Shortly after the anthem of the Champions League booms around Paradise, it will be quickly apparent to Brendan’s charges that they are up against quality opposition.
The difference in quality between Club Atlético de Madrid and Sevco’s low-calorie cousins is so vast as to be a ridiculous comparison.
On Sunday, Celtic strutted their stuff at Tynecastle as befitting the biggest, richest club on Planet Fitba.
They clicked through the gears, and 4-1 somewhat flattered the Edinburgh side.
Tonight is an entirely different affair.
Yes, I was at that shameful match in 1974.
The only positive is that it COULDN’T happen today.
It is a night when the pressing phenomenon that is Daizen Maeda will get a chance to show his elite qualities as the away team is likely to dominate possession.
In the end, it’s all about levels and margin of error.
That’s why Tynecastle was a Sunday stroll, and tonight will be very difficult.
The day before Celtic battered Hearts, the Transcendental Chairman, already a dignified polyglot, probably learned a new phrase or two:
Like the Flemish for “shitshow”.
Having witnessed the other Edinburgh side being dispatched, I’m told that the Dalai Lama of the Blue Room was initially in ebullient form.
His view was that the only missing piece of the Sevco jigsaw was to get the correct chap in the home dugout, and after that, everything else would fall into place.
Essentially, the squad is full of good players, and all they needed was a top-class coach to marshall them into a title-winning team.
Well, my information is that this optimistic narrative was met with a trenchant rebuttal by the ordinarily laid-back Belgian, who quickly disabused the constantly tranquil chairman of that notion.
Bluntly, I’m told that the new guy doesn’t fancy the squad that he has inherited from Mickey B.
Consequently, he has big plans for the January window.
The only minor issue with that is money or the lack of it.
This is an undiscovered country for the Belgian, who is accustomed to a substantial degree of player “churn”.
A hat tip to Alan Morrison of Celtic By Numbers for putting this together.
Quite simply, Philippe has wandered into the wrong movie, but he doesn’t know that yet.
The year-end accounts of Rangers International Football Club (RIFC) are due, and it will be amazing if they do not post a healthy profit.
That’s because the transfer monies for Joe Aribo and Calvin Bassey, plus Champions League cash, will be on the revenue side of the numbers.
A well-placed source told me this week that if RIFC’s profit is anything below £10m, then that proves that their cost base is still out of control.
Since year-end accounts are from 30th June to 30th June, Mickey B’s payoff will not appear in those figures.
My understanding is that he’s due his severance deal at the end of next month.
Now, it would be rather messy if he hadn’t signed an NDA.
After all, Mickey does like to talk, and talk, and talk…
The incumbent is used to a modern European set-up.
That means working with a director of football who works diligently to deliver recruitment targets.
I understand that Monsieur Clement always wants substantial investment in Sevco’s sports science set-up.
Awkward…
What WAS there was essentially gutted when Mr Gerrard left.
Again, follow follow the money.
Across the city, Celtic has a scouting database operation that is the only one of its kind in Scotland.
My information is that eleven clubs in the EPL have the same resource.
Not surprisingly, it comes at a hefty price.
An inconvenient fact for the Sevco High Command and their obedient shills in the Stenography Corps is that the Parkhead operation can afford this outplay in the global talent search.
Sadly, as regular readers will know, Rugger Guy is now off the team.
Consequently, I cannot proffer any expert analysis of these numbers.
What does seem to be robust is the analysis by football finance expert David Low that Celtic has an in-built £15m annual advantage.
In the EPL, that’s a petty cash voucher.
However, in Scotland, it’s a game changer.
It means that Celtic’s poorer neighbour has very little margin for error.
Just like the Hoops tonight…
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To a degree you’re both right. His (Maeda’s) energy, work rate and closing down of opponents is immense but it’s also true that he gets in great positions only to fluff his lines with the final ball and that was evident again last night and may have proved costly.
We had a genuine chance to win that game but after Kyogo’s wonderful goal we tried to sit back for a while instead of going for the jugular and that led to the very soft penalty.
I despise Atletico since their thugs attacked us all those years ago and their conduct last night was shocking. The idiot of a ref bought all sorts of their histrionics and then ended the game abruptly right on 5 mins added time when with all the subs and play-acting from Griezeman it should probably have been 10 added on.
Anyway, another game that got away from us because we didn’t GO for it. Sickening.
Oh and why did Oh not get a chance as Kyogo was hardly in the game and far too deep and WTF made Brendan think taking Palma off for Phillips was a good idea? And why not Iwata (in his proper position) rather than Bernardo? Aye, I’m not a happy mhan as I’ve seen THAT movie too often. Unlucky? Some times it’s just bad decision making!
A definite penalty none the less. Absolutely no need for the tackle as scales was coming in to cover. At the other end I would demand a penalty.
Fingers crossed for tonight but, fearing the worst, cant say I agree with your estimation of Maeda as” elite”, against hearts, early in the game, he was twice sent clear down the right and completely wasted both chances to put in a decent cross, his work rate cannot be questioned but, his decision making and composure are two areas where he falls down.
At closing down he is at elite level in that aspect of his game.
The data is very clear on that matter.
I was at the match this evening….Maeda is at that ‘elite’ level where it wouldn’t be a surprise for a Spanish coach to come knocking on the January window…Ange AND Brendan pick him for a reason….it’s ‘elite’ coached performance and delivered results
It’s all about opinions, guess we can agree to differ, he’s just not my cup of tea.