stewarty

They wrote a transfer speculation blog last week and mentioned that the Hastie deal has all been agreed, but he has other offers and isn't finalised.

What has changed? I seem to recall a similar story a little while ago.

I'm sure Mr Gerrard is pure gutted at this stinging attack from such an outstanding... oh, actually... never mind.

Fair enough. I haven't heard the full section where he is talking about his time with us but generally i thought he comes across reasonably well but quite understated - but that has been the same for when he talked about playing at Stenny, Raith and Hearts too - I didn't pick up any particular enthusiasm but it seems he didn't hesitate to move to us when Hearts forced him out.

Been listening to this and he admits early on that he grew up as a Celtic supporter. Albeit he says he wasn't a massive one,

Some good positive PR, but also good for the young ladies getting an opportunity to develop a career playing for us!

Even if offered him another £10k per week, thats an additional half million investment for another year of Alfy tearing it up... seems like a good piece of business to me, especially if the suggested release clause is included.

Certainly very positive words. I would be looking to loan him out again next season, potentially to a higher level club - say in the SPFL or League 1 down south. Somewhere that he will play 15-20 games before January and give him some different challenges.

in the performances vs us this season I thought he's been impressive at setting the tempo of their midfield and getting in our faces. The question for me is around his quality on the ball and whether he could adapt to playing in a more offensive team. Its taken Jack a couple of years and the right manager to get him to develop this season

Hello Mrs Polster

Mr King's prediction was a little off. All it took was one win!

That would be hilarious.

Interesting that they expect to break even for the year end. Good to see some more positive noises around our financials, and this is without full year effects of more normalised commercial arrangements. All going well we should see further improvements in the next 18 months

But we're skint!? Admin 2 is coming.

Strict liability is similar to the OBFA in my view. It will be pushed by those who assume it will not affect them. Then when it does affect them, they will go mental and claim it was someone else's fault. As we can see with UEFA's strict liability scheme, it appears to be merely a joke with paltry fines year after year for poor behaviour. At the end of the day, society needs to stop blaming football for its problems just because football stadia are a visible medium for elements of its ills. Far more people suffer from racism, homophobia or other forms of discrimination which the stats prove year on year. But that narrative doesn't suit the agenda of those who's careers depend upon the outrage they themselves fuel.

Let them proceed with this bonkers plan. It will only serve to further highlight the hypocrisy that underpins the base assertion that Celtic are hard done by.

In fairness, there does seem to be a tone of coordination in terms of the statements / commentary directly from the club, or indirectly via those friendly to our message. When you consider the understated comments about refs having a tough job from Gerrard (in the face of some awful decisions going against us), a few more comments being placed in the media over the last week being critical of things, to the Robertson interview, the club formally querying decisions and requesting a formal review of the compliance and disciplinary process...

Hah! On that note, I just saw that Premier Sports will be doing a delayed transmission at 10.10pm Wednesday night.

Must be really slow news day... or its another sign that Administration is but days away. I'm sure some of hooped friends will be along to tell us.

Awful first 45. Need a play at a higher tempo and press them a lot harder

The formation debate is interesting. For me, some experimentation is okay within certain limits. For example, if we are working on things in training, I see no reason why we should not change shape during the game to give teams different problems. Too often we have allowed teams to settle into a rhythm when defending against us, and we have been limited in terms of giving them different problems to contend with. Whether tonight is the right game to play the diamond, I would question. We played our best game of the season vs Celtic using the 4-3-3/ 4-2-3-1, with the crucial difference being our motivation and determination to consistently press high. So that would be my preference again. But should we struggle for a goal or if they settle into a defensive rhythm, by all means switch to some of our other tactical options depending on what Aberdeen themselves are doing. The more the team get used to this flexibility, hopefully the easier it is to put into effect.

I thought there were promising signs with regards to Defoe and Morelos. The first penalty was from Alfy's cut back, and it was Defoe's sharpness that got him quickly to the ball and his quick feet inducing the tackle that won the penalty. Alfy worked his man and the space the whole game as we have become accustomed to. And there were other signs that Defoe was starting to get more involved in the play and find space. As I say, promising signs. Lets see what they can do against a much better team on Wednesday .

The only thing that makes me doubt my opinion on this is that Michael Stewart agrees. No penalty and no yellow for simulation was his take. I'm on the look out for horsemen of the apocalypse...

Defoe doesn't even claim for the second one. He is clearly playing for contact, but gets straight back up when it doesnt happen. It was a bad call, make no mistake. But if Clarke is somehow suggesting that Defoe should get a ban... that would be ridiculous.

Don't make me start inventing stats again