Another bad day for the Anti WGS Brigade

My apologies, I never meant the same rpely just fro you, meant I general fro a lot of folk.

And I assumed for the sake of debating/argueing that you'd be of such an opinion.

And by success I don mean just a European cup. I mean some real progress. Without the aid of pure luck.

Personally judging by our current crop of players and the rangers crop we should be able to make uefa cup
Finals. Or at least the semi of it.

 

There are loads of managers out there that would do better than WGS , the amoubnt of bad singing he has made is laughable think the last time a counted it was 25 signings and 17 duds compile that with his team selections and style of football and also his attitude towards the press em,,,, yes we could do better allot better

 

Martin O'Neill, presumably the minimum marker laid down by the anti-WGS brigade, had * all luck and never reached the knockout stages of the CL.

 

Well I'd agree that we should have done better in Europe this season but I think there are a couple of reasons as to why we didn't. But that's another debate.

There are some good teams in the UEFA cup so for Celtic to be reaching the latter stages, we'd have to be playing quite well. I know Rangers got their last year but they were playing winning football for most of last season.

Name one.

One manager that could achieve the level of success that Strachan has had and on the same budget?

We all know Strachan has made some bad signings. But he's made some really good signings too.

 

Robson at left back. Hartley at right back. Caldwell at centre mid. Not exactly their best positions when often enough we have had more natural players able to play such positions. With a midfield of ours we shouldn't take our best cb and play them in the middle.

Strachan has had many fallouts with players, this season and many previous, and has shown many times that he can't motivate the team for an average game. To me, he shows some bad man management.

It was shown in the preseason feyenoord game that out of all our preseason games that game was our best, with a 433 formation. It took him till the motherwell game last month to try it again, even though we have struggled many times this season. And against Motherwell it was really only the pitch to blame.

 

Name someone who would do better than a perfect record in winning the League and two doubles, get us further in the Champions League than we've ever been, whilst building a young team for the future, on a shoestring budget, who would want to come up here?

Opinion of Gordon Strachan, professional and experienced > opinion of you.

Ok Cryuff, whats wrong with them?

Winning first, entertaining second. If you can do both, great, if not, WIN FIRST.

The press are snakes, vile and unethical. * the press.

 

Oneil raised the bar, but I don't believe that he is the minimum marker laid down. And I'm not basing m expectations on what he did. He had many flaws in his tenure as well. And I do t compare strachan to him in anyway.


I'm looking at just strachan, and although I believe strachan can win domestic cups often, and can bring in league titles, I think it's safe to say that with a real challenge given to him he struggles and I don't see where he can make things easier for him his team or our club!

I believe we can get a better manager, and want one. But I will not ask for strachan to leave midseason. I want the board to go out and look for someone better durig preseason and to have someone I. With more energy and passion and can force that onto the players performance.

 

But yet, time and time again it's worked. Strachan knows what each player is or isn't capable of far better than you do.

Fallouts happen at every club every day. It's natural.

Incidentally, every player out there is willing to play to the final whistle for their manager. They are willing to go that extra yard and attack for those extra few seconds to get the winning goal. And you say these players aren't motivated?

So somtimes players don't turn up. It's football, it happens all over the world every day.

Preseason games present very poor evidence of whats going to happen in a season. No one's fully fit, including the opposition, and everyone is trying out new things with half-strength squads.

Clearly he feels a 4-4-2 system suits us better. Who's opinion should we value more, the experienced and successful coach or the guy on the internet? Who would YOU let manage a club?

 

Strachan has never failed to win us the League. Everything our rivals have thrown at us, we've matched it and beat it.

What more, exactly, can he do?

Who are you to talk about his passion or energy? Do you work with him every day? No, so what the * d'you know about it?

 

Good win, but wasnt a great match or performance like some make out. Hopefully GS goes at the end of the season and somebody new with a high calibre comes in as I think WGS has gone as far as he can.

 

Don't talk pish. Strachan got it spot on yesterday. It's sad that you can't admit that.

 

The myth of the ease of European success with another manager (high calibre of COURSE! Trappattoni, Cappello, Cruyff? I'd interview them first to make sure they're 'Celtic Minded' though...)...completley ignores the fact that this European Trophy is highly unlikely given the direction football has taken moneywise and the constraints we operate under.

Football financing and legislation will have to change dranmatically and put everyone on a more even starting line before we can even think about that. It's not impossible but highly unlikelñy at the moment and a little surreal of some people to be demending that as a prerquisite for the measure of success and progress for a Scottish team - even us.

Leagues that we can compare ourselves to size and quality wise are Denmark, Sweden and perhaps Portugal, and even Benfica and Sporting Lisbon fans do not DEMAND that in the present climate. They are actually a tad more realistic.

The question, and real question for the WGSGTF Brigade is the one Minty posed earlier and is as yet unasnwered (because it cannot be - unless you undulge in some mental masturbation):

Get rid of WGS now - who will do a better job in the same conditions and could be enticed to come to CP?


As I say, get the wee Celtic test ready for Maradona, Cruyff and Guardiola lads.

 

You must be looking in the wrong place for Strachans views on his players, team selections, tactics and coaching methods, if you think he's going to tell it to those gutterrags who will only twist it to suit their own agenda then you're sorely mistaken. He takes the smartassed route because he knows the same as you and I, these people are snakes, not to be trusted, as has been proved time and time again over the years. Try reading the View or The official website, for balanced Strachan interviews.

 

Amongst the many delusions I've come across in this thread there is one (or two) that riled the most, the first posted by Anth:

As far as I know Strachan has not yet lost a league title. We are 3 points clear and on course for 4 in a row while picking up the smaller domestic trophies here and there.

Is 4 in a row progress?

Thus far in Europe, Strachans record is equally impressive despite our financial limitations compared to the teams that have put us out (AC Milan for instance reportedly knocked back £100million at Christmas). Furthermore, achieving the last 16 of Europe is unprecedented by any manager for decades.

Is this progress?

Which brings me onto the related second point brought up by Minty:

This is a clear contradiction. Firstly the constantly regurgitated criticism that the "Worst Rangers side in history" managed to reach the finals of the UEFA Cup would suggest that awful teams can win European trophies. The truth is that after 2003 the UEFA Cup is no longer seen as a priority.

The money and the prestige lie in the Champions League. Anything past the group stages for us is a bonus and I feel Strachan has the tactical nous and current squad (with hopefully some additions in the summer) to break past the last 16 of the Champions League for the first time ever.

Strachan has laid the groundwork for this target and surely having given us so much silverware deserves the chance to have more goes at the last 16.

I reckon it can be done

 

Since strachan has been at Celtic, he has won league after league, a great achievement, but, every year the competition to win the league gets stronger. Andhow do we cope with it? By playing the same sort of game time after time and now we are seeing the rest of the spl know our weaknesses and are able to capitalize on them. Every year we get closer and closer to loosing this league title as oppsosed to winning it with the same sort of ease that we did in his firs year. I don't call that progress, I call that standing still and letting the competition catch us up.

He got cl last sixteen twice, one year he done it with only seven points, and still Celtic can not win away from home. Compared to every other league I would say this is the same sort of performances(actually the display is worst) that we have always achieved and this j would applaud him for the luck he had in makig the last sixteen, but I don't consider him to have progressed us in Europe.
And no j don't, nor anyone else, suggest that European success is measured solely on the trophies. I want success as in rescuing uefa final or semis, comfortably making it through the group stage of cl and winning away from home.


Since strachan has taken on the reigns he managed to hit success in year one. Since then he hasn't gone forward. At all.

 

no, im pretty sure that was the huns under mcleish. under strachan it has been 9 points both times cos we won all of our home games. getting us mixed up with the huns isnt gd.

 

I'll stand corrected. It was nine both times.
Point will sill stand that he still hash done anything better or taken us further really. Our last manaer was achieving nine points as well.

 

What I'm saying is you can complain about a few performances fair enough. But while we are winning trophies and getting into great positions in Europe then credit must be given. At this current time I cannot think for the life of me how Strachan can be seriously criticised.

There are 2 major points to address though:

1) Away in Europe
2) The left-back

Apart from this his performance as Celtic manager has been unarguable.