Trooblue

Bit beyond a crowdfunder then ...

Does anyone know how much the pay-off costs are for GvB and his backroom team?

That bit of success would be nice though ...

Like everyone else, I've seen more than enough to want an immediate change in manager. However, it seems unlikely that the men at the top who failed to rebuild the squad over the past two summers, leaving us with this crew of ageing under-achievers, will have a clear plan covering the financial impact of dispatching GvB and his backroom team, appointing the right replacement, and providing the new guy with a budget to rebuild. The WC break provides an opportunity for action, but I think they will stall for a while yet. Hope I'm wrong.

Moral victory for celtic ...

Must be a mistake in this scoreline - the 'expert pundits' say it's a good, even game ...

The only thing worse than Collum on the pitch is Collum on VAR. Appalled to see this guy at Ibrox last night after his performance last time. The club needs to be lobbying to get him removed from any contact with our games.

Worth a try.

Your point about King - yes, he was struggling for any kind of pace. Not the only one either. There's something seriously wrong with the team's fitness level. Compared with last season (eg despite the schedule of games we ran celtic into the ground for fitness in the Semi-final extra time) we are slow and tired.

I'm far from being a fan of Goldson, but I thought he had a decent game tonight.

Big difference from last season is our fitness level. Up against high quality teams last season, we harried them, chased them, gave them minimum time on the ball. This season, we stand back, give them time, and usually lose out on chases for 50-50 balls.

The annual accounts will no doubt reveal all about the transfer fees, and also about the money flowing back in the direction of Mr Park as loan repayment.

PS I can't hate a guy who does his best, but Goldson's best is just too far short of what we need.

I don't rate a central defender who rarely wins high balls in his own box, ducks behind strikers he is meant to be challenging, regularly allows attacking players to get on the wrong side of him, allows low crosses to run past him across the six yard box, and generally blames everyone around him for his own mistakes. His errors have cost us goals in important games. He wanted away last year (fair enough) and would have moved if anyone down south had come for him. That suggests that he certainly isn't a 'saleable asset'. Giving him a new 4 year contract was a mistake, in my view. I recognize that others, including most fans, the current and past manager, see Goldson differently, but that's my opinion of the guy.

No, I don't have it in for him, or for any of our players. I want the guy to do well, but I've just never rated him, and I think we have now missed two opportunities to restructure the squad (summer of '21 and this summer) by saying 'thanks and farewell' to a number of players who have now been here too long (I wouldn't include Tav in that category though) and carrying out a genuine rebuild.

I'm in the minority that has never rated Mr Goldson.

Perhaps Goldson wanted away last season because the squad wasn't strong enough, but decided to accept a new 4 year contract because the new squad was much stronger? And perhaps that's a flock of pigs flying past my window just now ....

Did he also justify the new deal for Goldson?

You were right. I didn't trust them on this.

I wouldn't bet on it.

Didn't we lose one of the fitness coaches in the summer? It's been showing in the past two games.

That's fair comment, but we also gave new contracts to a number of players who might have been allowed to leave, creating salary space for new arrivals.

We can argue about particular players, but the point is that two opportunities have been lost to have a major clear-out and rebuild. The first was after winning the title in 2021, when it would have made sense to day 'thanks and farewell' to a number of players, and the second was this summer, when the new manager should have been given the chance to build his own team. Despite the new arrivals, the heart of this squad is dated (not just age-wise).

We signed two defenders to play alongside Goldson, though! We also didn't sign a goalkeeper. Rebuilding the defence means accepting that Goldson is a major part of the problem, but we were meant to applaud the fact that a guy who can't challenge for the ball in the air in his own box, can't track runners, and lets low crosses run past him, was given a new contract ...

Big mistakes made in the summer - giving McGregor and Goldson new contracts. Their replacements should have been the basis for a rebuilt defence.