SAN SIRO LAST 16 MILAN

lol ok mate. its just i think some fans dont really know our history and expect
too much. heres a quote fae my granda? "we couldnae win an egg and spoon race" season 54 tae 66 one cup lol. my dad replies whit you talkin aboot
nae title fae 1926 tae 36 lol granda scowls . im in this for the long haul
lol.

 

Great anecdote re our history.

I have an older pal who has been going to the games since '33, so he knows more than most about our history. Me, I'm just a youngster in comparison, at 57, first game was the LC Final of '66.

 

I think you are belittling what he did at Celtic. Look at his stats mate. Then look at O'Neill's or any other manger since Big Jock and tell me he was simply a good manager. As for minging football. O'Neill's team played less attractive football and he is a *. Work that one out.

 

Where you the * who * in my shoe's:icon_mrgreen:

 

I just can't agree with that and am genuinely puzzled as to how anybody could think that. The football under Strachan was so slow and uninspiring to watch it drove me up the wall. Under O'Neill, ok the team wasn't packed with flair and it wasn't silky on the deck type football but, we played the game at a high tempo and it was rarely dull to watch. I also think the football under O'Neill was better than some people give it credit for. I've seen a few people on here say we played 'long ball' under O'Neill but I don't see how a team with Lambert, Petrov, Thompson and Moravcik(occasionally) could be a long ball team. All these guys were footballers who could play the game the right way.

I found the football much more entertaining to watch under O'Neill than Strachan.

 

To compare WGS to MON is absurd.
Give WGS Henke,Hartson,Sutton,Mjalby,Petrov and so on.

At least WGS stayed on the training ground with his players and tried to coach, Martin would show up on game day and yell at the players, ask Juniho.
Martin left us because his wife was sick when we all know the truth was the board told him no more money, low and behold within a year he becomes Villa manager and after spending some more silly money,for thats what it is when your playing with some one elses funds, the boss says sorry Martin no more money and Martin throws the toys out of the pram again
Give me those afore mentioned players, I think I could do not too shabby.

 

If Strachan's so wonderful why does he never get linked with any of the top jobs down south? And why is he toiling with Middlesbrough?

O'Neill is one of most highly rated managers in Britain and has a track record to justify that status. Strachan did do well to deliver the number of trophies he did at Celtic but he's not in the same class as Martin O'Neill as a football manager. No way.

 

I thought it was pretty clear that Martin O'Neil is a better manager than Gordon Strachan.

 

I think it's a basic difference in the way people appreciate football.

I too found O'Neill's style of play unattractive - the only players in that team who genuinely inspired me were the ones he inherited from before he came - Moravcik, Larsson, and for a time Petta. Even then, he shamefully underused Moravcik, one of the most outstanding talents at CP in a long long time.

It's connected in my mind with a difference between the leagues people prefer. People who really like the EPL might like O'Neill's style. Fast, direct, not much in the way of flair or elegance, but always something happening. People like me who much prefer La Liga might be more inclined to the Strachan style (and I'm no' saying he had us playin like Barca).

I liked MON, and he got us out of a right hole, but his brusque, direct, outmuscle-them football philosophy never won me over. I was very excited when GS arrived, and for the first time in a couple of seasons I was genuinely enjoying the way we played - Naka especially.

 

Hmmmm.........interesting angle mate, you might be on to something there.

The kind of football I like to watch is the ball passed around on the deck but done at a reasonable tempo. I also like to see wingers getting crosses into the box and not a left winger on the right with a right winger on the left. It was good that Strachan wanted us to get the ball down on the deck and pass it but it was just so * slow. It just didn't do it for me I'm afraid.

 

<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <wunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <wontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]-->[FONT=&quot]I think you are having a laugh and trying to incite a debate out of nothing.

To mention People like me who much prefer La Liga might be more inclined to the Strachan style.

You can put the laughing man on your next quote all you want; there is no way WGS had us playing football anything like the way any team plays in the La Liga.

We where a defensive wreck no matter who we played, we couldn't pass 3 balls in succession throughout the team and our defence thought kicking the ball over our own by-line was an acceptable way to get rid of the ball when under the slightest bit of pressure.

[/FONT]

 

No one is saying WGS was a better manager than MON, but to say that albeit WGS had a winning formula but 'I didn't rate him because the football wasn't pretty' then to hail MON as a * is beyond me.
MON is a fantastic manager but he had to build a purse out of a sow's ear quickly and he did it by buying players who could do a job and no more. He packed the team with big strong guys who could muscle their way through the game and it worked. Strachan tried to get us to play football but he got it wrong sometimes. His motto as is mine is winning first and then the silky stuff as a bonus.

 

As a fan of any team/sport, success brings expectancy. Although the football was not the prettiest with GS, you cant deny the fact that he became only the third celtic manager to deliver 3 in a row. He got us into the last 16 of the champions league 2 seasons in a row. We beat Rankers in the 08-09 league cup final (the first time in 20yrs for any domestic cup final) quite plainly on paper the facts speak for themselves. Now I admit that I was one of the many who wanted wee GS out, and reflecting on this, unfairly. We started every season well, and then after the exertions of european football, faltered at the final hurdle. It was quite plain to see that on many occasion towards the end of the season, it looked like the team were running in sand, and I think this was down to a lack of squad rotation due to a lack in strength in depth. Therefore, surely at the time we were all aiming our frustration at Strachan, it was the board that should have bore the brunt, due to their lack of ambition.

I think a current example of the exertion of champions league football you only need to look at Spurs, who have qualified for the CL for the first time, and have lost at home to Wigan, and drawn with West Brom, and are currently 11th in the table (early days I know) but I predict they wont finish remotely close to where they did the season before.

 

I think how WGS is doing at Boro is irrelevant. Even Jock Stein was poor in his short stint at Leeds (then a big team) winning four, drawing three and losing three. Alex Ferguson was amazing with Aberdeen but took many years to win anything with Man U and came with one game of being sacked. There are many examples of this kind of thing. For me WGS did better on all fronts with players from a lower level due to lower wages. That says it all for me. MON is put on a pedestal but he lost 2 out of his last 3 SPLs against poor Rangers sides on the last day. He did not sign a first 11 perm player in three years. He inherited a superb core of players. WGS had it far far harder but still bettered MON in SPL titles and in the CL progression. There is a real injustice in the contrasting way fans perceive MON and WGS. In reality it should be the other way round. Another thing is people complain about the methodical dull football under WGS but rose tinted spex are being applied. The football under MON was battering ram stuff only refined a little because there was some quality like Lambo and Henke in there.

 

great post WGS knew how to win. That is worth its weight in gold. He knew how to do just enough to scrape the wins without taking risks and there is no way we would have progressed in the CL without that approach. He was really unlucky in his final year. People forget that compared to 3 in a row we were clearly stronger than Rangers in season 4. We were comfortably cruising but then a huge problem with strikers hit us and the window was not used to fix it. Sad thing is even if we wouldnt shell out on Fletcher, some journeyman like Kevin Kyle would have probably been enough to win us the title but we signed nae * and our strikers were dire. In the run in our defense was actually the best it had been in a couple of years but the strikers 100% cost us the league. That disgusts me to this day.

 

Strachan believe it or not had us playing a very modern style game - of the 4 euro cup finalists last season 3 teams played with inverted wingers. It is incredibly effective attacking as it means the width is meant to be provided by the full backs who overlap. Hinkel (excellent) and sadly naylor(dire).

O'neills side were brutally effective and better at winning football matches but pretty it was not. We had a reputation for being bullies (for better or for worse) and clever managers (mourinho) exploited that cruelly and cynically. O'neill strength at the top was his downfall.

What ill never understand is how many fans refuse to consider stracuan to be anywhere near O'neill equal. Despite the clear factual results in Europe which blows the rangers were * argument out the water. This is with less money, less inherited world class players and a more powerful richer England next door.

Fair enough if you prrfer O'neill but I cannot stand the belittlement of strachan

 

Dont know why there is a debate. Both done fantastically well for us. Both legends.