This latest failure, what's David Murray's part in it all?

[calscot 0]

I still think that it's a false comparison you are using for Celtic. If they are nothing special by leading the league by 17pts and qualifying for the last team of the CL, when were we ever special?

 

When Walter was an embarrassment in the CL but winning the league were we special? I don't see many Clellands or Bollans in the Celtic team and I do see a lot more tactics instead of relying on a few special players in the team.

 

Maybe it's that you don't see any Gorams, Goughs, Laudrups or Gazzas in their team. But perhaps they have a higher average standard of player with fewer weaker players and even then perhaps they are so organised that the weaker players can do a job making the whole greater than the parts.

 

Sometimes special comes without a fanfare and wrapped in brown paper, the likes of John Brown and Paul Lambert fall into that category.

[calscot 0]

PS I think the fact that their personnel don't seem to be of the highest standard gives us hope that without breaking the bank, we can get to their level by buying good professionals at our price level and turning them into a decent footballing unit.

[ascender 352]

I think Celtic have typified the problem we have. I said it in another thread, but over the last 4 years or so, while I wouldn't necessarily want many of their players in our team, I would want their team spirit and fight. They've got that by the bucket-load which is why when they're a goal or two down they never give up. I think that's the key to their success at the moment.

[buster 0]

I think most are agreed that the current Celtic team are nothing special, which makes the league positions an even more depressing situation for us. My worry is that Celtic are spending more than us just now while DM seems determined to remain debt free if possible. It looks like Celtic have a healthy attitude to spending to accumulate.

 

However, they are now guaranteed CL footy again next season, which, added to this season's revenue means that they are going to have significantly more money available for transfers and wages yet again next year. They've also made a very prudent signing in Nakamura which does help their global branding in what is a very lucrative market.

 

I'm starting to see the off-the-pitch gap between us and Celtic widen which I think is very worrying. They've shown that while we don't get huge amounts of TV money, it is still possible to spend decent sums on transfer fees for players. They've also shown that they're looking to strengthen their squad with Scottish players at any opportunity and I really worry that we're in danger of behind here.

 

DM is many things, but he's certainly not stupid. However, he has now backed 2 managers with hardly any funds when compared with Celtic. I thought the whole point of downsizing was to get to a point where you can then start spending money again but within your means? The wage budget was under control well over a year ago, but we've still seen no significant re-investment in our playing staff.

 

Whatever happened to the rolling �£10M credit that DM said would always be available to the manager? Because looking at the current squad, that is exactly the sort of money that must be made available to Walter Smith if he has any hope of moving us forward.

being pedantic but sellick aren�´t sure to get CL money next year as they�´ll have to pass the 3rd qualifing round where there�´s always 3 or 4 nasties waiting in the lower half of the draw