The return of the 'British spine'?

I remember Lennon in his first tenure stating the important of having a 'British spine' throughout his team, will we see that again, more British players? British based players are at a premium these days than in 2011, especially with the successes of all the other national teams. H

I'm not against it, but I suspect we lose a bit of that continental flair we had with likes of Dembele, Ntcham (who i don't see here past this summer) and we get closer to the O'Neil Strachan way of physicality, rough and tumble and the dreaded long ball.

 

It’s already there with Bain, KT, Brown, McGregor, Forrest etc. We will no doubt bring in a few more physical players for the defence and up front though.

 

Couldn't give two * about the nationality of the spine. Just get some quality in.

 

In his 2.5 years here, Rodgers started Gordon, Tierney, Brown, McGregor, Sinclair and Forrest in almost every game, and gave plenty of time to Christie, Armstrong, Griffiths and Roberts.

 

Transfer rumour

 

Sorry wrong forum, should of been in celtic chat

 

I don't recall our Irish manager insisting we should have a British spine.

 

Erm, the 'British spine' we've had in the last few seasons has served us quite nicely. and I'm not too sure how many of them would be classed as rough and tumble or long ball in style.

The likes of McGregor, Forrest, Roberts, Christie, Armstrong, Sinclair have all brought plenty of 'continental flair' over the last 3 seasons, have they not?

Lennon isn't a long ball manager, either, that feels like a lazy stereotype. His teams were/are more direct in style than Rodgers' was, though, and it wasn't too long ago people were on about his Hibs team being the most exciting side in the country.
He did always like a 'presence' in his teams, though. Wanyama gave us that, Van Dijk gave us that. He also signed Marvin Bartley at Hibs for that reason, too.

 

Bartley was at Hibs long before Lennon.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2011/jan/08/celtic-rangers-scottish-premier-league-football

I can't find the exact interview where he said it he did but that was his hope back in 2011, much of which he eventually did back then with likes of Wilson, ledley, hooper, mulgrew etc.

 

I think his team's previously were very much inspired by MON and GS. Rodgers teams worked in a much different way and were adapted more to the modern game (all be it his players weren't all the right calibre to replicate it on the European stage) where asLennon's teams worked well to a point but the hope is that he has evolved those ideas from his last tenure to fit in with todays game , obviously referring to euro football not domestic.

 

The more changes made to the team the longer it takes to settle and gel , work to be done in the transfer market but weve just won 3 trebles in a row with the likes of Sinclair,Brown,Forrest,McGregor,Rogic,Tierney.No guarantees of replicating the success weve had next season again with another treble.

 

Here here old chap, jolly good show.

 

Didn't Ronny and The Fraud have more of a British Spine in their teams than Lenny in his first stint?

 

Yep, and the MON team was by far the least Scottish, with only Douglas and Lambert starting regularly during his first 3 seasons- though he did also start Hartson, Thompson and Sutton regularly. I don't really think it matters too much and don't think we'll play any more than we did under Rodgers, which was a pretty large %

 

I doubt those exact words would pass his lips.

 

Doesn't matter to me where they come from as long as they have the desire to run through brick walls to play for my team then that's all that matters!!

 

We have a strong spine at the moment. Not fussed on Bain mind you- wonder if Big Fraser fancies a move back. But we have KT, Ajer, McGregor, Brown, Rogic, Forrest and Eddy. If Benkovic comes back on loan add him in too. That would leave a keeper, a right back and a left winger as spots to fill. A centre back if Benkovic doesn't return. Not too much to be done and the spine of the team is very good. Maybe Shved will be a bit of a wonderkid and by all accounts he looks very good. Added to that back up like Jozo, Christie(maybe even a starter), Griffiths and academy guys like Ralston and Mikey with utility men like Bitton we look quite strong.

 

You're right, was signed by Stubbs it seems. Nonetheless, he liked that physical presence in his side and would often use Bartley against physical sides like Hearts.