage the facts are that they were have thrown the kitchen sink at both Champions League and English Premiership TV rights to such an extent that they have hardly any money to invest in anything else. So it shows where their priorities lie. The SPFL is not the only rights they failed to retain as they have also lost the rights to Serie A, UFC and NBA with all being picked up by the new player Eleven Sports.

This unsurprisingly goes hand in hand with the departure of chief executive Gavin Patterson who back in 2013 led BT’s assault on live sports rights. The hope was that impressive sports packages would also entice new broadband customers but this strategy has failed dramatically as the number of new subscribers each quarter having apparently collapsed. As a result at the time of the announcement about Patterson’s future, or lack of, BT’s share price had fallen around 14% over the previous four weeks alone with full-year results showing a 1% drop in revenue, not helped by the company dealing with the aftermath of an accounting scandal at its Italian division, which resulted in a ÂŁ530 million write-down and a major fall in its share price last year.

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Neil Patterson in more affluent times.

Shareholders at BT had wanted Patterson out for some time and with the news, any hopes of BT being capable of competing with other major providers for sports rights renewals went with him.

The new deal will see 48 matches – a reduction from the 60 shown previously between both Sky and BT – all appear on one format each season along with six playoff matches and kicks in the season after next. We can only hope that in that time Sky takes on board the feedback and improve their coverage to match a significantly increased investment.

It’s not only the league games though that BT failed to retain. They’ve also let the Betfred League Cup slip through their fingers and into the hands of Irish broadcaster Premier Sports. Again their coverage there was spot on and they played a big part in changing the format so that it would feature regional league matches played in the summer by teams not competing in Europe. This coverage came at a cost of a measly ÂŁ8 million over four years but was by all accounts much better than the previous deal in place with the BBC. Premier Sports offer whilst apparently better wasn’t significantly so but BT once again failed to invest and just as with the league games their coverage will cease to exist from the summer of 2020 onwards.

The Scottish Cup rights are a whole other kettle of fish with Premier Sports and the BBC sharing them with Sky letting them go, and of course, the BBC has also renewed their deal with the SPFL which will see them retain league highlights as well as showing 20 live Championship games per season starting in a few months, on a new channel, to be unveiled next year.

I’ve seen some people unfavourably comparing the deal to the new one signed by the EFL down south which is a ÂŁ595 million contract over three years. The thing about that is it covers 130 matches per season across three leagues and 72 clubs and also includes League Cup games so actually in the grand scheme of things most English clubs have got a poorer deal than the SPFL.

All in all, it’s more money. How much more is difficult to quantify but we do know that it was widely accepted that the total pot of TV income was ÂŁ21 million last season with ÂŁ17.5 million of that coming from the league TV deal alone. This new deal secures at least ÂŁ32 million per season and could be more when factoring in a new foreign TV rights deal with beIN sports as well as the new Scottish Cup and League Cup deals.

Is it what we wanted? No. But is it the best deal we could get……yes. And just like in every other aspect of life money talks and there was no way Scottish football was walking away from an extra ÂŁ10 million plus per season.

I like BT. We all like BT. But the fact is they obviously don’t like us as much back. That and the fact that they are skint.

Weekend review: Albania 0 – 4 Celtic, sorry Scotland. What the hell just happened?

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I took this game in on Saturday evening from the Electric Bar in Motherwell. Not my local but my other half’s who hails from that part of the country. So not dissimilar a setting to Tirana then where the game was taking place.

It proved to be an apt name though as Scotland produced a free-flowing performance, devoid of suicidal defending and where the referee Vladislav Bezborodov actually showed he had a pair and made the rights calls.

Albania tried some neat passing at the back but Ryan Christie was having none of it and stepped in to feed Ryan Christie who charged into the box before curling it past Etrir Berisha in the Albanian goal to make it 1-0 after a mere 14 mins.

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Alex McLeish tries to make sense of that he’s looking at. 

Usually, it would be all downhill from there for the national team but then the Albanian captain, the wonderfully named Mergim Mavraj, stepped up and wrote his name into Scottish football folklore with a fabulous one-two. The first one was a challenge over the ball on James Forrest and the second was an unnecessary headbutt on Ryan Christie. He got a yellow card for each one resulting in an early bath. Did Christie milk it? Probably. But every other nation on God’s green earth does it so for me he was just being streetwise.

From there Scotland took full advantage. An Armstrong free kick on the edge of the box was needlessly handled by striker Rey Manaj and resulted in a penalty which one-time Celtic target Steven Fletcher duly dispatched on the stroke of half-time and Scotland were now really in dreamland.

I, on the other hand, had to depart to the function room next door to join in the 50th birthday celebrations for Elaine – a woman I’d never met before and didn’t actually get to meet during – but was able to get back through under the pretense of needing some fresh air to witness most of the second half which featured a dominant Scotland display that included two more goals both of which were executed by James Forrest.

The first came after the Celtic winger was released through by teammate Ryan Christie before squeezing it past Berisha and the second was a wonderful goal. Christie found Fraser out on the right wing with a beautiful pass from midfield and the Bournemouth man fed Forrest in the box who knocked it up with his right foot past substitute Kastriot Dermaku before buying it past Berisha again with his left.

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Wee Jamesy scores a belter.

There should have been more and substitute Scott McTominay should have done better with an effort from the edge of the box that clipped the bar though replays showed a wicked bobble just before it got to him.

The pub was actually eerily quiet during that second period. Most people sat, pint in hand with their jaw agape wondering what the hell was going on and when they would awaken from their slumber as only a dream state could explain what they were witnessing on the TV screens before them.

All that aside Callum McGregor was magnificent in the holding role that he has also really stood out in for Celtic recently and is a perfect example of playing a guy in a position where he is playing well in for his club and hey presto….it works for the national team as well.

I’m no fan of Big Eck and think he’s made a bit of a pig’s ear of the Scotland job thus far considering the position the national team were in when he took over but some nights it just clicks and Saturday was one of those nights.

Scotland can now win their group if they beat Israel on Tuesday. The Israeli’s have proven to be a  far more capable outfit than hapless Albania and have far better players, especially in the forward positions, but are also renowned for not performing and the momentum is definitely with Scotland as well as the home advantage.

The contribution from the Celtic players was immense with Christie pivotal in three of the four goals and being smart enough to react to Mavraj’s stupidity as opposed to standing his ground and likely getting a yellow himself. McGregor ran the show and Forrest continued the free-scoring form that has seen him bag 26 goals for the Hoops in the last 18 months.

Injuries aside I’d image the exact same team will take to the field on Tuesday night in the group decider. But then again with Big Alex at the helm……..