Neil Lennon: How To Win Friends And Influence People

[jassb]

Hope they get a thrashing. Inside and outside the stadium.

 

I'm another who thinks a champions league should be for the champions of each country regardless of which country, with the first round being a straight knock out (without seeding) before the group stages. Then the 2nds, 3rds, 4ths and whoever else they decide they want in the competition for their viewing figures are the ones who should be qualifying. Dropping down in to the Europa League if you get 3rd in the group stage is another stupid thing invented for self preservation and TV once again.

[MightyDons]

Hope they get a thrashing. Inside and outside the stadium.

 

I'm another who thinks a champions league should be for the champions of each country regardless of which country, with the first round being a straight knock out (without seeding) before the group stages. Then the 2nds, 3rds, 4ths and whoever else they decide they want in the competition for their viewing figures are the ones who should be qualifying. Dropping down in to the Europa League if you get 3rd in the group stage is another stupid thing invented for self preservation and TV once again.

 

Much rather revert to a single mega competition, with same number of places per country as CL & Europa league combined (So Scotland would get 4 places). Gives smaller teams the chance to take part with potential to increase revenue, while offering bigger clubs as good of a "guarantee" of CL football as possible.

[OddJob]

I agree with him. They won the league, therefore should be straight into groups in my book. If UEFA insist on having 3/4 teams per country then they should be forced to qualify, not the actual champions. Same applies to any other nation too.

You can finish 3rd in the EPL and walk straight into the group stages, it's a farce!

 

You're right. I absolutely hate the Popcorn teethed, greeting face cunt, but he's bang on the money. Yes as Bobo says they're general failures in recent seasons seems to have fucked them, but at the end of the day they still won the league.

 

Been saying it for years but know it won't happen, but they have to make it just league WINNERS in the group stage, or back to even knockout matches

[boboisared]

[OddJob]

In an ideal world the tournament would be for champions and champions only but it's not like the rules changed after Celtic qualified.

 

Sent from my GT-I9305 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

Oh i agree Bobo, it definitely smacks of sour grapes from Lennon, but you know what i mean though in general. Ridiculous rules really

[Henry]

 

A Trojan horse in green-and-white hoops is trundling its way unnoticed towards the heart of English football.

Carlisle-based Celtic Nation currently plays before crowds of around 50 people in division one of the Northern League, the eighth tier of English football. But the Observer can reveal that an audacious master plan is afoot which could in effect see an English version of the famous Scottish club, Celtic FC, participating in the Premier League.

For 16 years of its 18-year existence, Celtic Nation was known as Gilford Park, until a chance meeting between some of its supporters and a US-based Glaswegian millionaire on a lay-by in north-west England. Frank Lynch, a 73-year-old diehard supporter of the current Scottish champions, helped to shape the career of Billy Connolly when he ran Glasgow's Apollo Theatre concert venue.

He was seeking a small and unknown English club to launch his dream when he stopped to help some supporters of Gilford Park whose bus had broken down. They persuaded Lynch to come and watch their local heroes and, within a year, the club's name had been changed to Celtic Nation. They now play in the green-and-white hoops made famous by the Glasgow team and have adopted a new club crest which bears an uncanny resemblance to that of Celtic FC.

Already Celtic Nation have begun to build a squad of players designed to propel them through the feeder divisions of the English Football League. Last week they were able to outbid several senior Scottish clubs to sign Greenock Morton striker Colin McMenamin.

In an interview with the Daily Record yesterday, Lynch said: "There are 92 clubs in England, but none of them caters specifically for the Scottish and Irish communities in their midst. I want to establish a club that has a Celtic identity and would like to encourage people of Scottish and Irish heritage to come and watch us play. Celtic Nation have a ground with security of tenure and they're going somewhere. My project is like climbing Everest – but we've got past the stage of establishing our base camp, and word of mouth will take us from the bottom of the game's pyramid to somewhere higher."

Although Celtic FC have no official connection with Celtic Nation, there has been intense speculation within the Carlisle online community that this may eventually become a vehicle for the Scottish champions to invade England.

One supporter commented on a fan site last week: "Is this really Celtic FC getting a foothold in English football? Glasgow-born owner, new team colours to match the famous hoops – think this could be worth watching as they develop."

For a decade or so, it has been one of Celtic FC's stated aims to secure entry to the English Football League system. They were the first British club to lift the European Cup and have a global supporter base rooted in the Scottish and Irish diasporas that is thought to number several million. Although it is generally accepted that they have long outgrown Scottish football, previous overtures to England about joining its league have been rebuffed. Uefa, European football's governing body, also takes a dim view of cross-border league arrangements. Meanwhile, Celtic supporters have looked on with envy as what they consider to be boutique clubs such as Chelsea have developed pretensions of European grandeur.

The fate of their fierce city rivals, Glasgow Rangers, who went into financial liquidation last year and are currently trying to fight their way back to the top through Scotland's lower divisions, has left Celtic marooned. They are participating in a league which is not fit for its primary purpose – of providing competition. They are also a cash-rich club which has already banked around £40m this year from player sales and participation in last season's Champions League. Possessing such riches, though, is no fun if you can only spend it in the local supermarket.

Last night a source close to Lynch said: "All the significant people associated with this project are committed supporters of Celtic FC. We have all become deeply frustrated that Celtic will never develop its full potential in Scotland, where the game is dying. Celtic Nation will take the best attributes of Celtic FC and bring them into English football. Our location will be important for attracting support from Scots, Irish and English fans who have an affinity for Celtic."

 

Not really Lennon related, but thought I'd stick this here.

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2013/jul/28/gilford-park-celtic-nation-kevin-lynch

[davieb]

Celtic hardly strolled the league and if the truth be told, Celtic don't want competition. The minute their team aren't top, the "greatest fans in the world" would be calling for the managers sacking, with a "we can't allow these we teams to beat us" mentality. Do in essence it's all well and good for them to claim they want competition, but in reality they can't afford or want it!

[Jocky Balboa]

"We have all become deeply frustrated that Celtic will never develop its full potential in Scotland, where the game is dying."

 

How about re-wording this as "the washed contingents of the country have all become deeply frustrated that Scottish Football will never develop its full potential as long as the Ugly Sisters reign, and the game is dying"?

[Sonoftherock]

Lennon talking up the mighty Dons:

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23552284

 

Asked about the prospects of his Scottish Premiership rivals, Lennon said he thought Aberdeen would flourish under manager Derek McInnes.

 

"Derek will bring freshness to Aberdeen," he said. "At the moment they probably pose the biggest threat to us.

"He has a good record in Scotland, he has recruited well and has got a good blend of youth and experience.

"If and when they get on a roll, they will certainly bring the crowds in. We went up there last year and there was 18,000 there."

[tup]

His grammar is abysmal.

 

Then again, what do you expect from a thick Irish cunt.