Pretty much nailed it.CodPiece XL said:I've been travelling so I heard the news this afternoon. Not surprising really. He sees all his best players leave, the board appear to only want to spend money once they qualify for the CL, meanwhile, between end of season and the CL qualifiers, the best players are sold. There are few significant signings prior and a short desperate period where they are frantically trying to sign players once they know they are in. He's pissing into the wind with that type of thinking...he was probably told what his budget was and thought..screw this.
Lawell and the board appear to show little or no ambition to improve the squad. They seem satisfied by trying to squeak into the CL yet show no ambition to go any further. They sign the likes of Pukki, Griffiths, Balde and Boerrigter and I doubt any of them were Lennon's first choices. The squad has a bunch of flotsam and jetson. One year removed from getting into the last 16, they were slaughtered by Barcelona, completely out played by Milan and lucky to get any points in the group period. Not forgetting squeaky bum time playing a bunch of nobodies in the qualifying rounds.
I've never been a big fan of Lennon and I never bought into his "bring back the thunder " shit. However, I thought he did a decent job, my only gripe was that he should have had at least one treble, if not two. He should have been given the funds to build on his success in Europe, but instead, Lawell and the money men wanted to cash in. I can understand to a certain extent but that's running a business, not a football team. The average fan wants a squad to be improved upon and Celtic have never had a better period in time where the door was wide open to get into the CL year after year with guaranteed millions. I think the fans deserve better , I thought Lennon deserved better....if Lawell opens his eyes he can't fail to see the fans staying away in droves, Lennon is not the only one walking away.
Step on down Malky MacKay..Stevie Clarke.....who else is in the running? The new manager won't play Mulgrew in midfiled....right??
"We want to keep Fraser," he said. "We want to qualify for the Champions League and build our team further. So we want to keep him here. He has not indicated any desire to leave. He came to Celtic and has done a good job here, but Celtic has also been fantastic for him. I hope that continues because we need our best players and he is a fantastic goalkeeper.
"In the end, something will happen, but whether it happens now or in the winter or next summer I don't know; we just have to keep on going. Things happen around my players all the time. But Fraser is an unbelievable professional and I know he wants to play in the Champions League."
mic99 said:Well, the Tony Watt era is over which is extremely disappointing. Hopefully he figures it out before he throws away his career.
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/28537098
We will always have this-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74BrJXa-n3U
The Celtbot said:We need a proper striker. Not sold on Pukki and I don't see Stokes being the guy this year to lean on in Europe.
PedroSpecialK said:
It's daft alright however it's not without precedent.DLew On Roids said:That Legia let this happen, that UEFA allowed it to happen, the draconian punishment for it happening, and the assignment of a 3-0 scoreline* are all incredibly, mind-blowingly, outrageously fucking stupid.
* So if you win 4-0 at home in the first leg you can play all the ineligible guys you want in the away leg? Seriously, this is a rule?
It's fairly certain there will be no appeal as Legia have no grounds to appeal. They played a suspended player and the punishment is a 3-0 defeat - it's that cut and dried.CodPiece XL said:It will be interesting to see how the appeal goes.
On one hand, I certainly don't see malice, any attempt to gain advantage and on the face of it, the punishment is disproportionate to the culpability. Common sense would indicate that Legia gained absolutely nothing by playing a player for the last 4 minutes of a game where the outcome of the tie had become a foregone conclusion.
However, I think the beaks at UEFA look at this as being a player who was suspended and had no right to be on the field of play. You simply can't play a suspended player; that was why he was ineligible no matter how badly you bungle paperwork. There are literally millions on the line and if Legia don't line up their ducks as far as correct submissions of paperwork to serve a suspension shame on them.
I do feel badly for them, they played Celtic off the park in both legs, if the 3:0 result stands, it's truly a very hollow victory.
EDIT Jeez...BG, you posted that as I was typing this...same thoughts, said differently.
CodPiece XL said:I'll have whateverthefuck Fletch is on...sounds like good stuff.
Biggreenone said:It's daft alright however it's not without precedent.
I can see your point however the onus is on the competing clubs to comply with the tournament rules.DLew On Roids said:
That's true, but the point of any governing body is to implement controls. Presumably, the goal of UEFA, in part, is to set controls that maximize the likelihood that the team that performs best on the pitch advances. That UEFA doesn't send out a list of all suspended players to all clubs in advance of each match, or that the fourth official allows a suspended player in uniform on the bench, or into the match, is insane. You might need one body, two max, at UEFA to track suspensions and inform club representatives and assigned fourth officials who is ineligible. In other words, UEFA could avoid sporting and financial debacles like this--and advancing on a technicality that the governing body could have easily avoided after losing 6-1 makes a fucking travesty of the competition, no matter who you support--for a couple hundred thousand euros a year, but now Legia could easily be out (and Celtic into) 10 million euros when no sporting benefit was gained.
This is 100% on UEFA in my book. Legia broke the rules, but the rules are arcane, they gained no benefit, and UEFA could have easily prevented this with some process changes. You can't change the rules now, so I understand why Celtic would be restored into the competition, but UEFA could do a lot worse than restoring some of the money and coefficient points Legia earned on the pitch. And the way UEFA addresses ineligible players needs to be addressed immediately. Not for 2015-16, but for the next round.
5050HindSight said:
It's akin to letting a guilty man go free because of an error in meaningless paperwork.
DrewDawg said:
You realize this happens right?
UEFA: He's suspended for 3 games
Legia: OK he won't play for 3 games... sorted
UEFA: No, you have to register him in your squad to play
Legia: does this mean he can play?
UEFA: No, it means he could play if he wasn't suspended
Legia: But he is suspended
UEFA: Yes
Legia: So he won't play
UEFA: Correct
Legia: So, we won't pick him
UEFA: No, you have to pick him
Legia: BUT. HE'S. SUSPENDED
UEFA: but you have to select him and not play him
Legia: can we have a new translator in here?????????????????
DrewDawg said:
I know you're just doing a Who's on First thing here, but it's not really hard to understand is it? The team is penalized by having him take up a registration slot in those three games, right?
No shit, but it shouldn't be. UEFA makes the rules. It would be short money to ensure that clubs comply with the rules by at least, ya know, not letting a suspended player on the pitch. An NBA scorers table or MLB home plate umpire would have the information at hand to not let a suspended player enter a game. Meanwhile, there's a fourth official wearing a UEFA badge who spends most of the match with his dick in his hand. It would be easy to make the fourth official responsible for consulting a checklist of cleared players before punching the numbers into the substitution board. It's as natural as the referee checking spike length or jewelry, and it would keep a deserving club in the competition.Biggreenone said:I can see your point however the onus is on the competing clubs to comply with the tournament rules.