At an undisclosed location on Saturday, I believed at halftime that Mayo would finally do it.
Then Dublin really turned up and opened the afterburners.
My courageous lads in the Green and Red were, once more, up against a machine.
The GAA have poured resources into Dublin over the last decade and a half.
Consequently, they are, in effect a fully professionalised outfit.
It is the Gah equivalent of Dublinitis.
Well, everything else in this state is centred on Dublin.
Therefore, it should surprise us that the GAA us the same.
Of course, the Kingdom will give a good account of themselves, but I can’t see past five in a row.
In the end resources count, in any code…
On Planet Fitba Celtic moved through the gears at Fir Park against Motherwell after gifting the home team a goal.
The main problem that Boli Bolingoli-Mbombo has in his new employment is that he isn’t Kieran Tierney.
His manager considers the Belgian fullback to be “a work in progress”.
Ah well…
The Celtic board now have a couple of weeks to provide the Armagh man with the resources that HE thinks he needs to deliver the title.
I was heartened to hear that the late move for Callum McGregor was rebuffed.
It should come as no surprise that the person behind the attempt was a chap who was “born into Celtic”.
Of course, he has now pledged to “give his life” for Leicester City FC.
I do hope my source is wrong and that no one in the upper echelons of the Celtic chain of command last week referred to Mr Brendan as “that smarmy prick”.
Dear reader, I was upset when I heard that.
The financial reality is that Celtic do not need to sell anyone and that was also the case with “KT”.
McGregor is, in every sense, central to what the champions do middle to front.
I noticed that Olivier Ntcham showed up in the Hoops and showed what a class act he can be when the spirit moves him.
A cynic might conclude that he is playing for a move to continental Europe.
My information is that Marseille and Porto both remain interested in the midfielder.
The former club would be willing to go to €17m, but that the sticking point is how that figure is reached via add ons etc.
It sounds very much like the Tierney haggling.
If the Frenchman is sold then Celtic are only a couple of injuries from being rather light in central midfield.
Quite simply, the Parkhead club does not have to sell anyone to keep the lights on.
Across the Clyde, it is a somewhat different situation and the last thing they should be thinking about is adding to the Ibrox wage bill.
Consequently, I’m told that the Serious Professional was aghast when the Director of Fantasy told him that he had been given the go ahead from the Convict Chairman to sign Brandon Barker.
My information is that there was some high-Level leaking about a seven figure transfer fee.
The objective of this untruth is that it would sooth the klan that there was plenty of money for Mr Let’s Go to spend.
The reality is that Manchester City was happy to see the player leave for around £300k.
Hardly a transfer record, but enough of a sum to have the Serious Professional in a rather bleak state when he heard about it.
After all, this is the week that Sevco has to find £444,846.60 by 4.00 pm on 16 August 2019.
If that doesn’t happen then I suspect the judge will want a word with the Conveyancing Consigliere and the Serious Professional.
For the avoidance of doubt, it isn’t Dave’ fault.
It’s never Dave’s fault.
That’s a kind of a rule at Sevco.
Mr King knows that all he as to do is somehow put a team on the field that can stop Celtic in order to guarantee his place in the klan firmament.
The people in the Celtic boardroom have the ability to open the financial afterburners and back Neil Lennon.
If they do that Sevco’s potentially ruinous machinations will matter not a jot.
Have a great week.
Discover more from Phil Mac Giolla Bháin
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Add the Barker fee to the £466k part payment of Big Mike’s legal team then that’s the revenue from the first 30,000 tickets sold for Thursday’s 2nd leg at Ibrox gone.
The costs associated with hosting the match will eat up what’s left.
The most relevant word in this article is at the start of the second last sentence……IF. Let me make one simple point please. Only 1 factor can stop CFC winning 9, 10….numerous more titles. That factor is the CFC Board. They can invest to such an extent in the team that Sevco would be irrelevant. IF…………
Phil you are usually good at investigation and not bow to populist sound bites. The figures showing Dublin financial input from GAA HQ are not the full picture. See most counties get their finding from their province, but Dublin don’t get any from Leinster, instead from HQ, which in turn leaves a bigger slice for the other teams in Leinster. So yes, when one focuses on the HQ numbers only, it’s not a petty sight, but the truth is ignored by not looking at the figures other countries receive from their Province where Dublin does not!!! And it’s quite even. Most funding from HQ is for GPOs and rules clearly state that the GAA will half fund a GPO with a club. Dublin put emphasis on local fund raising to get the required amount to have a GPO in every club in Dublin. Other counties don’t put as much emphasis. Don’t bemoan, organise. It was Kerry who showed Dublin how to organise at youth level 15 years ago.
Last year it was Cork who spent most on their senior team followed by Dublin followed by Mayo.
Hi Phil
I’d like to suggest a chant related to the winning of the treble treble.
The words are sung to the chorus of Bowie’s Rebel Rebel: –
Treble treble we won them all
Treble treble we’re having a ball
Treble treble 8 in a row
Glasgow Celtic we love you so.
No complaints about the sending off at Ibrox. But you cannot help wondering what the outcome would have been if a home player has committed the same offences.
When applying the letter of the law,, when does a blatant trip on Scott Allen when recieving the ball out of a crowded penalty box from the keeper and about to sprint towards a fragile defence in front not constitute a booking. If you want to show consistency then it applies to two teams.
I always thought GAA resources were divided up evenually. Thats what makes the sportng organisation different from all the rest.
Or am I deluded Phil.
The money is spread out from central board , but each county has a board and are self financing, so Dublin has the most amount of players and support ect, so the sponsorship and things like that are far greater. But to be fare to Dublin county board they drew a blue print up about 10 years ago to bring there hurling teams up to elite county level and pumped some serious money into coaches to train kids and go to schools.
Dear Phil….’.love your blog/books etc, I’m a big fan but was really surprised with the opening part of this article, I’m a Dub born and bred but even that statement alone is enough to have some people spitting bile and venom for no other reason than we are from the capital, over the years I’ve encountered verbal abuse, have not been served in pubs and being ignored purely because I’m from Dublin, on the other hand I’ve met some of the finest people and been the recipient of the warmest welcomes, I work and hang around with many great people from outside Dublin, like you I thought Mayo had a great chance to win at halftime yesterday, they played brilliantly but fell short in the end, the excuse of funding and favourtism gets old, is there no recognition that Dublin have a management system second to none and better players?, I’m not sure what Dublinitis is but I doubt it makes you happy “Well everything else in this state is centred on Dublin” really? is it? I can tell you one thing that is definitely centred on Dublin is the 31 v 1 hatred of Dublin and everything about it, imagine hating people and a place just because of where they are from and the geographical location of the place, does that remind you of anyone ?{ I am not accusing you of hating anyone but there is a lack of good grace regarding the match yesterday}
Dublin has it’s problems and it’s fair share of gobshites but its our capital city…. yours too, celebrate it and acknowledge we have the best team in the land, you’ll have plenty of time to do this because 9 in a row is coming.
Stephen
]
100% Correct Stephen
Up the Dubs
Stick to the soccer Phil 😎
I agree with you Stephen. The GAA invests in the grassroots level. Their object is to avoid the GAA dying in Dublin. Because the reality is that GAA is has little presence in some parts of Dublin where sky tv english football holds sway. If the GAA dies in the capital, then it’s in big trouble.
But the only valid point from Saturday was the unbelievable performance by Dublin in that 2nd half. They were immense. That’s the real headline. I make this point as a proud Dub.
7 Mayo players watched Fenton make a 30 yard run through the middle for the third goal.No amount of funding could get those players to track that run.
10 minutes later Fenton made the exact same run.
We’ve seen this movie plenty of times over the years at Celtic.
From a position of strength, we don’t strengthen further – but regress.
I think the current squad has the strength in depth to – potentially – win another Treble.
But, as a clear sign of intent to the whole of Scottish football I would like some ‘decent’ cash to be spent now – to further bolster a couple of positions.
Could easily spend say £10M of the KT money and keep everyone happy.
And the year end financials will still be very decent with the Rodgers’ compensation, etc.
Correction;
The Rodgers’ compensation falls into the 2018/19 accounts.
The KT sales falls into 2019/20 accounts.
[But in terms of cash at hand now, Celtic is of course rather flush!]
IF they do that…
We better turn up at Ipox and not be bullied as per our two previous visits. Win this and it`s all over.
I don’t think we will be bullied this time around. Celtic are playing entertaining football – not the sidey-ways nonsense that we were “treated to” under the management of the snake-oil salesman. If we were to play sevco today, the only chink in our armour would be Boli – not because the guy is a waste of space… You can see that he is still trying to fit in to how we play, but he is eager. When that match does come around in a couple of weeks, he won’t be a Tierney mk2, but the sevvies can rest assured that they will be put back in their box!
Despite the financial problems, they appear to have a manager in place who has made a decent fist of it so far. September 1st is looming and Celtic have to visit there minus the green brigade in the broomloan road stand for the third time. You have to hand it to king. He played a masterstroke there
Interesting to see they got a good leg up with the goal average, after a Hibee got there marching orders. Going to Castle Greyskull and bursting the bubble is a must for the Champions.
Phil the current Dublin squad/team is a once in a life time team .It will all come to an end some time . “The funding” is everyone favourite comment now. Undoubtedly funding has gone into the game here.What however is overlooked is the quality of the players, and what happened in the 10 mins after the h t reflects that.Never seen before probably never seen again .The players have to be there first of all. When the grt Kerry team swept the boards with 8 all irel in 11 yrs I dnt recall any begrudgement goin there way n the same in the hurling with Kilkenny.Dublin have brought gaelic football to a new level , Kerry are closing the gap I believe n hope that they wont do it this yr , but they will be the new kids on the block when Dublins time is done
He deserved the card and a hard kick in the baws from everyone involved at Easter road. Hibs were on the ascendancy at that point and he single-handedly blew it.
Snake Island I think 🤔, Castle greyskull was where the good guys stayed lol 😂
Prefer the Dome of Debt, myself. Or even the Bigot Dome.