Itâs not beyond the bounds of possibility that Everton could beat Liverpool at Anfield and finish 4th. Doesnât look like it will happen though. Once it doesnât, Moyes would be at the top of the list. Iâm not sure Collinsâ achievements merit him being in the top group of candidates. Big Sam and Steve Clarke would be in that top group as well IMO, and then you have your non-UK types, where you obviously have to tread carefully.
Interesting list alright Bandage.
I wouldnât be unhappy with Moyes but I have loads of time for Mowbray and if weâre taking a manager from England then Iâd be happy with either of them.
Celtic represents a different proposition to Everyon or other mid-raning EPL teams as youâve alluded to. Thereâs only such much motivation you can derive from trying to finish in fourth or fifth place every season. Winning trophies and playing in the Champions Leauge is a huge incentive and Celtic should be well capable of attracting most of the names on that list. (Look at Le Guen for example, heâd have been perceived as too big a name for Celtic but joined a far weaker Rangers team).
As I said on the other thread I think Strachan has to stay until the end of the season and I am quite happy that he is. I would like him to leave though in the summer. As regardless replacements I think very important we donât sell ourselves short. I think some people would like to manage and see it as a great opportunity to manage a somewhat unique club that is one of the biggest in europe and certainly in the uk. I would take mourinho, oâneill, moyes in that order.
[FONT=Verdana]Pretentiousness [/FONT]alert!!!
Forgot to include the now much sought after Slaven Bilic in my list earlier too.
Bilic is rumoured to be going to Hamburg according to the Guardianâs Germany article.
Iâd take Moyes, Mourinho, Mowbray
Iâd hate Collins or Davies (hun)
I donât want OâNeill or Larsson
Steve Clarke is an interesting one - good coach obviously and a Celtic fan but no management experience. Wouldnât take a punt on him.
DB alluded to it but that was a shocking effort at a poll Rocko given you left out the option I would also choose having reflected on it for much of today: Go in the summer whether we win the league or not.
Etims article on Strachan
http://www.etims.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2152&Itemid=29
When the Emperor Walks Naked
Written by Gaudd
Wednesday, 19 March 2008
You know the fairy tale by Hans Christian Anderson, everyone does. Itâs a moralistic tale of two swindlers who are inadvertently hired by avian-glorious Emperor to create the perfect suit of clothes. The swindlers being all show and no substance simply place a whole lot of nothingness around the shoulders of the doubting noble, and inform him that anyone who questions this masterpiece is either stupid or has no fashion taste at all. Everyone is aware of the ending; the Emperor strides out in the great procession with everyone pretending not to notice that heâs in the buff, until a small child cries out âbut heâs got nothing onâ. Upon hearing the cry the crowd can now accept the reality, each individual realising that his doubts are not unique and the Emperor progresses on his way to the sound of catcalls and deafening laughter.
For nearly three seasons now Celtic has been that Emperor, a team bereft of suitable attire yet heralded by the swindlers responsible as the epitome of excellence. It should come as no surprise after all, sadly enough down the ages it has been a feature of Celticâs management that periods of good fortune have only ushered in complacency rather than a rush to take advantage of an opportunity.
Judging by the comments of Celtic officials not one single individual was willing to accept the reality of what had occurred, not one single individual was willing to admit that the Emperor was walking around displaying the last turkey in the shop, while only being saved from pneumonia by unexpected balmy weather.
When Brian Quinn gave himself a pat on the back and declared that Gordon Strachan was the best appointment he ever made, was I the only one wondering just what kind of personnel disaster he had left in his wake? Yes even as I pondered these thoughts Celtic were collecting two additional trophies, but like the small child staring aghast at the Emperorâs receding buttocks, I just couldnât erase from the equation the whole context of that achievement. To summarise Celtic have been so successful domestically mainly due to the fact that no one else was capable of putting together any kind of half-way competent challenge. Strachanâs appointment coincided with the financial meltdown at Mordor reaching its peak, writing them out the script for the entire season, while elsewhere in that first season Mad Vlad decided that George Burley was in danger of sabotaging his cunning plan to destroy Hearts by being annoyingly successful - he had to go. The second season witnessed Paul Le Guenâs disastrous attempt to get Rangers playing attractive football, which was akin to opening a licensed pork specialty restaurant in downtown Baghdad. So Celtic strolled virtually unchallenged through the best part of two seasons while playing the kind of football that would have had Pele reaching for the paracetamol and razor blades, and by doing so allowed glaring deficiencies to be ignored.
Letâs be quite frank about this, save for the odd temporary oasis in a desert of mediocrity, Celtic during Strachanâs reign have been a dreadful team to watch. Iâd go so far as to say itâs, relatively, some of the most painful football I have ever had to endure from a Celtic team, probably because Iâm fully aware that this poverty of resources is not forced on us due to financial necessity as in the recent past. It seems that Iâm not alone in this opinion. During the course of this season Iâve watched the stands at home games getting emptier and emptier, it seems that having to suffer what Gordon Strachan apparently calls football is clearly more than many can take.
As I said the lack of competition has been Strachanâs saving grace, and had allowed the board to indulge in that favourite pastime of Celtic boardâs down the ages; complacency. I have to wonder just what matches those besuited marvels are watching if they can seriously promote the idea that all is well in Paradise. The glaring problems in the team have largely remained unaddressed during Strachanâs reign despite the fact that the Celtic Park reception area resembled Ellis Island at the height of US immigration. Strachan has fumbled and dithered, swapped and shifted, and despite all the numerous changes and replacements, the end product is still worthy of a blindfold and last cigarette.
Ah but, success is success isnât it? Well no it isnât. In the real world there is such a thing called context; for example if a overweight, asthmatic couch potato was to win a 100m dash against two dead turtles and an agoraphobic sloth then would this be an example of stunning athletic prowess or good fortune that no of one better quality was in the race? If you doubt that Gordon Strachan had no meaningful domestic competition between the sacking of George Burley by Hearts and the return of Walter Smith then do yourself a favour and book yourself into the Reality Clinic for some much needed therapy. Just like the ministers and courtiers who balked at admitting their emperor was naked, the on-message uber-supporters and happy-clappers have resolutely refused to accept any context when it comes to evaluating Strachanâs success. The same people of course were only too willing to do so when Rangers were cleaning up all in sight, and that quite frankly is the behaviour of the mindless zealot not someone who genuinely wishes to evaluate worth.
When Gordon Strachanâs defenders say: âIf anyone had asked the question following Martinâs departure would you accept at least two out of the next three titles, at least two out of the next six domestic trophies, two qualifications for the Champions League, victories over Manchester United, European Champions Milan and qualification into the holy grail of the last 16 of the Champions League for two successive seasons just about 100% of Celtic supporters would have snapped the questioners hand off.â They are in fact correct, but if you were to say "If anyone asked the question âfollowing Martinâs departure would you accept at least two out of the next three titles, at least two out of the next six domestic trophies if there was no domestic competition for the first two seasons and only Walter Smith for the thirdâ, what would the answer have been?
Yet it has taken the great football genius that is Walter Smith only half a season to best what the author of the previous quote called âan excellent managerâ, so excellent in fact that he has yet to win a game against a manager who scuttled back from the EPL with his tail between his legs.
Think about that, half a season of Smith and Strachanâs two previous seasonâs rebuilding have been wiped out. Perhaps that is down to the fact that Strachan has found it necessary to rebuild his team each summer mainly due to the previous rebuilding crumbling faster than a flood-plain Barratt home. Shall we ponder the worth of Jarosik, Hesselink, Gravesen, Donati. Zurawski, Naylor and Camara et al without reaching for the smelling salts? Simply put Strachanâs signing policy has been more hit and miss than a US air strike, with greater collateral damage and cause of even more post-traumatic stress disorders.
Yet during all this time, during the previous two seasons and even during this one, we have witnessed a display of sheer reality avoidance that would even has those responsible for producing the findings of a Government inquiry applauding in admiration. It is course, as I mentioned, a regular feature of Celticâs history that those running the club have considered periods of good fortune to be a justification for doing even less. Celtic faced with a poor Rangers team during Strachanâs first two seasons downsized accordingly to the point where last summer the net spend on team strengthening was a paltry 2m. Needless to say The Forces of Darkness spent a little more (around 7m more! â Ed) and now sit on top of league and look likely to win it. And reading anything printed from the official propaganda sources over the past year you would have been forgiven for believing we were playing football that would bring tears of joy to the eyes of Ronaldinho.
The emptying stands at Celtic Park were of course full for the visit of the dry-eyed Ronaldinhoâs Barcelona, and while itâs ludicrous to expect Celtic to compete on equal terms with a club whose domestic TV revenue alone surpassed Celticâs entire turnover, the rape and pillage by the Catalans was so comprehensive as to reduce the whole tie to a black comedy. I cannot remember the last time I watched a Celtic team so utterly outplayed in two legs. Yet at the end of this disturbing experience was there any admission from Celtic officials that weâd just been humiliated and bodily podgered on the most prestigious stage for European football? Nope. Instead we had Peter Lawwell gushing to the worldâs media that there was no reason why Celtic could not reach the last eight, despite the more than bloody obvious reason that weâd just witnessed.
Gordon Strachan during his time at the club has operated a revolving door signing policy, and an equally fluid first team line-up in a desperate bid to find something that works, so far heâs failed. We have a team now were aside from Boruc and McGeady all the players could leave in the summer and no tears would be shed or blankets clutched - in the case of some heartfelt sighs of relief would be in evidence. We have a team stocked full of mediocrities and journeymen and the end product is what you would expect. Yet I donât blame Strachan for all of this alone, I instead also blame those who appointed Strachan and who have allowed unsurpassed good fortune over the past two seasons to serve as an excuse for inaction.
My esteemed colleague Hector in his article âWin, Lose or Draw - Gordon Strachan Must Stayâ declares Strachan to be an âexcellent managerâ and howls in the style of Ian Paisley being chained to a pillar in St Peterâs Square that the manager âhas done more than enough to merit another season in charge of Celticâ. Itâs abundantly clear that there are still those supporters who are determined to avoid any context when it comes to discussing Strachanâs reign. The mentality of these individuals manifests itself in a demand that only the bottom line be viewed and no contributing factors should be allowed to bring unwelcome complexity. It goes without saying that this is not the act of anyone wishing to seriously discuss the merits of the manager, team or club, it is in fact an indication that the person concerned is not willing to look at the whole issue in a sensible, realistic manner.
Hectorâs hysterical fainting fit over a section of this support he has rather unwisely decided to label as âGreenhunsâ is without doubt one of the most shambolic pieces of utter drivel that its ever been my misfortune to see appearing on this site, and yes I include my own contributions in that so its got plenty of competition.
By focusing on the small minority who undoubtedly did oppose Strachanâs appointment for his less than Celtic-minded credentials, Hector shamefully tars all those supporters who have became disenchanted with Strachanâs reign with the same brush â whether intentionally or otherwise.
It is a cheap way of belittling genuinely held opinions regarding Strachanâs ability and the worth of his team. The shrieking demand to âreclaim our great club backâ is worthy of nothing more than outright derision and withering contempt; no doubt while it was being penned Land of Hope and Glory was blasting out and spitfires were roaring over the white cliffs of Dover.
What Hector fails to do in his article, fails throughout, is to bring anything remotely resembling context into this shrill lecturing. Nowhere for example will you find any reference to the standard of performances that we have come to expect and dread, nowhere will you see any admission that a mediocre team was able to achieve success due to a near absence of domestic competition, nowhere will you see any examination of the standard of player Strachan has brought to the club, nowhere in fact will you find anything save a shallow demand that we should all befalling at the Great Gordonâs size twos while resolutely denying whatâs in front of our faces - Strachanâs feet in this case.
We are currently in the situation that I mentioned previously, where a second-rate Rangers team led by a less than enthralling manager took all of half a season to undo Strachanâs âtremendous achievementâ. I said at the beginning of this season that Strachanâs real worth would be gauged this time round as the easy days were over, well so far Strachan has failed the test and failed it rather comprehensively. Even if by some miracle Celtic refrain from dropping any further points and manage to make a clean sweep of the remaining Old Firm games, despite the fact that Strachan has yet to win a game against Smith, I will still hope that next summer witnesses a change of personnel in the Celtic technical area.
When Hector stated âthankfully, the overwhelming majority of Celtic supporters give people an opportunity to prove themselves and while addressing an individualâs record weigh everything up before coming to a balanced conclusion about their worth to the clubâ, he was of course correct but fails for some reason to practice what he preaches, or indeed realise that for many of Strachanâs critics this actually occurred. The balanced conclusion is that we wasted two seasons where we could have established our dominance for years, two seasons where the overall poverty of performance was allowed to continue unchecked simply due to the fact domestic opponents were unable to take advantage of the glaring problems, two seasons that allowed Celticâs board to indulge in the usual delusional hyperbole while fiddling away as the smell of smoke grew stronger. The vast majority of supporters that have become disillusioned with Gordon Strachan have done so steadily over the course of two and a half seasons, not at the moment of his appointment, and not due to a knee-jerk reaction now that league failure stares us in the face. The failure to see any real performance improvement from one season to the next had brought about a horrified realisation that what we are witnessing now is all that we can expect, that more than anything is the real cause of the emptying stands and the growing discontent.
Gordon Strachan has had three seasons to prove he could put a team together worthy of âour great clubâ, in my humble opinion he had failed to do this, and sadly enough I have no confidence that anything will change. If there was a glimmer of a hint of a sign of any meaningful improvement then perhaps it would all be different, but while supporters are fickle creatures, three seasons is surely long enough for someone to be given a decent chance. It only remains to wonder whether Strachan will depart in the summer? Iâve no idea, clinching the third successive league title would be a good point to go out on a high, it would be a blessed release for everyone concerned. So yes, Hector is right in one thing, we should all get behind the team and try to salvage this season, if for no better reason than to enable us all to look back on Strachanâs time as one hugely successful in terms of silverware, while bizarrely enough being stocked full of performances that were about as painful as a visit to a psychopathic dentist. Of course, should Strachan go we will then we only have to worry about what the board consider to be a fitting replacement. I do think though that all things considered itâs a case of choosing the devil you donât know, and if Strachanâs replacement turns out to be even worse, then I can always deny I said this.
The article by Hector that he refers to is this piece of nonsense (also from Etims):
Celticâs secret shame by Hector Bandido. March 19th, 2008
When the name of Gordon Strachan comes up in the context of being a Protestant with a non-Celtic background, it is similar to the same atmosphere that one encounters at a dinner party when the subject of black people, Muslims and immigrants comes up. An eery hush descends upon the well dressed guests until one invariably splutters the cringeing clich;
âSome of my best friends are blackâ.
This is the stock response of the guilty Liberal who feels obliged to state his right-on credentials. We all know that deep down, he has at best a patronizing view of coloured people and at worst, a hateful loathing of those with dark skin pigmentation. Lord preserve that his little daughter Jessica should end up in bed with big, black Winston.
Substitute Winston for Gordon and the parallels are frightening. Substitute black for orange, Muslim for Protestant, Africa for EdinburghâŚ
And of course Lord preserve that wee Bernadette ends up in the sack with big bad Billie.
The point is that we at Celtic have our own bigots, the sort of people who make you ashamed to be a Celtic supporter. Is it really necessary to yell out that you take the plate round at mass every Sunday? Is it good politics to say that you fly every summer with the sick and infirm to Lourdes? Frankly these sort of people have no place at Celtic Park, they bring the club into disrepute.
Gordon Strachan is an outstanding manager, who if the truth be told is years in front of the rest of Scotland. He is a true visionary, whose ideas and tactics are not understood by players whose I.Q. is the same as their shoe size. Strachan has managed in the EPL with some distinction, to the extent that he was poised to manage a âbigâ club when Celtic called.
Think about it, he turned down clubs with more revenue, more fans, everything just for Celtic. And how is he rewarded? Subjected to a tirade of abuse by sectarian bigots who poison the East End of Glasgow with their vile chants.There is something clearly wrong with a large section of the Celtic support who never really took to Strachan. We have to hold up our hands and say, Rangers is not the only club with a terrible record in race relations.
Examine his record if you will. Two championships in a row, almost certainly followed by a record winning third. And in Europe, where the ethnically pure and religiously sound Martin OâNeill failed so miserably, Strachan qualified twice for the last sixteen with at times some breathtaking football.
Gordon Strachan should not be the latest in a long line of victims hounded out because of their religious persuasionâŚJock Brown, Kenny McDowell, Reggi Blinker.
The time has come for the good guys to speak out.
Hector Bandido.
That second article is possible one of the poorest Iâve ever read. Itâs like something youâd read in The Sunday Independent. I certainly havenât made a snap judgement on Strachan but Iâm slowly coming around to the way of thinking of the chap who wrote the first one.