2017/18 Scottish Football Thread (Not a 1 team league. It's an 11 team race for second)

[Thistle]

It seems to be the way in the SPFL. You develop a strong team that can compete for a top 3 spot, and then in the following season you get into some kind of difficulty, financial or otherwise, and you find yourself relegated. Hibs, Hearts and Dundee United have all been relegated a season or two after a strong top 3 finish.

Yeah it's strange. Not sure if it's because of players and coaches being picked off, a focus on Europe, greater expectations or a combination of all but it has been a bit of a poisoned chalice lately.

 

[DEVO]

Ross 3 Hamilton 2

Officially safe. Woohoo!!

 

[Mr_Bojangles]

That's pretty much Cally doomed too. Need a result away to Dundee and then to beat Motherwell at home. Both of those are safe now so might have the cue in the rack. Hamilton have Dundee in the final match.

 

[Great8]

Finished the season with a 6-0 rout of Partick on the road. Ended up runners up which is probably the best we can hope for and a massive 30 points behind the invincible Celtic side but thankfully ahead of the Huns

 

[Mr_Bojangles]

Some achievement by the Bhoys to go through any league undefeated. Wonderful TIFO to honour the Lisbon Lions too. Roberts would be nice to get permanently but City will want him back after a season like that. B-Rog ain;t all that bad.

MON THE HOOPS!

 

[Great8]

Some achievement by the Bhoys to go through any league undefeated. Wonderful TIFO to honour the Lisbon Lions too. Roberts would be nice to get permanently but City will want him back after a season like that. B-Rog ain;t all that bad.

MON THE HOOPS!

Have you seen the SPL lately?
Not hard on a budget 3 or 4 times the rest of the comp to go through undefeated. They are that far ahead of the rest that I'd be shocked if they lost a game. The other clubs have zero chance

 

[Mr_Bojangles]

I know this. Was listening to radio clyde last night and they are calling for some handicap system to bring us back to the field. How about trying to emulate the way we do things even if it is with smaller financial turnarounds rather than trying to drag us down. My point was we've been a much better side and easier on the eye under Rodgers this season. The Delia years were absolute pants.

 

[Great8]

I know this. Was listening to radio clyde last night and they are calling for some handicap system to bring us back to the field. How about trying to emulate the way we do things even if it is with smaller financial turnarounds rather than trying to drag us down. My point was we've been a much better side and easier on the eye under Rodgers this season. The Delia years were absolute pants.

Don't think there is a solution to the problem. Definitely don't want to bring you guys back to the field but in its current state there is zero chance of competing. Scotland is a different kettle of fish to England, there is still good money and the attraction of playing in the EPL even for the battlers. In Scotland you have to pay way overs to get quality and Celtic can afford that whereas the rest have to fight over scraps and compete with wages against the English lower tiers. There are guys playing League 1 and League 2 earning more than SPL players

 

[windyhill]

Invincibles!

 

[Mr_Bojangles]

Invincibles!

The marketing people at the club will get a good little earner for the club with the amount of invincibles merch they'll dream up.

 

[Great8]

Great start Jonny boy!
1-0 Aberdeen

 

[Great8]

And Celtic level 60 seconds later

 

[windyhill]

Here comes the magic man....

 

[windyhill]

Sheep having the better of it.

 

[BuddysBiggestFan]

ROGIC!!!!!

 

[windyhill]

Here comes the magic man....

And THAT is why he is the magic man.

 

[Great8]

Why was I not surprised. Simply not good enough.

 

[windyhill]

Cracking game.

 

[Mr_Bojangles]

Some game! That first 15 minutes of each half was intense. Dons had their chances on the break in that second half before sitting back. Brilliant from Tommi in the end. What a star! Genuinely loves the club too.

 

[Great8]

Some game! That first 15 minutes of each half was intense. Dons had their chances on the break in that second half before sitting back. Brilliant from Tommi in the end. What a star! Genuinely loves the club too.

Will he stick around?
Surely he can't develop much more there when they basically have 40 training runs a season

 

[windyhill]

Loves having a dig G8. I suppose it was all good when manu won everything at a canter back in the day.

 

[Great8]

Loves having a dig G8. I suppose it was all good when manu won everything at a canter back in the day.

Not a dig at Celtic, it's a dig at how poor the SPL is
It's a serious question. I don't have a problem with what Celtic are doing. They are about 5 levels above everyone else such is the poor standard of the rest. United have never been that dominant in England ever, there were always challengers. Celtic will win the next 20 titles in a row as they are of a half decent standard whereas the rest would struggle in league 2 in England and it isn't going to change anytime soon. Surely you can see how poor the standard is in Scotland. I'd love to see Rogic move over the border and have a crack

 

[Mr_Bojangles]

He's repaying the faith showed in him by the club when he first arrived and had a host of injury issues. Could have easily been dicked off and sent back to Australia. Still contracted so will be a test to see if Celtic are going to stop being a 'selling' club. Why does he have to go England too. May be more suited to the continent.

 

[The Final Word]

Not a dig at Celtic, it's a dig at how poor the SPL is
It's a serious question. I don't have a problem with what Celtic are doing. They are about 5 levels above everyone else such is the poor standard of the rest. United have never been that dominant in England ever, there were always challengers. Celtic will win the next 20 titles in a row as they are of a half decent standard whereas the rest would struggle in league 2 in England and it isn't going to change anytime soon. Surely you can see how poor the standard is in Scotland. I'd love to see Rogic move over the border and have a crack

It's easy to look at this year's table and suggest it's always a walk in the park for Celtic. True it probably should be comfortable given the relative financial strength that is unmatched in Scotland but the fact remains they held a 1 point lead in the league last year in the middle of March, a 3 point lead at the same point the year before, and going back to when Rangers last had a semblance of a team we were neck and neck through January before liquidation imploded their team. Given this is only the 4th treble in the club's history and only second since the 60's, it shows there are still challenges to be had.

Should still be in line for plenty of Euro action. And besides the lad signed a 3 year deal less than a year ago. I suspect he will stick around for one more and we might look to offload him, but I'd hate to lose him, he damn creative and that trait doesn't grow on trees.

 

[Mr_Bojangles]

I've found over the years there seems to be a bit of a split between some mainly older 'as long as we beat Rangers' types happy so long as they finish above them, Hearts etc and ones that want to think bigger and beyond Scotland. I'm definitely of the latter and still find one of the most remarkable things that MON did at the club between 2000-2004 was make us relevant in Europe again. We went from losing embarrassingly to Croatia Zagreb in an early European ties to beating the likes of Juve etc on our own patch in the champions league. While we never even got past the group stage with MON in the big league that UEFA Cup Final run is my most cherished memory. A wonderful team.

Strachan (love or hate him) then took us a step above taking the eventual champions AC Milan to extra time in the knockout stages 10 years ago. Even a Lennon team took out Messi's Barca and got us in to the next round in 2012. Rodgers is hopefully now rebuilding our reputation in Europe again after we were not only just keeping our head above water in the league these past few seasons but embarrassing ourselves in the Europa League. We needed a bullshit rule enacted to take part in the group stage one season. The extraordinary success this season has me excited for what we can do.